big on love, tolerance, and the human potential
http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/features/archives/2006/05/intro.html
Using reader inputs about what makes for a great place to live – cost of housing, cost of living – and adding in education, weather, cultural amenities, and transportation, Kiplinger’s came up with this list and profiles of the top 50 cities.
via Neat New Stuff
The Voyagers have been racing out of the solar system for 30 years.
In about 10 years, one of the two Voyagers will enter the outer edge of our sun.
Yet it will take 40,000 years before they reach interstellar space, our first journey into neighboring stars.
[larger pic after click]
“They’re a pair of old fridges out there…”, weighing about a ton and travelling about 40,000 miles per hour.
Between them, Voyager 1 and 2 explored all the giant planets of our outer solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; 48 of their moons; and the unique system of rings and magnetic fields…
Voyager information is captured from an extremely weak signal. The sensitivity of the tracking antenna around the world is truly amazing. A watch operates at a power level 20 billion times greater.
While whipping around Jupiter, each Voyager used the enormous gravity field as a slingshot, slowing Jupiter by one foot over the next trillion years.
Accuracy of the navigation is equivalent to a 2300 mile golf putt.
Near Neptune, Voyager hit a 62 mile target after travelling over 4 billion miles.
Both Voyager spacecraft carry a greeting to any form of life, should that be encountered anywhere among one hundred billion stars in our own galaxy, and …
Update:
Voyager 1 has passed through the outer bubble of solar wind is now exploring a transition region known as the heliosheath. Voyager 2 has yet to pass through the solar wind termination zone.
Voyager reveals our heliosphere is bullet shaped and we are travelling in a different direction to the rest of the Milky Way.
The part of the interstellar magnetic field that comes closest to our system is not parallel to the spiraling arms of the galaxy. [report at Australia’s ABC]
The local interstellar medium is built up from material released from the stars of our galaxy. IBEX, wiki, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer is a NASA satellite that will make the first map of the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space. It is part of NASA’s Small Explorer program. The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is scheduled to be launched in June 2008.
When an F-16 lights up its afterburners,
it consumes nearly 28 gallons of fuel per minute.
Of all the fuel the United States government uses each year,
the Air Force accounts for more than half.
Campaign funds are collected through three main sources:
“…members of Congress – whatever their party –
share a special affinity for millionaires.Without them their coffers would be considerably less.”
via the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit that helps us learn what Congress is doing.
There are still 539 congressional members and delegates whose disclosure forms haven’t been scrutinized.
Want to investigate them?
Top 10 Dumbest Online Business Ideas That Made It Big Time.
“All big things in this world are done
by people who are naive
and have an idea that is obviously impossible.”
Charles Hamilton (1876–1961)
Looks like it’s actually possible.
The treatment, called low-intensity pulsed ultrasound, massages the gums to stimulate jaws, encourage growth in the roots of teeth and aid healing in dental tissue.
“If the root is broken, it can now be fixed,” said Dr. Tarak El-Bialy of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. “And because we can regrow the teeth root, a patient could have his own tooth rather than foreign objects in his mouth.”
“Bring it on :-)” says CoMags
Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips is interviewed in The Guardian about the paradox of chasing happiness and the negative effects of emotional idealism.
Phillips argues that trying to eliminate all sources of stress in your life is a pointless exercise and we should become better at tolerating difficult situations if we are to be become fully content.
I tell Phillips that at my workstation books with the word happiness in the title arrive unbidden by the hour. They include: Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness, Richard Schoch’s The Secrets of Happiness, Darrin McMahon’s The Pursuit of Happiness, Richard Layard’s Happiness: Lessons from a New Science and Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis. Do you read these books? “I’ve looked at them. They seem to me to be the problem rather than the solution.”
Phillips also gives his take on the current focus on CBT as the psychological therapy of choice and the use of psychoanalysis as a long-term therapy for people with socially turbulent modern lives.
Link to article ‘Happiness is always a delusion’ as posted at mindHacks
Measuring something as subjective as the feeling or state of happiness is a tricky business.
While some may take pleasure in closing a big financial merger, others may be content to watch a babbling brook as they sip lemonade. The BBC has never shied away from taking on such weighty matters and they have recently created this website to complement their ongoing series titled “The Happiness Formula”.
Users may wish to orient themselves to the site by viewing some of the short video clips featured on the right-hand side of the site’s homepage. The site also contains material on the relationship between economic success and overall happiness levels and the health benefits of happiness. The site is rounded out by a place where visitors can offer their own suggestions for improving happiness and another area where they can take a quiz on happiness.
via The Scout Report
The merchandizing of drugs is altering our perception of both the product and ourselves.
There’s a thought-provoking piece in the latest issue of open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine on whether antidepressants ‘correct’ a problem in the brain, or just create an altered state that may be useful for people with low-mood problems.
The paper also tackles the idea that depression is ’caused by low serotonin’ in the brain and that antidepressants ‘correct’ this problem.
The low serotonin theory of depression must rank as one of the most widely known and least supported scientific theories, as there is comparatively little evidence that backs this explanation.
via mind hacks
http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/June06ASRFeature.pdf
Who could you count on in an emergency? Do you have a network of people to talk with about relationships, family issues, and the like?
These are some of the thorny questions that some sociologists consider of the utmost importance when peering into the heart of contemporary society. According to this study, released in June 2006, Americans’ circle of close friends has shrunk rather dramatically, leaving many to wonder why this might be the case.
Researched and written by sociologists at Duke University and the University of Arizona, this provocative 23-page report compares data from 1985 and 2004 in an attempt to determine the depth and extent of social contact across a cross-section of American society.
While visitors will want to read the report in its entirety, one finding is particularly troubling: the number of people who said they had no one with whom to discuss important matters doubled to nearly 25 percent from 1985 to 2004.
via Internet Scout Project
I betcha courier firms at first, then larger systems such as UPS or FedEx, will build local quick delivery systems soon.
Though not the first, the folks at LicketyShip have the most recent update of local delivery. This concept is popping up in cities around the world.
via springwise
Offering “intelligent supercar ownership,” écurie25 [once was ] a club that gives members the right to drive fine automobiles for 30-40 days per year.
Like NetJets does for private jets, écurie25 takes care of the costs and trouble associated with outright ownership; members don’t have to worry about depreciation, insurance and servicing.
via springWise
At Mind Hacks is Born to be bad?
The latest issue of Prospect magazine features a fresh in-depth analysis of whether there is such a thing as a criminal personality.
The author David Rose of the Observer notes that contemporary politicans have tended to focus on the social causes of criminality. But he points to new research showing that genetic factors are also key, in particular he highlights research by Terrie Moffitt and colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry, including a study showing that whether childhood maltreatment leads to later increased risk of criminality depends in part on the variant of the MAOA gene that a person has. The gene codes for the enzyme monoamine oxidase A, and is involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter levels.
A person with a low activity variant of this gene who is maltreated is far more likely to develop antisocial behaviour.
Link to Prospect article (open access).
Link to the Dunedin Study.
MindHacks adds:
There’s a thought-provoking piece over at Brain Ethics about the role of genetics in violence, and particularly the role of a gene that codes for a type of monoamine oxidase enzyme involved in the breakdown of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.
It takes just a tenth of a second for people to make judgements about you based on your facial appearance.
Subjects were asked to rate attractiveness, likeability, competence, trustworthiness, and aggressiveness of faces after looking at their photos for just 100ms.
The ratings they gave the faces correlated strongly with ratings given by other students who were allowed as long as they wanted to rate the faces. The strongest correlation was for trustworthiness.
“Maybe as soon as a face is there, you know whether to trust it”, the researchers surmised.
more at psychDigest
The age-old argument over the best way to cook the perfect boiled egg could be a thing of the past thanks to a new hi-tech ink logo going on shells.
After cooking begins, an invisible, temperature-sensitive thermochromic print appears in black to indicate when an egg is soft, medium or hard-boiled.
“The Future Will Be Different! Why Study?” asks bookofjoe
“What will higher education look like in 50 years? If you weren’t in Honolulu a couple of weeks ago, you might not know. Alas, I wasn’t there either. But a glance at the panels of a conference convened there — called “The Campus of the Future” — offers a clue: College in the coming decades will have even less to do with learning than it does now.”
Even if one does not die while infected the infectious diseases take their toll and accelerate aging in a number of ways.
First off, the pathogens directly do damage to the body.
Second, the immune system’s response does damage. In the process of attacking pathogens the immune response causes collateral damage to human tissue. Chemical compounds released by immune cells do damage to our own cells.
Third, infection reduces our ability to stay nourished due to decreased appetite, diarrhea, decreased ability to do activities that bring in food, and other mechanisms.
Therefore a reduction in infectious disease exposure has reduced the rate at which our bodies accumulate damage.
Gina Kolata of the New York Times has written a great article surveying the building body of evidence which shows earlier generations got classic diseases of old age sooner and did so due to infections while very young and poorer nutrition. (and I strongly urge you to read the full article)
New research from around the world has begun to reveal a picture of humans today that is so different from what it was in the past that scientists say they are startled. Over the past 100 years, says one researcher, Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago, humans in the industrialized world have undergone “a form of evolution that is unique not only to humankind, but unique among the 7,000 or so generations of humans who have ever inhabited the earth.”
We humans alive today are physically way different on average as compared to previous generations.
In previous centuries heart disease, lung disease, and other ailments showed up decades earlier in human lives.
The biggest surprise emerging from the new studies is that many chronic ailments like heart disease, lung disease and arthritis are occurring an average of 10 to 25 years later than they used to. There is also less disability among older people today, according to a federal study that directly measures it. And that is not just because medical treatments like cataract surgery keep people functioning. Human bodies are simply not breaking down the way they did before.
What is most interesting about these results are the suspected causes: events in the womb and while still quite young can set people up for chronic diseases decades later.
The proposed reasons are as unexpected as the changes themselves. Improved medical care is only part of the explanation; studies suggest that the effects seem to have been set in motion by events early in life, even in the womb, that show up in middle and old age.
“What happens before the age of 2 has a permanent, lasting effect on your health, and that includes aging,” said Dr. David J. P. Barker, a professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Southampton in England.
But it is too late for us to go back in time and tell our mothers to avoid people with colds and flus and other infectious diseases. Our bodies are damaged even from before birth.
Excellent post from the excellent FuturePundit
Why Stomach Acid is Good For You by Wright and Lenard.
Interesting theory on stomach function, stomach acid, and the damage done by antacids and acid suppressing drugs. If you are taking Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec — you must read this book. It may or may not be right but it is a view you should understand for yourself.
The core of it is this — heartburn caused by acid reflux is actually a symptom of too little stomach acid, and the downstream effects on your helf of having too little acid and thus incorrectly digesting food are tremendous. The heavily-marketed treatment of eliminating stomach acid does more harm over your lifetime than good.
via a LittleLudwig
Also from Ludwig, which may help heartburn as well:
Brilliant articulation of how to think about the future —
A couple years ago, I was talking the Institute’s Bob Johansen about wisdom, and he explained that – to deal with an uncertain future and still move forward – they advise people to have “strong opinions, which are weakly held.”
TOURBUS Volume 12, Number 04
On with the show…
———————————————–
Dale’s Cone of Nonesense
Audience: Educators, Librarians, and Trainers
———————————————–Since many Tourbus riders are also educators or librarians, I thought
I’d don my powder blue academic hood [see http://tinyurl.com/qjubv ]
and share with you some interesting academic research. There is a
concept in education called “Dale’s Cone of Experience” that states
that people generally remember:10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
50% of what they hear and see
70% of what they say or write
90% of what they as they do a thingOften displayed graphically as a cone — see
http://teacherworld.com/dalescone.gif — Dale’s Cone has had a
profound impact on the way we teach both children and adults.And it is a complete and total fraud.
No, really. Will Thalheimer at Work-Learning Research delved into
Dale’s Cone and discovered that:1. While Edgar Dale indeed did indeed create a model of the
concreteness of various audio-visual material back in 1946,
the model contained no numbers and no research was conducted
to create the model. Dale’s Cone was just a hunch, albeit an
educated hunch, one that Dale warned shouldn’t be taken too
literally.2. The percentages — ‘people generally remember 10% of what they
read’ and so on — were most likely added to Dale’s Cone by an
employee of the Mobil Oil company in the late 1960s. These
percentages have since been discredited.You can see Thalheimer’s complete report online at
http://www.work-learning.com/chigraph.htm
It’s an eye-opening read, especially if you’re an educator, librarian
or trainer. Let me also put in a plug for Thalheimer’s blog athttp://www.willatworklearning.com/
While I’ve known about Thalheimer’s investigation into Dale’s Cone
for a couple of years now, I’ve only recently discovered his blog.
It contains a collection of “research-based commentary on learning,
performance, and the industry thereof.”
This is one even the writers of “Sex in the City” couldn’t dream up -– a map to identify neighborhoods with the most rich men. It’s real estate meets Mr. Right in the form of online “man maps.”
The maps are the brainchild of Kelly Kreth, a divorced New York City publicist who represents an online real estate firm called PropertyShark.com.
“I had asked the founder of Property Shark if he would construct a map with all his city-centric data of where all the rich single men are so I could find a date,” says Kreth.
found via snipurl.com
There are 1000s & 1000s of, I swear, perfect skipping stones in the delta bed of the Eel River.
I’m astounded. I would never have imagined anything like it. Every footstep reveals a handful of granite frisbee to spin. There can’t be another factory like it anywhere.
I’m stunned there isn’t a global championship event each year. A regional charity competition. Speaking of which, the Fortuna AutoExpo was a kick. Many many sweet rigs under the perfect coastal sun.
google offers up some fun entries with ‘perfect skipping stone‘, for instance, a physicist has answered his son’s quest for the perfect skipping stone that maximizes its number of bounces on a lake,
Mathematically speaking, the number of bounces equals
velocity squared divided by gravity and the distance.In 1992, a man in Blanco River, Texas,
set the world record for the most bounces: 38.
Update:
In 2002, Kurt “Mountain Man” Steiner took the record to 40. But in the summer of 2007, Guinness certified a new record of an outstanding 51 skips by Russell “Rock Bottom” Byars.
This study indicates that there are 35.2 million immigrants — legal and illegal — living in the US making it the largest immigrant population in US history.
The current immigration boom is two and a half times the 13.5 million immigrants in 1910.
Original story first at www.chronwatch.com
The great majority of Americans own pets.
Caring for a pet is a signature of responsibility.
Pets provide an essential part of our humanity.
I’ve travelled many places.
I’m in the north coast of California now.
This area is unique.
Most nearby landlords condemn pets.
It is only a local fashion.
And it’s a thoughtless policy.