Saturday, September 11, 2010
Agents seize 14 giant snails at airport
Leopard born without spots
An extremely rare Amur black leopard cub is on display at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany.
It weighs nearly 9 pounds and is 24 inches long. The cub was born on June 13 together with a twin sister.
Park keepers said the cub was being hand reared after being rejected by his spotted siblings.
Amur leopards are critically endangered with just over 200 in captivity worldwide and only around 30 left in the wild. Black Amur leopards are even rarer.
You can see video of the cub making friends with a rabbit here.
It weighs nearly 9 pounds and is 24 inches long. The cub was born on June 13 together with a twin sister.
Park keepers said the cub was being hand reared after being rejected by his spotted siblings.
Amur leopards are critically endangered with just over 200 in captivity worldwide and only around 30 left in the wild. Black Amur leopards are even rarer.
You can see video of the cub making friends with a rabbit here.
Ten Parasites That Turn Their Hosts Into Zombies
If you want to catch Mother Nature at her best (and if by best you mean bizarre or darned scary), then look no further than how parasites hijack the biology of their hosts.
Take, for instance, the pseudacteon:
Though related to the harmless fruit flies breeding in the world’s neglected fruit bowls, Pseudacteon flies have a far more sinister appetite. The female lays her egg in the body of a living ant, and the tiny maggot will eventually move into the ant’s head to devour its brain. This won’t kill the victim, but will cause the ant’s (technically dead) body to wander aimlessly for days on end, until the ant’s head simply drops off from its body. The maggot will use the severed head as a pupation chamber, transforming into a new fly and finding itself a mate.Gruesome, eh? Here are 9 more zombie parasites over at Top Tenz.
Walden Pond's mysterious new residents
Thousands of tiny creatures crop up in the iconic lake, puzzling scientists.
Also: One Third Of Freshwater Turtle Species Now Face Extinction
Photo via Pandiyan, Flickr
Conservation International has released a new report that spells out a bleak future for the world's freshwater turtles: A full 1/3 of the 280 known species currently face extinction. Evidently, a lucrative pet trade, hunting of turtles for food, and habitat loss are the key contributors to turtles' "catastrophic decline". The good news --what little there is, anyway -- is that the rapid decline can yet be turned around with some key action.Article continues: 1/3 of Freshwater Turtle Species Now Face Extinction
Five Important Fifties Events Nobody Noticed in the Fifties
Some of the most important events can slip past us because we don’t know how important they are until much later. You know about Sputnik, Elvis, and Rosa Parks, but did you know that The Pill was developed in the ’50s?You probably think that – along with Twister and concept albums – the oral contraceptive pill was one of the great inventions of the swinging sixties. In fact, it was a product of the more famously staid and conservative fifties. Developed by a team of biologists led by Gregory Pincus, it was first tested in Puerto Rico April 1956. The Food and Drug Administration did not approve the marketing of the pill until 1960, just in time for it to be a symbol of sixties freedom.Read about four other events that also turned out to be very newsworthy …much later.
Eight things you don't know about dreams
Your first dream each night lasts about 5 minutes; the final one can take an hour.
Also: Team Claims Record-breaking Pumpkin Launch in Utah
While I'd not call this a sport personally ... their ability to hurl a gourd over a mile is not too shabby.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:You may have a long-distance friend or lover on your mind, but your heart is urging you to get out there and mingle right now -- with folks who are right around the corner.
Nobody's telling you to actually 'love the one you're with,' but having some fun with them certainly can't hurt.
You're in a playful mood, and someone new and interesting doesn't come along every day.
Get dressed and get out there.
Guilt-free!
Some of our readers today have been in:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
London, England, United Kingdom
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Swindon, England, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia
Toulouse, Midi-Pyrenees, France
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Arnheim, Gelderland, Netherlands
as well as Philippines, Slovakia and in cities across the United States such as Killeen, Salem, Queen Creek, Chicago and more.
Today is:
Today is Friday, September 10, the 253rd day of 2010.
There are 112 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Swap Ideas Day
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
B.C.
Just some light blogging today.
It's been a wild ride and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.
NFL players' oddly timed statement
The Saints and Vikings come together before the season's first game to protest against the league.
Also: 
Ganja yoga combines marijuana and meditation
Following on the barefoot heels of hot yoga, circus yoga and hip hop yoga, cannabis-enhanced classes offer a way to cut through inhibitions. They chat away breezily between vaporizer tokes, sometimes veering off into conspiracy theories about the government or discussions of the healthiest way to smoke marijuana. Then the 12 yoga lovers extend their arms and breathe deeply. Yoga mats cover the floor. A guitarist strums chords as incense weaves its tendrils across the room. As the light haze of pot smoke dissipates in the downtown Toronto living room, the ganja yoga session begins. “When you’re high, you can focus better on your breath,” says Dee Dussault, who runs a monthly session of “cannabis-enhanced yoga” at her home dubbed Follow Your Bliss.
She says smoking marijuana in small doses before a yoga class also makes students more receptive to the poses and philosophies behind the activities. “For some people, it makes them uninhibited and open to the idea of the heart chakra, for example.” Heart chakras aside, ganja yoga has the THC whiff of being the latest yoga fad, following on the heels of hot yoga, circus yoga, pre- and postnatal yoga, acro yoga (acrobatics), even hip-hop yoga. While cannabis has been deeply entwined with spiritualism over the centuries, some yoga practitioners say that a pure body is ideal for the exercise and that smoking pot could cause an unwieldy imbalance. As one online-forum commenter opined: “Why should we try to purify our body and soul through yoga if we later intoxicate it again with marijuana or other substances?”
But Dan Skye, senior editor at New York-based High Times magazine, which tracks marijuana trends, disagrees with yoga purists who believe getting high before a class is detrimental. “Pot is changing medicine; it’s changing recreational habits,” he says. The latest research seems to back up his claim: A recent McGill University study found that cannabis helped alleviate chronic neuropathic pain. Ms. Dussault remains unfazed. For the past year, she has run ganja yoga out of her home studio as well as at the Hot Box Café in Toronto’s Kensington Market. The class takes place on the last Friday of the month, after work, and she charges $15 for each session. Often, she invites a musician to play some relaxing tunes during the 90 minutes, and she gives out munchies – fruits, nuts, tea – after the class.
Because Ms. Dussault publicizes ganja yoga openly, there is the question of legal repercussions. But she’s quick to say, “No, I’ve never been worried about cops. I think they have bigger fish to fry.” Among the ground rules at the studio, participants must bring their own pot – and there’s no dealing or mooching. And she makes a point of meeting students before the session “to determine if they want to come just to get stoned.” Ms. Dussault also encourages participants to fine-tune their yoga skills before embracing ganja yoga. She wants to ensure that people “first experience the true teachings of yoga” and then try ganja yoga to enjoy a different yoga flavour.
She says smoking marijuana in small doses before a yoga class also makes students more receptive to the poses and philosophies behind the activities. “For some people, it makes them uninhibited and open to the idea of the heart chakra, for example.” Heart chakras aside, ganja yoga has the THC whiff of being the latest yoga fad, following on the heels of hot yoga, circus yoga, pre- and postnatal yoga, acro yoga (acrobatics), even hip-hop yoga. While cannabis has been deeply entwined with spiritualism over the centuries, some yoga practitioners say that a pure body is ideal for the exercise and that smoking pot could cause an unwieldy imbalance. As one online-forum commenter opined: “Why should we try to purify our body and soul through yoga if we later intoxicate it again with marijuana or other substances?”
But Dan Skye, senior editor at New York-based High Times magazine, which tracks marijuana trends, disagrees with yoga purists who believe getting high before a class is detrimental. “Pot is changing medicine; it’s changing recreational habits,” he says. The latest research seems to back up his claim: A recent McGill University study found that cannabis helped alleviate chronic neuropathic pain. Ms. Dussault remains unfazed. For the past year, she has run ganja yoga out of her home studio as well as at the Hot Box Café in Toronto’s Kensington Market. The class takes place on the last Friday of the month, after work, and she charges $15 for each session. Often, she invites a musician to play some relaxing tunes during the 90 minutes, and she gives out munchies – fruits, nuts, tea – after the class.
Because Ms. Dussault publicizes ganja yoga openly, there is the question of legal repercussions. But she’s quick to say, “No, I’ve never been worried about cops. I think they have bigger fish to fry.” Among the ground rules at the studio, participants must bring their own pot – and there’s no dealing or mooching. And she makes a point of meeting students before the session “to determine if they want to come just to get stoned.” Ms. Dussault also encourages participants to fine-tune their yoga skills before embracing ganja yoga. She wants to ensure that people “first experience the true teachings of yoga” and then try ganja yoga to enjoy a different yoga flavour.
Music on prescription could alleviate illness
Patients with pain or depression could be prescribed specific kinds of music to help alleviate their symptoms as a result of new research. Scientists at Glasgow Caledonian University are using sound engineering and psychology to see how music can convey emotion and regulate mood. The researchers hope to discover how music therapy can be tailored to individual patients to tackle conditions such as depressive illnesses. They will analyze melodic range, lyrics, rhythm and pitch in different compositions.
Dr Don Knox, an audio engineer and leader of the project, said: “The impact of a piece of music on a person goes so much further than thinking that a fast tempo can lift a mood and a slow one can bring it down.” He added: “Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors. These include the tone, structure and other technical characteristics of a piece. Lyrics can have a big impact too. But so can purely subjective factors: where or when you first heard it, whether you associate it with happy or sad events and so on. Our project is the first step towards taking all of these considerations – and the way they interact with each other – on board.”
The team has already carried out detailed audio analysis of digital recordings of music identified as expressing a range of emotions by a panel of volunteers. They hope to develop a mathematical model that explains music's ability to communicate different emotions, and develop a computer program that could identify the best music to help patients. Dr Knox added: “By making it possible to search for music and organize collections according to emotional content, such programs could fundamentally change the way we interact with music.
“Some online music stores already tag music according to whether a piece is ‘happy’ or ‘sad’. Our project is refining this approach and giving it a firm scientific foundation, unlocking all kinds of possibilities and opportunities as a result”. More than one in seven people suffer a bout of severe depression at some point in their lives, according to the NHS. The three-year project, supported with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is due for completion later this year.
Dr Don Knox, an audio engineer and leader of the project, said: “The impact of a piece of music on a person goes so much further than thinking that a fast tempo can lift a mood and a slow one can bring it down.” He added: “Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors. These include the tone, structure and other technical characteristics of a piece. Lyrics can have a big impact too. But so can purely subjective factors: where or when you first heard it, whether you associate it with happy or sad events and so on. Our project is the first step towards taking all of these considerations – and the way they interact with each other – on board.”
The team has already carried out detailed audio analysis of digital recordings of music identified as expressing a range of emotions by a panel of volunteers. They hope to develop a mathematical model that explains music's ability to communicate different emotions, and develop a computer program that could identify the best music to help patients. Dr Knox added: “By making it possible to search for music and organize collections according to emotional content, such programs could fundamentally change the way we interact with music.
“Some online music stores already tag music according to whether a piece is ‘happy’ or ‘sad’. Our project is refining this approach and giving it a firm scientific foundation, unlocking all kinds of possibilities and opportunities as a result”. More than one in seven people suffer a bout of severe depression at some point in their lives, according to the NHS. The three-year project, supported with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is due for completion later this year.
The secret history of 'Teen Spirit'
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released 19 years ago, spawning a strange video.
Also: 
Ferrari's outrageous 599XX
The $1.8 million car reaches 62 mph in 2.9 seconds and is packed with new technology.
Also: Chinese woman sues cinema for boring her with ads
China may not have quite the reputation for litigious eccentricity enjoyed by the US, but that may change with the news that a Beijing woman is suing a local cinema for wasting her time.
Chen Xiaomei claims she was unreasonably treated by the cinema's owners and the distributors of the film she went to see, because she was not warned there would be 20 minutes of adverts prior to the screening of the main feature. She is demanding a full refund (35 yuan, £3.35), an extra 35 yuan in compensation for emotional damages and a written apology.
In addition, Xiaomei is calling for the Polybona International cinema in the northern city of Xian to publish the length of advertisements on its website, in the lobby or on its customer hotline. In total, they should be less than five minutes, she says.
Xiaomei's case has been accepted by the People's Court in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province. The film she went to see, Aftershock, has become the highest-grossing domestic film of all time in China, earning 650m yuan. Directed by Feng Xiaogang, it tells the story of a mother's emotional reunion with her daughter, three decades after a 1976 earthquake devastated the Chinese city of Tangshan, killing more than 240,000 people. It is not known when the case will be heard.
Chen Xiaomei claims she was unreasonably treated by the cinema's owners and the distributors of the film she went to see, because she was not warned there would be 20 minutes of adverts prior to the screening of the main feature. She is demanding a full refund (35 yuan, £3.35), an extra 35 yuan in compensation for emotional damages and a written apology.
In addition, Xiaomei is calling for the Polybona International cinema in the northern city of Xian to publish the length of advertisements on its website, in the lobby or on its customer hotline. In total, they should be less than five minutes, she says.
Xiaomei's case has been accepted by the People's Court in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province. The film she went to see, Aftershock, has become the highest-grossing domestic film of all time in China, earning 650m yuan. Directed by Feng Xiaogang, it tells the story of a mother's emotional reunion with her daughter, three decades after a 1976 earthquake devastated the Chinese city of Tangshan, killing more than 240,000 people. It is not known when the case will be heard.
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