Results of a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences find that microscopic particles of dust can break apart …
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Broken glass yields clues to climate change
Clues to future climate may be found in the way an ordinary drinking glass shatters.
Secrets of an ancient Tel Aviv fortress revealed
Tel Qudadi, an ancient fortress located in the heart of Tel Aviv at the mouth of the Yarkon River, was first excavated more than 70 years ago ― but the final results of neither the excavations nor the finds were ever published.
Pamukkale
Turkey's Cotton Castle
In Turkish the name literally means Cotton Castle and it is easy to see why it was given that name. Yet this geological wonder is also the site of the ancient city of Hierapolis and over the centuries the two have seemed to come together, merged almost, into one. In fact some of the old tombs in the city's necropolis have beome part of landscape.
The site itself is a series of travertines and hot springs. The travertines here have a concentric appearance and are almost sheer white giving the area an ethereal, other worldly appearance. The hot springs precipitate calcium carbonate at their mouths and produce the strange almost organic looking structures.
Shingles
Have you noticed that more doctors are running their practices like an assembly line?One fella walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. He said, "Shingles."
So she took down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.
Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked him what he had. He said, "Shingles."
So she took down his height, weight, a complete medical history, and told him to wait in an examining room.
A half hour later a nurse came in and asked him what he had. He said "Shingles."
So she gave him a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, told him to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.
An hour later the doctor came in and asked him what he had. He said, "Shingles."
The doctor said, "Where?"
He said, "Outside in the truck. Where do you want them?"
Universal Truths
1) Triangular sandwiches taste better than square ones.2) At the end of every party there is always a girl crying.
3) One of the most awkward things that can happen in a pub is when your pint-to-toilet cycle gets synchronized with a complete stranger.
4) You've never quite sure whether it's OK to eat green crisps.
5) Everyone who grew up in the 80's has entered the digits 55378008 into a calculator.
6) Reading when you're drunk is horrible.
7) Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly.
8) You're never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden.
10) Nobody ever dares make cup-a-soup in a bowl.
11) You never know where to look when eating a banana.
12) Its impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat.
13) Prodding a fire with a stick makes you feel manly.
14) Rummaging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball.
15) You always feel a bit scared when stroking horses.
16) Everyone always remembers the day a dog ran into your school.
17) The most embarrassing thing you can do as schoolchild is to call your teacher mum or dad.
18) The smaller the monkey the more it looks like it would kill you at the
first given opportunity.
19) Some days you see lots of people on crutches.
20) Every bloke has at some stage while taking a pee flushed half way through and then raced against the flush.
21) Old women with mobile phones look wrong!
22) Its impossible to look cool whilst picking up a Frisbee.
23) Driving through a tunnel makes you feel excited.
24) You never ever run out of salt.
25) Old ladies can eat more than you think.
26) You can't respect a man who carries a dog.
27) There's no panic like the panic you momentarily feel when you've got your hand or head stuck in something.
28) No one knows the origins of their metal coat hangers.
29) Despite constant warning, you have never met anybody who has had their arm broken by a swan.
30) The most painful household incident is wearing socks and stepping on an upturned plug.
31) People who don't drive slam car doors too hard
32) You've turned into your dad the day you put aside a thin piece of wood specifically to stir paint with.
33) Everyone had an uncle who tried to steal their nose.
34) Bricks are horrible to carry.
35) In every plate of chips there is a bad chip.
False Hope Syndrome
Why New Year Resolutions Fail
Did you make a New Year’s resolution this year? Many people did, but – here’s the bad news – despite their best effort, most will utterly fail. Why are New Year’s resolutions so hard to keep? You can blame the False Hope Syndrome, the unrealistic expectation of self-change:As many as 90 percent of attempts at change fail, yet New Year’s resolvers are undeterred. In a 2002 report in the journal American Psychologist, University of Toronto researcher Janet Polivy and a colleague came up with a name for this "cycle of failure and renewed effort": the False Hope syndrome.For example, take the perenial New Year’s resolution for millions, dieting. Instead of resolving to lose weight this year, perhaps the trick is to keep a food journal instead:
The False Hope syndrome may be particularly common among those who resolve to lose weight, Polivy said. And the chief cause is a combination of unrealistic goals and a misunderstanding of our own behavior.
For example, dieters may chastise themselves for eating a few Oreos and feel sad about it. But this only increases their likelihood of emotional overeating. Jotting down a few notes about the sweet snack, however, allows you to be more realistic. By writing, "A couple of cookies isn’t so bad," you can prevent feelings of failure and the desire to give up, Mosunic said.
Caitlin Mason, an exercise and health researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said a food journal also reinforces what you’re doing right.
"It can help you see the positive changes you’ve made," Mason said, "and help you identify what triggers might be holding you back from your goals."
The crock that is our healthcare system
Doctors who seriously care about patients in pain are risking prison.
Why Our Body Temperature is 98.6 °F
The Perfect Balance Between Fighting Fungal Infections and Eating All The Time
Ever wonder why our body temperature is 98.6 °F (37 °C)? Scientists at Yeshiva University discovered the answer.Turns out that our normal body temperature is the perfect balance of being warm enough to ward off fungal infection but not so hot that we need to eat all the time to maintain metabolism:
"One of the mysteries about humans and other advanced mammals has been why they are so hot compared with other animals," said study co-author Arturo Casadevall, [...] "This study helps to explain why mammalian temperatures are all around 37° C."
The research builds upon earlier work by Dr. Casadevall showing that the number of fungal species that can thrive and therefore infect an animal declines by 6 percent for every 1° C rise in temperature. This means that tens of thousands of fungal species infect reptiles, amphibians and other cold-blooded animals, but only a few hundred harm mammals. Such protection against fungal infection, Dr. Casadevall has speculated, could have been crucial for the triumph of mammals following the age of dinosaurs.
Extreme Close-Ups of the Human Eye
Suren Manvelyan is a photographer and physics teacher. He’s created a series of detailed images of the human eye called “Your Beautiful Eyes”:
The 34-year-old from Yerevan, Armenia, explains: ‘It is quite natural when you shoot macro shots of insects and plants, but to try to make a picture of the eye? I did not expect these results.
‘I was not aware they are of such complicated appearance. Everyday we see hundreds of eyes but do not even suspect they have such beautiful structure, like surfaces of unknown planets.’
Wikimedia Commons Pictures Of The Year
Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It's a project of the Wikimedia Foundation, from which uploaded files can be used across all Wikimedia projects. The repository contains over seven million media files.
According to Wikimedia Commons, 'The Commons Picture of the Year' is a competition that was first run in 2006. It aims to identify the best freely-licensed images from those that during the year have been awarded Featured picture status. Here are 23 of the best winners from the Creative Commons Pictures of the Year competition.
Secret to birds' first flights
Scientists believe they've uncovered a link to why some creatures were able to take to the air.
Also: Rare 'panda cow' born in northern Colorado
A rare miniature cow with markings similar to a panda bear was born on a farm in northern Colorado.
Bull Escapes While Being Transported to Slaughter
Photo: Tony the Misfit
A 900 pound bull just disappeared according to a story in the Daily Item. The bull was being transported to slaughter when the massive creature escaped and led authorities on an hour long chase along a highway near Danville, Va.Article continues: 900 Pound Bull Escapes While Being Transported to Slaughter
More Than 1,000 Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Arkansas
Wildlife officials are trying to determine what caused more than 1,000 blackbirds to die and fall from the sky over an Arkansas town.
Scientists Created Singing Mouse.
No, Seriously, Folks.
A team of researchers at the University of Osaka created the animal in their "Evolved Mouse Project", in which they use genetically modified mice that are prone to miscopying DNA and thus to mutations.Disney, understandably, should be worried:
"Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen," lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura told AFP.
"We checked the newly born mice one by one… One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird," he said, noting that the "singing mouse" was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future generations.
"I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different in physical shape," he said by telephone, adding that in fact the project had also produced "a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund".
Uchimura dreams of further "evolution" of mice through genetic engineering.
"I know it’s a long shot and people would say it’s ‘too absurd’… but I’m doing this with hopes of making a Mickey Mouse some day," he said.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:After a nice long slumber, some of your biggest insecurities are starting to wake up and look around -- don't be surprised if you suddenly feel a twinge of doubt about an upcoming meeting, confrontation or date.
But this is a clear case of letting your fear drive the rest of your brain in the wrong direction.
This is your best chance at turning this stinking thinking around, so keep chugging along in a brighter direction, and remind yourself that you totally rock (because you do).
Some of our readers today have been in:
Madrid, Madrid,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Basel, Basel Stadt, Switzerland
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Seoul, Kyonggi-Do, Korea
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
London, England, United Kingdom
Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands
Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
as well as Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland and in cities across the United States such as Jefferson, City, Scarsdale, Markham, Las Vegas and more.
Today is:
Today is Saturday, January 1, the 1st day of 2011.
There are 364 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
"Z" Day.
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
President Obama's Weekly Address
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
January 1, 2011
Weekly Address
The White House
January 1, 2011
At the start of 2011, we’re still just emerging from a once-in-a-lifetime recession that’s taken a terrible toll on millions of families. We all have friends and neighbors trying to get their lives back on track.
We are, however, riding a few months of economic news that suggests our recovery is gaining traction. And our most important task now is to keep that recovery going. As President, that’s my commitment to you: to do everything I can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening our middle class. That’s my resolution for the coming year.
Still, even as we work to boost our economy in the short-term, it’s time to make some serious decisions about how to keep our economy strong, growing, and competitive in the long run. We have to look ahead – not just to this year, but to the next 10 years, and the next 20 years. Where will new innovations come from? How will we attract the companies of tomorrow to set up shop and create jobs in our communities? What will it take to get those jobs? What will it take to out-compete other countries around the world? What will it take to see the American Dream come true for our children and grandchildren?
Our parents and grandparents asked themselves those questions. And because they had the courage to answer them, we’ve had the good fortune to grow up in the greatest nation on Earth.
Now it’s our turn to think about the future. In a few days, a new Congress will form, with one house controlled by Democrats, and one house controlled by Republicans – who now have a shared responsibility to move this country forward. And here’s what I want you to know: I’m willing to work with anyone of either party who’s got a good idea and the commitment to see it through. And we should all expect you to hold us accountable for our progress or our failure to deliver.
As I’ve said since I first ran for this office, solving our challenges won’t be quick or easy. We have come through a difficult decade; one of new threats and new trials we didn’t expect when it began. But a new year and a new decade stretch out before us. And if we just remember what America is capable of, and live up to that legacy, then I’m confident that we are poised for a period of progress – one in which our economy is growing, our standing in the world is rising, and we do what it takes to make sure America remains in the 21st century what it was in the 20th: the greatest country in the world.
Thanks for listening. And Happy New Year.
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