100 Foods to Help You

GIGO...garbage in, garbage out or good in, good out. You choose.

Click on the image to expand...

Warning: Zombies Ahead

Pretty funny albeit a little bit dangerous.

From MSNBC...

Pranksters in at least three states are messing with electronic road signs meant to warn motorists of possible traffic problems by putting drivers on notice about Nazi zombies and raptors. And highway safety officials aren't amused.

The latest breach came Tuesday during the morning rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."

A day earlier in Indiana's Hamilton County, the electronic message on a board in Carmel's construction zone warned drivers of "RAPTORS AHEAD — CAUTION."
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

And signs in Austin, Texas, recently flashed: "NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!!" and "ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Pinocchio Jindal

First things first, what the hell is up with Republicans lying so much? Ok, in all fairness I shouldn't paint all Republicans with the same brush...just many of their leaders.

From TPM Muckraker...

Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?

Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true.

Jindal had described being in the office of Sheriff Harry Lee "during Katrina," and hearing him yelling into the phone at a government bureaucrat who was refusing to let him send volunteer boats out to rescue stranded storm victims, because they didn't have the necessary permits. Jindal said he told Lee, "that's ridiculous," prompting Lee to tell the bureaucrat that the rescue effort would go ahead and he or she could arrest both Lee and Jindal.

But now, a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone "days later." The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.

This is no minor difference. Jindal's presence in Lee's office during the crisis itself was a key element of the story's intended appeal, putting him at the center of the action during the maelstrom. Just as important, Jindal implied that his support for the sheriff helped ensure the rescue went ahead. But it turns out Jindal wasn't there at the key moment, and played no role in making the rescue happen.

There's a larger point here, though. The central anecdote of the GOP's prime-time response to President Obama's speech, intended to illustrate the threat of excessive government regulation, turns out to have been made up.

If you forgot about the fish tale aka lie or missed it, here it is again...

Slavery and Mistrust

A fascinating study from reseachers at Harvard and NYU that correlates mistrust in Africa with people whose ancestors were threatened by the slave trade.

From the paper's abstract...

We investigate the historical origins of mistrust within Africa. Combining contemporary household survey data with historic data on slave shipments by ethnic group, we show that individuals whose ancestors were heavily threatened by the slave trade today exhibit less trust in neighbors, family co-ethnics, and their local government.

We then show that much of the relationship between the slave trade and an individual’s level of trust today cannot be explained by the slave trade’s effect on factors external to the individual, such as domestic institutions or the legal environment. Instead, the evidence shows that a significant portion of the effects of the slave trade work through vertically transmitted factors that are internal to the individual, such as cultural norms of behavior, beliefs and values.

To read the entire paper, click here.

Uncle Sam to Aretha: "Give Up the Hat"

At the time of the Inauguration, quite a few comments were made about Aretha's hat, some snarky some complimentary. Now it seems the Smithsonian wants it forever.

From People Magazine...

Michelle Obama’s now-famous Jason Wu gown isn’t the only piece of Inaugural fashion that is headed for the Smithsonian. The museum is also requesting the now-iconic hat that Aretha Franklin wore while singing at the swearing-in.

Aretha, however, is still undecided about parting with her Luke Song-designed hat. “I am considering it. It would be hard to part with my chapeau since it was such a crowning moment in history,” says the Queen of Soul. “I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African-American history. Ten cheers for President Obama.”

If Franklin decides to donate the hat to the museum, it will become part of an exhibit of President Obama’s Inaugural display along with Michelle’s gown.

Aretha just may get away with her hat though...

Carnivorous Lamp

This is one of the more bizarre products I've seen in awhile. Although a bit morbid who can argue with light generated from dead flies.

From The Huffington Post...

The "carnivorous lamp," is designed to catch flies, feed on them and use energy generated through that to power LEDs.

Flies and moths are naturally attracted to light. This lamp shade has holes enabling access for the insects but no escape. Eventually they die and fall into the microbial fuel cell underneath. This generates the electricity to power a series of LEDs located at the bottom of the shade.

Hmmm, I'm not quite sure why someone whould have so many flies in their house to power a lamp.

This is Huge

If you're not from DC this is one of the things you probably take for granted and as such it's quite difficult to explain the magnitude of this development. If you are from DC then you know how important this is.

DC residents have been disenfranchised for centuries. It's the only place in the country where citizens pay taxes but do not have voting representation in Congress. It's a travesty that has been tied up in Republican obstructionist politics for generations.

Finally it looks like this unjust situation will soon change.

Although I don't agree with the compromise solution (giving a Republican state an extra vote) it's better than what we've been living under as stated on DC license plates "Taxation Without Representation." Unfortunately, Republicans continued to show what total jerks they can be by amending the bill with an anti-gun control amendment.

From the Washington Post...

The Senate today passed a bill that for the first time would give the District a full voting member of the House of Representatives. But senators managed to attach an amendment that would scrap most of the District's local gun-control laws.

The 61-37 vote marked the first time in 31 years that the Senate had approved a D.C. voting-rights bill.

The House is expected to approve the D.C. vote bill next week, and President Obama has indicated he will sign it into law.

Credit Crisis Visualized

Have a look...


.
(Thanks for the tip AS)

Dear Mr. President...

Barack has started a pretty nice way of staying in touch with the people and it's all contained in a purple folder.

From Jake Tapper at ABC News...

Every day President Barack Obama is handed a special purple folder. The folder contains ten letters, and every day President Obama takes time to read them.

Are they from world leaders? From members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Members of the intelligence community?

No, these letters have been culled from the thousands the White House Correspondence Office receives each day from Americans who have taken the time to sit down and write to their president.

"They help him focus on the real problems people are facing," says Axelrod. "He really a absorbs these letters, and often shares then with us."

In his first week in office, President Obama requested that he see 10 letters a day "representative of people's concerns, from people writing into the president," recalls Gibbs, "to help get him outside of the bubble, to get more than just the information you get as an elected official."

Says Axelrod, "he did it because his greatest concern is getting isolated in the White House, away from the experiences of the American people...The letters impact him greatly."

Just one more bit of evidence about how different this President is.

See Through Head

This is one bizarre fish. Kinda cute though.

From the Monterey Bay Aquarium...

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently solved the half-century-old mystery of a fish with tubular eyes and a transparent head. Ever since the "barreleye" fish Macropinna microstoma was first described in 1939, marine biologists have known that its tubular eyes are very good at collecting light. However, the eyes were believed to be fixed in place and seemed to provide only a "tunnel-vision" view of whatever was directly above the fish's head.

A new paper shows that these unusual eyes can rotate within a transparent shield that covers the fish's head. This allows the barreleye to peer up at potential prey or focus forward to see what it is eating.

Translation: those green things pointing up are the fish's eyes, the spots where the eyes would normally be are the fish's nose.

Have a look...

"Will Smith vs. Urkle"

If you saw the Republican response to Barack's speech last night then you know first hand what it's like to watch a political career spiral down the toilet bowl of history. It was so bad that a tiny piece of me felt sorry for him but then I came to my senses.

If you didn't see it, the reviews are in and they ain't pretty...

From Andrew Sullivan's Blog...

A reader writes:

Talking to a witty, politically tuned-in co-worker this morning about the speech and response last night. His summation:

"That was like watching Will Smith vs. Urkle ... Who do you think the American people are going to listen to?"

From Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight.com...

If it sounds like Jindal is targeting his speech to a room full of fourth graders, that's because he is. They might be the next people to actually vote for Republicans again.

From Comedy Central...

I personally am way more interested in Bobby Jindal's response. Because it's a lot easier to make fun of a trainwreck than to make fun of a train that pretty much arrives when you thought it would but maybe smelled a little bit like salami.

From Ezra Klein at The American Prospect...

Bobby Jindal's delivery is very strange. As if Kenneth from '30 Rock' began doing infomercials.

and if you weren't convinced that he totally stunk up the joint, Limbaugh's "best offense is a good defense" support for Jin-down will do the trick...

[T]he people on our side are really making a mistake if they go after Bobby Jindal on the basis of style. Because if you think — people on our side I’m talking to you — those of you who think Jindal was horrible, you think — in fact, I don’t ever want to hear from you ever again. … I’ve spoken to him numerous times, he’s brilliant. He’s the real deal.

Ouch.

Happy Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday...whatever it's called, it's a day that brings back lots of good memories for me.

When I was a junior in high school I had what was at that time one of the more exciting experiences of my life...going to New Orleans and helping the Zulu crewe prepare for the Mardi Gras parade.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to get an invite to be in the Carnival parade in Rio with one of the samba schools. The costume included lots of white feathers, a huge high hat, white boots, and something else related to the Norwegian flag. Of course I looked ridiculous but so did everyone else but wow did we have fun parading through the specially built samba stadium, the sambadrome, at 2am in the morning to the cheers and sreams of hundreds of thousands of people. (My cousin is there now and I'm so jealous!)

Below is AP footage from this years parade in Rio...



For more images from the BBC of this years Carnival in Rio, click here.

Natto to the Rescue

If you've never had natto all I can say is that it's an experience. Natto are soy beans that when fermented become sticky and slimy (Japanese have a thing for slimy food).

Yum, huh?

It's traditionally eaten in Japan for breakfast; however, many Japanese don't like it. Personally, I think natto's not bad.

Anyway, it seems that natto may have properties that could reverse the effects of Alzheimers.

From Wired magazine...

Natto contains an enzyme called nattokinase that can shred brain plaque, and chemists think it could become a game-changing medication.

In theory, the fermented soy substance would break up the deadly amyloid protein that forms fibrous deposits in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

"The ability of nattokinase to degrade amyloid fibrils is quite promising," says Li Gan, an Alzheimer's expert. "Since the enzyme comes from a type of health food, it might have fewer side effects."

The jury is still out on whether nattokinase will become a blockbuster Alzheimer's drug. But it is is readily available in the freezer section of Japanese markets and often served with rice, sushi or pork. So you might want to develop a taste for the unusual food. But that could take awhile.

Just in case...

...things get really bad, Clara is here to help with her lessons.

From Great Depression Cooking...

Clara is a 93 year old woman (she was 91 when these videos started) who shares her stories and wisdom from the Depression as she shows you how to make simple, inexpensive and delicious meals.

I'm not so sure about the delicious part but if she says so. Here is one charming example of Clara's videos (all of which are on YouTube).

Watch out Nigella!

So That Explains It

This doesn't quite fit my situation and I'm happy anyway. Nonetheless, I'll put it out there because it is fairly interesting.

From Psych Central...

Can Blogging Make You Happier?

According to researchers in Taiwan, the answer is “Yes.”

The researchers administered a survey to 596 college students. The students had blogging experience, and specifically with blogging for the purpose of keeping a personal journal.

The researchers found support for deeper self-disclosure from bloggers resulting in a range of better social connections. These included things such as a sense of greater social integration, which is how connected we feel to society and our own community of friends and others; an increase in social bonding (our tightly knit, intimate relationships); and social bridging — increasing our connectedness with people who might be from outside of our typical social network.

They hypothesized and found support from their data that when these kinds of social connections increase or grow deeper through blogging, a person will also feel a greater subjective sense of well-being or happiness.

The "Slumdog" Kids

If I could capture India in one thought it would be "an assault on the senses." India is a cacophony of intense sights, sounds, colors, smells, wealth and poverty all bombarding you at once.

People seem to fall into one of two camps about India, either they love it or they hate it. I love it. Yet at the same time it's one of the most heart wrenching places I've been and that's because of the impact of the severe poverty on children.

I recall one experience leaving a party for Mumbai's "who's who" that was held at the Taj Hotel (one of the two hotels attacked a few months ago), stepping out onto the sidewalk around midnight and being surrounded by children no more than five years old begging for a rupee or two.

If you've seen Slumdog Millionaire you'll know the kids that this post is about. It boggles my mind that these kids are still living in such conditions.

From The Huffington Post...

Ten-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail lives in a lean-to made of tarpaulins and blankets. Nine-year-old Rubina Ali's home is a tiny bubble-gum pink shack. A murky open sewer runs down her narrow lane.

Plucked from one of Mumbai's teeming slums to star in the Oscar-nominated hit "Slumdog Millionaire," they are India's real slumdog millionaires.

The filmmakers are helping the children, but fast discovering that good intentions and deep pockets don't guarantee success. Meanwhile, sudden fame and relative fortune are sowing resentment within the families and with neighbors, who wonder why their big-eyed boys weren't cast instead.

Have a Dirt Cookie

This is one of the saddest things I've seen in a long time.

Haiti relies heavily on food imports, but with prices soaring, some Haitians are resorting to eating mud.

The cookies — made of dirt, and a tiny bit of butter and salt — hold little nutritional value, but manage to keep Haiti’s poor alive. How, I'm not sure.

If You Saw "Milk"...

...this documentary on the life of Harvey Milk is a very good complement.

If you didn't see "Milk" this is an excellent documentary in it's own right about a sad chapter in San Francisco's as well as the Nation's history.



A postscript to the documentary and movie: There could have been more victims the day that Moscone and Milk were murdered.

From Wikipedia...

In 1998, Frank Falzon, the homicide inspector with the San Francisco police to whom White had turned himself in after the killings, said that he met White in 1984, and that at this meeting White had confessed that he had the intention to kill not only Moscone and Milk, but another supervisor, Carol Ruth Silver, and then-member of the California State Assembly (and future San Francisco Mayor) Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. as well.

Falzon quoted White as having said, "I was on a mission. I wanted four of them. Carol Ruth Silver, she was the biggest snake ... and Willie Brown, he was masterminding the whole thing." Falzon indicated that he believed White, stating, "I felt like I had been hit by a sledge-hammer ... I found out it was a premeditated murder.

Willie Brown had been meeting with Moscone and left Moscone's office by another door when Moscone was notified that Dan White was there to see him.

Pen Computer

An email has been making the rounds of the internet that contains photos of a "pen computer." The email didn't contain any additional info other than the pictures, so I did a little sleuthing.

Turns out the concept and a prototype was developed by a designer, Toru Ichihash, at NEC and was inspired by James Bond.

Don't get your hopes up about getting your hands on one of these computers anytime soon. The prototype was developed in early 2004 and it hasn't seen the light of day yet so they must have run into a snag...the battery probably.

In any event, here are a few photos of the prototype. For more info on the "pen computer" click here.

Sinnerman Birthday

Although I missed the exact date, in part because I was laid up with a cold, yesterday marked what would have been the 76th birthday of Grammy Award-nominated singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rights activist, Nina Simone.

Happy Birthday Nina...

No One to Talk To

Guess how many languages in the United States are in danger of becoming extinct.

According to UNESCO, there are 40 languages in the US that are critically endangered and have less than 10 speakers living. A total of 54 languages in the US are already extinct.

From UNESCO...

UNESCO launched the electronic version of the new edition of its Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. This interactive digital tool provides updated data about approximately 2,500 endangered languages around the world.

It enables searches according to several criteria, and ranks the 2,500 endangered languages that are listed according to five different levels of vitality: unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered and extinct.

Some of the data are especially worrying: out of the approximately 6,000 existing languages in the world, more than 200 have become extinct during the last three generations, 538 are critically endangered, 502 severely endangered, 632 definitely endangered and 607 unsafe.

For example, 199 languages have fewer than ten speakers and 178 others have 10 to 50. Among the languages that have recently become extinct, it mentions Manx (Isle of Man), which died out in 1974 when Ned Maddrell fell forever silent, Ubykh (Turkey) in 1992 with the demise of Tevfik Esenç, and Eyak (Alaska, United States of America), in 2008 with the death of Marie Smith Jones.

To explore the interactive map, click here.

An LGBT Plus for Obama

I know Obama has had his difficulties with the LGBT community but this at least is a positive change from Bush's position.

From UN Dispatch...

In late December the United Nations General Assembly held a symbolic vote on a statement calling for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality. The 13 point declaration sought "to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention."

The statement received 60 votes in support, mostly from Europe and South America.

Opposing the resolution, were the United States, the Vatican, and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Well, that was then. This is now: At the so-called "Durban Review Conference" on racism and xenophonia underway in Geneva, Europe again put forward language condemning “all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation.” According to UN Watch, "The United States took the floor in support."

Most Dangerous Country in the World

I knew things in Somalia were pretty rough, after all the Somali pirates have been getting a lot of press lately, but I had no idea that they were THAT bad.

This article from Foreign Policy is a fascinating read about a country that has devolved into utter chaos, the underlying cause of the collapse, and steps that the US has taken over the past 18 years that have been complete failures.

Here are a few excerpts but the entire article is definitely worth a read...

When you land at Mogadishu’s international airport, the first form you fill out asks for name, address, and caliber of weapon.

...Eighteen years and 14 failed attempts at a government later, the killing goes on and on and on—suicide bombs, white phosphorus bombs, beheadings, medieval-style stonings, teenage troops high on the local drug called khat blasting away at each other and anything in between.

...The whole country has become a breeding ground for warlords, pirates, kidnappers, bomb makers, fanatical Islamist insurgents, freelance gunmen, and idle, angry youth with no education and way too many bullets. There is no Green Zone here, by the way—no fortified place of last resort to run to if, God forbid, you get hurt or in trouble. In Somalia, you’re on your own. The local hospitals barely have enough gauze to treat all the wounds.

...Nearly an entire generation of Somalis has absolutely no idea what a government is or how it functions. I’ve seen this glassy-eyed generation all across the country, lounging on bullet-pocked street corners and spaced out in the back of pickup trucks, Kalashnikovs in their hands and nowhere to go. To them, law and order are thoroughly abstract concepts. To them, the only law in the land is the business end of a machine gun.

RIP Socks

In the feline/canine divide, I come out solidly in the feline camp...always have, always will.

Our cat, who brought us many smiles and a frequent early wake-up paw to my face, passed away almost a year ago at the grand age of 18. It was a very sad time for us so I understand what Betty Currie must be feeling now.

From The Huffington Post...

Socks, the White House cat during the Clinton administration has died. He was around 18.

Socks had lived with Bill Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie, in Hollywood, Md., since the Clintons left the White House in early 2001.

Currie confirmed Socks' death Friday evening and said she was "heartbroken."

Sliding House

I want one of these!

From Inhabitat...

The design of this home is so unique that, well, there is no real actual architectural term to describe it. In fact, the best way to describe it is to say that the house slides.

What appears to be house’s exterior walls and roof are actually a second skin that slides across a longitudinal axis to reveal a second facade. Sliding back and forth, the mobile exterior offers the house’s residents incredible flexibility with the look and behavior of the building.

The lighting and mood of the interior spaces can be altered with the simple movement of the exterior. The building’s architectural trick also mean the heating and cooling loads of the house can be manipulated throughout the year.

Bye Bye Silicon

Ringtone breast enhancement.

Sounds crazy huh?

This is pretty bizarre stuff and I certainly have my doubts about whether it works. The premise is that it's possible to change a person's thoughts and even physical characteristics through subliminal sounds.

Have a look and listen...there may be some unintended side effects

Spam Up, Bud Down

One pretty disgusting sign of the times and one sign that was completely unexpected.

From CNN Money...

Hormel Foods Corp. reported a higher-than-expected profit as recession-hit consumers turned to its Spam meat and Dinty Moore stew.

Hormel's canned foods "are really poised to shine in this kind of environment," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold, since they are "very affordable meal alternatives."

Uh yeah, ok. I think I'd go vegetarian first.

Now onto the unexpected from Fivethirtyeight.com...

Beer, it seems, is no longer recession proof.

The chart above details the quarterly change in alcohol purchased for home consumption dating all the way back to 1959. We can compare this against the quarterly change in real GDP.

As you can see, there has generally not been much of a relationship between alcohol purchases and changes in GDP -- the correlation is essentially zero.

But something was very, very different in the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales of alcohol for off-premises consumption were down by 9.3 percent from the previous quarter. This is absolutely unprecedented: the largest previous drop had been just 3.7 percent, between the third and fourth quarters of 1991.

Beer accounts for almost all of the decrease, with revenues off by almost 14 percent. Wine and spirits were much more stable, with sales volumes declining by 1.6 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

A Grunge Birthday

February must be the month for birthdays of musical pioneers.

Early in the month was Bob Marley, then came Dr. Dre, and today would have been the 42nd birthday of Kurt Cobain.

The early 90s was a great time for music innovation and grunge band Nirvana was right in the thick of things.

Happy Birthday Kurt...

A Thousand Words

I couldn't sleep this morning so I started watching video shorts on Vimeo and came across this little gem...

A Smokey Birthday

These birthdays are coming fast and furious but there are some that I just can't let slip by. Today marks the birthday of another master, Smokey Robinson.

I love these old videos that pop up on YouTube. I must have been about four (or younger) when the original aired so I'm sure that I never saw it but thanks to two older sisters Smokey's tunes will forever be ingrained in my head.

Happy Birthday Smokey, it doesn't get much sweeter...

Obamicon.me

Now you too can get the Shepard Fairey treatment.

Courtesy of Obamicon.me (Flash 10 install required), you can make an "Obamicon" of yourself, your pet, your child, a building, anything.

This is one of the "funner" sites I've seen in a long time.

cRaSh

There's no space in space or under the oceans either, apparently.

First the highest recorded crash in the history of earth occurs when two satellites, one Russian the other American, collide into each other in space. The Russians got the better of the Americans in this battle...the Russian satellite wasn't fuctioning.


(gotta luv the Russian news broadcast)

Then three days later its reported that two submarines, one French the other British, slam into each other "somewhere" below the Atlantic ocean.

What gives?

Solar Calls

This is just what I need when I can't find a plug nor have my adapter. I hope Blackberry gets on the solar bandwagon soon.

From Inhabitat...

Samsung has finally delivered on this promise with their brand new Blue Earth phone. Blue Earth is a gorgeous green touch phone that has a full solar panel on its back which can generate enough power to charge the phone.

Samsung is going above and beyond to achieve what they hope is the greenest phone on the market. The body of the phone is made out of recycled water bottles and has no brominated flame retardants, beryllium and phthalates - all incredibly toxic substances. That goes for the charger as well, which also meets the newer standby mode energy efficiency ratings. Granted, it is solar powered, so really, a charger?

It also includes a pedometer, and CO2 emissions calculator, and Samsung is aiming for minimal packaging made entirely from recycled paper.

A CO2 emmissions calculator? What's that?

Battle of the Bulge

Since I just mentioned odd things in Japan I might as follow-up with one.

From Business Week...

As part of a government drive to stem the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, a previously rarely mentioned disease that seems to cover everything that can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, waistlines are now being stringently monitored and, for anyone even slightly plump, acted upon.

For men 40 and over, waists must be no more than 33.5 in. Women get a bit more leeway and can swell to 35.4 in. Those exceeding the limits are given dietary guidance if they haven't lost weight within three months. Guidance includes things like agreeing to a weight-loss target and exercise program, e-mails to check on progress, and so forth.

To show they mean business, Japanese bureaucrats will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that don't hit targets. For large companies with lots of employees the fines are potentially quite large, running to millions of dollars if they miss targets.

If that all sounds a bit Big Brother, it is. For the first time, I had to give a photocopy of my medical results to the company, presumably so the government can assess our collective health. Meanwhile, after the introduction of the rules last year, companies began marketing metabo-busting products, such as government-approved teas that help burn fat.

Snake Charming Birth Right

I'm of the view that Japan is one country where I see things so far out that I could never envision seeing such things anywhere else.

India is another country in that category...where else in the world could there ever be snake charmers union?

From Agence France-Presse and the Telegraph (UK)...

An estimated 5,000 charmers from all over West Bengal took to the streets of the state capital, denouncing wildlife protection laws that proscribe the commercial use of wild animals, including performances with live snakes.

Since the laws were fully implemented in the late 1990s, the estimated 800,000 snake charmers in India say they have effectively been deprived of their livelihood while an estimated 20,000 are serving jail terms for defying the ban.

"It's our birth right to charm snakes. No can deprive us of that," said Langra Bede, 35, who has suffered two cobra bites in his charming career.

"Our forefathers charmed snakes. We grew up with this. It's basically all we know," he said.

Raktim Das, general secretary of the charmers federation, told reporters on the sidelines of the protest in Calcutta that the government should make the traditional performances legal again.

Nate Goes to the Oscars

Anyone who followed the elections closely or read my incessant election related posts this past fall is familiar with Fivethirtyeight.com and Nate Silver, the stats guy who single-handedly nailed the election results.

Now Nate has turned his prognosticative powers to the Oscars.

From New York Magazine...

Formally speaking, this required the use of statistical software and a process called logistic regression. Informally, it involved building a huge database of the past 30 years of Oscar history. Categories included genre, MPAA classification, the release date, opening-weekend box office, and whether the film won any other awards.

We also looked at whether being nominated in one category predicts success in another. For example, is someone more likely to win Best Actress if her film has also been nominated for Best Picture? (Yes!) But the greatest predictor (80 percent of what you need to know) is other awards earned that year, particularly from peers (the Directors Guild Awards, for instance, reliably foretells Best Picture).

Drumroll please...

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire..............99.0%
Milk...........................................1.0%
Frost/Nixon..............................0.0%
Benjamin Button......................0.0%
The Reader...............................0.0%

For all of Nate's logistic regression intensive predictions, click here.

Bai-Bai Dubai

If you think we've got real estate problems in the US, Dubai the land of the opulent and ostentatious is on a completely different level with their property headaches.

Dubai is on the verge of becoming an instant ruin.

From Daiji World and Smashing Telly...

"The construction and real estate industry has been hit following the global slowdown and the direct fallout is that professionals working in the realty industry are rapidly losing their jobs" said a senior media professional.

As people scramble for the exits in Dubai, there is no ‘key mail’, like in America, where people can often mail back their house keys and walk away from a mortgage without the immediate threat of jail. People are literally fleeing this place, to date leaving 3000 cars stranded at the airport with keys still in the ignition. And the reason for this is that if you default on your Dubai mortgage, you can end up in a debtors prison.

Pay to Drive

This is an interesting concept, a bit Orwellian, yet one that if implemented properly could work.

From the Huffington Post...

A tentative plan to overhaul Massachusetts' transportation system by using GPS chips to charge motorists a quarter-cent for every mile behind the wheel has angered some drivers.

"It's outrageous, it's kind of Orwellian, Big Brotherish," said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham.

The idea behind the program is simple: As cars become more fuel efficient or powered by electricity, gas tax revenues decline. Yet the cost of building and maintaining roads and bridges is increasing. A state could cover that gap by charging drivers precisely for the mileage their vehicles put on public roads.

A "Vehicle Miles Traveled" program like the one the governor may unveil this week has been tested with positive results in Oregon.

In Oregon, the state paid volunteers who let the transportation department install GPS receivers in 300 vehicles. The device did not transmit a signal _ which would allow real-time tracking of a driver's movements _ but instead passively received satellite pings telling the receiver where it was in terms of latitude and longitude coordinates.

The state used those coordinates to determine when the vehicle was driving both within Oregon and outside the state. And it measured the respective distances through a connection with the vehicle's odometer.

When a driver pulled into a predetermined service station, the pump linked electronically with the receiver, downloaded the number of miles driven in Oregon and then charged the driver a fee based on the distance. The gas tax they would have paid was reduced by the amount of the user fee. Drivers continued to be charged gas tax for miles driven outside Oregon.

A Chronic Birthday

This is one birthday that I just couldn't let slip by without a nod.

Today marks the birthday of Andre Romelle Young, musical pioneer, business executive, Grammy winner, creator of one of the best debut CDs ever (The Chronic), and also known as Dr. Dre.

Happy Birthday Dr. Dre...

You and Hubble

"Space, the final frontier...", you know the rest.

Now's your chance to take a peek at the final frontier.

From the team running the Hubble telescope...

"Hubble's Next Discovery -- You Decide" is part of the International Year of Astronomy , the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's observations. People around the world can vote to select the next object the Hubble Space Telescope will view. Choose from a list of objects Hubble has never observed before.

Click here to place your vote. My vote if for #5.

Blood Chocolate

Now that Valentine's Day is safely behind us I'll rain on the parade with a bittersweet dose of reality about chocolate.



Click here to see what is being done, or not, about child labor and chocolate.

What can you and I do as consumers? Don't stop eating chocolate but be sure to eat Fair Trade chocolate instead.

Turning the Place Over

This is an amazing art installation that was created by Richard Wilson for Liverpool’s Year as European Capital of Culture 2008.

It's been called "The most daring piece of public art ever commissioned in the UK."

You've got to see it to believe it. Take a look...



Here is an interview with Wilson about the making of "Turning the Place Over"...

Think B4 U Eat

Alhough we recently started something we call "meatless Mondays" we're not remotely close to being vegetarian. Nonetheless, I think it's good to know the consequences of our actions and to the extent possible factor those consequences into our decisions, such as eating meat.

From Scientific American...

Most of us are aware that our cars, our coal-generated electric power and even our cement factories adversely affect the environment. Until recently, however, the foods we eat had gotten a pass in the discussion. Yet according to a 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, our diets and, specifically, the meat in them cause more greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, and the like to spew into the atmosphere than either transportation or industry.

• Pound for pound, beef production generates greenhouse gases that contribute more than 13 times as much to global warming as do the gases emitted from producing chicken. For potatoes, the multiplier is 57.
• Beef consumption is rising rapidly, both as population increases and as people eat more meat.
• Producing the annual beef diet of the average American emits as much greenhouse gas as a car driven more than 1,800 miles.

Think about that the next time you decide to have a Porterhouse.

Camera Truck

A pinhole camera is perhaps the simplest kind of camera there is. You make a tiny hole in an otherwise light-sealed container, but in a sheet of film or other photo-sensitive media, point it towards what you want to photograph and let light pass through the hole for a set period of time. The reflected light will, just like the light reflected through the lens of an ordinary camera result in a photo.

By drilling a hole in its side and attaching huge sheets of photographic paper to the inside of a truck, an inventive bunch of Spaniards and Americans created a huge mobile camera truck.

The Benjamin Button of Jellyfish

This little creature can actually do more than age in reverse. In theory, it's immortal and maybe one day it'll take over the world.

From the Times Online and the Telegraph (UK)...

Turritopsis nutricula may be the world’s only “immortal” creature.

Jellyfish usually die after propagating but Turritopsis reverts to an immature stage after reaching adulthood and is capable of rejuvenating itself.

The 4-5mm diameter creature, technically known as a hydrozoan, is the only known animal that is capable of reverting to its juvenile polyp state. Theoretically, this cycle can repeat indefinitely, rendering it potentially immortal.

Marine biologists say the jellyfish numbers are rocketing because they need not die.

Dr Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute said: "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion." The jellyfish are originally from the Caribbean but have spread all over the world.

The Raincoat Market is Booming

During these dreary economic times, one market is doing quite well...condoms.

From Slate...

While car purchases plummeted and designer clothes mostly stayed on the racks, sales of condoms in the U.S. rose 5% in the fourth quarter of 2008, and 6% in January vs. the same time periods the previous year.

Why you ask? A couple possible explanations...

Theory 1: It's cheaper to stay home than to go out.

The sales bump squares solidly with one of the nation's most common trends during any recession: nesting. ... "If people don't have the money to go out to a fancy dinner or are looking to cut back, Trojan gives them some real affordable ways to stay in and make some great memories together," says Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for Trojan, the nation's No. 1 condom maker.

Theory 2: Controlling the family payroll.

"Condoms make for a relatively inexpensive form of birth control at a time many cash-strapped families are hesitant to grow," Jones observes. "Contraception may also be more popular during a time when families are stretching dollars and want to avoid having more mouths to feed."

More than likely it's a combination of the two.

Berry & Lennon

We were watching an interesting documentary the other night on Mike Douglas of all people. The documentary featured a duo between John Lennon and Chuck Berry which was great...

Duh!

No matter how many articles or studies I read about this, it still boggles my mind especially since I don't see a conflict between religion and evolution.

From Pew Research...

Recent public opinion polls indicate that challenges to Darwinian evolution have substantial support among the American people.

According to an August 2006 survey 63 percent of Americans believe that humans and other animals have either always existed in their present form or have evolved over time under the guidance of a supreme being. Only 26 percent say that life evolved solely through processes such as natural selection. A similar Pew Research Center poll, released in August 2005, found that 64 percent of Americans support teaching creationism alongside evolution in the classroom.

So if evolution is as established as the theory of gravity, why are people still arguing about it a century and a half after it was first proposed? The answer lies, in part, in the possible theological implications of evolutionary thinking. For many, the Darwinian view of life -- a panorama of brutal struggle and constant change - goes beyond contradicting the biblical creation story and conflicts with the Judeo-Christian concept of an active and loving God who cares for his creation.

Little Green Men (or Women)

Somehow I missed this when it first came out last summer.

I'm a pretty rational person (or so I think) so I'm in the camp that believes that given the size of the universe it's more of a stretch to think that we're the only intelligent beings than to believe that we're not. On the other hand, out of 488 astronauts it's not farfetched that one, two, or three astronauts may have gone off the deep end.

Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell joins the ranks of several other astronauts, including Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Gemini 5 astronaut Gordon Cooper, and Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell who have reported UFO sightings.

From a July 23, 2008 radio on Kerrang Radio (UK)...



Buzz Aldrin...



Gordon Cooper...