Violation of the Constitution

Well it appears that in North Carolina, certain political opponents of  Councilman Cecil Bothwell are trying to sue the city for accepting him for the office.

Why? Because he's an atheist.

"The question of whether or not God exists is not particularly interesting to me and it's certainly not relevant to public office" - quoth Bothwell. Bothwell won the local elections with a platform that supported limiting the height of buildings downtown and saving trees in the city center, something that obviously was of great appeal to the people down there.

When it came time for him to be sworn in, he did not place his hand on the bible but kept it at his side, and his oath did not include anything to do with "the Almighty God" as it usually does for others.

Certain conservative activists are very angry with this, citing an obscure clause of the North Carolina constitution which prohibits atheists from holding public office (which has been in place since 1868.) Now they're threatening legal action.

Bothwell is a bit amused and unsure of how he got so much attention when he hasn't even "done anything yet." He thinks it's more about them being angry that they lost the election than it is about anything else.

The best and most qualified people for the job are still the best and most qualified regardless of their religious convictions (or lack thereof.) The people elected this man, so clearly the majority did not have an issue with him being an atheist. Religion should not play a part in politics, and here in this country, we uphold the separation of church and State.

Even if Bothwell's opponents do go through with legal action, they can't win. 

For one thing, the 1st and 9th Amendments to the Constitution, yes the Constitution, prohibit this.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - First Amendment

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. - Ninth Amendment

..and Article VI, section 3 has something to say on this as well...

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. - Article VI, section 3 of the US Constitution 

North Carolina must bow to the Constitution, because it's own is in violation of Mr. Bothwell's rights, and so is every other state that has and enforces laws such as this.  (Those states being Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.)

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. - Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, article VI, paragraph 2

There you have it. North Carolina must comply. Any legal action that Bothwell's opponents take will be overruled by the 'supreme Law of the Land.' There's no way around it. 

Plus, the people voted him in, so clearly the were ready for him and did not believe that Bothwell's personal convictions about religious matters made a damned bit of difference on his ability to lead them.

Hey, if those conservatives groups out there who are angry about it want to fight against the Supreme Court, let them do it. If they think it's wrong, let them argue against it all they want. If they won't acknowledge their defeat, let them fight. They will lose, and they will bow to the master.

God wouldn't care about atheists in office, he wouldn't give a damn. If he hasn't cared about murders and tyrants in office, then destroying atheist councilmen must, frankly, be very low on his list of priorities. 

Your god is not almighty, for he is legislated by my laws, and I have decided that he has no place in them. Your god bows to the people; the people do not bow to your god.

So it is written, so shall it be done.

Amen.

Hitman Gloves

I finally got the pair of leather gloves that I've been wanting for a while now.

There are a few more kinds that I want to get, but these are fine for now.

So I saw Avatar...

This isn't going to be a professional review at all, mostly because I'm sick and really tired, but I want to get this down anyways.

...in 3D.


The visuals and effects were awesome, like candy for your eyes. Very fun, brings you into the world of Avatar. This is the movies best attribute, and it's probably going to raise the bar for what we will all expect from special effects in the future.

However the rest of the movie wasn't that extraordinary. The plot was predictable and formulaic. The dialogue was not impressive at all, and the acting wasn't anything special. The characters were also nothing special.

Dialogue was unimaginative and cliche, though I wouldn't expect anything less from the flat stock characters that were used.

At the end of the day, I didn't care about any of them. None of them were compelling in any way, and the humans were the worst. Half of them I just wanted to slap so that they would shut up once in a while.

The message was a bit preachy and sort of annoying. Technology and western civilization are again evil and their human supporters are greedy and ignorant. The primitive earth-loving/in-tune-with-nature Na'vi are pure and good, and we should all be like them. Industrialization besmirches the earth, and is a curse. We know James, we know.

So Cameron spends billions of dollars on a movie to condemn capitalism an anti-industrialization. If the message is that a simpler, more in-tune with the environment time is more desirable, isn't it a little funny that he's used so much of the very technology and system, which he condemns in this film, to make it? It's not hurting anything, but it still is ironic.  

He also sure loves literalism. The Na'vi literally connect with nature through these little white tendrils growing from their hair. The precious and hard to come by mineral that the humans are trying to mine on Pandora is called "unobtainium." The final battle is resolved through a literal deus ex machina, but you know what, that's still better than "unobtainium."
         
One thing I want to give him credit for though is the Na'vi language. He hired an actual linguist (Paul Frommer) to create a viable language for them, and if you're interested in that, you can read about some of the features of Na'vi here. 

Basically, Cameron put a lot of heart and care into the CGI....shame he didn't do so for the script and the characters.

Daguerreotypes - Inherently Creepy

Daguerreotypes were the first commercially viable forms of photography ever. That's pretty special in itself, and the creepy part comes up shortly after this.

In 1839, the process of actually taking the photograph took anywhere from 15 minutes to a full half an hour because of the exposure time. If you were insistent on a portrait at this time, you'd have to sit still for awhile. To aid in this process, they even had a special clamp for your head to hold it in place. It was attached to an adjustable machine which also had a supporting iron bar for your back.

Three years later in 1842, the exposure process could be completed from 10-60 seconds. Imagine how ticked off all the people were back then when they figured out that if they had just waited a bit longer, they wouldn't have had to wait in a stuffy studio stuck in a head clamp for half an hour.

It was now a commercially good idea to take photos of people, since they had the process down to a point where the person wasn't going to fall asleep whilst you attempted to photograph them in their antebellum best.

Now the middle class (and the wealthy, of course) could afford to have a photo taken of grandma. However photos back then were no laughing matter, and smiling and acting in a stupid frivolous manner was greatly frowned upon. Only idiots smile for no reason. This resulted in a great many of the photos coming out, well just seriously darn creepy.

Half of me wants to know what he's holding, the other half just says "no."

This handsome looking fellow is John C Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the USA, S. Carolina Senator, occupier of many other offices, and here staring at you with Eyes of Death. As I promised, he is not smiling.

This portrait is proof of the inherent creepiness of many daguerreotypes, as is the following one:

Only the gods know what terrors this man is plotting for us all.

This equally attractive photograph is that of Henry Clay, another American statesman and founder of the Whig Party, created in opposition to Andrew Jackson. In this photo, he is possibly planning his vengeance for having lost the presidential elections five times. There exist many other wonderful daguerreotypes of him, such as this one and this one here.

The trends get stranger. Photography of all ages can be creepy, however "back then", things were different. Couples could now afford take pictures of their children, alive as well as dead.

The child's first and last family photo.

Postmortem photographs were taken more than any other type of photograph during the Victorian Era, the trend was especially strong in America, where lovely Calhoun and Clay both hail from. (Coincidence? I think not.) At first it was just photos of the corpse resting on a bed or chair, but then others started to get involved. The bodies were posed with family members, or in life like situations (again, with family members.) People would be "proud" of these photos and keep them in lockets, put them on mantels, and show them around to family members and send them off as post-cards of sorts.

 

 

 

 

If you'd like to satisfy your morbid-curiosity even more, please visit this site for an extensive collection of postmortem photos from Europe and North America.

As this was happening, much photography of the living was taken when they were still, not smiling.

Daniel Webster

Now I conclude my post. And, to be fair to Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, here are some pictures of them looking a lot less evil/threatening. In all seriousness, they were two highly interesting figures from 19th century American politics, and you should check them out if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Calhoun:

Portrait of him when he 40.

Another portrait. 

Yet another one.

Looks a bit noble in this sculpture doesn't he? I rather like it....

Clay:

Portrait of him.

And another one.

Last one.

Sorry for making you click all that. Ah well, hope you'll get to sleep tonight!

All the Books on my Bookshelf!

Here's all the stuff on my bookshelf, as far as books go. Please share what's on your bookshelf next!

If anyone is wondering, I have a hundred and ninety something, and that's just in my bookcase... O_O

Literature:

A Woman of No Importance
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
All Quiet on the Western Front
An Ideal Husband
The Arabian Nights, Complete Tales
The Aspern Papers
Beowulf
Candide
Cat’s Cradle
Children of Dune
The Children of Húrin
The Complete Sophocles Translated Works
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Crime and Punishment
The Divine Comedy
Don Quixote
Dracula
Dune
Dune Messiah
The Emerald City of Oz
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Five Children and It
Flowers for Algernon
Frankenstein
The Glass Menagerie
God Emperor of Dune
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
The Handmaid’s Tale
Huckleberry Finn
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Invisible Man
The Island Of Dr. Moreau
Jane Eyre
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Little Women
The Living Reed
The Lord of the Rings, Complete Series
L’étranger
The Maltase Falcon
The Martian Chronicles
Moby Dick
The Odyssey
Out of Africa
Pride and Prejudice
The Red Badge of Courage; and Selected Short Stories
Salomé
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Shadows on the Grass
The Silmarillion
Slaughterhouse 5
Sybil
The Hobbit
The Thin Man
The Time Machine
Treasure Island
The Turn of the Screw
Two Stories
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth
The War of the Worlds

Funnies:

Apathy; And Other Small Victories
Death: A Life
Naked
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
When You Are Engulfed In Flames

History + Anthro Stuff:

A First Book of Canadian History
A Golden Age: art and society in Hungary 1896-1914
A History of Swedish Death Metal
The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft
The Bonus Army
The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
Connecting Spheres
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Greek Myths and Legends
King Arthur
Lies My Teacher Told Me
Nordic Gods and Heroes
The People of the Volcanoes
Principles and Types of Speech, Revised edition
Russian Fairy Tales
The Sagas of Icelanders
Secret Societies
Taking Sides: Western Civilization

Biographies:

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Che Guevara
Gandhi
The Great Triumvirate: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster
John C Calhoun: A Biography
The Life of Elizabeth I
Mary Queen of Scots
Nicholas and Alexandra
Queen Victoria

Science Stuff:

101 Simple Experiments with Insects
Astronomy Handbook
Chemistry 5th Edition
Forensics for Dummies
Geometry of Engineering Drawing
The Guide to Psychology
In Search Of Schrödinger’s Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality
Laboratory Experiments in Elementary Physics
The Leopard Gecko Manual
Life at Monterey Bay
Microbiology 4th Edition
Our Continent: A Natural History of North America
Principles of Anatomy and Physiology 7th Edition
Psychology
Sea Life
Thread of Life
Whispers: The Voices of Paranoia

No Idea:

Digital Photography
The Screenwriting Formula
Story Structure Architect
Stock Investing
Unix C Shell Desktop Reference

Reference:

Aquarium Fish
Birds of North America
The Encyclopedia of Fishes
Gem Trails of Southern California
Insects
Insects of the Los Angeles Basin
Library of Nations (China, France, Italy, the Soviet Union)
Nature Atlas of North America
Nolo’s Guide to California Law
The Old West (Gunfighters, Great Chiefs, Railroads, Indians, Trailblazers, Gamblers, Forty-niner’s, Frontiersman)
Rocks and Minerals
Traditional Chinese Designs
Volcanoes of the World
World Atlas


Language Stuff:

501 Spanish Verbs
Beginner’s Swedish
Berlitz German Dictionary
Japanese Grammar 2nd Edition
The Random House Dictionary
Webster’s Dictionary
Webster’s New French Dictionary
Webster’s Pocket Dictionary
Webster’s Pocket Thesaurus
Webster’s Thesaurus

Other Literature Stuff:

47
A Crack in the Line
A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Complete Series
A Single Shard
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Africa Dreams
Anne Frank
Anne Rice Stuff
The Big Empty
Bloodline
Cages
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Children of the Lamp
The City of Ember
City of the Beasts
The Code of the Woosters
The Drain Curse
Eagle Strike
Ella Enchanted
Eragon 1-3
The Far Side of Evil
Firewing
Forest of the Pygmies
The Glass Key
Harry Potter Series
Hatching Magic
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
James Herriot stuff
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
The Kite Runner
Life, the Universe, and Everything
The Light in the Forest
Memoires of a Geisha
The Midnighters, Complete Series
The Most of P. G. Wodehouse
The Oracle Prophecies, the Complete Series
The Other Side of the Mountain
Pirates, Bats, and Dragons
Point Blank
Pool
Red Harvest
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Scorpia
Shadowmancer 1-2
Silverwing
Skeleton Key
Stormbreaker
The Story Teller’s Daughter
Summer of the Monkeys
Sunwing
Tamara Pierce stuff
The Tears of the Salamander
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Things They Carried
The Tortilla Curtain
The Tower Of Shadows
Tunnel in the Sky
Wolf Moon

I have more, they're just not on my bookcase, which is about 8 feet tall....

Mexican-American War Timeline

Here I've made a quick timeline of the Mexican-American War in a nutshell, and I also mention of 1848 election just to put it into perspective.

Image from Encyclopaedia Britannica

- 1845 -
1) Texas is admitted as a state.
2) The border should be at the Nueces River, but Texans (and many Americans + Polk ) claim it should be at the Rio Grande
3) Polk sends Slidell to try and buy Texas up to the Rio Grande
3) Mexico refuses and gets angry
4) Polk sends troops down to the Nueces River to "defend" the Texans against angry Mexico

- Late 1845 into 1846 -
5) Polk lets troops go into California to assist in the Bear-Flag Revolt in which California declares itself independent from Mexico
6) Mexico gets freaked out because of the troops in California, orders them to leave

- 1846 -
8 ) Polk gets angry at Mexico for this and commands his forces to go past the Nueces and to the Rio Grande (which is Mexican/disputed territory)
9) Some Americans die
10) Polk gets angrier, says "American blood has been shed on American soil", his true motives can now be seen, there's controversy.
- many people say that Polk wasn't telling the truth because it wasn't American soil, Lincoln writes his Spot Resolution asking Polk to clarify himself on this, expresses doubt over the fact that it was in truth, American soil (which it wasn't)

- 1846 into 1847 -
11) War happens, there's more controversy,
- Thoreau refuses to pay his taxes to protest the war, gets thrown in jail and bailed out, it inspires him to write 'Civil Disobedience'
12) Wilmot's Proviso in August, more controversy
13) America wins, gets Texas set up at the boundary of the Rio Grande

- Early 1848 -
14) The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gives America Texas to the Rio, New Mexico, and California (this is the Mexican Cession)
15) Polk gets angry at his ambassador Nicholas Trist for accepting those terms, because he wanted all of Mexico
16) Many tell him what an extraordinarily bad idea that would be
- senator John C Calhoun opposes getting "all Mexico", as does Ralph Waldo Emerson and many Whigs
17) Polk gives in, abandons hopes to get all of Mexico
18) Expansion of slavery controversy happens way more now, ect....

- Later in 1848 -
19) Election of 1848
20) Zachary Taylor from the Whig Party wins.

Nykytyne2 - Suspended from Youtube

For allegedly "offensive" content, youtuber Nykytyne2 has had his account suspended for 2 weeks. Here's what he has to say:

People Are Strange

It is a refreshing thing to my mind, to know that they were just like us. Now, then, and presumably forever…(or at least for a very long while)…perhaps we were never that different, for beneath the elements of culture and language we all experience a same general spectrum of feeling; in this century as in the previous ones, it is the same. We merely express them in a different way using different words.

The words of those in times before us, times that have long passed out of common memory, seem eloquent and noble without having the archaic nature about them which would sever them off from the seemingly immediate relevant context and meaning for their readers. They are not ‘too’ far away to seem like some old relic of ages gone by, mere fantasy. They lie in the middle, between the present and the past. Transcending our here and now, but attainable for those who make an honest endeavor to reach…yet they often seem too sacred to dare approach.

Perhaps the people of the future will find our words as deep and expressive as we find those of the past. We are all expressing the same sentiments, only in a different manner and with different terms. Whether or not the manner of said expression has “fallen” in the eyes of our contemporaries is irrelevant, for it is not ‘how’ that matters, but the fact that what yearns to be expressed exists within each one of us and has existed for countless ages, and that does not change.

On a basic level, we are all the same. We just express ourselves differently; through the different modes of expression we may find everywhere our universal themes which link us all, and those are the tales that maintain a timeless quality and transcend the mode through which they are expressed to touch us all and make us understand:

They were just like us.

Nobody Hates Math

People don't hate math, because there's simply nothing to hate. People simply hate that they don't understand it or parts of it. People are frustrated with it for their own faults. Often times, there isn't anything wrong with the math. If there's an equation that's supposed to factor out perfectly but it doesn't, it's not the equations fault, it's your own. You did something wrong for it not to work, it's not the math, it's you. This is why I feel people "hate" math; there is no one to take the blame but themselves. There is nowhere to look for the mistakes but inward at yourself. People "hate" it because it shows them their own faults and there is no covering it up, there is no subjective answer, it is not open to interpretation. You and your English teacher can disagree on every aspect of English literature, and you can still get an A in the class because it's open to argument. No matter how "wrong" you may be in many situations, it can be covered up and you can always convince yourself that you were right. Math is harsh in that it is immune to this, it will flat out tell you that you are simply wrong. It will kick your ego in the face. There is no arguing with it. It doesn't care if you got X and not the true answer of Y. It doesn't care how well you "think" you understand how to solve the problem, it doesn't care how hard you studied, it doesn't care how well you can argue philosophy. If the answer is Y, and you put X, you are wrong.

Math holds up a mirror in which is reflected an expression of the truth. This mirror does not lie. When we look into mirrors, they often oblige to show us how we wish to be seen or how we feel we look. They gladly show us whatever we want the truth to be. The mirror which math holds up is cruel in that it shows us what is the truth, and when you search for it, you may not always like what you find. This mirror is held up against your answer and will show all as it truly is; it will not deceive you or succumb to your own ego's will to be correct. There is none of the subjectivity of a painting, where one can find comfort in hidden meanings and in the textures of a brush. For your comfort, math cares not. This, I feel, is why people hate it. People see in it the reflection of their own failures and struggles. They become so exasperated with this, that they come to hate the mirror altogether even though there is no logical reason for doing so.

It is not math that people hate; it is the Truth.

Pronounciation Helper - for those who have trouble with languages!

This post is dedicated to everyone and anyone who’s ever had trouble pronouncing a sound in another language.

The purpose of this post isn’t to tell you how to pronounce each and every sound on the planet, it’s to teach you methods for figuring them out.

Now…let’s think of how you first learned to articulate proper sound (saying the words correctly as they are supposed to be pronounced.) You didn’t just wake up one day when you were a child knowing how to say “consumerism”, “harbinger”, or “antithetical” perfectly. You had to try a bunch of times to get it right, and you had to experiment with different ways of making the sound before you found the right one.

When you’re learning another language, you must do this again. You must learn how to articulate the right sounds in the right place. This can be tough. If you’ve been pronouncing the letter “a” a certain few ways all your life, then one day you need to start pronouncing it in another, it’s going to be an odd thing to do for some people, but you’ll at least have a general idea of how to pronounce it. Or maybe it’s a sound that doesn’t exist in your language at all, like the “sj” in Swedish, and you have no idea where to start pronouncing it at all.

First, the key thing is to listen. Listen to the sound a lot and become familiar with it. Listen to music in the language you’re trying to learn or watch shows where people speak it. Do this a lot. The point is to get yourself more familiar with the sound so it won’t be as foreign and weird sounding to your ears. Try repeating what people say also, that will help you a lot.

The second thing is to experiment. So you can pronounce an “a” in a certain way. Good. Now think of how else you could pronounce the “a” in the way that you must for that language. Think about why the “a” in your language and the “a” in your target language sound different. Your mouth and tongue are in different positions right? It’s the same way for all sound.

So, if you’re trying to pronounce “a” in your target language using the same position of your tongue/mouth as you use for your native language, you won’t get the correct sound, right?

Now we must experiment to try and achieve our sound. Try moving your tongue around or holding your mouth open more or less. Try making different shapes with your lips, or try directing the air flow more out your nose than your throat. You can even change how you push the air out of your lungs to change the sound. Are you making the sound in your throat, at the top of your mouth, or does it come out at the very front? Maybe you could try saying two sounds at once, and that will give you your sound.
You’ve listened to the sound and are familiar with it, and hopefully now you’re experimenting with how to make it.

One thing you can do that works for some sounds, although some people may find it a bit creepy, is to look at the mouths of native speakers and see how their mouths move. It might sound odd, but it might help some people figure it out.

Basically, you must listen and experiment to make the sound.

For tonal languages, think of it like singing a song. Ever sing a some lyrics with a friend, and you end on the wrong note and your friend stares at you oddly because it was just, well, wrong? Just think of a tonal language like a song. The write tone is singing the song (your word, your meaning) correctly, get the wrong tone and you'll be singing something completely different or something that's just flat out wrong. With practice and patience, tonal systems will eventually come naturally to you. Make an effort to listen and experiment to get the right tone, and never give up!

Good luck!

Raising the Standards

The standards of education in California need to be raised.

For too many students, the goal is to leave school and get out of it, and for many in high places, the goal seems mainly just to get them in and get them out, to make sure that they can pass a minimum standard and then get out.

This "minimum standard" is pathetic. The expectations for average high school students in the state seem pitifully low, and are frankly just sad. What's even sadder is that many kids are just fine with their deplorable expectations.

School is for learning, as in, "one goes there to learn." To obtain knowledge. It should be appreciated, it is a privilege. Not everyone in the world has access to it, and even  if they do, the quality varies greatly. Many students I've met seem to be under the impression that their education is some sort of unnecessary burden forced upon them, and they take education for granted. They take all that we have accomplished with our knowledge for granted. They just don't appreciate education and gathering knowledge as they ideally should.

If we are to continue to support and build the society which we have built and which many of you couldn't live without and which many of you cherish, education, knowledge, and reasoning need to be taken more seriously. If we are to improve it, we must do this. If we are to change it, we must do this. 

Since when is 60%  considered passing? Does a 60% truly mean that you understand what you are doing and that you have a solid grasp of the material? On multiple choice tests where students have the option of guessing if they do not know the answer, this 60% might just be the result of lucky guesses whereas the student's real score if they did not guess might have been a 40%. So no, a 60% bloody well doesn't mean you understand jack.

Having a good solid grasp of something should be defined not as 60%, but more like 80%. Reasoning and problem solving should also have their bars raised. Science and logic need to be taken out of the lab and into the wider culture, into the daily lives and minds of the laymen. The standards for our children need to be raised, because they cannot support, improve, or bring glory to this country without a higher standard being set.

We need to look for more than just being "mildly proficient" at simple high school math. You should not be allowed to get away with believing in bogus science and faulty reasoning as you go about your daily life. Everyone should be literate and have an tough command of the English language, as well as command of others. No one should be able to get away with not knowing their history.

At the rate we're going, it looks like people will not be expected to know better than this.

The standards need to be set higher. The bar needs to be raised.

Merely "getting by" is not enough. We must excel and succeed.

A Simple Discussion

 I don't own this photo. It's from AlbertaCoins.com

Let's say you have a quarter, a standard quarter. You flip it up in the air, and it lands on the floor.

Irregardless of the side it lands on, is the outcome of this event (the side it lands on) truly random?

Discuss this, or think about it at least. Reach a conclusion, then apply your same conclusion to the idea of free will.

Now, think about the implications of your belief as they effect the coin and us.

Comment with your conclusions. 

Percieved Intelligence

The intelligence of men and women are equal. However perceived intelligence is quite a different thing.

Perceived intelligence, for those who don't know, is how people view themselves and how they perceive their intelligence to be. It's rather self-explanatory really...

Anyway, a recent British research report finds that men are far more likely to over-estimate their actual intelligence, and women are more likely to under-estimate their own. A large part of this is due to the male ego, and in the woman's case, it's a mixture of humbleness and the image (unconscious or not) that men put out that they are "superior."

So though the two are equal, the men's egos get in the way and they think they're just the greatest stuff on earth.

Well guess what guys?

You're not.

On a more relevant note, this has lamentably affected society into holding a general unspoken belief that among many (whether they admit or realize it or not) that men are smarter than women, when this is in reality, simply not the case.    

Large Hadron Collider sets new world record as highest energy particle accelerator

Large Hadron Collider sets new world record as highest energy particle accelerator

New Blue!

Chemists at Oregon State University have accidentally produced a new blue pigment!

Many blue pigments are expensive, poisonous, or prone to fading, but this new one seems to be very stable so far.  While these scientists were trying to create a material with "novel electronic properties," this new pigment was found.

It's fairly expensive though  because of the iridium they use to make it, and are currently experimenting with other ways to make this new brilliant blue.

Photo by Mas Subramanian of Oregon State University, I do not own it.

Keine Kinderpornografie für die Deutschen...

No child pornographie for the Germans...

...or not?

The German President Horst Köhler has refused to sign in a controversial law regarding child pornography in Germany, stating that he needed "supplementary information."

The law would ban and censure it on the internet. However, this could also block many innocent websites as well, which would end up breaching the country's Constitution. In addition to this, it could pave the way for various groups in the country to push blocking, well, whatever they feel is offensive on the web, escalating the amount of censorship and causing a significant amount of controversy.   

The law isn't going away though. Since it's already been passed by both houses of the Parliament, what Köhler has done will amount to merely stalling the law for the time being, but sooner or later, he will have to face it again.

iPhone comes to South Korea

The iPhone officially hits the market today in South Korea, two months after it was approved by the government. 65,000 people have pre-ordered the device, and many hundreds of people reportedly camped out in stadiums all night in Seoul while they waited for the shops to open so they could by it. 

Here's a commercial for the iPhone from South Korea. The biggest difference between it and commercials in the US is well, that it's in Korean.

SC-article: Blind man fitted with 'bionic' eye sees for first time in 30 years

SC-article: Blind man fitted with 'bionic' eye sees for first time in 30 years

First 'genetic map' of Han Chinese may aid search for disease susceptibility genes

First 'genetic map' of Han Chinese may aid search for disease susceptibility genes

Charter schools in L.A. area win $60-million grant -- latimes.com

Charter schools in L.A. area win $60-million grant -- latimes.com

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Three homeless men in Russia sell corpse to kabob stand

Well, parts of it anyways...

Three homeless men in Russia are suspected of brutally killing a man, chopping him up, eating some, and then selling parts of him to a local kabob restaurant.

Oddly enough, the kabob stand also made and sold pies. Connection? 

It is not known yet if the body parts where sold to any customers.

Depressed woman loses benefits because she looked "happy"

A Canadian woman with depression (yes, diagnosed and all) lost her sick-leave insurance benefits after her service found pictures of her "having fun."

The morose woman had been recommended by her doctor to take a nice and sunny vacation to try and boost her mood, and that she did. She took some photos of herself, and guess what? She was smiling in them. Ye gods! This woman actually appeared to be having a good time! Well she's obviously not depressed anymore, right?

"God forbid this man should have any happiness in his life..."

Wrong.

Her insurance company thought that those photos of her experiencing a common human emotion proved that she was no longer depressed, and therefore, there was no need for her to continue receiving benefits any longer.

This angered more than a few people, and her lawyer (and doctor) agree that the company had no right to take away her benefits, as they obviously had no idea what they were dealing with or doing.

Peruvian gang harvests human fat

If you live in Peru, you might want to cut down on those potato crisps you've been eating lately....

A certain gang in Peru has apparently been killing people and harvesting the fat off of their bodies so that they could sell it to cosmetics companies. They killed the victim, harvested the tissue in rudimentary labs, and packaged the fat in bottles and cans.

There are around 60 disappearances linked to this case. Four members of the gang have been arrested so far.   

Large Hadron Collider Gets Smashing

Before the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, can begin to unlock the mysteries of the universe -- as physicists around the world hope it will -- it has to be taken for a series of test drives. Scientists on Monday did just that, driving protons into each other at energies approaching 550 billion electron volts.

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"I'll help your child survive, -but first I need to reach level 13!"

In Nanjing's Children's Hospital in Eastern China, a one Dr. Mao Xiajun apparently decided that playing the online game Go was more important than saving the life of a dying child. According to the press, the child's mother was on her knees, crying and begging the doctor to do something, but her pleas where in vain. The child died, and the doctor was fired and had her license taken away.  

USC professor creates an entire alien language for 'Avatar'

USC professor creates an entire alien language for 'Avatar'

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The sci-fi legends who shaped today's tech | Analysis | Features | PC Pro

The sci-fi legends who shaped today's tech | Analysis | Features | PC Pro

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300% Increase in File Sharing...

....after Pirate Bay was temporarily closed down.

Apparently the courts hoped that shutting down the site would protect their precious copyrighted material, but alas, they were wrong. People took it upon themselves to make sure that others had access to the torrents, so anyone who wanted to use them or provide them could.

Honestly, did they really expect anything else?

Facebook to preserve accounts of dead members

Facebook has recently made a decision to preserve the accounts of its dead members as "memorialized accounts." Photos and wall posts will continue to be displayed, but status updates won't. Friends and family members are encouraged to fill out a form to report the death of a member.

One Little Cigarette, One Big Effect

A study presented to the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress has showed that in people aged 18-30, just one cigarette increases the stiffness of arteries by 25%. That's right, just one cigarette, even if it's your first one ever, can do this to you. This damages your arteries and puts more stress on your heart, and can lead to blood clots, a decreased amount of oxygen in the blood, plaque build up, higher blood pressure, and a stroke.

Internet Adresses to go beyond the Latin Alphabet

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (the ICANN) is getting the internet ready for web domain names in non-Latin scripts, like Chinese and Arabic. More than half the internet users in the world do not use a latin based script to write their language, so this new compatibility will help make the internet "more international."

Yahoo! - Oops!

At Yahoo's Open Hack Day in Taiwan, many happy develop and programmer attendees got more than what they came for.

Apparently, Yahoo! had hired women to give lap dances to those who wanted them, no doubt making some female coders (yes, they do exist) feel a bit awkward about the whole situation for a variety of reasons.

Photos got out on the internet, and people were understandably not too happy about it and not everyone approved. Here is Yahoo's apology statement issued by Chris Yeh of their development network:

"I wanted to acknowledge the public reaction generated by the images of female dancers at our Taiwan Open Hack Day this past weekend. 

Our hack events are designed to give developers an opportunity to learn about our ... (programming) and technologies. As many folks have rightly pointed out, the 'Hack Girls' aspect of our Taiwan Hack Day is not reflective of that spirit or purpose. And it’s certainly not the message we want to send about our values here at Yahoo! Hack Days are about making everyone feel welcome, including women coders and technologists.

[It is] regrettable and we apologize to anyone that we have offended. Rest assured, it won’t happen again."
 

Damn right it doesn't "reflect the spirit or purpose" of it. Do they really need lap dancers to encourage people to come?

This kind of stuff happens all the time though, and whether or not you hear about it is just a matter of whether or not anyone was caught.

Dutch Court Clamps Down on Pirate Bay Torrents

Today, a Dutch court ordered Pirate Bay to remove copyrighted torrents from their site and to block Dutch users from parts of the site where one can find them. Pirate Bay operators have been given 3 months to comply. If they do not, then they will be fined 5,000 euros a day, (approximately $7,5000 USD).

The court has ruled that Pirate Bay in itself does not infringe copyright, but merely facilitates it, and ruled accordingly.

Fingernail Sized Chip Could Potentially Store 1TB of Data

Engineers at North Carolina State University have created a material that could be used to create a chip capable of storing a terabyte of data. That's 250 million pages of text or 20 high-def DVDs.

To create this, they worked at the atomic level using a process called "selective doping" which is adding an impurity to a material, thereby changing its properties. In this case, they added nickel to magnesium oxide. This created clusters of nickel atoms no larger than 10 square nanometers, a 90% size reduction with what most other methods can get you.

This cannot only get us those 1TB chips the size of a fingernail, but also higher fuel economy for vehicles
and higher computer storage capacity. 

Constant Light Depresses Mice, and Us

Researches recently did an experiment that showed that mice living in a room that was lit 24 hours a day exhibited symptoms of depression. The mice who were kept on a normal light/dark cycle or with constant light but a dark tube to hide in did not experience the symptoms/as much of them as did the constant light mice.

This correlates to the increase in depressive disorders in humans as people are exposed to more light during the night that go against our natural sleep cycles.Our cycles are influenced by things like staying up at night to watch TV or going out to a lighted city, or working late...as more and more people are exposed to more light at night, depressive disorders may be more of a risk for everyone and their numbers will continue to rise.

Moral: make sure you get a good nights sleep!

Microsoft Looks to Redeem Itself with Windows 7

The latest installment of Windows 'officially' launches today with Windows 7 (ironically, the version number is 6.1), much to the joy of those whose hopes sunk with Vista and those who want an upgrade  from it, (why wouldn't they?) and those still using Windows XP, a now 8 year old OS.You can either buy the disk, or get a PC with Win7 pre-installed on it if you want.

Win7 promises to be quicker in performance than its predecessors, with speed variations varying from insignificant to a more noticeable improvement depending on your computer's setup. This includes application launch times, sleep and resume times, and boot and shutdown times.

Some features:

• ready to work on 64-bit processors
• promises to work well on multicore computers
• support for a wider variety of file types
• battery life improvements by running less background processes that aren't in use, ect...
  
• re-designed desktop and task bar with a new library of default wallpapers
• fewer "are you sure you want to..." operations require your consent so you aren't bombarded with "wait! are you sure?" messages
• compatible with touch screen PCs
• quicker detection of USB devices

Speed Limit on Computer Processors

Within this century, we may hit a limit as to how fast we can make our computer processors. As it turns out, there is a speed limit so to say on how fast a processor can possibly run, which means that Moore's Law will eventually become a thing of the past as we keep nearing that limit. Some estimates say around 75 years, others say around 20.

"Technological barriers" however could slow down the progress towards the limit, because as the components get smaller and smaller and we get into quantum computers, there are many small things that could hinder our progress, things like temperature change and little kinks in wires which could "cause havoc" to the system unlike in an electrical computer.

"Poisoned" - an exhibit of Nazi Garden Gnomes

In protest of "lingering fascist tenancies" in German and European society and to draw attention to the dangers of the far right,  German artist Ottmar Hoerl has created an exhibit consisting of 1,250 identical gnomes  all frozen in a Hitler salute. The exhibit has been shown in several European countries, and now is for the first time on public display in the Bavarian town of Straubing.

The exhibit has ignited controversy in Hoerl's native Germany,  as all symbols of/pertaining to the Third Reich, Hitler, and Nazism are illegal and have been so since the end of the second world war.


Quoth Hoerl's official site on his gnome exhibit "Poisoned" :

"...We should not turn our eyes away from the fascistic, dictatorial constant, the Fuhrer-principal: striving to oppress or control people is as dangerous now as it has ever been...."

"...The Poisoned Gnome reminds us that people can coalesce into large and dangerous groups if rituals and gestures are used that under certain conditions are more signs of contempt rather than being socially beneficial..."

"...We should cast doubts on the idea of trademarks and seductive symbols. We should think long and hard about their qualities and values. We must not let ourselves be manipulated..."

Jellyfish Caramel Candy! In Space!

No, the caramel isn't shaped like a jellyfish: it's made out of jellyfish.

Nomura's Jellyfish, which can grow up to 6 feet long and weigh 450 pounds, have been a big problem for Japanese fisherman since 2005 when ocean currents started pushing them into the Sea of Japan from the Yellow Sea and waters around China. It seems they are targeting Japan for their impending invasion.

Because of their huge size, they often tear fishermen's nets and swarms of them can cause devastation to coastlines and communities that are dependent on fishing. When caught, whether they tear the nets or not, they often end up poisoning the entire catch of fish making it useless. Not only that, but they can get sucked up into nuclear power plants as many of them use seawater to cool their reactors. Ouch.

But Japan is fighting back against these creatures! Students at Obama Fisheries Highschool have developed a caramel made from the powdered Nomura Jellyfish in an effort to turn these jellyfish into something useful, and are campaigning to have it sent into space as a snack for those aboard the International Space Station. They have also used the powder in their own brand of cookies, which fittingly have the outline of a smiling jellyfish imprinted on them.

The caramels are "described as having a sweet and salty flavour" to them. No word on how the cookies taste yet though....

Follow-up on Moon Missile Crash

On Friday, the missile was successfully crashed into the moon at the desired location.

While it was predicted that it would kick up a plume of material that would be visible from Earth, no such immediately visible plume was detected.

Equipment on Earth however did pick up information from the crash which indicated that material had in fact been kicked up and disturbed by the missile crash. This information came in the form of changes to the amount and intensity of different types of light, which can be analyzed through spectrophotometry to determine the composition of the material that was kicked up by the crash. Hopefully, traces of more water will be found.

High Rates Of Childhood Exposure To Violence And Abuse In United States, New Study Finds

High Rates Of Childhood Exposure To Violence And Abuse In United States, New Study Finds

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One More Crater on the Moon

This Friday (October 9th) at around 12:30 pm, one more crater will be added to the face of the moon.

NASA (along with other organizations) plan to launch a rocket to smash a crater in the South Pole of the moon which will propel around "350 tonnes of material" into space. The sun will shine on the matter in space, and scientists on the ground will be able to analyze its composition to see if there is ice present in it.

The collision of the rocket onto the moon won't have any negative effect on it or us, so don't worry, the oceans won't swell out of control and the moon won't spin out of orbit. These sort of collisions are happening all the time.

"Special Brain Wave Boost Slows Motion"

ScienceDaily (2009-10-05) -- Researchers have found that they can make people move in slow motion by boosting one type of brain wave. The findings offer some of the first proof that brain waves can have a direct influence on behavior.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001163607.htm

"Seven New Luminescent Mushroom Species Discovered"

ScienceDaily (2009-10-05) -- Seven new glow-in-the-dark mushroom species have been discovered, increasing the number of known luminescent fungi species from 64 to 71. The new finds include two new species named after movements in Mozart's Requiem. The discoveries also shed light on the evolution of luminescence, adding to the number of known lineages in the fungi "family tree" where luminescence has been reported.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005123045.htm#

'We can't stop here, this is bat country!' : on moderation and the American Dream in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

The last movie I saw was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which partly chronicles the search of a journalist and his attorney to find the ‘American Dream’ while on assignment in Las Vegas. For many people, the American Dream is to find, most simply, happiness. It is to find happiness, freedom, and peace in having a comfortable middle class life style where you no longer have to become the producer, but the consumer. It is a prosperous world, where your money can go to be spent on material items which can bring you further happiness. Las Vegas in Fear and Loathing represents a place where one might find the ‘American Dream’ and be able to enjoy it. It is a place where you can enjoy some of the ‘great’ things that America has to offer, and to enjoy your ‘American Dream’ fulfilled by celebrating in buying yourself more and more happiness and living in excessive amounts of everything that you want to have or experience. This is how the two protagonists in Fear and Loathing see and find the ‘American Dream’ that they were searching for; a gross celebration in excess of happiness through material indulgence viewed through the eyes of drugs which turn their thoughts “real” into frightening and fantastic visions of the ‘American Dream.’ It is shocking and quite literally inspires “fear and loathing” in the main characters and presumably in thousands of others who come to Vegas, sober or not, in search of a dream. The only difference is that the two protagonists experienced their “fear and loathing” through drugs, and the irony is that they didn’t need the drugs to experience that. The drugs merely made everything more profound and terrifying and showed them a harsher more exaggerated view of Las Vegas and what can happen to society because of that ‘American Dream;’ Las Vegas became a flashy materialistic hideaway for you to spend all your time and money on trivial and entertaining pursuits for your pleasure with little restriction as to how wild and crazy things could become. They found Vegas as the place where all the excess runoff of the successes of a thousand people’s ‘American Dreams’ had collected and became an exaggerated sort of creature full of illusions of every aspect of life, where all the proponents and seekers of said dream came to celebrate it and find a gross satisfaction that they couldn’t find in their normal lives, where all the craziness happened and the ‘American Dream’ had corrupted itself, and you didn’t need to be high like the protagonists to see it.

Even though the book on which this movie was adapted from was written in early 70’s, much of it is still true today. People still seek out their own personal ‘American Dream’ to better their lives, and it is true that for a thousand people out there, that dream must be realized in material and financial wealth. It is also true that there are those who already have it may not realize it or not see it as “enough”, and seek to experience it going through the excess, (or realize what they have always have by going through an extreme shortage of what they had.) Others will always choose to celebrate what they have by flaunting it and obtaining more. You shouldn’t live the entirety of your life in this way; it’s fine and natural to enjoy it and want to experience it, but constantly living it in can be damaging and turn into a negative experience along the way. Moderation is the key to a more stable life; you can do anything you want except take those things in excess and so prevent an imbalance that could cause you (and others) harm whether it be physical, psychological, or financial. Certain environments, like Las Vegas in Fear and Loathing, thrive and are built on overindulgence and survive because no matter how horrible or crazy it gets, people will always want more of it. It’s an environment that is created where you can find happiness in exaggeration to celebrate your dream (or realize it more clearly). Some, like the two main characters in the movie, see these types of environments as a sort of corruption of the American dream and the overall gradual sort of corruption of society itself, as an exaggeration of what already exists. In real life there are always people who are horrified by what they see as ‘stark materialism’ and ‘degradation’ of a person/society through people ‘selfishly’ following their own desires. In real life, Las Vegas can symbolize this for many people. Las Vegas is an exaggeration, people know this, and it is why many come and why many stay away. It is the celebration of excess. It can be intriguing, exciting, and fun, but it can also inspire jealousy, fear, and loathing and should be taken, as the protagonists of the film failed to do, in small doses; in moderation.

"Unambiguous" Evidence of Water on the Moon

Flowing fountains of pure and shinning water with magical healing properties have been discovered on the moon!

Joking.

But....evidence of water has been found on the moon, our best yet! Probes from India's first space mission (Chandrayaan 1) have sent back "unambiguous" evidence of water on the moon. They haven't exactly found it in complete H2O format though, just the trace signatures that water leaves behind.

The trace signatures have been found mostly near the poles in the colder areas of the moon. Scientists have already started gingerly estimating the amount of water that might be found on the moon, and some say that they might find some beneath the crust.

Needless to say, the scientific community and the Indian scientists who sent this out are rejoicing.

No New Brain Cells For You!

Or not...

One thing that your teachers and parents are always telling you is that when you're born, you've got all the brain cells you will ever have in your life, and that's it. They use this to discourage kids from things like drugs and alchohol, and to make them value what brains they have. Your mentors stand looming over you, slowly raise a finger to point at your skull, and tell you that you can do nothing but wait as all the cells in there waste away and die.

Not so!

Researches in Sweden have used the brains of cancer victims to prove that the human brain can infact regenerate nerve connections. Other science over the recent years has shown that mail songbirds loose brain cells then re-gain them next season. This research prompted others to do some delving into the secrets of the brain, and discovered that many other adult animals can also regenerate brain cells, including rats, monkeys, and tree shrews.

>See Main Article<

Facebook Pleases the Developer Gods....

Facebook has been ordered again by the developer gods to surrender their full source code to Leader Technologies over a patent infringement, and this time, they must comply. By the end of this month they have to hand over their full source code to the company, + related technical documents.

The funny part here is that Facebook actually is now releasing an open source web server called Tornado that will let developers to create apps that will allow the user to post updates in real time. It's written in Python and is designed to be able to process thousands of simultaneous connections efficiently. Basically they want to be more like the Twitter system of updates.

'Plasmobot': Scientists To Design First Robot Using Mould

'Plasmobot': Scientists To Design First Robot Using Mould

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Tumors Feel The Deadly Sting Of Nanobees

Tumors Feel The Deadly Sting Of Nanobees

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Well Ms. Xiao, your son will be an excellent manager...

....based on his DNA.

Photo from cnn.com

If your child is one of the 30 or so who happen to be going to a special 5 day camp in Chongqing province in China, they could come out with a lot more than pretty art projects and blue ribbons for sports.

Thanks to Shanghai Biochip Corp and this special camp, your child can have their DNA tested and go through a series of exercises/activities so as to help identify their gifts and talents. This program is specially designed to help identify what a child might be gifted at or have a special edge in; at the end the parents are advised on what their child may be the most successful at based on their DNA test results and the camp activities. In an ever shrinking world, competition is now international. In China, where most parents have only a single child, there is a strong competition and a drive to make their child the best and the most successful at whatever they do. The parents are often ambitious and want to give their child the best they can possibly give them, including education and a future.

The parents participating in this program as well as the program directors believe that this program can help them raise their child so as to best understand them and cultivate their natural gifts.

Some critics of this program say that it's pushing too much on kids too early, and forcing them to follow a path from childhood based on what their parents want them to be in the future is going to ruin their childhood and make for a whole lot of miserable kids.

Other critics say that this program is something of a scam, and that the parents are simply blinded into it by their desire for their child to be all that the can be no matter what it takes. These critics criticize the test based on its accuracy and how much it can actually predict, how useful it really is, and the reality behind how much certain genes really play a role in the child's life.



Personally, this reminds me a bit of Gattaca; a movie in which roles and jobs in society of the 'not too distant future' are determined largely based on your genes.

The Jamba Juice Secret Menu

The Jamba Juice Secret Menu

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"Earth's Period of Habitability Nearly Over"

On a cosmological timescale, The Earth’s period of habitability is nearly over

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Toshiba demos facial recognition system for your car

Japanese corporation Toshiba has recently demoed a facial recognition system for your car that asses your facial expressions from 8 cameras around the car, each with a different view. The system can detect tired drivers from blinking rates, and whether or not someone wants to change the radio station by assessing how many times and how they look at the radio station controller.

This technology cannot be used with sunglasses, and people with long hair might have some problems with it because the hair could get in the way of the technology. Toshiba has not released plans to commercialize this technology yet.

Sharp Creates 5 Colour Pixel HD LCD

Sharp has developed an HD LCD that uses the three regular RGB pixels as well as cyan and yellow subpixels. This, Sharp claims, will help the TV more accurately show a fuller range of colours available to the human eye; over 99% of them says Sharp. This new screen will use less backlighting as the standard 3 colour pixel LCDs do since it can show colours more accurately and doesn't need help from the screen light, and yes I know that sentence was stupidly phrased.

The prototype will go on display next week at the Society Information Display conference in San Antonio, Texas and is currently not available to the public.

Open Source Textbooks in California

In an attempt to cut out some of the education budget and save money, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed that by fall 2009, the state will be using open source math and science text books.

Warp Drive: Very Cool, Very Possible

I said possible.

That's right, a drive that allows you to move faster than the speed of light. Speeds above that which light travels at are theoretically not "possible" according to Einstein's theory of relativity, meaning that any given object can't travel above c (the speed of light). To do so it would require unlimited energy/mass. Part of some of the cool stuff we get from E = mc²

So to travel above c you would need something other than rockets propelling your spaceship...and since you can't move the actual space ship faster than light, why not just move a chunk of space-time?

Scientists have already done a few studies that suggest moving space-time might be possible, it's certainly plausible. Some have thought of harnessing dark energy, a mysterious force in the universe responsible for the universe's expansion that takes up about 74% of the universe.

Someday we may have warp drives, but then again, we may have anything in that "someday". Warp drives may not be possible, but there are many optimistic physicists out there. Even if we don't discover a way to be able to attain warp 6 or something, we will undoubtably make many discoveries a long the way.

Google Maps Tracks Swine Flu

Google Maps has a new map available to add to their glorious collection. This one is an online map which tracks confirmed cases of the swine flu, created by a biologist in Pittsburgh Henry Niman, and not by Google. (He simply used their map making tools.) This map may not be completely accurate though, as Niman gets his information from various world media which sometimes have conflicting info, and some markers on the map show a case twice.

This map may be of interest to people who'd like to see the progression of swine flu (H1N1), however for official and trustworthy information on the flu please go to the CDC site for the disease or to WHO's site.

Norway Tries Administering Final Exams via Laptop

6,000 students in Nord-Trondelag county, which lies in the middle of Norway, have been issued laptops to do their schoolwork. The laptops come with standard software like word processors and calculators, and also course specific software (like Photoshop for the media arts students.)
Now they have begun to give exams on the laptops too. (They've done this already on computers, but the administrators wanted the students to use a machine and software that they were more familiar with.) The students go to a certain website, download their exam, and do it. To prevent cheating, the laptops and the students activities on them while taking the tests on them are heavily monitored with certain sites completely blocked off. The program also acts as a keylogger (which records all the keystrokes made on a computer) and takes screenshots. This can help catch cheating so that the exam is fair for everyone, and it also can help prove to teachers that a students work is their own if suspicion otherwise arrises.

The rest of Norway is currently thinking about adopting this system, and if done, the entire country will be using laptops for tests and in schools.

Hi-Tech T-Shirts from Sweden

Swedish "hi-tech" textiles researcher Lena Berglin has developed a comfortable tank top (a long with other garments) which measure your heart, muscular activity, and breathing rate while exercising. She developed these to help normal people with their problems, like for a person who had a heart attack and wants to exercise but their fear of another heart attack prevents them from doing that.

She works creating smart-textiles that transmit an electric current through them to achieve various results, like monitoring breathing rate, sensing danger, and identifying who is calling you on your cellphone just by looking at the color your purse turns.

View the original article here for more.

Nigerian Film Industry Suffering Under Sharia Law

Film industries in Nigeria have recently been restricted and put down by Islamic Sharia law. Many of the films made in the industry there copy popular and successful forms found inindustry is based in Kano, Nigeria (which also happens to be an Islamic city who follows Sharia law.)

First there was a 6 month ban on filming absolutely anything at all because of a tape released of an actress during an "amorous" phone call. The ban has been lifted, but now they are not allowed to have any singing or dancing in their films. They are not allowed to portray anything that is outside the traditional life or that questions the traditional way of being according to Sharia and that those things are "immoral to the Hausa culture". (The Hausa people are an ethnic group found in West Africa, like Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Chad, Cameroon, and neighboring places. Their language is also called Hausa.)

Many have lost their jobs and countless productions have been halted, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in the Nigerian film industry (which in the 3rd largest in the world behind Hollywood and Bollywood.) One film producer, Iyan Tama, may even be sent to jail for supposedly releasing his film "Tsinstiya" (a Hausa langauge version of West Side Story) without it going through the censors and being approved first.

Famous Russian Ballet Dancer Ekaterina Maximova Dies at 70

The famous ballerina Ekaterina Maximova who's professional career lasted three decades in the famous Bolshoi theatre died at home last Thursday. She was 70 and working as a coach for young ballerinas for the theatre.

She mostly did classical ballet and experimented with some avant-garde ballet as well. Russian art and the world will miss her greatly.

Two American Idol Judges Considering Leaving

American Idol judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul have discussed and considered leaving the #1 rated television show once their contracts end next year.

This could mean a plummet in the amount of people viewing the show, since Simon and Paula are two of the main reasons why they watch the show in the first place. People just like watching them, they make the show interesting; Paula with her scatterbrained and loopy self and ratings and Simon with his scathing reviews that devastate hundreds of auditions goers.

Don't want to go to your high school reunion?

No problem. Do what Andrea Wachner did.

Andrea's memories of high school are full of contempt for the place, and she really didn't want to go. So she decided to do something funny with the situation. She hired a stripper to go in her place, making for some very interesting/funny situations. Some people weren't fooled, but many were. Andrea wanted to see how everyone would react to see that she had changed from a "drama geek" into an exotic dancer.

The promo video for her little exploit can be viewed here on Youtube.

Twitter with your Brain

On April 15th, the first Twitter messages ever to be sent through the power and will of someone's brain were posted.

Adam Wilson and his lab have created a device that you hook up to your head to communicate messages via computer screen. You focus on a letter/symbol on the screen, and the device can detect which one you are focusing on, and brings up the letter. Then you focus on the next letter, and so on.

This could be used to allow people to communicate who for some reason can't.

Russian Artist Wants to Make Oil from Corpses

Andrei Molodkin is a Russian artist obsessed with oil; when he was in the Russian military he would work with in and eat oil spread on bread as a sort of drug. He sees many problems in the world today and in Russia as being connected to oil, he sees oil as the blood of Russia, and oil corrupts.

He is also obsessed with ball point pens, which he would draw with extensively during his military time and still does today. For him, ink is the life of the pen. When you use up all the ink, you have killed the pen.

According to Andrei, if ink is the blood of the pen, and oil is the blood of Russia, then ink and blood are the same. You use the pen for ink so you can make your letters and drawings, and you exploit people for the sake of oil.

He uses oil and ink already extensively in his works, and wants to start using oil/blood from human bodies in his projects as well. If oil is blood, and human bodies (and their blood, naturally) can break down into actual oil, then it is the same for Andrei. He feels that bodies into oil would just be speeding up the process. If beer and vodka come from organic sources with chemical alterations to get them there says Andrei, then why can't he do it with humans?

He already has some volunteers to be turned to oil after they die, including a BBC reporter and a French adult film star.

Andrei Molodkin is mostly known for his 3-D sculpters inside acrylic plocks pumped with Chechen and Iraqi oil.