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…But Are They People? “As a population of West African chimpanzees dwindles to critically endangered levels, scientists are calling for a definition of personhood that includes our close evolutionary cousins.” (Wired)
Daily Archives: 18 Oct 08
Airport security theater Burlesque
Via kottke: “We took our shoes off and placed our laptops in bins. Schneier took from his bag a 12-ounce container labeled ‘saline solution.’
‘It’s allowed,’ he said. Medical supplies, such as saline solution for contact-lens cleaning, don’t fall under the TSA‘s three-ounce rule.
‘What’s allowed?’ I asked. ‘Saline solution, or bottles labeled saline solution?’
‘Bottles labeled saline solution. They won’t check what’s in it, trust me.'”
Read the entire thing; very funny, if it were not so sad… (thanks, walker)
Related
- Is that Lithium in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Excited to See Me? (paul.kedrosky.com)
- Travel And Contact Lenses (ArticlesBase)
Forget impeachment
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Try Bush for murder: Charlotte Dennett is running for Attorney General of the State of Vermont.
If she wins, she will use her office to indict George Bush for the murder of the citizens of Vermont who were killed in his fraudulent war.
You can support her efforts here.” (Current)
Amazon tribe’s protest shuts down dam site
![//www.survival-international.org/lib/img/gallery/Image_Galleries/enawenenawe/news/BRAZ-NAWE-FW-2005-13_news.jpg' cannot be displayed]](http://www.survival-international.org/lib/img/gallery/Image_Galleries/enawenenawe/news/BRAZ-NAWE-FW-2005-13_news.jpg "Enawene Nawe boys")
“Indians from the Enawene Nawe tribe in the Brazilian Amazon occupied and shut down the site of a huge hydroelectric dam on Saturday, destroying equipment, in an attempt to save the river that runs through their land.
The Enawene Nawe say the 77 dams to be built on the River Juruena will pollute the water and stop the fish reaching their spawning grounds. Fish is crucial to the Enawene Nawe’s diet as they do not eat red meat. It also plays a vital part in their rituals.
‘If the fish get sick and die so will the Enawene Nawe,’ said one member of the tribe.” (Survival International via miguel)
Garrett Lisi on his theory of everything
Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that — just maybe — answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it’s the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces you’ve ever seen. (TED Talks)
Virginia Postrel on glamour
In a timely talk, cultural critic Virginia Postrel muses on the true meaning, and the powerful uses, of glamour — which she defines as any calculated, carefully polished image designed to impress and persuade. (TED Talks)
Paola Antonelli previews "Design and the Elastic Mind"
Rousseau’s La Bohémienne endormie
MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli walks through the groundbreaking show “Design and the Elastic Mind” — full of ideas, products and designs that reflect the multi-tasking, quickly shifting way we think now. (You can see the exhibit online.) (TED Talks)
Banjo brain surgery
“Surely this must be the greatest headline for a BBC News story ever: Banjo Used in Brain Surgery.
Although the banjo wasn’t in the hands of the surgeons it was still an essential part of the operation. It was played by legendary Blue Grass musician Eddie Adcock who was having surgery install a deep brain stimulation device to treat an essential tremor that had been affecting his playing.
The BBC News story has a video of the neurosurgery and the banjo playing, and it is pure genius. Probably the best thing you’ll see all year.” (Mind Hacks)
Out of the Blue
Seed: Out of the Blue: “Each of its microchips has been programmed to act just like a real neuron in a real brain. The behavior of the computer replicates, with shocking precision, the cellular events unfolding inside a mind. ‘This is the first model of the brain that has been built from the bottom-up,’ says Henry Markram, a neuroscientist at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the director of the Blue Brain project. ‘There are lots of models out there, but this is the only one that is totally biologically accurate. We began with the most basic facts about the brain and just worked from there.'” (Seed)
Mythbusting Dept.
“…The apparent desire for more shut-eye, together with oft-repeated assertions that our grandparents slept longer, all too easily leads to the conclusion that we in the west are chronically sleep-deprived. Adding to these concerns are recent claims that inadequate sleep causes obesity and related disorders, such as diabetes.
Plus ca change. Claims of widespread sleep deprivation in western society are nothing new – in 1894, the British Medical Journal ran an editorial warning that the ‘hurry and excitement’ of modern life was leading to an epidemic of insomnia.
Even then it probably wasn’t true. The fact is that most adults get enough sleep, and our collective sleep debt, if it exists at all, has not worsened in recent times. Moreover, claims that sleep deprivation is contributing to obesity and diabetes have been overblown. My assertion is that the vast majority of people sleep perfectly adequately. That’s not to say that sleep deprivation doesn’t exist. But in general we’ve never had it so good.” (New Scientist)
The Lazarus sign
Image via WikipediaThe Resurrection of Lazarus by Vincent van Gogh
A slight return: “Occasionally, brain-dead patients make movements, owing to the fact that the spinal reflexes are still intact. The most complex, and presumably the most terrifying, is called the Lazarus Sign. It is where the brain-dead patient extends their arms and crosses them over their chest – Egyptian mummy style.” (Mind Hacks)
Berkeley Breathed explains why he is ending his comic strip "Opus"
“As the country excitedly awaits our great quadrennial political climax, a smaller subset looks toward the first week of November with great anxiety and dread. On Sunday, Nov. 2, the comic “Opus” will end. Worse yet, creator Berkeley Breathed has made it clear that the strip’s namesake will, in that final strip, find his “final paradise.”
Sure, it’s been an unnaturally long run for a penguin. Opus, who started with a bit part in Breathed’s Pulitzer-winning “Bloom County” (1980-89), starred in “Outland” (1989-95) and finally took center stage in “Opus” (2003-08). But for those of us accustomed to seeing our own thoughts — and fears, hopes and simmering anger — take flight in the broken-nosed face of a penguin every week, there’s no preparation for his exit, only mourning.
Breathed says it’s the anger that led him to close the book on “Opus,” that the increasingly nasty political climate has made it too difficult to keep his strip from drifting into darkness. Breathed has described his work as a hybrid of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz’s gentle humor and Michael Moore’s crusading social justice. Perhaps losing touch with his inner Charlie Brown, Breathed has said that “a mad penguin, like a mad cartoonist, isn’t very lovable,” and wants Opus to take his final bow before bitterness changes him forever.” (Salon)
