Category Archives: Of Interest

Spirituality & Evolution

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Professor of Neuroscience and Novelist, Princeton University

Is Spirituality a Byproduct of Evolution?

Posted: 8/5/11 08:16 AM ET

Homo sapiens evolved to be socially intelligent. Over millions of years, perhaps more, the primate brain evolved special machinery to allow us to think socially, to build abstract concepts of each other’s minds and to react emotionally to each other in a way that more or less maintains the social web. In one theory that is gaining greater acceptance, the social machinery in the human brain is the direct cause of spirituality. Spirituality is the human brain doing exactly what it is exquisitely well evolved to do. It is the functioning of our social intelligence.

If spiders could ever become super intelligent, they might see the world through the metaphor of a web. They might talk about sticky strands of thought. They might envision a universe pulled out of a spinneret. They might judge beauty by radial symmetry. Looking at the moon, they might see a web-in-the-moon instead of a man-in-the-moon. The natural talent of humans is to spin metaphors of minds and intentions, and that is how we evaluate almost everything around us. We understand and react to the world through our social capability. It defines us more than any other trait. Even language is a refinement of social communication. We are truly Homo socialis.

to read more, go to:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-graziano/spirituality-as-byproduct-of-evolution_b_918801.html

2011 Meteor Showers

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Skywatching Guide: Meteor Showers of 2011

by Geoff Gaherty, Starry Night Education
Date: 02 May 2011 Time: 01:16 PM ET
How Comets Cause Meteor Showers
A 2010 Orionid meteor, seen over Western Ontario, Canada. A waxing gibbous moon shines brightly at the left side of the image.
CREDIT: NASA courtesy of Meteor Physics Group, University of Western Ontario

Meteor showers occur when the Earth’s orbit takes it through the path of a comet, which spews debris as it passes, like junk falling out of the back of a poorly-secured garbage truck. Bits of debris plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere, and friction causes the debris to burn up, creating meteors.

2011 meteor showers
2011 meteor showers.
CREDIT: RASC Observer’s Handbook 2011 and International Meteor Organization

Well Traveled LEGO’s

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LEGO Figures Flying On NASA Jupiter Probe

by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor
Date: 04 August 2011 Time: 04:26 PM ET
LEGO Figurines to Fly on Juno Spacecraft
Three LEGO figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter (right), his wife Juno (middle) and Galileo Galilei (left) as shown here will fly to Jupiter on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
CREDIT: NASA/LEGO/The specially-constructed LEGO Minifigures are of the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and “father of science” Galileo Galilei. The LEGO crew’s mission is part of the Bricks in Space project, the joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the collaboration between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

“NASA has a long-standing partnership with the LEGO company,” Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission and space science and engineering director at the Southwestern Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a press conference on Wednesday (Aug. 3). “Any of you that have children know that LEGOs are very popular with kids, as well as really helps teach them about building and engineering.”

to read more, go to:    http://www.space.com/12546-lego-figures-jupiter-juno-spacecraft.html

Another Colbert Moment or so….

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Colbert Takes On GOP Offense To Insurance Covering Women’s Health Issues (VIDEO)

First Posted: 8/4/11 11:10 AM ET Updated: 8/4/11 11:10 AM ET

Many argue that the true craft of “The Colbert Report” is seen when Colbert takes an argument presented by politicians and/or the media and extends it to its logical extreme — to absurd effect. He did just that last night, this time to take on Fox News pundits’ objection to the Obama administrationforcing medical insurance companies to cover women’s health procedures and prescriptions.

The premise often echoed by Fox pundits, that women with access to birth control will inevitably be more promiscuous and careless with their sex habits, seems to hardly have any basis in reality. But Colbert’s a master of lampooning poor argumenters with their own words, and he deftly pokes holes in the claims made by those who insist that government-subsidized birth control spells out the end of humanity as we know it.

(As a sidenote, Colbert certainly has cred in the women’s health department — who can forget when he turned Sen. Jon Kyl’s “not intended to be a factual statement” claim about Planned Parenthood into a national punchline?)

TO WATCH:    Go to:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/colbert-takes-on-gop-war-on-womens-health_n_918189.html

Is Sustainable Living A Crime in the UK?

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Injunction to move by the end the of month

A COUPLE living an “off-grid” lifestyle say they face prison unless they move from their own land in Willand and return to an existence in the benefits trap.

Stig and Dinah Mason bought Muxbeare Orchard after a sudden windfall allowed them to quit their impoverished lives on a Hertfordshire council estate two years ago.

  1. ​Dinah and Stig Mason with sons Yosse, 8, and Dahli, 9, and Moo the dog at their lorry home MARCUS THOMPSON EXMT20110614F-003_C

    Dinah and Stig Mason with sons Yosse, 8, and Dahli, 9, and Moo the dog at their lorry home MARCUS THOMPSON EXMT20110614F-003_C

The Masons have transformed what they described as a derelict four-acre plot into a haven of self-sufficiency boasting a 400 sq m allotment, a polytunnel and greenhouses to grow fruit and vegetables, chickens for egg production and an orchard they have regenerated by planting around 14 new apple trees of various species.

The couple, who have two boys, aged eight and nine, say because they moved onto the site in order to work the land, Mid Devon District Council is turfing them off as officers do not consider them to be conserving an agricultural area.

They faced magistrates on March 31 when they were served with an injunction to leave within 28 days from June 1.

Dinah, 35, who spent a year with her husband clearing four-foot high nettles and thistles which engulfed the four-acre site, said: “How anybody can say the orchard was being conserved before is beyond my comprehension.”

Dinah works while Stig, 34, as well as making sure the children get to school on time, tends to the land on a daily basis where peas, potatoes, garlic, strawberries, raspberries and various produce have been growing since 2009.

to read more, go to:    http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Injunction-end-month/story-12812676-detail/story.html

Wyoming Targets Gray Wolves

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Gray Wolves In Wyoming May Lose Federal Protections

Gray Wolves Wyoming

By BEN NEARY   08/ 3/11 09:40 PM ET   AP

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming ranchers and hunters fed up with wolves attacking livestock and other wildlife would be able to shoot the predators on sight in most of the state under a tentative agreement state and federal officials announced Wednesday.

Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said they’ve come to terms over how to end federal protections for gray wolves in Wyoming – the last state in the Northern Rockies where the animals remain under federal management.

Hours later, a judge rejected a legal challenge to a federal budget bill rider that removed protections for the gray wolf in the other Northern Rockies states.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula, Mont., said precedent by a federal appeals court required him to uphold the provision passed earlier this year that stripped wolves of their endangered status in Montana and Idaho, and in parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether conservation groups planned to appeal.

While some neighboring states plan to let licensed hunters kill wolves at certain times of the year, Wyoming would be the only one to allow people to shoot wolves in most of the state year-round without a license.

Environmentalists swiftly blasted the agreement, saying it offers wolves too little protection and would fail judicial review unless Congress approves pending language to insulate it from legal challenges.

to read more, go to:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/04/gray-wolves-wyoming-ranchers_n_917977.html

Weekend “SlutWalk” in San Francisco

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SlutWalk San Francisco Is Coming This Weekend (PHOTOS)
Slutwalk

First Posted: 8/2/11 09:35 PM ET Updated: 8/3/11 11:10 AM ET

During a safety forum at Osgood Hall Law School in Toronto in January, police constable Michael Sanguinetti told a room filled with women that to avoid being sexually assaulted, they should “avoid dressing like sluts,” The Huffington Post reported in April.

Outraged ensued. Rotten tomatoes were thrown, tar was warmed and feathers were readied. No, not really. But according to SlutWalk organizers, they should have been.

Though Sanguinetti issued a written apology, a small group of Canadian women organized a march to bring awareness to social attitudes about sexual assault. They dressed in their finest lingerie, wrote “slut” on their foreheads, and took to the streets with signs of protest, hoping a few dozen supporters would show up. Instead, 3,000 people crowded the streets. SlutWalk was born.

And this Saturday, it’s coming to Dolores Park.

SlutWalk San Francisco boasts a group of 18 organizers and contributors that has been hosting meet-and-greets, happy hours, and sign-making parties in anticipation of the event.

“We’re so excited for Saturday,” organizer Lauren Chief Elk told The Huffington Post. “We were so moved by the outrage of the women in Toronto. Especially since most of us have experienced sexual assault in one way or another. Rape happens all over the world, but here in the United States, we have a strong tendency to blame the victim.”

to read more, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/slutwalk-san-francisco_n_916721.html?ir=Impact

 

Eye Protein Can Sense Earth’s Magnetism

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Human eye protein senses Earth’s magnetism

A light-sensitive protein in the human eye has been shown to act as a “compass” in a magnetic field, when it is present in flies’ eyes.

The study in Nature Communications showed that without their natural “magnetoreception” protein, the flies did not respond to a magnetic field – but replacing the protein with the human version restored the ability.

Despite much controversy, no conclusive evidence exists that humans can sense the Earth’s magnetic field, and the find may revive interest in the idea.

Although humans, like migratory birds, are known to have cryptochrome in their eyes, the idea of human magnetoreception has remained largely unexplored since pioneering experiments by Robin Baker of the University of Manchester in the 1980s.

Dr Baker used a long series of experiments on thousands of volunteers that suggested humans could indirectly sense magnetic fields, though he never definitively identified the mechanism. In subsequent years, several groups attempted to repeat those experiments, claiming opposing results.

to read more, go to:    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13809144

Do you Want to Go Here?

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7 Sites You Should Be Wasting Time On Right Now (PICTURES)

The Huffington Post      First Posted: 8/3/11 09:06 AM ET   Updated: 8/3/11 09:06 AM ET

t’s Wednesday which means we’re here with seven more websites to distract and entertain you. We know you’re probably worried about the alleged cyber-spies and the Mubarak trial, but no one’s going to blame you if you take a minute or twenty for yourself this afternoon.

As always, be sure to vote for your favorites and let us know if you come across any awesome new time-wasters that you think we should feature.

ok, you can see them all here:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/7-sites-you-should-be-was_n_916930.html#s321071&title=Officials_Say_the

 

Moody Billboards? What’s Next?

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Mood-Reading Billboard: Jell-O’s ‘Pudding Face’ Ad In New York City Smiles Or Frowns Based On Twitter Emoticons

First Posted: 8/3/11 03:51 PM ET

This advertisement won’t just make you smile — you can make it smile.

A newly-installed billboard for Jell-O constantly studies the ratio of happy and sad emoticons on Twitter, then uses the ever-changing data to make a face on the ad smile or frown.

If the majority of Twitter users are posting the 🙂 symbol, a man’s face on billboard grins. When the majority are posting the 🙁 symbol, the advertisement grimaces.

The billboard at the corner of Grand Street and West Broadway in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood is an extension of larger campaign by Kraft Foods that started with the Jell-O Pudding Face website, which gives out coupons when there are more frowny faces than smiley faces on Twitter, Adage notes.

SEE MORE CREATIVE BILLBOARDS:

ok, so you just know you are dying to see these, then go to:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/mood-reading-billboard-jell-o_n_917475.html#s321731&title=JellO