Thursday, March 25, 2010

And now, for some bizarre Brainology: Let's start with men vs women...

Today I figured I'd snip a few quick comments into the first part of THIS article.  http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/23/brizendine.male.brain/index.html?hpt=C1

It's interesting.

"Dr. Louann Brizendine is a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the National Board of Medical Examiners, and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. She is founder and director of the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic. She wrote "The Female Brain" and, just released, "The Male Brain."
"

Umm, okay.  But what does she have to say?

"Our brains are mostly alike. We are the same species, after all. But the differences can sometimes make it seem like we are worlds apart."

Well Duh.

"The "defend your turf" area -- dorsal premammillary nucleus -- is larger in the male brain and contains special circuits to detect territorial challenges by other males. And his amygdala, the alarm system for threats, fear and danger is also larger in men. These brain differences make men more alert than women to potential turf threats.

Meanwhile, the "I feel what you feel" part of the brain -- mirror-neuron system -- is larger and more active in the female brain. So women can naturally get in sync with others' emotions by reading facial expressions, interpreting tone of voice and other nonverbal emotional cues."

Interesting... but not surprising.

"Perhaps the biggest difference between the male and female brain is that men have a sexual pursuit area that is 2.5 times larger than the one in the female brain. Not only that, but beginning in their teens, they produce 200 to 250 percent more testosterone than they did during pre-adolescence."

Say what???

"If testosterone were beer, a 9-year-old boy would be getting the equivalent of a cup a day. But a 15-year-old would be getting the equivalent of nearly two gallons a day. This fuels their sexual engines and makes it impossible for them to stop thinking about female body parts and sex."

...Okay, a lot more than expected.  But not really surprising... especially being male.  Well, there's some confirmation there, at least.  Read more about our bizarre brains at the actual article.  http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/23/brizendine.male.brain/index.html?hpt=C1

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I have an Idea, Lets make a computer Faster than the speed of light!

You'd think the speed of light is a good limit for a computer.  But NOOO.  These guys decided they want something faster. 

"How fast is too fast? According to the laws of physics, the speed of light is a good boundary, as going beyond it opens you up to all sorts of paradoxes and space-time phenomena that are usually the stuff of sci-fi. But a couple of researchers in Austria have come up with a way to compute information faster than the speed of light."

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/computer-processes-faster-speed-light

Some substances, such as soda lime glass has a refractive index of Less than 1.  Meaning, one way or another, Light goes through it faster than the speed of light.  How is baffling enough.  But that means it's technically possible to create such a device. 

Now don't get me wrong... I'm still looking for an optical processor.  =)  Imagine, doesn't overheat, faster than electricity... yeah.  I'd be happy with that.

Still... FASTER than light as a possibility boggles the mind.  If it creates a time/flux paradox that means time goes slower while I'm sitting at my computer, all the better.  ;-)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Woman makes money selling ghost souls.

No, I'm not kidding.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_ODD_GHOST_AUCTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-03-08-23-33-55

While Fark.com wonders if Mephistopholes was the highest bidder, I seriously wonder WHO WOULD BUY 2 supposedly bottled ghosts?

...I imagine there's a reason no one made money off this before, but these were sold for thousands of dollars.  ...Now, granted, my grandfather sold crystals to a man for tens of thousands of dollars because he simply "needed the energy"... but those at least were rocks, formed a specific way after millenia.  ...These were "bottled ghosts".

...yeah... yeah.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

As you might imagine, we have no actual experience with someone swallowing a USB...

I won't be surprised if this man makes the Darwin awards.

So this yutz named Florin Necula is trying to hack into ATM's outside of queens.  First off... why are you hacking ATM's outside of a BANK?  Second, I understand one might feel they need to destroy evidence in a moment like that, but this... not the brightest move.

Necula and several codefendants had been transported to a Secret Service office in Brooklyn, where they were to be questioned and processed. While there, and in the view of investigators, Necula "grabbed Subject Flash Drive 2, which had been on his person at the time of his arrest, and swallowed,"

..............

What, did he imagine USB drives were made of pebbles?  Plastic and dyes and all the reasons ewaste is so toxic should force one to think AGAINST such an action, or just try smashing it or something... but no.  this guy swallows it.  Even the manufacturer had something to say about that.

"Necula eventually agreed to allow doctors at New York Downtown Hospital to remove the item, according to a source familiar with the incident. A Kingston executive said it was unclear if stomach acid could damage a flash drive. 'As you might imagine, we have no actual experience with someone swallowing a USB...'"

Here's your sign.


http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0302101flash1.html

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Google held accountable for a user video in Italy

So, here's the story...


Apparantly , some Italian google executives have been sued for hosting Google in Italy, and allowing google to host a user-posted video where some school teens are bullying an autistic classmate.  While the video is obviously terrible in and of itself, apparantly Italian internet laws are so old, Google is being held responsible.

"The case involves online videos showing an autistic boy being bullied by classmates in Turin, which were posted in 2006 on Google Video, an online video-sharing service that Google ran before its acquisition of YouTube.

Prosecutors charged that the videos violated Italian personal privacy protections. They said the clips were removed only after complaints from Vivi Down, an Italian organization representing people with Down syndrome, whose name was mentioned in the videos.

...

Google insists that under European Union law, video-sharing sites and other Internet companies are protected from liability for the content of material posted. But it is a gray area, according to legal experts.

The relevant E.U. law, which has been implemented in Italy, was adopted a decade ago, before user-generated content was the popular phenomenon it is today. While Internet service providers are clearly protected from so-called intermediate liability for the content they convey, the law does not specifically address user-generated content."


Don't get me wrong, I'm all for sticking it to the big corporate exec when they deserve it, but this is NOT google's fault.  This is the fault of some punk kid whose parents should get sued... not google.


Full story can be found here.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/technology/companies/25google.html


*sigh* More strangeness soon, I imagine...

Monday, February 22, 2010

Betcha never thought of a termite mound as something like a living organ

Okay this one's pretty cool...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527481.300-for-sustainable-architecture-think-bug.html?page=2

I was interested that the architectural community is really looking into this... I wonder if we'll ever have lung-walls?  (Certainly a tough idea here in the desert... need filters like crazy)

Airlines transponder codes: Now impound-able!

I understand the trouble in relations in the middle east, but this is just silly.

"Iran has warned that airlines will be banned from flying into its airspace, unless they use the term "Persian Gulf" on their in-flight monitors.

The transport minister has threatened to impound planes that fail to comply.

...To call it the Gulf, annoys the authorities; to call it the Arabian Gulf, infuriates them even more."

I read this and thought to myself... Okay, Iran, a sovereign nation, has trouble recognizing the gulf as Arabian, and prefers to call it the Persian gulf... I can kind of understand that... Americans have done similar things, to be sure.  Though threatening to impound the planes seems SEVERE if you ask me.

That's when I read the last line of the story.

"As for the minister, Hamid Behbahani, it may or may not be a coincidence that he is making a stand on this patriotic matter at a time when he is facing calls for his impeachment for alleged lack of competence."

Ah.  ...Now that makes more sense.

Friday, February 19, 2010

One Bizarre World (First Post)

Let's face it. Humans as a species are absolutely strange. Sure, we've managed to progress at levels that can only be defined as incredible, but every so often, you come across a (TRUE) story that leaves you scratching your head. You wonder, "How does that happen?"

Maybe it's some mutated sheep with a human face. Perhaps a celebrity making headlines for their latest antics. Or maybe it's just the fad of wearing crocs. Whatever it is, you sit there telling yourself, "That's just BIZARRE!"

I've been finding so many gloriously head-scratching things wonderful, strange, or incredible, I've been clogging my personal blog with them. Well no more. Every "Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot" I say from now on comes through here. Hopefully, my links and possible comments will, if nothing else, provide with amusement.

I hope you all enjoy. To start off the blog, I give you: A University Professor who shot three coworkers to death, and wants to know if she still has a job. No, seriously.

Enjoy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100219/ap_on_re_us/us_ala_university_shooting