Cultured people happier, less stressed People who go to museums and concerts or create art or play an instrument are more satisfied with their lives, regardless of how educated or rich they are, according to a study released Tuesday. But the link between culture and feeling good about oneself is not quite the same in both sexes, according to the study, published in the British Medical Association's Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. For men, passive activities such as taking in a concert or museum exhibition are associated with an upbeat mood and better health, it found. For women, though, the link is active, in that they were less likely to feel anxious, depressed or feel unwell if they played music or created art. Researchers led by Koenraad Cuypers of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analysed information culled from 50,797 adults living in Norway's Nord-Trondelag County. Even more surprising was that wealth and education were not an issue.
The 5 Most Mind-Blowing Things That Can Be Found Underwater Exploring the depths via scuba or free diving is one of those things that seems really cool in theory. Then you swim around in a pool for 36 hours, go to the man-made lake you heard had a flooded town and discover a bunch of muddy brick foundations. It turns out that lakes in the Midwest are about as full of adventurous treasures as the towns around them. But, like the 28 percent of the Earth that's not covered in water, if you pick the right spot at the right time of day, you can find stuff down there that will blow your mind. #5. A group of amateur cave explorers discovered a river in Mexico with banks, trees and leaves just like an ordinary river, but with an additional metric shit ton of "WTF," because they were hovering 25 feet over it in scuba gear when they discovered it. Anatoly Beloshchin"We're calling it the Meta-River." While underwater water doesn't seem possible, the "river" is actually a briny mix of salt water and hydrogen sulfide. Anatoly BeloshchinSCU2BA diving. #4. #3.
A Lesson on Forgiveness The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s face, he will ask, “What next?” He had no such experience in his past. He had insulted people and they had become angry and they had reacted. Buddha’s disciples became angry, they reacted. Buddha said, “You keep silent. “If you think on it deeply,” Buddha said, “he has spit on his own mind. The man was even more puzzled! Puzzled, confused, the man returned home. The next morning he was back there. The man looked at Buddha and said, “Forgive me for what I did yesterday.” Buddha said, “Forgive? “And you also are new.
Kiev's Topless Protestors: 'The Entire Ukraine Is a Brothel' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International The Rock is New Zealand's most beloved radio station, although not necessarily the country's most sophisticated. "Music is the ONLY thing we take seriously," is the station's fitting motto. Recently, The Rock offered its male listeners the chance to win a trip to an exotic vacation spot in eastern Ukraine. In addition to 12 paid nights, the prize includes 2,000 New Zealand dollars (€1,000) in pocket money. The grand prize, however, has to be chosen on location by the winner himself: a wife. "Win a trip to beautiful Ukraine," announces the contest title, "And Meet Eastern European Hot Lady Who Maybe One Day You Marry." The contest logo shows the pixelated face of a bleach-blonde beauty. A beefy man in his mid-30s, Greg, won the trip. The New Zealander is set to fly via Moscow to Donetsk, the regional capital of eastern Ukraine. Topless Protest against Sex Tourism and Prostitution Some travel agencies offer "Romantic Tours," in German and English, of eastern Ukraine. Women's Lib
Some black holes may be older than time › News in Science (ABC Science) News in Science Friday, 6 May 2011 Stuart GaryABC Before time An intriguing new hypothesis suggests some black holes could have formed before the formation of our universe. The work by Professor Bernard Carr from Queen Mary University in London and Professor Alan Coley from Canada's Dalhousie University, examines a cosmology in which the universe goes through cycles of birth and death. According to their work published on the pre-press website arXiv.org, some black holes could be remnants of a previous universe that collapsed in a big crunch and was then reborn in the big bang - 13.7 billion years ago. Called primordial black holes, they would be formed in the hyper dense conditions existing in the moments after the big bang. Carr and Coley say if the universe expands and contracts in cycles of big bangs and big crunches, some primordial black holes may survive. They reached their conclusion after thinking about what might happen in the moments before a big crunch. Pushing the boundaries
How to Disagree March 2008 The web is turning writing into a conversation. Twenty years ago, writers wrote and readers read. The web lets readers respond, and increasingly they do—in comment threads, on forums, and in their own blog posts. Many who respond to something disagree with it. The result is there's a lot more disagreeing going on, especially measured by the word. If we're all going to be disagreeing more, we should be careful to do it well. DH0. This is the lowest form of disagreement, and probably also the most common. u r a fag!!!!!!!!!! But it's important to realize that more articulate name-calling has just as little weight. The author is a self-important dilettante. is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag." DH1. An ad hominem attack is not quite as weak as mere name-calling. Of course he would say that. This wouldn't refute the author's argument, but it may at least be relevant to the case. DH2. DH3. This is often combined with DH2 statements, as in: DH4. DH5. DH6.
Created Equal... Photographer Mark Laita In America, the chasm between rich and poor is growing, the clash between conservatives and liberals is strengthening, and even good and evil seem more polarized than ever before. At the heart of this collection of portraits is my desire to remind us that we were all equal, until our environment, circumstances or fate molded and weathered us into whom we have become. Los Angeles- and New York-based photographer Mark Laita completed Created Equal over the course of eight years; his poignant words reflect the striking polarizations found in his photographs. Presented as diptychs, the images explore social, economic and gender difference and similarity within the United States, emulating and updating the portraiture of Edward Curtis, August Sander and Richard Avedon. Bodybuilder / Amish Farmer, 2006 / 2004 Young Boxer / Retired Boxer, 2002 / 2002 Beauty Salon Customer / Man with Curlers, 2005 / 2004 Lingerie Model / Woman in Girdle, 2006 / 2007 Catholic Nuns / Prostitutes, 2002 / 2002 Comments
The Book Surgeon (15 pieces) Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian Dettmer carves one page at a time. Nothing inside the out-of-date encyclopedias, medical journals, illustration books, or dictionaries is relocated or implanted, only removed. Dettmer manipulates the pages and spines to form the shape of his sculptures. He also folds, bends, rolls, and stacks multiple books to create completely original sculptural forms. "My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception," he says. "The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. Dettmer is originally from Chicago, where he studied at Columbia College. Update: Read our exclusive interview with the Book Surgeon here. Brian Dettmer's website
Fredric Brown - "Answer" Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing. He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. (Fredric Brown, "Answer") PhotOH! Money that speaks for the 99% PhotOH! Money that speaks for the 99% · Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 12:35 pm You can see more money that speaks for the 99% here, at Occupy George. Brilliant: H/t: @katewarren Speaking of Political Carnival, it's fundrasing time again: If we are one thing here at TPC, it's being up front. 2012 will be a hugely busy (election) year, and we intend to dedicate all of our time to bringing you the latest breaking news (and humor, snarkitude, videos, commentary)... which means not having to worry about basic things like heat and food, what with Mr. You can donate at any time by using the PayPal donate button in the sidebar, or if you need a snail mail addy, feel free to email thepolicalcarnival@gmail.com. In addition, if anyone wants to sponsor us for three months with an ad in the sidebar, please email Paddy. Without donations, we have no Political Carnival. Please, though, never forget that we truly appreciate you guys with or without the donations.
How the Brain Stops Time One of the strangest side-effects of intense fear is time dilation, the apparent slowing-down of time. It's a common trope in movies and TV shows, like the memorable scene from The Matrix in which time slows down so dramatically that bullets fired at the hero seem to move at a walking pace. In real life, our perceptions aren't keyed up quite that dramatically, but survivors of life-and-death situations often report that things seem to take longer to happen, objects fall more slowly, and they're capable of complex thoughts in what would normally be the blink of an eye. Now a research team from Israel reports that not only does time slow down, but that it slows down more for some than for others. Anxious people, they found, experience greater time dilation in response to the same threat stimuli. An intriguing result, and one that raises a more fundamental question: how, exactly, does the brain carry out this remarkable feat? Was it scary enough to generate a sense of time dilation?
Scientists extract images directly from brain ::: Pink Tentacle Researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people's dreams while they sleep. The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white images. "These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain activity," says Dr.
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