![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptBreak’s coming to a close. Soon I’ll have to start doing that work thing again. I may even want to get a head start on it... but not while I’m on break. Only afterward will I go after the work again. Otherwise I really would be driving myself insane.
An idea that I can certainly get behind, profesionally even if I may not ever personally use it (although I doubt that) - a petition is being circulated asking the Eurpoean Comission to require government-funded research to be made available on-line (and elsewhere, most likely) soon after the research is published. Putting more research out on the free web is definitely a good idea for me. Means less cost in subscription purchases. Of course, if there’s going to be data like that, there should be a responsible backup and dissemination system in place so that in case a server crashes or a virus eats a database, it can be rebuilt easily.
It’s light on details and specifics, but Science Daily has a small article about research aiming to link depressed behavior with an improperly-functioning hippocampus through the use of a 3-d spatial memory test. Again, light on the details, so could those of you who are brain scientists fill in some gaps on how or why this would or wouldn’t work as promised?
Speaking of playing games, the United Nations is using a downloadable game to teach youth about natural disasters, their prevention and response plans. Tech-savvy multinational organization, going for the gaming populace. It’s a good tool, but the impact will probably hinge on whether it’s any fun to play. Maybe all those people who were playing with the infectious disease simulator will try their hand at saving the world, rather than destroying it. This will probably go hand-in-hand with the new Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) stating that climate change was just as dangerous as war when it came ot the world's population.
If those involved in the oil legislation being drafted for Iraq thought this would be smooth sailing, they’ll have to think again - Iraq's parliamentarians are mobilizing an opposition to the bill. It may or may not be enough to kill the bill entirely, but it will probably draw serious resentment from parliament and the constituencies if it passes over the objections of those present.
Out of Salon, in the Jose Padilla case, there supposedly was a DVD that shows the final interrogation of Padilla. But now that it’s actually needed, the DVD can't be found. Vanishing evidence is no way to conduct a prosecution, especially for serious charges like terrorism. Newsweek has more on the vanished DVD.
In the vein of “Hell is Exothemic” sorts of questions, this article at Inkling concludes that Heaven is at the singularity of a black hole. Well, if Celestia and the Netherworld are alternate dimensions, then it would make sense for their entry points to be at singularities of black holes. Of course, until we can traverse such objects without dying, it remains to be proven whether heaven really is at the point of no return.
In the animal kingdom, an investigation by California Occupational safety and Health released a report that said it was "only a matter of time" before a trainer at SeaWorld is killed by one of the whales, a claim that SeaWorld hotly denies. This report came after an incident where a trainer was seized and dragged under the water by the whale, only to be let go after a time. The OSH report says safety protocols all failed, while SeaWorld maintains that they were successful. I sincerely hope that OSH isn’t proven right when one of the trainers gets killed. On the other end of the specturm, a baby tiger and baby orangutan have been playing quite well together in an Indonesian nursery. This is a short-lived awww, though, the keepers tell us, though, because when they grow up, the instincts for survival will take over. But enjoy it while you have the chance.
The Buddhist Geeks have started another series, entitled “Sid the Salesman: The Bait and Switch of the Dharma”, which, in part one talks about the benefits, both spiritual and physical, attributed to Buddhist practice, and what they eventually end up leading to. It’s not an unethical bait-and-switch, but at some point, one runs into the real possibility, maybe even necessity, of killing the Buddha when meeting him on the road.
This rather off-the-beat marker will serve as a very nice closing piece for tonight. The News Buckit ran a rather unscientific search and compared the use of profane and vulgar words (of the George Carlin variety) between left-leaning blogs and right-leaning blogs, and came up with a ratio that says the Left is a whole lot more likely to swear, G-ddammit. Of course, playfully poking fun at the matter, Jesus’s General ran a search of his own, on one very important, but not Carlin-worthy, word. He came back with a surprising number of results for his search, too. And then, to illustrate what’s probably not on the minds of the Right’s bloggers, another search, this time about the situation at Walter Reed hospital, which had an almost zero showing from a lot of places. Different priorities, one might think. To each their own word-hunting, of course. Depending on what you read and do, you can probably make hundreds of tables like this, just to prove your point.
Anyway, it’s way too late for me, and I have a relatively full day tomorrow. So G’night, peoples!
An idea that I can certainly get behind, profesionally even if I may not ever personally use it (although I doubt that) - a petition is being circulated asking the Eurpoean Comission to require government-funded research to be made available on-line (and elsewhere, most likely) soon after the research is published. Putting more research out on the free web is definitely a good idea for me. Means less cost in subscription purchases. Of course, if there’s going to be data like that, there should be a responsible backup and dissemination system in place so that in case a server crashes or a virus eats a database, it can be rebuilt easily.
It’s light on details and specifics, but Science Daily has a small article about research aiming to link depressed behavior with an improperly-functioning hippocampus through the use of a 3-d spatial memory test. Again, light on the details, so could those of you who are brain scientists fill in some gaps on how or why this would or wouldn’t work as promised?
Speaking of playing games, the United Nations is using a downloadable game to teach youth about natural disasters, their prevention and response plans. Tech-savvy multinational organization, going for the gaming populace. It’s a good tool, but the impact will probably hinge on whether it’s any fun to play. Maybe all those people who were playing with the infectious disease simulator will try their hand at saving the world, rather than destroying it. This will probably go hand-in-hand with the new Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) stating that climate change was just as dangerous as war when it came ot the world's population.
If those involved in the oil legislation being drafted for Iraq thought this would be smooth sailing, they’ll have to think again - Iraq's parliamentarians are mobilizing an opposition to the bill. It may or may not be enough to kill the bill entirely, but it will probably draw serious resentment from parliament and the constituencies if it passes over the objections of those present.
Out of Salon, in the Jose Padilla case, there supposedly was a DVD that shows the final interrogation of Padilla. But now that it’s actually needed, the DVD can't be found. Vanishing evidence is no way to conduct a prosecution, especially for serious charges like terrorism. Newsweek has more on the vanished DVD.
In the vein of “Hell is Exothemic” sorts of questions, this article at Inkling concludes that Heaven is at the singularity of a black hole. Well, if Celestia and the Netherworld are alternate dimensions, then it would make sense for their entry points to be at singularities of black holes. Of course, until we can traverse such objects without dying, it remains to be proven whether heaven really is at the point of no return.
In the animal kingdom, an investigation by California Occupational safety and Health released a report that said it was "only a matter of time" before a trainer at SeaWorld is killed by one of the whales, a claim that SeaWorld hotly denies. This report came after an incident where a trainer was seized and dragged under the water by the whale, only to be let go after a time. The OSH report says safety protocols all failed, while SeaWorld maintains that they were successful. I sincerely hope that OSH isn’t proven right when one of the trainers gets killed. On the other end of the specturm, a baby tiger and baby orangutan have been playing quite well together in an Indonesian nursery. This is a short-lived awww, though, the keepers tell us, though, because when they grow up, the instincts for survival will take over. But enjoy it while you have the chance.
The Buddhist Geeks have started another series, entitled “Sid the Salesman: The Bait and Switch of the Dharma”, which, in part one talks about the benefits, both spiritual and physical, attributed to Buddhist practice, and what they eventually end up leading to. It’s not an unethical bait-and-switch, but at some point, one runs into the real possibility, maybe even necessity, of killing the Buddha when meeting him on the road.
This rather off-the-beat marker will serve as a very nice closing piece for tonight. The News Buckit ran a rather unscientific search and compared the use of profane and vulgar words (of the George Carlin variety) between left-leaning blogs and right-leaning blogs, and came up with a ratio that says the Left is a whole lot more likely to swear, G-ddammit. Of course, playfully poking fun at the matter, Jesus’s General ran a search of his own, on one very important, but not Carlin-worthy, word. He came back with a surprising number of results for his search, too. And then, to illustrate what’s probably not on the minds of the Right’s bloggers, another search, this time about the situation at Walter Reed hospital, which had an almost zero showing from a lot of places. Different priorities, one might think. To each their own word-hunting, of course. Depending on what you read and do, you can probably make hundreds of tables like this, just to prove your point.
Anyway, it’s way too late for me, and I have a relatively full day tomorrow. So G’night, peoples!
