May 17, 2013
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects, such as Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theater. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of people who donate money.
Since 2009, more than 4 million people have pledged over $612 million, funding more than 41,000 creative projects. Here is a link showing some highly funded projects. LINK It is a great way to get in on the development of new things. You may have read or heard about the Pebble watch that connects with smartphones, it was started as a Kickstarter project and has received over ten million dollars so far.
There are a number of projects for 3D printers, but one project that interests me is a pen that can draw in 3D. As you draw in the air, the output instantly dries.
Sadism and Masochism
These words were named after their first practitioners, Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade (Marquis de Sade) and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Their sexual conduct so shocked the world that their names became synonymous with their activities. "It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure." Marquis de Sade
Sade was well known for his morally unrestrained sexuality. He was accused of a number of sexual crimes like imprisoning a prostitute and poisoning another one. He wrote erotic works describing his practices.
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch was a writer renowned for his romantic stories. He had a thing for dominating women in furs and once entered i a contract with a women to become her slave for 6 months, with the stipulation that she wear furs as often as possible, especially when she was in a cruel mood. “A slap in the face is more effective than ten lectures. It makes you understand very quickly.” Leopold von Sacher-Masoch,
The terms were first selected as professional scientific terminology, identifying human behavioral phenomena and intended for the classification of distinct psychological illnesses and/or malicious social and sexual orientations.
German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing introduced the terms "Sadism" and "Masochism"' into institutional medical terminology in his work Neue Forschungen auf dem Gebiet der Psychopathia sexualis ("New research in the area of Psychopathology of Sex") in 1890.
The term "Sadomasochism" has been loosely used to refer to the entire umbrella of BDSM. This is not entirely accurate as BDSM is a shorthand for the three main subdivisions of the culture: B&D (bondage and discipline), D (dominance and submission) and S&M (sadism and masochism).
Google Earth Time Lapse
Amazing The first time lapse is
for Las Vegas 1984 - 2012. Interesting to see the size reduction
of the lake on the right. You can type any place in the world you
choose and watch the changes. LINK
May 14, 2013
More About Laughter
Every time someone laughs around us, our brains must
interpret what it means. As German scientists have discovered,
it is more complex than we thought.
A joyful belly laugh is interpreted by the brain in a completely different way from a scornful titter or the giggle from someone being tickled, a group of scientists from Tübingen in south west Germany have found.
In experiments designed to help patients with chronic anxiety disorders, they found that positive non-verbal communication, such as a joyful laugh was processed by a different part of the brain from a negative, scornful snicker.
Laughing is one of the oldest forms of non-verbal communication and is also seen in rats and apes. It could be key to helping patients with psychiatric disorders, who often are unable to correctly interpret non-verbal communication.
Humans have developed several different forms of laughter, each of which can have a complex series of meanings and intentions behind them. “Laughing is a very strong signal in social interaction. If you are laughed at with joy you feel accepted. If you are the victim of scornful laughter, you feel shut out of the group,“ said Dr. Dirk Wildgruber.
In their experiments, Wildgruber and his team played various types of recorded laughter and measured how the sounds were interpreted in the brain. They found that giggles generated when someone is being tickled stimulates areas of the brain responsible for interpreting complex acoustic signals. Happy or scornful laughter, on the other hand, stimulates completely separate brain regions usually tasked with guessing the intentions of others. From there, the laughter kick-starts connections with different parts of the brain depending on the tone - negative or positive.
The next step will be to look into how people with psychological disturbances react to different laughter signals to find out which areas of the brain could be artificially stimulated to help them, said Wildgruber.
A joyful belly laugh is interpreted by the brain in a completely different way from a scornful titter or the giggle from someone being tickled, a group of scientists from Tübingen in south west Germany have found.
In experiments designed to help patients with chronic anxiety disorders, they found that positive non-verbal communication, such as a joyful laugh was processed by a different part of the brain from a negative, scornful snicker.
Laughing is one of the oldest forms of non-verbal communication and is also seen in rats and apes. It could be key to helping patients with psychiatric disorders, who often are unable to correctly interpret non-verbal communication.
Humans have developed several different forms of laughter, each of which can have a complex series of meanings and intentions behind them. “Laughing is a very strong signal in social interaction. If you are laughed at with joy you feel accepted. If you are the victim of scornful laughter, you feel shut out of the group,“ said Dr. Dirk Wildgruber.
In their experiments, Wildgruber and his team played various types of recorded laughter and measured how the sounds were interpreted in the brain. They found that giggles generated when someone is being tickled stimulates areas of the brain responsible for interpreting complex acoustic signals. Happy or scornful laughter, on the other hand, stimulates completely separate brain regions usually tasked with guessing the intentions of others. From there, the laughter kick-starts connections with different parts of the brain depending on the tone - negative or positive.
The next step will be to look into how people with psychological disturbances react to different laughter signals to find out which areas of the brain could be artificially stimulated to help them, said Wildgruber.
Robot Builds Furniture
MIT has built a robot that can
assemble IKEA furniture without human intervention. It can
assemble flat-pack IKEA furniture all by itself. It has a
specialized gripper hand that can grab the pieces and screw them
together.
Humans feed the robot a design file that describes the product, such as how many pieces, what do they look like, where the screw holes are, etc. The robots do not need to be instructed how to assemble it. From knowing what the parts look like, the software can decipher how something needs to be put together.
Humans feed the robot a design file that describes the product, such as how many pieces, what do they look like, where the screw holes are, etc. The robots do not need to be instructed how to assemble it. From knowing what the parts look like, the software can decipher how something needs to be put together.
Smart Diapers
Huggies has invented a plastic device
called TweetPee that fits on diapers, senses moisture, and texts
your smart phone when your baby has peed. Hmmm, this might be
carrying things a bit too far.
Interesting Internet Tidbits
According to Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, more information now crosses the Internet
every second than the entire Internet stored 20 years ago. It
says, every hour Wal-Mart Stores Inc. collects 50 million filing
cabinets' worth of information from its dealings with customers.
Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, process data, and run applications, rather than a local device. The services usually charge monthly fees.
Microsoft has unveiled a system that can translate what you say into Mandarin and play it back in your voice.
The Google Now personal assistant can tell you if there's a traffic jam on your regular route home and suggest an alternative.
Apple's Siri can reschedule an appointment.
IBM's Watson supercomputer can field an awkwardly worded question, figure out what you are trying to ask, and retrieve the answer for you.
Cloud computing is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, process data, and run applications, rather than a local device. The services usually charge monthly fees.
Microsoft has unveiled a system that can translate what you say into Mandarin and play it back in your voice.
The Google Now personal assistant can tell you if there's a traffic jam on your regular route home and suggest an alternative.
Apple's Siri can reschedule an appointment.
IBM's Watson supercomputer can field an awkwardly worded question, figure out what you are trying to ask, and retrieve the answer for you.
May 10, 2013
Happy Friday
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Everyone is beautiful if they are having a Happy Friday!
Everyone is beautiful if they are having a Happy Friday!
Humpty Dumpty
According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
“humpty dumpty” was first used in the 17th century and referred to
brandy boiled with ale. In the 1700s, it was also a term used to
describe a short, clumsy person. It has also been a nickname
attributed to someone who has had too much alcohol, as in brandy
boiled in ale.
The nursery rhyme is neither a bottle of alcohol nor a person, it is most likely that the nursery rhyme was intended as a riddle. The answer to the riddle is an egg. Something that, if it rolled off a wall, could not be mended by any number of people. Today, the answer is so well known that the character of Humpty Dumpty is an egg and the rhyme is not considered to be a riddle at all, but a story.
The nursery rhyme is neither a bottle of alcohol nor a person, it is most likely that the nursery rhyme was intended as a riddle. The answer to the riddle is an egg. Something that, if it rolled off a wall, could not be mended by any number of people. Today, the answer is so well known that the character of Humpty Dumpty is an egg and the rhyme is not considered to be a riddle at all, but a story.
Techno love
You can actually buy this on Amazon. It is
a USB powered fridge small enough to cool one canned beverage.
Greenland and Australia
Australia is a continent and also
the largest island. Greenland is the second largest island, but not
a continent.
There are several accepted factors that classify continents. These factors include tectonic independence from other continents, unique flora and fauna, cultural uniqueness, and local belief in continental status.
Australia rests on its own tectonic plate called the Australian Plate. It has its own unique flora and fauna, with native animals unlike any others in the world. Its inhabitants consider themselves to live on both an island and a continent.
Greenland rests on the North American tectonic plate along with Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It has a number of unique species of plants, but its animals, like reindeer, polar bears, and arctic foxes, can also be found elsewhere. Greenland has its own culture, but considered part of the larger North American arctic culture. Its inhabitants consider themselves islanders.
Australia is part of Britain’s Commonwealth and Greenland is officially part of Denmark.
Australia is about 3 million square miles and the sixth largest country in the world. Greenland is about 834 thousand square miles and the twelfth largest country in the world.
Eighty percent of Greenland is covered by ice. Eighteen percent of Australia is covered by deserts.
84% of Greenlanders live in urban areas and 89% of Australians live in urban areas.
Greenland's one major city is its capital, Nuuk. Inhabitants of both live mostly along the coast.
Greenland’s population is 89% Inuit and 11% Danish and Australia’s population is 92% white, 7% Asian, and 1% Aboriginal.
There are almost 6 migrants leaving Greenland per 1000 people. In Australia, there are almost 6 migrants entering the country per 1000 people.
There are several accepted factors that classify continents. These factors include tectonic independence from other continents, unique flora and fauna, cultural uniqueness, and local belief in continental status.
Australia rests on its own tectonic plate called the Australian Plate. It has its own unique flora and fauna, with native animals unlike any others in the world. Its inhabitants consider themselves to live on both an island and a continent.
Greenland rests on the North American tectonic plate along with Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It has a number of unique species of plants, but its animals, like reindeer, polar bears, and arctic foxes, can also be found elsewhere. Greenland has its own culture, but considered part of the larger North American arctic culture. Its inhabitants consider themselves islanders.
Australia is part of Britain’s Commonwealth and Greenland is officially part of Denmark.
Australia is about 3 million square miles and the sixth largest country in the world. Greenland is about 834 thousand square miles and the twelfth largest country in the world.
Eighty percent of Greenland is covered by ice. Eighteen percent of Australia is covered by deserts.
84% of Greenlanders live in urban areas and 89% of Australians live in urban areas.
Greenland's one major city is its capital, Nuuk. Inhabitants of both live mostly along the coast.
Greenland’s population is 89% Inuit and 11% Danish and Australia’s population is 92% white, 7% Asian, and 1% Aboriginal.
There are almost 6 migrants leaving Greenland per 1000 people. In Australia, there are almost 6 migrants entering the country per 1000 people.
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