March 18 – June 18, 2010
Galleria Campari – Sesto San Giovanni (MI)
Curated by Marina Mojana and Ada Masoero
Catalog (De Luca Editori d’Arte)
To celebrate its 150th anniversary, Campari has opened a gallery space and has displayed more than 70 works by Fortunato Depero.
Check out the slide show of the exhibit at Campari.com
Walt Mosspuppet's in a poetic mood and he's got an ode to all the iPad haters of the world. Behold his "literary majesty!" [Mosspuppet] More »
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Home audio company Definitive Technology thought that it's a crime to put huge, thick, ugly speakers next to a slim wall-mounted TV. So they made the ultra-thin 1.5-inch Mythos XTR-50 home theater speakers to prevent decorating disasters. More »
Newly upgraded robot journalist, improvement from previous versions, including ambient anomaly detection ability for seeking of stories. Upgrade robot abilities including subject photographing and subject interviewing automatically. Further including abilities to publish stories to internet instantly. More »
New polling data from Rasmussen and Marketing Research Group shows Republicans well on their way to picking off two heavy Democrat State Governorships: Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Michigan
Pete Hoekstra (R) 43%
Andy Dillon (D) 27%Pennsylvania
Tom Corbett (R) 49%
Joe Hoeffel (D) 28%
Note Hoeffel is a former Congressman. Dillon is Michigan Speaker of the House.
(Source: Hedgehog)
From Eric Dondero:Former Libertarian Party member Dell Schanze, known to many as "Super Dell," has made it official. We reported last week here at Libertarian Republican, that he was considering a run for Governor, but not sure on which ticket; Libertarian Party or GOP. He's since made his choice. Schanze will be running in the GOP primary.
Reports The Examiner:
Super Dell Schanze has filed the necessary paperwork to challenge republicans Gary Herbert and Richard Martin for governor. The last time Schanze ran for the same office in 2008, he did so as a libertarian. He received less than 3% of the vote and subsequently lost the mayoral race in Saratoga Springs. He has also run for Salt Lake County Mayor against Peter Corroon.
Schanze is well known throughout Utah and the Rocky Mountain West for his outrageous TV commercials promoting his former business Awesome Computers. He's also a full-time professional Para-glider.
Schanze was considered eccentric, even for the somewhat fringe Libertarian Party. Some Utah LP members originally opposed his candidacy on the grounds that it might hurt the Party's reputation.
Instead of growing up a princess and ruling kingdoms with an iron fist, I'm here building castles and controlling villagers with the We Rule iPhone app. Ah well. It's close enough to the old dream and cheaper than a tiara. More »
In tomorrow’s New York Times I have an essay about the art of seeing Nature’s unseen–from the bestiaries of the Middle Ages to today’s images of feathered dinosaurs and upright apes. Check it out, and also check out the accompanying slide show about Conrad Gessner, a Renaissance naturalist who assembled the greatest zoological encyclopedia of his day–which included unicorns.
Ever struggle to find an LED strip that's just the right fit for your odd decorating project? Me either. But it's good to know that there's such a thing as these flexible light strips which can be cut to size. More »
No appeasement of Islamo-Fascism, worldwide Communism, Iran
by Dr. Art Coday
In order to defend liberty, protect our sovereignty, and safeguard the interests of the American people, we need a strong military and an effective, pro-liberty foreign policy.
Unfortunately, President Obama is pursuing a policy of inaction and indecision - apologizing to our adversaries, weakening our military, providing "constitutional rights" to captured enemy terrorists, and ignoring the very real threats to the security of the American people.
I particularly disagree with President Obama's ineffective policy with regard to the pro-terrorist, anti-liberty regime in Iran. We should be supporting the people of Iran, who thirst for liberty and freedom. Also, we should make it absolutely clear to the Islamic dictatorship that we will never allow them to acquire nuclear weapons.
In the face of threats by the outlaw regime in Iran to "wipe Israel off the map," we should support Israel's right to defend itself against such threats. In the United Nations, we should stand ready to use our Security Council veto to block resolutions condemning Israel and condoning terrorism. Unfortunately, as part of its weak foreign policy, the Obama administration has distanced itself from Israel, our best friend in the region.
I am sick and tired of those who tear America down, who blame America, who falsely accuse our great nation of "imperialism" and "empire-building," who wrongly charge America with "bullying the world" and "telling other nations how to manage their affairs."
Providing for the common defense is a primary legitimate constitutional function of the federal government. The federal governmnet should fulfill this duty honorably and reliably. Unfortunately, the Obama administration stands idly by in the face of the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, the nuclear threats by the brutally oppressive North Korean communist government, the growing influence of the pro-communist dictatorship in Venezuela, and the danger to our national sovereignty posed by illegal immigration.
As a great American once said "peace through strength" not a policy of weakness.
Editor's Note - Coday is a Republican candidate for US Senate challenging incumbent Democrat Patty Murray in Washington State. His media spokesman is Libertarian Republican friend and 2008 congressional candidate Steve Beren.
If governments want to reduce the cost of health care, then air pollution must be reduced. And air pollution can only be reduced when we stop burning fossil fuels. Air pollution causes early deaths around the world and raises health care costs. A new report describes how it causes the deaths of up to 50,000 people a year in England.
More could be done to prevent the early deaths of up to 50,000 people each year hastened by air pollution, [UK] MPs say. A Commons Environmental Audit Committee report said failure to reduce pollution had put an “enormous” cost on the NHS and could cost millions in EU fines. It said the UK should be “ashamed” of its poor air quality which was contributing to conditions such as asthma, heart disease and cancer. The government accepted more could be done and would consider the report.. . .
Pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and “particulate matter” – tiny particles – from transport and power stations have been blamed for contributing to early deaths.  Particulate matter is estimated to reduce people’s lives by an average seven to eight months, while in pollution hotspots vulnerable residents, such as those with asthma, could be dying up to nine years early, the report says.. . . .
Air pollution also leads to damage to wildlife and agriculture, with ground-level ozone estimated to reduce wheat yields in the south of Britain by 5% to 15%. EAC chairman Tim Yeo said: “Air pollution probably causes more deaths than passive smoking, traffic accidents or obesity, yet it receives very little attention from government or the media.”
Why isn’t this reported by the media? Particulate matter and other pollutants come primarily from coal and the burning of fossil fuels.
It sounds like the British media is as pathetic in reporting the effects of global warming, fossil fuel burning and pollution as the U.S. media is.
In the United States, air quality has improved from the 1960s, but there is still a negative health effect. It’s estimated in reports that there are 24,000 coal-related deaths and a total of 60,000 air pollution impacted deaths in the United States, out of 2.5 million deaths from any cause. About 3-4% of all deaths in the United States each year are due to air pollution.
LONG-TERM EXPOSURES — American Cancer Society Cohort Study: This study of half a million people in 100 American cities over 16 years has been audited, replicated, re-analyzed, extended and ultimately reconfirmed. The latest results show that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with premature death from cardio-respiratory causes and lung cancer. Increased risk of premature death is evident at concentrations below current standards.
Harvard Six Cities Study: This long-term cohort study has also been subject to an independent audit, review, and re-analysis and the original findings have been confirmed: long term exposure to fine particle pollution shortens lives and contributes to an increased risk of early death from heart and lung disease, even at [...]
“In this study, we examine the identity exploration possibilities presented by online multiplayer games in which players use graphics tools and character-creation software to construct an avatar, or character. We predicted World of Warcraft players would create their main character more similar to their ideal self than the players themselves were. Our results support this idea; a sample of players rated their character as having more favorable attributes that were more favorable than their own self-rated attributes. This trend was stronger among those with lower psychological well-being, who rated themselves comparatively lower than they rated their character. Our results suggest that the game world allows players the freedom to create successful virtual selves regardless of the constraints of their actual situation.”
Photo: flickr/CavinB
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You need a third choice on your ballot now more than ever!
The LPIN needs 2% of the vote in the 2010 Secretary of State race in order to continue having ballot access for the next four years. By achieving over 10% in this race, the Libertarian Party of Indiana will have the ability to hold a primary and effectively register voters!
What does ballot access mean for libertarians and the voting public? In the 2008 Presidential election, our candidate for President, Bob Barr, received over 29,000 votes. Barr was automatically placed on the ballot.
Ralph Nader was also a candidate in Indiana, but voters needed to write his name in. Nader received only 909 votes in Indiana. Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin received 1,024.
So please tell all of your friend to pull the L lever on election day for our Secretary of State Candidate!
Astronomy has been with us for a long time; since around 3300 BCE, when Western astronomy was developing in Summer, Assyria, and Babylon. Probably there the first astronomers were priests, and their practice and understanding of the science was seen as magical and divine. Even so, very early in the game astronomy became a science, while astrology became a philosophy.
Replica of Earliest Surviving Telescope; Image Michael Dunn
Initially, astronomy was tied closely with astrology as the two disciplines grew and matured. The mathematical roots of astronomy were expressed early in the precise positioning of temples, and you can see what technical skill they obtained by the orientation of the pyramids. A yearly calendar was fixed by studying the movements and positions of the sun, moon, and stars.
The invention of the telescope in 1608 was, of course, of major importance to the science. Even before the telescope, however, early astronomers were experimenting with lenses in magnification and bending of light waves. As early as 3rd century BCE, Euclid was writing about reflection and refraction of light.
Replica of Newton's Reflecting Telescope; Image Andrew Dunn
We fortunately have a wealth of artifacts to examine relating to early astronomy. The temples and observatories themselves, the paintings, tapestry, remnants and stonework keep archaeoastronomers busy. It wasn’t all gods, goddesses, heroes and legends. The Antikythera mechanism alone kept scientists guessing for decades. Some people still believe it is evidence of Earth’s visitation by extra terrestrials.
Antikythera mechanism, National Archaeological Museum, Athens
We always think of the 20th century as the period of most growth in the sciences, and so it may have been. Still, we need to stop and consider what our ancestors were able to deduce having only their eyes and their minds with which to work. Amazing…
A commenter at Gene Sherpas writes:
It seems to me that the service Pathway offers is closely modeled on 23andMe’s products, so why do you consider them to be so much more responsible? On the surface, I can’t see much difference in how the two services work? And Pathway seems to have a more invasive privacy policy?
Short answer: pick your battles
Long answer: 23andMe is anti-medicine —lies. Navigenics is “integrative medicine” —noise. Both companies have had many years and many executive teams to demonstrate any motive otherwise. They have not.
But readers are absolutely correct. Pathway tries similar hey-bro-just-kidding garbage in their Terms of Service and in their product design. I know.
Pathway Genomics and the Services do not provide medical advice or diagnosis or treatment recommendations for diseases or other health conditions.
For the obtuse: My agenda is that “business problems” of 23andMe and Navigenics are correctly attributed to dishonesty and not “the market” or “needz more bizdev to doctors.” I prefer to believe that people care about their work and want to make it better for the greater good.
That said, of Silicon Valley genomics, only Counysl seems to have any inkling that its work is critical human medicine and not a mere toy with “scalable economics” in a “fundable market.”
“Oh but Navigenics is Serious!” Boring toys are still toys.
Aside: If —hypothetically— you were to solicit a genetic test in my medical office that was like 23andMe —”only better!” … keep it clean. I am watching.
Imagine dropping a few hundred dollars for a bottle of “premium wine” only to discover it tastes like plonk! For years, collectors of fine wines have gone to great lengths to ensure that the wine they buy is indeed of the advertised quality and age. From tamper-proof caps to prevent the dilution of a premium wine with cheap stuff to an electric tongue that can distinguish fine wines, connoisseurs have tried their best not to get ripped off. Now, they have another trick at their disposal, and this one involves an atom bomb.
According to new research, collectors can avoid purchasing a faked bottle of an old vintage by running the wine through a “bomb pulse” test, which uses the radioactive material present in air to date the wine. The system is accurate enough, say scientists, to date your wine’s vintage up to a year of its production–so that a collector can be certain, for example, that a Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1982 isn’t actually a child of the aughts.
Speaking at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco, chemist Graham Jones said that prior to the 1940s, all the carbon-14 in the Earth’s biosphere was produced by cosmic rays and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. However, from the late 1940s to 1963, atomic bomb tests released radioactive material and significantly increased the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere. Ever since the atomic tests stopped in ‘63, this “bomb-pulse” C-14 has been gradually diluted by the CO2 formed by the burning of fossil fuels.
What’s all this got to do with vino? Well, when the grapes on the vine took in this CO2, they also ingested the bomb pulse C-14 and in the process, transferred minute, harmless qualities of the radioactive carbon to their wine.
PhysOrg explains:
The scientists used a highly-sensitive analytical device called an accelerator mass spectrometer to determine the C-14 levels in the alcohol components of 20 Australian red wines with vintages from 1958 to 1997 and then compared these measurements to the radioactivity levels of known atmospheric samples. They found that the method could reliably determine the vintage of wines to within the vintage year.
So much like carbon dating helps determine the age of prehistoric fossils and artifacts, the lingering traces of bomb-pulse C-14 present in wine could help determine its vintage. The scientists are hopeful that this technique will help prevent fraud in the $3 billion global wine market.
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Image:Wikimedia
It’s not that teenagers aren’t trying to learn. (Well, OK, some of them definitely aren’t trying.) But the distractions that come with being a teenager are exacerbated by the fact that teens just don’t learn as quickly as either young kids or adults, and a new study of mice that appears in Science points to specific brain changes that might help explain why.
Seeking to study spatial learning during puberty, the team devised a relatively complex task (at least for a mouse) that requires learning how to avoid a moving platform that delivers a very mild shock [TIME]. While the prepubescent mice picked up on what to avoid pretty quickly, as did adult mice, pubescent mice took considerably longer to figure it out. The key to these differences was what study leader Sheryl Smith saw in the brains of these mice.
Building on their own previous work that showed a spike in the number of chemical receptors in the brains of adolescent mice, Smith and her colleagues looked for that effect in the hippocampus, the brain region associated with learning. Sure enough, pubertal mice had seven times as many of the receptors as infant mice. In adulthood, the number of these receptors fell back to an intermediate level [New Scientist]. Smith thinks those extra receptors could be inhibiting learning by interfering with activity in the hippocampus.
While people often complain of being too stressed to learn, you need a least a little bit of pressure, and it seems the pubescent mice weren’t stressed enough. When Smith’s team gave the mice a stress steroid called THP, that reduced the learning problems. Typically THP is produced in response to stress, and has a calming influence. But in the strange brains of the pubescent mice, THP did the opposite—it slightly increased their stress levels and closed the learning gap.
It’s too early to say how well this might work on humans, since our teenagers, compared to pubescent mice, are an even more complex puzzle. It’s possible that “they’re just being difficult, it’s their hormones, or they’re doing it on purpose,” she said. “There are so many things going on in humans that we wanted to break it down in a mouse study where we could look at what’s going on in the brain” [HealthDay News].
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Image: Wikimedia Commons
Female Eider inspecting Inner FarneAlthough we’ve only been out for a few days ourselves, the team are settling and getting use to island life. The Farnes look barren at this time of year (as expected) but it hasn't stopped our breeding birds - as the first eggs have been discovered – a female Mallard sitting on eleven eggs on a nest site in the lighthouse compound. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had Shags sitting on eggs within a week or two, but watch this space.
Highlights: Red-throated Diver 2N, Common Scoter 32, Shelduck 2, Goldeneye 3, Pochard female north, Woodcock flushed, Bar-tailed Godwit 12, Curlew 244, Fieldfare 3, Redwing 4, Song Thrush and Rook 2.
