Children's gardens mushroomingScientists have discovered the secrets to enhancing youth participation in school and community-based garden programs. A three-year study entitled "Greener Voices" proves that children will engage in learning more readily when given responsibility for decision making and planning.
Childrens gardens have mushroomed during the past two decades. Gardens are popping up in schools, communities, public venues, and informal settings. Despite recent........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 8:23:57 PM)
Alarming rate of drinking and drivingWarnings that alcohol and driving dont mix are generally targeted at adults or high school students, but a new University of Georgia study finds that some middle schoolers in rural areas are drinking and driving as well.
Researchers, whose results appear in the recent issue of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, surveyed 290 middle school students in the Mississippi Delta and observed that 17 percent had driven an automobile after........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 8:20:06 PM)
Katrina victims increasingly depressed As per the most comprehensive survey of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, results of which are being presented today to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly in comparison to the situation five to eight months........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 7:26:03 PM)
Ancient Amphibians Left Full-Body ImprintsUnprecedented fossilized body imprints of amphibians have been discovered in 330 million-year-old rocks from Pennsylvania. The imprints show the unmistakably webbed feet and bodies of three previously unknown, foot-long salamander-like critters that lived 100 million years before the first dinosaurs.
"Body impressions like this are wholly unheard of," said paleontologist Spencer Lucas, a curator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 5:11:18 AM)
Biofuel commentaries in New OrleansThe Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) will make three presentations in New Orleans on Monday Nov. 5 as part of the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA). The presentations include the roll-out of two new CAST Commentaries on biofuel byproducts and ethanol production and a presentation outlining CASTs resources for........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/28/2007 4:00:55 PM)
The race for biofuels driving alternative sourcesScientists have been studying fuels from biomass for years. Now, with growing dependency on foreign oils and an energy-conscious society emerging, biofuels are fast becoming part of a fuel revolution that could reach pumps all across America.
Ethanol blends are already available at some gas stations. However, their availability varies from state to state, depending on the volume of ethanol produced. Sources of biomass for biofuel production........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/28/2007 3:58:58 PM)
A tale of horrorI always have a hard time sleeping this time of year, when the nights grow long and cold and the crickets stop chirping well before midnight. It’s been raining, too, preventing me from going to work for most of the past week, so I’ve had to cut back on meals, too.
So let’s just say I was in no mood to be awoken this afternoon — much less to have my bed jolted violently and turned on its side. I’d heard this........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/28/2007 11:29:19 AM)
Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoidesThank you to Courtnay H, aka Seaweed Lady@Flickr, for sharing today's photograph (original image via BPotD Flickr Group Pool. If you love the sea and plants (like me), you certainly should view Courtnay's photographs on Flickr
Courtnay suggests the following link to accompany her photograph: Codium fragile subsp. tomentosoides via Algaebase. If you visit that page, the word “weed” is used (Courtnay calls this photograph........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/27/2007 9:28:40 PM)
Decision-makers seek internal balanceA researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine suggests that psychiatry experts may need to approach the therapy of psychiatric patients from a new direction by understanding that such individuals behavior and decision-making are based on an attempt to reach an inner equilibrium.
In a special section in the October 26 issue of the journal Science, Martin Paulus, M.D., professor in UCSDs Department of........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/25/2007 10:05:29 PM)
Housing development on the rise near national forestsAmericas national forests and grasslands provide the largest single source of freshwater in the United States, habitat for a third of all federally listed threatened or endangered species, and recreation opportunities for people (about 205 million visits are made annually to national forests).
These and other benefits could be altered by increased housing growth. The population of the United States is projected to increase by 135 million........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/25/2007 10:02:29 PM)
Location, location, locationAs housing developments sprout across the United States, smart growth proponents have urged communities to cluster developments in concentrated pockets, instead of the more standard and familiar sprawl. Cluster developments create a far smaller footprint on the environment, affecting a smaller portion of the land area than dispersed houses. The initial motivation for cluster development was to protect open space, farmland, and rural........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/24/2007 8:29:45 PM)
It's Your Choice: How do You ChooseI'm trying to loose weight. In an effort to embrace my new life, aka single and over fifty, I have shifted my focus from what everyone else needs from me to what I need for me.
One of which is to become healthier. After a life time of bad habits and bad choices, I, like that skinny bit*h in the photo depicted, am faced constantly with the choice between Krispy Kreme doughnuts, moist, sweet, delicious doughnuts or an apple.
Sometimes........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/21/2007 8:09:42 PM)
Perfect for eco-friendly shoppingIf you look in a typical New Yorker's apartment, you'll find a stash of plastic bags from grocery stores. You know the kind, the ones that San Francisco has banned from supermarkets. It might seem a bit excessive until you realize that San Francisco alone hands out 180 million bags a year to shoppers. There was also the "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" frenzy this summer, which ended up feeling more about "awareness creation" than making an impact on........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/21/2007 7:23:46 PM)
Youtube FilterVia Crankgeeks - Couldn't resist uploading this one. Pretty much sums up the new "Filter". But I disagree with Furrier. Theres lots of great legal content on Youtube . Please don't use "My Videos" as proof of this. Arrr..........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/18/2007 8:20:57 PM)
How well do we know ourselves?Since we’re into life today, I thought I’d show you one of my favourite parts of the J. Craig Venter genome (very neat interactive map hosted by PLoS, and much easier to look through than the 88 — you’ve been warned!). Near the bottom of the poster, you’ll find this........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/16/2007 7:10:44 PM)
Cycas taiwanianaThank you to Michael Charters, the person behind the oft-referenced-by-BPotD Calflora.net for sharing today's photograph. Michael submitted it via the BPotD Submissions forum on the garden's site; the original image is in this thread: Cycas taiwaniana. I should also mention that one of Michael's ongoing projects is “What's Blooming at the Los Angeles County Arboretum?” – certainly makes me want to visit! Thanks, Michael
........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/14/2007 3:33:49 PM)
Nature's Great Survivor: The Water BearFreeze them, boil them, dry them, expose them to open space and radiation - after 200 years they'll still be alive!Tardigrades (known as water bears or moss piglets) are some of the most interesting animals in the world, simply because they can survive so well in the most extreme conditions.........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/14/2007 3:33:42 PM)
Phone Flirting ServiceVitarati is a company that has big plans judging from their recent press release for their seenr.com website. The website is a social networking platforms with the motto "be seen, be the scene" which reflects the company's goal of using collaborative filtering to rate and recommend top hot spots to users. Information on these hot spots is based on your own preferences and is sent via text your phone
But what I'm really........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/9/2007 8:41:49 PM)
Plan to get clean water in poorer homesFaculty and students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are setting out to discover whether applying business principles to public health problems can result in solutions that will save lives in developing countries with limited access to safe drinking water.
The Carolina Global Water Partnership has been established to bring together experts from UNCs School of Public Health, Kenan-Flagler Business School and Kenan........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/8/2007 11:01:15 AM)
The Basics of ProprietorshipWhy go into a home-based business? Why not indeed? A home-based business offers the kind of independence and freedom you don't always find as an employee. Unlike your 9-to-5 job, your earnings aren't limited by what is stated in your employment contract. You also can allow your creativity to fly and even get full credit for it if your product gets recognized. Ready to become an entrepreneur? Here are some important things you need to........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/3/2007 5:40:48 AM)
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New computer architecture aids emergency responsePrinceton scientists have invented a computer architecture that enables the secure transmission of crucial rescue information to first responders during events such as natural disasters, fires or terrorist attacks.
Electrical engineering professor Ruby Lee said the new architecture allows for what she describes as transient trust the ability to transmit sensitive information to parties on an as-needed basis so that it cannot be intercepted........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 8:43:27 PM)
Can your perspective influence your motivation?Students, athletes and performing artists are often advised to imagine themselves performing successfully. That strategy is believed to motivate them for future exams, games, and shows. But is that motivation influenced by what perspective they take when imagining their performance? Research published by SAGE in the recent issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin explores that question.
The three studies explored in the article........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 8:00:10 PM)
Western Canada's Glaciers Hit 7000-Year LowTree stumps at the feet of Western Canadian glaciers are providing new insights into the accelerated rates at which the rivers of ice have been shrinking due to human-aided global warming.
Geologist Johannes Koch of The College of Wooster found the deceptively fresh and intact tree stumps beside the retreating glaciers of Garibaldi Provincial Park, about 40 miles (60 km) north of Vancouver, British Columbia. What he wanted to know was how........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/31/2007 5:18:01 AM)
Time spent in car drives up air pollution exposureThe daily commute may be taking more of a toll than people realize. A new study by scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) and the California Air Resources Board observed that up to half of Los Angeles residents total exposure to harmful air pollutants occurs while people are traveling in their vehicles.
Eventhough the average Los Angeles driver spends about six percent (1.5 hours) of his or her day on the road, that period........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/30/2007 10:07:25 PM)
Some Neanderthals May Have Had Red Or Fair HairFossil remains of Neanderthals paint an incomplete picture; they cannot tell us about their cognitive skills or give us details of what they looked like. Since researchers in Svante Pääbo's team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig started looking into the DNA of Neanderthals, they have made some new and astonishing discoveries. Just last week, the Leipzig researchers published their discovery of the human........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/28/2007 4:08:16 PM)
The coevolution of parochial altruism and warIn The Coevolution of Parochial Altruism and War appearing in the October 26 issue of Science, SFI researcher Samuel Bowles and colleague Jung-Kyoo Choi of Kyungpook National University in South Korea suggest that the altruistic and warlike aspects of human nature may have a common origin.
Altruismbenefiting fellow group members at a cost to oneselfand parochialismhostility toward individuals not of ones own ethnic, racial, or other........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/28/2007 3:06:16 PM)
Arthur Kornberg passed awayArthur Kornberg, the pioneer of human genetics and the winner of the 1959 Nobel Prize, passed away on the 26th of October, 2007 at the age of 89. He shared the Nobel Prize in medicine with Severo Ochoa “for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid”
What a great family he had (from Wikipedia)
They had three sons: Roger David Kornberg (1947) (currently Professor........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/27/2007 9:28:51 PM)
10 Jelly Beans Theft ChargeA man was charged with petty theft after being caught on a surveillance camera taking jelly beans out of a bin and eating them before he got to the cash register.The 34-year-old Fort Walton Beach man was buying groceries at Albertson’s when he stopped at a bin of candy and put an unspecified number of jelly beans in his mouth, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office report.The store manager on duty told the deputy that he........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/27/2007 9:28:47 PM)
NYFF. Views. 3Following up on his first and second pieces on the Views from the Avant-Garde sidebar of the New York Film Festival, Michael Sicinski focuses on five "modern masters at mid-career.........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/27/2007 3:35:50 PM)
Chris Gilmour: Cardboard SculptorThe work of British artist Chris Gilmour provokes surprise and amazement beyond what could appear to be a mere process of reproduction.Packaging cardboard is, by its very nature, intended to contain but it is then discarded. Gilmour, however, uses it to contain the work's own identity and to highlight the displacement between the original object and the one made in cardboard.(via ReubenMiller)........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/24/2007 9:46:09 PM)
Bus Scheduling Algorithm Picks Up the SlackA prizewinning paper by a USC Viterbi School engineer elegantly solves a basic transit scheduling problem, potentially meaning shorter waits for riders.
The question: how much slack should be schedulers of a bus or tram line add to keep operations from bunching up? Maged Dessouky, a professor in the Viterbi School's Daniel J. Epstein department of Industrial and Systems engineering joined with two colleagues to analyze this problem.
Slack........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/23/2007 8:53:12 PM)
Why Is This Girl Not SmilingOut of a lifetime of changing jobs I managed to survive one career for 30 years. I was a copywriter, then a creative director, in the advertising agency business. Much of my work in Toronto, New York and London was on car accounts where the preferred medium was television. So you can appreciate that I know a good car commercial when I see one, which is a rare occasion these days as contemporary North American car advertising is the pits. The........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/22/2007 7:27:18 PM)
Cate Blanchett-Style IconLooking for a new style icon? Look no further than Cate Blanchett. Seriously, anything she does, copy it. She always nails the red carpet and she looks amazing. I mean I'm not partial or anything to her, since everyone tells me I look like her, but you know, no biased opinions here. The best part about Cate Blanchett? She can pair a $14,000 couture gown, with hair that she did herself and she looks flawless.She once said "You can't........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/21/2007 7:23:36 PM)
Dr Crippen innocent"For nearly 100 years his name has been a byword for murder most foul, but Hawley Crippen, the infamous doctor hanged for poisoning and dismembering his British wife, may have been innocent, new research suggests."(The Times)Finally, the truth has been established. An innocent man was led to the gallows. Great uncle Hawley did not poison Aunty Cora. That, of course, has always been my belief. I make no comment about the speculative and........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/18/2007 7:58:39 PM)
Amazing Parking AccidentA giant Cadbury Creme Egg crushes a car.Must be an advertisement.(thanks Don)........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/16/2007 6:34:47 PM)
Back Of Beyond TimesThe Back of Beyond Times is an online tabloid newspaper, reporting about everything that is going on in the mythical country of Kashgar. The site is run by Alexander Bews who paints all sorts of figurines.........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/14/2007 3:33:46 PM)
Sleuth"It's tempting to call the new Sleuth a soulless remake, but that would imply that the original had a soul," writes Fernando F Croce at Slant. "What keeps the film's motor running is the interplay between the two actors. [Jude] Law has the opaque agility of a cunning scam artist, but it's [Michael] Caine's look of bemused wryness (the way he sizes up his younger co-star as if to say, 'I were you once, kid') that almost makes one believe there's........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/14/2007 3:25:31 PM)
How's Your Arbitration Going?There's nothing like having to show up in court in a place where you really don't know the rules and maybe can't even understand the language. I think it's fair to say that the court system in China, while it may be improving, is not as transparent as most Western judicial systems. The most common answer to that dilemma is arbitration
But are you really ready for arbitration? Brad Luo at the China Business Law Blog posted a........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/8/2007 9:28:48 PM)
Physicists Tackle Knotty PuzzleElectrical cables, garden hoses and strands of holiday lights seem to get themselves hopelessly tangled with no help at all. Now research initiated by an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego has resulted in the first model of how knots form.
The study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, investigated the likelihood of knot formation and the types of knots formed in........Go to the Science-blog (Added on 10/4/2007 5:02:43 AM)
NYFF podcast. Stellet Licht.In this podcast from the New York Film Festival, Andrew Grant and Aaron Hillis talk with Salon's Andrew O'Hehir about Carlos Reygadas's Stellet Licht (Silent Light; site). To download or listen, click here
"The microcosm that is the world of Stellet Licht is no gimmick, but rather the perfect stage for this passion play that is as much about spirituality and sacrifice as it is sex and love," writes Andrew G (as Filmbrain). "Stellet Licht........Go to the My-media-blog (Added on 10/3/2007 5:31:15 AM)
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