Pick up a newspaper or go online and you’ll find plenty to be
depressed about – economic woes, terrorism, natural disasters. That’s
why Sergio Tripi, a member of the Rotary Club of Roma Eur, Italy,
launched a service to spread more cheerful news. (click below to read more)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
SPACE
Explanation:
Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer
Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact
groups
of galaxies, now appropriately called
Hickson Compact Groups.
The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing
telescopic skyscape
are one such group, Hickson 44, about 100 million
light-years distant toward the constellation Leo.
The two spiral galaxies
in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with its distinctive,
warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187.
Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 at the right,
they are also known as Arp 316.
The spiral in the upper left corner is NGC 3185,
the 4th member of the Hickson group.
Like other galaxies in Hickson groups, these show signs of
distortion and enhanced star formation,
evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in
galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale.
The merger process is
now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of
galaxies, including
our own Milky
Way.
For scale, NGC 3190
is about 75,000 light-years across at the estimated
distance of Hickson 44.
MENSA Q & A
Peruke: what do you do with it (eat/drink it, wear it, spend it or speak it)?
(click below for the answer)
SMILE
As a single, never married woman in my 40s, I have been questioned
endlessly about my status by my friends, relatives and co-workers. Over
the years, I've noticed a subtle change in the nature of their
inquiries.
In my teens, friends would ask, "Who are you going out with this weekend?"
In my 20s, relatives would say, "Who are you dating?"
In my 30s, co-workers might inquire, "So, are you dating anyone yet?"
Now, people ask, "Where did you get that adorable purse?"
In my teens, friends would ask, "Who are you going out with this weekend?"
In my 20s, relatives would say, "Who are you dating?"
In my 30s, co-workers might inquire, "So, are you dating anyone yet?"
Now, people ask, "Where did you get that adorable purse?"
TODAY IN HISTORY
AUGUST 31
1997:Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed along with her companion, Harrods department store heir Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul in an automobile crash in Paris. Paul was driving while intoxicated and speeding through a tunnel in an attempt to shake off paparazzi tailing Diana, affectionately known as the "People's Princess," even after her divorce from Prince Charles.
1888: The infamous serial killer known as Jack the Ripper claims his first victim, a 42-year-old prostitute named Mary Ann Nichols, in the Whitechapel neighborhood of London's East End. Jack the Ripper was never caught or identified, yet he grotesquely murdered at least four women over the next few months.
1909: German immunologist Paul Ehrlich and Japanese bacteriologist Sahachiro Hata treat syphilis-infected rabbits with Salvarsan, a forerunner of today's chemotherapy agents.
1997:Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed along with her companion, Harrods department store heir Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul in an automobile crash in Paris. Paul was driving while intoxicated and speeding through a tunnel in an attempt to shake off paparazzi tailing Diana, affectionately known as the "People's Princess," even after her divorce from Prince Charles.
1888: The infamous serial killer known as Jack the Ripper claims his first victim, a 42-year-old prostitute named Mary Ann Nichols, in the Whitechapel neighborhood of London's East End. Jack the Ripper was never caught or identified, yet he grotesquely murdered at least four women over the next few months.
1909: German immunologist Paul Ehrlich and Japanese bacteriologist Sahachiro Hata treat syphilis-infected rabbits with Salvarsan, a forerunner of today's chemotherapy agents.
WORLD WATER WEEK
Rotarians have teamed up with nongovernmental
organizations in Belgium to bring clean drinking water and improved
sanitation to thousands of families in the poorest districts of
Toamasina, Madagascar. (click below to read more)
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
THE BEST CEO'S MAY BE IN THE COCKPIT
While the traditional picture of a chief executive is of a stoic, conservative deliberator, new research suggests that companies are better off with a high-flying risk taker—literally.
Researchers
compared 179 CEOs who hold private pilot's licenses with 2,000 nonpilot
CEOs. Psychological literature links the desire to fly with a genetic
personality trait known as sensation seeking, associated with heightened
risk-taking behavior. The comparison uncovered a consistent theme:
Chief executives with a penchant for personal risk-taking are also
corporate risk-takers who take on more debt, aggressively pursue mergers
and acquisitions, and make bold equity plays. But, in general, they are
also more effective leaders who create more value in their
organizations than their less risk-loving counterparts. And they do so,
the researchers add, without additional incentives; they imprint their
risk-loving natures on their companies because it's simply who they are.
"Cleared for Takeoff? CEO Personal Risk-Taking and
Corporate Policies," Matthew D. Cain and Stephen B. McKeon, Social
Science Research Network (May 1)
POLIO ERADICATION UPDATE
Among the key goals of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is interrupting transmission of the wild poliovirus by the end of 2012. Although the GPEI Independent Monitoring Board (IMB)
reported in July that this goal may be in jeopardy, it also noted signs
of progress and provided several recommendations that could help get
the program back on track. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
AUGUST 30
1983:Air Force Lt. Col. Guion S. Bluford Jr. is the first African American astronaut in space, when he lifts off aboard the space shuttle Challenger for a six-day mission.
1967: Famed NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall is confirmed by the Senate, becoming the first African American judge on the U.S. Supreme Court. Marshall will serve on the court until he retires in 1991.
1993: David Letterman gets behind the desk of a new late-night talk show, the Late Show with David Letterman, on CBS. Actor Bill Murray and musician Billy Joel are Letterman's first guests.
PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE
Gee, What Do We Do With All
This Stimulus Money? The Omaha (Neb.) Public School system spent
$130,000 of its stimulus grant recently just to buy 8,000 copies of the
book "The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers
Toward Profound School Change" -- that is, one copy for every single
employee, from principals to building custodians. Alarmingly, wrote an
Omaha World-Herald columnist, the book is "riddled with gobbledygook,"
"endless graphs," and such tedium as the "cultural proficiency
continuum" and discussion of the "disequilibrium" arising "due to the
struggle to disengage with past actions associated with unhealthy
perspectives." [Omaha World-Herald, 7-11-2011]
Monday, August 29, 2011
MENSA Q & A
What are the five kingdoms currently used to classify living organisms?
(click below for the answer)
YOUR CO-WORKERS MAY BE KILLING YOU
The typical American will spend about 15% of his or her lifetime working at the office. Given this expanse of hours, it's not surprising that the details of our job can have a profound impact on our health.
Traditionally, researchers have focused on the ways in which different kinds of labor affect the body, investigating the hazards associated with activities such as coal mining, truck driving and professional football. (click below to read more)
REAL ROOTS MUSIC
Cover of O Brother, Where Art Thou?
‘O Brother’ is here, in anniversary reissue
Soundtrack has an intriguing odyssey
In 2001, a score of country and bluegrass artists warbling old-timey tunes stunned the music industry by beating Bob Dylan and U2 for the best-album Grammy. A fluke? Hardly. O Brother, Where Art Thou?, among the 10 best-selling soundtracks ever, sold 7.6 million copies despite little radio support, boosted profiles of its veterans (Ralph Stanley) and contemporaries (Chris Thomas King) and breathed life into the Americana genre. A decade later, it’s getting the royal reissue treatment with a 10th anniversary deluxe edition. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
AUGUST 29
1533:Atahualpa, the last emperor of the Incas, is treacherously executed
by the soldiers of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, despite being
promised his freedom after giving the Spaniards a ransom of 24 tons of gold and silver.
1957: Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina ends the longest
filibuster in Senate history; he finally sits down after talking for 24
hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which passes later that night.
1965: Gordon Cooper, commander of the Gemini V spacecraft,
speaks via radio to Scott Carpenter, a fellow former Project Mercury
pilot, who is aboard the underwater laboratory Sealab II in the Pacific
Ocean. It is the first communication between the two great frontiers of
modern exploration — outer space and the depths of the ocean.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
STRANGE NAMES FOR STATE PARKS
 Image via Wikipedia |
| Hells Gate on Possum Kingdom Lake |
Badlands National Park in South Dakota would sound like a place you’d want to run from, if you didn’t already know that “Badlands” was a name given to an area that was hard to travel through, only before we built roads. (click below to read more)
AND I QOUTE
- "Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"-Kelvin Throop III
WE REMEMBER
 |
| Leiber, Elvis and Stoller |
By Marc Myers
Jerry Leiber wasn't the most artful lyricist in U.S. music history, but he certainly was among the most visionary and authentic. Leiber, who died on Monday in Los Angeles at age 78, was rock 'n' roll's first major wordsmith. (click below to read more)
TODAY IN HISTORY
AUGUST 28
1963: Martin Luther King Jr.
delivers one of the most famous speeches in American history to a crowd
of over 200,000 at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The civil rights
leader tells the attendees of the March on Washington for Jobs and
Freedom that "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character."
1968: The presidential nomination of Vice President Hubert H.
Humphrey at the Democratic National Convention takes a backseat to the
action happening outside on the streets of Chicago. Thousands of
anti-Vietnam War protesters clash with police armed with clubs and tear gas in a violent, televised confrontation known as the "battle of Michigan Avenue."
Saturday, August 27, 2011
THE NEXT BIG THING?
Fossil's Meta Watch has been beset with delays and defective parts but finally there's good news -- the watches have passed the FCC. The two models (analog and digital) can sync with your Android smartphone or tablet via a Texas Instruments
CC2560 Bluetooth controller and are being sold as a "development
platform" until enough apps are built to take advantage of the
technology. T.I.'s website lists the watches as being available since
August 22nd, although we're not entirely sure what to make of that -- it
still looks like a pre-order situation to us. In any case, the devices
should hopefully start reaching app developers pretty soon.
WELCOME TO STORY CORPS
StoryCorps, whose casual conversations can be heard weekly on NPR's Morning Edition, has begun producing animation to accompany its audio recordings.
It's not just the stories that make the StoryCorps narratives so fascinating. It's the voices, and the tender relationships between the subjects and their interviewers -- almost always friends, family members or lovers. They're fun, and often very touching, to hear -- and, as it turns out, to see.
Here's a quick example -- four minutes long -- from Short Cuts: a StoryCorps animated film called No More Questions!, directed by the Rauch Brothers. Enjoy.
It's not just the stories that make the StoryCorps narratives so fascinating. It's the voices, and the tender relationships between the subjects and their interviewers -- almost always friends, family members or lovers. They're fun, and often very touching, to hear -- and, as it turns out, to see.
Here's a quick example -- four minutes long -- from Short Cuts: a StoryCorps animated film called No More Questions!, directed by the Rauch Brothers. Enjoy.
NICE SPREADS
 |
| 1959 |
 |
| 1937 |
 |
| 1899 |
 |
| 1912 |
By CHIP KIDD
The worlds of graphology and gastronomy go together like surf and turf in "Menu Design in America: A Visual and Culinary History of Graphic Styles and Design 1850-1985" (Taschen, $60), by Steven Heller and culinary historian John Mariani.
Chronicling the golden age of the American menu—in restaurants, nightclubs, diners, coffee shops, bars, train cars, steamships, airport VIP clubs, first-class cabins, drive-throughs, family faves and hotel lounges (room service listings included)—the 392-page hardcover tome traverses the early roots and dazzling evolution of America's aesthetically-rendered "bills of fare." (click below to read more)
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