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  • Screen Grab is a neat way to grab BlackBerry screenshots

    When it comes to grabbing screenshots from your BlackBerry, I’ve always recommended BBScreenShooter. It’s just an excellent application that lets you take a picture of any screen on your BlackBerry. The only drawback is that it’s PC software. This not only locks out Mac users, but it also means you can only use it when your BlackBerry is connected to the desktop. I’m sure there are instances where you want to take a screencap while on the road. We’ve featured software like this in the past, but one of the newest apps in our store, Screen Grab, puts an interesting twist on grabbing screenshots.

    (more…)

  • Dear Entrepreneurs: There’s No Money in Geoengineering | The Intersection

    On the left wing, there’s this strange notion that geoengineering is a new corporate obsession. Scientists interested in the topic are accused of being part of a “geoengineering lobby” that wants to mess with the planet for fun and profit. Alas, there’s no evidence to support this idea. In fact, as recent Point of Inquiry guest Eli Kintisch reports over at CNN Money, government regulations so far have quashed those few attempts to profit off of geoengineering that have made it to the trial stage. Kintisch’s piece is called “Climate Hacking and Geoengineering: A Good Way to Go Broke.” You can read it here.


  • Froyo Feature: How to use the Google Chrome to Phone Extension

    Google Chrome to Phone Extension

    Another of the very cool features we saw during the Android 2.2. Froyo announcement at Google IO was the "Chrome to Phone" extension, available for Google’s Chrome browser. In a nutshell, it sends a web page from your desktop or laptop browser to your phone, in just a matter of seconds. Here’s how you do it:

    1. Download the Chrome to Phone extension for the Chrome browser.
    2. Download the Chrome to Phone app for Android 2.2. [Download directly on your phone here.]
    3. Install both, and "Register" both.
    4. To send a page, just click the "Chrome to Phone" icon on the Chrome browser.

    It’s stupidly simple, and we’re already tweaking this some to send files and what not to Froyo in just a matter of clicks.

    Oh, you want more? OK. How about a Firefox extension? Sure thing. Snag it here. Then just right-click on a page to send it to your phone. Check out the Chrome to Home project homepage if you want to know more, and check out our video of it in action after the break.

    (Thanks, Jerry! Find a cool new feature in Froyo and want to tell the world about it? E-mail us here and we’ll make you famous!)

    read more

  • Seidio Innocell 1750mAh Extended Battery for Verizon HTC Droid Incredible

    Seidio Innocell 1750mAh Extended Battery for Verizon HTC Droid IncredibleLooking to get a little more life out of your Verizon HTC Droid Incredible? Check out this extended battery — it brings 35 percent more juice (1750mAh, up from 1300mAh) than the battery that comes with the Incredible, and it does so without requiring an extended battery door and adding thickness to the phone. The Seidio Innocell 1750mAh battery for the Verizon HTC Droid Incredible is available now in the Android Central Store for $49.95. (Sponsored post)

  • Blackberry Bold 9800 slider to ditch SurePress, more photos surface

    BlackBerry 9800 Slider On-Screen KeyboardBy now we’ve all seen the many, many, many and more photos (and video) that have been leaked of the up-n-coming BlackBerry 9800 slider phone.

    So you’re probably not that amazed by the new batch of photos that have emerged over at The Berry Fix.

    However, the photographer behind this latest photo shoot does have some interesting news for y’all: the new slider won’t be using RIM’s trademark, annoying SurePress technology.

    For those not in the know, SurePress was RIM’s attempt at replicating the tactile feel of a physical keyboard on a touch-screen device by making the screen a big, clickable button. The technology débuted on the BlackBerry Storm, and wasn’t received well.

    The removal of SurePress from the 9800 could be to do with the fact that the slider already has a physical keyboard, so those that are truly fearful of The Touch needn’t ever use the on-screen keyboard, and thus don’t need the assurance of SureType.

    Don’t think that RIM have given up on SureType just yet.

    The device should be released on AT&T in June.

    [via SlashGear]


  • Lady Gaga Bought Parents Rolls-Royce For Wedding Anniversary

    Lady Gaga surprised her parents, Joseph and Cynthia Germanotta, with a Rolls-Royce in celebration of their silver wedding anniversary last month.

    The singing sensation decorated the car with a large bow and delivered it to with the message: ‘A car to last like a love like yours.’ Gaga says her parents first thought she’d rented the luxury whip for them to drive for the day and her dad was overwhelmed after realizing his famous had purchased it for them.

    The star tells Britain’s The Times: I bought my parents a car. It’s a Rolls-Royce. It’s black. My dad is very Italian, so I wanted to get him a real Godfather car. I had it delivered on their wedding anniversary.”


  • New footage of LittleDog found: Run away! Run away!

    So you just woke up. You had some cereal, some coffee. Hit the old elliptical and then took a shower and went to work. You fire up the old PC, get the TPS reports ready, and while the FTOPS are loading you visit CrunchGear. You play the video above. You realize that your entire world, one day very soon, will change. You discover that LittleDog is the robot that will kill and macerate you.

    This new video shows LittleDog, a DARPA project, learning terrain and performing unusual moves like hops and stretches to span chasms. Because it doesn’t need a bagel and a latte to get up to speed in the morning, I suspect that once these things go intelligent, we’re all screwed.

    Oh well. Let’s enjoy ourselves while it lasts.

    via Reddit


  • Lost has finally came to “The End”

    Lost has finally came to The End

    Six years after its release, the popular television series “Lost” came to an ending. The curtain came down today with an emotional final chapter that satisfied  many of his fans despite the lack of answers to intriguing enigmatic plots of the program.

    The Lost finale, with the double episode “The End” resolved the outstanding issues between the central characters of the saga of castaways of Oceanic flight 815 and revealed the secret underlying the whole story but, true to his style, a lot of questions left open for speculation.

    To paraphrase the statements made in January, the series producer, Carlton Cuse, during the presentation of last season, the conclusion of “Lost” was “a cocktail of answers and mysteries”, which has not left without tears the fans as the images were displayed by U.S. television networks.

    In an attempt to shed light on the many questions that still surround a “Lost,” the presenter Jimmy Kimmel made his night program “Jimmy Kimmel Live” as a special titled “Aloha to ‘Lost‘”, which aired on ABC then the episode and which welcomed several of the actors that starred in the series.

    Kimmel and Matthew Fox, who plays Dr. Jack Shephard, agreed to assess “Lost” as a focused experience and lived through that character after the plane crash with all began in 2004.
    The end of “Lost” is final, as the producer Cuse and Damon Lindelof’s creator had commented on more than one occasion.

    Related posts:

    1. Watch Naruto Shippuden Episode 157 Live Stream Online – Latest Episode
    2. Watch Lost Finale – How did Lost End?: Lost Finale Updates
    3. Sarah Palin To Discover Alaska With TLC Network

  • Will Miranda Kerr Replace Megan Fox In “Transformers 3?”

    Miranda Kerr may soon make her long-awaited crossover to Hollywood – the sexy Aussie Victoria’s Secret model is also being considered for the lead role in Transformers 3, Tinseltown tattle tales tell London’s Daily Telegraph.

    With Megan Fox out of the picture as Shia LaBeouf’s sidekick in the action franchise, a host of names have bubbled up as possible replacements: including Gemma Arterton, Zoe Saldana, Vanessa Hudgens, Amber Heard, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Ashley Greene.


  • For what it’s worth: Motorola says Droid getting Froyo ‘in the near future’

    Motorola Droid

    OMG! The Motorola Droid’s getting the Android 2.2 Froyo update "in the near future." Which makes sense, because we don’t have it at the moment, and we can’t get it in the past. So the future makes sense, right? As for the "near future?" Heh. We’ve heard that before, right? Here’s the actual quote from Moto:

    “We’re excited to see Google’s news of the next version of the Android operating system and look forward to integrating it on our Android-based devices as it’s made available to the open source community.”

    While I can’t comment on specifics, we do expect DROID by Motorola users will receive Android 2.2 as a software upgrade in the near future.”

    Thanks, everybody, for blowing up our inbox over this. And not to be a Debby Downer (though technically its in our job description), but this doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. Yes, it’s coming. No, we don’t know when. [via Slashgear]

  • How OPEC’s Bad Behavior Could Send Oil Prices Into A Self-Reinforcing Tailspin

    Chavez

    Oil has recovered from its flash crash last week, but it has by now breached key psychological levels.

    Moreover, lower prices could counter-intuitively beget increased supply as many OPEC members could now be forced to cheat on their production quotas even more so than before in order to support their national budgets:

    Hellenic Shipping News:

    According to OPEC’s leading official, now that oil prices have fallen to $68-70 per barell, the first line of defence will be a better compliance. But if OPEC members cheat on exporting volumes when prices are high, things are more difficult when prices falling under the psychological level of $70 per barrel as their revenues are also falling.

    At the same time, another problem for OPEC members is that non-OPEC supply is rising in a fast way especially from Russia.

    Lower prices could push higher production beyond quotas, which push down prices even further, etc. Could this create a self-reinforcing cycle for the next, say $10, of downward action for oil prices?

    There’s probably a limit to this kind of behavior, but some OPEC members aren’t in the best of shape, such as Venezuela. Thus OPEC non-compliance could increase until it gets too obvious, via crashing oil prices, at which point OPEC members would be forced to come back into line with their cartel.

    Join the conversation about this story »


  • Your message in a bottle?

    That’s it, the deadline is up for applications to be a Local Events Campaign Coordinator in your town! We’ve had some amazing applications and can’t wait to get stuck into a season of gigs and festivals. Fancy getting involved? You’ll get training on the latest campaigns, free tickets to gigs, and we can guarantee* you’ll have fun. If you’re interested drop us a line at [email protected] – don’t forget to tell us which town you’re based in.

    Some of you lucky activists have already lined up free tickets to Glastonbury by working for Oxfam this year (places still available for WOMAD – check out http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/stewarding/index.html). Oxfam has a long and proud history with the Glastonbury festival, and this year we will be sharing a special space with the other Glastonbury charity partners, Water Aid and Greenpeace. This will be a quiet zone where festival-goers can kick off their shoes and relax in the hay bales next to some calming water pools. These pools will contain little bottles with messages from supporters and staff saying what the charity means to them. We’ve got five spare bottles we’d like to fill with messages from our activists – yes that’s you!

    What does Oxfam mean to you? What do Oxfam’s campaigns mean to you? What would the world be like without Oxfam’s campaigns over the years? How do you feel when you’re campaigning for Oxfam? Be eloquent, be inspired, be thought-provoking. You’ve 50 words to inspire a probably tired but very happy festival-goer (they’ll also have a chance to respond with their own message). Send your 50 words to me ([email protected]) by 4th June and we’ll let you know if you made it into the pool. And if you’re at Glastonbury remember to check out the oasis when you need some positive calm…

    *If you don’t I’ll make sure you get a huge slice of cake to compensate

  • Fiat wants to know which 500 badge you would like in the U.S.

    Which Fiat 500 badge do you want in the U.S.?

    Fiat USA is really excited for the arrival of the Fiat 500 to the United States, and wants to get your opinion on what logo you prefer for the hatchback on the stateside.

    The Fiat 500 will be available in North America with a 1.4L Multiair engine in the fourth quarter of 2010. It will be built in Mexico starting December 2010. Also promised for the North American market is a pure electric version of the Fiat 500 in 2012.

    You can cast your vote on which badge you like the best over at Fiat USA’s Facebook Fan Page.

    Personally, we’d like the original 500 logo.

    Fiat 500:

    2008 Fiat 500  2008 Fiat 500  2008 Fiat 500 2008 Fiat 500

    – By: Omar Rana

    Source: Fiat USA Facebook Fan Page


  • The Alternative Agenda: What to Look for This Week in Green Energy

    A man with energy policy on his mind

    The Gulf Oil Spill

    BP plans to execute the excitingly-named “top-kill” maneuver, where heavy mud is pumped into the leaking oil well to cut off the flow, on Tuesday or Wednesday.

    BP is trying to lower expectations for the gambit’s success. At some point we may have to accept that oil will leak into the Gulf for two more months, when the relief well is complete.

    Meanwhile this weekend, President Obama named forrmer Sen. Bob Graham, of Florida, and former EPA Administrator William K. Reilly to a commission on how to prevent another spill. Will this commission be able to redeem offshore drilling?

    Congress Choking off Venture Funding for Green Energy?

    The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, a measure that venture capitalists say could choke off funding for green energy, is being considered by congress this week. The House is expected to vote on and pass the measure this Tuesday. It isn’t clear if it will pass the senate. The timing couldn’t be worse for green energy investors.

    Whither the American Power Act?

    If the midterm elections go as expected for the Democrats, The Kerry-Lieberman legislation will be the last, best hope America has to put a price on carbon, Grist’s David Roberts argues. So why isn’t it moving forward?

    The only firm date has been set Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has organized a meeting of Democratic committee leaders for June 7 and a meeting of the entire caucus for a week later.

    Still, Obama, or Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., could declare their support for the bill before then.

  • Alfa Romeo MiTo for Australian police

    Alfa Romeo MiTo police car

    The Alfa MiTo has a new paint job – white with blue check stripes, belonging to Australia’s Sydney police force. While you might think that the Alfa MiTo has been chosen as part of a new acquisition of compact vehicles to fight crime, according to the police the purchase has actually been made because the new Alfa model attracts a lot of attention and is a talking point; meaning the police use it to connect with communities and build stronger relationships.

    The police department says: “When it comes to visibility, the MiTo has proven to be an exceptional car, attracting attention and interest like no other car, with its primary role as providing a talking point from which we can discuss road safety.” Just a random excuse to buy new and interesting cars, maybe? Lucky them!

    It’s not the first Alfa Romeo that has been used by Australian police who have also previously employed an Alfa Romeo GT Coupé. The Alfa models are part of an interesting lineup of cars that have been used in the past to attract attention to road safety campaigns, including the Holden HSV GTO, Lotus Exige and Chrysler 300C. But word is out that Sydney police are secretly hungering for their own police Lamborghini….

    Alfa Romeo MiTo police car

    Alfa Romeo MiTo police car Alfa Romeo MiTo police car

    Source | CarAdvice


  • Top 25 Buckeyes of the Decade: #23 Nate Clements

    The Buckeye Battle Cry will be counting down the Top 25 players of the past decade all spring/summer.  Every Monday through May and June, Jim will be announcing a new player.  Starting in July, we will be announcing new additions on Monday and Thursday.  Our #1 player will be presented on Monday, August 30th.  Three days later, the 2010 season officially begins.

    Nate Clements (1999-2000)

    Clements played for Buffalo from 2001 through 2006 where he established himself as one of the best in the NFL.

    Clements is a player that is hurt by the fact that he just barely made it into the decade we are looking at.

    Also hurting him are the teams he started on,which had the worst back to back seasons at  Ohio State in two decades.

    Despite these setbacks, Clements was undoubtedly  one of the most talented players to wear the scarlet and gray over the past ten years, and a key player that helped establish Ohio State as a factory for first round cornerbacks.

    Clements was named First Team All-Big Ten during his junior year in 2000, after which he declared for the draft. He was drafted 21st overall by the Buffalo Bills in the 2001 NFL draft.

    A large part of Clements story over the past decade has been his NFL career. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2004, and in 2007 he signed what was at the time the largest contract ever for a defensive player in the NFL.

    For his All-Big Ten season in 2000, his elite level of talent, and for representing Ohio State so well in the NFL for almost a decade, Nate Clements checks in at number twenty-three on our countdown.

  • A taste test of greener milks

    by Lou Bendrick

    Full Circle’s ultra-pasteurized offering, versus small-farm Blue Hill’s raw milk: Which mooved tasters the most?(Photos by Jason Houston)

    Putting aside for a moment
    the dietary arguments against drinking cow’s milk—we’re not calves, it’s
    liquid meat, it’s snot-producing, so hard to digest, etc.—conventional milk
    deserves vilification for many reasons. Conventional dairy’s ethically
    repulsive and planet-reaming process involves more or less torturing cows to
    lactate year-round; pumping their ailing, grain-fed bodies with hormones and
    antibiotics right up until they become hamburger; butchering their anemic
    offspring
    for scallopine and pet food; and, last but not least, polluting our own water
    supplies with both their excrement and agricultural runoff. Oh, wait. That
    wasn’t last. I forgot to mention that conventional milk is trucked hither and
    yon. But don’t take my word for any of this; here’s yet more information on the malevolent
    liquid that complements a slice of chocolate cake so nicely.

    One way that milk lovers
    can sidestep these issues, at least in part, is to buy more sustainable forms
    of milk: certified (or in-spirit) organic and/or local. But if taste is the
    guide, as is so often is the case, is one of these morally better milks more
    delicious than the other? Or are they all just white, taste-neutral beverages?

    I assembled a panel of tasters
    to sample six greener whole milks. Why whole, full-fat milk? Because I
    think it tastes better than low-fat and I’m the decider. That’s why. And before
    you ask, Horizon milk—the organic brand owned by Dean Foods that has the
    biggest market share by far—is conspicuously absent from this tasting
    because it isn’t sold in my local stores and didn’t want to burn tons of fossil
    fuel searching for it.

    Notes: The more time the cow spends on pasture, the more likely the flavor of the
    cow’s milk is to change with the seasons. The milk we tasted last week might,
    at least in some cases, taste very different at other times of year. “Ultra
    pasteurized
    ” refers to milk that has been heated at higher temperatures for
    longer, and has a shelf life of two to three months, and is alas often employed
    for organic milk, which is often shipped farther and is more expensive—and thus
    slower-selling—than conventional milk.

    And now, the results …

    The contenders

    Organic
    Valley Organic whole milk

    Price:
    $4.99 per half gallon
    Eco upside:
    Organic Valley is a farmer-owned cooperative. For this Massachusetts
    panel, that meant we drank a regional milk from New
    England pastures
    , one that’s USDA Certified Organic. Organic Valley says
    its cows are “raised humanely and given certified organic feed—never any
    animal by-products—and our pastures are certified organic.” On the downside:
    Although regional, the milk is still trucked a fair distance and, not having
    visited the farms, who the heck knows how happy the cows are? Certified Organic
    mandates access to pasture, not actual time spent on it.
    Feedback: Tasters
    were all over the map on this ultra-pasteurized milk, which was pure white.
    Comments ranged from “funky tasting” to “smooth and buttery.” Someone said it
    tasted like “raw milk,” with a grassy, moldy flavor. Overall, tasters liked the
    texture, which was described as “totally thick” and as having “legs that stick
    to the glass.” Overall rating: “Pretty good.”

    Jersey dairy cows at High Lawn Farm, in MassachusettsHigh Lawn Farm whole milk
    Price:
    $2.99
    per half gallon
    Eco upside:
    This local milk comes from a herd of pretty happy-seeming Jersey cows*
    from a charming, medium-sized dairy 12 miles from my house. This milk is not certified
    organic but  the cows “feed off
    fresh grass in the summer months, and almost all of their winter feed comes
    straight from our corn and hay fields,” according to High Lawn’s website. The
    farm doesn’t use genetically modified seeds, harmful pesticides, or feed with animal
    byproducts or artificial hormones. Downside: The website also says that the
    farm purchases grains from agribiz villain Cargill to augment the corn and
    alfalfa it grows for both silage and hay.
    Feedback:
    Eww.
    That’s what got blurted out at first sniff. After sipping, tasters were a
    little less sour on this all-white milk, but still deemed it “a little
    synthetic and boring.” “Nothing interesting,” said one taster, dismissively
    pushing his glass away. “The milk of my childhood,” yawned another.

    Full Circle organic whole milk
    Price:
    $3.49 per half gallon
    Eco upside:
    This is my local supermarket chain’s in-store, cost-conscious brand,
    which is USDA Organic. Downside: Where did the milk come from? How far was it
    shipped? Were these cows really content or merely greenwashed milk machines? I
    just don’t know.
    Feedback:
    The
    panel got a bit drunk on this white milk, swooning with comments about the
    “clover in its nose” and its “earthy, creamy” and “sweet” texture. “I like this
    one a lot,” said one, while another said it was akin to drinking “light cream.”
    “This one deserves a cookie,” said one lady, who reached for a Newman-O (adding
    “I’m gonna get me some palm oil”).

    The Organic Cow organic whole milk
    Price:
    $3.79
    per half gallon
    Eco upside:
    This USDA Organic regional milk is sourced from “nearly 100 New
    England family farms.” Downside: New England is a fairly big region, so who
    knows how far the milk was trucked. The Organic Cow website offers, via the Fun
    Facts For Kids page, the bovine bit of trivia that a group of 12 or more cows
    is called a flink. Shockingly, the site does not offer the requisite meet-the-farmer-via-cheery-photo
    montage. However, the carton itself features a profile of a Vermont farmer—who
    appears to be a helluva nice guy—taking a relaxed-looking cow for a leisurely
    walk. Most important, the cow was wearing a bell. And as you know, you can
    never get too much cowbell.
    Feedback:
    Swirling
    and sniffing like a wine enthusiast, one taster noted this ultra-pasteurized
    milk’s “nice grassy nose.” Its flavor, though, left panelists wanting. “We’re
    back to processed flavor,” sighed one man. “Super-homogenized!” said another.
    Texture-wise, a kinder taster allowed for “some creaminess,” whereas another
    found it to be “mouth-coating.”

    Blue Hill Farm’s dairy operation

    Blue Hill Farm whole milk
    Price:
    $4 per half gallon (paid in cash at the farm, no records for the gummint to
    find)
    Eco upside:
    This local, unpasteurized (aka “raw”) milk comes from a picturesque farm
    owned by chef Dan Barber’s Blue Hill restaurant and situated a few miles from
    my house. Disclosure: The farmer is a friend of mine. The flink—15 to be
    precise—of Dutch and Normande Belted ladies hang out on the rolling green pastures
    in the sunshine doing that swishy-tail thing. Downside: There’s a lot of
    controversy around the health and safety of raw milk. Advocates say the un-pasteurized stuff
    is healthier for cows, people and the earth; the FDA and even many greens say it’s
    a health hazard
    that could cause dangerous foodborne illnesses. Grist’s take is somewhat
    in the middle, and the
    Ethicurean has a detailed analysis
    of both the health and illness claims.
    Feedback:
    Unlike
    the other “milky” white milks, Blue Hill’s was yellowish, like eggnog with a darker
    yellow ring. “Smells like a barn,” said one taster suspiciously. After tasting,
    someone hooted, “I love raw milk!”, while another gagged, saying “It tastes
    like I’m licking a cow’s ass.” Yet a third closed his eyes, sipped deeply, and
    confirmed cognitive dissonance theory: “It’s like silage, but I could acquire
    this taste.” The queasy taster, meanwhile, had pushed her chair away from the
    table and was eyeing her glass as if it were full of spiders. “I’m not putting
    that in my mouth again,” she wailed, to which another taster testily countered,
    “This is the only milk my kids will drink.” The wailer then crossed her arms
    while one of her “friends” snickered and made lewd milking gestures into her
    glass. Taste summary: “Very grassy.”

    Stonyfield organic whole milk
    Price:
    $4.49
    per gallon
    Eco upside:
    USDA Organic – but Stonyfield is a Big Organic operation, which means
    that its impacts, both good and bad, are magnified. The company gives
    10 percent of its profits
    to green efforts. Downside: Stonyfield’s milk may
    have been sourced from far away, even abroad,  and who knows, despite the warm-and-fuzzy farmer profiles on
    its website, the cows could be lined up like cordwood at some huge, insensitive
    operation. The site does offer farm webcams, at least one
    of which showed cows that were indoors, not frolicking in the sunshine.
    Feedback:
    This milk also earned mixed comments. The raw-milk lovers sipped it with a mix
    of Anna Wintour-ish disdain and disaffection: “It’s a basic milk,” someone
    sighed. Meanwhile, the raw-milk hater sniffled that it was “pure comfort—happy, cool, and sterile.” Most offered
    neutral comments “It makes me think of those little cartons,” and “a lunchroom
    milk.”

    The bottom line

    On taste alone, Full
    Circle’s ultra-pasteurized, in-store brand won this tasting, a result that will
    surely make the raw milk terroirists irate.
    Advice for dairy drinkers: No matter what you do, bag conventional milk. If you
    can, find a local dairy farmer you trust and let taste be your guide. And if
    you must reach for Big Organic, learn more about your potentially greenwashed
    beverage by checking out the Cornocopia Institute’s dairy
    report and scorecard
    . Lastly, consider drinking from the milk of human
    kindness and cutting back on animal foodstuffs altogether. But when it comes to
    dunking cookies, I think that’s easier said than done. 

     

    *Bovine factoid: Jersey
    cows
    ’ milk is not only naturally high in butterfat but also, according to
    High Lawn’s web authors, the rather smallish cows themselves possess the “most
    beautiful, doe-like face of the entire bovine kingdom.”

    Related Links:

    The first law of cow dynamics

    In Court Case, FDA Takes a Strong Stand Against Unabridged Food and Health Rights

    Is raw milk becoming too popular for its own good?






  • Hallucinating the void

    Rhode Island Medical News recently published an April fools article where the author joked about negative hallucinations, where someone didn’t see things that were really there, seemingly unaware that such hallucinations are in fact possible.

    The article, which you can read online as a pdf, has various humorous references to jumping traffics lights or ignoring family members. But when I’m talking about the genuine version I don’t mean lapses of attention, blind spots, inattentional blindness or other momentary failure-to-notice effects. I’m talking about not seeing specific barn door obvious objects in your field of vision when you are concentrating on the area.

    These are genuinely called negative hallucinations in the scientific literature although, as far as I know, they only occur in one specific context – after hypnosis.

    In fact, the induction of a negative hallucination forms part of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (Form C) although these sort of ‘anti-hallucinations’ are only experienced by the most hypnotisable of people – as are most ‘cognitive’ suggestions that effect the experience of your own mind (rather than changes in the sensation of control of movement, which most people can experience something of).

    There is a small literature on ‘negative hallucinations’ with several studies examining changes in electrical activity from the brain (‘evoked potentials’) as the hallucination becomes active.

    It’s still not clear how negative hallucinations work exactly. Almost all studies have found changes to attention, our ability to selectively process perceptual information, although the data is inconsistent largely owing to the small number of studies – a constant bugbear of hypnosis research.

    Link to April fools article PubMed entry.
    pdf of full-text
    Link to Google Scholar search of negative hallucination studies.
    Link to PubMed search of negative hallucination studies.

  • Dershowitz: “My job today is to delegitimize international law.”

    by Julian Ku

    The Jerusalem Post reports on a recent discussion discussion between Alan Dershowitz, Aharon Barak, and Amnon Rubinstein on Israel’s proper attitude toward international law.  Each represented a different perspective. Barak (former Israeli Supreme Court chief) suggests that Israel must follow international law as it is, while Rubinstein argued that Israel should engage to make sure international law is interpreted fairly and reasonably against it.  And then there is Dershowitz’s position, which is (predictably), the most interesting and extreme position:

    Dershowitz charged that Israel was singled out for discrimination by those who interpret international law, whether they are international tribunals like the International Court of Justice, human rights organizations or left-wing academics, including Israeli and Jewish ones.

    “The judges in the international tribunes are corrupt,” Dershowitz said. “They are appointed by political leaders to do their state’s bidding. You can’t have one law for Britain, one for America and another one for Israel. You can’t have different laws for thee and me. We see human rights turning into human wrongs or human lefts.

    “My job today is to delegitimize international law, to attack it to the core. There must be one standard for all. Until that day happens, I will be its sworn enemy. I prefer no international law to unfair international law.”

    Buried beneath Dershowitz’s colorful rhetoric (”sworn enemy”!) is a lot of legitimate criticism of how the laws of armed conflict are applied against Israel.  Since the Israeli government has been, in general, pretty sensitive to international law issues, its ultimate attitude toward this kind of international law is pretty important.  Interestingly, it is Dershowitz, the non-Israeli, who is recommending the most radical and aggressive position.

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