We reported last year that NEC, Hitachi and Casio were in negotiations to merge their cell phone operations to become Japan’s second biggest manufacturer, following Sharp. And the new company, which is called NEC Casio Mobile Communications and was established on May 1, just yesterday announced ambitious expansion plans.
The Machines that Made Up the Route 66 Rally
Michael Schlee
The Route 66 Rally is over. To say it was fun would be an understatement. It was one of the best experiences I could ever recommend to someone.
Photo Courtesy of Kevin R.
It was 4 days of driving and comradery on some of the best roads America has to offer. For those who missed it, not to worry, there will be another event bigger and better then this one. 2010 was just the first year of this annual event.
Below are the majority of vehicles that participated in this years rally. Will yours be in next years photos? For more information on the 2011 Rally, please visit www.rallynorthamerica.com
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[JURIST] President Dorit Beinisch [official profile] of the Supreme Court of Israel [official website, in Hebrew] on Wednesday criticized the Israeli government for ignoring an injunction against building an access road on Palestinian lands. The road would connect two West Bank settlements [CSM backgrounder] – Hayovel, a settlement that is illegal under Israeli law, and the legal Eli settlement. Beinisch ordered [Haaretz report] the government to explain why the injunction had been violated within 45 days and to justify the damage done to private property during construction. The Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria issued an injunction [JP report] against further construction in April 2009 after lawyers for Yesh Din [advocacy website], an Israeli human rights groups, brought suit alleging that paving the proposed road would cross privately owned lands and cut off the Palestinian village of Karyut from portions of surrounding farmland.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] alleged in a report [JURIST report] that on at least 12 separate occasions, Israeli forces destroyed civilian property [press release], including homes, factories, farms, and greenhouses, without any lawful military purpose during the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in the Gaza Strip [BBC backgrounder]. In March, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] called [JURIST report] Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank “illegal.” The statement came two weeks after Israel announced [Haaretz report] the construction of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], where Palestinians hope to establish the capital of a future state.
I’m sure that Halo assault rifle you mocked up for Halloween 2004 was nice and all. But unless it’s also a fully functional Nerf gun that holds three magazines and “a bunch” of darts, you lose. Here’s the video proof: More »
Recreation – Guns – Nerf – Toy – Assault rifle
Ya lo estabamos esperando, este próximo fin de semana, regresa la Fórmula 1 en el GP de Turquía 2010 y como tal, el piloto Jaime Alguersuari de la escudería Toro Rosso, nos desvela todos los secretos del trazado de Istambul Park.
Este circuito cuenta con una de las curvas más duras de todo el campeonato y esto es debido a que se trazan cuatro curvas como si fuera una sola en sexta velocidad y a fondo lo que genera 6 G sobre el cuello de los pilotos durante 5 segundos.
A continuación con el vídeo:
Related posts:
Endgadget is reporting this morning that webOS design expert Matias Duarte has left Palm for Google to be their User Experience Director for Android. This move is a reunion of sorts for Duarte as he previously worked with Android head Andy Rubin on the Sidekick project.
Duarte was without a doubt one of the big boys over at Palm, but recent rumors that his rigidity with design and the fact that he is a bit of a control freak caused some friction amongst the team he was working with. The good news for Android lovers out of that rumor is that he may be coming to Google to help bring some cohesion to the fragmentation issues with Android.
Will a Rubin/Duarte reunion bring Android forward in big ways? I can’t imagine doing anything but that. It will be interesting to see what this team up will bring to the Android platform.
The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) has selected 175 pilot projects to test a national rating system for sustainable landscape design, construction and maintenance.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward Sustainable Infrastructure Project and the Indianapolis Super Bowl Village join others that include educational centers, transportation corridors, industrial complexes and private residences in employing cutting-edge guidelines and performance benchmarks outlined in the SITES Rating System.
Launched in 2005, SITES represents a partnership of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to fill a critical gap in green design, construction and maintenance by creating voluntary guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable landscapes of all kinds, with or without buildings. The pilot program marks the next phase of SITES – putting to the test a rating system created by dozens of the country’s leading sustainability experts, scientists and design professionals, with public input from hundreds of individuals and dozens of organizations.
“We received hundreds of applications from an impressive array of federal agencies, international companies, major universities and non-profit organizations among many others to participate in the pilot program,” said ASLA Executive Vice President and CEO Nancy Somerville, Hon. ASLA. “The selected projects represent an elite group covering a diverse range of size, project type and geographic location.”
Located in 34 states along with Canada, Iceland and Spain, the pilot projects include corporate headquarters, botanic gardens, streetscapes, federal buildings and public parks that vary in scope from several thousand dollar budgets on less than one acre to multimillion dollar efforts affecting hundreds of acres. These projects will restore habitats, rehabilitate landfills, clean and store stormwater, lower the urban heat island effect, create outdoor educational opportunities at schools and reconnect neighborhoods to parks and public transportation.
“It’s exciting that many of these pilot projects – eight in every ten – will revitalize previously built landscapes,” said Susan Rieff, executive director of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. “We can address the serious environmental challenges the world faces in its existing communities by consciously redeveloping these spaces for ecological health as well as beauty.”
“Testing the rating system is critical to ensuring the validity and breadth of these guidelines and performance benchmarks, which have undergone four years of rigorous development,” said Holly H. Shimizu, executive director of the United States Botanic Garden. “The true value of this endeavor is that it offers improved landscape development practices so that we can maximize the essential benefits supplied by the natural world.”
The SITES Rating System includes 15 prerequisites and 51 different credits covering areas such as the initial site selection, water, soil, vegetation, materials, human health and well-being, construction and maintenance – adding up to a 250 point scale. The rating system recognizes levels of achievement by obtaining 40, 50, 60 or 80 percent of available points with one through four stars, respectively.
SITES will receive feedback from the pilot projects until June 2012 and revise the final rating system and reference guide for release in 2013.
Read descriptions of all 175 pilot projects listed by location.
Image credit: Super Bowl Village – Georgia Street Improvements. Indianapolis, Indiana. RATIO Architects, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc., IEI – Infrastructure Engineering Inc., Heapy Engineering.
Mozilla Messaging has just announced the availability of the latest Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1 Release Candidate 1. It is one of the last steps towards the final, stable release and comes with a long list of bug fixes and changes from the previous Thunderbird 3.1 Beta 2.
“Thunderbird 3.1 Release Candidate 1, available now for d… (read more)
Friends Around Me is a mobile app for iPhone and iPad that searches around you for nearby friends — or anyone else willing to say hello — and enables you to view their profile, look at and rate their photos, chat with them, or send them virtual gifts.
The service joins together your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook networks, allowing you to check in to venues and update your Twitter/Facebook status from one place. Best of all, the service doesn’t require yet another social network registration: you can sign in using Facebook Connect or the Twitter API.
One cool thing about the service (that will probably freak out the privacy paranoid) is that there are no restrictions on whose profile you can view, or who you can chat to. Plus, you get to see and respond to everyone who has viewed your profile, making it a great tool to meet new people. Of course, there are options to hide yourself from strangers, but where’s the fun in that?
The U.S. Coast Guard is saying today that the “top kill” procedure looks like it’s having success at stemming BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. We hope they’re right.
In the meantime, you can now say that the BP oil spill is the worst in our nation’s history, eclipsing the 11 million gallons spill by the Exxon Valdez.
In a teleconference this morning, U.S. Geological Survey head Marcia McNutt released the new estimates by her scientists trying to gauge the flow rate of the oil leak. There were two teams working—one watching the surface and the other monitoring the video feed from the leak site. The low estimate is now 12,000 barrels per day, but it may be more like 19,000 to 25,000, the teams found. (The previous estimate, repeated throughout the first month of the spill, was just 5,000 barrels per day).
McNutt wouldn’t say explicitly if the BP spill is now the worst the United States has ever seen, but the numbers speak for themselves. If we do a very conservative calculation and say that 12,000 barrels leaked every day between April 22, when the Deepwater Horizon rig sank, and May 17, when BP installed the siphon to catch some of the oil, you get approximately 13.1 million gallons of oil released into the Gulf’s waters (there are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil).
And keep in mind that’s just the conservative estimate; it’s probably a lot worse than that. The AP did a similar calculation, assuming that either 12,000 or 25,000 barrels leaked every day from the rig’s explosion on April 20 to the present moment, and came up with even more dire figures.
The new government estimate means at least 19 million gallons and maybe as much as 39 million gallons have leaked in the five weeks since an oil rig exploded and sank [AP].
Recent posts on the BP oil spill:
80beats: “Top Kill” Operation Is Under Way in Attempt to Stop Gulf Oil Leak
80beats: BP To Switch Dispersants; Will Kevin Costner Save Us All?
80beats: Scientists Say Gulf Spill Is Way Worse Than Estimated. How’d We Get It So Wrong?
80beats: Testimony Highlights 3 Major Failures That Caused Gulf Spill
80beats: 5 Offshore Oil Hotspots Beyond the Gulf That Could Boom—Or Go Boom
Image: NOAA (the Exxon Valdez)
The excellent blog 3 Quarks Daily have opened nominations for their second Prize in Science. This, year, the prize will be judged by Richard Dawkins and there will be three winners.
If any of you would like to nominate a post from Not Exactly Rocket Science for this prestigious award, I would obviously be very grateful. Here’s how:
Thanks folks.
You might have heard us (erm, OK, me) gush on occasion about certain aspects of Palm’s webOS user interface. Now let us (erm, me again) gush a little about Matia Duarte, who has left Palm and is now User Experience Director for Android. And he’s a friendly face among the Android leadership, having worked on the Sidekick with Andy Rubin when they were both still with Danger.
Some of you prefer the stock Android UI; others prefer Sense or (gasp!) Motoblur and TouchWiz. But we’d love to see the stock Android UI revamped.
In fact, we’ll even go so far as to throw out this completely unsupported opinion: Now that Android’s getting things together under the hood in Android 2.2 (and we’re still expecting more before the end of the year), perhaps this move will bring a fresh UI to Android sometime next year. Stay tuned, folks. [All Thigns D, Engadget; via PreCentral]
This is a post by Android Central. It is sponsored by the Android Central Accessories Store
A UK therapist claims that two hours of playing video games gives the same high as doing a line of cocaine. Of course that raises the question of, well, what would you rather your kid do, bump lines off a dirty mirror or play Mario Kart before going to bed? What, too flip?
The deal is that, apparently, video game (and Internet) addiction is the new addiction that’s sweeping the UK. Young people are playing games to the detriment of their social lives, their studies, and their psychological well-being. Stealing money from their parents to buy the latest game, staying up at all hours of the night trying to unlock Achievements, etc. It’s pure chaos.
Spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces. It is the fastest growing addiction in the country and this is affecting young people mentally, as well as leading to physical problems such as obesity…. Computer game addiction can also spiral into violence as after playing violent games, they may turn their fantasy games into reality.
That’s weird because I’ve been playing video games, violent and otherwise, since I was a youngster, and the most violent I get is when I shout “son of a gun diddily-un” after I stub my toe. I don’t recall robbing any banks, or beating up little kids to take their lunch money to buy Alpha Protocol or whatever…
I guess I’m not addicted to video games then. I mean, yeah, I’ll sit there and play something for hours at a time, but I’m not doing it to the detriment of any other aspect of my life. I still exercise, I still read, I still get very excited for Rashad Evans vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson this Saturday, and so on.
We do now have Internet addiction centers for this type of thing. Maybe rehab is necessary? Who knows?
I got a ton of feedback from my series on joint mobility. As comprehensive as I tried to be in my joint mobility series, I couldn’t possibly address every single malady a person might have. In the comment sections, readers discussed their own specific issues with joint mobility or joint pain, and while I hope my general recommendations for overall mobility helped, more targeted, specific advice is needed for targeted, specific issues. I want to help, so here are my answers to some of your questions. Add your own thoughts in the comment board to participate. Thanks, everyone!
I’m recovering from a hip fracture suffered 18 months ago. Long story short, angulated fix, osteoporosis and post-surgery dvt. I’m trying very hard to regain my earlier active life. I need something gentler to start with. Any thoughts on exercises or anyone with a similar situation willing to share their recovery strategy?
Exercise after deep vein thrombosis is a tricky subject. Most doctors will tell you to avoid exercise, especially strenuous exercise. Anecdotal accounts from places like the CrossFit forums and other exercise communities report success with post-DVT exercise – as long as they avoid pain (and swelling, and anything symptomatic of more DVT). This study (membership required for access) seems to suggest that post-DVT exercise isn’t harmful, and it may even be beneficial to patients looking to resume pre-DVT activity levels. “The results suggested that higher physical activity levels at 1 month may be protective against worsening of the PTS score over the subsequent 3 months.” I wish I could be more specific with exercise recommendations, but avoiding pain is always a good place to start. Good luck!
I have very “tight” hip flexors. Every time I do these exercises (even just the front-to-back swings), I end up with intense pain from my hip to about halfway down my quad. It hurts for several days. Do I work through it?
Sounds like IT band pain. Most IT band syndrome manifests as knee pain, but the band itself extends up to the hip, and if you have tight hip flexors, the pain will reside in the hips and outer thighs. If I were you, I’d focus on hip flexor stretches and IT band foam rolling. For the stretches, try doing deep lunges while letting the hips drop as low as is comfortable (pain-free).
This may sound like a dumb question but- when doing the initial mobility test, does it matter where the pain is? When I do the test, I feel some discomfort but mostly pain in upper arms, especially when my wrists get close to touching the ground.
Yep. That’s a sign of thoracic immobility. Remember, our parts are interconnected and highly interdependent. Immobility in one area manifests as pain in another.
My shoulder width is slightly over 45cm. The foam rollers apparently comes in either 45 or 90 cm length. 90 is just unpractical long. Is 45cm too short for me?
PS: I must say that 45cm seem like a really stupid size…
Spring for the larger size. Move some furniture if you have to. And I agree: 45 cm is a pretty silly size.
If we’re supposed to be landing with a dorsiflexed ankle during sprinting aren’t we landing with our heels, promoting shock up the bones into the joints? Or is there something more subtle to the form that I’m missing?
Take shorter strides. In barefoot running, you can land dorsiflexed and forefoot first as long as you take shorter strides. Avoid the mindset of longer strides being superior. Remember: running and sprinting aren’t composed of miniature leaps with outstretched legs. You’re pulling yourself along with compact movements.
Thanks Mark, I hope your post tomorrow addresses ankles that have been twisted. I have had some bad ankle twists in the past few years that have left me with poor ankle mobility and prone to more twists.
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Mark-or anyone else-do you have any ideas? It’s unstable on full heel lifts compared to the left ankle-wobbles in and out-yet the left ankle is the one that I am prone to turning. I’ve done myriad versions of heel lifts, but I don’t think it focuses on the right part. Am I hopeless?
How’s your one-footed balance? Are you still wearing shoes, especially big heavy clunky ones? Work on closed-eye, single foot balance (with both feet, not just the injured one). Do it in bare feet. Try not to use your flailing arms and body weight to maintain balance; instead, focus on “grasping” the ground with your feet and activating your lower leg and foot muscles. Stabilize yourself. Keep doing this until it’s second nature, and your improved foot and ankle proprioception will help prevent any future sprains. Also – learn to function barefoot and stop taping up your ankles (if that’s what you’re doing).
My husband has been dealing with Adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) in both of his shoulders for almost a year now…. But, my husband is also diabetic which seems to play some roll in it but we’re not sure what….
I know a bit. I know that adhesive capsulitis incidence is elevated in diabetic patients. Inflammation also plays a big role in its development. Is your husband taking fish oil? I’d consider upping the dose to around 5-6g per day to reduce inflammation. Maybe add in some glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM supplements (or drink your bone broth and eat your tendons). Avoid stress, and do what he needs to do to get plenty of sleep. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet – drop all grains, excessive starches, vegetable oils, and sugar. Another risk factor for adhesive capsulitis is the presence of autoimmune disease, so you’ll definitely want to avoid grains, legumes, and anything containing high levels of lectins or gluten. Anything that can increase intestinal permeability and start the autoimmune chain reaction is to be avoided. Hopefully that will help speed the physical therapy process along. Good luck!
how about everytime u do a pull up or sit up and one of your shoulders makes a popping sound over and over like something in my socket is moving? it doesnt hurt at all, but it feels weird and puts me off doing more reps than i want to.
I’ll direct all cracking and popping questions to Steven Low’s excellent article at Eat. Move. Improve.: “Cracking and Popping and Clicking, Oh My!”
I have trouble with my arm going numb when my arm is forward. I have front shoulder pain and know that I have a pinched nerve between my 5th & 6th verebrae. I personal train 3 times a week & other strenuous exercises the rest of the week. This shoulder pain is inhibiting me from my full potential as an athlete. looking forward to your articles
C’mon, man! Your arm is going numb on a regular basis, you have a confirmed pinched nerve, your shoulder hurts, and you’re still engaging in strenuous exercise all week long? Take a full week off. Rest, ice, and start taking fish oil if you haven’t already. Explore your range of motion (without weights) and move on from there. Do the shoulder mobility and stability drills, and check your posture. Do you slump forward at the shoulders? Do you sit at a desk or hunch over a laptop? Fix that before you start working out again or you’ll truly risk inhibiting your full athletic potential. Good luck, and don’t be afraid to rest!
Mark, thank you! I have messed up my right shoulder twice now and have sort of become gun shy with weights. I stopped wide angle pull ups and military press because my rhomboid section closest to my spine locks up and twitches. I have been doing a bunch more power yoga to try to loosen it, but even that hurts sometimes. I can’t figure out if it’s my AC joint or rotator cuff that clicks. Do you have any suggestions as to what exercises I could do to help loosen it up?
When you do pull-ups, are you engaging your scapular retraction, or are you going kyphotic and letting your shoulders slump forward? Do the former and avoid the latter. When doing pull-ups, visualize your elbows slamming against your ribcage; this will help you engage your back and keep your scapulas retracted. Avoid jerking movements (like kipping pull-ups), which can throw your joints out of balance if you’re not careful or if you’re already lacking in mobility/stability. Instead, work on slower, controlled, more deliberate lifting for the time being.
I hope these answers helped, and if you’ve got any more feel free to hit up the comment section!
Related posts:
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study has announced that Gloria Steinem, a pioneering feminist, award-winning journalist, and best-selling author, will be awarded the 2010 Radcliffe Institute Medal at the Radcliffe Day luncheon on Friday (May 28).
Radcliffe Institute Dean Barbara J. Grosz will give opening remarks and present the medal, and Steinem will deliver the luncheon address.
Each year during Harvard Commencement week, the Radcliffe Institute bestows its medal on an individual whose life and work have substantially and positively influenced society. The 2009 recipient was Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Other honorees have included Madeleine Korbel Albright, Margaret Atwood, Linda Greenhouse, Toni Morrison, and Donna Shalala.
This year, the institute celebrates Steinem’s unrelenting pursuit of equality for women and minorities. A feminist icon, Steinem has had a lasting impact on women’s rights, and she has made a lifelong career of writing and organizing around a range of social and political causes.
In 1972, Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine, where she served as an editor for 15 years and continues to be a consulting editor. She also helped to found Choice USA, the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the National Women’s Political Caucus, among other organizations.
She is the author of “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions” (Holt Paperbacks, 1995), “Moving Beyond Words” (Touchstone, 1994), and “Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem” (Little, Brown and Co., 1993). She is currently working on “Road to the Heart: America as if Everyone Mattered,” a narrative of her more than three decades as a feminist organizer.
In 1993, Steinem co-produced and narrated the Emmy Award–winning “Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories,” an HBO documentary about child abuse. In the same year, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
Named one of the 25 most influential women in America by Biography magazine, Steinem has earned numerous honors for her writing and work on social justice. These include the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Ceres Medal and the Society of Writers Award (both from the United Nations), the Liberty Award of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Parenting magazine (for her contributions to promoting girls’ self-esteem), and the University of Missouri School of Journalism Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism.
Steinem graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1956.
Radcliffe Day 2010 — which brings together alumnae and alumni of Radcliffe College, the Bunting Institute, and the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program — continues the celebration of the institute’s 10th anniversary.
In addition to the 12:30 p.m. luncheon, the day will feature a panel discussion titled “Feminism Then and Now,” with Susan Faludi ’81, RI ’09, Susan McHenry ’72, Priyamvada Natarajan, RI ’09, Nell Irvin Painter, Ph.D. ’74, BI ’77, and Diana Scott ’81. There will also be tours of the institute’s renowned Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University is a scholarly community where individuals pursue advanced work across a wide range of academic disciplines, professions, and creative arts. Within this broad purpose, the institute sustains a continuing commitment to the study of women, gender, and society.
For more information.
You’re watching a video of a needle piercing an anonymous hand, sinking slowly into the web between the thumb and index finger. You wince as you imagine the pain that the other person must feel, and for good reason. As you watch, you nervous system essentially duplicates the experience, responding as if you were vicariously feeling the pain yourself. This is typical of what happens when people see others in pain, but Italian scientist Alessio Avenanti has found an important exception to the rule. Racial bias can negate this ability to feel the pain of someone from a different ethnic group.
Avenanti recruited white and black Italian volunteers and asked them to watch videos of a stranger’s hand being poked. When people watch such scenes, it’s actually possible to measure their brain’s empathic tendencies. By simulating how the prick would feel, the brain activates the neurons of the observer’s hand in roughly the same place. These neurons become less excitable in the future. By checking their sensitivity, Avenanti could measure the effect that the video had on his recruits
He found the hallmarks of an empathic response only when the hands in the videos were prodded by a needle rather than a blunt piece of plastic, and only when he took measurements at the same part of the hand. But most interestingly of all, he found that the recruits (both white and black) only responded empathetically when they saw hands that were the same skin tone as their own. If the hands belonged to a different ethnic group, the volunteers were unmoved by the pain they saw.
So are we all just naturally and worryingly prejudiced? Far from it – Avenanti actually thinks that empathy is the default state, which only later gets disrupted by racial biases. He repeated his experiment using brightly coloured violet hands, which clearly didn’t belong to any known ethnic group. Despite the hands’ weird hues, when they were poked with needles, the recruits all showed a strong empathic response, reacting as they would to hands of their own skin tone.
The purple-hand experiment is a vital part of Avenanti’s study. Other scientists have suggested that people are less responsive to the pain of other ethnic groups, simply because their skin tones are less familiar and harder to identify with. But what could be more unfamiliar and less identifiable than a violet hand? It’s strong evidence that the lack of empathy from the first experiment stems not from mere novelty, but from racial biases.
Avenanti also found that the stronger these biases are, the weaker their empathic response. Each of his recruits did an ‘Implicit Association Test’, which looks for hidden biases by measuring how easily people make positive or negative connections between different ethnic groups. For example, white Italians are typically quicker to associate positive words with the term “Italian” and negative ones with the term “African”. And the faster they make those connections, the greater the differences in their responses to the stabbed black and white hands.
The recruit’s bodies betrayed their prejudices in other ways. On seeing the penetrating needles, their skins became moist and better at conducting electricity, a reflexive sign of emotional arousal. The needles evoked the same effect regardless of the hand they pierced, but the response was longer in coming if the hand belonged to a different ethnic group.
All in all, Avenanti says when we see pain befall a person from our own racial group, it immediately triggers resonant activity in our own nervous system. When we see the same event happening to someone of a different race, these simulations are weaker and take longer to form.
It’s a sad state of affairs but probably not an unpredictable one. After all, other studies have found that racial prejudices can make us dehumanise members of a different ethnic group. But more promisingly, Avenanti’s experiments suggest that things don’t have to be this way. Our default reaction, freed from the shackles of prejudice, is empathy with our fellow people, even if they do have freaky violet hands.
Reference: Current Biology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.071
More on race:
Diaper commercials, much like commercials for menstrual products, have always sort of glossed over the actual function of the products. No more. A new Huggies ad for denim-patterned diapers (really) features a voice-over that says “I poo in blue,” and ends with the tagline, “The coolest you’ll look pooping your pants.”
The New York Times reports that this level of frankness did not go over well.
While the jeans diaper commercial, which is scheduled to run on May 31, was accepted by 13 networks, including NBC, TNT and E!, three others, ABC, ABC Family and Sprout, objected to screen text at the end of the spot that included the word “pooping,” according to Huggies. (The brand did not seek to advertise on either CBS or Fox.) For those networks, the text was changed to, “When you gotta go, go in style.”
Is this too much? Are “limited edition” denim-printed diapers themselves over the top? Here’s the ad.
Come on, Huggies, there are lots of pants that are much cooler to poop in than fake denim diapers.
"We have to deliver devices with our partners this Christmas."
With Apple passing Microsoft in market cap yesterday, it seems the company has finally developed cottoned on to the fact the market is moving incredibly fast, and the time for 5 year plans have passed.
While not predicting any change in direction or strategy (which for all we know may be comprehensive) he did finally admit the company should increase its pace.
“We’ll have to accelerate plans,” told reported in New Delhi, where he is currently touring.
He did however feel Microsoft has already made the appropriate investments, and are currently just awaiting the returns.
“We are executing very well, that’s going to lead to great products and great success,” Mr. Ballmer said at a press conference.
Another sign of the increased sense of urgency is likely the removal of Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment and Devices Division, and bringing the now key department directly under the control of Steve Ballmer.
Mr. Ballmer expressed optimism about the launch of the Windows Phone 7 series by the end of this year, saying “We have to deliver devices with our partners this Christmas.”
He however emphasised that while Microsoft has been exceeded in market cap, this was merely symbolic and the company did not suddenly become bankrupt.
“I will make more profits and certainly there is no technology company in the planet which is as profitable as we are,” he said. “Stock markets will take care of the rest,” he added.
“It is a long game. We have good competitors … we too are very good competitors,” Ballmer said.
Is Microsoft on track, or have they lost the plot? Let us know your opinion below.
Energate, a Canadian developer of home energy management solutions, is looking to raise as much as $14 million from current and new investors as part of a Series C that could happen in the next 12 months, Marketing Director Karen McNaughton, tells G.E.R.
The Ottawa. Ont.,-based company announced today that it had secured $7.2 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Montreal-based Cycle Capital’s Fund I and the Ontario Emerging Technology Fund (OETF), a fund launched last year by the Province of Ontario’s Ontario Capital Growth Corporation’s (OCGC) . Energate will use the Series B cash to grow sales and fund ongoing R&D projects — see full release.
Before the Series B Energate, which was launched in 2004, raised an undisclosed amount of capital from a group of angel investors.
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[JURIST] US lawmakers are currently considering a Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] appropriations bill containing a section that would allow increased investigation by the Pentagon into the practices of lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees. Section 1037 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 [text, PDF] would allow the Pentagon’s inspector general to conduct investigations if there is reasonable suspicion that a Guantanamo lawyer is interfering with DOD detention facility operations, violating DOD policy, violating any law that is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the inspector general, or generating a “material risk” to a member of the armed forces. Results from these investigations are reported back to Congress. The American Bar Association [association website] opposes the provision [press release], with President Carolyn Lamm stating Wednesday that the Department of Justice is the appropriate agency to investigate and prosecute lawyers for misconduct, not the DOD:
[The DOD legislation] will compromise the professional independence of counsel and divert already starved defense resources from defending clients to defending the conduct, practices, actions and strategies of their lawyers. The American system of justice depends on the essential role of lawyers in counseling their clients. This includes providing zealous and effective counsel, even to those accused of heinous crimes against this nation in the name of causes that evoke our contempt…[Lawyers] who engage in inappropriate conduct or counsel a client to engage in conduct that is criminal or fraudulent are subject to the disciplinary authority of the jurisdiction(s) in which they are admitted to practice.
The provision was proposed in response alleged malpractice [NYT report] by detainee lawyers, specifically allegations stemming from lawyers utilizing the John Adams Project [official website], a research and legal assistance organization. Representative Jeff Miller (R-FL) [official website] claims that researchers from the project supplied lawyers with pictures of interrogators to show their detainee clients. Guantanamo lawyers have rebuffed these statements, saying the pictures were acquired to use in trial for detainees who claim to have been illegally interrogated. Opponents of the bill have asked the provision to be thrown out before it is put up for a vote before the US House of Representatives this week.
The DOD appropriations bill, which was unanimously passed by the House Armed Services Committee [official website] last week, has also been a point of contention in the effort to shut down Guantanamo Bay. If passed, the legislation will prohibit [JURIST report] the Obama administration from modifying or building a facility in the US to hold detainees currently held at the detention facility. The bill requires [summary, PDF] that any plan to construct or modify US facilities to accommodate Guantanamo transfers be “accompanied by a thorough and comprehensive plan that outlines the merits, costs, and risks associated with utilizing such a facility.” As the Obama administration has not presented such a plan to Congress, the bill prohibits the use of any funds for the purpose of preparing a US facility for Guantanamo transfers. The Obama administration continues its push to close the Guantanamo Bay facility, despite missing its self-imposed one-year deadline [JURIST report] in January.
