The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
‘Power naps’ may boost right-brain activity
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/17/health/health-naps-brain/index.html?hpt=hp_bn12
I haven’t noticed that I get any smarter after a nap, but I have noticed that I can often get better ideas by going for a walk where I sort of let my …
Why do elephants have hair on their heads? Scientists solve head-scratcher
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/18/us/elephant-hair/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
In what I would consider a rather non-intuitive conclusion, it seems that, based on modeling, the sparse hair of the elephant actually contributes to cooling. The article is …
Sounds like great work by our domestic anti-terrorist agency, eh? Until you read this:
New York Federal Reserve ‘bomb’ plotter ensnared in FBI sting
Federal authorities arrest 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis who they say attempted to detonate a …
Conservatives’ HPV vaccine dilemma: are they anti-cancer, or just anti-sex?
Proof that vaccinating girls against the HPV virus does not cause promiscuity puts culture warriors in a spot
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/16/conservatives-hpv-vaccine-dilemma
I find this bit so amusing I am including it verbatim:…
The lame rules for presidential debates: a perfect microcosm of US democracy
Secret collusion between the two parties, funded by corporations, run by lobbyists: all the ingredients are there
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/16/presidential-debate-issues
I know this shouldn’t be surprising to me, but I …
U.S. officials believe Iran is behind recent cyberattacks
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/15/u-s-officials-believe-iran-is-behind-recent-cyberattacks/?hpt=hp_t3
The US continues to play the victim card and increases babble about the dangers of Iran to promote willingness amongst the sheeple for a war with Iran (I have talked about …
Why are Americans so easy to manipulate?
We may be loathe to admit it, but behaviorism and consumerism are cut from the same cloth
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/13/why_are_americans_so_easy_to_manipulate/
…behavior modification works best on dependent, powerless, infantilized, bored, and institutionalized people…
This an interesting …
Global warming stopped 16 years ago, reveals Met Office report quietly released… and here is the chart to prove it
Banks err by confusing risk, uncertainty
Complex prediction models may have blinded financial institutions to looming meltdown
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345625/title/Banks_err_by_confusing_risk%2C_uncertainty
…Annual forecasts of currency values from December 2001 to December 2010, which guided banks’ investment decisions, badly missed the mark nine out
Various items: free speech v ‘community’, lawlessness in Libya, sprawling surveillance state
The core western political liberty is being slowly eroded by a toxic combination of the worst human attributes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/14/free-speech-libya-drones
I talk about free speech from time to time …