But It Does Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight

Chewing gum does not induce context-dependent memory when flavor is held constant.

Overman AA, Sun J, Golding AC, Prevost D. Elon University, Psychology Department, Campus Box 2337, Elon, North Carolina 27244 USA.

This study examined the effect of chewing gum on memory when flavor is held constant. Four separate groups of participants (total n=101) completed a word recall task. At learning and recall, participants either chewed a piece of gum or sucked a sweet. Each participant completed the memory task twice, once with abstract words and once with concrete words. A significant effect of word type (concrete vs. abstract) was found, however recall performance was not improved by matched oral activity at learning and recall. The results cast further doubt on the ability of chewing gum to induce context-dependent memory effects.

link: Chewing gum does not induce context-dependent memo...[Appetite. 2009] - PubMed Result

Consciousness and Its Interfaces: Steve Budlington

Neuroculture writes:

Do our brains bring us to our senses? What happens when the respective acts of looking and listening have bloomed so fully as to displace other ways of interacting with the world? Drawing on sources ranging from early anatomical studies to current developments in politics, environmental studies, and technologies of outdoor gear and apparel, Steve Budington’s paintings present hyperbolical but familiar situations that highlight the dangers (and humors) of specialization. Consumed by the project of “making sense,” the anatomically altered figures in Budington’s paintings become imagined sites of cultural and evolutionary excess between a brain and an environment that compete, as much as they collaborate, for survival.

link: Neuroculture - Home Page

Enter Al Franken, Stage Leftish

John Colapinto writes:

Like Hillary Clinton in 2001, Franken enters the Senate as someone both blessed and burdened with the kind of celebrity that can summon a press scrum at a moment’s notice but can also create resentment among colleagues; also like Clinton, he has been reviled by Republicans.

The day the Minnesota Supreme Court declared him the winner, Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, called him “the clown from Minnesota.” Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, had previously declared that any effort to seat Franken prematurely would result in “World War III,” and he had suggested that a federal challenge could keep Coleman fighting in the courts for “years.” Such rancor, however, seemed to have vanished, at least for the moment. At his swearing-in, Franken was welcomed by repeated rounds of applause from his fellow-senators—including Republicans—who had shown up in force for the ceremony. Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, gave him a bear hug on the Senate floor, and, later, in the hallway outside, Franken received a similar embrace from none other than Inhofe. He was still glowing from the reception. “Yesterday was a magnificent day,” Franken said at the breakfast. He went on, in a telltale deadpan, “And my feeling is that, um, if we can just make every day—” The room exploded in laughter.

link: Al Franken joins the Senate: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Sometimes a Gadget is So Beautiful You Can't Believe It

adski_kafeteri: Pemberton-Billing, Compass Camera, 35mm rangefinder camera, Manufacture Jaeger-Le Coultre S.A 1938

Aung San Suu Kyi, by Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey made new stunning work portraiting imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi from Burma.

link: Shepard Fairey portraits Aung San Suu Kyi - Osocio, Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns

Power of the New Media

Arianna Huffington writes:

When deadly riots broke out in China last week, the Chinese government sprang into message control mode. It choked off the Internet, blocked Twitter, and deleted updates and videos from social networking sites. At the same time, it invited foreign journalists to take a tour of the area. That's right, it slammed the door in the face of new media -- and offered traditional reporters a front row seat. The Chinese have clearly learned the lessons of Iran. The same can't be said about the New York Times' Roger Cohen who, writing about covering the Iran uprising, recently mounted an attack on search engines, news aggregation, and "miracles of technology" such as Twitter and real-time video delivered via camera phones -- the very tools that allowed millions of people around the world to bear witness to what was happening in Iran. How bizarre is that?

link: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

Iran: Will Mousavi Form a Party?

Mousavi legally prohibited from forming a political party, says Kayhan

According to the state run newspaper Kayhan, Mohammad Reza Mir Taj al-Dini, member of the principalist faction has said “in the Islamic Republic system, a person who does not accept the guardianship of the jurist and the Guardian Council is not qualified to form a party.”

The Deputy of the Council for Coordination of the Forces of the Revolution said, “Mousavi must first prove that he does not have enmity and hostility towards the regime and accepts the existing laws and then think about forming a party.”

“I believe that given current circumstances Mousavi wants to impose his illegal words by using partisan force and this in not acceptable and he should not be given a permit.”

Kayhan also quoted the speaker of the Society Loyal to Islamic Revolution who said “creating a party by people like Mousavi whose loyalty to the regime has not been proven is against the constitution.” Mohammad Azimi added “Mousavi’s behavior after the announcement of election results has risen doubts about his loyalty to the constitution…therefore he is not qualified to form a party.”

Mahmoud Mirlohi: “Mousavi’s party will be definitely created”

Deputy interior minister for legal and parliamentary affairs of the reform movement, Mahmoud Mirlohi, announced that “Mousavi’s party will definitely be created and he more capable than just retreating against word from a few unauthorized individuals.”

“The opponents (of Mousavi) only accept certain laws and according to their own interpretation and do not recognize laws regarding freedom of assembly, speech … which are the explicit wording of the law. Therefore, it is natural that they are anxious about the creation of a party by Mousavi.”

“They are trying to close legal channels to the people and now the law has really turned into an instrument in their service.”

link: niacINsight

Marcin Łuczkowski, Photographer: Burn Magazine

Snapshot on the Road by Marcin Łuczkowski

This picture was taken somewhere between Mietków and Milin (Poland). The image is a part of the “Everyday Snapshot” essay I started two years ago, and I will probably never finish. In this particular image, a newly married man is standing staring in a field, while taking a break from the wedding photography session. Website: www.marcinluczkowski.com

link: burn magazine

The Original Bearded Hippie Drag Queen: Hibiscus

File:Hibiscus as Madame.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steven Arnold, Photographer/Filmmaker

Steven Arnold (1943-1994) American photographer, painter, sculptor,
costume and set designer, filmmaker; collaborated with San Francisco
performance group The Cockettes; assisted Salvador Dali in the creation
of the Teatro Museo Dali in Spain. Before his death from AIDS, Arnold
stipulated that 100% of all proceeds from his work should be earmarked
to help other visual artists with AIDS complete their life’s work.

Link

Bearded Hippie Drag Queens: The Rise and Fall of the Cockettes

Douglas Cruikshank writes:

Aug 23, 2000 | It began almost by accident, as a lark dreamed up by a man named Hibiscus. From 1969 to 1972, the Cockettes -- an outrageous theatrical troupe comprising gay men, women and babies -- used their LSD-infused exuberance, imaginations and a gift for dressing to the nines in thrift-store drag and glitter to illuminate a series of funny, flamboyant and utterly unprecedented midnight musicals performed at a run-down San Francisco movie theater.

The live shows, with names like "Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma," "Pearls over Shanghai" and "Journey to the Center of Uranus," were chaotic and witty costume extravaganzas featuring singing, dancing and in-your-face sexuality. As the Cockettes' legend grew, they attracted fans such as Truman Capote ("The Cockettes are where it's at!") and Rex Reed who, in his nationally syndicated column, called the performances "a landmark in the history of new, liberated theater."

Inevitably, the Cockettes became media favorites, showing up everywhere from Rolling Stone to Paris Match. They made a film, "Tricia's Wedding," a transvestite send-up of then-President Nixon's daughter's nuptials, and appeared in other films --"Elevator Girls in Bondage" and "Luminous Procuress." When they were invited to bring their stage shows to New York, the cream of the city's art and culture scene -- Oscar de la Renta, Diana Vreeland, Robert Rauschenberg, John Lennon, Gore Vidal and Anthony Perkins -- partied with them and showed up in force for the opening night performance. And that was when the party ended.

link: The Cockettes: Rise and fall of the acid queens - Salon.com

Scorched Earth: Fire, War, and Vietnam

Sifting through layers of sediment in Vietnam's Song Hong Delta, researchers weren't surprised to find charred evidence of ancient fires after several cultures migrated there about 5,000 years ago. Cycles of early blazes are tied to changes in the climate, when the area dried out, as well as to agriculture, as a means to clear land for planting. But what could explain a surge in singed land throughout the past 1,500 years?

War, it seems.

A collaborative effort between Vietnamese and Chinese researchers has linked data from the dirt to fashion a new understanding of fire in the area over the past 5,000 years, as humans became a more powerful force in the landscape. They describe their findings in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

link: Vietnam Burning: Warfare Scorched the Land for 1,500 Years: Scientific American

New Model for Flu Pandemics

Flu viruses that sparked the three worst pandemics in the last century circulated in their near-complete forms for years before the catastrophes occurred, researchers in Hong Kong and the United States have found.

The H1N1 virus that sparked the Spanish flu of 1918-1919 circulated in swine and humans well before the pandemic started, and it did not come directly from birds as previously thought, they added. Instead, it was probably generated by genetic exchanges between flu viruses from swine and humans.

This contrasts sharply with previous studies which suggested that the H1N1 virus of 1918 was a mutant that jumped direct from birds to human and ended up killing as many as 50 million people.

link: Experts unearth history of pandemic flu viruses | Science | Reuters

Damned Sneaky Cats Put It Over On Humans Again

Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.

Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's.

The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore.

link: BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Cats 'exploit' humans by purring

Book Review: Bush's "Afghana-Who?" Policy

Among the many lasting consequences of the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was the collateral damage it inflicted on Afghanistan and the war there against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Money, troops and expertise were diverted to Iraq, and as the RAND Corporation political scientist Seth G. Jones observes in his useful new book, the initial success of the military operation in Afghanistan was squandered.

The slender window for securing a stable democracy in Afghanistan began to close, and by 2006, Mr. Jones writes, a “perfect storm of political upheaval” had gathered, with several crises ominously converging: “Pakistan emerged as a sanctuary for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, allowing them to conduct a greater number of operations from bases across the border; Afghan governance became unhinged as corruption worked its way through the government like a cancer, leaving massive discontent throughout the country; and the international presence, hamstrung by the U.S. focus on Iraq, was too small to deal with the escalating violence.”

link: Books of The Times - ‘In the Graveyard of Empires’ by Seth G. Jones Examines America’s Choices in Afghanistan - Review - NYTimes.com

O Arizona: Man Drives Car Into Grand Canyon

According to a news release from Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Shannan Marcak, park rangers received reports that a car had been driven over the edge near the El Tovar Hotel about 6 a.m.

Investigators at the scene discovered tire tracks leading to the edge behind the Thunderbird Lodge, Marcak said.

Rescue personnel descended on ropes and found the car about 600 feet below the rim.

Rescuers found the man's body shortly afterward, Marcak said.

"Plans for retrieval of the body and the vehicle are being made at this time," Marcak said.

The National Park Service is conducting an investigation into the incident.

link: Man Drives Car Off Grand Canyon Rim - Phoenix News Story - KPHO Phoenix

Yemenis Sentenced to Death

A Yemeni court in the capital Sanaa has sentenced six men to death for murdering nine Spanish and Belgian tourists over the past two years.

The men were found guilty of attacks including one that killed seven Spanish tourists at the Queen of Sheba temple in Marib in 2007 and two Belgian tourists in the Hadramaut region in 2008.

Ten other defendants were sentenced to jail terms ranging from eight to 15 years.

The defendants shouted religious chants of defiance and prayed as each sentence was announced.

link: Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Death sentences over Yemen killings

Attacks in Papua

Police in Indonesia have blamed separatist fighters for a spate of attacks near a US-owned mine in the country's remote Papua region that left three people dead. An

Australian mining expert and a security guard were killed in separate ambushes on Saturday and Sunday close to the Grasberg copper and gold mine owned by American mining conglomerate Freeport.

On Monday the body of a third victim, an Indonesian policeman, was found in the same area, Indonesia's state news agency reported.

link: Al Jazeera English - Asia-Pacific - Papua attacks blamed on separatists

Dressed as a Man with a False Moustache

Circa 1890. "Frances Benjamin Johnston, self-portrait, dressed as a man with false mustache." The Washington, D.C., photographer was one of the first women to rise to prominence in the profession. Albumen print.

link: Incognito: 1890 | Shorpy Photo Archive

Global Problem Solving

John W. McArthur writes:

Our global coping mechanisms are on a brink. The World Food Program is slashing emergency humanitarian programs amidst a reported $5 billion budget gap. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria faces its own multi-billion dollar gap that will prevent live-saving services from reaching millions of people. The H1N1 virus has officially reached global pandemic proportions, with uncertain implications. Meanwhile climate change proceeds at a quietly relentless pace, straining ecosystems and social systems across the planet.

How to manage the complexity? In the United States, the Obama Administration has been criticized for setting too many priorities at once. Yet the critique of an overcrowded plate overlooks the fundamental challenge of modern public leadership. Today there is no choice but to tackle a multidimensional global agenda. Which among macroeconomic coordination, food production, energy, climate change, or disease control could be considered optional at this stage?

The reality is that problem-solving must now be both multilateral and multisectoral. Even in the United States, the world's richest country by many measures, long term prosperity hinges on concerted progress across health care, education, energy and infrastructure. Foreign policy success will hinge on programs to address global health, agriculture, and climate change. It is far from trivial that budget director Peter Orszag has stressed health care performance as the single biggest priority for America's long term fiscal wellbeing. Nor are the climate-linked agricultural and economic warnings of Energy Secretary Steven Chu to be taken lightly.

link: John W. McArthur: A New Approach to Global Problem-Solving

Oliver Sacks at the Herring Festival

Oliver Sacks writes:

There are certain passions—one wants to call them innocent, ingenuous passions—that are great democratizers. Baseball, music, and bird-watching come immediately to mind. At the herring festival, there was no talk about the stock market, or gossiping about celebrities. People had come to eat herring—to savor them, to compare them. In its purest form, this meant seizing the new herring by the tail and lowering them gently into the mouth. The sensation this produces is voluptuous, especially as they slip down the throat.

link: An annual herring festival: The Talk of the Town: The New Yorker

Sure, Work For Us: No Paycheck, Though

With U.S. unemployment at a 20-year high, some Americans are working for free while looking for a job, but experts are split over whether it is a sign of dedication or desperation.

Unpaid job seekers can keep their resumes fresh by boosting their experience and learning new skills, experts say, but others warn businesses may take advantage of the jobless and that it is illegal for commercial companies not to pay workers.

link: Crisis spurs people to work for free - good or bad? | U.S. | Reuters

Electric Future for Automobiles

Electric car sales could jump to 86 percent of U.S. light vehicle sales in 2030 if consumers don't have to buy batteries themselves, according to a University of California, Berkeley study to be released on Monday.

A company called Better Place and emerging rivals plan to offer pay-per-mile plans, similar to cell phone minutes. A family would buy a car but Better Place would own the battery, offer charging stations, and swap out batteries as needed to extend the driving range.

The cost of building charging systems will be more than $320 billion over the next couple of decades, although health-related savings due to less vehicle pollution could be $210 billion, according to the study by economist Thomas Becker.

The main benefit to drivers would be cars with price tags and operating costs similar to or less than gasoline models.

link: Electric cars could dominate U.S. roads in 2030 | U.S. | Reuters

Iran: "Collapse from Within"

A defeated candidate in Iran's disputed election has said the Islamic system may face "collapse" unless it embraces change, in unusually blunt language from a prominent establishment figure.

Conservative Mohsen Rezaie, a former Revolutionary Guards commander who finished third in the June 12 vote won by hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for national unity in a statement posted on his website on Sunday evening.

"Continuation of the current situation would lead us to collapse from inside," he wrote. "We need cooperation and brotherhood. We need to respect people and their rights."

link: Iran defeated candidate warns of system collapse | International | Reuters

Amphibian Romance

Amphibians around the world synchronise their mating activity by the full Moon, researchers have discovered.

This global phenomenon has never been noticed before, but frogs, toads and newts all like to mate by moonlight.

The animals use the lunar cycle to co-ordinate their gatherings, ensuring that enough males and females come together at the same time.

In doing so the creatures maximise their spawning success and reduce their odds of being eaten.

link: BBC - Earth News - Amphibians mate under a full Moon

Leaving "No Child Left Behind" Behind

Nick Anderson writes:

As the Obama administration considers new legislation to fix schools, House Republicans have chosen an education policy leader who is eager to turn the page on the No Child Left Behind era and roll back federal mandates for testing students.

The ascent of Rep. John P. Kline (Minn.) last month to ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee marked a watershed. For the first time since enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2002 under President George W. Bush, the top GOP member on a congressional education committee is not someone who voted for the landmark law. Kline wasn't even in Congress at the time.

Unlike his predecessors, who gave Bush crucial support for the law, Kline said he is not committed to the core requirement of testing all students in reading and math in grades three through eight, and once more in high school. He said he wants to give states "maximum latitude."

"I'm not looking to tweak No Child Left Behind," Kline said. "As far as I'm concerned, we ought to go in and look at the whole thing."

link: Key Republican Ready to Roll Back Testing Mandates of ‘No Child Left Behind' - washingtonpost.com