Good Reads

[Laurel]

http://blog.bufferapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/brain.png

Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see our slidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it.

I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found.
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1. Exercise more – 7 minutes might be enough

You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn’t have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all.

Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with either medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study really surprised me.
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Quick last fact: Getting older will make yourself happier

As a final point, it’s interesting to note that as we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to grow happier naturally. There’s still some debate over why this happens, but scientists have got a few ideas:

Researchers, including the authors, have found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less.

Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations that will lift their moods — for instance, pruning social circles of friends or acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over unachieved goals, and hew their goals toward greater wellbeing.​

So if you thought being old would make you miserable, rest assured that it’s likely you’ll develop a more positive outlook than you probably have now.​

- read the full article 10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science (from buffer)​

 

[Laurel]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69241000/jpg/_69241690_69241689.jpg

Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg spent an afternoon working incognito as a taxi driver in Oslo, he has revealed.

Mr Stoltenberg said he had wanted to hear from real Norwegian voters and that taxis were one of the few places where people shared their true views.

He wore sunglasses and an Oslo taxi driver's uniform for the shift in June, only revealing his identity once he was recognised by his passengers.

His exchanges with his passengers were captured on a hidden camera.

The footage - made in collaboration with an advertising company - has been posted on the prime minister's Facebook page and made into a film which will be used as part of his campaign for re-election in September.

"It is important for me to hear what people really think," he told Norwegian media.

"And if there is one place people really say what they think about most things, it's in the taxi."​

- read the full article Norway PM Jens Stoltenberg works as secret taxi driver (from the BBC)​

 

[Laurel]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3039857/strawsized.png

The odorless and tasteless nature of "date rape drugs" can make them impossible for victims to detect before it's too late. But soon your drinking glass may able to warn you if dangerous chemicals have been slipped into your cocktail. Next month, DrinkSavvy will begin shipping plastic cups and straws that change color if a drink contains GHB, Rohypnol or Ketamine, three drugs commonly used for spiking purposes. The effort began with a successful $50,000 Indiegogo campaign led by company founder Michael Abramson — who himself was once unknowingly "roofied" during a night out with friends.​

- read the full article Crowdfunded cups and straws quickly detect 'invisible' date rape drugs (from The Verge)​

 

[KRCummings]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3039857/strawsized.png

The odorless and tasteless nature of "date rape drugs" can make them impossible for victims to detect before it's too late. But soon your drinking glass may able to warn you if dangerous chemicals have been slipped into your cocktail. Next month, DrinkSavvy will begin shipping plastic cups and straws that change color if a drink contains GHB, Rohypnol or Ketamine, three drugs commonly used for spiking purposes. The effort began with a successful $50,000 Indiegogo campaign led by company founder Michael Abramson — who himself was once unknowingly "roofied" during a night out with friends.​

- read the full article Crowdfunded cups and straws quickly detect 'invisible' date rape drugs (from The Verge)​

Well, we were about done with those Hangover movies anyway.

 

[Laurel]

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/037/095/i02/komodo-dragon.jpg?1361808626

Despite their evolutionary remove from humans, reptiles are actually known vectors for salmonella infection in the United States. For this reason, the CDC recommends that households with young children not have pet reptiles, such as snakes or turtles. Still, catching this bacterial infection from a Komodo dragon in a zoo was literally unheard of: Some 95% of the 174 Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoos in North America exhibit reptiles, and this was the first report of salmonellosis in kids after visiting those exhibits.

So how did the infection jump from a Komodo dragon to a bunch of children? The Health Department verified that none of the infected patients had touched or petted any of the dragons—something that would be unusual for a zoo in the first place, and a spectacularly bad idea for a species whose venomous bite can do some serious damage, killing deer and even water buffalo. An investigation showed that the method of transmission was even more surprising than the fact that it happened.​

- read the full article The Near-Mythical Beast That Spread an All-Too-Real Disease (from Nautilus)​

 

[KRCummings]

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/037/095/i02/komodo-dragon.jpg?1361808626

Despite their evolutionary remove from humans, reptiles are actually known vectors for salmonella infection in the United States. For this reason, the CDC recommends that households with young children not have pet reptiles, such as snakes or turtles. Still, catching this bacterial infection from a Komodo dragon in a zoo was literally unheard of: Some 95% of the 174 Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoos in North America exhibit reptiles, and this was the first report of salmonellosis in kids after visiting those exhibits.

So how did the infection jump from a Komodo dragon to a bunch of children? The Health Department verified that none of the infected patients had touched or petted any of the dragons—something that would be unusual for a zoo in the first place, and a spectacularly bad idea for a species whose venomous bite can do some serious damage, killing deer and even water buffalo. An investigation showed that the method of transmission was even more surprising than the fact that it happened.​

- read the full article The Near-Mythical Beast That Spread an All-Too-Real Disease (from Nautilus)​

I was gonna get jealous if kids got to pet them. We have one at our zoo and they never let us pet it. Not that I would but I'd watch while others did in hopes of seeing some massive trauma.

 

[Laurel]

I was gonna get jealous if kids got to pet them. We have one at our zoo and they never let us pet it. Not that I would but I'd watch while others did in hopes of seeing some massive trauma.

I love zoos and aquariums, but I'm always amazed at the stupidity of some people who go there. Like the woman who dropped her kid into the wild dog cage. Natural selection at work, I suppose.

I'm glad that the kids weren't bitten. I'm not so glad that railings and all other available surfaces in zoos are apparently smeared with a wide variety of bacteria-laden animal shit - though in retrospect this seems obvious.

I got to pet bat rays once. It was pretty cool.

 

[Laurel]

http://static.nautil.us/207_69adc1e107f7f7d035d7baf04342e1ca.jpg

We’re used to the idea that some among us are colorblind, perceiving the world differently because of a quirk in their genetics. And it’s well-known that teenagers and young adults can hear high-pitched sounds that their elders cannot, an ability that’s been exploited by manufacturers of The Mosquito, an anti-loitering device that annoys youth into leaving.

But perhaps because the effects are harder to compare easily, or perhaps because we have such a hard time talking about them, we tend to overlook some rather peculiar differences in our senses of smell. When people get a whiff of a molecule called androstenone, they may say it smells like sandalwood, or vanilla—or they might say it has a sickening, urine-like tang. Or they might think it entirely odorless. There are around a dozen known chemicals that provoke this kind of disagreement, scientists think. Much of the reason this happens, at least with androstenone, is genetic: There are two different flavors (so to speak) of the gene for the receptor that the molecule binds to in the smell sensors in our noses. Depending on what version you have, among some other factors we don’t yet understand, you’ll perceive something pleasant, something nasty, or very little at all.​

- read the full article Your Very Weird, Very Personal Sense of Smell (from Nautilus)​

 

[KRCummings]

I love zoos and aquariums, but I'm always amazed at the stupidity of some people who go there. Like the woman who dropped her kid into the wild dog cage. Natural selection at work, I suppose.

I'm glad that the kids weren't bitten. I'm not so glad that railings and all other available surfaces in zoos are apparently smeared with a wide variety of bacteria-laden animal shit - though in retrospect this seems obvious.

I got to pet bat rays once. It was pretty cool.

I love when they let you pet stuff. Ours lets you feed and pet the giraffes plus they always have random exhibits out for people to see and touch.
A ray would be cool. Never pet one of those before. Seen them in the wild and way too paranoid to get close enough to touch. If they can take down the Crocodile Hunter then they sure as fuck can take me down.

 

[RobDownSouth]

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/newsroom/img/2013/02/15/0313-WEL-Schapiro-Census-Murder_lede/mag-article-large.jpg?mia3yv

The body of William Sparkman Jr., a 51-year-old census worker, was found in 2009 in an isolated cemetery in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. He hung naked from a tree, hands bound, the word FED scrawled in black marker across his chest. Sparkman's death briefly made headlines: to some, it seemed to implicate our polarized politics; to others, a region long known for its insularity. And then the case disappeared from the national view. Here is the story of what really happened to Bill Sparkman, a complex man whom few people truly knew.​

- read the full article The Hanging (from The Atlantic)​

Interesting story. THIS is how you tell a tale, folks.

p.s. Fuck you Trysail!

 

[KRCummings]

Interesting story. THIS is how you tell a tale, folks.

p.s. Fuck you Trysail!

I remember when that story happened. Of course it wasn't that long ago but still.
At the time it was sort of embarrassing to those involved because they so quickly fell for the ruse.

 

[Laurel]

I love when they let you pet stuff. Ours lets you feed and pet the giraffes plus they always have random exhibits out for people to see and touch.
A ray would be cool. Never pet one of those before. Seen them in the wild and way too paranoid to get close enough to touch. If they can take down the Crocodile Hunter then they sure as fuck can take me down.

I wanna pet a giraffe! Are they soft?

I love petting zoos. I got to hold a koala once. I'll never forget it.

What surprised me is that the bat rays seemed to want to be petted. If you tickled the top of the water, they'd float up beneath your hand and stay there while you stroked them. I'm not sure if that's because they enjoy being touched or if they think you're an aquarium staff about to feed them.

Interesting story. THIS is how you tell a tale, folks.

p.s. Fuck you Trysail!

Yeah, that story's awesome. I love stuff like that.

 

[KRCummings]

I wanna pet a giraffe! Are they soft?

I love petting zoos. I got to hold a koala once. I'll never forget it.

What surprised me is that the bat rays seemed to want to be petted. If you tickled the top of the water, they'd float up beneath your hand and stay there while you stroked them. I'm not sure if that's because they enjoy being touched or if they think you're an aquarium staff about to feed them.



Yeah, that story's awesome. I love stuff like that.

A giraffe is actually kinda hard. The hair is coarse (the tail hair is like wire) and they're all muscle and bone. Still very very cool. They have really long tongues, too. You feed them lettuce and they're very gentle. Do it almost every time I go to the zoo.

 

[Laurel]

http://images.scienceworldreport.com/data/images/full/5524/testicle-eating-killer-fish-pacu-new-threat-in-danish-waters.jpg?w=680

A pacu with sharp protruding teeth was caught August 4 by hobby fisherman Einar Lindgreen in the Strait of Oresund that separates Denmark and Sweden . Pacus are not as dangerous as their meat- eating cousins, the piranhas, but are known to have a preference for men's testicles..

"Discovering whether this fish is a lone wanderer or a new invasive species will be very exciting. And a bit scary. It's the first time this species has been caught in the wild in Scandinavia," says associate professor and fish expert Peter Rask Moller of the National History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

Officials have warned men to not go skinny dipping, reports the University of Copenhagen.

Initially, pacu fish were believed to be herbivores. But they are known to eat smaller fish and have sharp teeth capable of severing fishing lines. They have been declared as an invasive species in most parts of the world. They are mostly confined to fish farms and aquariums.

Pacu is a South American freshwater fish that is related to the piranha. Due to its habit of biting human testicles it is also referred to as the 'ball-cutter'. They use their teeth for crushing fruits and nuts. They are sold as 'vegetarian piranhas' to aquarium owners. They are introduced into the wild by hobbyists and the fishing industry. Pacus can weigh as much as 25 kilograms.​

- read the full article Testicle Eating Killer Fish ‘Pacu’ New Threat in Swedish Waters (from Science World Report)​

 

[pete]

holy hell that's creepy

 

[Laurel]

holy hell that's creepy

Seriously!

 

[Laurel]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69248000/jpg/_69248803_976x549-m1720572-ecg_trace-.jpg

It’s called a near-death experience, but the emphasis is on “near.” The heart stops, you feel yourself float up and out of your body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelops your field of vision.

It could be the afterlife, as many people who have come close to dying have asserted. But a new study says it might well be a show created by the brain, which is still very much alive. When the heart stops, neurons in the brain appeared to communicate at an even higher level than normal, perhaps setting off the last picture show, packed with special effects.

“A lot of people believed that what they saw was heaven,” said lead researcher and neurologist Jimo Borjigin. “Science hadn’t given them a convincing alternative.”

Scientists from the University of Michigan recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in nine anesthetized rats after inducing cardiac arrest. Within the first 30 seconds after the heart had stopped, all the mammals displayed a surge of highly synchronized brain activity that had features associated with consciousness and visual activation. The burst of electrical patterns even exceeded levels seen during a normal, awake state.

In other words, they may have been having the rodent version of a near-death experience.​

- read the full article
Surge of brain activity may explain near-death experience, study says (from The Washington Post)​

 

[KRCummings]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69248000/jpg/_69248803_976x549-m1720572-ecg_trace-.jpg

It’s called a near-death experience, but the emphasis is on “near.” The heart stops, you feel yourself float up and out of your body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelops your field of vision.

It could be the afterlife, as many people who have come close to dying have asserted. But a new study says it might well be a show created by the brain, which is still very much alive. When the heart stops, neurons in the brain appeared to communicate at an even higher level than normal, perhaps setting off the last picture show, packed with special effects.

“A lot of people believed that what they saw was heaven,” said lead researcher and neurologist Jimo Borjigin. “Science hadn’t given them a convincing alternative.”

Scientists from the University of Michigan recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in nine anesthetized rats after inducing cardiac arrest. Within the first 30 seconds after the heart had stopped, all the mammals displayed a surge of highly synchronized brain activity that had features associated with consciousness and visual activation. The burst of electrical patterns even exceeded levels seen during a normal, awake state.

In other words, they may have been having the rodent version of a near-death experience.​

- read the full article
Surge of brain activity may explain near-death experience, study says (from The Washington Post)​

I've read where some think it's the brains way of making the experience easier to handle. It would explain why it only happens then and why it's such a widespread phenomenon.
I don't believe the entrance to the afterlife is anything so dramatic so I think that's probably close to the truth. Or maybe it really is the entrance to the afterlife. Not sure why it's always grandma they see though. Maybe that bitch is burning in Hell.

 

[Balladeer08]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69248000/jpg/_69248803_976x549-m1720572-ecg_trace-.jpg

It’s called a near-death experience, but the emphasis is on “near.” The heart stops, you feel yourself float up and out of your body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelops your field of vision.

It could be the afterlife, as many people who have come close to dying have asserted. But a new study says it might well be a show created by the brain, which is still very much alive. When the heart stops, neurons in the brain appeared to communicate at an even higher level than normal, perhaps setting off the last picture show, packed with special effects.

“A lot of people believed that what they saw was heaven,” said lead researcher and neurologist Jimo Borjigin. “Science hadn’t given them a convincing alternative.”

Scientists from the University of Michigan recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in nine anesthetized rats after inducing cardiac arrest. Within the first 30 seconds after the heart had stopped, all the mammals displayed a surge of highly synchronized brain activity that had features associated with consciousness and visual activation. The burst of electrical patterns even exceeded levels seen during a normal, awake state.

In other words, they may have been having the rodent version of a near-death experience.​

- read the full article
Surge of brain activity may explain near-death experience, study says (from The Washington Post)​

So now we know who gives a rat's after-life. 8)

 

[gravyrug]

http://what-if.xkcd.com/

The "What If" section of XKCD is my favorite part. Also, earworm.

 

[Laurel]

http://what-if.xkcd.com/

The "What If" section of XKCD is my favorite part. Also, earworm.

Wow, thanks for this.

 

[Laurel]

http://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/prison-inmate-knitters1.jpg?w=880

Brazil’s Arisvaldo de Campos Pires is like any other maximum security penitentiary—inmates’ crimes range from armed robbery to murder, and armed guards patrol almost every inch of the prison. Except there’s one small quirk: many of the facility’s prisoners are becoming professional knitters.
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As part of a prison-wide program called the Lotus Flower project, inmates are crocheting high-end clothing in exchange for a modest salary and—the real kicker—reduced prison sentences. The program, which began in 2009 after Brazilian fashion designer Raquel Guimaraes realized she was going to need help scaling up to meet demand for her Doiselles brand, has been wildly successful; over 100 inmates have now participated. And unlikely as it may seem, it’s been a male-only affair. While Guimaraes originally approached the penitentiary with a proposal to train female prisoners to produce clothing, they decided to work the men instead.
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The incentives are so good that inmates aren’t merely willing, but are eager to start knitting. For every three days spent knitting, male inmates earn a full-day reduction in their sentences. And they get paid a salary—albeit a modest one—too: the workers earn 75% of minimum wage, a quarter of which is put aside and handed over upon their release.​

- read the full article There’s a maximum-security prison in Brazil where male inmates are expert knitters (from Quartz)​

 

[Laurel]

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18wwlnx8milvejpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Yesterday afternoon, Elon Musk revealed his plans for a system that could revolutionize transit. This isn’t the first time a private entrepreneur has taken on transportation in America, though. In fact, another wealthy businessman and inventor named Alfred Ely Beach attempted to do the same thing in New York, in 1869. Except instead of Hyperloops, he had pneumatic tubes.

Beach was the son of the wealthy owner of the New York Sun, and like his dad, he owned a publication: the then-young Scientific American. An inventor at heart, Beach patented all manner of ideas during his life, like a typewriter for the blind and an improvement to the cable car. But his most famous idea was the pneumatic subway. And while it’s novelty fodder for historians today, Beach’s idea had considerable traction in his own day—it even competed with the new-fangled elevator railway for funds.​

- read the full article How One Inventor Secretly Built a Pneumatic Subway Under NYC (from Gizmodo)​

 

[Laurel]

http://timenewsfeed.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/bathroom-urinals.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1

“God [expletive] I’d [expletive] on a spark plug if I thought it’d do any good,” says Barry Corbin as the waspish General Jack Beringer in the 1980s doomsday Cold War film Wargames. In 2013, maybe Corbin would have offered to whip out a sacrificial cellphone. Instead of creatively electrocuting himself for world peace, he could have juiced up his mobile’s battery with cutting-edge waste conversion tech.

Okay, so you don’t actually pee on the phone, because that’s gross, but scientists with the U.K.-based Bristol Robotics Laboratory claim they’ve indeed managed to harness the power of urine to produce sufficient energy to charge a garden variety cellphone.

“By harnessing this power as urine passes through a cascade of microbial fuel cells (MFCs), we have managed to charge a Samsung mobile phone,” lab scientist Dr. Ioannia Ieropoulos told the BBC. Those microorganisms produce electricity by metabolizing organic matter (the urine), so, you know, there’s even a side benefit: feeding the hungry!​

- read the full article & watch the video The Power of Pee: Urine Cellphone Charger (from Time)​

 

[Laurel]

http://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/pink.jpg?w=600

Toward the end of the 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, Jay shows up to lunch with his mistress and her husband in a pink suit. For modern readers, it’s tempting to take his color selection as a sign of dandyism. Why would a man choose to wear the color of Mary Kay, breast-cancer research tie-ins and kitchen gadgets galore? When cuckolded husband Tom Buchanan criticizes Gatsby for wearing pink, he seemingly echoes the present-day assumption that pink is a feminine color.

But that would be imposing today’s view of pink on the past. Buchanan uses the suit’s hue not to discredit Gatsby’s masculinity or virility, but his intellectual bona fides. He mentions it only when Gatsby’s described as an Oxford man: “[Buchanan] was incredulous. ‘Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit.’”

Buchanan’s comments make it clear that men in pink meant something different in the 1920s than today. According to an interview with the costume designer for Baz Luhrmann’s recent film, the color had working-class connotations. Only in the relatively recent past did pink acquire its feminine connotations.

“In the 18th century, it was perfectly masculine for a man to wear a pink silk suit with floral embroidery,” says fashion scholar Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute Technology and author of several books on fashion.

Steele says pink was initially “considered slightly masculine as a diminutive of red,” which was thought to be a “warlike” color.​

- read the full article Pink used to be a masculine color (from Quartz)​