NYTimes: Disney Tackles Major Theme Park Problem: Lines

Fine-tuning the experience for the "entertain-me-right-this-second generation" takes a lot of technology, manpower, and work.

Disney Tackles Major Theme Park Problem: Lines

An underground high-tech nerve center at Disney World addresses the most low-tech of problems: long waits.

http://nyti.ms/gvNsmz

NYTimes: Scholars Recruit Public for Project

This reminds me of the stardust@home project, recruiting the public to whittle away at a mammoth task. In the stardust project it's to scan massive numbers of photomicrographs of a filter that traveled through space collecting dust for eventual analysis. In this article about the Bentham project, the public is being recruited to painstakingly interpret and copy handwritten manuscripts so they're available digitally. Here is a sample page of the manuscript and it's interpretation by the project. TE
Scholars Recruit Public for Project
A project in London is using crowd-sourcing to transcribe 40,000 unpublished manuscripts of the Enlightenment philosopher Jeremy Bentham.
http://nyti.ms/hymPWG

32 inches of snow in 40 seconds

Watch the tree branches sag as they're laden with snow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy0P5vuCntc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

NYTimes: In 500 Billion Words, New Window on Culture

At ngrams.googlelabs.com, you can search the history of any word's prevalence if usage over 200 years. Most interesting for words that have changed their meaning ("gay") or come into usage ("evolution") or gained acceptance ("suffrage") or had a transient fad ("flapper"). TE
In 500 Billion Words, New Window on Culture
A Google-backed project allows the frequency of specific words and phrases to be tracked in centuries of books.
http://nyti.ms/eMacup

Search word frequency over time

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/

Marie Laurencin.

This painting, in the Orangerie Museum next to the Louvre in Paris, has a fascinating expression - wistful, languorous, effete. It's by a lesser known impressionist/cubist, Marie Laurencin, a contemporary of Picasso.

NYTimes: Airport Apps Put You First in Line

Apps like gateguru help you find airport amenities, and TSA has an app that predicts security wait times. TE

PRACTICAL TRAVELER: Airport Apps Put You First in Line

From finding parking to giving you early gate information, 10 travel apps that can save your vacation.

http://nyti.ms/hZtXXw

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Sent from my iPhone

NYTimes: Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost? State schools may be best value.

Elite schools cost more, may lead to more prestigious post-secondary offerings, but the connections of a huge state school may be more fertile or employment. It depends. TE
Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost?
The sluggish economy and rising costs of college have only intensified questions about whether expensive, prestigious colleges make any difference.
http://nyti.ms/fPFl3k

amazing joke no reflection in the Mirror

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoyAZSlvAQE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPhone

NYTimes: Deal Reached to Recover $7.2 Billion for Madoff Victims

The Bernie Madoff pay-back: "the settlement constituted the largest single forfeiture in American judicial history"

DEALBOOK: Deal Reached to Recover $7.2 Billion for Madoff Victims

The trustee charged with recovering assets in the Bernie Madoff bankruptcy and federal prosecutors have obtained a civil settlement with the estate of one of Madoff's investors.

http://nyti.ms/g22JPF

Very cool animated graph of demographics

This animated graph is explained so clearly. A tremendous amount of data made simple.

track flight prices automatically

www.yapta.com
Yapta lets you track changes in flight prices and helps you find refunds on airline tickets.
Yapta helps you save money on airline tickets by letting you track the flights you want, notifying you of price drops on those flights, and getting you refunds or travel ...


Also see bing travel, which incorporated farecast.com that predicts which direction flight prices are going and whether it's time to buy or not. 

Time lapse daily photos of people...

A pregnancy:


This guy is really devoted to documenting his aging process - he built a rig and carried it with him when he traveled... He wanted his head to turn at the same rate as the earth rotates around the sun.
You can read about it on his blog post at http://www.danhanna.com/aging_project/p.html


The right hand image here is 'morphed' or smoothed to make the changes smoother and more gradual.

Daredevils - Wow

Incredible seamanship

Look at this seamanship - incredibly intuitive, or just incredibly lucky?

"Without accountability we'd all behave unjustly." - Plato

… anonymity increases unethical behavior. Road rage bubbles up in the relative anonymity of one’s car. And in the online world, which can offer total anonymity, the effect is even more pronounced. People — even ordinary, good people — often change their behavior in radical ways. 

“Trolling, defined as the act of posting inflammatory, derogatory, or provocative messages in public forums” [is a result of] "the online disinhibition effect."

…“Plato touched upon the subject of anonymity and morality in his parable of the ring of Gyges. That mythical ring gave its owner the power of invisibility, and Plato observed that even a habitually just man who possessed such a ring would become a thief, knowing that he couldn’t be caught. Morality, Plato argues, comes from full disclosure; without accountability for our actions we would all behave unjustly.”

…“Instead of waiting around for human nature to change, let’s start to rein in bad behavior by promoting accountability…Ask your users to report trolls and call them out for polluting the conversation.” (Julie Zhuo is a product design manager at Facebook.)

The full op-ed piece is from the NYT.

Does it matter where you go to college?

" A long-term study of 6,335 college graduates ...found that graduating from a college where entering students have higher SAT scores -- one marker of elite colleges -- didn't pay off in higher post-graduation income. Researchers found that students who applied to several elite schools but didn't attend them -- either because of rejection or by their own choice -- are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools." So...what to look for instead? "...the greater the opportunity for engagement and critical, creative and collaborative learning with faculty, peers and community, the more likely the chance for future success."   What You Do vs. Where You Go By Martha O'Connell The key to success in college and beyond has more to do with what a student does with their time during college than where they choose to attend.

Diptychs

A diptych is a pair of photos that somehow tell a larger story by the contrasts between the juxtaposed images.  Good ones are hard to find.

In this one, a Magnifying glass inverts images at different focal lengths.

Here's a webgroup page that diptychs are uploaded to every day.

Bud and flower.
A pun - a sign and its reflection.
in this one, the bottom image is everything from his pockets, I think...
and in this one, I like the comparison of the arrow and the interior angles of the building.
It can make for a nice portrait pair.


Particularly interesting are so-called 'natural diptychs,' where something in the image naturally splits it in two.
There's a blog that discusses these.

I like the following one because it contrasts the entry-level job of the waitress, looking longingly out at the genteel sophisticated diners. There's a little tension and anticipation in her pose.

This one looks at first like a reflection, but the difference in times shows it's two clocks mounted on the same tower.

I really like this one, because you think it's a solid building on the right, until you realize the same tree is visible through it, and you can make out the staircase and opposite window in the building.   

This one takes a moment to figure out...at first it seems the shadow is of the parapet in the foreground.

Here's one of a boy and his view of the sky.

Two photos, same person and location, 50 years apart.

A water arc.

Top iPhone apps

Here's 3 recent NYT articles on top iPhone apps:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/ten-favorite-iphone-apps/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/technology/personaltech/11smart.html

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/app-smart-extra-the-best-free-apps-for-the-iphone/

Here's Time's list

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1945379_1944345,00.html

And here's my list

http://seattletacomatom.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-favorite-iphone-apps-as-of-november.html

Fruits of the Spirit

"The fruits of the Spirit are most clearly demonstrated in our relationships with others. They are a visible and practical measure of our spirituality." i.e. the way we get along with those around us tells others about God's love. The quotation is from a recent IVCF daily devotional. 

Galatians 5:22-23 (Version: The Message)

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. 

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://read.ly/Gal5.22.MSG

Credit card mistakes to avoid.

By Moolanomy for U.S. News & World Report
There is plenty of debate over whether or not you should use credit cards, especially if you are in debt. If you have credit cards, you want to be sure you are using them to your advantage and avoid costly mistakes. To help you avoid these mistakes, here is a list of the 10 biggest credit card mistakes that people make.

Find the best credit card rewards
1. Using your credit card like a debit card.
Your credit card is not your bank debit card. Never put your credit card into an ATM. No, it's not going damage your credit card, but it will cost you. Often you can expect a flat fee for getting a cash advance and also an astronomical interest rate on top of that for the convenience.
2. Signing up for a card with an annual fee and not setting a reminder in your calendar
It is sometimes a good idea to sign up for a new credit card to get a big sign-up bonus or take advantage of a balance-transfer offer. However, if you ended up with a card that has an annual fee, be sure to set a reminder in your calendar if you don't plan to keep the card and want to avoid the fee. Far too many people pay annual fees on credit cards because they forget to cancel the card.
3. Not properly researching foreign transaction fees
Before traveling overseas, you need to realize that every credit card has different foreign currency exchange rates and international transaction fees. Typical fees are anywhere from 0% to 3%. If you have several cards in your wallet, you should use the one that has the best exchange rate.
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Please install the latest version of the free Adobe Flash Player. Download now.

For help with Flash, see Adobe's Flash Player Support page.

4. Lending someone your card or card number
This is a recipe for disaster. If you give someone your card number, he or she may be able to make an exorbitant number of purchases. Protect your account by refusing to give out your card or card number.
5. Spending more on your card than you have in the bank
Credit card debt is one of the most costly types of debt. In fact, it is one reason so many people face huge financial problems. If you have a card, you need to be sure that you have a system in place to limit or monitor your spending. You need to know how to budget with your card, and if you don't do it well, you need to immediately address your credit card debt problems.
6. Giving anyone other than your spouse signing rights
If you get a secondary card for someone, you are liable for all the charges. If you're married, you're already liable. Otherwise, you are taking a serious risk by adding other card members. The only possible exception might be your children, and if they have accounts you should monitor them.
7. Not calling to ask to reduce your APR
If you are trying to get out of credit card debt, call your card issuer and ask for a lower rate. Just gather a few offers for lower rates you have in your mailbox and threaten to leave if they don't reduce your rate. If they don't budge, move your balance elsewhere.

8. Signing up for a card to get a free T-shirt or a 10% discount on a $20 shirt
There can be some very lucrative sign-up bonuses. Your best bet is to sign up for cards with really good offers. A free T-shirt and a 10% off are not good incentives.
9. Not properly managing your statement and payments
Some people get into credit card trouble simply because they don't review their statements and they don't have a system in place for paying their bills. You need a system. If you are not in a habit of reviewing your statement, it is likely that you are making some recurring payments you know nothing about.
10. Not taking advantage of credit card rewards
I figure if you have a credit card you might as well be getting rewards. There is no such thing as the right card because the right card depends on your spending habits. Just be sure your spending is offering you something of value.
Published Nov. 15, 2010
 from MSN Money and U.S. News and World Report
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/CreditCardSmarts/10-worst-credit-card-mistakes.aspx?ucsort=1

NYTimes: Google Fashion Shopping Site Makes Debut

"The process at Boutiques.com is accomplished through visual search technology, and what style experts like Ms. Goodman and Ms. Holtz conveyed to Google code writers about the nuances of fashion — from color and pattern to silhouette and what looks good together and what does not."

CRITICAL APPRAISAL: Google Fashion Shopping Site Makes Debut

With Boutiques.com, Google has created a new e-commerce site that significantly improves how fashion is presented and sold online.

http://nyti.ms/blFBF1

This fashion site really is game-changing for online fashion shopping - look at the lengths they went to. TE

"In simple terms, what the style experts did was come up with about 500 words for color, shape and pattern — robin’s egg blue, for instance, and gingham — and then the engineers trained the algorithm to know what each was. They would have pictures of what gingham was and what gingham wasn’t. “We did that word by word by word." ...
"Despite the amount of products that a search on Boutiques.com kicks out, the download time is very fast, and choices appear on extra-long pages so you don’t have to keep clicking. Virtually every kind of information is analyzed — price, brand, color and so on. The site also includes a system called “Complete the Look,” for which Ms. Goodman wrote “a ton of rules,” Mr. Shah said, “and our computer vision and machine learning guys implemented them.”

Well said

"It underscored just how far ahead of his time Mark Twain was when he said a century before the Internet, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.""

From The New York Times:

OP-ED COLUMNIST: Too Good to Check

This tall tale just had to be repeated. And repeated. And repeated. The facts had to wait till Anderson Cooper checked them out.

http://nyti.ms/cw3LHg

NYTimes: When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays

" "Life is not long,"Samuel Johnson said, "and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent." Henry Ford was more blunt: "Idleness warps the mind." [and...] one of the favorite sayings of William F. Buckley Jr.: "Industry is the enemy of melancholy.""

FINDINGS: When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays

Researchers said they found that in most activities, a mind that wandered could diminish one's happiness.

http://nyti.ms/bubc3G

Warning about kids and cell phones.

"...Children should text rather than call, she said, and pregnant women should keep phones away from the abdomen."
"...Radiation that penetrates only two inches into the brain of an adult will reach much deeper into the brains of children because their skulls are thinner and their brains contain more absorptive fluid"

DIGITAL DOMAIN: Should You Be Snuggling With Your Cellphone?
If you assumed that worries about cellphone radiation were unfounded, a new survey of scientific investigations suggests that you think again.
http://nyti.ms/d4HfVC

Gal 5:16-23 (The Message)

"The Message" translation makes a familiar passage look suddenly new.
Gal 5:16-23 (The Message)
16 My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.
17 For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.
18 Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;
20 trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits;
21 the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
21 This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
22 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,
23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

2 Corinthians 1 The Rescue

 ^3-5...He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.

 ^6-7When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times. When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.

 ^8-11We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.

Atomic clocks, and using light energy to cool things down

Atomic clocks measure time by getting atoms to resonate at their specific frequency, but they have to be very cool to do so.  They cool them with laser light... but how does shining a light on something cool it down?
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/bec/lascool1.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1997/press.html
"...The laser light functions as a thick liquid, dubbed optical molasses, in which the atoms are slowed down. ...a photon that collides with an atom can transfer all its momentum to that atom...What determines the right energy for photons to be able to affect atoms is the inner structure (energy levels) of the atoms...If an atom moves the conditions change because of what is termed the Doppler effect - the same effect that gives a train whistle a higher pitch when the train is approaching than when it is standing still. If the atom is moving towards the light, the light must have a lower frequency than that required for a stationary atom if it is to be "heard" by the atom.

Down the drain, then into biofuel.

About 5% of what we throw down the drain is grease, and it can be collected and turned into fuel - neat!TE
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/new-plan-could-turn-dirty-grease-and-dairy-biofuel

Cheaper Better MRI

This ingenious researcher built his own MRI machine to study lungs in upright subjects.  Because the inhaled helium atoms are so light, a weaker magnetic field can be used than for conventional (water-based) MRI scanning.TE

http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/martinos/assets/Nov2010PopSci.pdf

NYTimes: Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

If people have more money, it seems neither they nor their neighbors are any happier for it. TE

ECONOMIC VIEW: Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

Economics was founded by moral philosophers, and links between the two disciplines remain strong. So why won't economists make judgments on the gap between rich and poor?

http://nyti.ms/9Cg2SD

"...income growth has been concentrated at the top of the scale. The share of total income going to the top 1 percent of earners, which stood at 8.9 percent in 1976, rose to 23.5 percent by 2007
"...Recent research on psychological well-being has taught us that beyond a certain point, across-the-board spending increases often do little more than raise the bar for what is considered enough. A C.E.O. may think he needs a 30,000-square-foot mansion, for example, just because each of his peers has one.
"...I found that the counties where income inequality grew fastest also showed the biggest increases in symptoms of financial distress.
"For example, even after controlling for other factors, these counties had the largest increases in bankruptcy filings.
Divorce rates are another reliable indicator of financial distress... counties with the biggest increases in inequality also reported the largest increases in divorce rates.
"Another footprint of financial distress is long commute times, because families who are short on cash often try to make ends meet by moving to where housing is cheaper — in many cases, farther from work. The counties where long commute times had grown the most were again those with the largest increases in inequality.
"(Robert H. Frank is an economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University)"

NYTimes.com: The Tools You Really Need to Maintain Your Home

What tools to get a new homeowner.TE HOME & GARDEN   | October 14, 2010 The Pragmatist:  The Tools You Really Need to Maintain Your Home By BOB TEDESCHI Spend about $250 now and you'll avoid repeated trips to the hardware store.

Funny pacifiers

Never knew there was a word for these.

"Dragées" are little hard candy decorations like these silver spheres.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragée?wasRedirected=true

It's surprising what you can read

Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. 
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the

 ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the

word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Adn I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

NYTimes: Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?

"America's drafty building methods account for as much as 40 percent of its primary energy use, 70 percent of its electricity consumption and nearly 40 percent of its carbon-dioxide emissions.
A so-called passive home... Its orientation toward the sun and superthick insulation to its algorithmic design and virtually unbroken air envelope — that it requires minimal heating...The additional cost for a passive house, versus a more conventional home, is... a minimum of 10 percent. "
Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green?
Advocates of the passive-house standard for home design say it could greatly improve on America's drafty houses. But it has caught on only in Europe.
http://nyti.ms/9amLkL

Quotation

"What more is there to life than to eat well, love well, and wear good shoes." - Kevin Gandhi.

NYTimes: Too Many Hamburgers?

Telling it like it is. As you can see from this excerpt, he's not mincing any words. This op-ed columnist berates America for allowing our "can-do" esprit de corps to decay over the past few decades.TE
"There is absolutely no reason our democracy should not be able to generate the kind of focus, legitimacy, unity and stick-to-it-iveness to do big things — democratically — that China does autocratically. We've done it before. But we're not doing it now because too many of our poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class are more interested in what keeps them in power than what would again make America powerful, more interested in defeating each other than saving the country."
OP-ED COLUMNIST: Too Many Hamburgers?
On a visit to China, getting a good look at how the Chinese view us Americans.
http://nyti.ms/di5Em7

NYTimes: Regimens: Massage Benefits Are More Than Skin Deep

Massage decreases stress-related hormones.

VITAL SIGNS: Regimens: Massage Benefits Are More Than Skin Deep

Researchers found that a single session of massage caused biological changes, like increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment.

http://nyti.ms/ctP4gA

Tips for a family photo shoot

1. wear something comfortable, colorful but not complex
2. bring a favorite item or two - even a chair or pillow
3. prepare bribes for kids - it works
4. get a good night's sleep
http://smontgomeryphoto.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-02-24T21:46:00-08:00&max-results=7

NYTimes: Cleaner for the Environment, Not for the Dishes

Environmentally-friendly cleaners may not clean as well as harsher chemicals, but here's a documented less obvious benefit of them - housekeeping staff reporting less days off or symptoms.
"some users attest to quantifiable benefits. Reports of burns, rashes, dizziness and scratchy throats among housekeeping employees have plummeted at North Central Bronx Hospital and Jacobi Medical Center since the staff switched to new cleaning products in 2004, said Peter Lucey, an associate executive director for support services at the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. The number of lost days linked to injuries from the products declined from 54 in 2004 to zero last year, he said. "It's the switch and the training," Mr. Lucey said"

Cleaner for the Environment, Not for the Dishes

Many find low-phosphate detergents as appealing as low-flow showers, underscoring the tradeoffs people often face in a more environmentally conscious marketplace.

http://nyti.ms/b1IOhd

Nautical charts on iphone GPS for free

I have used this amazing little program for a while (and their subscription-based driving directions program also) but I was surprised recently to see they've added US nautical charts for free. I have previously paid hundreds of dollars for these charts, that become outdated within a year or so. This is a pretty amazing deal if you ask me.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motionx-gps-lite/id293935935?mt=8

Path of a storm

An interesting set of graphics that look at the concentrated path of destruction this storm. As you can see from these photos, and this video, it was a pretty severe tornado.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/09/17/nyregion/brooklyn-storm-map.html

View your own street view as backdrop for a video - clever.

A colleague heard about this on NPR. It's a music video that's illustrated using the view looking down your own street, whatever street you enter, using google's "street view" data. It's totally cool. Make sure you watch through to the end - half-way through there's an interactive animation (that might seem like it's the end of the video) where you draw something, but then it becomes part of the video.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

More of the story at

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129631778

NYTimes: The 3,000-Mile Oil Change Is Pretty Much History

Send your oil in for diagnostic analysis.

SHORTCUTS: The 3,000-Mile Oil Change Is Pretty Much History

Knowing how often to change your car oil takes more information than in the past. The good news is that it's probably less often.

http://nyti.ms/dn3SNz

3D 'printing' to manufacture objects

This is the best description I;ve seen yet of the capability of desktop 'printing' (or manufacturing by depositing thin layers) of 3D objects in plastic. It's incredible what complex parts they can print in a single printing (see at 1:05 in the video.) TE

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/09/13/technology/1248068999175/desktop-manufacturing.html

In the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

I'm not much of a ballet fan, but take a look at these impressive feats of balance and strength.

http://www.nzwide.com/swanlake.htm

NYTimes: F.C.C. Likely to Open New Airwaves to Wireless

Why is the availability of new airwaves such a big deal? Repurposing the old TV broadcast signals uses a wavelength that penetrates buildings and valleys better than current cell phone frequencies.

F.C.C. Likely to Open New Airwaves to Wireless

Allowing anyone to use "white spaces" in the spectrum would open the door to supercharged Wi-Fi networks.

http://nyti.ms/9Az0wH

NYTimes: For the Dishwasher’s Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent

Should you pre-rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? -
"remove baked on food and large chunks, but for the most part, everyone I spoke to said prerinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was not only unnecessary, it wasted thousands of gallons of water and could actually result in dirtier dishes"

SHORTCUTS: For the Dishwasher's Sake, Go Easy on the Detergent

Go easy on the detergent in dishwashers and washing machines, and never clean your oven the day before Thanksgiving.

http://nyti.ms/8YSQ8V

Optical illusion used as high-tech speed bump

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/hologram-of-girl-used-as-high-tech-speed-bump/6vxdhhw?rs=car&from=en-us_msnhp&gt1=42007

Google image swirl

Fun to play around with... Google labs idea called 'image swirl' collects like images together, so you can more quickly find the image you want. Type in something that has two meanings, like 'pool' (i.e. swimming pool, pool below a waterfall, or a game of pool) and it collects the images into groups representing those meanings.

http://image-swirl.googlelabs.com/

Read more here.

OP-ED COLUMNIST The Gospel of Wealth By DAVID BROOKS

"...The material world is too soul-destroying. “The American dream radically differs from the call of Jesus and the essence of the Gospel,” he argues... “God actually delights in exalting our inability.” The American dream emphasizes upward mobility, but “success in the kingdom of God involves moving down, not up.”

"Platt’s arguments are old, but they emerge at a postexcess moment, when attitudes toward material life are up for grabs...But the country is clearly redefining what sort of lifestyle is socially and morally acceptable and what is not."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/opinion/07brooks.html?src=me&ref=general

Interrupt my day...

"Lord, interrupt my day with divine appointments to connect with people who You know need it."

"Be careful how you react to interruptions.

That person who interrupts your busy schedule might be exactly the person God wants you to see." -

http://www.doorofhope.org.au/content.php?page_id=259

"Sometimes we are so busy that we don't allow for interruptions, much less see them as divine appointments. We might be "making such good time" that it is hard to stop. Or maybe we are really getting a lot done and checking things off of our to do list and we don't want to break the rhythm of what we're doing. We may be doing a lot of business and having a profitable day and don't want to blow a carefully developed opportunity to do our job well. If we aren't careful, we'll see these interruptions as irritations rather than divine appointments." - http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200407/20040701_interruptions.html

"God’s will comes to us in strange ways, often in the form of interruptions. Just when we think our duties are done for the day and we’ve settled in for a quiet evening at home, someone calls on the telephone or shows up on our doorstep asking for our time. “Are you busy?” they ask.

The best thing to do is to stop looking at these intrusions as interruptions. Instead, we should take them as opportunities that God is sending us to serve those in need—to listen well, to show love, to help them on their journey toward intimacy with God." - http://www.churchofgodcarmichael.org/seniors/walking-in-grace-blog/687-divine-interruptions.html

"I seem to need more reminding of how God works in ways that don’t make sense to me. God has purpose, my duty is to be open and ready for what He allows.

An interruption may be a divine appointment." -

http://www.churchofgodcarmichael.org/seniors/walking-in-grace-blog/687-divine-interruptions.html

NYTimes: Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way

Finally - some common sense about packaging things more cheaply and efficiently for online sales: look how much less packaging can be used ---->.

Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way

Amazon is trying to get manufacturers to make packages easier to open, hoping to reduce consumer "wrap rage."

http://nyti.ms/bdwrWo

25 simple, common-sense tips to lose weight

1. Drink a second cup of coffee. It might lower your risk of adult-onset diabetes…

2. Keep serving dishes off the table.

3. Think before you drink. around 10 teaspoons of added sugar every single day from soft drinks.

4. Practice total recall. British scientists found that people who thought about their last meal before snacking ate 30 percent fewer calories that those who didn't stop to think.

5. Eat protein at every meal.

6. Choose whole-grain bread.

7. Think fish.

9. Cut portions by a quarter.

10. Turn off the TV.

11. Put your fork down when you chew.

12. Choose rye (not wheat) bread for breakfast toast. …were more full 8 hours after breakfast than wheat-bread eater

13. Eat a handful of fruit and vegetables a day.

14. Sip green tea.

15. Work out before lunch or dinner.

16. Hung over? Choose asparagus.

17. Sleep 8 hours a night.

18 Discover miso soup. …can help lower your blood pressure

19. Drink two glasses of milk daily.

20. Take a zinc supplement.

21. Go ahead, eat your favorite foods.

22. Choose foods with the fewest ingredients.

23. Snack on popcorn.

24. Or snack on walnuts. …may boost your HDL (good) cholesterol

25. Scramble your breakfast. …People who ate eggs in the morning instead of a bagel consumed 264 fewer calories the rest of the day [same as rule 5 really]

[See the more detailed explanations for these tips at...]

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/25-best-nutrition-secrets

NYTimes: Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits

"Psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong.

"...instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention.
"...in a classic 1978 experiment... students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms...did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room...Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.
"So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing...Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time. Musicians have known this for years, and their practice sessions often include a mix of scales, musical pieces and rhythmic work. 

"...adults of retirement age were better able to distinguish the painting styles of 12 unfamiliar artists after viewing mixed collections (assortments, including works from all 12) than after viewing a dozen works from one artist, all together, then moving on to the next painter. The finding undermines the common assumption that intensive immersion is the best way...
“The idea is that forgetting is the friend of learning,” said Dr. Kornell. “When you forget something, it allows you to relearn, and do so effectively, the next time you see it.”...The process of retrieving an idea is not like pulling a book from a shelf; it seems to fundamentally alter the way the information is subsequently stored, making it far more accessible in the future...When the neural suitcase is packed carefully and gradually, it holds its contents for far, far longer. 

“Testing has such bad connotation; people think of standardized testing or teaching to the test,” Dr. Roediger said. “Maybe we need to call it something else, but this is one of the most powerful learning tools we have.”...tests are so often hard. Paradoxically, it is just this difficulty that makes them such effective study tools, research suggests.

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits

Psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong.

http://nyti.ms/cPHCsv

Statesman vs. politician

"What is the difference between a politician and a statesman? Here are some answers: (1) A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman thinks of the next generation. (2) A politician thinks of himself first, a statesman thinks of the country first. (3) Anyone elected to office is a politician; a statesman promotes the public good with integrity. Statesmanship conveys a quality of leadership that organically brings people together; and of eldership, a spirit of caring for others and for the whole. (4) A statesman is ever governed by the following principle: I must do what is best for the people as a whole. His job is political probity, even though he may face horrible conditions for carrying it out. (5) A politician makes the possible necessary, while a statesman makes the necessary possible. (6) And my favorite of all: A politician talks the talk; a statesman walks the walk."

From

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20090905-223616/The-statesman-and-the-retreatant

Nurse Anesthetists want to "fly solo."

Flawed data - nurse anesthetists are given the least risky cases, and even more so when they are practicing solo. Less sick patients will always do better.TE See the editorial in the NYT. No Harm to Patients From Unsupervised Nurse Anesthetists, Study Finds Medscape Medical News , 2010-08-06

August 6, 2010 — Allowing certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) to provide anesthesia without physician supervision resulted in no evidence of increased inpatient deaths or complications, a new study published in the August issue of Health Affairs found.

The analysis of Medicare data for 1999 to 2005, encompassing more than 481,000 hospitalizations, found that allowing CRNAs to work independently without oversight by an anesthesiologist or surgeon had little or no effect on mortality and morbidity rates.

Authors Brian Dulisse and Jerry Cromwell, health economists at the Research Triangle Institute in Waltham, Massachusetts, recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) permit the nation's 37,000 nurse anesthetists to work independently without first requiring state governments to formally petition for an exemption, as 14 states have already done. "This would free surgeons from the legal responsibility for anesthesia services provided by other professionals. It would also lead to more cost-effective care as the solo practice of CRNAs increases," the authors said.

The research was funded by the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), which applauded the study. "Since the late 1990s, we've been on record calling for the elimination of supervision for nurse anesthetist services," AANA President-Elect Paul Santoro, CRNA, MS, told Medscape Medical News. "This antiquated regulation places undue costs on the healthcare system. Local institutions should be free to decide for themselves. This study confirms our position and is supported by several previous studies."

In a blistering response posted on its Web site yesterday, the American Society of Anesthesiologists said theHealth Affairs study "is an advocacy manifesto masquerading as science and does a disservice to the public. It makes dangerous public policy recommendations on the basis of inadequate data, flawed analysis and distorted facts."

CMS reimbursement rules prohibited payments to CRNAs unless they are supervised by either an anesthesiologist or the surgeon. In 2001, CMS issued a rule that states could seek an exemption from the oversight rule.

By 2005, 14 governors in mostly rural states were granted permission to opt out of the supervision requirement. "Solo practice by CRNAs is especially important in rural areas, where anesthesiologists are in short supply," Dulisse and Cromwell write.

The authors used Medicare inpatient (part A) and carrier (part B) data to study inpatient mortality and complications. It included 481,440 hospitalizations, of which 68,744 were in states that opted out of the supervision requirement.

They found that the proportion of surgeries performed in which anesthesia was administered by CRNAs without supervision increased by 5 percentage points in both opt-out and non-opt-out states.

"Despite the shift to more anesthetics performed by nurse anesthetists, no increase in adverse outcomes was found.... In fact, declining mortality was the norm," they said. "The mortality rate for the nurse anesthetist solo group was lower than for the anesthesiologist solo group.

"These results do not support the hypothesis that allowing states to opt out of the supervision requirement resulted in increased surgical risks to patients. Nor do the results support the claim that patients will be exposed to increased risk as a consequence of more nurse anesthetists' practicing without physician supervision," they concluded.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists said the study "reflects the weaknesses of billing data when used to make an assessment of safety and quality." The data do not distinguish between complications resulting from surgery or anesthesia, nor do they discriminate between conditions existing before surgery and those resulting from surgical or anesthetic care.

"The existing Medicare policy requiring physician supervision of nurse anesthesia is rooted in the overwhelming preference of patients, particularly Medicare beneficiaries, for a physician to be responsible for their anesthesia care. Suggesting that this patient preference be pushed aside on the basis of flimsy analytics is irresponsible," said the statement from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.