HOME |
RSS | 
Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead tonight! Daylight Saving Time begins tonight for most of the United States and Canada. The expansion of the period we use DST is due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005; although studies show the effect on energy consumption is negigible, if not counterproductive. DST will last until the first weekend in November, which is almost two-thirds of the year. European Summer Time begins the last Sunday in March and runs til the last Sunday in October. Nations in the southern hemisphere who observe the practice have been on DST for months, and will soon go back to standard time as their fall approaches. Wikipedia has more on Daylight Saving Time history and practices around the world. Link
Universe Today looks at the possibility of humans traveling to Mars. One of the major roadblocks to such a mission is arranging for a return flight. A one-way mission would eliminate a lot of research and expense, but is it ethical?
Even though explorers in the past traveled, for example, to the south or north pole, knowing they might never return, and thousands of immigrants moved to the US in the 18- and 1900′s, knowing they would never see their homeland again, the human psyche has seemingly changed enough that a one-way ticket off the planet is not acceptable. According to psychologist Molly Dooley from Springfield, IL, it might take a major crisis on Earth for humans to seriously consider such a mission. “Usually it’s the disenfranchised that are willing to take those kinds of risks,” she said. “When our present situation no longer works for us, we become more willing to take risks. The difference between the folks who are interested and those who aren’t is their attachment to their current situation.”
The article raises some interesting questions, and the commenters add more insight. Link -via Metafilter
The Becohanger by Wannabeco is a new clothes hanger made from environmentally-friendly carboard. It is completely biodegradable, and may replace wire hangers in Britain.
“Each year 100 million wire coat hangers are put into UK landfill where they take centuries to degrade – it is this we are trying to prevent,” said Alexander Beattie, Head of marketing at Wannabeco.
“We have worked out a way to alleviate this problem as well as provide an innovative and ecologically friendly media space for our advertising clients”.
Yes, the hangers will be paid for by advertisers, and distributed to dry cleaners. The ads will be printed with environmentally-friendly ink. Link -via Fark
Photo: megstao [Flickr]
Pamplona, Spain, has the famous Running of the Bulls. There are no bulls in Anchorage, Alaska, so they have to make do with reindeers. Here’s the story from last week’s running of the reindeers called "Fur Rendezvouz":
The animals proved more than game, defying predictions that they would be too domesticated and docile to put on a good show.
Starting in the middle of the street behind several rows of runners, they built speed quickly. After less than a block, they were weaving through people like ski racers on a slalom course. By the time they neared the finish line — where two "bait" reindeer stood, plus trailers filled with treats and straw — they were moving fast and looking almost manic.
Tom Williams, who runs the Williams Reindeer Farm in the Butte and brought a dozen of his best beasts for the show, wasn’t surprised.
"They make their living outrunning wolves," he said.
Link (with videos) – via Intelligent Travel
It’s now a law in Norway that large, publicly-traded companies must have at least 40% women in their corporate boards … or risk dissolution:
"A woman comes in, a man goes out. That’s how the quota works; that’s the law," says Kjell Erik Øie, deputy minister of children and equality, in the centre-left "Red-Green" coalition government in Oslo. "Very seldom do men let go of power easily. But when you start using the half of the talent you have previously ignored, then everybody gains."
Businesses fought hard against the legislation, but they lost:
… even in Norway the quota went ahead only after years of ferocious debate and some resistance. As one male non-executive director who has survived the recent cull of boards put it, "What I and a lot of people don’t understand is why it is seen as good for business to swap seasoned players for lip gloss?"
But such scepticism was not as widespread as one might expect. Ansgar Gabrielsen, 52, a Conservative trade and industry minister, and former businessman, is the unlikely champion of the quota. In 2002, in the then centre-coalition government, he publicly proposed a 40% quota on publicly listed boards without consulting cabinet colleagues. The law would be enacted in three years, he announced, only if companies failed to comply. The challenge was huge. Out of the 611 affected companies, 470 had not a single female board member.
Gabrielsen’s reasoning at that time set the terms of the debate that followed. The quota was presented less as a gender-equality issue, and more as one driven by economic necessity. He argued that diversity creates wealth. The country could not afford to ignore female talent, he said. Norway has a low unemployment rate (now at 1.5%) and a large number of skilled and professional posts unfilled. "I could not see why, after 30 years of an equal ratio of women and men in universities and having so many women with experience, there were so few of them on boards," he says.
Link (Photo: Mr. Tea [Flickr])
Here’s the Evil-est Case Mod evah! Behold [Dell is] the Great Satan by Ken Kirby, complete with fog machine!
Links: Build Log | Gallery – via ExtremeTech and Blue’s News
If you haven’t seen it before, check out Neatorama’s Ultimate Case Mod Page
The mad scientists of pixel art: Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital and Kai Vermehr of eBoy have just released their newest building poster. The 1.2 m x 0.8 m (about 4 ft by 2 ft 6 in) poster is incredibly detailed – with lots of unexpected pixel characters going ’bout their business in pixeltown.
A California appeals court ruling has just made parents who home schooled their kids criminals (if they don’t have teaching credentials). Here’s the story that sent a shockwave through the homeschooling movement:
The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.
Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.
Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California’s compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child’s grade level.
"California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling under the provisions of these laws."
Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.
Link (Photo: Michael Macor / Chronicle)
As a young boy, Dustin Carter contracted a rare blood disease that ultimately claimed his limbs – all four of them. He grew into a straight "F" student, until one day, he discovered wrestling:
Until eighth grade, when he found, of all things, wrestling. "I felt like at least he’d be out there practicing, participating with the kids, he’ll probably never wrestle," his dad said.
But he did wrestle. And what happened? "I got beat pretty bad," he said. "Well, they just get out there and just throw him around on the mat," his dad said. Dustin lost about ever time he set his torso in the ring.
But the competition brought out a side of Dustin no one had ever seen before. "He’s got heart. He’s got the heart the size of a lion," said Dustin’s coach, Nate Horne. "He can persevere through anything." "That’s me. I’m a pretty determined person," Dustin said. "I’ll sit at something and sit at it for hours until I get it."
Over the years, Dustin trained hard. "I worked out a lot." By all accounts he became a model of self-discipline. His grades went up and he actually started winning. Winning more than anyone, other than Dustin, could have ever imagined.
A fascinating story, as reported by CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman: Link – via metafilter
Look closely at this Tokyo office above: it’s designed with partitions that you have to step over like in a submarine! I can only think of one reason they made it that way: to weed out the klutzy employees! Link – via Core77
According to scientists, Wim Hof should be dead for doing the following: running a half-marathon in the Arctic Circle in his bare feet, climbing the Everest in his shorts, and diving under the ice at the North Pole.
Here’s a fascinating story about a 48-year-old Dutchman nicknamed "The Ice Man" for his uncanny ability of withstanding fatally freezing temperatures:
Normally, when a person is exposed to freezing temperatures for a prolonged period of time, the body goes into survival mode, as its liquids begin to freeze.
Frostbite sets in, and in order to save the major organs, the body sacrifices blood flow to the extremities, cutting circulation from the fingers, toes, ears and nose to keep the blood flowing to the organs necessary for survival.
If not treated immediately, the damage to these extremities is irreversible. The other danger is hypothermia, an abnormally low body temperature. At about 90 degrees, body functions start shutting down, and once that starts, you could be dead within minutes.
But Hof stayed in his tomb of ice for one hour and 12 minutes. Then, the ice was poured out of the tank, and Hof emerged, his skin still pink.
"He’s not moving, he’s not generating heat, he’s not dressed for it, and he’s immersed in ice water. And water will transmit heat 30 times faster than air. It literally sucks the life right out of you. And yet, despite all those negative factors, Wim Hof was very calm, very comfortable the entire time that he was immersed in that water," Kamler said.
Link (Photo: Henny Boogert)
The bibliophile in me love this simple yet inviting "Bookseat" by design firm fishbol (but I certainly don’t love the auto-play music on their website’s homepage) – via MoCo Loco
