When Alistair Hodgson was 21, he was a British paratrooper stationed in Northern Ireland. A booby trap exploded and tore him apart. His horrific injuries healed, except for the leg that was blown off and the other leg which had to be amputated. That was 17 years ago. Now Hodgson is the British National Freestyle Skydiving ­Champion. Besides training in his sport and coaching other skydivers, Hodgson works to inspire other disabled vets returning from Afghanistan.

“It’s so hard. But you have to ­rehabilitate yourself, find a focus…something to hold on to. If I can inspire just one other person to lift themselves out of that same dark place I was in – train for the Paralympics in 2012 or something, then it’s worth it.

“There was a time I thought my life was over and I still have very dark times when it’s difficult to deal with. Sometimes people poke fun at me or I catch sight of myself in a mirror and think, ‘You’re in a hell of a mess’.

"But when I’m in the air it’s like it never happened. I can ­compete at a world level – alongside people who have all their limbs – and have found a way to fly.”

Hodgson will compete against able-bodied skydivers for the world championship in August. Link -via Fark

(YouTube link)

I had to find out who sells that pacifier. You can get one at Perpetual Kid. Video via Unique Daily.

All that most of us know about a sling is that David slew Goliath with one. Maybe our fathers made one for us when we were kids (mine did). But what else do you know about the sling as a weapon?

The sling was likely mankind's first, true projectile weapon. It generally consists of two cords and a pouch. These cords are held in one hand and a projectile is placed in the pouch. The length of the sling provides greater mechanical advantage than one's arms. Projectiles can be slung over 1500 feet (450m) at speeds exceeding 250 miles per hour (400 kph). The sling is unique in that the movement of the weapon is merely an extension of the user’s body. The power and accuracy of the weapon is not by technological means, but rather user skill. The connection between slinger and sling is an intimate one, a relationship rarely found in modern weaponry.

Slinging.org has the history of the sling, information on different kinds of slings, and advice on making and using a sling. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Phillip Niemeyer created an infographic of the big subjects of each year of the past decade for the New York Times. This is just a small part of the chart, which you can enlarge at the link. Keep in mind, this is on the opinion page. Link -via Digg

January 2, 2010 is a palindrome, at least in countries that write the date in the mm/dd/yyyy form. Personally, I've been writing the date without initial zeros, like 12-3-9, but that's just me. Who notices such things? Professor Aziz Inan of the University of Portland, who teaches electrical engineering but loves math puzzles.

A native of Istanbul, Inan creates math puzzles in his spare time. So it was a big day when he looked closely at his own name and saw a pattern. His first and last names are both vowel-consonant-vowel-same consonant -- and, if you write the names in all caps, switch the vowels and turn one set of consonants 90 degrees, both names are the same.

"I jumped in my chair," he said of the day two years ago when the connection hit him. "My parents had no idea."

The next palindromic date will be November 2, 2011. Link -via J-Walk Blog

The Big Picture has photographs from all over the world illustrating the different ways people celebrate the new year. Yes, there are plenty of fireworks, but also bonfires, skits, costumes, swimming, praying, gunfire, and other customs. This picture was taken in Bhopal, India. Link -via the Presurfer

(image credit: REUTERS/Raj Patidar)

(Live Leak link)

A building demolition in Liuzhou, China went horribly wrong on Wednesday. Experts planned for the building to be split in two, but they expected both halves to fall down. Instead, one half of the 22-story apartment building was left leaning at a dangerous angle. It has since been brought down by crane. Link -via Arbroath

Teenagers need more sleep than other age groups; nine hours is recommended. But many only get seven or even fewer hours of sleep each night. A recent study found that adolescents whose parents set an early bedtime for them had fewer bouts of depression and suicidal thoughts than those whose parents set a later bedtime. Most adolescents in the study complied with set bedtimes, getting to bed an average of five minutes later.

Results show that adolescents with parental set bedtimes of midnight or later were 24 percent more likely to suffer from depression (odds ratio = 1.24) and 20 percent more likely to have suicidal ideation (OR=1.20) than adolescents with parental set bedtimes of 10 p.m. or earlier. This association was appreciably attenuated by self-reported sleep duration and the perception of getting enough sleep. Adolescents who reported that they usually sleep for five or fewer hours per night were 71 percent more likely to suffer from depression (OR=1.71) and 48 percent more likely to think about committing suicide (OR=1.48) than those who reported getting eight hours of nightly sleep. Participants who reported that they "usually get enough sleep" were significantly less likely to suffer from depression (OR=0.35) and suicidal ideation (OR=0.71).

The researchers in this study say there are several ways sleep deprivation can lead to depression. Link -via reddit

(image credit: Flickr user Carlos 57)

The delicious mixture of soup and rice called gumbo is enjoyed in New Orleans and across Louisiana, as well as anywhere else gumbo fans live. But where did the Creole recipe originate? The answer depends on which ingredient you like most! Gumbo as we know it is a cosmopolitan product with contributions from African-Americans, the French, Choctaw tribesmen, the Canadian immigrants who came to be called Cajuns, Spaniards, Italians, and even Germans.

Its name is generally agreed to derive from ki ngombo, the term for okra in the Central Bantu dialect of West Africa, the homeland of many of the slaves brought to colonial Louisiana. Okra stews, served with rice, were a staple food among those slaves. And okra is the main thickening agent in many (though not all) varieties of gumbo. So it seems reasonable to conclude, as many culinary historians have, that the dish itself also bears some African heritage.

Nevertheless, a debate about gumbo's precise origins has raged for decades, framed by Louisiana's legacy of colonialism and complicated by the vast range of gumbo-preparation techniques practiced by the different peoples who make up the region's complex ethnic fabric. Most gumbos achieve their thickness, color, and texture partly from the use of a roux, the mixture of flour and oil employed by French cooks as early as the 14th century. This French technique has sometimes been used to bolster the theory that gumbo derived not from African okra stews, but from French bouillabaisse. Another theory contends that gumbo originated with Native Americans. That idea draws support from the use of the ground sassafras called filé powder as a thickening agent in some gumbos. According to this account, filé was introduced to the French by the Choctaws, whose word for sassafras was kombo.

Of course, like most Louisiana recipes, the ingredients you use depends on what's in season and in your cupboard. Link

(image credit: Justin Vogt)

Who knew there were so many volcanoes in the news? If you were a volcano blogger like Dr. Erik Klemetti, you'd keep up with these kinds of things. Now he's posted the volcanic activity from each month of 2009. Shown is the eruption of Mayon in the Philippines in December. Link

Most explanations of Darwinian evolution refer to genetic material as the manner in which changes are passed down to one's descendants. Now, a study by Jiali Li of the Scripps Institute in Florida finds that prions, the proteins that cause diseases like mad cow disease evolve in response to their environment. Prions have no genes, no chromosomes, and no DNA or RNA at all!

Prions are rogue version of a protein called PrP. Like all proteins, they are made up of chains of amino acids that fold into a complex three-dimensional structure. Prions are versions of PrP that have folded incorrectly and this misfolded form, called PrPSc, is social, evangelical and murderous. It converts normal prion proteins into a likeness of its abnormal self, and it rapidly gathers together in large clumps that damage and kill surrounding tissues.

Li has found that variation can creep into populations of initially identical prions. Their amino acid sequence stays the same but their already abnormal structures become increasingly twisted. These "mutant" forms have varying degrees of success in different environments. Some do well in brain tissue; others thrive in other types of cell. In each case, natural selection culls the least successful ones. The survivors pass on their structure to the "next generation", by altering the folds of normal prion proteins.

Scientists are not ready to classify prions as living things, even though this discovery may lead to some refinements in the definition of life. Link

Could anything be cuter than a baby panda climbing out of a crib? I don't think so. Wen Li the cub tried her great escape at the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Institute in China.

Unfortunately, her sense of balance is still a bit wobbly and she toppled over the side, ending up with little more than an upside-down view of the inside of her pen.

The failed attempt did not appear to deter Wen Li, however. She was later spotted in what seems to be her favourite position once more - dangling from the edge of her playpen again.

Go see the whole series of pictures. Link -via Unique Daily

Anatidaephobia is the fear that a duck is watching you. The term was coined by Gary Larson, author of the comic The Far Side, who profited from ducks watching people. In these days of contextual advertising, the fear may be well-founded. Link to larger screenshot. Link to text article. -via Bits and Pieces

In the Yamal penninsula of Siberia, resources are few, but the nomadic Nenets tribes survive by using the one resource as tough as they are: reindeer.

Their main occupation is reindeer breeding and all they have are reindeer, because they build houses of reindeer skin and make their clothes of it. There are a few thousand of herdsmen on the peninsula who have more than 500,000 reindeer. But presently their traditional occupation is at stake owing to global warming and climate change.

See a collection of pictures of the Nenets people at English Russia. Link -via Mothertrip

The staff at the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre in Norfolk, England learned their lesson last year, when farting turtles set off overflow alarms at another aquarium. The turtles get a Christmas treat of Brussels sprouts, which cause gas in turtles as they do in humans. When feeding sprouts to the turtles this year, the Norfolk aquarium lowered the water level to keep the expected bubbles from splashing water and setting off sensors.

Now the Yarmouth turtle tank -12 feet in depth and width holding 250,000 litres of water along with George the 3ft long green turtle - has been partially emptied for the festive season.

Thousands of litres have been removed to lower the water by a six inches and keep the sensitive alarms clear.

Displays Supervisor Christine Pitcher said: ''Last time an aquariist had to dash to the centre in the middle of the night, so we're not going to take any chances.

''Sprouts are really healthy for green turtles.

''The high levels of calcium in them are great for their shells, the fibre is good for their digestion and they also contain lots of beneficial Vitamin C, sulphur and potassium.''

Link -via the Presurfer

(image credit: Flickr user pkingDesign)