Be sure to crack open a cold one on Jan. 24, the day canned beer celebrates its 75th birthday.
New Jersey's Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company churned out the world's first beer can in 1935, stocking select shelves in Richmond, Va., as a market test. The experiment took off and American drinkers haven't looked back since, nowadays choosing cans over bottles for the majority of the 22 gallons of beer they each drink per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Canned brewskies may have only hit shelves in 1935, but the drink's history goes back much further - at least 6,000 years, in fact, to ancient Iraq.
Though it is impossible to tell just how many important decisions in world history were lubricated by a pint or two, the potent potable has played a role in at least a few milestone events, from the plagues of medieval Europe to the founding of the United States.Be sure to crack open a cold one on Jan. 24, the day canned beer celebrates its 75th... more
A brief narrative about the well managed system of the matted fringe...a story about people fulfilled in nowhere. In the historic district of downtown Kenosha, Wisconsin is a small hotel for a subculture of misfits.A brief narrative about the well managed system of the matted fringe...a story about... more
"Hundreds of geometric monuments unearthed deep in the Amazon may have been left behind by a previously unknown society, say scientists.
Archaeologists have found more than 200 earthworks shaped as perfect circles and squares, many connected by straight roads. They have dated one site to 1283AD but say others could be from as early as 200AD.
The earthen foundations were found in a region more than 150miles across, covering northern Bolivia and Brazil's Amazonas state.
The first ones were uncovered in 1999, after large areas of pristine forest was cleared for cattle grazing.
Sculpted from the clay rich soils of Amazonia, the earthworks are made up of 30ft wide and 10ft deep ditches alongside 3ft high walls. The largest ring ditches founds so far are 1,000ft in diameter.
Excavations at some sites have also revealed evidence of permanent habitation, including domestic ceramics, charcoal and grinding stone fragments.
The findings cast serious doubt on previous studies that stated the area could only support small, impermanent villages.
Instead it is likely the Amazon teemed with complex societies. These were probably wiped out by diseases brought to South America by colonists 500 years ago.
The Lost City of Z...reading that book will bring a whole new perspective on this discovery."Hundreds of geometric monuments unearthed deep in the Amazon may have been left... more
Get what you want, when you want it. That's the phrase that has dominated the entertainment industry over the past decade. New technologies have given us access to countless channels for music, television and film — and we can sample them whenever we find it convenient. But as the options multiply, are we losing our sense of a common culture?
Take "The Outing," the Seinfeld episode in which a reporter thought Jerry and George were lovers. Even if you didn't see it — not that there's anything wrong with that — you heard about it: at work, at school, in the checkout line at the grocery store. And suddenly the show about nothing, says Stanford University communications professor Clifford Nass, meant something even to people who didn't watch it.
"That's really what marks cultural touchstones," says Nass. "Things that people are aware of; that they can share; that they can make reference to — that they don't actually have to consume themselves."
More than 40 percent of American households saw the final episode of Seinfeld in the spring of 1998, according to the Nielsen ratings company. Fast-forward about 11 years: American Idol may be the most popular program on television today, but only about 16 percent of American households saw this year's finale.
As we enter the last few weeks of the 2000s, the Magazine is asking readers to tell the story of the last 10 years, based on five themes. Tim Footman, author of a book about the Noughties, recalls some of the decade's significant news stories.As we enter the last few weeks of the 2000s, the Magazine is asking readers to tell... more
Isis Thompson interviews all her past loves and asks them "What if I told you I thought I was in love with you...?"Isis Thompson interviews all her past loves and asks them "What if I told you I... more
The 'progressive' towns constantly listed as our best role models also lack racial diversity, finds Aaron Renn. Why has no one called them on it?
Among the media and academia and within planning circles, there's a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and midsize cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis and Denver.
In particular, Portland is held up as a paradigm, with its urban growth boundary, extensive transit system, excellent cycling culture and a pro-density policy. These cities are frequently contrasted with those of the Rust Belt and South, which are found wanting, often even by locals, as "cool" urban places.
But look closely at these exemplars, and a curious fact emerges. If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – places no one expects the average U.S. city to be able to imitate – you will find that the "progressive" cities aren't red or blue, but another color entirely: white.
In fact, not one of these "progressive" cities even reaches the national average for percentage of African-Americans in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group.
The progressive paragon of Portland is the whitest on the list, with an African-American population less than half the national average. It is America's ultimate White City. The contrast with other, supposedly less advanced cities is stark.
It is not just a regional thing, either. Even look just within the state of Texas, where Austin is held up as a bastion of right thinking urbanism next to sprawlvilles like Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
While Austin is far more diverse than a place like Portland, it is still much whiter than other major Texas cities, comparable only to Fort Worth. And while its African-American population lags the national average, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston both exceed it.
This raises troubling questions about these cities.
In a car park not so far away ... It is a big brother experiment like no other, an experiment which will boldly go where few have gone - or probably wanted to go - before.
Six apparently fearless volunteers are to take part in a unique test by being locked up in what amounts to a series of small steel tins off a parking lot in Moscow for 105 days as scientists simulate a space rocket ride to Mars.
On Tuesday the team will step into a chain of cramped metal capsules, connected by cables and corrugated metal pipes, in a hangar at the back of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) in the Russian capital, swing close the hatch and "blast off".
The idea is for the 550 cubic-metre "ground exploration complex" (GEC) to recreate as closely as possible the atmosphere of a spacecraft racing through the solar system, bombarded by cosmic radiation. Any return flight to Mars - at least 34 million miles from our planet - would take between 18 months and three years, including landing and exploration.
The volunteers - four Russians, a French airline pilot and a German army engineer - will be kept under constant camera surveillance to record the physical and psychological impact of their time in the isolation chamber.
They will eat packaged rations, wash with damp tissues and spend several hours each day conducting experiments, just as astronauts would on a real space flight. They will use the same toilet as crew on the international space station, which has fans to propel waste into a "sanitary receptacle". They will eat together, work out in a tiny gym - and may even get in to the odd punch-up.
Mark Belokovksy of the IMBP admitted the psychological pressure of living in close quarters with five other human beings could crack even the toughest guinea pigs.
"Tension is inevitable," he said candidly. The fact the 105-day "flight" will be a single-sex trip on this occasion may be a blessing. During a similar experiment in 1999 the participants were given vodka to celebrate New Year's Eve: two members then got in a fist fight after one tried to kiss a female volunteer from Canada.
The capsules have no windows and the explorers' only contact with the outside world will be via an internal email system and a delayed radio link to the "control centre" positioned alongside the GEC.
Each member of the team has a narrow bed and only three cubic metres of personal space. They can take one bag with books and DVDs with them, but will have no access to television or the internet.
"Just like cosmonauts we will have eight hours sleep, eight hours work and eight hours for personal matters - intake of food, physical exercise and free time," said Sergei Ryazansky, 34, a space research expert, who will lead the crew.
Crew members are expected to deal with all but the severest medical emergencies themselves - one of the Russian volunteers is a doctor - although each maintains the right to quit the project at any moment without giving a reason.
While the virtual journey cannot recreate weightlessness - without going into space that is only possible for brief periods in an aircraft - separate tests may be used to simulate the long-term effects of zero gravity. Head-down bed-rest tests, where a volunteer stays for weeks or months in a bed that slopes by six to eight degrees towards the head, recreate the redistribution of blood in the body without gravity.
Other experiments will monitor microbiological contamination using an "electronic nose" and examine the effect of long periods of restricted activity on the bones of the crew members.
Since the Apollo flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s there have been no manned flights beyond Earth's orbit. While a flight to Mars is thought to be 20 to 30 years away, Belokovsky said conducting such experiments brought the date ever closer. "The knowledge gleaned from the experiment will be invaluable in planning for such a trip," he said.
Volunteers on the 105-day stint will receive a payment of €15,000 (£14,000), but Belokovksy said money was not the main motivating factor. "They are driven by the chance to take part in an experiment of international significance," he said.In a car park not so far away ... It is a big brother experiment like no other, an... more
Although often seen as an inconsequential feature of digital technologies, one's self-representation, or avatar, in a virtual environment can affect the user's thoughts, according to research by a University of Texas at Austin communication professor.
In the first study to use avatars to prime negative responses in a desktop virtual setting, Jorge Peña, assistant professor in the College of Communication, demonstrated that the subtext of an avatar's appearance can simultaneously prime negative (or anti-social) thoughts and inhibit positive (or pro-social) thoughts inconsistent with the avatar's appearance. All of this while study participants remained unaware they had been primed. The study, co-written with Cornell University Professor Jeffrey T. Hancock and University of Texas at Austin graduate student Nicholas A. Merola, appears in the December 2009 issue of Communication Research.
In two separate experiments, research participants were randomly assigned a dark- or white-cloaked avatar, or to avatars wearing physician or Ku Klux Klan-like uniforms or a transparent avatar. The participants were assigned tasks including writing a story about a picture, or playing a video game on a virtual team and then coming to consensus on how to deal with infractions.
Consistently, participants represented by an avatar in a dark cloak or a KKK-like uniform demonstrated negative or anti-social behavior in team situations and in individual writing assignments.
Previous studies have demonstrated these uniform types to have negative effects on people's behaviors in face-to-face interactions. For example, Cornell researchers Mark Frank and Tom Gilovich showed that dark uniforms influence professional sports teams to play more aggressively on the playing field and in the laboratory. Peña's research demonstrates how these effects operate in desktop-based video games, and sheds light on the automatic cognitive processes that explain this effect.
"When you step into a virtual environment, you can potentially become 'Mario' or whatever other character you are portraying," said Peña, who studies how humans think, behave and feel online. "Oftentimes, the connotations of our own virtual character will subtly remind us of common stereotypes, such as 'bad guys wear black or dress up in hooded robes.' This association may surreptitiously steer users to think and behave more antisocially, but also inhibit more pro-social thoughts and responses in a virtual environment."
According to Peña, these findings can be particularly useful to video game and combat simulation developers.
"By manipulating the appearance of the avatar, you can augment the probability of people thinking and behaving in predictable ways without raising suspicion," said Peña. "Thus, you can automatically make a virtual encounter more competitive or cooperative by simply changing the connotations of one's avatar."
Cootchie-coo behavior used to be reserved for private moments in the home. But now, with the Internet’s help, people feel free to wallow in cuteness en masse, in the company of strangers. The serious political blog Daily Kos, for instance, is awash in cute pictures of kittens and panda bears. The Web site Cute Overload, which gets 100,000 visits a day, is all photographs and videos of puppies (“puppehs” in the site’s own particular argot), kittens (“kittehs”), and baby rabbits (“bun-buns”), who are said to go nom-nom-nom as they munch their little meals.
“It’s part of our DNA to react to cute things,” says Meg Frost, who founded Cute Overload in 2005. “What makes me post certain pictures is if I have an audible reaction—a squeal—when I see the picture. I’m kind of annoyed at myself for having no control over thinking these things are so cute. It’s like ‘Oh, why don’t you just kill us with your fur?’”
The popularity of Cute Overload (and the more than 150 other cute-animal sites catalogued by the recommendation engine StumbleUpon, including Stuff on My Cat, Cute Things Falling Asleep, Kittenwar, and I Can Has Cheezburger) reflects a growing self-infantilization that is also in evidence at the social-networking site Facebook, where countless subscribers have posted photos of themselves as babies on their profile.Cootchie-coo behavior used to be reserved for private moments in the home. But now,... more
dance, dance, wherever you may be
for I am the lord of the dance
said hehttp://www.wherethehellismatt.com/
I LIKE MATT-THE CULT OF DANCE
dance, dance,... more
Serial murderers are distorted reflections of society's own values, according to new research. Traditionally the behavior of serial killers has been viewed through a psychological framework, blaming customary factors like bad parenting, maladjusted brain chemistry or past abuse. But Kevin Haggerty, a University of Alberta sociologist and criminologist, argues that society -- not psychology -- is responsible.
(Clark, J., 2009, October 26, par.1-2)Serial murderers are distorted reflections of society's own values, according to... more
Anyone who read Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s bestselling Freakonomics and came away still wondering what the hell freakonomics was supposed to be, will gain some reassurance from its sequel. As the authors admit in their introduction, they didn’t know either. The title was dreamed up in a moment of desperation – their publishers hated it – and all they were really saying, they insist, was that people respond to incentives.
The fun part, though, came from the way in which they applied economic theory to areas where you’d never expect to find it – sumo wrestling, crack-dealing and so on. Essentially, Superfreakonomics consists of more of the same. This might get wearying were it not for the fact that Levitt and Dubner’s zeal for statistical anomalies is as undimmed as their eye for a good story.Anyone who read Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s bestselling Freakonomics and... more
Us women are more egocentric and narcissistic than we ever used to be, according to extensive research by two leading psychologists.
More of us have huge expectations of ourselves, our lives and everyone in them. We think the universe resolves around us, with a deluded sense of our own fabulousness, and believe we are cleverer, more talented and more attractive than we actually are.
We have trouble accepting criticism and extending empathy because we are so preoccupied with ourselves.
Actresses Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis on location for the new movie 'Sex and the City 2'
Got it all: Actresses Kim Cattrall (left to right), Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis on location for the new movie 'Sex and the City 2'
Am I making you angry by telling you this? It figures. Narcissistic or egotistical women do have an overwhelming sense of entitlement and arrogance.
Of course, I joke, but researchers say there is growing evidence of an epidemic of ego-itis everywhere.
Once a traditionally male syndrome, narcissism generally begins at home and in schools, where children are praised excessively, often spoiled rotten and given the relentless message that they are 'special'.
Psychology professors Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell analysed studies on 37,000 college students in 2006.
In a survey, 30 per cent of them said they believed they should get good grades simply for turning up.
And it's not just about how intelligent they think they are. In the workplace, in friendships, even in motherhood, the pervading culture seems to have become one of competitiveness, superiority and one-upmanship.
But the sphere in which the signs of self-obsession are perhaps most obvious, and the consequences most immediately felt, is the dating one.
In a recent magazine article, four women in their late 20s and 30s shared their thoughts about why they were still single. A 39-year-old beauty director claimed to be too independent for a relationship.
A 38-year-old music agent attributed her single status to the fact she was an alpha female - independent, feisty, strong-minded, high-achieving and intimidating.
Graphic of a woman looking at her reflection in a heart-shaped pond
She pointed out that she owned a gorgeous flat with gorgeous things in it, had a nice car, was a member of a fancy gym and wore designer dresses. 'I do what I like, when I like,' she said.
She'd been told, and appears to believe, that she's too successful and too well-educated for most men.
The third woman, a 30-year- old arts writer and curator, has been having too much fun to settle down.
Another, a 29-year-old, said she was too picky. She was looking for a guy who is (just) tall enough. And (just about) good-looking enough (but not too good-looking so that she'd play second fiddle).
He needs to be successful, solvent and driven. He must also be long on genuinely good jokes, with a decent sideline in bad ones that only she finds funny.
He needs to 'speak good restaurant', to have no special dietary requirements and to always be discerning without ever being fussy.
A businesswoman sits on a chair with a sheet of paper in her hand
He needs to be clever without ever making her feel stupid. He needs to 'get' but not 'know' fashion...and so the list went on.
She concluded that she would rather eat wasps than share her Sunday with anyone who fails to measure up to her idea of Mr Perfect.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with having high expectations. But being delusional and having a totally unrealistic blueprint are an altogether different matter.
And they often go hand in hand with acute ego-itis. AUs women are more egocentric and narcissistic than we ever used to be, according to... more
On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. Implementing the measure will “cost $281,285 the first year and $256,285 each subsequent year.” Here are the first eight questions that women will have to reveal:
1. Date of abortion
2. County in which abortion performed
3. Age of mother
4. Marital status of mother
(married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
5. Race of mother
6. Years of education of mother
(specify highest year completed)
7. State or foreign country of residence of mother
8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
Live Births
Miscarriages
Induced Abortions
Although the questionnaire does not ask for name, address, or “any information specifically identifying the patient,” as Feminists for Choice points out, these eight questions could easily be used to identify a woman in a small community. “They’re really just trying to frighten women out of having abortions,” Keri Parks, director of external affairs at Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma, said. The Center for Reproductive Rights is challenging the law, arguing that “it violates the Oklahoma Constitution because it ‘covers more than one subject’ — a challenge that previously worked to strike down an abortion ultrasound law.On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details... more
Buskers è il Racconto del mondo di alcuni musicisti che scelgono la strada come palco, chi per necessità economica in attesa di un lavoro “normale”, chi per vera scelta di vita professionale. Allo stesso tempo, racconta anche la percezione che i nostri personaggi suscitano nei passanti, analizzandone le dinamiche socio-antropologiche grazie alle parole di un sociologo-musicologo (Federico del Sordo, Università La Sapienza e Accademia Santa Cecilia) tratte da un testo da lui pubblicato.
I personaggi e loro storie:
- C’è il sassofonista tedesco di mezza età, un pò cialtrone ma dai modi aristocratici, innamorato dell’Italia, che nella vita vorrebbe fare il pittore ma per mangiare vende cravatte da collezione e suona il sax per strada.
- Una coppia di chitarristi, un binomio dove l’uno è l’opposto dell’altro: un messicano passionale dalla tecnica musicale spontanea (è autodidatta) ed un siciliano timido, razionale e dalla grande accuratezza stilistica, un virtuoso.
- Il popolo dei musicisti romeni specializzati nella professione da secoli, costretti a venire a suonare in Italia perchè ormai la Romania si è piegata all’influenza occidentale “pop”.
- Ad esempio Florin, che dice di venire a Roma per “cambiare il ritmo”.
- Il mondo sotterraneo della metro – nei tunnel - ci offre altri 2 chitarristi, un berbero e un algerino che suonano con un misto di gioia e malinconia, felici di poter rallegrare ed alleggerire il percorso dei passeggeri.
I luoghi e il suono d’ambiente della strada :
Il centro storico Romano ma anche la lieve decadenza della Metro, la luce e l’ombra, il silenzio di un vicolo dove s’insinua il suono di un violino, l’acqua della fontana di Piazza Navona sotto ad una chitarra classica o anche il caos di un tunnel della Metro e l’interno di un vagone all’ora di punta
La qualità musicale e la grande diversità:
Jazz, Latina, Classica, Rom tradizionale, Blues, insieme ai repertori “commerciali” di alcuni Rom che si adattano ai gusti del pubblico più popolare.
La non interferenza autoriale:
Abbiamo cercato di far scorrere il racconto facendolo portare avanti dalle parole dei protagonisti, come a non voler dare interpretazioni ma lasciandole allo spettatore, cercando di far arrivare storie e musica con meno filtri possibili.
Il tutto lasciando che ogni spettatore instauri un proprio rapporto col musicista perchè ognuno ha i propri gusti musicali...
Buona visione!Buskers è il Racconto del mondo di alcuni musicisti che scelgono la strada come... more
Think Twitter is a complete crock? A nusance to true human connection? Here's a good Popmatters article about the up and downside of Twitter and the impact of social media on the "personal brand":
"Twitter is less about disseminating information than it is about subjects trying to make themselves feel more real..."Think Twitter is a complete crock? A nusance to true human connection? Here's a... more
