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An Inconvenient Bag
The green giveaway of the moment - the reusable shopping bag - is a case study in how tricky it is to make products environmentally friendly.
It's manufactured in China, shipped thousands of miles overseas, made with plastic and could take years to decompose. It's also the hot "green" giveaway of the moment: the reusable shopping bag.
Ouch! The green giveaway of the moment - the reusable shopping bag - is a case study in how tricky it is to make products environmentally fr... more -
Wedding Video - First CA Lesbian Wedding
On June 16, 2008, lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in the first same-sex marriage ceremony since the California Supreme Court ruled in May that it was unconstitutional for the state to deny the right to marry to gay or lesbian couples. The Court-issued equality ruling went into effect at 5pm on June 16th. And moments later, Del and Phyllis were married.
Sadly, Del Martin, 87, passed away in August, just six weeks after her wedding. She and Phyllis had shared 55 years together and are widely acknowledged as two of the founders of the lesbian and gay civil rights movement.
Today GroundSpark is honored to release this exclusive footage of Phyllis and Del’s historic wedding ceremony, which was officiated by Mayor Gavin Newsom in his office at San Francisco City Hall.
We do so in tribute to Del Martin, a true civil rights pioneer for her entire life, and in support of the efforts across the United States to guarantee the right to marry for all U.S. citizens, regardless of sexual orientation.
GroundSpark’s executive director, Debra Chasnoff, visited Del and Phyllis this summer and asked them if they wanted to share this wedding video with the world. They talked about the upcoming ballot initiative to amend the California constitution to eliminate this new right to marry for same-sex couples and about similar ballot measures in Arizona and Florida. “If it will help,” Del said in a whisper, “then let’s do it.”
Enjoy. On June 16, 2008, lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in the first same-sex marriage ceremony since the C... more -
Wedding Video - First CA Lesbian Wedding
On June 16, 2008, lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in the first same-sex marriage ceremony since the California Supreme Court ruled in May that it was unconstitutional for the state to deny the right to marry to gay or lesbian couples. The Court-issued equality ruling went into effect at 5pm on June 16th. And moments later, Del and Phyllis were married.
Sadly, Del Martin, 87, passed away in August, just six weeks after her wedding. She and Phyllis had shared 55 years together and are widely acknowledged as two of the founders of the lesbian and gay civil rights movement.
Today GroundSpark is honored to release this exclusive footage of Phyllis and Del’s historic wedding ceremony, which was officiated by Mayor Gavin Newsom in his office at San Francisco City Hall.
We do so in tribute to Del Martin, a true civil rights pioneer for her entire life, and in support of the efforts across the United States to guarantee the right to marry for all U.S. citizens, regardless of sexual orientation.
GroundSpark’s executive director, Debra Chasnoff, visited Del and Phyllis this summer and asked them if they wanted to share this wedding video with the world. They talked about the upcoming ballot initiative to amend the California constitution to eliminate this new right to marry for same-sex couples and about similar ballot measures in Arizona and Florida. “If it will help,” Del said in a whisper, “then let’s do it.”
Enjoy. On June 16, 2008, lesbian rights pioneers Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in the first same-sex marriage ceremony since the C... more -
Herd mentality rules in financial crisis
Herd mentality rules during a financial crisis because people are wired to follow the crowd when times are uncertain, experts say.
Brain and behavior studies clearly show that when information is scarce and threats seem imminent, people often stop listening to their own logic and look to see what others are doing.
"People are afraid, and the reason they are afraid is there tremendous uncertainty right now in the markets," Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University in Atlanta who studies the biology of economic behavior, said in a telephone interview...
Read the Rest at link...
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This goes way deeper than the financial crisis. Herd mentality rules during a financial crisis because people are wired to follow the crowd when times are uncertain, experts say. ... more -
indexed: Busy, busy, busy.
Thought that I'd share this site with you -- a blog wherein the blogger's opinion/issue of the day is depicted, not in an essay, but in a graph of her own making. It's like a short course in thinking about graphics the way scientists and statisticians do. But, hers depict ordinary ideas or comments or issues or debates. She has a lovely mind and expresses herself in a delightful way. Thought you'd like to know....
BTW, check out her past stuff so that you can see the range of her illustrations.... Thought that I'd share this site with you -- a blog wherein the blogger's opinion/issue of the day is depicted, not in an es... more -
Look out! 'Beer goggles' are real
Strangers really do look sexier when you drink booze, science confirms
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Fire retardant chemical found in children
A fire retardant chemical used in electronics, toys, and furniture has been detected in children’s blood at triple the levels found in their mothers, the Environmental Working Group reported last week.
In a small pilot study of 20 families, the non-profit environmental group tested blood samples from mothers and their young children—ages 18 months to four years—for the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a hormone-disrupting chemical.
In 19 of the 20 families, concentrations of PBDEs were typically three times as high in children as in their mothers, said Sonya Lunder, the study’s author. One child had six times the level of the chemical that was detected in her mother.
“To us, this raises concerns that kids live very differently in the same environment than their parents do and those kid-like behaviors put them at risk for contaminant exposure,” Lunder said in a telephone interview.
Lunder said young children are exposed to more of these substances because they play by putting their hands and other household items in their mouths after touching furniture or appliances that contain PBDEs. They also eat more and drink more, proportionally, than their mothers do, and food and drink can contain these chemicals, she said.
PBDEs build up in the blood and tissues. Two forms of PBDEs are no longer made in the United States but are still present in items in U.S. homes, the study said.
The largest volume of PBDEs is in electronics in a form called Deca, which is banned in European electronics and in some U.S. states, according to the study.
The study cited peer-reviewed tests that showed a single dose of PBDEs given to mice on a single day when their brains were growing rapidly could cause permanent behavior changes, including hyperactivity.
Lunder said there have been numerous studies of the toxic effects of fire retardants on adults, but few on how these substances affect children.
A spokesman for the Bromine Science and Environment Forum, a trade group, took issue with the environment group’s study, saying that even the highest levels of PBDEs detected were relatively low, and that Deca was barely found in the children.
“Flame retardants save actual human lives, and no illness, ailment or harm to any human anywhere has ever been reported as a result of exposure to Deca, even among those who work producing the material,” the spokesman, John Kyte, said in an e-mail.
Kyte said the flame-retardant manufacturers group supported monitoring and analysis of “potential concerns” raised by the environmental group’s study.
Lunder said young children are exposed to more of these substances because they play by putting their hands and other household items in their mouths after touching furniture or appliances that contain PBDEs. They also eat more and drink more, proportionally, than their mothers do, and food and drink can contain these chemicals, she said.
PBDEs build up in the blood and tissues. Two forms of PBDEs are no longer made in the United States but are still present in items in U.S. homes, the study said.
The largest volume of PBDEs is in electronics in a form called Deca, which is banned in European electronics and in some U.S. states, according to the study.
The study cited peer-reviewed tests that showed a single dose of PBDEs given to mice on a single day when their brains were growing rapidly could cause permanent behavior changes, including hyperactivity.
Lunder said there have been numerous studies of the toxic effects of fire retardants on adults, but few on how these substances affect children. A fire retardant chemical used in electronics, toys, and furniture has been detected in children’s blood at triple the levels found in... more -
Wide-faced men more aggressive
Men with big mugs are more aggressive, a new study of hockey players suggests.
Men in general have wider faces than women do, a difference in the sexes that emerges at puberty as testosterone levels rise. At the same time, testosterone is tied with aggression, leading researchers to search for a link between aggression and wide faces.
Canadian scientists investigated photos of pro and varsity hockey players, measuring how wide and long their faces were. They found the wider that faces looked, the more aggressive players were, as measured by the number of penalty minutes they accrued, which are handed out for aggressive behavior.
"One great thing about hockey is that you're able to display aggressive behavior in an acceptable manner. You don't have to go to prison or whatnot for striking someone with an elbow. It makes a good setting to look at aggression," said researcher Justin Carré, a behavioral neuroscientist at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada. Carré also used to play NCAA-level hockey, and is an assistant coach for Brock's hockey team.
In addition, the researchers tested 88 college students for aggression with a computer game where they were told they were matched against an opponent of the same sex, who in reality was just the computer. In the game, they could push one button to accumulate points, another button to protect their points from getting stolen, and a final button to aggressively steal points from an opponent they were told was stealing points from them.
The scientists discovered that face width was linked with aggression in men but not women. Men with big mugs are more aggressive, a new study of hockey players suggests. ... more -
'Gossip helps to glue society together' says study
Lots of gossip is good for society and helps people to trust each other and to be more charitable, according to a study published this week, reports the Telegraph.
Work by game theorists has shown that reputation is the reason that (unlike so many other creatures) humans help strangers and unrelated people.
Reputation is important for the evolution of human cooperation, through a process called "indirect reciprocity", summed up by 'I help you and somebody else helps me'.
A team of researchers in the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany wanted to find out how much gossip can be relied on as a good guide to reputation and how much it can be abused to destroy a reputation.
They found, in experimental games in which students could write comments about other people (a form of gossip) that the ability to tarnish others is diminished, the more gossip there is.
The games involved giving money to other players to test how players trusted each other to cooperate. Scientists then studied the effects of gossip on the reputation of potential receivers and the resulting donations.
People cooperated more often with cooperators than with defectors; people wrote more positive gossip about cooperators than about defectors; and people cooperated more with people about whom they read positive gossip than with people about whom they read negative gossip.
So positivity breeds positivity! That's nice to know. But does good gossip breed good gossip in your workplace or social group? Is gossip really good for us in the real world, or does it breed all kinds of problems and worries? Has gossip ever got you into trouble? Lots of gossip is good for society and helps people to trust each other and to be more charitable, according to a study published this... more -
Children are born with a natural sense of good.
Research finds that children are born with a natural disposition to empathize with others.
The study showed that empathy appeared to be "hard-wired" into the brains of normal children and was not entirely the product of nurturing or good parenting.
Further findings conclude that this was only true with boys. Girls seem to born naturally mean and like animals may not have souls !! . ha ha... ok .. the last part I made up !!!I
Anyway, I liked this info, shows that maybe we humans might not be born bad. Research finds that children are born with a natural disposition to empathize with others. ... more -
Marijuana Has Anti-Inflammatory That Won't Get You High
A compound in marijuana may be a potent anti-inflammatory agent that won't get people high, scientists say.
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Michael Shermer: Why people believe strange things
Why do people see the Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich or hear demonic lyrics in "Stairway to Heaven"? Using video and music, skeptic Michael Shermer shows how we convince ourselves to believe -- and overlook the facts. Why do people see the Virgin Mary on a cheese sandwich or hear demonic lyrics in "Stairway to Heaven"? Using video and music... more
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Study: Chimps calm each other with hugs, kisses
This puts the lie to the assertion that empathy is an exclusively human feature. Admittedly, chimpanzees are, after all, our closest relatives in our group of simians - the Great Apes - and have a staggering 98% or thereabouts identical DNA to that of humans. This puts the lie to the assertion that empathy is an exclusively human feature. Admittedly, chimpanzees are, after all, our closest r... more
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Children who grind their teeth are more likely to be withdrawn in school
Tooth grinding has an association with pre-school performance when withdrawn behavior is present, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Tuesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). Tooth grinding has an association with pre-school performance when withdrawn behavior is present, according to a research abstract tha... more
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Lead Exposure Linked to Violent Crime, Brain Changes
Exposure to lead during childhood increases the likelihood of being arrested for violent crime - and is linked to decreased volume in regions of the brain associated with judgment and problem solving, according to two new studies. Exposure to lead during childhood increases the likelihood of being arrested for violent crime - and is linked to decreased volume in ... more
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Morality Experiment: Money vs. Value
MIT Behaviorists have concluded an interesting experiment. Dan Ariely, of both the MIT Media Lab and Sloan School of Management, set up situations where people could freely cheat or steal. Some results are fantastic, others understandable.
Test 1: Place a plate of six one dollar bills on a plate in common area fridges, and also place six-packs of Soda in the fridges.
Test 2: Give a test with a cash reward. Ask the subjects to score their own tests and destroy the original.
Test 3: Give a test with a cash reward. Ask half to name 10 books they have read. Ask half to name all 10 commandments.
Read on for results. MIT Behaviorists have concluded an interesting experiment. Dan Ariely, of both the MIT Media Lab and Sloan School of Management, set u... more -
It pays to play nice, Harvard study says
According to new research nice guys do finish first.
In a study: the students played more than 8,000 games of prisoner's dilemma, using dimes to reward and punish. The normal game of prisoner's dilemma gives two players two options: cooperate or defect. If both cooperate, each ends up winning a dime. If both defect, each gets nothing. If one cooperates and the other defects, the cooperative player loses 20 cents and the defector wins 30 cents.
The research found that those who punished the most made the least money.
There you have it, BE NICE! :) According to new research nice guys do finish first. ... more -
17 unbeatable ways to create a peaceful, relaxed workday
This pragmatic collection of tips offers comprehensive solutions for reducing stress in the workplace and creating a greater sense of peace and happiness on the job.
"The first step is the realization that you are in control of your day. You can create the perfect workday, if you’re willing to start from scratch." This pragmatic collection of tips offers comprehensive solutions for reducing stress in the workplace and creating a greater sense of ... more -
Study says many studies suck
"Research shows we are far too drunk on stupid studies that tell us what research shows"
Sounds like something from The Onion, right? Wrong. It's from the always on-point Mark Morford who somehow manages to almost never disappoint.
"Maybe we have reached — or rather, far surpassed — Inane Study Saturation. Maybe the scientific method we rely on so desperately to illuminate every single microfacet of our lives has become far too much of a fanatical religion unto itself, a bloody altar of ostensibly infallible truth to which we have gladly sacrificed the nubile virgins of common sense and intuition and consciousness and spiritual intelligence. You think?" "Research shows we are far too drunk on stupid studies that tell us what research shows" ... more -
Blondes make men act stupid
HAHA! According to this study, when men talk to blonde haired women, their mental performance drops. Apparently it's because they think they are talking to someone less intelligent. Researchers call it the "bimbo delusion." Silly boys! HAHA! According to this study, when men talk to blonde haired women, their mental performance drops. Apparently it's because they... more
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