Archive for May, 2011
World’s Largest Cicada Brood Begins Hatching In U.S. South
If the world is going to end this coming weekend, this seems about right. USA Today notes:
Here comes the Brood. An enormous brood of cicadas that covers parts of 16 states is beginning to wake from its 13-year slumber underground.
The inch-long insects have been reported hatching in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Arkansas. They will appear farther north as soil temperatures reach 64 degrees.
“There are billions of them in the trees,” Greta Beekhuis says, speaking by phone from Pittsboro, N.C. The sound of the cicadas is clearly audible over the line. “When I drove from my house to the grocery store, I ran over thousands of them. They’re everywhere. The air is just thick with them.”
Scientists call these cicadas the Great Southern Brood or Brood XIX. It is the world’s largest “periodical” brood, one that surfaces after years.
Cicadas aren’t dangerous, and are non-toxic and even edible, says Kritsky, a…
Netflix Sucks Up 30% Of Internet Bandwidth
Is your Internet connection slow? Blame Netflix! Sandvine reports in its “Global Internet Phenomena Report: Spring 2011“:
- In North America, Netflix is now 29.7% of peak downstream traffic and has become the largest source of Internet traffic overall. Currently, Real-Time Entertainment applications consume 49.2% of peak aggregate traffic, up from 29.5% in 2009 – a 60% increase. Sandvine forecasts that the Real-Time Entertainment category will represent 55-60% of peak aggregate traffic by the end of 2011.
- In Latin America, Social Networking (overwhelmingly Facebook) is a bigger source of traffic than YouTube, representing almost 14% of network traffic. Real-Time Entertainment represents 27.5% of peak aggregate traffic, still the largest contributor of traffic in that region.
- In Europe, Real-Time Entertainment continues a steady climb, rising to 33.2% of peak aggregate traffic, up from 31.9% last fall. BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol, is the largest single component of both upstream (59.7%) and downstream (21.6%) Internet…
U.S. Government: ‘Hack Us And We’ll Bomb You’
I’m not sure that they’ll really bomb China, which seems to be where most hacks on American corporations and government originate, but it could be a good excuse for another Middle East intervention. Nate Anderson reports for ArsTechnica:
The US revealed its “International Strategy for Cyberspace” (PDF) yesterday. It’s mostly blather about how terrific “cyberspace” is, but it gets more specific on a few key issues like national defense. Could our next war start because of a hack? The government says it’s possible.
“States have an inherent right to self-defense that may be triggered by certain aggressive acts in cyberspace,” says the policy. Indeed, such aggressive acts might compel a country like the US to act even when the hacking is targeted at an allied country.
“Certain hostile acts conducted through cyberspace could compel actions under the commitments we have with our military treaty partners,” says the document. “When warranted, the United States…
Astronomers Begin Search For Alien Signals From 86 Earth-Like Planets
Via Space.com:
A new survey is under way to search for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life, but this one has a twist: Instead of listening for alien signals from anywhere in the sky, scientists are aiming radio telescopes at the alien planets most likely to be like our own Earth.
The new search, which began last week, is scanning 86 alien worlds for radio signals that could suggest the presence of an advanced civilization. The extrasolar planets are thought to be the most Earth-like of the 1,235 candidate planets discovered so far by NASA’s prolific Kepler space observatory.
“We’ve picked out the planets with nice temperatures — between zero and 100 degrees Celsius [32 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit] — because they are a lot more likely to harbor life,” said physicist Dan Werthimer of the University of California, Berkeley, in a statement.
This new SETI search is not part of the SETI Institute, which has long…
‘Berlin Patient’ May Be First Man Cured Of AIDS
From CBS via Radio Television Caraibes reports:
A 45-year-old man now living in the Bay Area may be the first person ever cured of the deadly disease AIDS, the result of the discovery of an apparent HIV immunity gene.
Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV back in 1995, but has now entered scientific journals as the first man in world history to have that HIV virus completely eliminated from his body in what doctors call a “functional cure.”
Brown was living in Berlin, Germany back in 2007, dealing with HIV and leukemia, when scientists there gave him a bone marrow stem cell transplant that had astounding results.
“I quit taking my HIV medication the day that I got the transplant and haven’t had to take any since,” said Brown, who has been dubbed “The Berlin Patient” by the medical community.
Brown’s amazing progress continues to be monitored by doctors at San Francisco General Hospital and at the University of California at…
Unabomber’s Disturbing Personal Items Up For Sale
Beginning tomorrow, the U.S. Marshals will auction off “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski’s personal effects. Among the items are his vintage Corona typewriter, his manifesto, handwritten codes, his book collection, and chic pieces of his personal style, including the his famed hoodie, aviator sunglasses, and running shoes. All in all, there’s an American Apparel aesthetic to the clothing and accessories which seems ahead of its time.
View the creepily fascinating Flickr set and bid here.
Disney World’s Army Of Intern Burger-Flippers
At the world’s most beloved theme park, thousands of interns serve the fast food, operate the rides, and mop up children’s vomit in what is billed as an “educational experience.” Is this the economic model of the future? Via Guernica:
Like other employers, Disney has mastered how to rebrand ordinary jobs as exciting opportunities. “We’re not there to flip burgers or to give people food,” a fast food intern told the Associated Press. “We’re there to create magic.” Yet training and education are afterthoughts: the kids are brought in to work. Having traveled thousands of miles and barely breaking even financially, they find themselves cleaning hotel rooms, performing custodial work, and parking cars in the guise of an academic exercise.
Like many a corporate titan, Disney likes to give the impression it’s in the education business. Disney University, born in 1955 as the company’s training division, predated McDonald’s Hamburger University, Motorola University, and…
Sex On The Brain: Orgasms Unlock Altered Consciousness
Kayt Sukel writes in New Scientist:
With a click and a whirr, I am pulled into the scanner. My head is strapped down and I have been draped with a blanket so that I may touch my nether regions — my clitoris in particular — with a certain degree of modesty. I am here neither for a medical procedure nor an adult movie. Rather, I am about to stimulate myself to orgasm while an fMRI scanner tracks the blood flow in my brain.
My actions are helping Barry Komisaruk at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, and colleagues to tease apart the mechanisms underlying sexual arousal. In doing so, not only have they discovered that there is more than one route to orgasm, but they may also have revealed a novel type of consciousness — an understanding of which could lead to new treatments for pain.
Over 570 Australians Arrested In Police Crackdown On “Booze-Fueled Violence and Anti-Social Behavior”
Marissa Calligeros writes for Brisbane Times:
More than 570 people, including seven juveniles, were arrested in Queensland as part of a two-day police blitz targeting booze-fuelled violence and anti-social behaviour.
Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett said more than 1000 uniformed and plain-clothed police officers flooded potential trouble spots across the state, including bars, from 6pm on Friday.
Over the two nights, 574 people were charged, including seven juveniles who were apprehended over a combined total of 28 charges.
‘‘We’re disappointed that this level of police enforcement is necessary to ensure community standards of behaviour are being met,’’ Mr Barnett said.
Officers were forced to move 322 people to safety during a sweep of nightclub precincts, and issued 154 move-on directions.
‘‘We will continue to enforce the law to ensure that all members of the community can enjoy a night out in public places without their evening being ruined by a selfish few who have no regard for…
Supreme Court Sides With Police Who, Lacking Warrant, Followed Smell of Pot into Apartment
In situations like this, I often ask: “What Would Arnold Do?” Well, from Predator he claimed: “It’s all bullshit! All of it!” … So I think the police and the Supreme Court are off base on this (and there is no reason why Carl Weathers has to lose an arm). From the AP via WashPo:
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against a Kentucky man who was arrested after police burst into his apartment without a search warrant because they smelled marijuana and feared he was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.
Voting 8-1, the justices reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King’s apartment.
The court said there was no violation of King’s constitutional rights because the police acted reasonably. Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.
Officers knocked on King’s door in Lexington and thought they heard noises that indicated whoever was inside…
Rejection Feels Like Spilling Hot Coffee on Your Arm…
Accurate? Jen Doll writes in the Village Voice:
Rejection hurts. Before you groan and sign and say “I know, I know, let me tell you about the time you-know-who did you-know-what to me,” let us clarify. Rejection actually physically hurts. Like dropping something on your toe or getting lemon juice in a papercut hurts. This is true, according to science, and according to the New York Times, which reports on how badly rejection hurts, and how science knows this.
According to a recent study, areas of the brain that indicate physical pain area activated “at moments of intense social loss.” In terms of the actual study, 40 volunteers (who all felt “intensely rejected” due to a recent breakup), were hooked up to MRI scanners to measure their brain activity while they looked at photos of former boyfriends/girlfriends and thought about exactly how they’d been rejected. (Man, science is mean.) Then they were…
Man Jailed for Tortilla Dough That North Carolina Police Mistook for Cocaine
Joel Burgess writes in Asheville Citizen Times:
Antonio Hernandez Carranza took a wrong turn, and it turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes he’s ever made.
The Carson, Calif., man had driven more than 2,000 miles — three days straight — to see his sister in Johnson City, Tenn.
But instead of reaching the home of his sister, whom he hadn’t seen in nearly a decade, the 45-year-old carpet cleaner found himself in the Buncombe County jail under a $300,000 bond on charges of driving while intoxicated, failing to heed police lights and sirens and possession of 91 pounds of cocaine.
He was released four days later after sheriff’s deputies realized Hernandez, who said he doesn’t drink at all, wasn’t intoxicated and that what was in the back of his truck was exactly what he had said — $400 worth of cheese, shrimp and tortilla and tamale dough meant as a gift…
FCC Commissioner, Meredith Attwell Baker, Who Approved Comcast-NBC Universal Merger, Leaving to Join Comcast
Edward Wyatt writes in the NY Times Media Decoder:
Four months after the Federal Communications Commission approved a hotly contested merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, one of the commissioners who voted for the deal said on Wednesday that she would soon join Comcast’s Washington lobbying office.
Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Commerce Department official who worked on telecommunications issues in George W. Bush’s administration, announced that she would leave the F.C.C. when her term expires at the end of June. At Comcast, she will serve as senior vice president for government affairs for NBC Universal, which Comcast acquired in January.
The announcement drew immediate criticism from some groups that had opposed the Comcast-NBC merger. They said the move was indicative of an ethically questionable revolving door between regulatory agencies and the companies they oversee.
Japanese Kissing Machine
Never been kissed? Now there’s a robot for that. It’s from Japan, obviously, and watching its graduate student creator perform a demonstration is even more awkward than one would have imagined.
Ellen Page On The Vanishing Of The Bees
The documentary film Vanishing of the Bees, narrated by Ellen Page, takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee. Directors George Langworthy and Maryam Henein present not just a story about the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, but a platform of solutions, encouraging audiences to be the change they want to see in the world. In the video below, Ellen talks about the film:
Was Osama Bin Laden A US Prisoner Before Being Killed?
The Times Of India reports:
Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was a prisoner in US custody for “sometime” before he was killed by the American military, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.
“I have exact information that bin Laden was held by the American military for sometime… until the day they killed him he was a prisoner held by them,” the hardline president said in a live interview on Iranian state television.
“Please pay attention. This is important. He was held by them for sometime. They made him sick and while he was sick they killed him,” Ahmadinejad added.
He accused US President Barack Obama for announcing the al-Qaida leader’s death for “political gain.”
“What the US president has done is for domestic political gain. In other words, they killed him for Mr Obama’s election and now they are seeking to replace him with someone else,” Ahmadinejad said without elaborating.
Bin Laden was shot dead on May…
Batman Arrested On Rooftop In Michigan
So often, real-life superhero-ing goes terribly, terribly awry. WDIV Detroit reports on a bizarre arrest — the photo below is the actual suspect in question:
A 31-year-old man dressed as the comic book character was arrested Wednesday in Petoskey after he was seen hanging from the wall of a downtown business on East Mitchell Street. The Petoskey Department of Public Safety said officers pulled the man back onto the roof and found a baton type striking weapon, a can of chemical irritant spray, and a pair of lead lined gloves.
The suspect, a Harbor Springs resident, was arrested for trespassing and possession of dangerous weapons. He is being kept in the Emmet County Jail.
What Google and Facebook Are Hiding
Eli Pariser of the progressive organization MoveOn says the Internet is hiding things from us, and we don’t even know it. In this TED Talk he calls out Facebook, Google and other corporations who are transforming the Internet to suit their corporate interests:
Donald Trump: ‘I Won’t Run For President’
Photo: Gage Skidmore (CC)
To no one’s great surprise, Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy turns out to be about as real as his hair, but he kept the prospect of it going long enough to get his TV series renewed. Via USA Today:
Donald Trump says he is not running for president next year, ending weeks of speculation in which he dominated headlines about the 2012 race for the GOP nomination.
The real estate mogul and reality TV star says: “I am not ready to leave the private sector.”
His decision comes the day after NBC announced it would continue Trump’s show, The Celebrity Apprentice, with or without the real estate mogul as its host. The show will resume in January.
Trump said in a statement that he was confident he could beat the Republican field and, eventually, President Obama. He also vowed to continue to speak out on key issues such as the nation’s debt…
