Check this link: http://www.minelinks.com/calendar_converter.html

It inter-converts amongst the major calender formats.

Hello,

Could moderators kindly open a complaints thread. I had d misfortune of being banned by the section spambot twice this week for this post:
https://www.nairaland.com/945886/nabbing-international-football-match-fixer which was also censored. The post contents had received a fair amount of exposure on ESPN and is no way controversial, racist or uncivil .

I messaged a moderator only for the post be uncensored and then re-censored when i tried to edit it. Such a complaint thread, which is available in other active sections on NL, would offer posters a fair hearing and the rapid reversal of such spambot-imposed bans and censorship.

I hope this request gains mods favor.

My kind regards.

[size=14pt]Google Cleared of Infringing on Oracle’s Java Patents[/size]

Google did not infringe on any Oracle patents when it used Java software in the Android operating system, a federal jury said on Wednesday.

The verdict, reached in Federal District Court in San Francisco, leaves Oracle with a relatively small claim of copyright infringement, making it almost certain that the judge will not demand a harsh penalty from Google.

That would be a mild end to what at one time seemed to be a major case between two of the largest companies in computer technology. Oracle, which picked up the Java software language when it bought Sun Microsystems, accused Google of violating both patent and copyright protections in developing Android, which is now the world’s most popular smartphone operating system. If Google had lost on several counts of the case, it could have been subject to severe fines or been forced to let Oracle in on future developments of Android.

“It’s a full win for us,” said Jim Prosser, a Google spokesman. “If you look at what has happened in this case so far, they didn’t have much.”

Deborah Hellinger, an Oracle spokeswoman, issued a statement saying:

“Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java. We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java’s core write-once, run-anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility.”

The case became notable for the star power of its witnesses, as both Oracle’s chief executive, Lawrence J. Ellison, and Google’s chief executive, Larry Page, took the stand. Evidence also included several embarrassing e-mails from Google executives discussing whether they needed to seek a software license for Java.

Earlier this month, the jury found that Google had violated Oracle’s copyright covered by patents RE38,104 and 6,061,520 , but only on a few lines of code, out of millions of lines in Android. Other copyright claims were, like Wednesday’s patent claims, unconvincing to the jury.

Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court in San Francisco, who is presiding in the case, has shown himself to be something of an amateur programmer. He has been somewhat dismissive of the sophistication needed to create the Android code that the jury earlier found had been stolen, another indication that he was unlikely to pass harsh judgment on Google.

While Oracle may appeal the verdict, there is still another wrinkle in the trial. The judge must still rule on whether or not application programming interfaces, or A.P.I.’s, can be copyrighted. A.P.I.’s are the specifications between different software components that enable them to communicate with each other. If he rules that they cannot be copyrighted, damages will be relatively modest. If he finds that they are, the case will be again presented to a jury.

Link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/google-cleared-of-java-patent-violation/

A cool Collection of drone vehicles. If Nigeria's security services were serious, a few of these with infra red visions could turn the battle against bokoharam terrorists.

More Pics HERE


In this March, 28, 2012, photo, an Arcti Copter 5 drone flies over a waterfront park in Berkeley, Calif. Interest in the domestic use of drones is surging among public agencies and private citizens alike, including a thriving subculture of amateur hobbyists, even as the prospect of countless tiny but powerful eyes circling in the skies raises serious privacy concerns. (Eric Risberg)


A quadrocopter drone equipped with a camera stands on display at the Zeiss stand on the first day of the CeBIT 2012 technology trade fair on March 6, 2012 in Hanover, Germany. CeBIT 2012, the world's largest information technology trade fair, will run from March 6-10, and advances in cloud computing and security are major features this year. Getty


This Sept. 2011 photo provided by Vanguard Defense Industries, shows a ShadowHawk drone with Montgomery County, Texas, SWAT team members. Civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have been tracking and killing terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are being sought by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news organizations and others who want a bird?s-eye view. AP


A model of an insect size U.S. Air Force drone is held by a member of the Micro Air Vehicles team of the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is developing small drones at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, July 11, 2011. Reuters


This undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows a MQ-9 Reaper, armed with GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided munitions and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, piloted by Col. Lex Turner during a combat mission over southern Afghanistan. (Lt. Col.. Leslie Pratt, US Air Force)


An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) completes its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Feb. 4, 2011. The UCAS-D program will demonstrate the capability of an autonomous, low-observable unmanned aircraft to perform carrier launches and recoveries. (DoD photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman/Released). Date Shot: 2/4/2011


Tracked and wheeled versions of the Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicles (TUGV) take a forward position to determine security of the area. The Gladiators are taking part in a live fire exercise with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines (1/2), Bravo Company (B CO), Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (NC), at Range 400 aboard Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command (MAGTF-TC), Twentynine Palms, California (CA). Photographer's Name: LCPL PATRICK GREEN, USMC. Date Shot: 1/14/2004


Army personnel walkout and position the Hunter UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) for takeoff at Petrovec Airfield, Skopje, Macedonia, in support of TASK FORCE HARVEST. The role of TASK FORCE HARVEST is to collect arms and ammunition voluntarily turned over by ethnic Albanian insurgents, and thereby helps to build confidence in the broader peace process suggested by the President of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Hunter UAV plays a key role in helping NATO troops by surveying and looking for any changes in the local area that might hinder the peacekeeping mission. Photographer's Name: SSGT JOCELYN M. BROUSSARD, USAF. Date Shot: 9/13/2001

I just wonder why it was moved to religion and Islam. The title belies its contents. Its the result of a worldwide Gallup poll meant for public consumption. Could this move be reversed based on this perspective.

I assume the Mod who did this move thought he/she knows better.

A thought provoking video by Gallup i ran into. I would urge comments to be withheld until it is fully watched. Its unfortunately almost an hour long. It can be downloaded however.


Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization.

Gallup researchers began by asking the questions on every American’s mind. Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists and how do Muslims feel about them? What do Muslims like and dislike about the West? What do Muslim women really want?

Crucial policy decisions hang on these questions. They continue to generate passionate disagreements in the public square. Yet for all the heat and controversy, the actual views of the world’s Muslims have been conspicuously missing from this debate.

Now, we have the missing answers and statistics, gathered, parsed, and analyzed not by pundits but by professional researchers.

As part of this groundbreaking six-year project, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of interviews with residents in 35 predominantly Muslim nations, as well as smaller populations in Europe and the USA. The broad extent of the polling has delivered findings for the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims with a plus or minus accuracy of 3%.

Focused on the issues of Gender Justice, Terrorism, and Democracy – Inside Islam presents this remarkable data deftly, showing how it challenges the popular notion that Muslims and the West are on a collision course. Like the research, the film highlights a shared relationship that is based on facts – not fear.

Link: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/inside-islam-what-billion-muslims-really-think/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TopDocumentaryFilms+%28Top+Documentary+Films+-+Watch+Free+Documentaries+Online%29

Video Link: http://vimeo.com/14121737

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14121737" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

From a cursory examination of the photos (notice the CS on the canister), the grenades in the picture are CS (tear gas) grenades used by anti riot police in violent situations. It has non-lethal classification but has been documented to cause serious deleterious health effects. Documentation indicates it to have caused a death in Israel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_gas

However the possibility exist the ones in the photo may have been stripped and refilled with more deadly explosives (which is not too difficult).

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) uses grade history from your 100 level. Post ur 100 level grades and units and i'll post u a calculation.

The facts are:

1. If she opts for G&C. Her professional focus would be education related; educationist, ministry employee, UNICEF (yes o!),etc. Breaking out from it into other jobs would depend on her proficiency with mathematics, her determination and her organizational and leadership skills. As a matter of fact if shes motivated, the G&C is not a limitation. I have seen pple wit English and French degrees working in banks.

2. Time. G&C masters duration = 1yr. PGD + MSC = 2 or 3 yrs

3. Cost. G&C masters = N80K or more. PGD + MSC = 160K or more

Options:

A. If she has the money and under no pressure to be quickly gainfully employed (family or peer pressure) or lacks the motivation to break out into other jobs; go for PGD + Masters. My reasons: Economy still bad. You mark time while getting the better economics degree while the economy gets better instead of joining the thousands looking for jobs now.

B. If she has limited cash or is under pressure to seek employment, has a husband in the wings or has the motivation to break out into other jobs: go for G&C and prove your mettle when u graduate.

The struggle, as they say, continues.

You could have easily goggled for help.

Download this link: http://www.cwc.gov.in/main/HP/download/Standard%20Analytical%20Procedures.pdf

Its a pdf file that contains standard analytical tests for water.

The following criteria determines whether a school certificate is recognized in Nigeria:

1. Registration status with the country's (Beninese) education ministry and regulatory commission

2. Standard of the curriculum.

3. Recognition of the school's courses by the country's (Beninese) professional bodies (engineering,economists,medical,etc)

4. No of years it was in operation

The first two criteria are the most important. When u submit a new certificate to NYSC for service callup, it would write to the school administration requesting info on its registration status and curricula. NYSC then writes the country's (Beninese) education ministry for confirmation. In most situations NYSC forwards the curricula for comments from NUC and professional bodies in Nigeria. If the curricula meets Nigerian standards and the school is confirmed as genuine then the certificate is granted recognition and the graduate accepted for NYSC.

Pertaining to the acceptance for employment. Most employers usually insist on NYSC certificates because they know only students from accredited courses/institutions are allowed to serve. This implies getting a job wont be much of a problem if she gets to serve.

To resolve ur problem i would advice u personally check the registration status of the school with the education ministry (in Cotonou) and also compare the school curricula with, maybe UNILAG, and see if there is a 90% parity/similarity or more. If any of the two checks fail, quit the school.

Dont know what u actually mean but let me try to express my understanding of ur request:

1. Be smartly dressed in an attire that allows u to breath deeply and easily and be able to move your arms freely.

2. Take deep breaths as you step up to the podium and plant a smile on your face as you face the audience.

3. Start with the usual protocol to professors, examiner, staff, students and general audience and wish them a good morning or afternoon as the case may be.

4. Welcome them to your presentation titled.., supervised by....

5. Talk to the audience with a firm voice about your project, make sure you look in a random manner at faces in the audience (make eye contact for 1 second or 2) as if you are talking singularly to them (this is the most difficult part) without making slip ups.

6. Make simple descriptive gestures when u explain but take good care not to make it excessive or point at the audience or make obscene or abusive gestures.

7. Talk with deliberation, not too fast and not slow. Display the same amount of confidence u exhibit when u order ur meals at Mr biggs or chicken licking

8. Dont elaborate unless necessary. The questions at end of the presentation will take care of misunderstood areas.

9. If u feel you are running short of breath, pause at a full stop and deliberately take a look at your slide or papers while u take 2 rapid breaths and then continue. If u are a sweater make sure u hav a handkerchief ready at hand to wipe your face.

10. Thank them for listening at end and stand with your arms at your sides while you breath slowly as u await the questions to come.

11. Thank each questioner for his question and look straight at him when answering it. Make sure u quote references where applicable to support your statements.

12. For practical questions state that u used standard methods and quote the method name (e.g AOCS 45) and make sure u have ready answers for sources of errors, sampling decisions and choice of chemicals.

13. When you encounter difficult questions quickly refer to your scope and see whether it covers it. If it wasnt, confidently say it was not covered. If it is covered by your scope but u omitted it, look at your supervisor for assistance. If he declines to assist then do ur best to answer the question if u can. Give reasons for the omission. A likely good answer is lack of equipment.

14. To successfully pull off all the above you must have a good grasp of ur project content and its organization for the presentation, a good diction and command of the English language. I would urge u to practise wit friends and 1 or 2 strangers staring at u (for audience).

Good luck

OAM4J: Sorry, the anti spam bot mistook it for a spam post. It's been untagged and moved to the right section: culture.

Thank you.

My very warm regards

Could a Mod explain why i received a censor and a ban for the following post: https://www.nairaland.com/939854/common-yoruba-words-borrowed-arabic

It would be interesting to know if academic articles published on the internet are subject to censorship if posted here. I believe it violates not civility, sensibility, informative and educative precepts.

Though i acknowledge the immaturity of some members to be rational over some subjects, would this be a reason to censor knowledge in whatever form it is available. After all isn't the dissemination of information an objective of this forum?

Regards.

The Arabic roots of many contemporary Yoruba words has been investigated. Titled “On Arabic Loans in Yoruba,” it was written by Professor Sergio Baldi, a well-regarded Italian linguist, who presented it at the Annual Conference on African Linguistics in California, USA, in March 1995.

Below are excerpts from the article as presented by Farooq A. Kperogi. To download a copy or read the complete article CLICK HERE.

1. Abere. This Yoruba word for “needle” traces its etymology to the Arabic “ai-bra,” which also means needle.

2. Adura. This is the Yoruba word for prayers. In fact, there is a popular syncretic Christian sect in Yorubaland that goes by the name “aladura,” meaning “people who pray” or “praying people.” Many other northern and central Nigerian languages have some version of this word to denote prayers. It is derived from the Arabic “du’a,” which also means prayers.

3. Alubosa. This Yoruba word for “onion” was borrowed from the Hausa “albasa,” which in turn borrowed it from the Arabic “al-basal.”

4. Alufa/Alfa. This is a widely used word for a Muslim scholar (and occasionally any Muslim) not just in Yorubaland but in Nupeland, Borgu, Igalaland, Ebiraland, etc. It is now increasingly used by Yoruba Muslim women as a term of respect for their husbands.

Surprisingly, the word is absent in the Hausa language. It came as no surprise therefore when Professor Baldi suggested that the word came to the Yoruba language—and many other central Nigerian languages—through the Songhai. It is derived from the Arabic “khalifah,” which means a “successor” or a “representative” (of the prophet of Islam). It was first corrupted to “Alfa” by the Songhai who later exported their version of the word to western and central Nigeria—and to other parts of West Africa. Many Songhai were itinerant Islamic preachers who traveled all over West Africa.

5. Atele/itele. It means “following” in Yoruba, and it is derived from “at-talin,” which also means “following” in Arabic.

6. Amodi. It means “disease” in Yoruba and is derived from “al-marad,” the Arabic word for disease.

7. “Amo.” It is a conjunction in Yoruba, which performs the same function that the word “but” performs in English; it introduces contrast. It is rendered as “amma” in Hausa, which is the way it is rendered in its original Arabic form.

8. Anfani. This Yoruba word for “utility” or “importance” also occurs in Hausa, Batonu, and many northern and central Nigerian languages. It is derived from the Arabic “naf,” which means “advantage, profit.”

9. Ara/ apaara. The word means "thunder" in Yoruba, and is derived from the Arabic “ar-ra’d.”

10. Asiri. It means “secret” in Yoruba, Hausa, and in many other Nigerian languages. It is derived from the Arabic “as-sirr” where it also means “secret.”

11. Barika. This is the Yoruba word for “congratulations.” It is rendered as “barka” in Hausa. The word’s original Arabic form is “al-baraka,” which means “greetings.”

12. Borokinni. It means a “gentleman, respected man in a secure financial position.” The word is also found in many Borgu languages, such as Batonu and Bokobaru, where “boro” means a “friend.” It is derived from the Arabic “rukn,” which means “support, corner, basic element.”

13. Faari. It means “showing off” or “boastfulness” or “ostentatious display” in Yoruba. It has the same meaning in many Borgu languages. It is derived from the Arabic “fakhr,” which means “glory, pride, honor.” (Note that “kh” is a guttural sound in Arabic, which is close to a hard “h” in English. That sound was dropped by Nigerian languages).

14. Fitila. It means any kind of lamp. Its roots are located in the Arabic word for lamp, which is “fatil.”

15. Ijamba. Professor Baldi defines this word as “bodily harm,” but the meaning of the word I’m familiar with is one that associates it with cunning, cheating, deceit. It is derived from the Arabic “danb,” or “danba,” which means “sin, crime.” (Note that Arabic frequently dispenses with end vowels (that is, a, e, i, o, and u) in words, whereas many Nigerian languages almost always end words with a vowel—and add them to words they borrow from other languages if such words lack an end vowel).

16. Imale. This is the Yoruba word for “Muslim.” I read previous interpretations of this word from Yoruba scholars who say it is Yoruba for “that which is difficult” to underscore the difficulty of Islamic practices like praying five times a day, fasting for 30 days during Ramadan, etc. Other Yoruba scholars said the word initially denoted “people from Mali” since the Songhai people who Islamized Yoruba land in the 15th century were from Mali.

But Baldi argues that “imale” is the corruption of the Arabic “Mu’alim,” which means a teacher. In the Hausa language, the word is rendered as Maalam. It’s interesting that “Mallam” has become the synonym for Hausa (or northern) Muslim in southern Nigeria.

17. Iwaju. It’s the Yoruba word for “front part.” I didn’t imagine that this word had an Arabic origin until I read Baldi’s article. It is derived from the Arabic “al-wajh,” which means “front” or “face.”

18. Iwaasu. It is the Yoruba term for “preaching” or “sermon.” It is used by both Christians and Muslims in Yorubaland, and is derived from the Arabic “waz,” which means “admonition” or “sermon.” (The Yoruba language has no “z” sound, so it substitutes “z” with “s” when it borrows words from other languages with “z” sounds).

19. Suuru. It means “patience” not only in Yoruba but in many languages in central and northern Nigeria. It is derived from the Arabic “sabr,” which also means “patience.”

20. Talaka. It means the poor. It came to Yoruba by way of Hausa, which borrowed it from the Tuareg (where it is rendered as "taleqque" and where it means “a poor woman”). It’s also used in Mandingo, Songhai languages, Kanuri, Teda, and many West African languages. Baldi says this word has no Arabic origins. On the surface, this may be true. After all, the Arabic word for a poor person is “fakir” (plural: “fuqura”).

However, “talaq,” as most Muslims know, is the Arabic word for divorce. (The chapter of the Qur'an that deals with the subject of divorce is called Suratul Talaq). Talaq is derived from the verb “talaqa,” which means to “disown,” to “repudiate.” In times past (and it’s still the case today in many Muslim societies) if a woman was divorced, she was invariably thrown into poverty. Thus, Tuaregs used the term “taleqque” to denote a “poor woman.” But Hausa, Kanuri, Yoruba, Mandingo, and other West African languages expanded the original Tuareg meaning of the word to include every poor person. This is my theory.

21. Tobi. This Yoruba word for “women’s knickers” is derived from the Arabic “taub,” which means “garment,” “dress,” “cloth.” Another tonal variation of this word leads to a different Yoruba word, which means “big.”

22. Wahala. Well, this isn’t just a Yoruba word by way of Hausa; it’s made its way into most Nigerian languages—and into West African Pidgin English. It means “trouble,” and it’s derived from the Arabic “wahla,” which means “fright,” “terror.”

[size=16pt]Can You Make Yourself Smarter?[/size]
By DAN HURLEY

A dip into the world of intelligence and tests for it

Early on a drab afternoon in January, a dozen third graders from the working-class suburb of Chicago Heights, Ill., burst into the Mac Lab on the ground floor of Washington-McKinley School in a blur of blue pants, blue vests and white shirts. Minutes later, they were hunkered down in front of the Apple computers lining the room’s perimeter, hoping to do what was, until recently, considered impossible: increase their intelligence through training.
Can somebody raise their hand,” asked Kate Wulfson, the instructor, “and explain to me how you get points?”

On each of the children’s monitors, there was a cartoon image of a haunted house, with bats and a crescent moon in a midnight blue sky. Every few seconds, a black cat appeared in one of the house’s five windows, then vanished. The exercise was divided into levels. On Level 1, the children earned a point by remembering which window the cat was just in. Easy. But the game is progressive: the cats keep coming, and the kids have to keep watching and remembering.

“And here’s where it gets confusing,” Wulfson continued. “If you get to Level 2, you have to remember where the cat was two windows ago. The time before last. For Level 3, you have to remember where it was three times ago. Level 4 is four times ago. That’s hard. You have to keep track. O.K., ready? Once we start, anyone who talks loses a star.”

So began 10 minutes of a remarkably demanding concentration game. At Level 2, even adults find the task somewhat taxing. Almost no one gets past Level 3 without training. But most people who stick with the game do get better with practice. This isn’t surprising: practice improves performance on almost every task humans engage in, whether it’s learning to read or playing horseshoes.

What is surprising is what else it improved. In a 2008 study, Susanne Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl, now of the University of Maryland, found that young adults who practiced a stripped-down, less cartoonish version of the game also showed improvement in a fundamental cognitive ability known as “fluid” intelligence: the capacity to solve novel problems, to learn, to reason, to see connections and to get to the bottom of things. The implication was that playing the game literally makes people smarter.

Psychologists have long regarded intelligence as coming in two flavors: crystallized intelligence, the treasure trove of stored-up information and how-to knowledge (the sort of thing tested on “Jeopardy!” or put to use when you ride a bicycle); and fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence grows as you age; fluid intelligence has long been known to peak in early adulthood, around college age, and then to decline gradually. And unlike physical conditioning, which can transform 98-pound weaklings into hunks, fluid intelligence has always been considered impervious to training.

That, after all, is the premise of I.Q. tests, or at least the portion that measures fluid intelligence: we can test you now and predict all sorts of things in the future, because fluid intelligence supposedly sets in early and is fairly immutable. While parents, teachers and others play an essential role in establishing an environment in which a child’s intellect can grow, even Tiger Mothers generally expect only higher grades will come from their children’s diligence — not better brains.

How, then, could watching black cats in a haunted house possibly increase something as profound as fluid intelligence? Because the deceptively simple game, it turns out, targets the most elemental of cognitive skills: “working” memory. What long-term memory is to crystallized intelligence, working memory is to fluid intelligence. Working memory is more than just the ability to remember a telephone number long enough to dial it; it’s the capacity to manipulate the information you’re holding in your head — to add or subtract those numbers, place them in reverse order or sort them from high to low. Understanding a metaphor or an analogy is equally dependent on working memory; you can’t follow even a simple statement like “See Jane run” if you can’t put together how “see” and “Jane” connect with “run.” Without it, you can’t make sense of anything.


It continues HERE (5 more pages)

Eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower, according to US scientists who published a study showing how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup sapped lab rats' memories.


Too much sugar affects your brain, a study has found

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) fed two groups of rats a solution containing high-fructose corn syrup - a common ingredient in processed foods - as drinking water for six weeks.

One group of rats was supplemented with brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while the other group was not.
Advertisement: Story continues below

Before the sugar drinks began, the rats were enrolled in a five-day training session in a complicated maze. After six weeks on the sweet solution, the rats were then placed back in the maze to see how they fared.

"The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

"Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats' ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier."

A closer look at the rat brains revealed that those who were not fed DHA supplements had also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates brain function.

"Because insulin can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss," Gomez-Pinilla said.

In other words, eating too much fructose could interfere with insulin's ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar, which is necessary for processing thoughts and emotions.

"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," Gomez-Pinilla said.

"Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."

High-fructose corn syrup is commonly found in soda, condiments, applesauce, baby food and other processed snacks.

The average American consumes more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

While the study did not say what the equivalent might be for a human to consume as much high-fructose corn syrup as the rats did, researchers said it provides some evidence that metabolic syndrome can affect the mind as well as the body.

"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Gomez-Pinilla.

"Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimise the damage."

The study appeared in the Journal of Physiology.

Link: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/sugar-can-make-you-dumb-us-scientists-warn-20120516-1ypox.html

Omexonomy: Nice post. Please send my share to my mailbox

As soon as i get my allocation of gold talents

Posting this because of its informative value to ladies

Research from Kristina Durante, assistant professor of marketing at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) College of Business, finds that hormones associated with ovulation influence women's perceptions of men as potential fathers.

"Previous research has shown in the week near ovulation women become attracted to sexy, rebellious and handsome men like George Clooney or James Bond," said Durante. "But until now it was unclear why women would ever think it's wise to pursue long-term relationships with these kinds of men."

In the first study women viewed online dating profiles of either a sexy man or a reliable man during periods of both high and low fertility. Participants were asked to indicate the expected paternal contribution from the men if they had a child together based on how helpful the man would be caring for the baby, shopping for food, cooking and contributing to household chores. Near ovulation women thought that the sexy man would contribute more to these domestic duties.

"Under the hormonal influence of ovulation, women delude themselves into thinking that the sexy bad boys will become devoted partners and better dads," explained Durante. "When looking at the sexy cad through ovulation goggles, Mr. Wrong looked exactly like Mr. Right."

In another study women interacted directly with male actors who played the roles of sexy cad and reliable dad once during ovulation and again at low fertility. Again, ovulating women thought that the sexy cad -- but not the reliable dad -- would contribute more to childcare, but only if she were his partner.

"When asked about what kind of father the sexy bad boy would make if he were to have children with another woman, women were quick to point out the bad boy's shortcomings," said Durante. "But when it came to their own child, ovulating women believed that the charismatic and adventurous cad would be a great father to their kids."

"While this psychological distortion could be setting some women up to choose partners who are better suited to be short-term mates, missing a mating opportunity with a sexy cad might be too costly for some women to pass up," said Durante. "After all, you never know if he could be the 'one'."

Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120514134301.htm

[img]http://blogs.discovery.com/.a/6a00d8341bf67c53ef016301734356970d-800wi[/img]
The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Edward Poynter (1836–1919), Art Gallery of New South Wales.

A British archaeologist claims she may have uncovered the treasure mine from which the fabled Queen of Sheba drew her wealth, the UK daily The Observer reported.

Hidden on a hill on the Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, the unexplored mine lies within the Queen's former territory, a nearly 3,000-year-old Sheba kingdom that scholars believe spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen.

"One of the things I've always loved about archaeology is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary," Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, told The Observer.

According to the Old Testament, the Queen of Sheba travelled from her mysterious kingdom to meet King Salomon in Jerusalem "with a very great train, with camels that bear spices, and very much gold, and precious stones."

The Queen was "overwhelmed" by Solomon's wisdom and the splendour of his kingdom. As she departed, "she gave the king 120 talents of gold" - the equivalent of four-and-a-half tons.

Legend has it that she gave birth to Solomon's child shortly after their passionate encounter and that descendants of their child, Menelik, became the kings of Abyssinia.

Schofield found the ancient mine hidden behind a 20-foot wide that was carved with a sun and crescent moon, the "calling card of the land of Sheba," according to Schofield.

"I crawled beneath the stone -- wary of a 9-foot cobra I was warned lives here -- and came face to face with an inscription in Sabaean, the language that the Queen of Sheba would have spoken," she said.

Buried about four feet beneath the surface of a hill circled by vultures, the shaft featured an ancient skull embedded above the entrance. This boasted Sabaean chiselling, according to Schofield.

She said that the structure had gone unnoticed despite the fact that locals still pan for gold in a nearby river.

Not far away, the archaeologist discovered remains of columns and other finely carved stones possibly belonging to a buried temple believed to be dedicated to a moon deity of Sheba.

The site of a battlefield, complete with ancient bones, was also unearthed nearby.

The precise size of the mine, whose entrance is blocked by boulders, has not yet been determined, but tests by a gold prospector suggest it is extensive, with underground passages large enough to walk inside.

A full excavation of the site will begin as soon as Schofield secures the necessary fundings.

http://news.discovery.com/history/sheba-queen-gold-121502.html

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A person's mere presence in a room can add 37 million bacteria to the air every hour -- material largely left behind by previous occupants and stirred up from the floor -- according to new research by Yale University engineers.

"We live in this microbial soup, and a big ingredient is our own microorganisms," said Jordan Peccia, associate professor of environmental engineering at Yale and the principal investigator of a study recently published online in the journal Indoor Air. "Mostly people are re-suspending what's been deposited before. The floor dust turns out to be the major source of the bacteria that we breathe."

[img]http://topnews.in/usa/files/Bacteria.jpg[/img]
Rendering of bacteria

Many previous studies have surveyed the variety of germs present in everyday spaces. But this is the first study that quantifies how much a lone human presence affects the level of indoor biological aerosols.

Peccia and his research team measured and analyzed biological particles in a single, ground-floor university classroom over a period of eight days -- four days when the room was periodically occupied, and four days when the room was continuously vacant. At all times the windows and doors were kept closed. The HVAC system was operated at normal levels. Researchers sorted the particles by size.

Overall, they found that "human occupancy was associated with substantially increased airborne concentrations" of bacteria and fungi of various sizes. Occupancy resulted in especially large spikes for larger-sized fungal particles and medium-sized bacterial particles. The size of bacteria- and fungi-bearing particles is important, because size affects the degree to which they are likely to be filtered from the air or linger and recirculate, the researchers note.

"Size is the master variable," Peccia said.

Researchers found that about 18 percent of all bacterial emissions in the room -- including both fresh and previously deposited bacteria -- came from humans, as opposed to plants and other sources. Of the 15 most abundant varieties of bacteria identified in the room studied, four are directly associated with humans, including the most abundant, Propionibacterineae, common on human skin.



Peccia said carpeted rooms appear to retain especially high amounts of microorganisms, but noted that this does not necessarily mean rugs and carpets should be removed. Extremely few of the microorganisms commonly found indoors -- less than 0.1 percent -- are infectious, he said.

Still, understanding the content and dynamics of indoor biological aerosols is helpful for devising new ways of improving air quality when necessary, he said.

"All those infectious diseases we get, we get indoors," he said, adding that Americans spend more than 90 percent of their time inside.

The researchers have begun a series of similar studies outside the United States.

The paper's lead author is J. Qian of Yale. Other contributors are D. Hospodsky and N. Yamamoto, both of Yale, and W.W. Nazaroff of the University of California-Berkeley.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120328172255.htm

The US Supreme Court ruled on April 2, 2012 that officials can strip-search suspects for any arrest, however minor the offense, before admitting them to jail—even if there’s no reasonable suspicion that the individual has contraband.

What’s the proper way to conduct a strip-search?

Start at the top and work your way down. Policies regarding the proper time and place for a strip-search vary from state to state and facility to facility, but they all prescribe the same basic procedure. The security officer takes the person to be strip-searched to a private place, asks him to remove his clothes, and then inspects each garment, one at a time, running fingers over any seams to make sure nothing has been sewn inside. Once the subject is naked, the search proceeds from top to bottom and front to back, with the officer giving instructions on what to do. First, he orders the subject to run his hands vigorously through his own hair, to show there’s nothing hidden on his scalp. Then he tells the subject to pull his ears forward and turn his head, to show there’s nothing tucked behind them. Next, he instructs the subject to tilt back his head to reveal the nostrils, and roll his tongue around in his mouth. He might also ask the subject to pull his lips away from his gums, and lift his arms to show there’s nothing in his armpits.


A strip search in progress

Then on to the torso and lower body. Female strip-search subjects are asked to lift up their breasts and open their legs. Men lift up their joysticks and scrotums, and, if they’re uncircumcised*, they pull back their foreskins. At this point the guard tells the subject to turn around, so they can start again at the top. Now the subject has to ruffle the back of his hair, and bend over with legs spread. The guard might say, “squat and cough,” with the aim of dislodging an object stored in the rectum or vagina. The strip-search ends with the subject’s being asked to show the bottoms of his feet.

It sounds like a lot, but with a normal, cooperative subject the procedure shouldn’t take more than about five minutes. A suspect with dreadlocks can be more difficult to search, since the hair-ruffling technique isn’t quite as straightforward. Those who are wheelchair-bound also pose special problems. Those who absolutely refuse to follow instructions, and whom the officer suspects of concealing contraband, may be tied down to a gurney.


Body cavity search in progress

To be clear, a strip-search is different from the more invasive “body cavity search,” which has an officer inserting his hand into the subject and is generally performed only as a last resort. If an individual is suspected of concealing contraband in his or her rectum, and a standard strip-search turns up nothing, there are a few different ways the officers may proceed. One option is to keep a suspect in isolation to see if he or she eventually excretes some unauthorized material. Another makes use of something called a “Body Orifice Security Scanner,” which works something like a metal detector for your nether parts.


Bola Adebisi was subjected to a strip search and then an internal body scanner

Different kinds of security personnel learn how to conduct strip-searches in different ways. Federal corrections officers study and memorize the procedure at the Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga. After learning the basics as part of their three-week classroom training, they practice on mannequins or on other trainees (who remain fully clothed).

By Forrest Wickman
Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/04/supreme_court_strip_search_decision_how_to_check_someone_for_contraband_.html
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Learning a second language can boost brain power, scientists believe.

The US researchers from Northwestern University say bilingualism is a form of brain training - a mental "work out" that fine-tunes the mind.

Speaking two languages profoundly affects the brain and changes how the nervous system responds to sound, lab tests revealed.

Experts say the work in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides "biological" evidence of this.

For the study, the team monitored the brain responses of 48 healthy student volunteers - which included 23 who were bilingual - to different sounds.

They used scalp electrodes to trace the pattern of brainwaves.

Under quiet, laboratory conditions, both groups - the bilingual and the English-only-speaking students - responded similarly.

But against a backdrop of noisy chatter, the bilingual group were far superior at processing sounds.

They were better able to tune in to the important information - the speaker's voice - and block out other distracting noises - the background chatter.
'Powerful' benefits

And these differences were visible in the brain. The bilingualists' brainstem responses were heightened.


Differences were seen in the brainstem (coloured orange in this picture)

Prof Nina Kraus, who led the research, said: "The bilingual's enhanced experience with sound results in an auditory system that is highly efficient, flexible and focused in its automatic sound processing, especially in challenging or novel listening conditions."

Co-author Viorica Marian said: "People do crossword puzzles and other activities to keep their minds sharp. But the advantages we've discovered in dual language speakers come automatically simply from knowing and using two languages.

"It seems that the benefits of bilingualism are particularly powerful and broad, and include attention, inhibition and encoding of sound."

Musicians appear to gain a similar benefit when rehearsing, say the researchers.

Past research has also suggested that being bilingual might help ward off dementia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17892521

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At an age when "ba-ba" and "da-da" may be their only utterances, infants nevertheless comprehend words for many common objects, according to a new study.In research focused on 6-to-9-month-old babies, University of Pennsylvania psychologists Elika Bergelson and Daniel Swingley demonstrated that the infants learned the meanings of words for foods and body parts through their daily experience with language.

Bergelson is a doctoral student and Swingley an associate professor in Penn's Department of Psychology. Their study was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

These findings unseat a previously held consensus about infant learning. It was widely believed that infants between 6 and 9 months, while able to perceive and understand elements of the sounds of their native language, did not yet possess the ability to grasp the meanings conveyed though speech. Most psychologists believed word comprehension didn't emerge until closer to a child's first birthday.

In fact, infants are often referred to as "pre-linguistic," according to Bergelson. But there have been few attempts to determine just when infants begin understanding what is meant by specific words. The belief that infants do not comprehend language for most of the first year is easy to understand, given that infants do not often speak in words, or even gesture meaningfully, before 10 or 11 months.

To test this belief, Bergelson and Swingley recruited caregivers to bring their children to a lab to complete two different kinds of test. In the first, a child sat on the caregiver's lap facing a screen on which there were images of one food item and one body part.

The caregiver wore headphones and heard a statement such as, "Look at the apple," or, "Where's the apple?" and then repeated it to the child. The caregiver also wore a visor to avoid seeing the screen. An eye-tracking device, which can distinguish precisely where a child is looking and when, then followed the child's gaze.

The second kind of test had the same set-up, except that, instead of the screen displaying a food item and a body part, it displayed objects in natural contexts, such as a few foods laid out on a table, or a human figure. For both kinds of test, the question was whether hearing a word for something on the screen would lead children to look at that object more, indicating that they understood the word.

In total, Bergelson and Swingley tested 33 6-to-9-month olds. The researchers also had 50 children from 10 to 20 months complete the same tests to see how their abilities compared with the younger group.

As part of their analysis, Bergelson and Swingley corrected for eye movements not related to caregivers' speech. Bergelson pointed out that to infants some objects are more interesting than others, whatever their parents might say.

"So if you have a boring cup and a really colorful cup, they're going to look at the more interesting thing, all else being equal."

To eliminate this potential source of error, the researchers subtracted the amount of time that the babies gazed at a given object when it was not being named from the time they looked when it was named.

"The idea there is that they have some sort of baseline for how much they like to look at the thing, so when you take that away, what's left is their word recognition," Bergelson said.

In both the two-picture and scene tests, the researchers found that the 6- to 9-month-old babies fixed their gaze more on the picture that was named than on the other image or images, indicating that they understood that the word was associated with the appropriate object.

This is the first demonstration that children of this age can understand such words.

"There had been a few demonstrations of understanding before, involving words like mommy and daddy," Swingley said. "Our study is different in looking at more generic words, words that refer to categories."

"We're testing things that look different every time you see them," Bergelson said. "There's some variety in apples and noses, and 'nose' doesn't just mean your nose; it could mean anybody's nose. This is one of the things that makes word learning complicated: words often refer to categories, not just individuals."

Bergelson and Swingley were also curious to know whether they could observe a pattern of learning during the months from 6 to 9. But, when they compared the performance of 6- and 7-month-old babies with that of 8- and 9-month olds, they found no improvements.

"That is a surprising result. We don't know why it is that performance remains flat for so long," Swingley said.

Factoring in the results of the older babies, the researchers found little improvement until the children reached roughly 14 months, at which point word recognition jumped markedly.

"Maybe what is going on with the 14-month olds is they understand the nature of the task as a kind of game and they're playing it," Swingley said. "Or the dramatic increase in performance at 14 months may be due to aspects of language development we did not measure specifically, including better categorization of the speech signal, or better understanding of syntax."

He noted that it is also possible that children do improve between 6 and 14 months, but that that improvement is countered by the fact that older babies in this range may be more distractable and less attentive.

The study's novel results contribute to an ongoing debate about infant language acquisition and cognitive development.

"I think it's surprising in the sense that the kids at this age aren't saying anything, they're not pointing, they're not walking," Bergelson said. "But actually, under the surface, they're trying to put together the things in the world with the words that go with them."

"I think this study presents a great message to parents: You can talk to your babies and they're going to understand a bit of what you're saying," Swingley said. "They're not going to give us back witty repartee, but they understand some of it. And the more they know, the more they can build on what they know."

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213154057.htm

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[size=14pt]Flame Retardant In Soft Drinks[/size]

Brominated vegetable oil is patented as a flame retardant and it's banned in food all over Europe and Japan, but it's on the ingredient list of about 10 percent of sodas in the U.S. It's not in Coca-Cola, but is in Mountain Dew, Fanta Orange, and in some flavors of Powerade and Gatorade.

What brominated vegetable oil (BVO) does to soda is, Coca-Cola explains, "prevent the citrus flavoring oils from floating to the surface in beverages." The fruit flavors that are mixed into a drink would otherwise settle out. What BVO does when it's acting as a flame retardant is not much different: It slows down the chemical reactions that cause a fire.

Safe For Consumption?
The FDA established safety limits for the substance in the 1970s, but Environmental Health News reports about growing concerns that the limit was informed by reports put out by an industry group containing outdated and, as industry-generated information tends to be, less-than-comprehensive data.

EHN has the details:

After a few extreme soda binges — not too far from what many gamers regularly consume – a few patients have needed medical attention for skin lesions, memory loss and nerve disorders, all symptoms of overexposure to bromine. Other studies suggest that BVO could be building up in human tissues, just like other brominated compounds such as flame retardants. In mouse studies, big doses caused reproductive and behavioral problems.

EHN explains that BVO was pulled from the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) list for flavor additives in 1970, "bounced back after studies from an industry group from 1971 to 1974 demonstrated a level of safety," at which point the Flavor Extract Manufacturers’ Association (which actually exists—not to be confused with the government agency FEMA) "petitioned the FDA to get BVO back in fruit-flavored beverages, this time as a stabilizer, which is its role today."

Interim Approval -- For More Than 30 Years
Today, more than 30 years (and much animal testing, including on pigs and beagles) later, the approval status for BVO is still listed as interim. EHN reports that changing that status would be expensive and quotes FDA spokesman Douglas Karas saying it "is not a public health priority for the agency at this time."

With BVO banned in so many countries, there are feasible alternatives. And that brings us to the unsurprising but disturbing note on which the EHN story ends:

Wim Thielemans, a chemical engineer at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, said since the alternatives are already used in Europe "their performance must be acceptable, if not comparable, to the U.S.-used brominated systems." That means "the main driver for not replacing them may be cost," he said.

"It is a North American problem," Vetter added. "In the E.U., BVO will never be permitted."

Link: http://www.treehugger.com/health/flame-retardant-in-soft-drink.html


[size=14pt]Coke, Pepsi cut level of ‘cancer' chemical[/size]

COCA-Cola and Pepsi say they have lowered levels of a chemical in caramel colouring which has been found to cause cancer in lab tests.
The move allows the companies to avoid having to label products with a cancer warning due to a California law setting safe levels of 4-methylimidazole.


Globally popular Coke and Pepsi drinks

Both drink-makers said their popular and highly secretive recipes will not be altered but that caramel suppliers have been asked to reduce 4-MEI levels in California, a change that will eventually spread across the United States and - at least in Coke's case - around the world.

"We are NOT changing our recipe; or our formula," Coca-Cola Company spokesman Ben Sheidler said in an email.

"What we did do is direct our caramel suppliers to make a manufacturing process modification in order to reduce the level of 4-MEI in our caramel so as to meet the requirement set by the state of California's Proposition 65."

For its part, PepsiCo said its beverages "are and always will be safe for consumption."

"Consumers will notice no difference in our products and have no reason at all for any health concerns. There is no scientific evidence that 4-MEI in foods and beverages is a threat to human health," it added.

California voters passed Proposition 65 in 1986, and the law aims to protect state residents from "chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to inform citizens about exposures to such chemicals."

A California court ruled in December that 4-MEI could be listed as a known carcinogen under Prop 65.

The state set a 29-microgram benchmark for 4-MEI in products. Anything that may expose consumers to a daily level higher than that must carry a warning label.

According to the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a recent sampling of Coke and Pepsi drink cans in the Washington area showed levels ranging between 103 and 153 micrograms.

But beverage industry leaders, including the American Beverage Association, argued the evidence of a cancer link is limited to one study in mice and is not recognised by major US, European and Canadian health agencies.

The ABA added that a person would need to drink massive amounts of cola to reach a risk level similar to the dosing in mice - 2,900 cans of cola every day for 70 years - that served as the basis for California's decision.

"The science simply does not show that 4-MEI in foods or beverages is a threat to human health," the ABA said.

"In fact, findings of regulatory agencies worldwide, including the US Food and Drug Administration, European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, consider caramel colouring safe for use in foods and beverages."

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the CSPI consumer group, countered that argument by noting that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation, last year concluded that 4-MEI was an animal carcinogen and probably a human carcinogen.

"They (Coke and Pepsi) have said that forever, that the amounts don't pose a safety risk," he said in an interview.

"It's face-saving. They have been fighting California for two or three years. And they didn't prevail. They sued California and they lost."

CSPI has petitioned the US Food and Drug Administration to ban ammonia-sulfite caramel colouring, which is the type used in many common products including cola, soy sauce, coffee, bread, molasses, gravy and some beers.

The chemical forms as a by-product of a heating process to create caramelisation when ammonia or ammonia sulfite is used.

Mr Jacobson applauded the move to cut levels in California, and urged more action on a global scale. "The question is, when will Coke and Pepsi make these changes around the world, not just in California?"

Mr Sheidler said Coca-Cola would begin enacting the same changes to beverages nationwide and globally "in order to streamline and simplify our supply chain, manufacturing and distribution systems," though no timeline has been set.

Link: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/coke-pepsi-cut-level-of-cancer-chemical/story-e6frf7lf-1226295759796

some interesting but true facts, that you may or may not have known.

1. The Statue of Liberty's index finger is 2.4 meter long.
2. Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.
3. A 75 year old person will have slept about 23 years.
4. Boeing 747's wing span is longer than the Wright brother's first flight. The Wright brother's invented the airplane.
5. There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans.
6. One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
7. The word "set" has the most number of definitions in the English language; 192 Slugs have four noses.
8. Sharks can live up to 100 years.
9. Mosquitoes are more attracted to the color blue than any other color.
10. Kangaroos can't walk backwards.
11. About 303514 square meters of pizza are eaten in in the U.S. everyday.
12. The largest recorded snowflake was 38.1 centimeter wide and 20.32 centimeter thick. It fell in Montana in 1887.
13. The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom.
14. Former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency.
15. Koalas and humans are the only animals that have finger prints.
16. There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human.
17. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery had in it to begin with.
18. The world's largest Montessori school is in India, with 26,312 students in 2002.
19. Octopus have three hearts.
20. If you ate too many carrots, you would turn orange.
21. The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change.
22. 1 in 2,000,000,000 people will live to be 116 or old.
23. The body has 2-3 million sweat glands.
24. Sperm whales have the biggest brains; 7.46 kg.
25. Tiger shark embryos fight each other in their mother's womb. The survivor is born.
26. Most cats are left pawed.
27. 250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
28. A Blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant.
29. You use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Keep Smiling!
30. Bamboo can grow up to 91.44 centimeters in 24 hours.
31. An eyeball weighs about 31.1 grams.

Link: http://www.citehr.com/67426-very-interesting-unknown-facts.html