Bacioco!

Saudi Arabians in ‘sidewalk skiing’ craze –...

Sat, 25 May 2013 08:44:24 -0400

Saudi Arabians in ‘sidewalk skiing’ craze – video

Motorists in Saudi Arabia demonstrate a new trend of driving cars using only two wheels. ‘Teams’ congregate on the country’s many desert roads to do tricks, including passengers changing wheels while the vehicle is in motion. A member of Impossible Team says the feat is not as dangerous as it looks

(From The Guardian)

The World’s First Test Tube Hamburger Costs $325,000, Will Be...

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:27:54 -0400

The World’s First Test Tube Hamburger Costs $325,000, Will Be Eaten In London

Will this be the first bite of a future in which we all eat meat grown in labs?

On the traditional meat replacement creepiness scale, test-tube steak hovers somewhere near the top. It’s definitely creepier than some of the realistic plant-based meat replacements —and more difficult to pull off.

Nonetheless, a small group of dedicated scientists is working to ensure that your future hearty meat dinner comes from a lab instead of a cow. They have been successful enough that the first cultured hamburger, created from bits of test-tube muscle tissue, will be shown off and eventually eaten at an upcoming event in London. The only catch: it cost $325,000 to produce.

(From FastCo.Exist)

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682045/the-worlds-first-test-tube-hamburger-costs-325000-will-be-eaten-in-london

North Carolina needed 6,500 farm workers. Only 7 Americans stuck...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:45:50 -0400

North Carolina needed 6,500 farm workers. Only 7 Americans stuck it out.

By Dylan Matthews

When I talked to him about the economic effects of immigration last month, Center for Global Development migration expert Michael Clemens mentioned that he was working on research on agricultural migrant workers. That research is finally out, in the form of a report released by CGD and the Partnership for a New American Economy, a pro-immigration reform group started by Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch.

Clemens’s study focuses on the agricultural industry in North Carolina, and more specifically on the North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA), which supplies manual laborers to North Carolina farms. The NCGA is the nation’s largest user of the H-2A guest worker program, which is designed with agricultural workers in mind. Under that program’s regulations, Clemens explains, NCGA “must submit an application to the US Department of Labor proving that it has actively recruited US natives and native workers will not take NCGA jobs.”

That data is interesting, because it describes the labor market before any immigrant workers are recruited. That, as Clemens says, “allows us to assess the willingness of native workers to take farm jobs before they can even be offered to foreign workers, meaning that this study does not miss any impact caused by people who self-select out of an area or occupation because of competition with foreign workers.”

That willingness, he finds, is basically nonexistent. Every year from 1998 to 2012, at least 130,000 North Carolinians were unemployed. Of those, the number who asked to be referred to NCGA was never above 268 (and that number was only reached in 2011, when 489,095 North Carolinians were unemployed). The share of unemployed asking for referrals never breached 0.09 percent.

When native unemployed people are referred to NCGA, they’re almost without exception hired; between 1998 and 2011, 97 percent of referred applicants were hired. But they don’t tend to last. In 2011, 245 people were hired out of 268 referred, but only 163 (66.5 percent) of the hired applicants actually showed up to the first day of work. Worse, only seven lasted to the end of the growing season.

(From The Washington Post)

Stop-Motion Video Takes You on a Stunning 360-Degree Tour Sit...

Sun, 19 May 2013 07:17:42 -0400

Stop-Motion Video Takes You on a Stunning 360-Degree Tour

Sit back for a couple of minutes and take an exhilarating journey through Peru and Bolivia in this beautiful stop-motion video by Polish artist Piotr Wancerz of Timelapse Media. It’s an elaborate composite of 12,000 photos and video frames, shot over a three-week period during Piotr’s first trip to South America.

(From Mashable)

http://mashable.com/2013/05/18/stop-motion-video/

Death penalty statistics, country by country The latest capital...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:00:21 -0400

Death penalty statistics, country by country

The latest capital punishment statistics are out. Find out who uses the death penalty today - and see how it compares to 2007.

(From The Guardian, London)

Should the US be aligned with countries like China, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc.?… This is a human rights issue. Shameful.

npr: emergentfutures: In Cisco’s Classroom Of The Future, Your...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:01:39 -0400

npr:

emergentfutures:

In Cisco’s Classroom Of The Future, Your Professor Is Just An Illusion

New telepresence software could let you take a class from anywhere and appear as if you’re in the classroom.

Full Story: FastCoExist

Cool. Yet, is it really cool? —Wright

Images from Belgrade Fortress (taken during the Spring of 2012)

Sat, 11 May 2013 09:33:00 -0400

Istanbol (Istanbul) Gate

King's Gate.

Confluence of Sava and Danube rivers, seen from Belgrade Fortress. Notice old walls on the lower right.

Images from Belgrade Fortress (taken during the Spring of 2012)

Carbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared...

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:53:05 -0400

Carbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared Milestone

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes-long-feared-milestone.html?hp

(From The New York Times)

good: Starting a New Tradition: Georgia Students Hold School’s...

Wed, 01 May 2013 05:40:44 -0400

good:

Starting a New Tradition: Georgia Students Hold School’s First-Ever Integrated Prom
- Liz Dwyer wrote in Education, Race and Georgia

A group of high school seniors at Wilcox County High School in rural south Georgia made history this past weekend by bucking their community’s longstanding tradition of racially segregated proms—yes, one prom for white teens and one for black teens. Indeed, thanks to the inspiring students behind the Integrated Prom movement, for the first time ever, black and white students in the community dressed up and danced the night away together.

How does a community get around having a prom that’s open to everyone without violating any civil rights laws? Easy. You just don’t let the school sponsor it. After the courts integrated the schools in the area, proms became private, invite-only events. White parents began raising funds for an all-white senior prom, leaving black families with no choice but to follow suit and host proms for their children.

Yes, this still goes on on 2013, and not just in this town, either. And yes, some white Wilcox students still attended the all-white only prom. But as you can see from the video above, what happens when students say they’ve had enough and take action is truly inspiring.

theweekmagazine: 9 cool things about the new $100 bill

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:58:42 -0400

theweekmagazine:

9 cool things about the new $100 bill

npr: Stunning Video: 3 Years Of The Sun In 3 Minutes : The...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:10:10 -0400

npr:

Stunning Video: 3 Years Of The Sun In 3 Minutes : The Two-Way

Airport rankings The best airport on the planet NOT ONE American...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:33:51 -0400

Airport rankings

The best airport on the planet

NOT ONE American airport cracked the top ten in a ranking of the planet’s best airports, released last week by Skytrax, a company specialising in airline and airport research. In fact American airports didn’t even feature in the top 25—Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International was the first to appear, squeaking in at number 30. Denver and San Francisco came 36th and 40th, and at number 48, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, of which Gulliver is not particularly fond, was the only other American operation in the survey’s top 50.

Skytrax’s rankings, which are in their 14th year, are based on a survey that asks airline passengers to rank airports across 39 different categories, from shopping to security. Over 12m passengers filled out the survey this year, according to the company. And despite Skytrax’s website’s suffering from a bad case of Seemingly Random Capitalisations, the awards are worth taking seriously. Some travellers might find the tenth place of London Heathrow surprising, but much of that is driven by the opening of Terminal 5 and the airport’s impressive shopping options. (Every London airport except Luton made the top 50.)

American airports are generally fairly awful, so their poor performance in this survey is no great surprise. But it is also worth a response. Airports are gateways to cities and regions, and it’s striking that the infrastructure of the world’s lone superpower lags so far behind that of the rest of the world. The mood in Washington right now is one of austerity, so any near-term improvements to the country’s airports will have to come from state or local authorities—or, ideally, from the private sector. But some of the worst problems can only be solved with federal help. Lengthy delays have a lot to do with America’s outdated air-traffic control system, which Washington is trying to fix, but which cannot be upgraded without lots of money. And the lack of good transport links at some of the most important airports (here’s looking at you, LaGuardia) is probably only rectifiable with federal money.

Singapore’s Changi airport (pictured), which rose from second in the 2012 rankings to the top spot this year, has been upgraded repeatedly since 2000, and a billion-dollar project to replace its existing budget terminal with a new fourth terminal is currently in the works. If America doesn’t want to continue to fall behind other countries in terms of airport infrastructure, it’s going to have to spend some serious dough.

Click for Skytrax’s top 100 airports.

(From The Economist)

whitecoatwanderlust: THIS is the cutest thing on the internet.

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:14:09 -0400

whitecoatwanderlust:

THIS is the cutest thing on the internet.

reuters: Traveling soon? Tuck this map into your vintage...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:04:18 -0400

reuters:

Traveling soon? Tuck this map into your vintage suitcase: a stunning infographic of “Notable High Buildings of the World” from Rand, McNally & Co.’s Universal Atlas of The World (1896 edition).

Which tourists spent the most money last year? The answer may surprise you.

Map source: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas website

todaysdocument: “‘Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:27:18 -0400

todaysdocument:

“‘Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer.’

The very words of poor Peter, taken as he sat for his picture.”

Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 4/2/1863

This 1863 photograph of “Peter,” a former slave displaying scars from his overseer’s whippings, was widely reproduced as evidence of slavery’s cruelty. The image was sometimes paired with a photo or drawing of “Peter” after his enlistment in the U.S. Army. “Peter” was sometimes identified as “Gordon.”

via DocsTeach

The power of introverts. The world is full of noise and those...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:14:26 -0400

The power of introverts.

The world is full of noise and those that are the loudest are the ones we tend to follow but what about the quiet ones?

Author Susan Cain shines a spotlight on introverts and reveals how over time our society has come to look to extroverts as leaders. Not suggesting that one is better than the other, Susan argues that the world needs an equal space between introverts and extroverts; that an innovative, creative world wouldn’t be the same without the two coming together.

(from The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, The RSA)

Why are the French drinking less wine? Does the seemingly...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:31:17 -0400

Why are the French drinking less wine?

Does the seemingly perpetual decline in consumption of France’s national drink symbolise a corresponding decline in French civilisation?

The question worries a lot of people - oenophiles, cultural commentators, flag-wavers for French exceptionalism - all of whom have watched with consternation the gradual disappearance of wine from the national dinner table.

Recent figures merely confirm what has been observed for years, that the number of regular drinkers of wine in France is in freefall.

In 1980 more than half of adults were consuming wine on a near-daily basis. Today that figure has fallen to 17%.

Meanwhile, the proportion of French people who never drink wine at all has doubled to 38%.

(From BBC)

Video: Photographer narrowly escapes crocodile’s jaws in...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:27:59 -0400

Antonio Ruiz and friends lured the reptiles over with chunks of meat

Sometimes it is worth foregoing the money shot when your life is put terrifyingly in danger.

Photographer Antonio Ruiz took that chance, however, and nearly fell victim of an angry crocodile.

Ruiz and some friends were baiting the crocs on the banks of the Tarcoles River in Costa Rica, luring them over by throwing pieces of meat into the water.

But as this video shows, Ruiz escaped with his life and his limbs just about intact after one of the reptiles lurched onto the grass at the side of the river, inches away from him.

In the video, Ruiz’s companions argue about his proximity to the water from a safer distance away.

The lucky escape has gone viral on YouTube, attracting over 300,000 views. David Clow, who uploaded the video, has defended his friend in the face of heavy criticism from commenters on the clip.

Clow said: “my friend, Antonio, may have a death wish, and he may be a little crazy, but he is not stupid. He is a hard dude…like he says in the video, everyone made it worse yelling. He knows how to behave around them. Try not to be too mean, people.”

Rio Tarcoles is a renowned spot in Costa Rica for crocodile-watching, due to the amount of them in the vicinity at any one time. The area the friends were stood was aptly called ‘Crocodile River’.

(From The Independent, London)

scottmstringer: Read My New Op-Ed on Paid Sick Leave: It’s time...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:14:21 -0400

scottmstringer:

Read My New Op-Ed on Paid Sick Leave:

It’s time for the New York City Council to pass paid sick leave, the latest in a long line of battles to protect workers.

Read my Huffington Post op-ed to learn more.

Spring has arrived?? … Happy First Day of Spring, Albany,...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:37:00 -0400

Spring has arrived?? … Happy First Day of Spring, Albany, NY

Bacioco!

Saudi Arabians in ‘sidewalk skiing’ craze –...

Saudi Arabians in ‘sidewalk skiing’ craze – video

The World’s First Test Tube Hamburger Costs $325,000, Will Be...

The World’s First Test Tube Hamburger Costs $325,000, Will Be Eaten In London

North Carolina needed 6,500 farm workers. Only 7 Americans stuck...

North Carolina needed 6,500 farm workers. Only 7 Americans stuck it out.

Stop-Motion Video Takes You on a Stunning 360-Degree Tour Sit...

Stop-Motion Video Takes You on a Stunning 360-Degree Tour

Death penalty statistics, country by country The latest capital...

Death penalty statistics, country by country

npr: emergentfutures: In Cisco’s Classroom Of The Future, Your...

In Cisco’s Classroom Of The Future, Your Professor Is Just An Illusion

Images from Belgrade Fortress (taken during the Spring of 2012)

Carbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared...

Carbon Dioxide Level Passes Long-Feared Milestone

good: Starting a New Tradition: Georgia Students Hold School’s...

theweekmagazine: 9 cool things about the new $100 bill

npr: Stunning Video: 3 Years Of The Sun In 3 Minutes : The...

Airport rankings The best airport on the planet NOT ONE American...

Airport rankings

The best airport on the planet

whitecoatwanderlust: THIS is the cutest thing on the internet.

reuters: Traveling soon? Tuck this map into your vintage...

todaysdocument: “‘Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was...

The power of introverts. The world is full of noise and those...

Why are the French drinking less wine? Does the seemingly...

Why are the French drinking less wine?

Video: Photographer narrowly escapes crocodile’s jaws in...

Video: Photographer narrowly escapes crocodile’s jaws in Costa Rica

scottmstringer: Read My New Op-Ed on Paid Sick Leave: It’s time...

Spring has arrived?? … Happy First Day of Spring, Albany,...