Links - 16th July 2010

"Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines." - R. Buckminster Fuller

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Yvette's Wedding Dresses Panama City Florida Yvette's Yvette's
This is Geocities x10. And it doesn't seem to be a joke

Animated stereoviews of old Japan

The Creativity Crisis - "The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded. When scholars gave creativity tasks to both engineering majors and music majors, their scores laid down on an identical spectrum... The lore of pop psychology is that creativity occurs on the right side of the brain. But we now know that if you tried to be creative using only the right side of your brain, it’d be like living with ideas perpetually at the tip of your tongue, just beyond reach... When creative children have a supportive teacher... they tend to excel. When they don’t, they tend to underperform and drop out of high school or don’t finish college at high rates. They’re quitting because they’re discouraged and bored, not because they’re dark, depressed, anxious, or neurotic. It’s a myth that creative people have these traits. (Those traits actually shut down creativity)... Rather, creative people, for the most part, exhibit active moods and positive affect. They’re not particularly happy—contentment is a kind of complacency creative people rarely have. But they’re engaged, motivated, and open to the world."

Late-blooming lesbians: women can switch sexualities as they mature - "As many as two-thirds of women who feel lesbian attractions may have changed their sexual orientation over time. The findings appear to pose a challenge to the scientific consensus that a person's sexuality is determined more by their genes than environment... Lisa Diamond, professor of psychology and gender studies at Utah University... tracked nearly 100 women who felt some degree of attraction to the same sex... Over the course of a decade two-thirds of the women changed their sexual orientations"

Everything you always wanted to know about Japanese schoolgirls (but were afraid to ask) - "It is easier for those doing the idolizing to develop an attachment to "a pure, awkward young woman" than to an accomplished performer. Thus even when they are professional, idols strive not to appear too professional, to give the impression that they ended up in the spotlight by accident."

Toyota Is a Symptom of Japan's Decline - "In the early part of the last decade, particularly under the maverick administration of celebrity prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japan made fleeting attempts to promote itself as the land of the new new thing: nano-this, bio-that. Nothing stuck. There is still no Japanese Google... [Toyota] suffered from an insularity and parochialism, and a hierarchical structure that discouraged innovation or input from others... Toyota is symptomatic of a nation that has lost its way. According to a 2008 Pew survey, Japanese were more dissatisfied with the direction of their country than almost any other nation, including Pakistan and Russia... A shrinking, bargain-hunting, risk-averse population translates into a deflationary spiral, low wage growth, and decreased tax revenues... Japan will continue to give up, fade away, and blame its limitations on demographics and the changing international balance of power"

Miroslava Mikheeva-Duma: Best dressed mum

WikiAnswers - What is an italian chandelier - "I think it's either a chandelier made in Italy or a really posh chandelier. But I'm not sure! Hope that helps evn tho i don't think it will! lol! x"

Study: Why Older Women Have Higher Sex Drive - "Women in their 30s and early 40s are significantly more sexual than younger women. Women ages 27 through 45 report not only having more sexual fantasies (and more intense sexual fantasies) than women ages 18 through 26 but also having more sex, period. And they are more willing than younger women to have casual sex, even one-night stands. In other words, despite the girls-gone-wild image of promiscuous college women, it is women in their middle years who are America's most sexually industrious. By contrast, men's sexual interest and output... peaks in the teen years and then settles to a steady level (an average of three orgasms per week) for most of their lives... [an earlier study] found that women in their early 30s feel more lustful and report less abstinence than women in other age groups. In both studies, these findings held true for both partnered and single women, meaning that married women in their 30s and early 40s tend to have more sex than married women in their early 20s; ditto for single women. Also, whether the women were mothers didn't matter. Only age had a strong affect on women's reported sexual interest and behavior."

Nine Ways to Crack The Office Dress Code - "The more intellectual or powerful your work environment, the more fashion fripperies are frowned upon. Perfectly dreary but true. Chanel understood this principle and designed for women with work ethic accordingly. “Be a caterpillar by day and a butterfly by night,”‘ she chided, wearing her invisibly elegant little suits everyday. Office chic shares that sense of focus. It is clothing that looks good but doesn’t get in the way of what you have to do and what you have to say. If you need an eccentric expression siphon it into intense little accessories"
Of course, it's much harder for men

One in five adults in love with someone other than partner - "One in four are not entirely happy in their current relationship. And of those who are now completely content with their other half, just over 50 per cent have experienced feelings for someone else. Worryingly, one in six of those who love another will follow it through and become involved in a long-term affair. But better news for the long-suffering partners of those with a wandering eye is that falling for someone else usually only happens once during each relationship. And only six per cent said they were planning to leave their long-term partner for the other man or woman... "The research shows just how many people believe that it's possible to hold feelings for more than one person.""

Doomsday: How BP Gulf disaster may have triggered a world-killing event - "251 million years ago a mammoth undersea methane bubble caused massive explosions, poisoned the atmosphere and destroyed more than 96 percent of all life on Earth... If the methane bubble—a bubble that could be as big as 20 miles wide—erupts with titanic force from the seabed into the Gulf, every ship, drilling rig and structure within the region of the bubble will immediately sink. All the workers, engineers, Coast Guard personnel and marine biologists participating in the salvage operation will die instantly. Next, the ocean bottom will collapse, instantaneously displacing up to a trillion cubic feet of water or more and creating a towering supersonic tsunami annihilating everything along the coast and well inland. Like a thermonuclear blast, a high pressure atmospheric wave could precede the tidal wave flattening everything in its path before the water arrives."
Sounds more entertaining than 2012

The tuition nation - "Private tuition – together with the trade in test papers – has become a booming industry, probably raking in hundreds of millions of dollars and providing jobs for thousands of people.... a Chinese-language newspaper reported a father spent almost half his monthly salary, or S$960, to pay for his son’s English lessons... In this small city of 700sq km, there are at least 500 tuition centres, each with a database of home tutors for parents to select from... With the weak employment market for graduates, this is useful. It has allowed many retrenched professionals and executives to survive the crisis of unemployment."

Report: Teens Using Digital Drugs to Get High - "Kids around the country are getting high on the internet, thanks to MP3s that induce a state of ecstasy. And it could be a gateway drug leading teens to real-world narcotics. At least, that’s what Kansas News 9 is reporting about a phenomenon called “i-dosing,” which involves finding an online dealer who can hook you up with “digital drugs” that get you high through your headphones. And officials are taking it seriously... The educators have gone so far as to ban iPods at school"

Deluded animal rights protestor lets children's pet rabbit loose - "[The note] read: 'This is animal cruelty. Rabbits should not be left in hutches, they should be out in the wild and socialising.' Now Barney is feared to have been let out into local countryside - where rabbit experts say he would be unlikely to survive more than a few days, at the mercy of foxes and other hazards"

Asian millionaires beat Europe in rich list

Shopping centre management install Asian 'stand-up' toilets following cultural awareness course - "They are regarded as unhygienic and backward in many parts of the world - infamously, a controversial sculpture briefly displayed at EU offices in Brussels last year lampooning member states depicted Bulgaria as a squat toilet. Mike Bone, of the British Toilet Association, warned the washing facilities associated with squat toilets could pose a hygiene hazard. 'We really don't see a need for them,' he said. 'Space for public toilets in places like shopping centres is already at a premium, and if this is meant to cater for Muslims we would point out that the vast majority use normal toilets in their own homes.'"

Why A Good Memory Is Bad For You - "Memory is useful because it allows foragers to find food without the effort of searching. "But excessive memory use prevents the forager from updating its knowledge in rapidly changing environments""

Grief-stricken mum breaks taboo - "Weeping inconsolably, the woman, who appeared to be in her 60s, flung her body against the side of the hearse, her wailing a sorrowful counterpoint to the toneless chants of Buddhist monks in the background."
This is one of the most scummy newspaper articles I've ever read

YouTube - Chalk Funny Commercial - Japan Dairy Council

Revealing Japan's low-tech belly - "Police stations without computers, 30-year-old "on hold" tapes grinding out tinny renditions of Greensleeves, ATMs that close when the bank does, suspect car engineering, and kerosene heaters but no central heating... This technological divide goes hand in hand with Japan's much touted "Galapagos" status. Like the plants and creatures on those islands Japan's tech standards and business practices have developed a unique character incompatible with anything beyond its borders"

New book puts death penalty on trial - "1. When foreign governments have clout over our economic interests and are willing to use that clout, their citizens will not face the death penalty;
2. When local citizens come from rich, well-connected families, or when a case threatens to involve others from this stratum of society, a way is found to avoid having them face the death penalty or even severe penalties;
3. When the state is convinced that an accused who is poor and “low-class” is guilty, and provided that exception no. 1 above does not apply, due process is less important than putting him on the fast-track to the noose...
Because so many laws mandate the death penalty, tying the hands of judges, the real decider as to who hangs and who does not is the prosecutor through his ability to pick and choose what charges to level at the accused. It stinks when the quantum of drugs the accused is charged with handling can go up or down depending on the day of the week or phase of the moon"

YTMND - What Women Want
Mel Gibson

Performance and Identity: The Music of Lady Gaga - "I am soliciting essays on a range of subjects that illustrate the influence and impact of Lady Gaga and her music. Essays will come from a range of scholars, including artists, music theoreticians and practitioners, psychologists, sociologists, cultural anthropologists, linguists, literary and theatre scholars, etc."

Marriage isn't a magic fix - "When controlling for differences between the two groups -- namely that cohabitating parents are "typically younger, less well off, less likely to own their own homes, have fewer educational qualifications and are less likely to plan their pregnancies than married people" -- the difference in the likelihood of a split dropped to 2 percent."

Video shows family dancing to "I will survive" at Auschwitz

Star Wars Subway Car « Improv Everywhere - "For our latest mission, we staged a reenactment of the first Princess Leia / Darth Vader scene from Star Wars on a New York City subway car. The white walls and sliding doors on the train reminded us of the rebel ship from the movie"

Honey Pie - "Her lips are full and pink. Her teal green eyes are intense and inviting. Her black eyeliner accentuates her high cheekbones and her strawberry hair complements her light African skin. Her metallic halter dress holds her supple thighs and pushes on her round breast. She is the result of careful attention and workmanship. When you see her up close, you can’t help but stare. At $6000, she’s certainly not a cheap date. For creator, Matt McMullen, she's a work of art. For everyone else, she's a Real Doll."