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'Twitter seeking to buy TweetDeck'
Asked about the report, Twitter said: "We don't comment on rumors. We don't provide off-the-record background on rumors. We don't wink twice or release puffs of smoke abt rumors."
While declining to comment on a TweetDeck acquisition, a Twitter spokesman did confirm that the San Francisco-based startup had plans to open an office in London, as reported by the Journal.
The spokesman said Twitter, however, had not yet determined where it would locate a European headquarters.
TweetDeck is one a number of programs used to access Twitter from mobile phones, laptops or desktop computers. TweetDeck employs around 15 people, most of whom are located in Britain.
The Journal's report of a TweetDeck acquisition comes amid management changes at Twitter.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey returned to the company last month as executive chairman to head its product team.
Dorsey, who founded Twitter in March 2006 with Biz Stone and Evan Williams, resigned as Twitter's chief executive in 2008. He remained chairman of the company but did not take an active role in daily operations.
More than 200 million people use Twitter, firing off more than 140 million messages of 140 characters or less daily. ~ AFP News
Scientists settle centuries-old debate on perception - 'Nurture v nature' debate settled?
Imagine, William Molyneux wrote to the great British thinker, that a man blind from birth who has learned to identify objects -- a sphere and a cube, for example -- only through his sense of touch is suddenly able to see.
The puzzle, he continued, is "Whether he Could, by his Sight, and before he touch them, know which is the Globe and which the Cube?"
For philosophers of the time, answering "Molyneux's question," as it was known ever after, would resolve a fundamental uncertainty about the human mind.
Empiricists believed that we are born blank slates, and become the sum total of our accumulated experience.
So-called "nativists" countered that our minds are, from the outset, pre-stocked with ideas waiting to be activated by sight, sound and touch.
If a blind man who miraculously recovered his sight could instantly distinguish the cube from the globe it would mean the knowledge was somehow innate, they argued.
More recently, this "nurture vs. nature" debate has found its counterpart in modern neuroscience.
"The beauty of Molyneux's question is that it also relates to how representations are formed in the brain," said Pawan Sinha, a professor at MIT in Boston and the main architect of the study.
"Do the different modalities, or senses, build up a common representation, or are these independent representations that one cannot access even though the other modality has built it?" he asked in a phone interview.
Recent studies have suggested that the mental images we accumulate through sight and touch do, in fact, form a common pool of impressions that can be triggered and retrieved by one sense or the other.
But until now, no one has been able to design a definitive experiment.
The problem was finding subjects. They would have to have been blind at birth and then have had their sight restored, but not until they were old enough to reliably participate in tests.
Most forms of curable congenital blindness, however, are detected and cured in infancy, so such individuals are extremely rare.
More precisely, they are rare in rich countries. So in 2003, Sinha set up a program in India in cooperation with the Shroff Charity Eye Hospital in New Delhi.
Among the many patients he treated, he found five -- four boys and one girl, aged eight to 17 -- who met the criteria for surgery that would almost instantly take them from total blindness to fully seeing.
Once bandages were removed, researchers had to first be sure that the volunteers could see well.
Using objects that looked like Lego building blocks, they tested the ability to discriminate visually between similar shapes. The subjects scored nearly 100 percent.
They scored nearly as well when it came to telling the difference by touch alone, according to the study, published in Nature Neuroscience.
For the critical test, however, in which the children first felt an object and then tried to distinguish visually between that same object and a similar one, the results were barely better than if they had guessed.
"They couldn't form the connection," said Yuri Ostrovsky, also a researcher at MIT and a co-author of the study.
"The conclusion is that there does not seem to be any cross-modal" -- that is, from one sense to the other -- "representation available to perform the task," he said by phone.
The answer to Molyneux's question, then, appears to be "no": the data blind people gather tactically that allows them to identify a cup and a vase, and to tell them apart, is not accessible through vision.
At least not at first.
"From a neuro-scientific point of view, the most interesting finding is the rapidity with which this inability was compensated," said Richard Held, an emeritus professor at MIT and lead author of the study.
"Within about a week, it's done -- and that is very fast. We were surprised," he said by phone.
The overall results suggest that the human brain is more "plastic," or malleable, longer into childhood that previously thought, the researchers said.
"This challenges the dogma of 'critical periods,' the idea that if a child has been deprived of vision for the first three or four years of life, he or she will be unable to acquire any visual proficiency," Sinha said.~AFP Relax
Time-lapse video of flight captures! A flight from San Francisco to Paris
If given a whole row to themselves in a flight from San Francisco to Paris, most people would just sleep. Not this passenger, who set up his Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR camera on a tripod and attached a timelapse controller.
When he pointed his 16mm-to-35mm lens out his airplane window, the result was this remarkable timelapse video of his 11-hour flight.
Taking that Great Circle route above the polar regions, the video flies us through the aurora borealis, giving us a look at those spectacular northern lights.
Also remarkable is the fact that the Air France flight crew allowed the use of that bundle of electronic devices throughout the entire flight. At the end of this video, you'll see the rig with which he snapped the 2,459 shots -- one approximately every two miles. After the flight, they were edited together along with a few judiciously placed iPhone pics shot along the way.
By the way, you don't even need to be flying that far north to see the northern lights -- once on a night flight from Montréal to Detroit, I could see the aurora borealis out of the right side of the plane during the entire trip. ~ yahoo
Learn How To Get Your Child To Behave and Listen
5 Facts You MUST Understand if You Are Ever Going to Stop Your Child's Defiance,Tantrums and Out-Of-Control Misbehavior...
1. Many so-called "discipline methods" are actually cleverly disguised forms of punishments and rewards that can cause your child to suffer the lifelong consequences of having a lower sense of self-confidence... yet the parenting marketing industry continues to lie to you so they can maximize their profits by selling you watered-down versions of lashing kids with belts.
2. Disciplining methods such as rewards, consequences, and manipulation are actually the LEAST effective method of getting your child to listen and cooperate. We'll explore what types of methods REALLY work in a minute.
3. Sitting your child down for a painful "talking to" or forcing your child to take "responsibility" are NOT the best way to stop misbehavior and unleash the genius inside your child... I'll tell you the exact types of unique child discipline that produce 10x better results below.
4. You DON'T need to waste your money on expensive child psychiatrists or doctors who push expensive pharmaceutical drugs to help control your child's behavior. These drugs can have serious consequences and they never address the real problem that causes the misbehavior. I'll show you how to use the power of child brain science in more detail below.
Before we get to #5, if you didn't do it already, make sure not to miss out on this free report with tons of happy child parenting tips today... Click Here!
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What is it worth to have access to an ever-growing library of step-by-step cake and cookie decorating videos made from member requests?
And if you tried to learn the professional techniques that separate ordinary cakes from jaw-dropping masterpieces through sheer trial and error, how long would it take? Months? Probably even years? And how many costly mistakes would you make along the way? Click Here!
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The courses even allow you to earn Continuing Education Units, or Professional Development Units
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Nice piano music with romantic pictures
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Get Paid To Write Articles & Stories
By checking grammar and spelling errors last in the editing process, you won't waste any time by correcting those on something you may delete.
If you're writing for a newspaper or magazine and are new to professional writing, it's customary to introduce yourself and your story in a query or pitch letter. Find the name of the editor who will be handling your piece (i.e.; if you're writing an article about cars for a newspaper, find the name of the car-section editor). This information can be found in the masthead, a box containing the names of the editors, usually found near the front or comment pages of a publication. Write a catchy but brief outline of what your story is about and why that publication's readership would be interested in it. Also include a few lines about your experience as a writer. The tone of this letter should be professional, but affable and friendly. It is not the place to make demands, or admit your shortcomings as a professional writer. Discussing wages and freelance fees should come after the editor has accepted your pitch.
If you have no experience as a professional writer, do not start off pitching columns (opinion pieces). Columns are generally reserved for people who have either been working at a publication for a very long time, or for people who have a particular expertise in a field. If you're new to writing, start small. Think obituaries, human-interest stories and simple news articles. It's generally easier to start with newspapers than with magazines. Try writing for life, fashion, arts, cars or travel sections before pitching stories to news. These sections tend to be understaffed and therefore have a greater budget for freelance writers.
If you're interested in pursuing a career as a writer, be realistic. People who make their living as writers generally start to build their portfolio of published work as early as high school. It generally takes even the most dedicated writer several years before he can make a living off of the trade. In other words, don't quit your day job. Ease into writing gradually, perhaps doing freelance pieces while maintaining a more stable job part-time.
Take some courses in both non-fiction and fiction writing. Not only will they help with your work, but also you can make contacts in the business by getting to know your professors and fellow writers. This will help you to be taken seriously when you start pitching articles for publication. Being a good freelance writer means knowing how to write and how to network.
Make sure your article answers five "w" and one"h" questions: who,why, where, when, what and how.
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Amazing UFO Fleet Over Fukushima Japan March 26, 2011
I ever saw this type of moving light at sometime near year 2007 while i'm lying at the swimming pool.
That time i saw only two of this, and it moved away very very fast!
Plan your baby boy or baby girl?
let nature take it's course, or take control, and plan your own future, and learn how you too can add a baby boy or baby girl to your family!
http://tinyurl.com/44t6dqg Theory of Everything
Many forces are with us. But we lack a single theory to explain them all. Since Einstein, scientists have been searching without luck for "the unifying theory" to explain everything from…
http://news.yahoo.com/video/whoknew-19124225/theory-of-everything-24633645
http://news.yahoo.com/video/whoknew-19124225/theory-of-everything-24633645
Can Plastic Be Green?
Generally speaking, eco-friendly plastics can be categorized into bioplastics, biodegradable plastics and recycled plastics. Out of these three, the bioplastics sector is already perceived to be the promising, yet gradual step towards sustainability.
Bioplastics
This material comes from renewable, natural sources like vegetable oil, corn starch, pea starch and orange rinds. The premise with bioplastics is if plastics are made from natural materials to begin with, they would break down more easily and quickly when disposed. Unlike traditional plastics, bioplastics do not produce net increases in carbon dioxide emission when they break down, because the plants used to make their raw materials used to absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide to begin with. Furthermore, most bioplastics are compostable into natural materials that blend harmlessly with soil. Bioplastics are often confused with biodegradable plastics. Some bioplastics can be degraded like these biodegradable plastics, but not all are. It is therefore more appropriate to call bioplastics “bio-derived plastics” to further distinguish them from biodegradable and other plastics type.
Biodegradable Plastics
Biodegradable plastics have small, biodegradable materials (like starch) inserted in their backbone structures to initiate biodegradation in suitable conditions. True biodegradable plastics can undergo fast decompositions in both naturally aerobic (composting) and anaerobic (landfill) conditions. On the other hand, some biodegradable plastics have additives incorporated in their chemical structures too so they can be either degraded by UV radiation (photodegradation) or by oxidation process (oxo-degradation), then later on by bacteria or other microbes. Technically, all plastics can be biodegraded by bacteria, but it takes tightly-controlled conditions to make degradation happen fast and effectively. Plus, plastics have widely differing rates of degradation, with most plastics having very slow rates to be considered degradable at all. By nature, biodegradable plastics are petroleum-based (like traditional plastics) that doesn’t always break down easily into harmless substances.
Recycled Plastics
Another alternative solution to the problem of plastic disposal is to recycle old plastic materials into new ones. However, plastic recycling lags far behind other items such as newspapers and corrugated fiberboards. In the U.S., only 7% of the total plastic waste generated in 2009 was recovered for recycling. This is perhaps due to underlying challenges with segregation (mix-up with other materials including organic wastes), the amount of toxic by-products produced during reprocessing and the end quality of the recycled materials (as recycled plastic resins have different properties from virgin reins). Still, recycling is another big possibility in curbing down pollution from plastic wastes and reducing exhaustive impacts we pose on petroleum resources.
So, are bioplastics and biodegradable plastics really good?
Production and use of bioplastics and biodegradable are regarded to be generally better as they are more sustainable and eco-friendly than traditional plastics. However, it is not always that simple. It is important to see things in their entirety to understand whether “sustainability” and “eco-friendliness” of these plastics do more good than harm. Bioplastics production will still involve petroleum as a main energy supply, while biodegradable plastics still have petroleum as raw material source. Moreover, bioplastics production would also require large areas for raw materials, which will shift agricultural lands from food to bioplastics production. Most bioplastics and biodegradable plastics still don’t decompose readily; some need strict conditions (like high temperature and required oxygen levels) and may still take years to break down. Further, even though bioplastics reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon dioxide reduction, when decomposition is made in landfills, they also generate methane, another greenhouse gas. Lastly, prices of bioplastics and biodegradable plastics are still not cost-competitive with traditional plastics, making them a hard-sell among end users.
Thus, the search for better plastics is still far from over. Until then, let’s be smarter about how we use plastics and how to get rid of them when we’re done with them! ~ by adminonegreenplanet
The $2,000 iPad...
They generally looked at me, baffled. "What do you mean, $2,000? I thought they started at $500."
But I figure $2,000 is the minimum that 's new toy is going to cost me.
How come?
Simple. If I don't spend that $500, I'll invest it.
Historically, the stock market has produced average long-term returns of maybe 5% a year above inflation. (More on this below.)
At that rate, in 10 years' time my $500 will have grown to about $800. That's in today's dollars—after inflation. In 15 years it'll be about $1,000, and in 30 years, $2,000.
I figure I'll be retiring in about 30 years, which is when I'm going to need lots of capital. I can have the iPad now, or about $2,000 then.
Thanks, but I'll take the $2,000.
(If I were younger the iPad would cost me even more. If you're 30 or younger and you just bought one, congratulations: It probably cost you about $3,000.)
Yes, I typically do these mental calculations, at least in the back of my mind, for most things. A "$50" lunch at Morton's really costs $200. A "$5,000" trip to Bali: $20,000. And so on. It tends to cut down on the spending. I typically come back from the mall with no bags, gleefully clutching my future millions. (, as Jason Zweig over the weekend, takes a similar view.)
As you can imagine, I get some funny looks when I tell people how I think. But, oddly, a lot of people go further. They get defensive, or angry, or downright hostile. "Oh, that's just absolutely ridiculous," they say, glaring.
But is it?
I'd argue it's the conventional, "here and how" thinking about money that's ridiculous. And that the sticker price on each item—the "$500" iPad and so on—is grossly misleading.
It doesn't reflect the fundamental truth about our lives: We're short of capital.
Maybe not today, or this year or even this decade. But if you're like most people, you're going to have less money over the course of your life than you would like. The average 65-year-old is going to live another 20 years so after retiring, and many people will live for 30 or more.
So, one way or another, you are already rationing your capital across your lifespan, whether you realize it or not.
If you choose to spend a dollar today, you are actively choosing not to have four dollars, or six, or even eight later.
For someone age 40, each dollar you spend is actually costing you about $4. Even if you're in your mid-50s, each dollar you spend is actually taking about $2 out of your retirement fund.
And for somebody age 20, for whom the money can grow for at least 45 years, each dollar is actually costing you nine.
This is real.
I've had a lot of reader response about the scary math of retirement.
Tens of millions of Americans have saved too little to retire in comfort. Just to provide an income of $1,000 a year in retirement, you'll probably need to save about $20,000. Someone who wants their savings to provide them with just $25,000 a year in retirement is going to need about half a million dollars, and you can do the math from there.
The reality? Fewer than half of all workers have set aside even $25,000. Forty-six percent have less than $10,000. And just 59% are currently saving for their retirement at all.
Even when you factor in the value of home equity, most people are falling a long way short of where they want to be. The consequences are going to be grim.
In the circumstances, I like to think in a way that balances present wants and future needs. Sure, I can go out for lunch. But I should be aware of what I won't have as a result.
It's a balance. I don't want to die poor, and I don't want to live miserably and die rich either.
When I point out how much people are raiding from their retirement accounts in order to spend today, some people question the numbers.
I'll concede you might not get a real return of 5%, the historic average, from equities at today's prices. The stock market seems pretty expensive by some measures.
But even at, say, 4%, money doubles in less than 20 years and triples in less than 30. A 30-year-old is still spending at least $2,000 of his retirement stash on his $499 iPad 2.
And even if the market is expensive now, it will presumably offer better value at some point in the future. That would generate better opportunities for even higher returns. Those who invested during the crash two years ago have made big bucks.
And in some ways, my numbers actually understate the true cost of the money we spend today.
First, a lot of people aren't even maxing out their 401(k) and individual retirement account contributions each year. So they're missing out on tax breaks, and maybe a company match, as well. For someone in that position, their new iPad didn't just cost them $2,000 or $3,000. It may have cost them thousands more.
Second, I'm just looking at the compound returns up until the age of 65 or 70. In truth the capital you have then should continue to grow, even if at a lower rate. So the true cost of things may be even higher.
And there's a third issue.
So far, I've only talked about the calculations for one-off expenses.
Many of our bills are recurring, monthly expenses. Like a cellphone. Or cable. Or car-lease payments.
And when you run the same calculations on recurring costs, the figures go parabolic.
That $100 cable bill? Over 20 years, when you factor in the lost investment returns, that's going to cost you about $40,000. Over 30 years, about $80,000.
And over 35 years, $100,000.
Think of it as a factor of 1,000.
That $400 monthly car lease: $400,000. A $50 cellphone bill: $50,000.
Yikes. No surprise that I don't have a personal cellphone. Or premium cable.
As for the iPad? I don't need one anyway. my hacked NookColor. I turned it into an Android Tablet only as an experiment, but it's turned out to be much better than I expected.
Runs loads of Android apps, fits in my coat pocket. And, unlike Mr. Jobs's marvel, it only cost me $800.
That's $200 on the sticker, and $600 in lost interest. What a deal! ~
Old photos, recreated!!! .Photographer recreates pictures from the past
Old photos are fascinating for about a million reasons. It's awesome seeing fashion trends and hair styles from the past, and what people and places you know used to look like. Irina Werning, a photographer from Buenos Aires, has taken her love of old pictures to another level by reenacting them. "With my camera, I started inviting people to go back to their future," says Werning, whose ongoing photo project re-stages photos with their original subjects in their original clothing (or as close to them as they can get) and original surroundings some 20 to 50 years later.
This first photo is of Flo, Maria and Dolores in 1979 and again in 2010. Amazing! Flip through for more awesome "Back to the Future" shots, and check out the whole batch on irinawerning.com.
Photo by: irinawerning.com --> more http://tinyurl.com/3c3kqr7
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A healthier mind for a happier life
Think positive and you'll be back on your feet in no time!!!!!!!!
FBI asks public for help breaking encrypted notes tied to 1999 murder
In what seems like a throwback to the still-unsolved Zodiac killings that terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, the FBI has sent out a public appeal for amateur sleuths to help solve a key cryptographic clue in a 1999 murder case.
On June 30, 1999, police officers in St. Louis, Missouri found the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick, who'd been murdered and dumped in a field. The only clues investigators recovered from the scene were two encrypted notes stuffed into the victim's pockets.
"Despite extensive work by our Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), as well as help from the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery to this day, and Ricky McCormick's murderer has yet to face justice," the FBI said in a press release today. CRRU chief Dan Olson added, "We are really good at what we do, but we could use some help with this one ... Maybe someone with a fresh set of eyes might come up with a brilliant new idea."
The FBI has reached out to the public with code breaking brain teasers in the past--but they were games, not actual cases. This is the chance for want-to-be FBI sleuths to break their brains on code that is part of a current investigation. The notes are after the jump.
Channel your favorite CSI character, folks. Here are the notes:
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