An afternoon flickr

Unique
Originally uploaded by Irina / Riri.

Taken in the Toronto International Airport.

Why is it that so many of my favorites were taken in airports? Apparently airport architechs know what it's all about.

Peep it, yo!

This site offers free magazine subscriptions in a variety of topics. All you have to do is fill out a form. They make their money by finding out about you and then selling advertisements to people who want you as their demographic.

Doesn't cost you anything. The link is to diggnations promotion, as that's where I heard about the site. If you haven't checked out diggnation, it's a weekly video (also offered as just audio) podcast that covers some of the week's most popular stories on digg.com

Study: Emotion rules the brain's decisions

The evidence has been piling up throughout history, and now neuroscientists have proved it's true: The brain's wiring emphatically relies on emotion over intellect in decision-making.

Really, when you think about it, who needs logic when you can get sweet emoticons? :]

read more | digg story

Dear Santa...

The latest versin of Lego Mindstorms has been released. The newest release, titled NXT has many improvements from previous versions of the kit. According to Red Herring:

Lego’s Mindstorms kit has always appealed to schoolchildren and academic researchers. They’ve been used in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition for kids, as well as in projects by computer science departments at Harvard and other universities.

[...]
“Outside the military and big commercial companies, hobbyists have had to [rummage around] for parts. Toolsets like this could get more and more people interested in building robots, even if it’s just people who are interested in high-tech toys,”...

At $250 the price may be too much to appeal to everyone, but the idea of building my own robots completely justifies the price to me. I mean, comon! ROBOTS!

Space Race v2.0

Russia seeks volunteers for mock Mars mission
Crew of five 'Marsanauts' will spend 520 days on simulated voyage.
Read more

Looks like Russia is pulling ahead in the race to mars. While countries like Japan have announced a moonbase by 2030, Russia is taking the first step to mars by simulating the trip, complete with mock disasters and equiptment failures.

The goals of the simulation is to study how such a deep space mission would impact the crew’s health. Along with monitoring the crew's health, they will also test capabilities for remote diagnosis and treatment via video links, organize crew activities and work to prevent any negative impacts prolonged spaceflight would have on human health.


See Also: Japan aims for manned lunar station in 2030

The Morning Flickr

I found a couple pretty interesting photosets tonight.


To right:
United Neon 3 of 3 - "The sky's the limit" - Originally uploaded by Today is a good day.
See also.

Another page of interest: How to customize the Flickr Photostream badge (see right panel).

ABC prime-time Webcasts here to stay

ABC prime-time lineup to be offered on the web permanently

Disney has announced that ABC's prime time lineup will be available permanently on an ad-supported website, after it's successful test which drew in a more web-savvy audience.

Is this the beginning of the end for traditional broadcast television?

read more | digg story

Check it out: pharmaceuticals company aims to regulate aging.
Elixir Pharmaceuticals is a private company that aims to not only extend the expected lifetime (by up to as much as 30%), but also to regulate aging related diseases.

Receiving their first investments in 2000, Dr. Cindy Bayley, along with Dr. Leonard Guarente, Dr. Cynthia Kenyon, and other leading researchers began their search for the key to aging. In the 6 years that have passed, they have discovered not only the chromosome location of the genes related to a long life, but also a new treatment for Type II Diabetes.

Elixir continues to stay at the top of the newly emerging biotechnology field, as well as leading the pack in aging related research.

More on Dr. Leonard Guarente and the search / benefits of anti-aging technology can be heard on Futures in Biotech on the twit.tv network.

A few fall reading suggestions:
Throughout the summer, I've finally had some time to read some books, several of which I'd like to recommend to the readers of this new blog. Most are fiction, with school assigning most of my reading during the fall and winter, I like to lighten things up during the summer. There are still a few weeks left in summer break, so if you're looking for a good read I'd suggest:

• Chuck Palahniuk - Survivor: A Novel. Flying 39,000 feet above Earth, Tender Creedish, the last known survivor of a cult after a highly public mass suicide, dictates his life story into the flight recorder during his last moments above the Australian outback. Before the plane goes down, Creedish shares his journey from domestic servant to television messiah, and his secret love for Fertillity Hollis, a women who despises him but is convinced my Creedish's alter ego to get close to him.
  
  [as a personal note, I hadn't discovered Palahniuk until this summer, and would recommend him to anyone looking for an exciting read every time.]
  
  
• Christopher Priest - The Inverted World. An interesting story of an encapsulated city. The inhabitants of which constantly move the city to follow optimum, the best place for the city to sustain itself at any given point. The population of this city refers to where the city is moving as the future, and where it has been as the past. A great science fiction in which guilds reign supreme and the rules of everyday life are vastly different. A great read.
  
  
• Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting. Turned into a movie, this classic book follows several heroine addicts and their escapades throughout Europe. I'll admit the story is sort of a downer, but good none the less. The whole book is written in local dialect, which can be confusing at first but the book includes a glossary which will clear up any questions you have. Overall rather inspiring when once you make it though, which to me makes the whole thing worth reading.
  
  
• Herman Daly - Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable development. The only non-fiction on my recommendation list, this book is much more for the niche of my blog. Within the pages of this book Daly lays out and explains (in terms most educated people can understand) many of the problems with today's economy, how these problems will destroy the environment if not corrected and some possible solutions to some of the most major problems. According to amazon.com:
  

  ...In a book that will generate controversy, Daly turns his attention to the major environmental debate surrounding "sustainable development." Daly argues that the idea of sustainable development--which has become a catchword of environmentalism and international finance--is being used in ways that are vacuous, certainly wrong, and probably dangerous. The necessary solutions turn out to be much h more radical than people suppose.
  
  This is a crucial updating of a major economist's work, and mandatory reading for people engaged in the debates about the environment.
  
  "Daly is turning economics inside out by putting the earth and its diminishing natural resources at the center of the field . . . a kind of reverse Copernican revolution in economics."
  
  
  --Utne Reader

  
  
  
• George Orwell - Animal Farm. The classic story of rebellion and oppression, this is a quick read I'd suggest to anyone. While many people may have already read this, I'd even suggest picking it up again. At just under 150 pages, even people with little free time can finish this fairly quickly. I'll admit it took me longer to get to this book than many people but I now openly suggest reading it to anyone who hasn't experienced it.
  
  In this engaging story of a revolution gone wrong, Orwell shares his disillusionment with Communism and his overall negative view of the human condition. This is a great read. Although you're not reading a fairy tail in the classic sense, you get the feeling that you're reading something truly inspired and find yourself immersed in the story within only a few pages of the beginning.
  
  
• Annete Curtis Klause - Blood and Chocolate This book follows Vivian Gandillon, a 16 year old werewolf who's pack has been forced temporarily into the suburbs. The story documents her life, trying to balance a social life with the life of her pack. Trouble arises when Vivian falls in love with Aiden, a soft-hearted human and tries to tame her undomesticated side, realizes she can't, and must decide between keeping him in the dark, or sharing this dangerous secret.
  
  
  This is another book that's hard to put down. The story is very engaging and you'll find yourself thinking about what happens next during any down time in your reading. The 300 pages of this book will fly by, and you'll find yourself finishing the book in a day or two. If you choose to read any book from this list, make it this one.