8.31.2006

Star Trek Club of Deutschland
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Here is a hot new top referrer.

Not sure why they like us, but this is a cool site.

It is the offical Star Trek Fan Club of Deutschland.

Single Celled Metamorph with as many distinct Genes as Humans
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Scientists have defined the function of a one-celled paramecium with almost as many genes as humans. The genetic abundance enables the organism to change form and function of structures within the cell and it also is duonucleonic (e.g., it has 2 nuclei). When a nutrient is detected the paramecium builds a structure to aborb it and turn it into cellular biomass quickly. Depending on environment, the organism can change appearance and form, adapting - therefore it is a metamorph.

more at Ciliate.org

Researchers: Juice Reduces Alzheimer's Risk by up to 76%
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Ron Popeil might be right about the benefits of juice.

According to a new study of 2,000 people, the risk of developing Alzheimer's was cut by 76 percent among those who drank fruit or vegetable juice more than three times a week.

Among those who drank juice once a week, the risk was reduced by 16 percent.

The study focused on 1,836 dementia-free people in Seattle beginning in 1991. They were tracked by questionnaires on their lifestyle and eating habits, as well as by cognitive function tests that were conducted every two years.

Although the scientific community had long thought that antioxidant vitamins like vitamins C and E or carotene had protective benefits against Alzheimer's, the study confirmed their belief that "there was maybe something else," Dr. Dai, the study's principal investigator said, pointing to polyphenols, natural antioxidants found in juice, tea and wine. Polyphenols appear to impact the formation of amyloid plaque, the material associated with the morbidity of the disease

"Animal studies and cell culture studies confirmed that some polyphenols from juices showed a stronger neuroprotective effect than antioxidant vitamins. So we are now looking at polyphenols," Dai said.

read the abstract in situ

The Scream is Back
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Norweigan police have recovered Munch's famous painting "the scream"

Search and Memory: A Natural Combination
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There is a lot of talk about the long tail, and go into any bookstore such as Barnes and Noble and you will see the book displayed amongst the best sellers.

With comments on the jacket from both Terry Semel and Eric Schmidt, it's a surefire hit.

Search and the long tail are a natural combination, whether the medium is print, audio, video, or something undefined.

Imagine human memory. Human memory (and advanced communication) is composed of a series of images or an image stream because ideograms can be regarded as a higher form of communication than domain-specific writing because you could say, it is platform independent. Imagine the pictogram on the Pioneer spacecraft, which years ago passed the orbit of the former planet, Pluto, which recently got sent down to AAA ball for some seasoning.

If I combine search, memory, audio, and time, we have a long tail demonstration.

For example, just a few minutes ago somebody typed in 'naqsh-i-rustam' into a search engine. Well, what's that? To most people, it's a foreign term.

But to the person who typed in the term, it is a pictographic memory.

What was the search result?

One of the results was this. Therefore, an infinite collection of ideograms, representing an infinite number of human memories, becomes the searchable universe. The search result can itself carry the memory booster. The same phenomenon happened with '40's celebrities' also a recent search. That search returns this

8.30.2006

Researchers: No Locus in the Brain for Consciousness of "God"
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Scientists using MRI on a study population of nuns have been unable to determine an exact location for the seat of spiritual consciousness in the brain.

Mystical experiences appear to be mediated by several brain regions and systems normally implicated in a variety of functions (self-consciousness, emotion, body representation). The study was published in the current issue of Neuroscience Letters was conducted by Dr. Mario Beauregard from the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal and his student Vincent Paquette.

The main goal of the study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience," explained Beauregard. "This does not diminish the meaning and value of such an experience, and neither does it confirm or disconfirm the existence of God."

Fifteen cloistered Carmelite nuns ranging from 23 to 64-years-old were subjected to an fMRI brain scan while asked to relive a mystical experience rather than actually try to achieve one. "I was obliged to do it this way seeing as the nuns are unable to call upon God at will," said Beauregard. This method was justified seeing as previous studies with actors asked to enter a particular emotional state activated the same brain regions as people actually living those emotions.

This study demonstrated that a dozen different regions of the brain are activated during a mystical experience. This type of research became very popular in the United States in the late 1990s. Some researchers went as far as suggesting the possibility of a specific brain region designed for communication with God. This latest research discredits such theories.

8.29.2006

Study Shows that Brain Recovers from Alcoholism, Except for Map-Reading
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Alcoholics who can stay sober regain most, if not all, brain function despite years of heavy drinking, new research suggests.

"We've looked at long-term abstinence among middle-aged people who stopped drinking in middle age and found virtually full recovery," said study author George Fein, a senior scientist and president of Neurobehavioral Research Inc. (NRI), based in Corte Madera, Calif. and Honolulu.

The findings are reported in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The work was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse and conducted by Fein's team at NRI, a private research group focused on the effects of drugs and disease on the brain. Additional research was conducted at the Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley, Calif.

In the study, Fein's group tracked the neurological abilities of 48 middle-aged alcoholic men and women living in the San Francisco Bay area. All of the participants had been abstinent anywhere from six months to 13 years. While drinking, the male patients had consumed a minimum of 100 drinks per month while the women had consumed at least 80 drinks per month.

The researchers compared the cognitive ability of these ex-drinkers to that of 58 nonalcoholic men and women who either didn't drink at all or drank only in moderation. Each participant was assessed for memory, abstraction, attention, psychomotor abilities, reaction time, spatial processing, and verbal skills.

There was no significant difference in scoring, other than with spatial processing, which concerns scalar evaluation of objects relative to other objects, such as reading a map....

Greed is Good Memory Test by G. Gekko
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Well the 80's are back...including higher interest rates and a deficit.

What better way to remember it than with the quintessential 80's figure, Gordon Gekko? This is for our friends in all of the U.S.' major Financial centers.

Workout your financial memory. According to Forbes Magazine, Gekko was 44 in 1987. That would make him 63 today and possibly, concerned with memory loss and Alzheimer's. Those of us in college around that time are either in our mid-to late 30's or (early) 40's.

Money Never Sleeps, Pal

8.28.2006

Who has the fastest brain
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Take a fastest brain quiz, if you've got an idea submit it. Let's see which colleges do best.

The first respondent was from Costa Rica.

Mental Sharpness the Number One Health Concern for Seniors
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A survey of people 63 and older placed "maintaining mental sharpness" as their number one health concern, according to United Health Care, a Health Maintenance Organization, with 59% of participants ranking it number one. Interestingly, older seniors choose to receive health-related information from their physician, while younger seniors prefer the Internet.

some additional details

-- More Seniors Care More About Health than Wealth: Nearly seven out of
10 seniors (69%) expressed concerns about their health and well-being,
a larger percentage than those who expressed concern about other
categories such as personal finance (52%), often considered a top
source of anxiety among older Americans, spiritual well-being (58%)
and receiving adequate care in old age (56%).

-- Most Staying Up-to-Date on Health Care: Eighty percent of seniors
reported that they keep up-to-date on the latest health news. Doctors,
at 43%, are the most popular source of health information for seniors.
The Internet (25%) is the second most common resource consulted by
seniors, although younger respondents were more likely to go online
for health answers than older ones.

-- Maintaining Mental Sharpness a Priority: Preserving their mental
function is a bigger concern among seniors than the relationship
issues, mood disorders and emotional problems that can accompany
aging. Nearly six out of 10 seniors (59%) are concerned about staying
mentally sharp. Less than half (48%) say they are concerned about
maintaining social relationships. Less than one-third are concerned
about dealing with depression (32%) and loneliness (31%).

8.27.2006

Sounds of the Mosque Test: PsyOps
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The History Channel had a show on about the Ottoman Empire last night...there was a re-enactment of the siege of Constantinople including a shot of the mehteran or janissary band. This band revved up the spirits of the troops before battle, you can hear it right here in conjunction with the mosque test.

Mehmet the Conqueror converted the most famous church in Christendom (Hagia Sophia) into a mosque in 1453, which it still is today. As the tempo of the march speeds up it sounds more like a marching band of kazoos and a few drummers. Still, the sound of the massed band struck fear into the hearts of the European Christians - for 300 years until the 18th century the (Sunni) sultan campaigned against the West on an almost annual basis, setting up the band outside the walls to play for hours on end in the first psy-ops operation (instead of Guns 'N Roses). The sound influenced the music of the Hapsburg court and their musicians...including eventually, Beethoven.

Cognitive Service Interruption.
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We experienced an approximately 1-hour service outage (probably due to high traffic aimed directly at the home page) this morning...our apologies - everything appears to be restored

8.26.2006

Back to School: College Brain [beta] Kicks Off
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Besides fighting Alzheimer's and all kinds of cognitive impairment, we're opening up a second front in the college world with College Brain.

It's a little competition between people at colleges and between colleges to see who (and which institution) have the fastest brains. The larger purpose is to collect in real-time whatever ideas people have for an improved world --taking us one step closer to a global brain. Let's hope that the extra neurons made possible are put to good use. If you don't see your college on the list (and we provincially started out with just the U.S.) then you can submit your college, university, or institution.

We flicked the switch on the database and started signing up people within seconds.
The first person is right here:

Visit Start Time 8/26/2006 8:40:59 PM
Location San José, 08, Costa Rica
Organization Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad y Telecom.
Campaign Non-Campaign
IP --------

You see, the first participant was not technically in the U.S., that's why adding to the list - wherever you are in the world, is so important

8.25.2006

Memory Resurrected in Mice Suffering from Alzheimer's Disease
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Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have successfully restored normal memory and synaptic function in mice suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The study was published today on the website of the journal Cell.

Scientists at Columbia's Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain have identified an enzyme that is required for normal cognition but that is impaired in a mouse model of Alzheimer's. They discovered that mice regained the ability to form new memories when the enzyme's function was elevated.

The research suggests that boosting the function of this enzyme, known as ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (Uch-L1), may provide a promising strategy for battling Alzheimer's disease, and perhaps reversing its effects.

stories related to Columbia University - 48 hours 300 milliseconds ago

The source: cell.com

The New Tests
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Good news. We are getting ready to launch two fast and fun 'competition' sites which will do 2 things - give everybody a chance to take a test and also, contribute to solutions for our earth (whatever that means to you)- it's up to you to decide what that is.

Also, featured is a 'nanosecond' test that is much faster than anything we've put out yet---a reading can be taken in literally just a few seconds. That's why it's so fun. In a blink of an eye, in the time it takes to utter a soundbite, you will be done. And whatever you decide to write, that will be seen by 50,000 people (and growing) per month

8.24.2006

New Michigan stadium trumps Stanford
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University of Michigan officials released a first look at the new expanded stadium in Ann Arbor, MI. Ostensibly, the stadium will now be able to seat everyone in Michigan. The shot is from Google Earth, I guess.



Locally, former Stanford Coach Bill Walsh, who has been involved with the right-sizing of Stanford Stadium down to about 50,000 this season, said tersely, "size isn't everything"

pic source: the onion

8.23.2006

Cognitive Labs Demolishes 2nd Quarter Numbers
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Here it is on August 23rd and we already beat our numbers for last quarter. The next month and change of a few days is gravy...not sure what the top limit is, or if there is one. But there is still much more room for growth, to wit, we will be launching some interesting competitive sites that we hope will get everyone in America, Europe and India to sign up.

Man Machine Interface Targets Slackers
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Soon, neuroscience technologies will be embedded into various user interfaces (even GUIs) so that handlers or a central computer will know that the human operator's performance is less than optimal. DoublePlus Good! Just think of all the implications.....


CHERRY HILL, N.J., Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Office of Naval Research awarded Lockheed Martin $724,000 from its Disruptive Technology Fund to help evaluate prospective modifications to the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS) user interface. TTWCS controls missile launches from surface ships and submarines.

Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) will leverage its neuroscience-based technologies in augmented cognition by integrating cognitive-state gauges into the TTWCS Tool for Interface Design Evaluation with Sensors (T-TIDES).

A human's physiological markers typically depart from norms during high workload, distraction or drowsiness. As a result, performance may decline, reducing overall effectiveness of the interface. The technology underlying T- TIDES results from a program called Improving Warfighter Information Intake Under Stress, where cognitive state gauges reported an operator's cerebral electrical activity, blood oxygenation, heart rate, skin conductance, and pupil dilation to monitor cognitive activity in real time. T-TIDES will use this technology to collect similar data that human factors engineers can then use to design better prototypes of interfaces.

Teammates include Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions and Lockheed Martin Information and Technology Services.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 135,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

For information on Lockheed Martin Corporation, visit: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/

Yellowjacket Nest Fills a Car!
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read all about it

Scientists speculate that the lack of winter freezing this past year is responsible for the creation of giant sized Yellowjacket nests in Alabama this summer.

Pujols matches Babe Ruth's Reaction Time
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The Babe had superior reaction time and reflexes, according to a story covered in Yahoo! News today. Columbia University Psychologists gave him a battery of tests 85 years ago and found that he had superior sight and reaction time, and above average reflexes; collectively, these qualities made him great.

GQ Magazine wanted to find out if modern slugger Albert Pujols (known as El Hombre) could match the Babe's legendary psychometric profile.

After being administered a series of tests including a "tap" reaction time test (in which scored in the 99th percentile) Pujols scored very similar to the Babe, and the researchers believe that the unique combination of superior capabilities gave both athletes the edge required to deliver superb performance.

[here is a tap reaction time test from cognitive labs] if you're curious you can try to get your reaction time below 200 milliseconds. A couple people have scored in the 180's today, including someone on myspace.

Another test uses photos of the Babe and Lou Gehrig to check your reaction time! Talk about timing.

8.22.2006

12 Caesars Memory Test
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A new memory test was published....12 Caesars.


Actually it's just nine - the last 3 will be rolled into a future test with the so-called 5 good emperors ending with Marcus Aurelius.

The aptly named age of "iron and rust" started with the bad apple Commodus, who personally participated in gladiatorial combats.

The first Ad that shows up is Caesar's Palace in Vegas, of course:
bread and circuses

8.21.2006

LBL plays BrainAging game...
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They're playing the BrainAging game at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab right now. Maybe you should, too.


Smart Link
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Smart Link is now live. Wherever you see this sign you can click and submit links that you think are related or people should know about...if there is a test running on World War II, for example, or monkeys (as someone in Australia created) go ahead and submit your related links.

If I was at historychannel.com, for example, and reading about World War II, I could share this content with test takers at cognitive labs, and enrich the experience for people who were surfing for more information after watching "Mail Call" or whatever.

This is what folks are already doing, so all we're doing is painting a crosswalk on the street to make it easier.

8.20.2006

War in the Pacific: Volume I
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New test submitted:

War in the Pacific I by user telOS....

Give it a try

8.19.2006

Kistler and SpaceX in $500 Million NASA deal: Space Brain
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Two of the Contract Winners have just been announced by NASA for private launch vehicles:

Two emerging space companies have won a NASA competition to provide low cost commercial transport to the International Space Station. SpaceX, founded by PayPal's Elon Musk, is developing its two-stage reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, but it is making changes after the loss of Falcon 1 during its maiden launch. Rocketplane Kistler's K-1 is a two-stage reusable launch vehicle that has been in development for over a decade. Both companies represent a departure from business as usual at NASA. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are the largest companies in the aerospace industry and win most NASA contracts.
Here, Dr. Arthur Jensen of our advisory board won the 2003 Kistler Award given by the Foundation for the Future for his contributions to science. Another UC-Berkeley professor, Dr. Vincent Sarich, whom I recall from a large lecture hall at Berkeley, won the 2004 award.

A strong secondary interest we have is space travel and the commercialization of space, of which cognitive training (such as with the Cognitive Labs' tests) is a component and will only become more important over time to deal with subtle changes in the brain and body. Here is what we learned at NASA regarding modifications that accrue from space travel. The cognitive effects are not completely understood; people such as Dr. Yesavage at Stanford and another expert at UC-Davis have studied consciousness in spaceflight and pilots; in addition to the former astronauts (at the Stanford-VA they have a flight simulator for research on interactions between substances and cognitive performance, e.g., medications for Alzheimer's effects or even nicotine, and have been a leader in studies of retired Air Force and Naval Aviators)

The effects on the body are known to researchers but not really noticed by the public. Here are a few effects:

1. The body loses mass; the longer you stay in space, the thinner you get. Weight loss of 50 lbs is not uncommon
2. Water leaves the tissues of the body
2. The limbs become longer and thinner
3. Acclimating upon return to earth can in some cases be fatal, particular if the individual is over 50 years old
4. Physical anomalies will become worse upon return than before departure

The above related to trips of a year or less to the ISS.

Witnessed effects on longer stays or even a second generation in space (space baby) are not yet known, but would presumably be more exaggerated....for both mind and body

Scientsts Propose Skin Test for Alzheimers's
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Imagine being able to detect the early stages of Alzheimer's by swabbing your skin with a specially prepared pad; waiting, then finding out after laboratory assessment if you have the Disease.

Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; resarchers investigated 70 subjects. The BRNI biomarker (named after an institute affiliated with Univ. of West Virgina) showed high accuracy when tested with human skin cells from a tissue bank, as well as for samples obtained in a previous, unpublished study of patients with autopsy-confirmed diagnoses. The biomarker could also potentially be used with blood samples.

"When it begins, Alzheimer's disease is often difficult to distinguish from other dementias or mild cognitive impairment," says Daniel L. Alkon, M.D., scientific director of BRNI and coauthor of the study with Tapan K. Khan, Ph.D., assistant professor. "Potential treatments of Alzheimer's, however, are likely to have their greatest efficacy before the devastating and widespread impairment of brain function that inevitably develops after four or more years."

Some researchers have noted the systemic effects of Alzheimer's on the body, encompassing circulatory and other body systems in addition to the brain. By testing for signs of Alzheimer's-related inflammation in skin cells called fibroblasts, the BRNI team has located a biomarker for the disease that can be tested without the invasive tests previously required.

The researchers found that Alzheimer's disease stimulates a change in the enzyme, MAP Kinase Erk 1/2. When fibroblasts are tested by exposing them to Bradykinin, a common inflammatory signal, the Erk 1/2 response in skin cells of Alzheimer's patients was sharply distinguished from the results in cells from age-matched controls. It was also differentiated from the skin cells from patients with non-Alzheimer's dementias, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple infarct dementia and Huntington's chorea.

A possible 'skin' test for human use, assuming the results are replicable; is five to ten years away.

MemoryTV World War II
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Here's another one to try....



click and start the test,
click the link to hear A. Hitler's speech...on the eve of invasion, alluding to '2 German soldiers who were fired upon by the Poles' and stating that "Germany couldn't tolerate anymore provocation...bombs will now be met by bombs..."
See what we have in store for the Battle of Midway.

8.18.2006

MemoryTV Now has Sound.
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The Blade Runner Memory Test now has sound...as well, adding another spatial dimension...in this case, the lush floating sound of Vangelis.

Think Ken Burns combined with Scientific Algorithms.

How Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer
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How Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

As we yawn and open our eyes in the morning, the brain stem sends little puffs of nitric oxide to another part of the brain, the thalamus, which then directs it elsewhere.

Find Your Brain's Age | Blade Runner Memory Test

Like a computer booting up its operating system before running more complicated programs, the nitric oxide triggers certain functions that set the stage for more complex brain operations, according to a new study.


In these first moments of the day, sensory information floods the system—the bright sunlight coming through the curtains, the time on the screeching alarm clock—and all of it needs to be processed and organized, so the brain can understand its surroundings and begin to perform more complex tasks.


"The thinking part of the brain is applying a sort of stencil to the information coming in and what the nitric oxide is doing is allowing more refinement of that stencil," says Dwayne Godwin, an associate professor at Wake Forest University and lead author of the study, which was funded by the National Eye Institute.


The little two-atom molecule, it seems, is partly responsible for our ability to perceive whatever it is we're sensing.


The finding, published last week in the journal Neuroscience, changes the way scientists understand nitric oxide's role in the brain, and it also has them rethinking the function of the thalamus, where it is released. The thalamus was thought to be a fairly primitive structure, sort of a gate that could either open and allow sensory information to stream into the cortex, the higher functioning part of the brain, or cut off the flow entirely.

Godwin says the new research shows it's more accurate to think of the thalamus not as a gate but as a club bouncer, who doesn't simply allow a huge rush of people to go in or no one at all, but picks and chooses whom to let in and out.

"Instead of vision being a process going straight from eye to cortex, it's more of a loop," Godwin explained. "This constitutes a new role for the thalamus in directing, not just modulating."

While this study is the first to identify nitric oxide's role in the thalamus, elsewhere in the body it was already known to have an important, if somewhat different function. The molecule is actually integral to controlling blood flow and is, in fact, the molecule Viagra targets in order to increase blood flow to the penis.

The teeny molecule might have other medical uses.

"This study shows a unique role for nitric oxide. It may help us to someday understand what goes wrong in diseases that affect cognitive processing, such as attention deficit disorder or schizophrenia, and it adds to our fundamental understanding of how we perceive the world around us," Godwin said.

Move to the top...
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Blockbreaker has moved to the top of Game Central with 500,000 plus plays...

8.17.2006

Our Cognitive Avatar
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Say hello to our avatar, A.E.

complete with a "C" sweatshirt for Cognitive Labs...though I believe he was
a Princeton man. Say, we're going to have to start selling those plus gadgets.

"C" could also mean c as in the speed of light, or as in "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...I've watched C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannheuser gate" (that from HalfLife2)

e=mc(2) or (e/m)/c = c




Regardless, give the test a try, old sport.

OK

Apelink.com: Reality is Stranger than Fiction
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New online dating service is planned for our simian relatives.
(oh, really?) :-)

Have you evolved? Take the Darwin Test

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Single male (red hair, long arms, interests include hanging in trees and grooming) seeks female for long-distance relationship and possibility of meeting up in future to help save species.

Zookeepers in the Netherlands are planning to hook up Dutch and Indonesian orangutans over the Internet and believe the link could at some stage be used as an online dating service where apes could get to know one another and keepers could work out whether they would be compatible mates.

First things first: A romantic dinner for two.

"We are going to set up an Internet connection between Indonesia and Apeldoorn so that the apes can see each other and, by means of pressing a button, be able to give one another food, for example," said Anouk Ballot, a spokeswoman for the Apenheul ape park in the central Dutch city of Apeldoorn.

She said the chance of two orangutans actually mating as a result of the online interaction was small due to the problem of transporting them between the Netherlands and Indonesia. "But I wouldn't rule it out completely," she told The Associated Press.... read more at LiveScience.com

8.16.2006

Largest Trek Convention in Vegas
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Largest Trek convention set to take place in Vegas.

see Yahoo! News



add us as a friend

Aaron, who created the hilarious Chad Vader, the story of Darth's convenience store clerk night-manager younger brother ("L" on the forehead) is our friend...click on his profile and watch the vid