American drivers are holding on to their cars and trucks for longer, new data suggest.
New data suggests American drivers are holding on to their cars and trucks longer as they put off buying new vehicles in the face of high unemployment and a struggling economy.
Continue reading… “American drivers keeping their cars longer”
Leap seconds are necessary to prevent atomic clocks from speeding ahead of solar time.
Governments are headed for a showdown after ten years of talks as they vote this week on an issue that pits technological precision against nature’s whims. The United States, France and others are pushing for countries at a U.N. telecom meeting to abolish the leap second, which for 40 years has kept computers in sync with the Earth day.
Continue reading… “Global showdown over push to abolish leap second”
Male sex life suffers if partner is too close to his friends.
Middle-aged men are more likely to have a poor sex life if their wife is close to their friends because it undermines their masculinity, a study has found.
Today’s Kickstarter Creativity Spotlight focuses on balloon mapping. What the heck is balloon mapping you may ask?
Balloon mapping is sending a camera up on a balloon, snapping photos, and stitching them into a map. Over the past year and a half these fine folks have built a global mapper community and this is your chance to participate in all the excitement…
Continue reading… “Balloon mapping kits by Mathew Lippincott”
Sex-selective feticide is warping the balance between male and female births and consequently skewing the sex ratios for the rising generation.
The world over the past three decades has come to witness an ominous and entirely new form of gender discrimination: sex-selective feticide. The feticide is implemented through the practice of surgical abortion with the assistance of information gained through prenatal gender determination technology. All around the world, the victims of this new practice are overwhelmingly female and occurs all around the world. In fact is is almost universally female.
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Pirates and file-sharers, rejoice! The Missionary Church of Kopimism (just say it out loud) has been recognized as a religion in Sweden:
Since 2010 a group of self-confessed pirates have tried to get their beliefs recognized as an official religion in Sweden. After their request was denied several times, the Church of Kopimism – which holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred symbols – is now approved by the authorities as an official religion. The Church hopes that its official status will remove the legal stigma that surrounds file-sharing.
All around the world file-sharers are being chased by anti-piracy outfits and the authorities, and the situation in Sweden is no different. While copyright holders are often quick to label file-sharers as pirates, there is a large group of people who actually consider copying to be a sacred act…
Cycling transportation gets a boost in Sweden.
If you want to find an unassuming place where bicycling is a way of life and nobody makes a big deal about it, head south. The south of Sweden, that is, where the small university town of Lund has a big bicycle habit. They just don’t advertise it.
In Lund, 60% of the populace bikes or takes public transport to go about their daily tasks. And then there’s Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city – only 20 miles southwest of Lund. Malmö also doesn’t have a reputation for fantastic biking. But some say it is the country’s best biking city – ahead of both Stockholm, the capital; Gothenburg, the second largest Swedish metropolitan area, and a host of smaller bike-friendly burgs…
Continue reading… “A new cycling superhighway. Not in the U.S.A.”
Skunk Juice magnetic ear buds
At CES in Las Vegas this past week I “Got Hooked Up” with Skunk Juice magnetic connecting ear buds. These earbuds are great for kids or adults who want to hook up with their friends’ music or videos.(Pics)
Continue reading… “‘Get Hooked Up’ with Skunk Juice magnetic ear buds”
Space gas has its consequences.
Humans produce two flammable gases: hydrogen and methane. Flammable gases accumulate in an enclosed space and can ignite. Astronauts are humans who spend lots of time in enclosed space. The logic is irrefutable. So, what’s the risk to farting astronauts?
Between 1968 and 1971, researchers Edwin L. Murphy and Doris H. Calloway published three, count ‘em, three studies on flatulence. The 1969 paper was about astronauts and their farts, specifically a study to determine the level of flatulence produced by difference astronaut space diets. Picturing how the study went brings into focus the many indignities astronauts face for their shot at space travel…
Good things come to those who stretch
Quote of the Day – “If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?” – – Scott Adams
TP-LINK’S Dancebot
TP-Link had an incredibly articulated dancing robot as a means of getting people to visit their booth at the Consumer Electronics Show so they could promote their TL-WR700N mini wireless pocket router. (video)
The researchers hope their discovery can be exploited to combat obesity by increasing people’s sensitivity to fat in their food.
Scientists thought the human tongue could detect only four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salt and bitter. Then a fifth was discovered, “umami” or savory. Now, researchers have identified a previously-unrecognized “sixth taste” – fat.