Thoughtleaks

"A calm head in the middle of war time, people go down just so they can get more shine..." -Q'Tip

True Perspective...

In this 3-minute talk, cartoonist and educator Jok Church tells a moving story of the teacher who cared for him when no one else did -- and how he returned the favor.

Jok Church is the creator of the science-education comic strip "You Can With Beakman and Jax" and the zany TV series "Beakman's World." Full bio and more links

by David Gelernter, Writer, Artist, & Computer Scientist

The major question of the 21st century "is whether human beings can summon the integrity ... to resist the many ways in which computers will encroach on human dignity."

by Rebecca Boyle

Without realizing it, humans might be able to innately detect Earth’s magnetic field, thanks to a compound found in our eyes. Or we may have been able to do so some time in the past.

Plenty of animals are known to be able to perceive geomagnetism, using it to navigate and even to hunt their prey. Proteins called cryptochromes, which exist throughout the plant and animal kingdoms, lend several species this ability. The proteins are related to the circadian rhythms of animals and plants, and recent studies have shown it apparently enables light to serve as a geomagnetic locator.

Electrons in cryptochrome molecules come in entangled pairs, and the Earth's magnetic field may cause one of the electrons to wobble. A chemical reaction in response to the wayward electron's altered spin lets birds see magnetic fields in color, according to a theory published last summer.

Continue Reading http://bit.ly/j6gCle

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou survived a confidence vote in parliament early today, winning a gamble on his government's survival and the danger of a devastating debt default that could spark a financial maelstrom around the world.

Papandreou had called the vote, which passed early today, to face down an internal party revolt and help him pass deeply disliked austerity measures that have provoked strikes, protests and a slump in his popularity.

Lawmakers voted 155-143 for the motion, with two abstentions in the 300-member legislature, sticking strictly to party lines after a heated debate that saw sections of the opposition briefly walk out of the chamber.

Outside, several thousand protesters chanted "Thieves! thieves!" and other anti-austerity slogans, shining green laser lights at the parliament building and into the eyes of riot police protecting it.

A loss would have likely led to early elections and thrown into question whether Greece could pass a crucial but deeply unpopular new austerity bill by the end of June as demanded by the country's international creditors.

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PIMCO's Bill Gross joins the chorus of big names who say college isn't worth it in his latest investment letter.

by Bill Gross

A mind is a precious thing to waste, so why are millions of America’s students wasting theirs by going to college? All of us who have been there know an undergraduate education is primarily a four year vacation interrupted by periodic bouts of cramming or Google plagiarizing, but at least it used to serve a purpose. It weeded out underachievers and proved at a minimum that you could pass an SAT test. For those who made it to the goodschools, it proved that your parents had enough money to either bribe administrators or hire SAT tutors to increase your score by 500 points. And a degree represented that the graduate could “party hearty” for long stretches of time and establish social networking skills that would prove invaluable later on at office cocktail parties or interactively via Facebook. College was great as long as the jobs were there.

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Finnish mobile maker Nokia has unveiled its N9 button-free smartphone, the company's first and only bet on the Linux-based MeeGo platform. 

Nokia Australia said in a statement that the phone, which has no keypad or home buttons, would be available "later this year", with pricing still to be announced.

Nokia dumped plans to use MeeGo in its future smartphones when in February it picked Microsoft's Windows Phone as its future software choice, but it decided to unveil one of the models it was working on before closing the business line.

The N9 mdel, Nokia's first and last to use MeeGo, comes with a large touch screen and is available in black, cyan and magenta. Nokia's head of design, Marko Ahtisaari, said: “With the Nokia N9, we re-evaluated the way we thought a smartphone should act. It should be simple and it should blend software, hardware, services and content into a unique user experience."

Continue Reading http://bit.ly/lbTuZi