Talking and posting items about my interests and concerns. This includes but is not limited to Education, Art, History and Science.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Fresh And New Inventions In Cheating [Pic] | I Am Bored
Fresh And New Inventions In Cheating [Pic] | I Am Bored:
Source: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=65116
Fresh And New Inventions In Cheating [Pic]. Who said American students aren`t inventive?
Source: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=65116
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Obama tells students of plans to ease loan burden - Yahoo! News:
By Ian Simpson | Reuters – 8 hrs ago
Obama tells students of plans to ease loan burden
By Ian Simpson | Reuters – 8 hrs agoArticle found at: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-acts-ease-burden-student-loans-001017820.htmlDENVER (Reuters) - President Barack Obama vowed on Wednesday to take steps to ease the burden of student loans, potentially helping cash-strapped college graduates in a tough U.S. economy."I want America to have the most highly skilled workers doing the most advanced work. I want us to win the future," Obama told an audience of about 4,000 students at the University of Colorado-Denver."So that means we should be doing everything we can to put a college education within reach for every American."In line with an announcement on Tuesday, Obama said he planned to speed up a plan to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of income, bringing it forward to start in 2012 instead of 2014.The White House estimates the loan changes could cut monthly payments for 1.6 million graduates.Americans owe more on student loans than on outstanding credit card debt, and total loans outstanding are slated to exceed $1 trillion this year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.The rise in private student lending and growing debt defaults have also been highlighted by Occupy Wall Street protesters.Under the plan, student debt will also be forgiven after 20 years, compared with 25 years under current law.More than 36 million Americans have federal student loan debt, but only 450,000 have taken advantage of the existing income-based repayment program.Obama will also make changes to allow 6 million students to bundle together certain federal loans to allow a single monthly payment. The move would reduce the risk of default caused by juggling several debts.The option will be open from January. Those that take it up will also get a 0.5 percentage point cut in the interest rate on some of their loans, lowering monthly payments and potentially saving them hundreds of dollars in interest.
The loans initiative was the third such move by Obama in as many days, following action to aid homeowners and boost hiring of military veterans. The White House wants to show Obama is an activist president battling a "do-nothing" Congress.The loan changes do not require approval by Congress.Republican lawmakers blocked a $447 billion jobs plan put forward by Obama last month, citing among other reasons its increases in some taxes.Students helped push Obama into the White House in 2008. As he campaigns for re-election in 2012, Obama's public approval ratings have fallen near 40 percent, the low of his presidency, largely because of discontent with his economic stewardship.Obama was wrapping up a swing through western states that will be vital to his re-election campaign in 2012.(Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Jerry Norton)
Kublai Khan’s 13th-century “lost fleet”
Archeologists believe shipwreck found off Japan belongs to Kublai Khan’s 13th-century “lost fleet” | The Envoy - Yahoo! News:
Archeologists believe shipwreck found off Japan belongs to Kublai Khan’s 13th-century “lost fleet”
Marine archeologists say that the ancient wreckage of a ship discovered in the seabed off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, belongs to the ancient "lost fleet" of ships belonging to China's 13th century Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, CNN reports.
(Via CNN)
Explorers found the 20-meter-long shipwreck by using ultra-sound equipment some 25 meters off the coast of Nagasaki. The team of researchers buried the ultra-sound sensors about a meter deep in the sandy earth beneath the sea. Archeologists believe the ship dates back to 1281, and was part of a 4,400-vessel fleet that China's Mongol rulers during the Yuan Dynasty had employed as an invasion force.The discovery of the ship's well preserved and mostly intact 12-meter-long keel "could go a long way to helping researchers identify all the characteristics of the 20-meter warship," CNN reported, citing the head of the research team that made the discovery."This discovery was of major importance for our research," Yoshifumi Ikeda, of Okinawa's University of the Ryukyus, said at a recent press conference in Nagasaki, according to the CNN report. "We are planning to expand search efforts and find further information that can help us restore the whole ship."According to Japanese legend, two typhoons--known as the Kamikaze--that occurred seven years apart in the 13th century twice saved Japan from Mongol invasion by "destroy[ing] two separate Mongol invasions fleets so large they were not eclipsed until the D-Day landings of World War II," CNN reported. China was not so spared, however, and was ruled by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty from 1271-1368."According to a contemporary account cited in the book Khubilai Khan's Lost fleet: In Search of a Legendary Armada," by maritime archaeologist James P. Delgado, the typhoon's destruction of the over 4,000-vessel Yuan Dynasty invasion fleet created such a vast quantity of material wreckage "that 'a person could walk across from one point of land to another on a mass of wreckage,'" CNN reported.The wooden-planked ship, originally believed to have been painted light gray, is among "more than 4,000 artifacts, including ceramic shards, bricks used for ballast, cannonballs and stone anchors [that] have been found in the vicinity of the wreck, linking it to the Yuan Dynasty invasion fleet," CNN reported.
California researcher cracks secret society’s cipher | The Lookout - Yahoo! News
California researcher cracks secret society’s cipher | The Lookout - Yahoo! News:
A computer scientist at the University of Southern California and two Swedish linguists have cracked a 75,000-character cipher from the 18th century that described the laws of a secret society.
The beginning of the cipher, uncoded (ACL)
The "Copiale Cipher" was neatly hand-written in Greek and Roman characters with some unknown symbols thrown into the mix. Researchers suspected that the original language was German, since the manuscript was found in Berlin, but they tried to match the manuscript with dozens of languages by running different "computer attacks" on the code, all to no avail.As they explain in their paper, the researchers' first theory was that the Roman letters contained the true message, with all the other characters serving as distractions, or "nulls." It turned out their hypothesis was completely wrong. After running the cipher through the computer program, the researchers realized that their assumption was backwards--that the Roman characters were, in fact, the nulls.Even after the code-breakers found and translated most of the unknown characters into letters, a handful of symbols remained mysterious. The researchers believe that these symbols stand for top-secret people in the society.The manuscript described how to initiate new members into the society and other rules.Computer scientist Kevin Knight of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering told Science Daily that the secret society members shared a fascination with eye surgery. Other possible affiliations shared among the code-sharing knowledge elite remain speculative, however. "Historians believe that secret societies have had a role in revolutions, but all that is yet to be worked out," Knight said. "And a big part of the reason is because so many documents are enciphered."There's been a bit of a run lately in claims to break prominent and/or notorious ciphers. In July, an amateur code-breaker claimed to have cracked the messages of the "Zodiac Killer."
PETA lawsuit seeks to expand animal rights - Yahoo! News
PETA lawsuit seeks to expand animal rights - Yahoo! News:
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal court is being asked to grant constitutional rights to five killer whales who perform at marine parks — an unprecedented and perhaps quixotic legal action that is nonetheless likely to stoke an ongoing, intense debate at America's law schools over expansion of animal rights.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is accusing theSeaWorld parks of keeping five star-performer whales in conditions that violate the 13th Amendment ban on slavery. SeaWorld depicted the suit as baseless.The chances of the suit succeeding are slim, according to legal experts not involved in the case; any judge who hews to the original intent of the authors of the amendment is unlikely to find that they wanted to protect animals. But PETA relishes engaging in the court of public opinion, as evidenced by its provocative anti-fur and pro-vegan campaigns.The suit, which PETA says it will file Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego, hinges on the fact that the 13th Amendment, while prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, does not specify that only humans can be victims.Jeff Kerr, PETA's general counsel, says his five-member legal team — which spent 18 months preparing the case — believes it's the first federal court suit seeking constitutional rights for members of an animal species.The plaintiffs are the five orcas, Tilikum and Katina based at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., and Corky, Kasatka and Ulises atSeaWorld San Diego. Tilikum, a six-ton male, made national news in February 2010 when he grabbed a trainer at the close of a performance and dragged her underwater until she drowned.Captured nearly 30 years ago off Iceland, Tilikum has enormous value as a stud and has fathered many of the calves born at SeaWorld parks.The lawsuit asks the court to order the orcas released to the custody of a legal guardian who would find a "suitable habitat" for them."By any definition, these orcas are slaves — kidnapped from their homes, kept confined, denied everything that's natural to them and forced to perform tricks for SeaWorld's profit," said Kerr. "The males have their sperm collected, the females are artificially inseminated and forced to bear young which are sometimes shipped away."SeaWorld said any effort to extend the 13th Amendment's protections beyond humans "is baseless and in many ways offensive.""SeaWorld is among the world's most respected zoological institutions," the company said. "There is no higher priority than the welfare of the animals entrusted to our care and no facility sets higher standards in husbandry, veterinary care and enrichment."The statement outlined the many laws and regulations SeaWorld is obliged to follow, touted the company's global efforts to promote conservation of marine mammals, and said the orcas' performances help give the public a better appreciation and understanding of these animals.SeaWorld and other U.S. marine parks are governed by the Marine Mammals Protection Act, which allows public displays of the creatures if permits are obtained and the facility offers and education/conservation programs for the public.Overall, under prevailing U.S. legal doctrine, animals under human control are considered property, not entities with legal standing of their own. They are afforded some protections through animal-cruelty laws, endangered-species regulations and the federal Animal Welfare Act, but are not endowed with a distinct set of rights.However, the field of animal law has evolved steadily, with courses taught at scores of law schools. Many prominent lawyers and academics have joined in serious discussion about expanding animal rights.Rutgers University law professor Gary Francione, for example, contends that animals deserve the fundamental right to not be treated as property. Law professor David Favre of Michigan State University has proposed a new legal category called "living property" as a step toward providing rights for some animals.Favre was skeptical that litigation seeking to apply the 13th Amendment to animals would prevail."The court will most likely not even get to the merits of the case, and find that the plaintiffs do not have standing to file the lawsuit at all," he said by email. "I also think a court would not be predisposed to open up that box with fully unknown consequences."Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, who in past writings has proposed extending legal standing to chimpanzees, also expressed doubt that the courts were ready to apply the 13th Amendment to animals. But he welcomed the PETA lawsuit as a potentially valuable catalyst for "national reflection and deliberation" about humans' treatment of animals."People may well look back at this lawsuit and see in it a perceptive glimpse into a future of greater compassion for species other than our own," Tribe wrote in an email.Tribe noted that some Americans might find it bizarre or insulting to equate any treatment of animals to the sufferings of human slavery. But he argued that the 13th Amendment was written broadly, to address unforeseen circumstances, and could legitimately be applied to animals.An African-American constitutional expert, Nicholas Johnson of Fordham University School of Law, said he could understand why some blacks might be insulted by the lawsuit, but didn't share that reaction: "I'm more entertained by it in the legal context than I am offended by it."PETA addressed this issue in the suit, noting that repeated Supreme Court rulings have applied the 13th Amendment to many forms of involuntary servitude beyond the type of slavery that existed during the Civil War."The historical context is undeniable," said Jeff Kerr, the PETA lawyer. "But that's not what this case is about. It's about the orcas in their own right, not whether they are or aren't similar to humans."The five orcas are represented in the case by PETA and four individuals: Ric O'Barry, a longtime orca and dolphin trainer; Ingrid Visser, a New Zealand marine biologist who has studied orcas extensively; Howard Garrett, founder of the Orca Network, an advocacy group in Washington State; and Samantha Berg, a former orca trainer at SeaWorld Orlando.The lawsuit details the distinctive traits of orcas, the largest species within the dolphin family, including their sophisticated problem-solving and communicative abilities and their formation of complex communities.The suit alleges that captivity in the "barren tanks" of a marine park suppresses the orcas' abilities and relationships, and subjects them to stress. This sometimes leads to instances where the orcas injure themselves, other orcas or humans that interact with them, according to the suit.Naomi Rose, the Humane Society's marine mammal biologist, said there's a growing body of research suggesting that whales, dolphins and porpoises have the cognitive sophistication of 3-to-4-year-old human children.As for the orcas at SeaWorld, she said, "They don't seem to adapt to captivity. I would say they're miserable."At SeaWorld San Diego, visitors are shown a film touting the park's rescue efforts that have saved thousands of sea creatures. During the main performance, trainers point out how much the orcas are similar to humans: The babies cry before moving on to babbling and finally imitating the crackling sounds of the adults' voices.Jenny Raymond, 47, who was visiting from Switzerland, said she was delighted by the show and does not buy the argument that the orcas are slave laborers."I think they are in better conditions here than in the wild," she said.
___
Crary reported from New York City.
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Online:
PETA: http://www.peta.org/
SeaWorld: http://seaworldparks.com/
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
This is a Pretty Cool Camera
Yahoo link to article Throwable Ball Camera May Revolutionize How We Watch Sports | ThePostGame:
This is pretty cool. Change the way we watch sports? Sure, but I can see other uses as well.
This is pretty cool. Change the way we watch sports? Sure, but I can see other uses as well.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Cheating In High School: Volume 1 By Swoozie
This is something that educators should keep in mind. Other than the swear words this is generally a good insight on what students can, will, and do do to get decent grades without absorbing the material.
I found it at: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=64406
I found it at: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=64406
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