Rerum Mutatio Tempestas

do early birds catch worms

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:48:02 +0000

Ralph Incher-Smith of Kent writes… “I compared the feeding rates of my young son with those of common garden birds to test the hypothesis that early birds catch the worm. I conclude that birds do get up early but mainly out of spite, not the desire to catch worms.”
full story…

long-tailed macaques show species adaptability

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:45:30 +0000

Michael Casey of the AP Environmental Writer writes… “Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food – whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist. Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.”
full story…

relax, liberals. you’ve already won

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:44:09 +0000

Michael Lind of Salon writes… “Now that Hillary Clinton has conceded the Democratic nomination to Barack bama, the primaries are over and the general election campaign for the White House has begun. On the Republican side, however, the general election campaign began months ago — and presumptive nominee John McCain has spent much of that time tacking toward the center.”
full story…

icecapade circa 1924

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:39:46 +0000

Dave of Shorpy shows us …

full picture…

yankee fans boo life-sustaining orb

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:33:44 +0000

Tunison of withLeather writes… “Philadelphia fans catch a lot of grief for booing Santa Claus and, like Dwayne Wade will tell you about Rocky, he’s not even real. Yankees fans, ever eager to prove they are the most surpassingly negative and stupid people in the land, decided to boo the source of all life on the planet yesterday because it was hot outside. Fans showed their approval today when a cloud moved in front of the sun during the fifth inning of the Yankees-Royals game. They booed moments later when the sun returned. On a day when temperatures neared the century mark over much of the eastern United States, any relief was welcome.”
full story…

mental_floss brain game

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:31:32 +0000

Sandy of mental_floss gives us this brain game…

new emi digital exec says “i don’t buy music”

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:26:20 +0000

Peter Kafka of Silicon Alley Insider writes… “We’ve got no idea whether EMI’s new management knows what to do with the ailing record label. But we do know they’re good at splashy hires the kind designed to say “Check it out, world! Definitely not your father’s music conglomerate!”
…
What’s that, you say? You’d like to see more evidence of against-the-grain thinking? OK: See Cory’s blog today, where he announces his move (made two weeks ago, actually) — along with the news that since 2000, he’s purchased 5 albums. Ah, but surely he’s a music hound who spends tons of time cruising iTunes, or some of the other legal music source, right? Nope. “I neither buy nor hear much new music.”"
full story…

does the mpaa own you

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:22:32 +0000

Matthew Lasar of Ars Technica writes… “At the request of theatrical film makers, the Federal Communications Commission on Friday quietly launched a proceeding
on whether to let video program distributors remotely block consumers
from recording recently released movies on their DVRs. The technology
that does this is called Selectable Output Control (SOC), but the FCC
restricts its use. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
wants a waiver on that restriction in the case of high-definition
movies broadcast prior to their release as DVDs.”
full story…

take a nap

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:19:42 +0000

Tina Hesman Saey of ScienceNews writes… “A cup of joe or a short nap can fend off normal afternoon sleepiness,
but sleeping longer in the morning won’t keep a person who’s already
gotten a full night’s sleep alert, a new study shows.”
full story…

beaming secret quantum codes

robfixmycomputer — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:18:50 +0000

JR Minkel of Scientific America writes… “Researchers hope to send an experiment to the International Space Station (ISS) by the middle of the next decade that would pave the way for transcontinental transmission of secret messages encoded using the mysterious quantum property of entanglement.”
full story…