conuly

What do you know! If this keeps up, we may get a white Christmas for a change.

Removing DRM increases sales

http://news.techeye.net/business/removing-drm-increases-sales

We are very, very bad at washing our hands, says science

http://bit.ly/18OfLMw

Judge's word on NSA program won't be the last

http://abcn.ws/1bc45mV

If this judge doesn’t buy the legal basis for the NSA’s intrusive phone snooping, no one should.

http://slate.me/1fB9Pvx

Study finds evidence of domesticated Chinese cats 5,300 years ago

http://bit.ly/1hYMxTL

A brief history of African click words

http://bit.ly/19aqfvz

Autism hits Somali kids harder, University of Minnesota study finds

http://strib.mn/IZXAN7

Freedoms for Saudi university girls end at gates

http://wapo.st/1hYMTJZ

The NSA: An Inside View [blog-post]

http://bit.ly/19aquab

The Odd Rise of Anonymous Sources

http://bit.ly/19PH5dK

Paul Dini Tells Kevin Smith about Hollywood’s Fear of Girl Cooties

http://bit.ly/18KQa7r

Barbie and Elevator Guy: science and sexism

(Yes, I know it's old.)

http://bit.ly/19veuxT

How Viruses Take a Short Trip from London to NYC

http://bit.ly/18YbuvI

Yellowstone supervolcano 'even more colossal'

And if/when it blows, we are all gonna be screwed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25312674

Americans Still Care About Their Public Libraries

http://bit.ly/1bz0fUM

Many Catalan Nativity Scenes Feature Jesus, the Wise Men, and Someone Defecating (Really!)

http://bit.ly/Jdh0yw

NYPD cops beat up my loved ones, killed my parakeet: Staten Island mom

http://nydn.us/JdR1Yc

Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram

http://bit.ly/18A4BOw

In a "Rainbow" Universe Time May Have No Beginning

http://bit.ly/1f221lw

Monitor Lizards Found to Breathe Uni-Directionally Like Birds

http://bit.ly/1gu6QrG

This girl was cured of cancer (knock on wood) with modified AIDS.

( Read more... )

Well, mostly boring. What sort of teacher assigns homework for the last damn week of school? It's not like we don't all know the grades are already in, but no, we have to do the whole song and dance of "Do your homework!" anyway.

The Taliban is threatening to stop polio vaccinations for children if drone strikes continue. Because two wrongs make a right.

Apparently, in a shocking event, some presumably young people don't know about things that happened before they were born, or when they were very small. Well, duh? The way history is taught in schools, how surprising is that?

Here's a quick article on the best map of the US ever, which you will never, ever need because, dude, that's what googlemaps is for.

An article about some politician who said, quite honestly, that if his kids were hungry and the only way to a better life was to enter the US, legally or otherwise, he'd do whatever it took to make that happen. The comments are full of outrage, of course, but they're all hypocrites. Any one of them would do the same, or they're not much of a human being and, frankly, terrible parents.

And one on what happens to donated clothes.

Oh, and an article on the cell phone ban in NYC public schools. As always, most people don't know one thing about NYC, so let's clear this up:

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An unknown component of breastmilk may kill HIV. Well, really, is there anything that stuff can't do?

6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying

A set of artwork formed with mold and bacteria. Fascinating, especially the Mario.

Here's an article about curfew in... San Diego, I guess? Some of the comments are pretty pointless. "Oh, do you WANT your kid out after 10 without knowing where they are?" Obviously the only reasonable response to that is "Yes", because how can you argue with people so determined to use that line of attack?

And a fairly long article on lead in America which I'm far too tired to read right now. I can't even type, I keep putting in the wrong words. So read it and tell me if it's any good : ) I'll be sure to actually read it tomorrow.

I've been getting headaches for close to a year now. They aren't sinus headaches like I used to get a lot of as a teen. And I don't think they're migraines, like my mother and sister are/were prone to. (I remember my childhood as many, many weekends of one or both of them sick in bed with a migraine or a root canal. Bad teeth, too. I really lucked out when I didn't get either one of those in the genetic draw!)

They usually come on very fast and strong. One moment I'm fine, the next moment my head hurts. I've actually said "ow", which isn't something you usually say for lingering pain. They almost always are on one side of the head only, usually at the front. (Temple?) They don't last very long, only five or fifteen minutes (and some of them less even than that, only two or three minutes!), but I might get several of them in a short period, so I essentially have headaches for an hour or two, one after another with breaks in between. The later ones aren't as bad as the earlier ones. This may repeat for a few days, and then nothing for a while. It *may* be aggravated by chlorine (as it all seemed to improve when I stopped heading near the pool to supervise Ana changing before swimming), but it's definitely not a sure thing, as I've had them without being near a pool or bleach for weeks. (For example, last night.)

Dark and quiet may help, or it may not. Sleep definitely helps... but only if they come when I'm tired and sleepy already, otherwise I can't sleep to begin with. (And for all I know, it's just time that helps, and sleep gives me lots of that!)

It doesn't seem to me that anything precipitates them. I don't get a warning aura or anything, or if I do I don't know it. Although I do have my period now, I haven't noticed that they mostly come with my period.

Any ideas? They're (mostly) not that debilitating after the first few minutes, but they sure are annoying.

Edit: Also, they're probably not cluster headaches. Except for the fact that they cluster, I don't think I fit the symptoms at all, and they don't seem severe enough. Cluster headaches are supposed to be worse than childbirth, and while I don't know about childbirth, I doubt my headaches are that bad.

Care about abortion rights? Click the link.

( Text of the link in here )

As always, I'm stuck having no idea what on earth to *say* in a letter to my various legislators. Anybody writing one, give me your draft to modify?

And would have been afraid to ask if it had ever occured to you to do so:

Two distinct genetically determined types of earwax are distinguished -- the wet-type which is dominant, and the dry type which is recessive. Asians and Native Americans are more likely to have the dry type of cerumen (grey and flaky), whereas Caucasians and Africans are more likely to have the wet type (honey-brown to dark-brown and moist).[3] Cerumen type has been used by anthropologists to track human migratory patterns, such as those of the Inuit.[4]

Who knew there was so much to know about earwax?

An editorial on children and food and ads, from alternet.

Comments, as always, are interesting to read in alternet articles.

I'm never ordering pizza again while watching Ana. She's clearly got some dairy-related issues. She was fine, if a bit hyper, until we had the pizza. Then she was hyper and incredibly high strung and unable to do even simple things (like ask "Can I have that please?" rather than snatching a toy from your hands simply because you'd happened to pick it up while she did something else).

Granted, we'd been inside all day due to the periodic thunderstorms - but his was completely over the top, and it's something I've tentatively noticed before. I think I can consider it confirmed, and do my part to make Jenn's house completely, instead of mostly, dairy-free.