Bridge the Digital Divide

This man, his ideas and his implementation of them is really inspiring. He offers a snapshot of world poverty then discusses how internet can Bridge the Digital Divide.

Five billion people can’t use the Internet. Aleph Molinari empowers the digitally excluded by giving them access to computers and the know-how to use them.

Through education and technology-focused community centers, Aleph Molinari empowers the 5 billion people who cannot access or use the Internet and other technologies. Full bio »

Fox is in the Muppet House

A couple of months ago, Fox News decided to attack the new Muppet Movie for being anti-capitalism because their evil nemesis is an oil tycoon. Their absurd 'arguments' - which are really just 2 people's opinions - can be heard in the first video where they attack the entire Hollywood conspiracy.

Shades of Tele-Tubbie's Gay Purse!



Here is Miss Piggy's response to the whole affair. Touché MissP !

See v Observe

Sherlock Holmes isn’t what you’d call a traditional psychologist. In fact, he isn’t even real (despite the letters that to this day arrive at 221B Baker Street). But we’d be well advised, as decision makers who want to gain better insight into our minds and the processes that lie behind our choices, to take a few pages from the playbook of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation.

Sherlock Holmes teaches us to be constantly mindful of our surroundings

Imitate an Accent to Understand It Better

According to a new study, the key to understanding someone with a different accent is to repeat what he says and to approximate the accent. The work appears in the journal Psychological Science. [Patti Adank, Peter Hagoort and Harold Bekkering, "Imitation Improves Language Comprehension"]

Humans imitate each other during social interaction. This imitative behavior streamlines social interaction and aids in learning to replicate actions. However, the effect of imitation on action comprehension is unclear. This study investigated whether vocal imitation of an unfamiliar accent improved spoken-language comprehension. Following a pretraining accent comprehension test, participants were assigned to one of six groups. The baseline group received no training, but participants in the other five groups listened to accented sentences, listened to and repeated accented sentences in their own accent, listened to and transcribed accented sentences, listened to and imitated accented sentences, or listened to and imitated accented sentences without being able to hear their own vocalizations. Posttraining measures showed that accent comprehension was most improved for participants who imitated the speaker’s accent. These results show that imitation may aid in streamlining interaction by improving spoken-language comprehension under adverse listening conditions.

The secret to a happier future

This is an inspirational video from the people who brought you The Secret. A little optimism never hurt anyone!

Sweat lodge survivor reveals details of tragic incident

It was supposed to be a religious awakening aimed at helping people find a new vision for life. But it wasn't long before the culmination of a $9,000+ per person retreat outside Sedona, Ariz. turned into a terrifying experience.

"People were vomiting in the stifling heat, gasping for air, and lying lifeless on the sand and gravel floor beneath them," according to 43-year-old Texas resident and participant Beverley Bunn. "One man was burned when he crawled into the rocks, seemingly unaware of what he was doing", she said. Ultimately, three people would die.

When participants exhibited weakness, Ray urged them to push past it and chided those who wanted to leave, she said.

...

People were not physically forced to stay inside but highly encouraged. "It was all about mind over matter, you're stronger than your body," Bunn said.

James Ray cancels appearances because of sweat lodge deaths.

When dozens of fans and supporters for James Arthur Ray showed up for one of his events in Toronto Wednesday night, they were greeted by a handwritten sign saying the event had been canceled.

At the time no explanation was given, but one of Ray's former mentors, Bob Proctor, apparently convinced Ray to cancel the seminar just hours before it was scheduled to start, ABC News has learned.

In a post on his Web site today, Ray said he is postponing the rest of his events for the year to help "get to the bottom" of the incident in Sedona, Ariz., earlier this month in which three people died after attending one of his seminars in a sweat lodge.

Look Ma, No Hands!!!

Bicycle maker Gyrobike has invented the “Gyrowheel” — a wheel with a motor-driven gyroscope inside that helps keep it upright. The manufacturer hopes to market it as a replacement for traditional training wheels on kids’ bicycles. Nathan Barry of GeekDad writes:

It aims to replace traditional training wheels or stabilizers and to eradicate the bad habits that they teach kids when learning to ride a bike – leaning away from a turn and constantly putting a foot down at the first sign of a wobble when they’re eventually taken off. The Gyrowheel uses the “gyroscopic precession” of the independently spinning disk inside it to stabilize the bike. The force created when the disk is turned – via a rechargeable battery – is powerful enough to hold a wheel upright at very low speeds (i.e. virtually stopped), and can actually make a bike look like it has a “Ghost Rider” as the videos below show (and there are plenty more on the Gyrobike site).

"I am not dumb!"

Helen Keller — inspiration to generations and inspiration for an entire genre of schoolyard humor — and her teacher and friend Anne Sullivan in a clip from 1930 in which they describe the way in which Helen learned how to speak ... It’s a fascinating little clip which pays homage to a woman who, even beyond her amazing circumstances, was a radical socialist, suffragist, and supporter of birth control, who was friends with the likes of Mark Twain and who worked tirelessly to champion the rights of both the downtrodden and the physically disabled.

Laughing in the Face of Racism

The repentant former KKK leader Johnny Lee Clary explains how Reverend Wade Watts, an NAACP leader, disarmed him by being cool, funny and brave, engaging in some first-rate psy-ops. Be sure to listen through to the end for the chicken story.

Who knew Big Cats love PUMPKINS?!

Big Cat Rescue is a non profit, permanent retirement home to more than 100 tigers, lions, leopards, bobcats and more species of exotic cat. They rely entirely on donations to provide them with the lives you see in these videos. Please help support the big cats at: http://www.bigcatrescue.org/donate.htm or by mailing a check to Big Cat Rescue 12802 Easy Street, Tampa, FL 33625 813.920.4130 Info@BigCatRescue.org


TIGERS LEOPARDS Vs Pumpkins! - The funniest home videos are here

May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia

International Day Against Homophobia will be observed across Canada and around the world on May 17 – this Sunday. The occasion presents an annual opportunity to rally citizens everywhere against all forms of homophobia.

The theme for the 2009 celebration is Homosexuality Knows No Borders. The goal is to make the general population, especially ethnocultural communities of all backgrounds, more aware of gay and lesbian issues, and also of issues related to sexual diversity.

CLICK HERE to visit the Official website

First there was FAME, Now there is GLEE!

Get ready for the new gayest show on television. Glee premieres on Fox May 19th.

In Glee a Spanish teacher heads up a high school glee (show choir) club, which attracts even the schools hot high school quarterback.

Created by Nip/Tuck’s Ryan Murphy it includes gay fave and out lesbian Jane Lynch. If Jane has just one line like the many in the trailer it will be well worth your time.

Official Show Site

Picture it ... Italy, Suddenly Last Winter

Suddenly Last Winter is the story of Gustav and Luca. Their life changes when the Italian government presents a draft law that would give rights to unmarried and gay couples, prompting a wave of homophobia in Italy. The Vatican and conservatives fight against it, preaching that the end of morality and the family are nigh if the legalisation on civil unions is not blocked. Together for over eight years, Luca and Gustav want to understand the different positions and undertake a journey into a country they did not know before and did not expect to find: their own.

Here is a trailer for the film

Click through to the website to see a video/discussion by the film makers

Classical Muppets

Two fantastic YouTube clips to introduce your kids to great works of classical music ... and puppetry. First, Beeker and his many clones perform Beethoven's Ode to Joy, then Gonzo the Great and his chicken orchestra cluck out The Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss.

Put your mouse where your mouth is ... Eyeball it !!

This is a very cool and surprisingly fun visual challenge that you must try. WARNING: It may show you whether ... or not ... you have ACTUALLY been right all these years!

THIS IMAGE | Featurepics.com

Some people are bothered by pictures on the wall hanging slightly crooked. Others may not even be aware that something may be amiss.

If you are somebody who is into woodworking or construction, its good to be one of the people who notice when things are crooked. But I suspect the ability to notice that things might be just a little off square, off centre, or not quite straight, varies greatly. I thought it would be fun for people to try to test their abilities to see if things are straight or crooked in a little game.

And thanks to LCD monitors, its possible to display geometry with absolute accuracy on a computer now. So what better way to try this game concept than to put it on the web!

How the game works
The best way to figure out how the game works is to simply play it.

I'd recognize that ASS anywhere

Chimpanzees may not forget a familiar face — or a behind, a new study says.

In a recent experiment, captive primates were able to identify photos of their acquaintances' rears and match them with the right faces.

The ability suggests that the animals possess mental "whole body" representations of other chimps they know.

Each participating chimp was flashed a picture of another's bum, with visible genitals, then shown the face of the derriere's owner and another face of the same gender.

Both males and females were successful in this anatomical match game, pairing faces and posteriors with much greater frequency than chance alone—but only if the photos showed chimps they already knew.

How dum is American spelling?

This guy is probably responsible for American spelling of words like 'colour' without the U, but if you click on the link at the bottom you can watch his video rationale.

Run Gorilla Run

I am not sure about this commercial's implied messages (racist rant, gorillas are a bad thing and ought to be shipped back, etc.), but I think the event sounds fun (for bank robbers, anyway!), and the cause is a good one. What do you think?

Teach your children well

Hint: Don't tell your kids how smart they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

Praising children’s innate abilities, as Jonathan’s parents did, reinforces this mind-set, which can also prevent young athletes or people in the workforce and even marriages from living up to their potential. On the other hand, our studies show that teaching people to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, helps make them into high achievers in school and in life.