‘No God’ slogans for city’s buses

Bendy-buses with the slogan “There’s probably no God” could soon be running on the streets of London.

The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.

The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dawkins, but it has now raised more than £36,000 of its own accord. It aims to have two sets of 30 buses carrying the signs for four weeks.

The complete slogan reads: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” As the campaign has raised more than anticipated, it will also have posters on the inside of buses as well. The BHA is also considering extending the campaign to cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Professor Dawkins said: “Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride – automatic tax breaks, unearned respect and the right not to be offended, the right to brainwash children. … – bbc

God gives believers hope and hope is an essential ingredient for human life. Without hope, we become twisted. I believe this is one reason people cling violently to their various religious beliefs, even when they privately admit that the stuff they are supposed to believe doesn’t make any sense.

The truth is, ANY false belief which keeps us happy is adaptive.  If you REALLY believe in it, and if it makes you feel good, and if it makes you behave in adaptive ways, then Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is just as good a system as any “real” religion.

What I’m saying is, perhaps a little self delusion is a good thing. We all do it to some degree. Why not just make up a belief system that works for you?  Invent your own private religion! Ah, now that’s a fun idea. My church. My rules. My rituals. My music. My holy foods. My tax exempt status…

Researcher Hopes to Find Hidden Tomb of Genghis Khan Using Non-Invasive Technologies

According to legend, Genghis Khan lies buried somewhere beneath the dusty steppe of Northeastern Mongolia, entombed in a spot so secretive that anyone who made the mistake of encountering his funeral procession was executed on the spot. Once he was below ground, his men brought in horses to trample evidence of his grave, and just to be absolutely sure he would never be found, they diverted a river to flow over their leader’s final resting place.

What Khan and his followers couldn’t have envisioned was that nearly 800 years after his death, scientists at UC San Diego’s Center for Interdisciplinary Science in Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3) would be able to locate his tomb using advanced visualization technologies whose origins can be traced back to the time of the Mongolian emperor himself.

“As outrageous as it might sound, we’re looking for the tomb of Genghis Khan,” says Dr. Albert Yu-Min Lin, an affiliated researcher for CISA3. “Genghis Khan was one of the most exceptional men in all of history, but his life is too often dismissed as being that of a bloodthirsty warrior. Few people in the West know about his legacy — that he united warring tribes of Mongolia and merged them into one, that he introduced the East to the West making explorations like those of Marco Polo possible, that he tried to create a central world currency, that he introduced a written language to the Mongol people and created bridges that we still use today within the realm of international relations.

“But as great a man he was, there are few clues and no factual evidence about Genghis Khan’s burial, which is why we need to start using technology to solve this mystery.” … Khan’s grave is presumably in a region bordered by Mongolia’s Onon River and the Khan khentii mountains near his birthplace in Khentii Aimag, and some experts believe his sons and other family members were later buried beside him. The researchers, however, have little additional information to go on. Directly following Khan’s death in 1227, the area around his tomb was deemed forbidden by the emperor’s guards, and later in the 20th century, by strict Russian occupation, which prohibited Mongolians from even talking about Genghis Khan because they felt it might lead to nationalist uprising. Only since the 1990s have researchers been allowed in the area, and several other research teams have tried unsuccessfully to locate the tomb. … – astigan

Worm grunting mystery solved

It sounds a little like snake charming. You drive a wooden stake into the ground and draw a flat metal rod across the top, creating an bullfrog-like grunting sound. Within minutes, hundreds of earthworms come to the surface, where they meet their doom in the buckets of fishing bait collectors.

Now, researcher Ken Catania of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. has an explanation for the worms’ hightailing it to the surface: Worm grunting mimics the vibrations made by burrowing moles, a voracious worm predator.

Catania, who studies moles, had read Charles Darwin’s statement in a book he wrote on worms: “It has often been said that if the ground is beaten or otherwise made to tremble, worms believe that they are pursued by a mole and leave their burrows.” … – msnbc

Worms are not just for fishing. See vermiculture.

Watch out for ATM Skimming

I got hit by one of these when I was in SF for a New Year’s party. Someone took over $3,000 from my bank account over a few months. I got it all back, but it was a pain to have to take time out to fill out all the claim forms, etc.

Audeo “Think N’ Spell” neckband allows voiceless phone calls

You know what’s wrong with phone conversations? All that dang talking you have to do. Luckily for us, some scientists at Ambient Corporation are bent on fixing that with their “Audeo” wireless neckband which taps into nerve signals being sent to the vocal chords and vocalizes those “thoughts” for you — without all that pesky implant nonsense. Users have to specifically think about voicing words for them to be picked up by the band, but it saves them from saying potentially sensitive things while on a cellphone in public. The device is also being aimed at those who have lost the ability to speak due to diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Currently the device can only recognize roughly 150 words and phrases, and has a decent delay between “speaking” with your mind and the computer vocalizing the words for you, but the upcoming version will be phenome-based and therefore allow you to speak anything — though it will come at the cost of even slower recognition. Video is after the break. – engadget

Genome fanatics to post own DNA sequences on Web

A group of scientists and researchers fascinated with the human genome said Monday they will post online their most private personal information — their medical records and DNA sequence of some of their own genes — all for the sake of research.

Led by Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church, nine people plan to post their records and the DNA sequence of about one-fifth of their genes on the Web.

The participants also include Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker and Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School. A tenth participant, Misha Angrist, science editor at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, said he plans to make his medical records public, but is still deciding on whether to make his sequencing information public.

Harvard said this is the first phase of a major initiative to make personal genome sequencing more affordable and accessible.

The release is part of the “Personal Genome Project,” which is designed to serve as a resource for researchers investigating the genetic basis of diseases and other traits.

Members of the group received the protein-coding regions of their genomes Monday. … Halamka said his results showed he could be at an increased risk for several diseases, including prostate cancer and a neurological disorder that causes weakness and numbness in the legs. He said knowing he has an increased risk could help him when he has a physical examination.

“I think as a family we will now approach our care a little differently,” he said.

Participants said they decided to make their information public to help medical research.

“I believe that there’s a great advantage to each of us knowing our sequences, but it is also to me inconceivable that absolute genetic privacy will be maintained,” said Stanley Lapidus, chairman and CEO of Helicos BioSciences Corp.

Earlier this year, Church’s project won approval from Harvard’s ethical review board to sequence and post the genes and records of 100,000 willing participants. Church later asked nine people to participate in the first stage of the project.

On Tuesday, the Personal Genome Project’s Web site will post the DNA sequences, cell lines, and medical and non-medical traits of participants who agreed to disclose their information. Anyone with access to the Internet can view the information.

Concerns about genetic privacy prompted Congress to pass the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits insurers or employers from discriminating against people based on their genetic information. The act was signed into law in May.  … – ap

See the Personal Genome Project has a photo of 8 of the 10 (above). They call them the PGP-10. Photo caption:

Back row (left to right): James Sherley, Misha Angrist, John Halamka, Keith Batchelder, Rosalynn Gill. Front row (left to right): Esther Dyson, George Church, Kirk Maxey. Not shown: Stan Lapidus and Steven Pinker.

Largest Ancient Tang gold cup discovered

The Belitung wreck is a time capsule that has revolutionised our understanding of two ancient civilisations… China and the Middle East

Simon Worrall explains why a recent discovery on the seabed of the Indian Ocean will revolutionise our understanding of two ancient civilisations. “The local fishermen believe that there are underwater spirits guarding the wrecks,” says Tilman Walterfang, as our boatman picks his way through a maze of coral reefs and submerged rocks.

“Sometimes, they perform prayers on the boats, sacrificing a goat, spreading the blood everywhere, to keep the vessel safe.”

I am on a fishing boat in the Gaspar Strait, near Belitung Island, off the south-east coast of Sumatra.

Since time immemorial, this funnel-shaped passage linking the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean has been one of the two main shipping routes. The Malacca Straits is the other, from China to the West.

A British sea captain, shipwrecked here in 1817, called it “the most dangerous area between China and London”.

Discovery

Ten years ago, at a spot known locally as “Black Rock”, two men diving for sea cucumbers came across a large pile of sand and coral.

Digging a hole, they reached in and pulled out a barnacle-encrusted bowl. Then another. And another.

They had stumbled on the oldest, most important, marine archaeological discovery ever made in South East Asia, an Arab dhow – or ship – built of teak, coconut wood and hibiscus fibre, packed with a treasure that Indiana Jones could only dream of.

There were 63,000 pieces of gold, silver and ceramics from the fabled Tang dynasty, which flourished between the seventh and 10th centuries.  … Among the artefacts was the largest Tang gold cup ever discovered.  …  – Continues on bbc

And here it is…

World’s first dog lived 31,700 years ago, ate big

In shape, the Paleolithic dogs most resembled the Siberian husky …, researchers say, but in size, they were somewhat larger, probably comparable to large shepherd dogs. An international team of scientists has just identified what they believe is the world’s first known dog, which was a large and toothy canine that lived 31,700 years ago and subsisted on a diet of horse, musk ox and reindeer, according to a new study.

The discovery could push back the date for the earliest dog by 17,700 years, since the second oldest known dog, found in Russia, dates to 14,000 years ago.

Remains for the older prehistoric dog, which were excavated at Goyet Cave in Belgium, suggest to the researchers that the Aurignacian people of Europe from the Upper Paleolithic period first domesticated dogs. Fine jewelry and tools, often decorated with depictions of big game animals, characterize this culture. – msnbc

Giant Golden Phaser Proposed for Sacramento

Thanks to Thomas for this tip. What do you think? The “golden spike” building that may become Sacramento’s “space needle” kind of looks like a phaser from the original Star Trek to me. So, I like it.

Sacramentan Walter Horsting is proposing a new icon for California’s capital city, The Golden Spike. Here are his words:

The Golden Spike Landmark
Sacramento needs a landmark that reflects the history of the Sacramento Region. St. Louis has the Arch: Gateway to the West and Seattle has the Space Needle. What symbol can capture the historical foundations of Sacramento: The Gold Rush and the building of the Transcontinental Railroad; other than the Golden Spike? … – dodsonconsultants

… And it wouldn’t cost taxpayers anything if built as an office tower, says Horsting, a vice president at AVI-SPL, a Florida-based company that supplies big video screens for sports stadiums.

He acknowledges that he’s no developer or architect. But he serves on some local committees and he got the Golden Spike into a show at the Sacramento chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which opened a new office on 14th and S streets this summer. The exhibit closed last week; AIA officials said reviews were mixed for the top-heavy monument. – bizjournal

Every time I see it, I will make the phaser sound. Say it with me, “Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

It is possible to snoop on all keyboards … even through walls

Here’s one for the paranoia files:

There’s worrying news from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. We’re all familiar with the dangers of computer viruses and malicious software – just last week the FBI warned of the growing threat of computer crime. But it seems that one of the biggest threats to computer security could be the keyboard – even those that are not wireless.

Martin Vuagnoux and Sylvain Pasini have discovered that the electromagnetic waves released every time you strike a key on the keyboard can be detected by a nearby antenna and interpreted by computer software to work out exactly what was typed. Click “continue reading” to see a video.

So, be on the lookout for suspicious people with a giant antenna in the next room, especially if you type your passwords slowly  o n e  l e t t e r   a  t   a   t i m e. See the video: Compromising Electromagnetic Emanations of Keyboards Experiment 1/2 from Martin Vuagnoux. Snooping was worked out acoustically at least three years ago.