“Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.”

Especially coming from a Harvard scientist, where this talk led to went past my expectations. Beautifully so.

“Rapex – dubbed the ‘rape trap’ – is a product worn internally by women. The hollow inside is lined with rows of razor-sharp hooks, which are designed to latch on to a rapist’s penis during penetration. They can only be removed by a doctor.”

With the world’s highest rape incidence (and relevantly high HIV/AIDS transmission in South Aftrica at 5 million, and where 200,000 people die of AIDS yearly), a call for a defense product such as this was answered by Sonette Ehlers. According to the First Post article, feminist groups oppose the contraption for being medieval and akin to chastity belts. This puts the burden of addressing a male problem on women.

My take is, welcome to reality where you can get raped for wearing your favorite sexy dress. It happens. And in South Africa, the danger is exponentially higher. You don’t always get your ideal government who’s aggressive in protecting women’s welfare. Or at least, not quickly enough. You want a male morality overhaul, you won’t be getting it on time, at 1.7 M rape cases annually.

Logically, this does not and should not derail whatever legislative action is being undertaken in repairing this social atrocity, but merely provides an option of protection or, at least, deterrence. Feminist groups should be badgering and reprimanding the government instead for its apathetic stance on the issue. Then maybe one day it would be ridiculous for women to even consder an invention like this.

“She believes the product, priced at one Rand, will be particularly useful for poorer black women who walk long distances to and from work.” I think the possibility that a potential victim is wearing one of these will serve as a significant deterrence. On the question of victim safety, they argue that it could provoke further violence once the contraption takes a bite. Although the level of pain is untested on a real member, assuming the microscopic barbs inflict enough pain, I would bank greater on the possibility that the perp would be more concerned about his appendage than retaliating. Besides, a defensive claw across the face, kick in the jewels or drawing out a gun, mace, or pocketknife from your purse equally presents a deadly retaliation.

Ideally, I wish there was no need for it, but there is. I do not consider myself less of a feminist by welcoming this option on the shelf. At the least, I would be more concerned about the (dis)comfort it gives the wearer.

However, further product efficacy testing would be most welcome

H/T and more interesting info on David Boles’ post.

“Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved.”

Gravity of punishment depends according to the number of arms used (i.e. one-arm hug, bear hug), torque exerted on hugee, and whether hugger’s eyes were open or closed at the time of the act.

If you need to pile on more of those Need to Do NOW tasks, check out this candy vid by John Kelly.

Snagged from designboom

And if you get bad rap for this spontaneous ability to multi-task, don’t worry, it’s more productive than it appears to be– and even the scholarliest of them all catches the bug. Mr. Philosopher John Perry’s practically got it down to a science.

I finally saw the documentary God’s Warriors by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. It is a fascinating reportage on three powerful and controversial groups (Jewish, Christian and Muslims), with commentaries from inside people that range from fleshing out their struggle, to some moderates speaking against the fundies. Some questions are answered, to a chilling degree; some raise more questions; however, a peek into what moves these groups is very much needed and make everyone more aware of how to take action.

If you prefer to catch it on YouTube:
God’s Warriors: Islam, Judaism, Christianity.

Content may be king, but giving him fine threads to strut in rakes you in royal points. If you’re looking for some inspiration on how to spice up your blog visually or just plain want to browse some eyecandy, Smashing Mag picked out their creme de la creme of blogville, 45 Excellent Blog Designs. Check it out. Very cool and smart designs, some don’t even look like blogs.

So pretty, makes me want to pick up a book on CSS and learn the whole technical shebang. Well, almost.

Modern design largely benefits people who are in the position and opportunity of access, unfortunately, this is a minority as 90% of the world’s population stuggle even with the basics to survive, such as food, shelter and livelihood. Admirably, a movement has been gaining steam as more and more designers desire to address this imbalance and invent products that not only would be gratifying, but sustainable and productive.

Six areas are covered by the exhibit: Shelter, Health, Water, Education, Energy and Transport. Start here for the product briefs.

Three favorite picks:

Q Drum: “Millions around the world, especially in rural Africa, live kilometers from a reliable source of clean water. Water in adequate quantities is too heavy to carry. The Q Drum is a durable container designed to roll easily, and can transport seventy-five liters of clean and potable water; rather than lifting and carrying it, this eases the burden of bringing water to those who need it.”

Pot-in-Pot Cooler: “Consists of two pots, a smaller earthenware pot nestled within another pot, with the space in between filled with sand and water. When that water evaporates, it pulls heat from the interior of the smaller pot, in which vegetables and fruits can be kept. In rural Nigeria, many farmers lack transportation, water, and electricity, but one of their biggest problems is the inability to preserve their crops. With the Pot-in-Pot, tomatoes last for twenty-one days, rather than two or three days without this technology. Fresher produce can be sold at the market, generating more income for the farmers.”

Best of all, a product designed in 2005 and has been reaping awards left and right since then for its revolutionary application:

LifeStraw: “About half of the world’s poor suffer from waterborne diseases, and more than 6,000 people, mainly children, die each day by consuming unsafe drinking water. LifeStraw, a personal mobile water-purification tool is designed to turn any surface water into drinking water. It has proven to be effective against waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea, and removes particles as small as fifteen microns.” And this nifty gadget costs only $3.00 each!

Licious Verdict: 10

“The odd quirk in your personality is nothing to worry about, it might even be getting you a few more social invites than the more dull among us. So party on, you’re not a threat to society.”

I am somewhat disappointed, yet somewhat relieved at my level of neurosis.

(Click to be directed to the video)

Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration and former Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, writes a succinct article In the Hole to China that should concern everyone, not just Americans, as the reprecussions will consequently quake globally.

The Meat: “Strategic thinkers, if any remain who have not been purged by neocons, will quickly conclude that China’s power over the value of the dollar and US interest rates also gives China power over US foreign policy. The US was able to attack Afghanistan and Iraq only because China provided the largest part of the financing for Bush’s wars.

“No country on earth, except for Israel, supports the Bush regimes’ desire to attack Iran. It is China’s decision whether it calls in the US ambassador, and delivers the message that there will be no attack on Iran or further war unless the US is prepared to buy back $900 billion in US Treasury bonds and other dollar assets.


“The US, of course, has no foreign reserves with which to make the purchase. The impact of such a large sale on US interest rates would wreck the US economy and effectively end Bush’s war-making capability. Moreover, other governments would likely follow the Chinese lead, as the main support for the US dollar has been China’s willingness to accumulate them. If the largest holder dumped the dollar, other countries would dump dollars, too.

“The value and purchasing power of the US dollar would fall. When hard-pressed Americans went to Wal-Mart to make their purchases, the new prices would make them think they had wandered into Nieman Marcus.

“This is a grim outlook. We got in this position because our leaders are ignorant fools. So are our economists, many of whom are paid shills for some interest group. So are our corporate leaders whose greed gave China power over the US by offshoring the US production of goods and services to China. It was the corporate fat cats who turned US Gross Domestic Product into Chinese imports, and it was the ‘free trade, free market economists’ who egged it on.”