This is a very simple theory put to test, and it seems it is paying huge benefits. Watch as this blind man rock climbs seeing with his tongue.

Here is a small portion of the article:

The Wicab BrainPort uses the tongue to sense incoming visual information, aimed at helping people who are blind or who have extremely low vision.

Read Full Article Here!

As a university student I am all too aware of the increased cost of post-secondary education and the many ways one can rack up debt in order to achieve that desired goal, attaining a university degree. This article recently caught my eye and made me think whether my own mounting debts are worth it in the long run. Recently, it has become painstakingly obvious, even to the casual observer, that a university degree will not guarantee even an average-income upon graduation. Studies show that many graduates barely even reach the average-income threshold within five years of obtaining their degree.

Another problem graduates face is that a post-secondary degree has become a general requirement for many jobs. It seems that a degree is now a mainstay requirement for a majority of jobs. In years past degrees were looked upon as that little “extra” pushing one over their competition but now, due to the sheer number of people with a degree, it is expected of most people to obtain one. So, with an added pressure from the job market, increased costs, potential lifelong debts, and low paying jobs to look forward to, is it worth the investment, in terms of time and money, to obtain a post-secondary diploma? Better yet, do we truly have that choice or is it already made for us?

The argument against higher education is financially simple. Here is a broad overview without any exact figures of how it can play out (see article for a detailed analysis including exact numbers). The years spent obtaining any post-secondary education can instead be used to work a fulltime entry-level job. With this added experience, the income earned during the years one would normally use to obtain a degree, and some disciplined and careful investing, one can indeed have the ability to become financially independent by retirement.

Therefore, one not only earns money and experience during those years but also avoids the expenses of university and the debt that piles up along the way. This debt can set many people back and often many people still pay off their student loans well into their thirties. So, if it’s possible to earn a decent income and save enough for retirement without earning a post-secondary degree, why still do it?

There are many reasons for this. Firstly, the above course of events does not take into account quality of life or lifestyle choices. Even with a mountain of debt, one can lead a comfortable lifestyle due to their job (a company can provide transportation, a Blackberry, accommodation, and other various benefits). So, while the yearly salary may not be significantly higher than non-degree folk, the lifestyle can be vastly different.

Secondly, without a degree, one’s income ceiling is generally significantly lower when compared to persons with higher education. This is a broad generalization especially in today’s world but it proves true for many professions. A simple study of salaries of individuals in similar fields after ten years of experience can shed light on this principle. Lastly, the experience of university and the desire to better oneself and learn new things is just as important. While university can be a time of great debauchery, it is also a time of self-reflection and discovery where people slowly find out who they are and how they handle different situations. While nothing really prepares one for the “real world”, it is suffice to say that going away to university can teach one to integrate in different situations more smoothly than before. It is such social skills and not just academics that one learns during their higher education years.

Finally, it is important to note life can take many different twists and turns and one’s course through the years can be affected by countless factors which are wholly outside of this argument. Hence, while deciding whether a degree is the right choice for you, keep in mind that it will likely not be the most important decision in your life. In fact, some of the most successful people on this globe have never attended university or have dropped out before graduating.

I chose to go down the route of pursuing a degree because that is what was ingrained in me since I was little. I never considered not attending a post-secondary institution and despite my ridiculous amount of debt, I do not regret it. While there is still plenty of time for me to change my mind, I doubt I will ever regret it because I am enjoying the experience and learning more than I could’ve imagined.

Furthermore, I knew the career path I chosen was one which required me to obtain a degree. In a sense, my choice was made for me. I would recommend higher education to everyone because I believe education is an important aspect of our society, even if its pursuit is solely for personal benefit and enlightenment. Does higher education make one superior to someone without it? Definitely not. Higher education should be a personal choice made by personal desires as opposed to potential financial incentives five to ten years down the line.

[© The Social Verdict, 2008. Reprinted with permission from The Social Verdict and by permission of its author.]

Yes, I said it. Get over it! Retarded: “delayed or held back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment.” — Apple Dictionary. I am sorry, but the word retarded should not be removed from an active vocabulary because someone somewhere associated it with the mentally retarded. If used properly, it is still a legitimate English word.

Anyways, there is a new automotive company on the block that is competing with the EV, plug-in hybrid market. This company has a fully functional, production ready plug-in hybrid sports car that is at the same stage in production as the GM Volt. Here is the kicker: The company is only 19 months old.

How long as GM been in business? 90 years? Why is our “Big Three” the “Retarded Three?” All the resources in the world, and they can’t keep up with small, self-starter companies that have a hundredth of the resources. Oh, I know. They have reached their Peter Principle. The’re too f*^king big and top heavy!

Here is a small portion of the article:

The super-luxe EV made its public driving debut Saturday during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races. It lapped Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at about 100 mph, and it was wild seeing a car move that fast without making a sound. The lap of the historic track came just 19 months after designer and company CEO Henrik Fisker unveiled the car at the Detroit auto show.

“Fisker Automotive is only 19 months old, and we’re already as far along with the Karma as General Motors is with the Volt,” company spokesman Rusell Datz told Wired.com moments before COO Bernhard Koehler took to the track ahead of a pack of vintage Porsche 908s and 917s.
The Karma is a lot like the Chevrolet Volt, and it uses the same basic technology as the Volt. Fisker just wraps it in much sexier bodywork.

Read Full Article Here!

Holy sh*t! I would have never believed someone if I did not see/read it for myself. Jellyfish 6 feet in diameter and over 400 lbs?!

Here is a small portion of the article:

The massive sea creatures, called Nomura’s jellyfish, can grow 6 feet (1.83 meters) in diameter and weigh more than 450 pounds (204 kilos). Scientists think they originate in the Yellow Sea and in Chinese waters. For the third year since 2005, ocean currents are transporting them into the Sea of Japan.

Read Full Article Here and see the photos!

The case for universal healthcare seems to be a simple one; everyone has the right to medical treatment regardless of their financial state. However, medical treatment costs money, and this is where the problems lie. Should there be a free-market system where healthcare is the individual responsibility of citizens where they have to ensure they have medical insurance, or is the State under an obligation to guarantee said care? In many parts of the modern world, such as the UK and Canada, it is deemed that this responsibility falls primarily on the government.

These two nations, out of many other countries worldwide who have universal healthcare, are the examples used most frequently in the American debate. Dividing my year between these two particular nations, I am happy to say the systems, while somewhat different in nature, have worked very well for me personally. Clearly, while not all healthcare costs can be covered by the government and a large portion of that cost is consequently dumped on the taxpayers, it is still a system that the citizens of these two nations would be hard-pressed to abandon. So, if it works in the UK and Canada and the people there, given each system’s failures and disadvantages, would still not be willing to give it up, why not try something similar in the US as well?

Obama himself called the Canadian healthcare system “the bogeyman” for a lot of Americans because of some of its more obvious flaws. Personally, I know that anytime I’ve had a minor problem, I had no troubles getting the treatment I required. When I had a serious medical issue, within three weeks I had seen my family doctor, a specialist, had an MRI, and received the results. I did not pay a dime for any of this. This proved to me that when an issue is serious enough, and one knows how to use the proper channels available, the system takes care of you. Obviously, there are mistakes and flaws but those will exist regardless of the system in place.

I’ve grown up only in countries with universal healthcare and have come to regard it as a governmental obligation on par with one’s right to free speech and education. Access to healthcare and the ability to receive the treatment required should be a fundamental right in any political system, especially one so advanced and iconic as America’s. This is why I struggle to understand the fierce opposition, the grassroots protests, and ill-will towards the people struggling to reach a solution which provides universal healthcare. I don’t know if Obama’s plan is the right one, but everyone should be willing to at least sit down and consider all possible options. The lack of desire to achieve any compromise is most puzzling.

5) Obama ran on campaign rhetoric about equality, togetherness and uniting people of all colors, creed and sexuality. Unfortunately, he has not lived up to the hype … yet.

Obama has not done much for a minority group here in the States. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people have been the one group of people that were basically shafted (no pun intended) in that deal. One problem that Obama faces is the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of the US military. Here is The Daily Beast writing about Obama and the two prominent officers being dismissed from duty because of being “outed” as gay.

“Gay soliders are being dismissed not because the president of the United States feels they should be discriminated against, which would be bad enough. Instead, they’re being dismissed because the president doesn’t feel like doing anything about it.”

I tend to agree with the context of this statement. There is a process by which politics work, and I understand that a president can’t do everything in the first 6 months of office, but this is really shady. Then, you take a look at other actions of the current president concerning LGBT concerns, and the concerns start mounting (no pun intended). Here on Who Runs Gov a journalist writes about two top level lawyers representing the LGBT movement being denied access to the White House administrative lawyers.

Two prominent gay rights lawyers litigating high-profile cases against the Obama administration tell me that their requests to meet with administration lawyers to discuss the cases were rebuffed — something that will further anger gay rights activists who feel badly stiff-armed by Obama on gay rights issues.
In both cases, the lawyers are representing Federal employees whose spouses are being denied protections or benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act. The Obama administration, which is officially opposed to DOMA, is defending the act in court and claiming it precludes the granting of some benefits (like health care) to same-sex spouses of Federal employees — the topic of so much controversy this week surrounding a case in California.

This sounds mighty familiar to the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell debacle above.

4) A year ago, Barack Obama was strongly against the secretive measures used by the Bush administration concerning oil, but is Obama doing the very same thing? Yes, it seems he is.

Newsweek reports that President Obama is being secretive with the Secret Service logs concerning coal executives in the very same manner that Bush II did.

As a senator, Barack Obama denounced the Bush administration for holding “secret energy meetings” with oil executives at the White House. But last week public-interest groups were dismayed when his own administration rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for Secret Service logs showing the identities of coal executives who had visited the White House to discuss Obama’s “clean coal” policies. One reason: the disclosure of such records might impinge on privileged “presidential communications.” The refusal, approved by White House counsel Greg Craig’s office, is the latest in a series of cases in which Obama officials have opted against public disclosure. Since Obama pledged on his first day in office to usher in a “new era” of openness, “nothing has changed,” says David -Sobel, a lawyer who litigates FOIA cases. “For a president who said he was going to bring unprecedented transparency to government, you would certainly expect more than the recycling of old Bush secrecy policies.”

Citizens for Ethics, a non-partisan group, tried to get this information out of the White House claiming Freedom of Information Act, but was denied. The president said that the logs are presidential logs, not Secret Service logs, making them not applicable to the Freedom of Information Act.

Great, more secretive BS from our president about big business. Enough said.

3) Obama, the so-called constitutional expert, has done nothing to stop the warrant-less wiretapping and email message surveillance Bush II started long ago. On top of that, Obama claims all kinds of immunity.

Wired.com has a great article explaining the back and forth between the courts and the White House.

In court filings, the administration says the suit (.pdf) “would require or risk the disclosure of information that is properly subject to the state secrets privilege and related statutory privileges.” The administration claims it’s shielded by sovereign immunity, in addition to citing the controversial state secrets privilege.

All the while, the EFF maintains the dragnet surveillance (.pdf) continues unabated under Obama.

“Using this shadow network of surveillance devices, defendants have acquired and continue to acquire the content of a significant portion of the phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, text messages, web communications and other communications, both international and domestic, of practically every American who uses the phone system or the internet,” the EFF wrote in its lawsuit.

The civil liberties group told Judge Walker the spying is as an “unprecedented, suspicionless general search through the nation’s communications.”

Back in June 16th of this year, a former NSA analyst was asked by a NY Times’ journalist how he felt about the continuation of these unconstitutional acts by the White House.

a former N.S.A. analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans’ e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation.

Both the former analyst’s account and the rising concern among some members of Congress about the N.S.A.’s recent operation are raising fresh questions about the spy agency.

Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, has been investigating the incidents and said he had become increasingly troubled by the agency’s handling of domestic communications.

In an interview, Mr. Holt disputed assertions by Justice Department and national security officials that the overcollection was inadvertent.

“Some actions are so flagrant that they can’t be accidental,” Mr. Holt said.

Well that is refreshing. Great, another thumbs down for Hope.

2) President Obama speaks as though he is a religious man, but is he really? I don’t think so, but that is just me.

Now don’t get me wrong. I would love it if he came out of the closet as an atheist; I am partial to the rationalists. Unfortunately, I think he talks about religion just to just to keep the religious zealots off his nuts, but it still bugs me. He was quoted saying he prays all the time for guidance.

President Barack Obama says he’s gone from praying nightly before going to bed to praying all the time because he has a “lot of stuff” on his plate and needs “guidance all the time.”

Jesus Christ, the guidance comes from intellectual discovery, rational debate and a good use of logic, not some old judgmental, misogynistic Zeus character in the sky!

1) Bipartisanship! What the f*ck is that? It’s some pie in the sky dream that is watering down every single thing one may try to do. Get shit done. Who cares about the Republicans?

The Republicans hate Obama, they want him to fail. They want their old job back, and they will do anything to accomplish it. That means they don’t care about the country, the government or the people. Obama, ram your policies down their throat! Oh, I forget, you have to have a spine to ram anything down something, and Democrats are a mass of gelatinous crap.

I thought Obama would be the leader that would surgically implant a spine in the democratic house and senate, but it seems he is so worried about bipartisanship, getting re-elected that he himself has lost some rigidity in his own vertebral column.

Conclusion: Obama is not all that different than Bush II in action. He speaks more intelligently, acts more respectfully and can really woo, but much of it stops there. He has not made any real change in the Middle East, gays in the military, warrant-less wiretapping, secretiveness, big government and now healthcare is going to be a big flop once it becomes a bipartisan bill. Hope anyone?

This is a story that all should be up in arms about. Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, has been implicated in the murder of his own employees. The story goes that he wanted to suppress information about his company during an investigation.

The men that are devulging the information to the government are also indicating that Prince had a pathological, religious crusade against the Islamic world. This is very disturbing and sickening.

Here is a small portion of the article:

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” and that Prince’s companies “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.”

Read Full Article from the Nation! (Unfortunately, the server seems slammed with visitors)

Huffington Post is also reporting on it here.

Now this is very interesting! Researchers are starting to unveil the reasons for our wrinkled brains. Could this mean a new etiology for the mental illnesses that still lack explanation?

Autism and schizophrenia are some of the most mysterious conditions of the human mind. We have discovered a little of this, a little of that, but we can’t put it all together to form a holistic explanation. We are still left with sketchy theories and incomplete knowledge. This new research into our folding and wrinkling brain may be the piece that puts it all together, or maybe not. Either way, it is exciting news.

Here is a small portion of the article:

Some intriguing work has been done examining schizophrenia. In a 2004 study, researchers discovered that schizophrenics have different folding patterns in one particular region: Broca’s area, which is involved in language processing and production, mental tasks that are disrupted in schizophrenia.

“It was one of those rare findings that made perfect sense,’’ said Bruce Fischl, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and coauthor of the study. Additional studies have found further irregularities in the folding of schizophrenics’ frontal lobes, the seat of high-level cognitive functions.
Other research has shown that autistic children seem to have overly folded brains. This extra folding is significant enough that it actually increases the surface area of the cortex, said Antonio Hardan, a child psychiatrist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., who conducted the research.
The finding is consistent with earlier discoveries that children with autism have bigger brains than their peers.

Read Full Article Here!

And here I though our government got it right for once. Cash for Clunkers sounded like a great idea That is until you look at the details.

It seems like the American automobile lobby had heavy influence with this new government subsidy plan — Cash for Clunkers. Trade in your clunker for a more efficient vehicle. Cool, sign me up. Wait, what? The new car only has to get 4 mpg better than the clunker that has to be under 18 mpg. WTF?

This is not going to do anything other than stimulate the failed car company industry. Way to go Obama, more tax money to bail out the flawed and failed wealthy.

Here is a small portion of the article:

Critics say the rules — you have to buy a vehicle that gets just 4 mpg more than your old one — will act as a subsidy for the purchase of SUVs and trucks, rather than putting a fresh fleet of 40-mpg Prius models on the roads, as ABC explains.

Read Full Article Here!

Today is the day that President Obama sits down with Professor Gates and Officer Crowley to have a beer and talk race, class and law. So, to celebrate this day, I thought I would offer a little background to this issue from my perspective. But first, a question. When is race an issue?

The short answer, it’s always an issue, even when it isn’t. The news about Professor Gates and Officer Crowley offers the perfect example of this apparent, yet ironic situation and shows the existence of two worlds. One that whites believe exists, and one that blacks know exists. What has to be realized is that everything is racial, even when no one is racist. That’s about as clear as mud now isn’t it. Let me explain.

We, white people, tend to think that since we may not be overtly racist, then nothing we do is racially charged. I am not black and will never claim to know what it feels like to be black, but what I can understand is that any situation that entails a white cop with a black man will innately be racially charged even though neither man is racist. This is because of the permanence of our nation’s history as well as its shadowy present racial abuses. All of this is represented with white skin. Add a badge, and you’re bringing all kinds of emotions to the surface.

(Think of it this way. Picture yourself growing up and living in a rural area with a pack of roaming wild dogs. Your parents warned you about them, you have seen your friends being bit, you’ve heard rumors of them mauling an adult male and you’ve been bitten as well. You now just fear the sight of them. You then grow older and move to another city. You are walking down to the mailbox and a pack of dogs come around the corner. How do you feel? This is a completely different pack of dogs, right? Could be harmless. But, does that matter? You’re immediately taken back in time when those dogs nearly killed your brother and you, so you start sweating, you get angry, you think about running. This is, I presume, a decent analogy of what it is like being Black in America.)

White America has committed a major sin in its post-slavery era. This sin is the belief of our nation’s innocence and the lack of ownership to our past human rights abuses. The fact is our history is neither innocent, nor is it over, and I truly believe white people should own up to the fact that we bear a burden of the evil that will exist as long as our history is that of slave owners and abusers of human rights.

This ignorance creates a duality for American society. There is the world that whites live in, and it is one of imagined innocence and historical blindness. We tend to gloss over what really happened, and what is happening, so we can feel guilt free and continue through our day enjoying this ignorance. And, then you have the world that blacks live in. This is the world that is all too knowing of our horridly abusive history, the shadowy abusive present and the depressing and very real possibility of an abusive future.

This duality exists because most whites will never see, nor desire to see, the world through black eyes because there is no requirement for us to do so. We run the government, run the banks, run the corporations and run mainstream American culture. Yet, blacks do not have the luxury of choice. They are forced to see the world through not only their own eyes, but through eyes of whites as well. Why? Because the two worlds are not equal. With whites running the country (current President excluded), we force the black community to fit our mold, talk our talk, dress our dress and act our act if they desire to have a piece of this “great” nation. This, from what I have been told, is common knowledge for all blacks.

When you are black and you meet the police officer, the loan office, the real estate agent … you have to put on your best white impersonation. If not, you are more than likely going to be denied any piece of the pie, or worse yet, pushed around or arrested. Don’t believe me? Let me put it this way. Take Barack Obama. Keep everything identical about who he is, but have him dress just slightly “funkier,” walk with a slight “swagger” and talk slightly more “black.” Would he be President right now? Of course not. Even though he would be the same intelligent, cultured and educated person, just with a slightly different façade, White America would have never voted him in. Why? Because we subconsciously, racially profile; we still fear that with which we do not understand, and we don’t understand black culture. And, it is our fault.

This ignorance of the struggles of being black in America, ignorant to the world in which they have to live, creates a bitterness and a level of resentment that whites will never understand because they can afford to live in their world ignoring this unfortunate and undeniably, unfair duality. To make things worse, this bitterness is oppressed and ridiculed if it is ever proclaimed. They will get punished, no matter the logic, no matter the constitution and no matter the law if they happen to speak out about these feelings in a public setting. One example of punishment is Reverend Wright. When he was caught on camera expressing his resentment of this inequality, he was smeared and called anti-American. How can whites expect there to be no resentment, no bitterness when we pretend that our past, our history and our present is innocent of any wrongs, or sins?

So what can we do? Take ownership of the human rights abuses that took place under our name, or watch. Until white culture owns up to its history and stops believing in the innocence of America, we will continue to have an unspoken tension between whites and blacks of this nation. Now that President Obama has taken office, I believe this will bring many issues to the surface that have been swept under the rug for many decades. This has the potential to force the issues that have needed discussion on a national stage for a very long time. Unfortunately, it also has the potential of being a very divisive issue and could be political suicide for President Obama.

Again, I believe it to be up to whites for any of this to be fixed. If we, white people, continue to ignore our past abuses of human rights, and current inequalities, we will not fix this racial rift between the two peoples, but gloss over it like we have done with so many other issues. We need to become more interested in Black culture and Black history. No, buying a rap album or voting for a black president does not make the problems go away.