Sunday, November 13, 2011

By popular demand: Curent

As anyone who has ever tried to open a window on a hot, steamy, Romanian train in the middle of summer will know, curent (translated, amongst other things, as ‘draught’) is that all purpose bad guy which causes colds and which is – according to Romanians of a certain age (though we have met young people who fall for it too: unsurprising in a country so obsessed with star signs and such nonsense) – the greatest of all known threats to human health.
If you do not believe us, try it.
Wait until high summer, until the temperature is around 45 degrees, and then board a train. Wait until it reaches full speed (usually around 30kph, if the train is going downhill), then open a window and see what happens.
You will be set upon by everyone else in the carriage, who will shout at you for being so irresponsible and to all intents and purposes attempting to kill them. Indeed, we are shocked that attempted murder by curent is not part of the Romanian penal code.
You do not need to be on a train to see curent in action either. Buses, taxis, cars even non-moving apartments are all conduits for this evil force. Basically, any kind of moving air (known of course to perfectly sane people as ‘a nice breeze’) should be considered curent and therefore lethal.
Marilyn Monroe had trouble with curent too. Maybe that's what killed her?
Next time you get in a taxi with the kids and the driver says to you ‘E curent in spate?‘ (‘Is there a draught in the back?’) the answer you should give is ‘Da, si e placut, ca e cald afara.‘ (‘Yes there is a draught, but it’s nice, for it’s hot outside.’) He will look at you in utter astonishment (before calling the child protection services).
Well he would, if Romania had any child protection services.
According to the myth, pensioners, children and babies are generally considered to be the most vulnerable to curent, which will explain why parents dress children – especially babies – in warm clothes even in the hottest of temperatures.
The persistence of the curent myth owes much to it being something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. While colds are of course caused by viruses and not draughts, immunity can be reduced by a weakened constitution, and what better to weaken the constitution than spending the first years of your life wrapped in cotton wool?

A related Romanian superstition is the idea that children should not be given cold drinks. Even younger parents will ask that soft drinks be served at room temperature. Buying a child an ice cream outside of summer months can also get you told off (it happened to us once: though it was 30 degrees and baking hot, a lady of about 50 came running over to lecture us on parental irresponsibilty when she saw that we had given Number One Son an ice cream. ‘But it’s April!‘ was her reasoning).

Glass Masters at Work: Vittorio Costantini

Aparente

O femeie, îmbrăcată într-o rochie de bumbac şi soţul ei, îmbrăcat într-un costum modest, au coborât din tren în Boston, şi s-au adresat ,fără să fi avut o programare prealabilă, secretarei preşedintelui de la Universitatea Harvard. Secretara a ghicit imediat că aceștia veneau de la țară, că erau fermieri, care nu puteau avea nimic de a face cu Harvard. - Dorim să-l vedem pe preşedinte – a spus omul încet. - Este ocupat – a răspuns secretara. - Aşteaptăm – a replicat femeia. Ore întregi, secretara i-a ignorat, în speranţa că cei doi, în cele din urmă se vor descuraja și vor pleca. Ei nu au plecat, ceea ce a făcut să crească frustrarea acesteia. În cele din urmă a decis să-l deranjeze pe preşedinte, deşi era o corvoadă pe care ea mereu o evita. - “Poate dacă veți vorbi cu ei câteva minute, vor pleca”, a spus secretara preşedintelui Universităţii. Acesta făcu o strâmbătură de dezgust, şi acceptă. Cu fruntea încruntată, dar cu demnitate se îndreptă cu pas majestuos spre perechea care aștepta. Femeia îi spuse: - Am avut un fiu care învățat la Harvard timp de un an. El a iubit Harvard-ul. A fost fericit aici. Dar acum un an, a murit într-un accident. Soţul meu şi cu mine am vrea să construim ceva, undeva în campus, care să fie în memoria fiului nostru. Preşedintele nu a părut interesat. - Doamnă – a spus acesta – nu putem ridica o statuie pentru fiecare persoană care a învățat la Harvard şi apoi a murit. Dacă am face-o, acest loc ar părea un cimitir. - Oh, nu, replică repede femeia – nu dorim să se ridice o statuie. Ne-am gandit că am fi bucuroși să donăm o clădire universității Harvard. Președintele a întors către ei privirea. Aruncă o privire la rochia și la costumul simplu cu care cei doi erau îmbrăcați și exclamă apoi: - “O clădire”… Aveți cumva idee cât costă o clădire? Am investit peste șapte milioane și jumătate de dolari în clădirile de aici de la Harvard! Pentru o clipă femeia a tăcut. Președintele s-a gândit că poate acum se va putea debarasa de ei. Femeia se întoarse către soțul său și îi spuse încet: - Atât de puțin costă o universitate? ¿de ce să nu construim de la început, una a noastră? Soțul său acceptă. Fața președintelui se întunecă de confuzie și uimire. Domnul Leland Stanford şi soţia lui s-au ridicat şi au plecat, au călătorit până în Palo Alto, în California, unde au pus bazele universității care îi poartă numele, Universitatea Stanford, în memoria unui fiu de care Harvard nu a mai fost interesat. Universitatea “Leland Stanford Junior” a fost inaugurată în 1891, în Palo Alto. “Junior”, deoarece onora memoria fiului bogatului latifundiar. Acesta era ‘memorialul‘ său. În ziua de astăzi universitatea Stanford este pe locul întâi în lume, mai sus decât Harvard. CE UȘOR TE POȚI ÎNȘELA ATUNCI CÂND JUDECI DUPĂ APARENȚE.!!!

Dilbert - The Knack

Ghiceste melodia



1 – led zeppelin – stairway to heaven
2 – korn – Freak on a leash
3 – scorpions – rock you like a hurricane
4 – radiohead – paranoid android
5 – guns’n'roses – november rain
6 – queen – somebody to love
7 – the beatles – twist and shout
8 – bob marley – No women no cry
9 - Michael Jackson - Earth songs
10 Justin Bieber - Baby baby baby 

Olly: the web-connected robot that converts pings to odors

What if there were a way to add smells to the things you see every single day on the internet? To some, just the thought of that there scenario would induce nausea. To others -- primarily those who spend their days Googling various rose gardens around the globe -- it just might be the extra dimension to surfing that they've been waiting for. If you happen to find yourself tucked into that second camp, we'd like to introduce you to Olly, the web-connected robot that's capable of emitting smells based on inputs from the 'net. The critter was dreamed up by Tim Pryde and the folks surrounding the Don-8r (Foundry, if you're curious), and while there's currently no way to purchase one, instructions are forthcoming to produce your own with a 3D printer. In fact, it's recommended that users build a few, stack 'em up and connect different inputs (Twitter, Instagram, your mum's vegetarian cooking blog) to each one. It's the perfect cacophony... or the perfect disaster, depending on your browsing habits.

First manned multicopter takes flight

Water

How Much Does The Internet Weigh?

Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland 2011

Aurora Borealis in Finnish Lapland 2011 from Flatlight Films on Vimeo.

Morpheus

Morpheus (Greek: Μορφεύς, Morpheus, or Μορφέας, Morpheas, "shaper [of dreams]") in Greek mythology is the god of dreams, leader of the Oneiroi.[2] Morpheus has the ability to take any human form and appear in dreams. His true semblance is that of a winged daemon, imagery shared with many of his siblings.

Taz Bucani Summons The Spirits of the Dead

Low-pass filter

A low-pass filter is an electronic filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates (reduces the amplitude of) signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a high-cut filter, or treble cut filter when used in audio applications. A low-pass filter is the opposite of a high-pass filter. A band-pass filter is a combination of a low-pass and a high-pass. Low-pass filters exist in many different forms, including electronic circuits (such as a hiss filter used in audio), anti-aliasing filters for conditioning signals prior to analog-to-digital conversion, digital filters for smoothing sets of data, acoustic barriers, blurring of images, and so on. The moving average operation used in fields such as finance is a particular kind of low-pass filter, and can be analyzed with the same signal processing techniques as are used for other low-pass filters. Low-pass filters provide a smoother form of a signal, removing the short-term fluctuations, and leaving the longer-term trend. An optical filter (such as red filter glass) could correctly be called low-pass, but it is conventional in that case to speak of "longpass" (low frequency is long wavelength), to avoid confusion.

Contrex - Ma Contrexpérience - 97s

"World's Most Relaxing Music" Composed

Musical group Marconi Union and Lyz Cooper, the UK's leading therapeutic sound practitioner, have released what they claim is the world's most relaxing music. They contend that the calming effects of "Weightless" are not subjective but are based on scientific evidence. The music was found to cause brainwaves and heart rate to synchronize with the rhythm, reduce blood pressure and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In fact, Scientists played the song to 40 women and found it to be 11% more effective at helping them relax than songs by Enya, Mozart and Coldplay. The eight-minute track is so effective at inducing sleep, motorists have now been warned they should not listen to it while driving.

Listen

Quantum Levitation

What does it feel like to fly over planet Earth?

Approaching Light Speed

Atestat istoric unguresc