Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Radical Muslims do not attend mosque more than general population

From the book, Who Speaks for Islam?:

When asked why they supported the [9/11] attacks, the radicals [7% of Muslims surveyed] gave political rather than religious reasons. They have a sense of political frustration and feel humiliated and threatened by the West. Those who opposed the attacks often gave religious reasons for doing so.

Build and customize your own PBX with Asterisk

You know, like at the office where one can switch a call to many phones.

Some fruit juices block absorption of some drugs

Blocking the transporter reduced drug absorption and neutralized its potential benefits, the researchers said.

So far, grapefruit, orange and apple juices have been shown to lower the absorption of medications including:

  • Etoposide, an anticancer agent.
  • Certain beta blockers (atenolol, celiprolol, talinolol) used to treat high blood pressure and prevent heart attacks.
  • Cyclosporine, a drug taken to prevent rejection of transplanted organs.
  • Certain antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, itraconazole).

Monday, April 13, 2009

Weird Easter traditions from around the world

Surely the strangest Easter custom takes places in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, where there is a tradition of spanking or whipping women on Easter Monday. Males throw water at females and spank them with handmade whips made of willow and decorated with ribbons at the end. The spanking is supposed to be symbolic and according to legend, females should be spanked in order to keep their health and beauty during the next year.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Thursday, January 01, 2009

People in some countries can't form neat, orderly lines

Though seemingly chaotic and unnecessary to those of us in the "West", the truth might be that these "mobs" actually work. Their structure-- or lack of it-- rewards those who want the ticket or item the most, and only displeases those who weren't industrious (or ruthless) enough to work their way up to the front. This is a form of price discrimination in which those who were willing to "pay" the most, in this case with time and effort, are rewarded, while those who weren't, aren't.

Barack Obama on evil

Because a lot of evil has been perpetrated based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil, in the name of good. And I think one thing that’s very important is having some humility in recognizing that just because we think our intentions are good doesn’t mean we are going to be doing good.

Lifesaver water bottle purifies in seconds

In 20 seconds, actually, and reduces heavy metals too.

... but the Lifesaver uses microscopic pores a mere 15 nanometers across — about one-hundredth the width of a spider’s silk — narrow enough to stop the tiniest threats. That means virtually nothing — not even bacteria and viruses — can get through.

Believing we have no free will leads to less moral behavior

Well, facilitated cheating on some arithmetic problems for a psych test, but just extrapolate...

Getmooh -- receive a ring and a message on your phone

Need to get a phone prompt to possibly get out of a situation?

Being on the Pill could make women choose the wrong mate

Smelling genetic similarity when difference called for while courting:

"Not only could MHC[major histocompatibility complex]-similarity in couples lead to fertility problems," said lead researcher Stewart Craig Roberts, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Newcastle in England, "but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners."