September 25, 2011
Menstrual [men-stroo-uhl] synchrony [sing-kruh-nee], also known as the McClintock Effect, or the Wellesley Effect is a phenomenon reported in 1971 wherein the menstrual cycles of women who lived together (such as in homes, prisons, convents, bordellos, dormitories, or barracks) reportedly became synchronized over time. The existence of menstrual synchrony has not been definitively established, and studies investigating it have been controversial.
The phenomenon of menstrual synchrony also addresses the larger question of whether or not humans have and can perceive pheromones, or utilize chemosignaling. Psychologist Martha McClintock was the first scientist to do a study on menstrual synchrony, reporting her findings in ‘Nature’ in 1971.
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September 25, 2011
Whole body vibration (WBV) therapy was explored by Russian scientist Vladimir Nazarov, who tested vibration on cosmonauts in an effort to decrease the loss of muscle and bone mass in space. As there is minimal gravitational force in space, muscles and bones are not loaded as they normally are on earth. Humans in space lose their muscular strength very quickly, which is why they are not able to easily walk when they come back to earth. The decrease of bone density increases the risk of bone fractures, so it’s not safe to stay in space for extended periods. The aerospace industry in the former Soviet Union worked with vibration training. Before their departure, cosmonauts were subjected to special training sessions so that the density of their bones would increase and their muscular strength would rise.
A particular form of WBV is vibration training, which is becoming increasingly popular. Initially, vibration training was mainly used in the fitness industry, but the use of vibration equipment is expanding quickly. It is now widely used in physical therapy, rehabilitation and professional sports, but it is also increasingly used for beauty and wellness applications.
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September 25, 2011
A treadmill desk is a work desk built around a treadmill. A person using the treadmill desk walks slowly on the treadmill while continuing to perform office tasks at the desk. There are several types of treadmill desks available on the open market. Some incorporate a traditional treadmill with a desktop built over it, while most are now commercially built for this specific use. The aim of a treadmill desk is to integrate movement and gentle exercise into the working day of an otherwise sedentary office worker. Rather than sitting all day in a chair, a treadmill desk allows desk-based workers to stand and take a slow walk while working.
A treadmill desk is not typically used for a cardio workout, as most users find walking at a speed of 1.0 – 2.0 mph the ideal range. At slower walking speeds, most able-bodied people can undertake desk-based tasks such as typing or talking on the telephone. However, even at these slower speeds, a person may burn 100 – 150 calories per hour, which may result in increased fitness and weight loss. The aim of the treadmill desk is to improve fitness and reduce obesity in office workers. Scientific research has also shown that walking, like other forms of mild exercise, can also improve one’s mental alertness, heighten creativity, fight depression, increase productivity and improve one’s mood.
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September 25, 2011
A standing desk is both an antique desk and a modern desk form conceived for writing and/or reading while standing up or while sitting on a high stool. The term stand-up or stand up desk is also used. During the 18th and 19th centuries, standing desks were popular in the homes and offices of the rich. While most modern desks are 30 inches (76 cm.) high and most antique desks 29 inches high (73.7 cm), there is no such average for standing desks.
Users of a ‘sitting desk’ are fairly immobile so it is relatively easy to adjust the height of a seat to compensate for variations in the individual height of the users. Users of a standing desk move around a bit more, so it is not practical to have them stand on a small pedestal or some other object. Thus, standing desks tend to vary greatly in height.
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September 24, 2011
Expletive infixation is a process by which an expletive or profanity is inserted into a word, usually for intensification. It is similar to tmesis, a word or phrase separated into two parts, e.g. ‘turn it off.’ The most commonly inserted English expletives are adjectival: either participles (fucking, mother-fucking, freaking, blooming, bleeding, damned) or adjectives (bloody). Although most speakers are not exposed to these formations until after childhood, they can form new examples readily once introduced to the process, and their judgments of which formations are acceptable are remarkably consistent. This suggests that the rules for the placement of the expletive are not arbitrary, but instead derive from fundamental aspects of English phonology.
A simple rule is that the insertion occurs at a syllable boundary, usually just before the primary stressed syllable. Thus, one hears abso-fuckin’-lutely rather than *ab-fuckin’-solutely. This rule is insufficient to describe examples such as un-fuckin’-believable, however, so modifications to this rule are proposed such as morpheme boundaries taking precedence over stress. Counterexamples to this exception do exist: unbe-fuckin’-lievable. A more fundamental theory due to John McCarthy is based on prosody, the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.
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September 22, 2011
Michelada [mee-cha-lah-dah] is a cerveza preparada, a Mexican term for beer mixed with tomato juice, hot sauce, or salsa. In English-speaking countries, it would be considered a variety of shandy (a beer mixed with soda, carbonated lemonade, or cider. The Michelada is made with beer, tomato juice (or Clamato), lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers. It is served in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass.
In Mexico, Micheladas are considered a good remedy for hangovers.There are different types of variations of Micheladas; for example in Mexico City, the most common form of a Michelada is prepared with beer, lime, salt, and hot sauce/or chili. Some add slices of orange.
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September 22, 2011
Michael Murdock (b. 1946) is a televangelist and pastor of the Wisdom Center ministry based in Fort Worth, Texas. His father, J.E. Murdock, is also a pastor. Murdock was educated in LaGrange High School in Lake Charles, and in Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie for three semesters. He received an honorary doctorate from International Seminary in Florida which is not accredited. Murdock preaches around the world and is best known for his promotion of prosperity theology, whose claim the Bible teaches that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians.
He often preaches with Benny Hinn and has also preached with Tammy Faye Bakker. Additionally, he hosts the Wisdom Keys with Mike Murdock television program. Mike Murdock preached his first public sermon at the age of eight and began full-time evangelism at the age of 19. Murdock receives hundreds of invitations to speak in churches, colleges, and business corporations. He has a weekly television program, Wisdom Keys with Mike Murdock. Murdock is a Founding Trustee on the Board of International Charismatic Ministries along with the late Dr. Oral Roberts.
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September 22, 2011
Nymwars is the name given to the conflicts over policies mandating that users of internet service identify using real names. They began in the summer of 2011 when nascent social networking site Google+ began enforcing such a policy by suspending the accounts of users it deemed in breach. Pseudonyms, nicknames, and non-standard real names (for example, mononyms or names that include scripts from multiple languages) have all been blocked.
The term was coined from ‘pseudonym’ and appears to have gained prominence as the hashtag ‘#nymwars’ on Twitter. The resulting discussions has raised many issues regarding naming, cultural sensitivity, public and private identity, and the role of social media in modern discourse. At the time of launch, the site’s user content and conduct policy stated, ‘To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you.’
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September 22, 2011
Cleverbot is an artificial intelligence (AI) web application that learns how to mimic human conversations by communicating with humans. It was created by AI scientist Rollo Carpenter, who also created Jabberwacky, a similar web application. In the first decade of its existence after being created in 1988, Cleverbot held several thousand conversations with Carpenter and his associates. Since being launched on the web in 1997, the number of conversations has exceeded 65 million. Cleverbot, a learning Artificial Intelligence conversationalist, took part alongside humans in a formal Turing Test at the Techniche 2011 festival at IIT Guwahati, India. Cleverbot was judged to be 59.3% human, far exceeding expectations. The humans in the event achieved just 63.3%.
Cleverbot differs from traditional chatterbots in that the user is not holding a conversation with a bot that directly responds to entered text. Instead, when the user enters text, the algorithm selects previously entered phrases from its database of prior conversations. It has been claimed that ‘talking to Cleverbot is a little like talking with the collective community of the Internet.’
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September 22, 2011
The Jolly Roger is any of various flags flown to identify a ship’s crew as pirates. The flag most usually identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, a flag consisting of a human skull above two long bones set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. This design was used by several pirates, including Captains Edward England and John Taylor. Some Jolly Roger flags also include an hourglass, another common symbol representing death in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. Despite its prominence in popular culture, plain black flags were often employed by most pirates of that era. Historically, the flag was flown to frighten pirates’ victims into surrendering without a fight, since it conveyed the message that the attackers were outlaws who would not consider themselves bound by the usual rules of engagement—and might, therefore, slaughter those they defeated (since captured pirates were usually hanged, they did not have much to gain by asking quarter if defeated). The same message was sometimes conveyed by a red flag.
It is assumed by most that the name Jolly Roger comes from the French words jolie rouge, meaning ‘pretty red’ and referring to a plain red flag which was flown to indicate that the ship would fight to the death, with no quarter given or expected. During the Elizabethan era ‘Roger’ was a slang term for beggars and vagrants who ‘pretended scholarship.’ ‘Sea Beggars’ had been a popular name for Dutch privateers since the 16th century. Another theory states that Jolly Roger is an English corruption of Ali Raja, supposedly a 17th century Tamil pirate. Yet another theory is that it was taken from a nickname for the devil, ‘Old Roger.’ The ‘jolly’ appellation may be derived from the apparent grin of a skull.
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September 21, 2011
The Leslie speaker is a specially constructed amplifier/loudspeaker used to create special audio effects using the Doppler effect. Named after its inventor, Donald Leslie, it is particularly associated with the Hammond organ, an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard instrument for jazz, blues, rock music, church and gospel music. The Hammond/Leslie combination has become an element in many genres of music. Both brands are currently owned by Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation.
Unlike a high fidelity loudspeaker, the Leslie is specifically designed, via reproduction of the Doppler effect, to alter or modify sound. Although there have been many variations over the years, the classic Leslie speaker consists of two driver units – a treble unit with horns, and a bass unit, and a crossover that divided the frequencies between the horn and the woofer. The key feature is that both the horns (in reality one working horn with a dummy to counter-balance it) and a sound baffle or scoop for the bass are electrically rotated to create ‘Doppler effect based’ vibrato, tremolo and chorus effects. The rotating elements can be stopped, switched between slow (chorale) and fast (tremolo), or transitioned between the two settings.
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September 21, 2011
Transparency International (TI) is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide. The headquarters is located in Berlin, Germany but operates through more than 70 national chapters around the world.
TI was founded in 1993 through the initiative of Peter Eigen, a former regional director for the World Bank. In 1995, TI developed the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI ranked nations on the prevalence of corruption within each country, based upon surveys of business people. The CPI was subsequently published annually. It was criticized for poor methodology and unfair treatment of developing nations, while also being praised for highlighting corruption and embarrassing governments.
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