Cyril's Gleans

gleans at 7:30 PM MT, 05/23

Census Worker Prepares for 6th, and Last Count  His first official assignment came in 1960 when he joined the Census to help program  a computer that weighed eight tons and was the size of a one-car garage. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/23/us/AP-US-Census-2010-Profile.html

 

Brain Power

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

By BENEDICT CAREY

A study of people aged 90 and older without a trace of dementia has begun to alter understandings of the aging brain.

 

Beard and moustache world championship opens
 

 

 

 

36 Hours in Prague

 

 

Daniel Carasso, a Pioneer of Yogurt, Dies at 103

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Mr. Carasso helped turn yogurt from an obscure ethnic food into an international staple through the Danone brand in Europe and Dannon in the United States.

 

 

Investing in Wine: Now May Be the Time

By WILLIAM L. HAMILTON

With prices falling 20 to 40 percent, experts agree that it is a good time to buy investment-quality wines.

Times Topics: Wines

 

 

Watermelon or Cantaloupe Agua Fresca

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

A light fruit drink made simply of water, lime juice and a little sugar.

See all Recipes for Health »

 

Giving Mussels Their Passport

By MARK BITTMAN

 

Evan Sung for The New York Times

Though mussels are often cooked with shallots, garlic or maybe cream, by combining this shellfish with Thai seasonings, you have a salad that is decidedly un-French.

Video: Southeast Asian Mussel Salad

 

Peter Schiff's Financial Predictions (The Well / The Curious Capitalist)
Peter Schiff predicted the credit collapse long before the "experts." So why is it so hard to hear him now?
 Peter Schiff: Trash-Talking the Markets
Video: Peter Schiff predicted the economic collapse and has other extreme views on the market's future

 

The CIA's Silent War in Pakistan (The Well / World)
In the fight against al-Qaeda, pilotless drones are redefining warfare. But they could be doing more harm than good

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 7:15 AM MT, 05/23

Book end

Publishers try to get in on downloading action

 

A star is born Huge physics experiment could help power the future and provide insights into the cosmos

 

 

Sign language

Another selection of amusing signs sent in by readers on their travels.

 

Charming, eccentric, cosmopolitan, and utterly fatalistic, Albert Jay Nock retains a capacity to fascinate political thinkers on both left and right... more»

 

Pea and mint soup

 

Xanthe Clay shows how to prepare this fresh spring soup in just five minutes from pod to bowl.

 

 

Our Virtual Garden

Explore a 3D model of the Best in Show winning Telegraph garden.

 

For whom the bells toll

 

Big Ben is 150 years old. The east London foundry where it was cast has an even more illustrious history, discovers Sophie Campbell.

 

 

 

 

gleans + 1nerdnews at 6:00 PM MT.05/22

Woman is 7th generation graduate of West Point WEST POINT, New York - Caroline Miller, a saber in her white-gloved hand, leads cadets of Company D with crisp commands. "Ready ...

Streaming Discovery Education a review for home school use
Examiner.com - USA Streaming Discovery Education offers home school families a chance to broaden their curriculum and learning experiences through Discovery educational videos

 

Subject: Commons:Bots - Wikimedia Commons

Date: May 21, 2009 11:39 PM

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Bots

Strong quake shakes tall buildings in Mexico City

Interpol joins search for missing Minn. mom, son

Taking vacations stresses out workers, survey finds

Photo of US soldier in pink boxers turns iconic

Week of the weird: A hissy fit goes viral and a Cheeto Jesus

 

nerd news

 

CES to expand Apple section

The iLounge section of the world's biggest gadget trade show will grow to 25,000 square feet.  | Read full story 

 

Mystery virus strikes FBI, U.S. Marshals

Law-enforcement agencies are forced to shut down their networks after being affected by a virus of undetermined type  | Read full story 

 

Wolfram Alpha searching for its niche

One week after its debut, CNET readers found the service hard to use and not all that helpful. Wolfram is no Google, but it's no Cuil, either.

 Read full story 

 

 

 

gleans at 10:30 PM MT, 05/21

Have the Humanities Become an Unaffordable Luxury?

by Lane Wallace  "The liberal arts are particularly good at teaching how different arguments on the same point can be equally valid. Get comfortable with the ambiguities inherent in a liberal arts education, and you're far better equipped to face the ambiguities in a complex world." read more

 

Detroit tries to turnaround failing school system

DETROIT - Just like the auto companies that fuel this city, struggling Detroit schools are undergoing a painful restructuring to avoid complete failure and bankruptcy.

 

Poll: Vast majority of college students feeling stressed

 

 

Stocks are pounded by worries over jobs, UK debt

 

 

SKorea fires up anti-piracy patrol with kimchi

 

Has the work of Masters and Johnson reduced a complex cloud of desires and preferences to questions of blood flow and hormone levels? ... [more]

 

Created languages, whether Esperanto or Klingon, have a lot to tell us about the evolved communication systems, natural languages, that all humans speak ... [more]

 

A superbly researched, wittily written and eminently sane book explodes conspiracy theories by the dozen, while pointing out how dangerous they can be to society ... [more]

 

Read the fascinating, maddening Drunkard's Walk, but be warned, it may take a few days for your brain to return to its original, upright position ... [more]

 

Democritus's atomic theory and Aristarchus's heliocentric model are proving a suprise delight for audiences at Cannes ... [more]

 

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

By BENEDICT CAREY

A study of people aged 90 and older without a trace of dementia has begun to alter understandings of the aging brain.

 

Life could be even older than we think ... [more]

 

Venom, not bacteria, lies at the heart of the dragon's bite ... [more]

 

Blue whales heading back to northern waters ... [more]

 

Did we eat Neanderthals to extinction? ... [more]

 

Losing weight rapidly late in life seems to signal a greater risk of experiencing some form of dementia ... [more]

 

Bacteria hold clues to cloud formation ... [more]

 

What has caused the deaths of hundreds of penguins, millions of sardines and about 2,000 baby flamingos in the past few months? ... [more]

 

U.S. defense chief lauds soldier in pink boxers

 

Computer virus strikes US Marshals, FBI affected

 

 

 

 

 

 

gleans + 1xnerdnews + 1xlagniappe at 8:30 AM MT, 05/21

 

Big changes in store for US credit cardholders

 

Video: Credit Card Crackdown A "Lifeboat" For Consumers

 

Discovery

How do smells impact on our memories and emotions?

Listen to the programme

 

Panama moves to top of Obama's list for a trade agreement

By Chris Kraul  The president, in a turnabout that reflects his vow to shun protectionism and his goals of rewarding strategic allies and confronting economic necessity, is pushing for passage of a deal by July 1.

 

On the run from everything but each other - Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rail-riders13-2009may13,0,7...

 

Road to top of 14,264-foot Mt. Evans opens Friday

 

Weird rituals greet start of summer season in NJ

 

Amtrak cuts some fares by 25 percent for summer

 

Flying in comfort — or not

 

Congress votes to allow guns in national parks

 

 

nerd news

 

Preparing to peer into a black hole All the evidence suggests there's a huge black hole at the centre of our galaxy, but we have yet to observe it directly. Now a continent-spanning network of telescopes should allow astronomers to image the hole as a silhouette against matter it's devouring - and put the theory of relativity to its stiffest test yet...MORE

TOP STORIES Keep up with the latest from New Scientist with our Twitter feed Harnessing science to create the ultimate warrior Magma pulses may reveal Earth's 'heartbeat' Venom is key to Komodo dragon's killing power Practice makes perfect: Are athletes prone to OCD? Mars robots may have destroyed evidence of life Europe may be blind to swine flu cases Breathing batteries could store 10 times the energy Nine games computers are ruining for humanity Oil road turns tribes into meat traders Innovation: Give referee technology a sporting chance AND FINALLY ... This week's Feedback reveals how to improve Mahler with a plank, why unauthorised email use can make your feet hurt, and why 50.55 per cent of Australia's population has a double X karyotype...MORE

 

 

lagniappe

 

Delta Flight 659
by Denise Duhamel


—to Sean Penn

I'm writing this on a plane, Sean Penn,
with my black Pilot Razor ballpoint pen.
Ever since 9/11, I'm a nervous flyer. I leave my Pentium
Processor in Florida so TSA can't x-ray my stanzas, penetrate
my persona. Maybe this should be in iambic pentameter,
rather than this mock sestina, each line ending in a Penn

variant. I convinced myself the ticket to Baghdad was too expensive.
I contemplated going as a human shield. I read, in open-
mouthed shock, that your trip there was a $56,000 expenditure.
Is that true? I watched you on Larry King Live—his suspenders
and tie, your open collar. You saw the war's impending
mess. My husband gambled on my penumbra

of doubt. So you station yourself at a food silo in Iraq. What happens
to me if you get blown up? He begged me to stay home, be his Penelope.
I sit alone in coach, but last night I sat with four poets, depending
on one another as readers, in a Pittsburgh café. I tried to be your pen
pal in 1987, not because of your pensive
bad boy looks, but because of a poem you'd penned

that appeared in an issue of Frank. I still see the poet in you, Sean Penn.
You probably think fans like me are your penance
for your popularity, your star bulging into a pentagon
filled with witchy wanna-bes and penniless
poets who waddle toward your icy peninsula
of glamour like so many menacing penguins.

But honest, I come in peace, Sean Penn,
writing on my plane ride home. I want no part of your penthouse
or the snowy slopes of your Aspen.
I won't stalk you like the swirling grime cloud over Pig Pen.
I have no script or stupendous
novel I want you to option. I even like your wife, Robin Wright Penn.

I only want to keep myself busy on this flight, to tell you of four penny-
loafered poets in Pennsylvania
who, last night, chomping on primavera penne
pasta, pondered poetry, celebrity, Iraq, the penitentiary
of free speech. And how I reminded everyone that Sean Penn
once wrote a poem. I peer out the window, caress my lucky pendant:

Look, Sean Penn, the clouds are drawn with charcoal pencils.
The sky is opening like a child's first stab at penmanship.
The sun begins to ripen orange, then deepen.

 

 

gleans at 2:05 PM MT, 05/20

 

HP's profit drops, more layoffs looming

 

San Francisco Superlatives
Want to see the very best of San Francisco? Here's your guide to the city's finest attractions, hotels, shops, dining experiences, bay cruises and more.

 

Vegas for First-Timers
Never been to Las Vegas? Whether you're looking to play tourist or to party, to belly up to the gaming tables or the restaurant tables, to take your family or to take in a show, these tips will help you tailor your first Vegas visit to suit your tastes and budget.

 

Alan Hackney
Telegraph.co.uk - London,England,UK
A fellow contributor, PG Wodehouse, told the editor that young Hackney's column was one of the best reasons to buy the magazine. But writing for Punch was ...

 

Some People Never Forget a Face

 

 

Office pranks

A gallery of creative workplace pranks, inspired by The Office.

 

Heroism in Port-en-Bessin

 

As the 65th anniversary of D-Day nears, James Delingpole talks to the men of 47 RM Commando and visits the scene of their most heroic battle.

One-minute wonder: Mont St Michel, Normandy

 

Bangkok: My kind of town

Malcom Pryce recommends Bangkok, 'the world's most intoxicating city; part opium den, part Venus flytrap for the soul'.

Where to stay in Phuket

 

Goat leaves the Royal Welsh Regiment

 

A goat has been given a lavish send-off, after seven years of dedicated service with the Royal Welsh Regiment.

 

Wallaby uses wooly hat to stay warm

 

Handkerchief tree bursts into bloom

 

Driver arrested over MOT certificate's shade of green

 

Grandmother lives in 46 homes in 66 years

 

Street View blurs KFC face

 

Farmers condemn £300,000 Defra ducks survey

 

Goose flies upside down

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 2:00 AM MT, 05/20

 

You can't be serious

 Ailing libraries, celebrity memoirs and the web. Is it the end for quality non-fiction? Andy Beckett investigates

 

Op-Ed Columnist: Cheney Grabs a Third Term

 

Dial M for Marple Kate Mosse discovered Agatha Christie and her detective Miss Marple while on holiday in Devon. It was the beginning of a literary passion

 

Marple the muse The inspiration for Prada’s ‘granny chic’

 

Marple the feminist Was Agatha Christie so conservative?

 

Free books site Scribd to open internet store Hoping to do for the written word what iTunes did for music, the Scribd store will allow writers to set their own price

 

A Chili Sauce to Crow About By JOHN T. EDGE While some American consumers believe sriracha to be Thai sauce, others think it is Vietnamese. But it may be best understood as an American sauce, a polyglot purée.

 

Ginger Ale Without the Can

 

A Native of Honduras Masters Korean Bibimbap

By ELAINE LOUIE

A Honduran-born chef has mastered bibimbap, the traditional Korean casserole of vegetables (and often meat or egg) atop crisp, golden shards of fried rice.

 

This Week’s Recipes

Burnt Oranges With Rosemary

Smashed Potatoes With Tapenade

Fresh Dried Chili Oil

Ginger Ale

Pan Roasted Pork Chops With Pea Shoot Pesto

Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding

Rice Cracker Crusted Tuna With Spicy Citrus Sauce

Honey Gremolata

Bibimbap

Sriracha Mayonnaise Sauce

Crisp and Unctuous Pork Belly

 

 

 

 

gleans at 6:55 PM MT, 05/19

The Art of the Book: Origami Documentary: Between The Folds

Mar 8, 2008 ... This Independent film by Green Fuse Films, "Between the Folds", is an absolutely incredible documentary featuring the world's foremost and ...

 

 

Sculptural book art

Brian Dettmer cuts up old books to produce beautiful works of art.

 

Yew tree with canopy as big as Royal Albert Hall enters record books

 

A yew tree with a canopy the size of London's Royal Albert Hall has entered the record books as the widest tree in the UK.

 

Cost of Lord Nelson's 'ménage-a-trois' shown in household accounts

 

Protecting yourself from vishing attacks

First there was phishing and now there is vishing. Here's an FAQ for consumers to learn more about the latest scam techniques that uses your phone.  | Read full story 

 

Complex American Wine at a Price Easy to Pay

By ERIC ASIMOV

 

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Sure, you can find plenty of American wines under $10, mostly of the palatable variety. But by spending a few more dollars, and picking very carefully, the pleasure increases exponentially.

 

AP IMPACT: Grads face worries about money, future

 

Top 10 funny searches in Wolfram Alpha

 

Could Dell BE any more patronising to women?

 

Hi-tech, high price and on the House

 

Top 20 great British adventurers

 

 

Want More Fruit? Get Out the Blender.

By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN

You can pack a lot of fruit into a homemade smoothie or agua fresca.

 

See all Recipes for Health »

 

Asparagus With Morels and Tarragon

 

Spicy Calamari With Tomato, Caperberries and Pine Nuts

 

Pressed Sea Urchin Sandwiches With Soy-Ginger Butter

 

Spicy Spaghettini With Sea Urchin and Tomatoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 7:05 AM MT, 05/19

DVD downturn panics film industry

By Patrick Goldstein  Big box-office returns no longer guarantee big DVD sales.

 

3-D movie projects get a push at Cannes

By John Horn  Indie filmmakers are using the technology on films, some with tiny budgets, and trying to sell others on their ideas. Also showing off 3-D movies are such industry giants as Disney and Pixar.

 

FACT CHECK: Are US students really that bad?

 

Swedish garden wins Chelsea title
A garden which fuses Swedish modernism with a traditional English cottage look comes out on top at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.

 

 

Fifth spacewalk energises Hubble The fifth and final Hubble servicing spacewalk is completed, replacing batteries and a precision pointing system.

 

 

Hubble refitted for golden years‎ -

(AP photo / May 18, 2009) Five days of work on the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope should end Tuesday morning with the release of what one astronomer said ...

 

Astronauts to say goodbye to Hubble telescope SPACE.com

 

 

 

 

 

gleans at 5:15 PM MT, 05/18

Astronauts finish work on inside of Hubble

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - After five days, spacewalking astronauts finished repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope on Monday and shut the doors to the treasured observatory, which will never be touched by human hands again.

 

Bodybuilders flee drug testers; event canceled

BRUSSELS - The Belgian bodybuilding championship has been canceled after doping officials showed up and all the competitors fled.

 

Child Brains Organized Differently Than Adult Brains

 

 

Astronauts finish repairs on Hubble space telescope

 

Study: Mockingbirds can tell people apart, react 

 

Latest quake highlights Los Angeles seismic danger

 

Give it to us

What's behind the expenses scandal, asks Clive James