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This guy is a pretty clever salesman. Although, with this product, who can't you sell to?

In 1995, Raul Cano, a 63-year-old microbiologist at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, discovered a fossil containing a variant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, known in culinary circles as baker's or brewer's yeast. The microorganisms had lain dormant since the Eocene epoch, a time when Australia split off from Antarctica and modern mammals first appeared.

Cano was able to take this ancient yeast and "re-awaken" it from it's dormant state. He then used the yeast to make a good old fashion ale: Fossil Fuels ale.

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"In an infinite fractal of rotation, how do you define the center? Every point is the center. You are the center of the universe observing the universe from your very own center. Wherever you pick a point of observation in the fractal, that point becomes the center from which you're observing the universe. That point becomes stillness. Why stillness? Because in that point now, all the spins of the universe cancel out.… You need stillness to have a frame of reference for rotation… And that's how singularity occurs. Singularity is the point at the center of your experience of the universe, that is the point of stillness from which you're observing the universe."

-Nassim Haramein

"There is a physical place inside your heart that has a singularity. Your heart has a little cavity between the two ventricular, and that little cavity has the highest electromagnetic field of your body, and can be measured up to eight feet away from you; and that's the battery of life that keeps your heart going. When you die, that singularity is no longer present, and I think that is why there is a bunch of weight that goes missing when people die. The weight is the result of that singularity curving space-time, creating a gravitational effect that we call weight."

- Nassim Haramein

Rewards narrow the mind. They narrow your focus. This talk by Dan Pink goes over the class "candle problem" of psychology. It turns out that higher incentives lead to worse performance. So much for the "justification" for all those bonuses given out to the financial execs.

The inside story on transcending the brain, with David Lynch, Award-winning film director of Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Mullholland Drive, Inland Empire (filming); John Hagelin, Ph.D., Quantum physicist featured in "What the bleep do we know?;" and Fred Travis, Ph.D., Director, Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition Maharishi University of Management.


Credits: producers:UC Berkeley Educational Technology Services, speaker:David Lynch, speaker:John Hagelin, Ph.D., speaker:Fred Travis, Ph.D.

Microsoft is hosting the videos of a famous lecture series given by Nobel prize winning physicist Richard Feynman back in 1964. The lectures, which will be hosted by Microsoft Research under the name Project Tuva, are lectures that the physicist gave just before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics - along with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga - for cracking some pesky problems in quantum electrodynamics.

This lecture has been credited by some (and discredited by others) as being the stimulus that started people thinking about nanotechnology. You can read a transcript of that lecture here. There is apparently a video of a follow-on lecture that Feynman gave, called Infinitesimal Machinery.

Check the videos out here!

Due to the latest settlements with Internet royalty fees in Congress, pandora has restructured their Internet Radio station to only allow 40 hrs/mo. of free listening time. Granted you can listen for the rest of the month for a measly $1, or the even more reasonable $36/yr. subscription for their premium service, I'm still going to miss the days of endless playback without having to whip out my wallet. For the sake of Performing Artists everywhere, let's hope Congress pulls through with the new Performance Rights Act (H.R. 848)

Read more from the full story on their blog here.

Philip Zimbardo, the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment, gives a talk about temptation, and what he calls the Lucifer Effect. The root of all evil, it turns out, is…wait for it…the abuse of power. Is it really possible to not abuse power?

Wow.

For some reason this reminded me of a quote by Aldous Huxley, "A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy."



And even more appropriate a quote by Blaise Pascal, "Can anything be stupider than that a man has the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of a river and his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have not quarrelled with him?"

A brilliant speech on how emotions shape our lives, and our world, and how to use immersion and the internal drive of emotion to shape and direct our paths to a state of ultimate fulfillment.

A series of doctors discuss the field of psychiatry, and how it functions. Delving into the American Psychiatric Association, and their voting process for what constitute "mental diseases" through the DSM(Diagnostic Statistical Manual) Committee, the doctors find that psychiatry is not science, but rather an elaborate prescription fueled guessing game.



And an intersting follow-up, an experiment done in 1972, by a psychologist named David Rosenhan, convinced some of his friends to fake their way into psychiatric wards across the US. This article talks about the experiment, and a repeated followup experiment with an interesting outcome. More videos from Rosenhan on the Birth of Modern Psychiatry here.

Bonnie Bassler, the Director of Graduate Studies and Professor for Princeton University, talks about the language and social behavior of bacteria. Through her research, she has discovered ways of speaking to bacteria chemically to alter their behavior. Traditional anti-biotics work by killing bacteria. With Bonnie's discovery, it is now possible to work with these bacteria to make them do things they wouldn't normally do.

Engineers at the Honda Research Institute (HRI) of Japan have developed the world's first Brain Machine Interface (BMI) technology. It couples the use of electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), to enable control of a robot by human thought alone. That's right, no physical movements of any kind are required.



Read more from the full publication by HRI.

ACLU BUST CARD -- Know Your Rights

I still believe the universe has a beginning in real time at the big bang. But there's another kind of time, imaginary time, at right angles to real time, in which the universe has no beginning or end.

- Sephen Hawking

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

- George Carlin

Evernote is a tool to capture, synchronize, and find all the stuff that you come across with your digital technology. Whether it's a small selection of a news article, a ticket to a recent concert, or a business card you want to remember for later. The greatest feature of Evernote is the ability to search text within images. You read right. You can even take a picture of a handwritten note, and Evernote will be able to pick it out, and allow you to search for it. See this short clip to see it in action:

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Professor of politics at NYU, and senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, has created a forecasting technology that he has used to predict Iran's future. The CIA has boasted a 90% accuracy record.

I've been using iTunes for a while now, and until lately I haven't wanted to use it for more than just updating my iPod. Recently though, Apple has added a number of additions that are making me like it more and more.

iTunes DJ

The last update to iTunes, I believe 8.1, included a couple new features that everyone should check out. If you don't already know about the Genius playlist, you really need to play with it. It is Pandora for your home library. Pick a song, and a playlist is made automatically filled with similar music. Genius also scans your library and will find recommendations for new music based on what you have. The first new update is the replacement of the "Party Shuffle" playlist generator with the new and improved "iTunes DJ". The iTunes DJ allows you to select a song, or set of songs, and iTunes will magically create a playlist of songs that are similar. The coolest part is you can have others with iPods or iPhones to request songs to the iTunes DJ. Here's what Apple had to say about it:

Requesting and voting on songs
While you’re playing an iTunes DJ mix, you can use the Remote application on your iPhone or iPod touch to request songs. You can also allow guests to request songs to play, and to vote for songs. Songs that are voted for play sooner.

iTunes Widgets

The next couple of features you should know about, are not new to iTunes, but are new to me, and have to do with sharing your tastes. Apple released a set of "widgets" that allow you to extend your publishing capabilities by adding a little flare of flash to your website. The first of the two widgets is called My iTunes. It is a " simple, self-updating add-on for your web page, social networking profile, or blog. Use My iTunes to share your top reviews, favorite artists, and new music, movies, and TV shows from the iTunes Store with anyone who visits your site." The second widget is iMix. iMix allows you to create playlists, both with your library, and songs you may not already have, but like, from the iTunes store. You can then display your iMix on your blog, social networking profile, or website just by clicking “Publish to the Web” on any iMix page. iTunes builds the code for you, and creates a feed of your iMix.

iTunes U

Download Free Educational Content

Find lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, and podcasts and download them for free. iTunes U is available to everyone, whether you’re a student or not.

Browse Distinguished Institutions

Explore over 75,000 educational audio and video files from top universities, famous museums, PBS stations, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn on the Go

iTunes U audio and video files are called tracks. Download tracks one at a time. Or subscribe to an ongoing course or series so your tracks download as soon as they’re available. iTunes creates a folder with the provider’s name and places your tracks inside. Connect your iPod or iPhone to sync your tracks for on-the-go education. Or watch video lectures on your TV with Apple TV.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

I always find american foreign policy changes both intriguing, and amusing. Back in 2007, a group of Republican and Democratic members of Congress were convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Concluding that America's image and influence had declined in recent years, they realized that maybe fear-mongering tactics detriment globalization efforts. They decided that,"... the United States had to change from exporting fear to inspiring optimism and hope."

Wait a tic... what were Obama's slogans again? Oh that's right: "Hope" and "Yes we can". I guess the guys at CSIS got what they wanted.

Read the full article here >> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-nye/smart-power_b_74725.html

Looks like a lot of work. But I see this as a soon-to-be feature in most new cars.

Clever.

Check out around 4:45. The music sequencer is crazy.

Associate professor in MIT's Program in Media Arts and Sciences, and founder and director of the Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces group, Pattie Mae, showcases the latest high-tech personal device that literally "senses" objects in it's environment. Both capable of recognizing objects, as well as providing additional details about what it sees. Crazy. The device is primarily developed by a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab, Pranav Mistry.

New York Time's technology columnist and Emmy Award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News displays a couple cool things you can do with your cell phone these days. Google Voice (via former Grand Central), looks very promising. I'm on their mailing list. So should you. You also should NEVER pay for 411 services again. Google provides a free 800 number: (800) 466-4411. They will connect you for free.

Opportunity is at your command. All you need to do is direct a focus. It is like a magnifying glass: Channel what you want to bring into your life, and focus it to burn off what you don't.

Paul Moller talks about the future of personal air travel -- the marriage of autos and flight that will give us true freedom to travel off-road. He shows two things he's working on: the Moller Skycar (a jet + car) and a passenger-friendly hovering disc.

Cooooool! I think I'd like to try out the hovering disc first. How about you?