Houdini Artefacts Now On Display In Buxton
“Locks and handcuffs used by famous escapologist Harry Houdini are about to go on display at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery.
They were once owned by Sheffield-born Randolph Douglas, an expert lock picker and magician who performed in the early 1900s as Randini.
Douglas was a friend and adviser to Houdini and helped devise one of his most famous escapes – from a straitjacket while hung upside down.
The locks, manacles and keys were displayed in Douglas’s House of Wonders museum in Castleton before becoming part of Derbyshire County Council’s Buxton Museum and Art Gallery’s permanent collection in the early 1980s. ”
Read more at Derbyshire County Council (thanks, Marie)
YouTube Will Start Charging for Some Videos
“Starting this weekend, YouTube will be dipping its toe into the waters of paid content. This behavior follows a trend we’ve noted in traditional media outlets. First, media mogul Rupert Murdoch said no more freebies for search engines, then the New York Times hinted (and today confirmed) that users would have to start paying for a certain amount of access to articles. Now, YouTube is partnering with the Sundance Film Festival and filmmakers to charge users around $5 to view a range of movies from the 2009 and 2010 festivals.
It’s still cheaper than a movie ticket – but is this a direction users will follow? Five Sundance films have been selected for this venture. It’s what we’d consider a test run to see how users will respond to paid content on the site, and whether this could be a new revenue stream for the web video giant, which has historically struggled with profitability.
The films include The Cove, an underwater adventure about dolphin capturing in Japan; Bass Ackwards, which chronicles an improvised road trip; Children of Invention, about two Bostonian orphans; One Too Many Mornings, a “coming of age comedy about two guys who are too old to be coming of age”; and Homewrecker, a comedy about a locksmith. The filmmakers will determine the exact asking price for viewing each movie, but all will be in the range of $5.
YouTube execs told USA Today the move is helping independent filmmakers find distribution avenues for their films. The movies will be shown without ads, which would be an aesthetic disaster for any director who chose to put his creation online.”
Read more at ReadWriteWeb
Viruses use ‘hive intelligence’ to focus their attack
“A tactic familiar from insect behaviour seems to give viruses the edge in the eternal battle between them and their host – and the remarkable proof can be seen in a video.
The video catches viruses only a few hundred nanometres in size in the act of hopping over cells that are already infected. This allows them to concentrate their energies on previously uninfected cells, accelerating the spread of infection fivefold.”
Read more at New Scientist
Religious Science Teacher Divides Ohio Town
“Most people in this quiet all-American town describe themselves as devoutly Christian, but even here they are deeply divided over what should happen to John Freshwater.
Mr. Freshwater, an eighth-grade public school science teacher, is accused of burning a cross onto the arms of at least two students and teaching creationism, charges he says have been fabricated because he refused an order by his principal to remove a Bible from his desk.
After an investigation, school officials notified Mr. Freshwater in June 2008 of their intent to fire him, but he asked for a pre-termination hearing, which has lasted more than a year and cost the school board more than a half-million dollars.”
Read more at NY Times (thanks, Tammy)
Do Daydreamers Have Superior Intelligence?
“Isn’t it great when a study confirms what you already suspected? There’s a significant correlation between robust daydreaming and superior intelligence.
Researchers using brain scanning technology found that the “default network,” the relatively new buzzword for the daydreaming state, was significantly more active in the ‘superior intelligence group’ than the ‘average intelligence group.’ According to the study, this suggests that the stronger connections displayed in the ‘functional integration of the default network might be related to individual intelligent performance.’”
Read more at Psychology Today (thanks, SuZi)
The real power of crystals
Just been chatting with the very talented producer/director Nigel Walk, who filmed the astonishing crystal cave sequence at the start of the new landmark BBC series ‘How Earth Made Us’. They could only film in 20 minute bursts due to the lethal levels of heat – it was a hugely difficult thing to film. Have a look, it’s an incredible, beautiful environment. It starts at 2:30.
Brain structure determines success rate with video gaming
Researchers can predict your performance on a video game simply by measuring the volume of specific structures in your brain, a multi-institutional team reports this week.
The new study, in the journal Cerebral Cortex, found that nearly a quarter of the variability in achievement seen among men and women trained on a new video game could be predicted by measuring the volume of three structures in their brains.
The study adds to the evidence that specific parts of the striatum, a collection of distinctive tissues tucked deep inside the cerebral cortex, profoundly influence a person’s ability to refine his or her motor skills, learn new procedures, develop useful strategies and adapt to a quickly changing environment.
The study was conducted at the University of Illinois.
Research has shown that expert video gamers outperform novices on many basic measures of attention and perception, but other studies have found that training novices on video games for 20 or more hours often yields no measurable cognitive benefits.
Anti-islamic politician Geert Wilders on trial
The trial of a Dutch anti-islam politician charged with hate crimes has begun in Amsterdam. It is a landmark case testing the limits of free speech in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders has been charged with incitement of hatred and discrimination against Muslims. In his short film, Fitna, he compared the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Supporters of Mr Wilders have been demonstrating outside the Amsterdam court. If he loses he faces two years in prison.
Via AMB
Brain Asymmetry Eases Hypnotic Trance
“If hypnosis leaves you unmoved, blame the wiring in your brain. It seems those who find it easier to fall into a trance are more likely to have an imbalance in the efficiency of their brain’s two hemispheres. The finding backs hotly disputed claims of a biological basis for hypnosis.
Around 15 per cent of people are thought to be extremely susceptible to hypnosis, while another 10 per cent are almost impossible to hypnotise. The rest of us fall somewhere in between.
Sceptics argue that rather than being in a genuine trance, some of us are simply more suggestible and therefore more likely to act the part. However, recent studies have hinted that during hypnosis, there is less connectivity between different regions, and less activity in the rational, left side of the brain, and more in the artistic right side. Such findings suggest hypnosis is more than acting.”
Read more at New Scientist
Human Bed-Warming Service Pilots In Hotel Chain
“If you’re disturbed by the rather abnormal notion of having a total stranger warm your hotel bed for you by laying in it, by all means pass this story by.
The Holiday Inn, which operates over 4,000 hotels worldwide, will offer a “human bed-warming service” for the next week to help keep guests stay warm inside, whilst it gets colder outside. This literally involves employees laying in your bed for five minutes before you get in.
Once your sheets are suitably warm, they climb out and you climb in. I didn’t quite have the nerve to ask Holiday Inn whether you could pay to have them hold you through the particularly frosty nights. After all, if you’re going to replace a hot water bottle, you might as well do it properly.”
Read more at Wired (thanks, GadgetFreakk)
