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Monthly Archives: August 2004

Pecksniffian

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

From World Wide Words newsletter:
Pecksniffian means “Unctuously hypocritical”. We are in the company of Messrs Pumpkinskull, Sweedlepipe, Bumble, Tappertit, Honeythunder, Pumblechook, and Muddlebranes, whose names all came out of the mind of Charles Dickens. His ability to create memorable and frequently sarcastic names for his characters, his villains in particular, is surely unmatched in [...]

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You must check this out…

Friday, August 27, 2004

The Change This manifestos are superb.
How to defeat terrorism and how to beat heart attacks.

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Bosnian bridge stolen [Yahoo]

Friday, August 27, 2004

Gypsies steal 13m antique bridge and seld it for €120 to a scrap vendor.

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New data validate the low-glycemic diet [Science Blog]

Friday, August 27, 2004

Yet another from Science Blog:
A carefully controlled animal study provides clear evidence that a low-glycemic-index diet — one whose carbohydrates are low in sugar or release sugar slowly — can lead to weight loss, reduced body fat, and reduction in risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Many studies, including small studies in humans, have [...]

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Little-known disease growing dramatically [Science Blog]

Friday, August 27, 2004

Science Blog:
A new study shows that rates of a recently identified and debilitating disorder called eosinophilic esophagitis have risen so dramatically in recent years that they may be at higher levels than that of other inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. ”Despite this explosion in incidence rates, there is so little [...]

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Nostalgia moment

Friday, August 27, 2004

I was reminded of BigTrak (above) by one of eDoug’s posts. I received one of these for Xmas 1984. It was destroyed within weeks by an unknown attacker (almost certainly one of my siblings).
I have heard that most BigTraks ended up in student houses and laboratories as spliff transporters.

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Adult brain shows more plasticity than previously believed [Science Blog]

Friday, August 27, 2004

From Science Blog:
Mice ”rewired” to receive visual cues in the hearing region of their brains learned to respond to a fear-inducing flashing light as if they had heard it instead of seen it. This research shows that even the adult brain is far more plastic, or adaptable, than previously believed. If extended to humans, this [...]

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The Political Brain by Steve Johnson [NYT Magazine]

Friday, August 27, 2004

Do Liberals think more emotionally? Will political neuroscience end elections? Is political affiliation based on simple kinship detection?
If amygdala activity is a reliable indication of emotional response, a fascinating possibility opens up: turning Armey’s muddled poetry into a testable hypothesis. Do liberals ”think” with their limbic system more than conservatives do? As it happens, some [...]

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Sheep pine for absent friends: official [The Register]

Thursday, August 26, 2004

“The Cambridge University team which discovered that sheep prefer happy, smiley people has once again pushed back the envelope of ovine understanding with the revelation that sheep cheer up when they see snaps of friends and relatives.
According to the Telegraph (registration required), team supremo professor Keith Kendrick reckons that “seeing a face picture of a [...]

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“Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes [How To]

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Stephen King explains the how to write successfully.

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