Benson's Blog

From http:/www.edge.org, A Conversation With Robert Sapolsky. 24:47 minutes, but well worth watching!

Fascinating conversation about research into the parasite Toxoplasma gondii's ability to rewire the circuitry of its host's brain, changing the chemistry and behavior to suit its own needs.

Also at 20:20, an interesting new study about stress and aging.

David was co-author of The Three Laws of Performance book (highly recommended), but now he has written a new book, Tribal Leadership, which, if it's anything like his TEDxUSC talk below, should be great!

Obama's French Lesson

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Simultaneously - MEN



http://www.myspace.com/men

via http://www.thegp2project.org



This is worse than I imagined. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Project, http://www.thegp2project.org, is one of the organizations working to clean this up.

via Danny MacAskill's biking video Telegraph.co.uk

via www.towleroad.com


What happens when you point the Hubble telescope to an area of space that appears totally devoid of stars?

I have been watching with some amusement the development of conversations around Obama's birth certificate. In case you've been living in a cave, the case involves two camps. On the one hand, you have some people who are convinced that Obama has not released his 'official' birth certificate (only a non-legally binding copy), and that this is covering up some huge conspiracy. They are 'protecting the Constitution' and filling up the court system with lawsuits to 'reveal the truth'. And, on the other hand, you have the White House, Hawaii, and now the media deriding these people as conspiracists and coining the new derisive term, 'birthers'. (After 'pro-lifers', I suppose.) They point to newspaper birth announcements in Hawaii papers and deride the 'birthers' as lunatics.

This video is a wonderful example of news as anti-news, and it brings up some interesting questions. Why talk about news if you can discredit the source? If there's not a sound bite does news really exist? Since when is Ann Coulter's opinion on anything taken seriously? What questions does bring up for you?

Dear Friends,

I am asking for your support as I participate again in GREAT STRIDES, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's annual, nationwide walk event that raises money to help support vital Cystic Fibrosis (CF) research and care programs. This year's walk will be held on May 16th at Santana Row in San Jose. Your donation will be well spent as more than 90 cents of every dollar raised by the CF Foundation is used to support its critical programs.

What is Cystic Fibrosis?
Cystic Fibrosis is a fatal genetic disease that affects over 30,000 Americans. This disease is marked by chronic lung infections, clogged airways, and digestive and reproductive problems. One out of every 31 Americans is a symptomless carrier of the defective CF gene. When the CF Foundation was founded in 1955, children with CF were not expected to see their first day of elementary school. Many people with the disease can now expect to live in to their 30s, 40s, and beyond. This progress is amazing - but not good enough - as we continue to lose at least one precious life to CF every day.

Team Claire: My niece Claire was diagnosed with CF when she was 15 months old. She is now almost 6 years old and works hard everyday to maintain good health. Her treatments include 1-2 hours per day of medications, lung therapy, digestive enzymes, and vitamins.Over this last year, she has had a few lung infections, but overall has stayed healthy thanks to the treatments that are available. She is now in kindergarten and in her free time loves to swim, play soccer, and go to ballet class. She is full of life and energy, and is a light in our lives. Fortunately, medications that could potentially cure Claire's type of CF are currently in clinical trials and so far look very promising. Events like GREAT STRIDES raise money that is needed in the battle against CF and help us get closer to a cure.

Any amount you can donate will be greatly appreciated. You can donate by writing a check payable to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or donate online at www.cff.org/great_strides/BensonFlores. Together, we can help make "CF" stand for "Cure Found"!

Sincerely,
Benson Flores

I'm reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success. Love this book. He explores what it is that makes one person a success and another person not. His conclusions will surprise you! Entertaining and USEFUL information. Highly recommended.



Outliers: The Story of Success. See other reviews at Amazon.com.

"Another World" by Antony & the Johnsons

This is too funny!

This is what the next 10 years will be about!

TED Talks: 20 years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. For his next project, he's building a web for open, linked data that could do for numbers what the Web did for words, pictures, video: unlock our data and reframe the way we use it together.

I signed up for Zipcar last week (www.zipcar.com), and tried it out by driving down to San Jose to celebrate my sister's birthday. Several of my friends had recommended Zipcar, and I can see why - it was totally easy and fun to use. I look forward to trying out the BMWs and the Mini Coopers in the fleet. I like the fact that joining here in San Francisco makes me a member in all the other 50+ cities where Zipcar is located, and that gas and insurance are both included in the low annual fee. Maybe I should have retired my aging car sooner!

I played Chutes and Ladders for the first time (for me, that is) with my nephew, and my niece showed me her new growing, talking toy dog. Plus, quality time with my mom, sister, and her in-laws. How wonderful it is to have family so close by!

TED Talks Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs -- she's got a dozen amazing pairs -- and the super-powers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra 6 inches of height ... She simply redefines what the body can be.

From the TED conference, Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry: Unveiling the "Sixth Sense," game-changing wearable technology. (Not the sixth sense I was thinking of!)

From the TED conference, David Merrill demos toy blocks that interact with one another.

Jack Mackenroth - Project Runway standout designer and openly HIV positive role model as interviewed by iFashion network.


Jack is wearing a t-shirt he designed for Clothing of the American Mind. The front reads “Love across barriers soothes the heart and cures the soul” while the back sports the red AIDS ribbon and reminds that “Shame can be fatal. Get tested.”

I'm inspired by Jack's bravery in being open about his HIV status. It makes it easier for us other HIV positive folk to be out about it as well!

I was thinking today about the qualities of sheep - something I know a little about because I actually was a shepherd on a ranch in Montana for awhile. Sheep are stereotyped as innocent, weak, simple-minded, docile followers, and I think they are getting a bum rap.

First of all, most male sheep are castrated shortly after birth, so that leaves flocks of sheep mostly female and neutered. Male sheep left to mature are really, well, rambunctious! They are natural leaders, and, of course, the other sheep follow them.

Secondly, I was thinking about the term 'black sheep', someone who Webster says is "a disfavored or disreputable member of a group." In the typical use of the term, 'black sheep', a member is disfavored by the group itself. But I never saw or heard of sheep attempting to isolate one of their members from the group. And as we defined the term, a black sheep was any sheep that was leading the other sheep away from us, their shepherds! (I.e., disfavored by someone outside of their group.) So besides the obvious color difference between a black sheep and most white sheep, I can't think of any real behavioral justification for the term in sheep. Certainly sheep are not applying the label to each other!

But my lasting impression of sheep was that they were frightened by almost everything and anything, and easily spooked. They could go from pastoral to terrorized in a flash - a skill set that kept us on our toes, for sure!

And they are innocent. Nothing epitomizes joy better than a leaping lamb!

Peterson Toscano shares a few of the reasons that drove him to try to 'de-gay' himself.