Art Comes in Many Mediums: Like These Magic Angle Shadow Sculptures

Shadow art is nothing particularly new, but the way John V. Muntean sculpts his creations to form three distinct images with their shadows, is something worth checking. When his wooden creations are placed on a skewer, held up from one side by a plastic column, and then lit from above, the light cast produces different shadow every time the skewer is rotated for 54.7 degrees.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about this artwork is the way his creations all seem to relate one to another. For example, his dog/cat/fish piece shows three pets known to harass one another. On the other hand, John’s man/woman/heart sculpture seems to depict the three things necessary to create a standard romance story. You may think of this as Shigeo Fukuda’s Encore art installation, except this one includes a third view! Go to his website it’s definitely worth a visit. You get to play with one of his sculptures in virtual space!

Tired of forgetting peoples names? There’s a way to solve that

                        Good Day Humboldt County!

I freely admit that I often forget people’s names. I can blame part of that on my PTSD short term memory, but it goes beyond that. When I was working, I was meeting new people daily for over 20 years, and I struggled remembering names back then.

Are you tired of going down that road…where faces don’t bring automatic recognition after meeting someone for the first time? Would you like to improve your memory? It just so happens I ran across an interesting article that may help you. Here it is:

“Tired of finding yourself in that awkward situation where you recognize someone's face, yet you can't recall their name? New research in Psychological Science sheds some light on the phenomenon.

Scientists recently discovered that a face's features, more than the entire face per se, are the key to recognizing a person. "In the past, it was believed that we look at faces holistically in order to recognize the face," says Jason M. Gold, coauthor of the study and associate professor of psychology at Indiana University. "But surprisingly, we found that the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts."

Avoid a Memory Meltdown

But how can you put this ability to hone in on features to good use? We reached out to Scott Hagwood, author of Memory Power and four-time National Memory Champion, to teach you how to utilize that memory of yours and never forget a name again.

Wordplay
The key to remembering someone's name is making a connection between their name and something that you can easily remember, says Hagwood. So right off the bat, see if the name itself does the work for you. Alliteration and rhyming can be very helpful, says Hagwood. For example, you remember Lucy due to her luscious lips (alliteration), or you were introduced to Cole, who has a large facial mole (rhyming).

Form a trigger
Let's say you meet "Henry," yet this isn't the first "Henry" you know. Since you have an old Henry in mind, try to form a connection between the new Henry's features and the original Henry, says Hagwood. By drawing this parallel, this conditions the brain to use that feature as a memory trigger. A weak example: Both men have short hair. "Since hair styles can frequently change, it's not the wisest choice to make connections to," says Hagwood. A better method: Pick something you despise about old Henry and compare it to the new. Maybe Old Henry has absolutely horrible skin, yet the new once looks like he just stepped out of a Clinique ad.

A simple way to get an individual's name to go hand in hand with their face is to say their name aloud in conversation. This technique practices mindfulness and can condition your brain to associate the sound of their name to their face, says Hagwood. Just don't overdo the repetition, otherwise the interaction feels forced.  (source)
Related article: Sharpen Your Memory While Sleeping

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Hello! My name is Dave, and believe it or not, I don’t have a tattoo!

My name is Dave and I don’t have a tattoo.

I know, it’s hard to believe. My wife has one, as do all three of my sons. Outside of a few old high school buddies, I feel like the last person around without a tat. No skulls adorn my biceps. No hearts with “Mom” in the center and an arrow piercing it decorates either forearm. I’m without tribal tats full of intricate designs starting at my neck and weaving down my back or chest. I’m also in the minority.

According to the FDA, more than 45 million Americans are now tatted up. I see myself rather differently. From my untattooed point of view, I am the last heroic holdout. I’m like Charlton Heston in The Omega Man, that movie where he plays the one remaining normal person on Earth.

The trend for tattoos is not exactly breaking news. In the past there was one reason, and one reason only, to ink up: A tattoo confirmed your status as a scary outsider rebel carny outlaw sociopath. “Don’t mess with me because I am insane,” was the intended message. And it worked. Remember Robert Mitchum in Night of The Hunter? When he cuts Shelley Winters’ throat we are hardly surprised: We knew trouble was on the horizon as soon as we saw the words LOVE and HATE inked across his knuckles. Tattoos meant mayhem.

Most tat artists charge about $150 per hour nowadays. A full sleeve can take 40 hours. Thats $6,000 (!), plus another $6,000 for laser removal when you hit late middle age and it’s gone all wrinkly and is no longer recognizable as a dragon but looks more like a squashed squirrel. And it only cost $12K and hours of agony! Who could resist?

Aside from all the usual blood-born suspects, new research suggests that certain inks do horrid things to your lymph nodes. I’m too old to mess with my lymph nodes, so I’ll gladly use this as another excuse for not getting a tat. I’ve had plenty of opportunities in my life to get a tat, but have let them slip away with no regrets.

Like Charles Heston, I’m satisfied with my outlook on life, and tattoos.  

Dreaming or awake, we perceive only events that have meaning to us

              Good Day Humboldt County!

All of our journeys in life don’t just come during our waking hours. With some people, dreams are like alternate realities where we wander through hostile landscapes in our brain. I wish I knew more about dreams and their purpose.

I’m tortured by nightmares at certain times of the year. Psychiatrists refer to this phenomena as an “Anniversary date.” Mine are tied to a traumatic period in Cambodia (1970) when I watched my best friend die during an ambush. I survived. He didn’t.

There was a time when I didn’t experience nightmares, back before I went into the Army. dreaming was a blissful experience for me once. Now I take meds to make me sleep so sound I don’t dream, and I seldom have nightmares.

This article is about dreaming. I think you’ll find it interesting:

“When your head hits the pillow, for many it's lights out for the conscious part of you. But the cells firing in your brain are very much awake, sparking enough energy to produce the sometimes vivid and sometimes downright haunted dreams that take place during the rapid-eye-movement stage of your sleep.

Why do some people have nightmares while others really spend their nights in bliss? Like sleep, dreams are mysterious phenomena. But as scientists are able to probe deeper into our minds, they are finding some of those answers.

Here's some of what we know about what goes on in dreamland.

1. Violent dreams can be a warning sign

As if nightmares weren't bad enough, a rare sleep disorder — called REM sleep behavior disorder — causes people to act out their dreams, sometimes with violent thrashes, kicks and screams. Such violent dreams may be an early sign of brain disorders down the line, including Parkinson's disease and dementia, according to research published online July 28, 2010, in the journal Neurology. The results suggest the incipient stages of these neurodegenerative disorders might begin decades before a person, or doctor, knows it.

2. Night owls have more nightmares

Staying up late has its perks, but whimsical dreaming is not one of them. Research published in 2011 in the journal Sleep and Biological Rhythms, revealed that night owls are more likely than their early-bird counterparts to experience nightmares.

In the study 264 university students rated how often they experienced nightmares on a scale from 0 to 4, never to always, respectively. The stay-up-late types scored, on average, a 2.10, compared with the morning types who averaged a 1.23. The researchers said the difference was a significant one, however, they aren’t sure what's causing a link between sleep habits and nightmares. Among their ideas is the stress hormone cortisol, which peaks in the morning right before we wake up, a time when people are more prone to be in REM, or dream, sleep. If you’re still sleeping at that time, the cortisol rise could trigger vivid dreams or nightmares, the researchers speculate. [ Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders ]

3. Men dream about sex

As in their wake hours, men also dream about sex more than women do. And comparing notes in the morning may not be a turn-on for either guys or gals, as women are more likely to have experienced nightmares, suggests doctoral research reported in 2009 by psychologist Jennie Parker of the University of the West of England.

She found women's dreams/nightmares could be grouped into three categories: fearful dreams (being chased or having their life threatened); dreams involving the loss of a loved one; or confused dreams.

4. You can control your dreams

If you're interested in lucid dreaming, you may want to take up video gaming. The link? Both represent alternate realities, said Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada.

"If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice," Gackenbach told LiveScience in 2010. "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams." Her past research has shown that people who frequently play video games are more likely than non-gamers to have lucid dreams where they view themselves from outside their bodies; they were also better able to influence their dream worlds, as if controlling a video-game character.

That level of control may also help gamers turn a bloodcurdling nightmare into a carefree dream, she found in a 2008 study. This ability could help war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Gackenbach reasoned.

5. Why we dream

Scientists have long wondered why we dream, with answers ranging from Sigmund Freud's idea that dreams fulfill our wishes to the speculation that these wistful journeys are just a side effect of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Turns out, at least part of the reason may be critical thinking, suggests Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett who presented her theory in 2010 at the Association for Psychological Science meeting in Boston.

Her research revealed that our slumbering hours may help us solve puzzles that have plagued us during daylight hours. The visual and often illogical aspects of dreams make them perfect for the out-of-the-box thinking that is necessary to solve some problems, she speculates.

So while dreams may have originally evolved for another purpose, they have likely been refined over time for multiple tasks, including helping the brain reboot and helping us solve problems, she said.”  (Source)

Headline source quote by Jane Roberts

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Dad sues school district after son is punished for cheating

A father is suing his son's Northern California school district for throwing the boy out of an honors English class after he was caught cheating.

The sophomore at Sequoia High School in Redwood City copied someone else's essay, which aside from being just plain wrong, also goes against the "honesty pledge" students sign at the beginning of the class, making it explicitly clear that any cheating will result in expulsion from honors courses. Clear cut, right? Well, the dad is pointing out a conflicting school policy that says students won't be punished for cheating until the second time they're caught. Um, can the second incidence of cheating be this dad trying to cheat the school system and bend the rules for his kid? (source)

AS IT STANDS: Getting your pet a rabies shot? Think twice and get advice

                                            
        By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
   Like most pet owners I really didn’t think much about getting my 8-year-old pug’s rabies booster shot last month. It didn’t occur to me she could die from it. I don’t think I ever read a story about a dog dying from a rabies shot. That is until now.
   I can’t stop reading about the dangers of rabies shots for animals. Fortunately, Millie (photo left), my pug didn’t die, but she sure got sick! A horrid red rash broke out three days after she got her booster shot. She had lumps the size of marbles all over her body.
   My wife and I immediately called the vet and took her in. She was given steroids to combat the effects. For weeks afterward Millie was listless and barely reacted to noises that normally would have sent her into a barking jag. She shivered. The look in her big brown eyes was sad. She’s still not up to snuff.
  I want to share some of the things I’ve learned out about rabies vaccinations for animals. One of the first things that struck me is that all dogs - from a Chihuahua to a Great Dane - get the same dosage.
    Let me put that into perspective; a 3-pound Chihuahua gets half the dose that is given to a 1200 pound horse! All dogs get 1 ml of vaccine and horses get 2 mls of vaccine. Even a layman such as myself can see that doesn’t add up. 
   According to Veterinarian Jeffrey Levy DVM PCH, that dosage disparity is why small dogs are 10 times more likely to have problems from vaccines. Makes sense to me. Now, if your vet tells you that “dose doesn’t matter” and “there’s nothing in the vaccine that can hurt your dog,” challenge them to take a rabies vaccine at the same dose per pound they give to a Chihuahua.

   My guess is they’ll pass on the offer. I read a recent article about vets who had their titer (an antibody titer is a laboratory test that measures the presence and amount of antibodies in blood) levels tested at their 20th vet school reunion. As you may, or may not know, all vets get rabies vaccinations after graduating from school. Guess what? Everyone who had their titer levels tested was still protected.
   So why are dogs supposed to get rabies shots every three years? I know I’m no expert, but there’s more than meets the eye here regarding rabies shots. The law requires rabies vaccination for dogs and cats. That’s for our safety, not for the animal’s.
   You should know however, that all vaccines, including rabies, are medically approved for use in healthy animals only. So if your dog or cat is shows any signs of acute or chronic disease, the manufacturers do not recommend administration of the vaccine.

   What are the rabies laws (http://www.dogs4dogs.com/rabies-laws) in your state or locality? Check to see if your state offers medical exemptions to the rabies vaccine for health compromised animals. Personally, I’m going to make sure Millie never gets another booster.
   To that effect I found this Petition for Health Exemptions to Rabies Vaccination (http://www.change.org/petitions/california-take-action-to-help-dogs-too-ill-to-receive-the-rabies-vaccine).
  If you’re interested in improving your dog's chances for a safe vaccination go to :http://www.dogs4dogs.com/blog/2010/09/23/rabies-vaccination-12-ways-to-vaccinate-more-safely/ .
   Here’s a video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQHQw-5XCw with more good information on the subject. There is a growing awareness of the dangers of rabies shots and titers are increasingly used to demonstrate effective immunity and avoid unnecessary revaccination.

   One last resource I want to mention is The Rabies Challenge Fund (www.RabiesChallengeFund.org) which is financing concurrent 5 and 7 year studies at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison, with a goal of extending the state-mandated interval for boosters.
   It’s one of the most important vaccine research studies in veterinary medicine today and it may save the lives of countless cats and dogs in the future.
   As It Stands, I don’t want pet owners to be surprised if their dog or cat has a negative reaction, or dies, from a rabies shot - it’s one of those laws that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later.

Save The Animals Poster by World Wildlife Fund has hidden animals

World Wildlife Fund (or just WWF in short) is an organization  which protects endangered wildlife and environments, tackles climate change and promotes sustainable use of resources. But what WWF also does, it creates one hell of a memorable billboard campaigns. To raise awareness around their cause, they need their message to stand out and differentiate itself from the rest. And what could be better to promote this worthy cause than using a poster with built in game, one that traps you into the world of rainforest wildlife? Not only have I learned one interesting fact today – that rainforests only cover 7% of our planet but harbor more than 50% of the world’s species – I’ve also learned there is pile of hidden animals present in this poster below. See how many hidden animals you can find. Let the games begin!

Man In Cow Suit Steals 26 Gallons Of Milk From Walmart

Call him the Hamburglar for the dairy crowd. An 18-year-old Virginia man was arrested earlier this week after somehow managing to slip past the Walmart greeters and loss-prevention staff with 26 gallons of milk... all while crawling around in a cow suit.

"This is probably one of the most unique efforts of shoplifting I've seen," a spokesman for the Stafford County Sheriff told InsideNova.com. "It might've been a prank that went wrong, but it isn't as funny when [the suspect] breaks the law."

While no one in the store did anything to stop the cow-suited culprit when he was strolling around the Walmart on all fours, he was spotted near the store handing out the stolen moo juice to passersby.

The belligerent bovine was later spotted "skipping down the sidewalk" in the cow suit by Walmart staffers.

He was later apprehended, out of his costume, at a nearby McDonald's (perhaps he is in cahoots with the Hamburglar?). Police found the cow garb in the suspect's car but just to make sure it wasn't the world's biggest coincidence, they took the teen back to Walmart where he was identified as the suspect.

The greatest crime here is that there is no surveillance footage of the theft. (source)

I don’t mess around when it comes to a good hamburger…but some people do

             Good Day Humboldt County!

Talk about traveling new roads and experiencing things…

Back in the late sixties, a friend and I traveled across Canada and America – for a lot of reasons – but one of our goals was to find the best hamburger in either country.

I know, I know. What a lofty goal. We sure had fun doing it, but I can’t remember what eating establishment had the best burger after all these years later.

I do recall once, while in British Columbia, we stopped at a local Mom & Pop hamburger joint and were shocked by what we thought had to be the smallest hamburger in the world! I took a photo of one nestled in my friend’s palm and it didn’t look much larger than a silver dollar.

So, it really brought back memories when I discovered the world's smallest (and cutest) combo meal – above.

It consists of a little cheeseburger with all the fixings, very small fries, and a miniscule soda. It's all real too. (Link)

Just look at what those clever Swiss people have come up with as product of the year. It's an import that is giving restaurants a run for their money according to the product’s PR department. I kind of doubt that, as I’ve yet to see this burgers in supermarkets near me. Cheeseburger In A Can (below)is touted as a tasty treat for any fan of the hearty sandwich made popular by American fast food chains or just grilled in your back yard.(Link) Hmmmmmmmm….

How about a Caviar Burger?

I can only imagine what one (left) would cost (Link).

As far as the area I live in, the best hamburger in the county is right off of Highway 101 in Arcata, California. It’s called “Toni’s” and I’m talking about great home cooking!!!

Their Blue Cheese Burger is the bomb! BTY – I am in no way affiliated with the family-owner business (wish I was), and am not getting paid to shill for them. Toni’s has the best hamburger in Humboldt County. Does anyone think differently? Don’t be afraid to share.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

CISPA gets House approval but controversial bill still has to pass in Senate

It took a debate that stretched to nearly seven hours, and votes on over a dozen amendments, but the U.S. House of Representatives finally approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act on April 26.

Passions flared on both sides before the final vote on CISPA, which cleared the House by a comfortable margin of 248 to 168. CISPA would "waive every single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity," Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat and onetime Web entrepreneur, said during the debate. "Allowing the military and NSA to spy on Americans on American soil goes against every principle this country was founded on."

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and author of CISPA, responded by telling his colleagues to ignore "all the things they're saying about the bill that are not true." He pleaded: "Stand for America! Support this bill!"

While CISPA initially wasn't an especially partisan bill -- it cleared the House Intelligence Committee by a vote of 17 to 1 last December -- it gradually moved in that direction. The final tally was 206 Republicans voting for it, and 28 opposed. Of the Democrats, 42 voted for CISPA and 140 were opposed. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said afterward on Twitter that CISPA "didn't strike the right balance" and Republicans "didn't allow amendments to strengthen privacy protections."

                                                            What happens next?
CISPA heads to the the Senate, where related cybersecurity legislation has been stalled for years. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, has said he'd like to move forward with cybersecurity legislation in May. Its outlook is uncertain.

                            What does CISPA do? Let the National Security Agency spy on Americans?
CISPA wouldn't formally grant the NSA or Homeland Security any additional surveillance authority. (A proposed amendment that would have done so was withdrawn on April 26.)

But it would usher in a new era of information sharing between companies and government agencies -- with limited oversight and privacy safeguards. The House Rules committee on April 25 rejected a series of modestly pro-privacy amendments, which led a coalition of civil-liberties groups to complain that "amendments that are imperative won't even be considered" in a letter the following day.

                                                         Is CISPA worse than SOPA?
For all its flaws, SOPA targeted primarily overseas Web sites, not domestic ones. It would have allowed the U.S. attorney general to seek a court order against the targeted offshore Web site that would, in turn, be served on Internet providers in an effort to make the target virtually disappear.

It was kind of an Internet death penalty targeting Web sites like ThePirateBay.org, not sites like YouTube.com, which are already subject to U.S. law.

CISPA, by contrast, would allow Americans' personal information to be vacuumed up by government agencies for cyber security and law enforcement purposes, as long as Internet and telecommunications companies agreed. In that respect, at least, its impact is broader. (News source – full story here)

Good Samaritan’s quick thinking saves 500 dogs from food processing plant!

        Good Day Humboldt County!

What’s accepted in one country may not be in another. Societies set the rules and the customs right down to what people eat. Eastern and Western cuisine are often a study in contrasts.

For example, many Asians eat dogs. Those dogs come from somewhere, and to the horror of pet owners anywhere, they’re often stolen!

In Vietnam today, dog snatching is a real problem. In what has to be one of the cruelest things I’ve ever heard of when it comes to preparing food, is the way the Vietnamese do it…they beat the dog mercilessly – trying to instill fear into the meat to enhance the taste(!) before slaughtering them for a customer.

I can’t imagine eating dogs, but then I’m a Westerner and Fido is not part of my culinary history. (If it is, please don’t tell me about it!)

                                                             At least these dogs have a future:

“Volunteers in China are struggling to nurse some 500 dogs back to health after they were reportedly rescued from landing on the dining room table. A Good Samaritan spotted a truck stacked with cages containing hundreds of dogs, many of which were obviously stolen pets still wearing their collars, leashes and even clothing. The concerned driver posted a note on Weibo (China's answer to Twitter) and, amazingly, hundreds of animal lovers responded and gathered at a toll booth to block the road.

The truck was headed for - gulp! -- a food processing plant. An anonymous donor has raised about $10,000 to rescue the dogs, which are now housed in a temporary shelter.” (News source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…