Orca Books sent me a review copy of Media Meltdown, a graphic novel about media literacy for kids, written by Liam O'Donnell and illustrated by Mike Deas. The premise of Media Meltdown is to teach kids how to question the media they get, and to make their own. It follows the adventures of a group of kids who have discovered that the local monster-home developer is up to no good, and is getting away with it because he's a heavy advertiser with the town's only media company, which owns the newspaper, stadium, and TV station. Working together, they break the story on their own, using the Web, and along the way they learn to analyze the media they receive, to use that analysis in making their own media, and to work with others to get their message across (there's also a surprise appearance of this blog, which had me laughing aloud).
The premise of Media Meltdown is to teach kids how to question the media they get, and to make their own. It follows the adventures of a group of kids who have discovered that the local monster-home developer is up to no good, and is getting away with it because he's a heavy advertiser with the town's only media company, which owns the newspaper, stadium, and TV station. Working together, they break the story on their own, using the Web, and along the way they learn to analyze the media they receive, to use that analysis in making their own media, and to work with others to get their message across (there's also a surprise appearance of this blog, which had me laughing aloud).
The Hubble Space Telescope brings out striking details of the famed planetary nebula NGC 2818, as seen in an image captured in November 2008 and released on Jan. 15. The structure of the nebula, which lies in the southern constellation Pyxis, represents the outer layers of a star that have been expelled into interstellar space.
Graffiti artist Banksy has marked the end of the Copenhagen climate conference with a series of murals, including one on global warming.The four works appeared along the Regent's Canal in Camden, north London. One includes the phrase: "I don't believe in global warming," with letters disappearing below the water. Banksy has gained an international following for his graffiti and exhibitions, the latest of which drew 300,000 visitors in Bristol.
Graffiti artist Banksy has marked the end of the Copenhagen climate conference with a series of murals, including one on global warming.
The four works appeared along the Regent's Canal in Camden, north London.
One includes the phrase: "I don't believe in global warming," with letters disappearing below the water.
Banksy has gained an international following for his graffiti and exhibitions, the latest of which drew 300,000 visitors in Bristol.
BT's superfast broadband network will be completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, the firm has announced.The £1.5bn fibre-optic network will offer speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) for some customers, supporting high-definition video. However, it will only reach around 40% of homes, mainly in towns and cities. The firm had originally said the programme would be completed by March 2013 but said the rollout was now "ahead of schedule" .
BT's superfast broadband network will be completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, the firm has announced.
The £1.5bn fibre-optic network will offer speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) for some customers, supporting high-definition video.
However, it will only reach around 40% of homes, mainly in towns and cities.
The firm had originally said the programme would be completed by March 2013 but said the rollout was now "ahead of schedule" .
The Vatican has awarded itself a "unique copyright" on the Pope's name, image, coat of arms, and any other symbol or logo related to the Holy Father. "The use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff...and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," reads a statement released by the Vatican on Saturday morning, the Catholic News Agency reports.
The Vatican has awarded itself a "unique copyright" on the Pope's name, image, coat of arms, and any other symbol or logo related to the Holy Father.
"The use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff...and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See," reads a statement released by the Vatican on Saturday morning, the Catholic News Agency reports.
I guess there must be some sort of Higher Order Registration Office for this sort of claim.
Clue me in, fellow ET pontificals.
now if you want to clone ratzi, you have to pay authorisation rights.
i doubt they come cheap ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
And the lawyers will be calling soon about the off-brand reference to 'ratzi'.
Exclusive Wikileaks is in the process of making a cache of documents and files from eleven different neo-Nazi organisations readable, and readily available, online. The membership records and private messages are currently being formatted to make them easy for non-techies to read and will be released on the Wikileaks site shortly. The organisation got massive publicity last year when it published a BNP membership list handed over by a disgruntled ex-member. The raw data is already available but needs formatting so: "your grandmother can read them and google can find them... Journalists won't write about it otherwise."
Exclusive Wikileaks is in the process of making a cache of documents and files from eleven different neo-Nazi organisations readable, and readily available, online.
The membership records and private messages are currently being formatted to make them easy for non-techies to read and will be released on the Wikileaks site shortly.
The organisation got massive publicity last year when it published a BNP membership list handed over by a disgruntled ex-member.
The raw data is already available but needs formatting so: "your grandmother can read them and google can find them... Journalists won't write about it otherwise."
The Australian company that runs the .com.au domain registry has been accused of abandoning its own procedures to censor a website satirising communications minister Stephen Conroy's ISP filtering regime. On Friday afternoon, Sapia Pty Ltd, the company behind stephenconroy.com.au, was told by auDA that they had three hours to explain its use of the domain or it would be withdrawn. "After several attempts at convincing them to give us reasonable time to reply we made a last-ditch attempt at 4.10pm stating that we provide a consultancy product with 'Stephen Conroy' in it's name," the firm said on its new site stephen-conroy.com.
The Australian company that runs the .com.au domain registry has been accused of abandoning its own procedures to censor a website satirising communications minister Stephen Conroy's ISP filtering regime.
On Friday afternoon, Sapia Pty Ltd, the company behind stephenconroy.com.au, was told by auDA that they had three hours to explain its use of the domain or it would be withdrawn.
"After several attempts at convincing them to give us reasonable time to reply we made a last-ditch attempt at 4.10pm stating that we provide a consultancy product with 'Stephen Conroy' in it's name," the firm said on its new site stephen-conroy.com.
Getting into the spirit of giving during the holiday season may seem like a struggle, but it turns out generous people aren't fighting the urge to screw others over, as some have suggested. Instead, generosity - or the desire for fairness - seems automatic and arises from activation in a brain area that controls intuition and emotion. Neuropsychologists define "prosocial" people as those who prefer to share and share alike, and "individualists" as those who are primarily concerned with maximising their own gain. .... Haruno, along with Christopher Frith of University College London used functional MRI to scan the brains of 25 prosocial people and 14 individualists (presorted using a standard behavioral test) while they rated their preference for a series of money distributions between themselves and a hypothetical other person. As expected, the prosocial group preferred even splits while the individualists favoured distributions where they got the most money. Active amygdala A less predictable finding was that the only brain region that differed in activity between the two groups was the amygdala. When presented with unfair money distributions the activity in the amygdala increased significantly in prosocial people but not in the individualists. "And the more they disliked the split, the more activity you saw in this region," says Frith. "The amygdala tends to respond automatically, without thought, or even without awareness," says Frith. Combined with the fact that there was no difference in activity in the prefrontal cortex - responsible for suppressing urges - this suggested that the suppression theory might not be borne out.
Neuropsychologists define "prosocial" people as those who prefer to share and share alike, and "individualists" as those who are primarily concerned with maximising their own gain.
....
Haruno, along with Christopher Frith of University College London used functional MRI to scan the brains of 25 prosocial people and 14 individualists (presorted using a standard behavioral test) while they rated their preference for a series of money distributions between themselves and a hypothetical other person. As expected, the prosocial group preferred even splits while the individualists favoured distributions where they got the most money. Active amygdala
A less predictable finding was that the only brain region that differed in activity between the two groups was the amygdala. When presented with unfair money distributions the activity in the amygdala increased significantly in prosocial people but not in the individualists. "And the more they disliked the split, the more activity you saw in this region," says Frith.
"The amygdala tends to respond automatically, without thought, or even without awareness," says Frith. Combined with the fact that there was no difference in activity in the prefrontal cortex - responsible for suppressing urges - this suggested that the suppression theory might not be borne out.
[I]n March 2006, there was a breakthrough. It was confirmed that all those who had fallen ill with NSF had been given the same drug in advance of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Omniscan was used to enhance the images produced by the scan. The product was sold around the world and was manufactured by GE Healthcare, a subsidiary of General Electric, one of the world's largest corporations. Read more...
Omniscan was used to enhance the images produced by the scan. The product was sold around the world and was manufactured by GE Healthcare, a subsidiary of General Electric, one of the world's largest corporations.
Read more...
