Research & Rescue

Random Acts of Kindness

This is quite beautiful:

Surviving zombies

blastr.com shows which of 19 film zombies you are most likely to survive.

via blastr.com

Apple Cider Vinegar & Soap as a Fly Trap?

I saw this story today on Cool Tools:

Cool Tools: Apple Cider Vinegar + Dish Soap Fly Trap

... and I was wondering if this would be a feasible idea for our portal, as we have flies buzzing in the summer and it makes it unpleasant (at least for me) to sit out there. Since I'd be setting out detergent with something sweet in it to attract the flies, would I have to worry about harming any other beasties or are they smart enough not to drink any of it?

Things We Say Wrong

Stupid people with gadgets are still stupid

It would be really great to have cell service, etc. out here in the mountains for safety's sake but only if people use it for good. Seriously, intrepid outdoorsmen - pack your sunscreen, take your water/camera/sunglasses, but for God's sakes, remember your common sense...

The national parks’ history is full of examples of misguided visitors feeding bears, putting children on buffalos for photos and dipping into geysers despite signs warning of scalding temperatures.

But today, as an ever more wired and interconnected public visits the parks in rising numbers — July was a record month for visitors at Yellowstone — rangers say that technology often figures into such mishaps.

People with cellphones call rangers from mountaintops to request refreshments or a guide; in Jackson Hole, Wyo., one lost hiker even asked for hot chocolate.

A French teenager was injured after plunging 75 feet this month from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon when he backed up while taking pictures. And last fall, a group of hikers in the canyon called in rescue helicopters three times by pressing the emergency button on their satellite location device. When rangers arrived the second time, the hikers explained that their water supply “tasted salty.”

Read the entire article at www.nytimes.com

How to breathe

And you thought you knew how! From Tuesday's UK Daily Telegraph....

It is our life force, so it’s no wonder “a breath of fresh air” has come to mean relief. But are we harnessing it the way we were designed to?

Breathing “properly” and to our full potential is not only good for our overall wellbeing, it’s increasingly seen as having a key role in alleviating all sorts of modern ailments, from anxiety to exhaustion.

Increased awareness and control over our breathing mechanism, and using our lungs to their full capacity, can lead to all sorts of benefits – from pain and stress relief to improved energy levels, enhanced athletic performance and singing ability, and even gaining control over a stutter.

Keep breathing and keep reading at www.telegraph.co.uk

Don't drink and job hunt

 

U. MICHIGAN/U. PENNSYLVANIA (US)—Drinking alcohol during a lunch or dinner job interview—even when the boss does—could lower the likelihood of getting hired, according to a new study.

“Alcohol consumption plays a prominent role in many professional interactions, including job interviews, negotiations, and informal meetings,” says Scott Rick, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan.

“By introducing alcohol, managers can create a relaxed atmosphere that facilitates information exchange and relationship development.

“But merely holding an alcoholic beverage may reduce the perceived intelligence of the person holding it, in the absence of any actual reduction in cognitive performance—a mistake we term the imbibing idiot bias.”

Read the rest at www.futurity.org

Kentucky Fried WTF on a stick

Cool? Gross? You decide. Instructables has a piece today on pieces of unidentified fried stuff and how to create their carcinogenic goodness.

The Pomodoro Technique

I post more than occasionally about stimulus overload and I really enjoyed this video presented by Greg Head at Phoenix Ignite about the Pomodoro Technique for getting through tasks that require concentration. Essentially, it calls for the use of attention bursts. You dedicate a set amount of time to a single task, 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes spent on a reward, like a walk, or chocolate. I prefer the latter :-)

Truly disconnecting

You who know me know that I am far from having the fortitude to pull off SocMe entirely but I try to take block out to just pick up a book and read or set down the blasted iPhone when visiting with friends (not a master, still a grasshopper). What William Powers says here is too true. While I don't want "bad internet days", I also don't want to disconnect from the deeper conversations that let us really see each other and know each other. In Twitter's defense, being a telecommuter a lot of the water cooler aspect of work out of my day and I've been very fortunate to have Twitter at night to meet people in NM and have developed some wonderful friendships here because of it. But those in person interactions, when they come along are so much better than conversations that are limited to 140 character responses.

Powers' book, Hamlet's Blackberry, is on the stack and I hope it will help me break free of some acquired bad habits I've developed living mostly online.

On one level, it makes perfect sense that we never go anywhere without our gadgets. They perform all kinds of useful tasks for us and enrich our lives in countless ways.

But they also keep us connected to everything we’re trying to escape. Having a screen along for the ride changes the nature of the ride. A quiet afternoon of fishing isn’t the same when your inbox is buzzing every five minutes. Getting lost in a wonderful book is impossible if you’re simultaneously fielding tweets and Facebook updates.

By staying connected all the time, we ensure that we never truly go “away.” And the resulting losses are massive. Our souls crave the release summer once offered. We need to cut loose now and then, sit quietly, take naps, dance in the moonlight. Those moments are exceedingly rare now, yet this is barely discussed, like a dirty secret nobody wants to mention.

William Powers is the author of the new book “Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age.”

Read the rest of Powers' piece at www.pbs.org