In a clever bit of green marketing, the non-profit Electronics TakeBack Coalition ran the above ad warning of "toxic waste" on Panasonic's own proud Times Square display. The coalition promotes manufacturers accepting their own products back for recycling. Unfortunately, clever ads and even manufacturer support are only half the battle.
YouTube.com
11.26.2008
11.24.2008
11.20.2008
Ganzfeld Hallucinations

The cognitive science journal Cortex has just released a special issue on the neuropsychology of paranormal experiences and belief, and contains a fantastic article on hallucinations induced by the Ganzfeld procedure.
The Ganzfeld procedure exposes the participant to 'unstructured' sensations usually by placing half ping-pong balls over the eyes so they can only see diffuse white light and by playing white noise through headphones.
It is probably best known for its uses in parapsychology experiments, but it is also used to induce hallucinations and sensory distortions which are much more likely to occur in the absence of clearly defined sensory experiences.
The article reviews the sorts of hallucinations reported in during these experiments and discusses what electrophysiology (EEG or 'brain wave') studies tell us about what happens in the cortex when these perceptual distortions kick off.
Some of the descriptions of hallucinations are really quite striking:
“For quite a long time, there was nothing except a green-greyish fog. It was really boring, I thought, ‘ah, what a non-sense experiment!’ Then, for an indefinite period of time, I was ‘off’, like completely absent-minded. Then, all of sudden, I saw a hand holding a piece of chalk and writing on a black-board something like a mathematical formula. The vision was very clear, but it stayed only for few seconds and disappeared again. The image did not fill up the entire visual field, it was just like a ‘window’ into that foggy stuff.”
“an urban scenery, like an empty avenue after a rain, large areas covered with water, and the city sky-line reflected in the water surface like in a mirror.”
“a clearing in a forest [Lichtung], a place bathed in bright sun-shine, and the trunks of trees around. A feeling of a tranquile summer afternoon in a forest, so quiet, so peaceful. And then, suddenly, a young woman passed by on a bicycle, very fast, she crossed the visual field from the right to the left, with her blond long hair waving in the air. The image of the entire scene was very clear, with many details, and yes, the colours were very vivid.”
“I can see his face, still, it's very expressive… [I could see] only the horse that comes as if out of clouds. A white horse that jumped over me.”
“A friend of mine and I, we were inside a cave. We made a fire. There was a creek flowing under our feet, and we were on a stone. She had fallen into the creek, and she had to wait to have her things dried. Then she said to me: ‘Hey, move on, we should go now’.”
“It was like running a bob sleigh on an uneven runway right down… [There] was snow or maybe water running down… I could hear music, there was music coming from the left side below.”
“In the right side of the visual field, a manikin suddenly appeared. He was all in black, had a long narrow head, fairly broad shoulders, very long arms and a relatively small trunk…. He approached me, stretching out his hands, very long, very big, like a bowl, and he stayed so for a while, and then he went back to where he came from, slowly.”
You can simulate the Ganzfeld procedure in your own home by taping two half ping-pong balls over your eyes and listening to the radio tuned to static in an evenly lighted room.
The other articles in the special issue are also fascinating, and range from a study finding greater body asymmetry is related to higher levels of unusual beliefs - likely reflecting asymmetrical brain development, to an experiment looking at the cognitive psychology of people who believe they've been abducted by aliens.
Needless to say, there's many more fascinating studies and Cortex has the advantage of not only being a leading neuropsychology journal but also making its material freely available as open-access articles. Enjoy!
[Via Cortex special issue]
11.17.2008
Your Weekly Address from the President-Elect
President-Elect Barack Obama has pledged to deliver weekly "fireside chats" a la FDR via YouTube, and today he posted his first. The content of the video isn't unexpected: he calls for immediate help from Congress to aid unemployment insurance, and calls for all Americans to come together to weather the hard economic road ahead.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChangeDotGov
http://www.youtube.com/user/ChangeDotGov
11.07.2008
12 Barack Obama Quotes on Technology
The historic U.S. Presidential election has come to an end with Barack Obama emerging victorious against John McCain. Obama will become the forty-fourth President of the United States and the first African-American to be elected for the highest office.
Some of my tech savvy readers are probably wondering how will Obama utilize technology to help improve the U.S. and world economy. That is why I'm going to share to you some of Barack Obama's tech related quotes to learn more about his plans. I also included links to the quotes' sources. Enjoy!
* "To restore America's competitiveness, we must recruit a new generation of science and technology leaders by investing in diversity."
SOURCE
* "Together, we could open up government and invite citizens in, while connecting all of America to 21st century broadband. We could use technology to help achieve universal health care, to reach for a clean energy future, and to ensure that young Americans can compete -- and win -- in the global economy..."
SOURCE
* "I will recruit new teachers and make new investments in rural schools, we'll connect all of America to 21st century technology and telecommunications."
SOURCE
* "We are a land of moon shots and miracles of science and technology that have touched the lives of millions across the planet."
SOURCE
* "As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power."
SOURCE
* "Ensuring that the US continues to lead the world in science and technology will be a central priority for my administration."
SOURCE
* "I'll change the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology."
SOURCE
* "We will fire government managers who aren't getting results, we will cut funding for programs that are wasting your money, we will use technology and lessons from the private sector to improve efficiency across every level of government."
SOURCE
* Obama said the nation needs to invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and clean coal technology "so the use of coal does not degrade our environment. We can do that if we are investing in the technology, the research and the development."
SOURCE
* "We must adapt and make tradeoffs among systems originally designed for the Cold War and those required for current and future challenges. We need greater investment in advanced technology ranging from the revolutionary, like unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare capabilities, to systems like the C-17 cargo and KC-X air refueling aircraft--which may not be glamorous to politicians, but are the backbone of our future ability to extend global power."
SOURCE
* Obama said if elected his government would "harness technology to confront the biggest challenges that America faces".
SOURCE
* Pointing to President Kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon, Mr. Obama said: "I will set big goals for this country as president - some so large that the technology to reach them does not yet exist."
SOURCE
Via Gizmodo.com
Some of my tech savvy readers are probably wondering how will Obama utilize technology to help improve the U.S. and world economy. That is why I'm going to share to you some of Barack Obama's tech related quotes to learn more about his plans. I also included links to the quotes' sources. Enjoy!
* "To restore America's competitiveness, we must recruit a new generation of science and technology leaders by investing in diversity."
SOURCE
* "Together, we could open up government and invite citizens in, while connecting all of America to 21st century broadband. We could use technology to help achieve universal health care, to reach for a clean energy future, and to ensure that young Americans can compete -- and win -- in the global economy..."
SOURCE
* "I will recruit new teachers and make new investments in rural schools, we'll connect all of America to 21st century technology and telecommunications."
SOURCE
* "We are a land of moon shots and miracles of science and technology that have touched the lives of millions across the planet."
SOURCE
* "As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power."
SOURCE
* "Ensuring that the US continues to lead the world in science and technology will be a central priority for my administration."
SOURCE
* "I'll change the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology."
SOURCE
* "We will fire government managers who aren't getting results, we will cut funding for programs that are wasting your money, we will use technology and lessons from the private sector to improve efficiency across every level of government."
SOURCE
* Obama said the nation needs to invest in solar, wind, biodiesel and clean coal technology "so the use of coal does not degrade our environment. We can do that if we are investing in the technology, the research and the development."
SOURCE
* "We must adapt and make tradeoffs among systems originally designed for the Cold War and those required for current and future challenges. We need greater investment in advanced technology ranging from the revolutionary, like unmanned aerial vehicles and electronic warfare capabilities, to systems like the C-17 cargo and KC-X air refueling aircraft--which may not be glamorous to politicians, but are the backbone of our future ability to extend global power."
SOURCE
* Obama said if elected his government would "harness technology to confront the biggest challenges that America faces".
SOURCE
* Pointing to President Kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon, Mr. Obama said: "I will set big goals for this country as president - some so large that the technology to reach them does not yet exist."
SOURCE
Via Gizmodo.com