Monkeys ecstatic as hot spring opens

source:http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201012020340.html

About 100 Japanese monkeys eagerly clambered into a hot spring, stretching their limbs and getting loose on Wednesday, the first day their pool was filled at Hakodate Tropical Botanical Garden in Hokkaido.

The primates chattered appreciatively--especially the creaky oldsters--as they slipped into the soothing water. The day was a cold one, with temperatures sliding below zero.

The primates will be able to loll about in the bath until the season ends in early May.

According to garden officials, Japanese monkeys, much like Japanese themselves, tend to be fussy about water temperature.

The monkeys demand the water be heated to 41 degrees and won't get in the pool if it isn't, the officials said.

Japanese monkeys relax in a hot spring bath at Hakodate Tropical Botanical Garden in Hokkaido on Wednesday. (Yasuhiro Sugimoto)

Friday the 13th Superstitions Rooted in Bible and More

source:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100813-friday-the-13th-superstitions-triskaidekaphobia/

This year Friday the 13th superstitions get a break—luckily for triskaidekaphobes.

Legendary traitor Judas (fourth from left) is said to have been the 13th guest at Jesus' Last Supper.

Painting by Leonardo da Vinci via Getty Images

John Roach

for National Geographic News

Updated August 13, 2010

They date back to at least ancient Roman times, but Friday the 13th superstitions won't be getting much of a workout this year. Luckily for triskaidekaphobiasufferers, today is 2010's only Friday the 13th.

That must come as a relief, after 2009's nine Friday the 13ths—the maximum possible in a year, at least as long as we continue to mark time with the Gregorian calendar, which Pope Gregory XIII ordered the Catholic Church to adopt in 1582.

"You can't have any [years] with none, and you can't have any with four, because of our funny calendar," said Underwood Dudley, a professor emeritus of mathematics at DePauw University in Indiana, and author of Numerology: Or, What Pythagoras Wrought.

The calendar works just as its predecessor, the Julian calendar, did, with a leap year every four years. But the Gregorian calendar skips leap year on century years except those divisible by 400. For example, there was no leap year in 1900, but there was one in 2000. This trick keeps the calendar in tune with the seasons.

The result is an ordering of days and dates that repeats itself every 400 years, Dudley noted. As time marches through the order, some years appear with three Friday the 13ths. Other years have two or, like 2010, one.

Curious Calendar Encourages Friday the 13th Superstitions

"It's just that curious way our calendar is constructed, with 28 days in February and all those 30s and 31s," Dudley said.

(Related: "Leap Year: How the World Makes Up for Lost Time".)

When the 400-year order is laid out, another revelation occurs: The 13th falls on Friday more often than any other day of the week. "It's just a funny coincidence," Dudley said.

Richard Beveridge, a mathematics instructor at Clatsop Community College in Oregon, authored a 2003 paper in the journal Mathematical Connections on the mathematics of Friday the 13th.

He noted the 400-year cycle is further broken down into periods of either 28 or 40 years.

"At the end of every cycle you get a year with three Friday the 13ths the year before the last year in the cycle … and you also get one on the tenth year of all the cycles," he said.

2009, for example, was the tenth year of the cycle that started in 2000.

Friday the 13th Superstitions Linked to Triskaidekaphobia

Friday the 13th superstitions are rooted in ancient bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday, said Donald Dossey, a folklore historian and author of Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun.

The two unlucky entities ultimately combined to make one super unlucky day.

Dossey traces the fear of the number 13—aka, triskaidekaphobia—to a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, Norse mythology's heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous god Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow.

"Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day," Dossey said.

There is also a biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle said to have betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper. (See "Lost Gospel Revealed; Says Jesus Asked Judas to Betray Him.")

As for Friday, it's well known among Christians as the day Jesus was crucified. Some biblical scholars believe Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on Friday. Perhaps most significant is a belief that Abel was slain by his brother Cain on Friday the 13th.

Meanwhile, in ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

In modern times, many triskaidekaphobes point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

Thomas Fernsler, an associate policy scientist in the Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center at the University of Delaware in Newark, said the number 13 suffers because of its position after 12.

According to Fernsler, numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus.

In exceeding 12 by 1, Fernsler said 13's association with bad luck "has to do with just being a little beyond completeness. The number becomes restless or squirmy"—not unlike some folks with triskaidekaphobia today.

Paralyzed by Friday the 13th Superstitions

Some people are so paralyzed by Friday the 13th superstitions that they refuse to fly, buy a house, or act on a hot stock tip, for example.

"It's been estimated that [U.S] $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do," said Dossey, the historian, who is also the founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina.

Among other services, Dossey's organization counsels clients on how to Friday the 13th superstitions, which fuel a phobia that he estimates afflicts 17 to 21 million people in the United States.

Symptoms range from mild anxiety to full-blown panic attacks. The latter may cause people to reshuffle schedules or miss an entire day's work.

When it comes to bad luck of any kind, Richard Wiseman—a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England—found that people who consider themselves unfortunate are more likely to believe in superstitions associated with bad luck.

"Their beliefs and behavior are likely to be part of a much bigger worldview," he said. "They will believe that luck is a magical force and that it can ruin their lives."

Triskaidekaphobia'as Architectural Effects

Triskaidekaphobia can even be seen in how societies are built. More than 80 percent of high-rise buildings lack a 13th floor. Many airports skip the 13th gate. Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 1/2. In France socialites known as the quatorziens ("fourteeners") once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.

DePauw University's Dudley said nobody really knows why Friday the 13th has spawned so many superstitions.

"You've got to have something that is unlucky, and somehow they hit on 13," he said. "But all these explanations are just moonshine."

Zimbabwe fools media with plane accident report

source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPkRvdiRHwfVff9-DFAcjUVD7mcgD9HDEESO0

By CHENGETAI ZVAUYA and SLOBODAN LEKIC (AP) – 34 minutes ago

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Around the world, the news went out: Plane accident in Zimbabwe, black smoke on runway, ambulances screaming in.

Except the disaster never happened.

Harare airport authorities tricked the public and the world's media into believing a security drill Thursday was a crash to make the drill and the emergency response seem more real.

It's a practice that's been used elsewhere, but is seen as especially risky in a world where panic is only a few tweets or clicks away.

"Emergency drills are all well and good as part of regular safety procedures and operational awareness in the event of the real thing, but there is a danger of a 'cry wolf' syndrome if emergency drills are repeatedly confused with 'real-life' events," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

Financial markets appeared unperturbed by Thursday's incident in economically and politically isolated Zimbabwe. But the lie disrupted hospital staff in the country's capital, confused airport passengers, and provoked worries about its impact on the struggling air industry.

It started around midday, when Zimbabwean aviation officials told news organizations that a Boeing 767 arriving from London was involved in an accident at Harare's airport.

Soldiers, paramilitary police and security agents sealed off approaches to the airport and guarded the perimeter. Military helicopters hovered aloft as smoke rose from one runway. Ambulances rushed in.

At Harare's Parirenyatwa hospital, extra doctors and nurses were rushed in and told to expect casualties from the airport. The atmosphere at the hospital was tense with staff evidently believing it was a genuine emergency.

All-news TV networks and websites in several countries flashed the reports of an accident, and the alerts were passed along dozens of times via Twitter.

Several hours later, David Chawota, head of the Zimbabwe Civil Aviation Authority, told journalists that the drill's scenario — involving a nonexistent Boeing 767 airliner arriving from London — was designed to simulate a hijacking in which nine people had been killed and 30 were injured.

"Telling the media was part of the exercise. We wanted to see how the media would react," he said. "In the event, the drill was a success because all our systems worked perfectly. Police, security and hospital staff reacted swiftly" — along with the media.

Emergency hospital facilities in Zimbabwe have suffered acute shortages of equipment and drugs in the nation's economic meltdown. Emergency services are ill-equipped to handle bus crashes and highway accidents.

It was not the first time civil aviation authorities have intentionally issued fake statements to the public, only to retract them after the exercise ended.

In 2002, a false report of an airplane crash at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport sent journalists rushing to the scene only to discover it was a practice drill. And in 2006, Kenyan officials again told journalists that a passenger plane had crashed near a Nairobi airport with 80 people on board — but when reporters arrived, they found that nothing had happened. Nairobi saw similar cases in 2001 and 1999.

Media watchdogs warned against such manipulation.

Gilles Lordet, editor-in-chief at Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, called the incident "totally absurd" and said the media should have been warned in advance.

"You must think about the human consequences, but also those for the media," he said. "This further discredits journalists, and encourages those who say journalists only flap their gums."

He said that there is more of a risk in today's interconnected world that rumors and misinformation could spread farther and faster than in the past.

News that it was all just a drill traveled swiftly too, however, and produced far more action on Twitter and elsewhere online than the original false report.

Aviation analysts also say the practice, which has also been used in Europe, has troubling implications for an industry still struggling to recover after a deep downturn caused by the global economic crisis and the volcanic ash cloud that blocked European air traffic earlier this year.

"Safety-related stories like this do get into the press very, very quickly, and people will be concerned that there has been a plane crash that hadn't really occurred," said Richard Maslen of Airliner World, a British aviation industry publication.

"This shouldn't happen if the drill is managed and organized properly and information is provided so that the public understands what's happening."

The spokesman for the umbrella group for world airline pilots said he was puzzled by the need to mislead the public.

"It's kind of surprising, why anyone would do that. It's difficult to see what kind of benefit would that bring to a drill," said Gideon Ewers, from the 105,000-member International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations.

Experts agree that while emergency procedures need to be practiced regularly to make sure that all elements of the system work together, it's important not to make them too real. A number of such exercises have gone badly wrong recently, including some that have placed the traveling public at risk.

In January, airport police in Slovakia slipped 3.4 ounces (96 grams) of plastic explosive into the check-in luggage of an Irishman returning home after Christmas holidays.

The move was supposed to be part of a training test for a bomb-sniffing dog, but an the ensuing mix-up, the bags were loaded onto the plane and allowed to fly across Europe to the passenger's destination.

Several years ago, French police discontinued the technique of using unsuspecting travelers' luggage in exercises after a bag containing explosives disappeared on a conveyor belt ferrying luggage to dozens of international flights. The explosives were never recovered.

"It's not just Zimbabwe's goof," said William Voss of the Flight Safety Foundation based in Alexandria, Virginia. He cited examples in the United States where security exercises had caused alarm among people convinced that a real attack was taking place.

"The planning of emergency preparedness drills is something that needs to be thought out carefully, because they can easily go wrong," he said.

"There's a very fine line between simulating emergencies and actually creating them," Voss said.

AP Aviation Writer Slobodan Lekic reported from Brussels. Associated press writers Angela Charlton in Paris and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

April 1 Vowel Outage at Gmail

source:http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/todays-vowel-outage.html

Today’s vowel outage

Thursday, April 01, 2010 6:49 AM

Posted by Sam Schillace, Gmail Engineering Director

If you logged into Gmail over the last hour (or visited the Gmail homepage), you probably noticed that something looked a bit off: all the vowels are missing. We realize this makes things difficult for all of you who rely on Gmail — whether at home or at work — and we’re incredibly sorry. We take morphological issues like this extremely seriously, so we want to let you all know what happened and what we're doing about it.

At 6:01 am Pacific Time, during routine maintenance at one of our datacenters, the frontend web servers in that particular datacenter started failing to render the letter 'a' for a subset of users. As error rates escalated, the strain spread to other datacenters. We worked quickly to avoid a cascading failure of the entire alphabet by implementing a stopgap solution that limited the damage to the letters 'a,' 'e,' 'i,' 'o,' and 'u.' As a result, we're experiencing Gmail’s first temporary vowel outage. (We’re still investigating whether the letter 'y' is impacted and will post an update here shortly.)

Over the last hour we've received numerous reports of this issue via our help forums, from colleagues at Google, and via email you’ve sent us. Some of you have already found creative workarounds for communicating without vowels, like Aaron, who sent us this:


Having 80.8% of the alphabet available is significantly below the 99.9% full letter uptime reliability we strive for. Since identifying the root case of this issue, we’ve started bringing vowels back to Gmail, so you should see them back in your account within the next few hours if you don’t already. In the meantime, while you may still see this issue in Gmail's web interface, both IMAP and POP access are functioning normally. We'll post an update as soon as things are fully resolved and, again, we're v3ry s0rry.

Update (7:30 am): We’ve determined that the letter 'y' is not impacted.

Update (3:02 pm): This issue has been resolved.

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Posted by Kevin Purdy at 4:00 AM

April April 2010 - Nerdcore

Hier sammle ich heute (wie jedes Jahr: 2007, 2008, 2009) die Aprilscherze aus Blogs und Onlinemedien, Tipps wie immer in die Comments, ich trage das dann hier nach. (Youtube Direktimprov). 0. Improv Everywhere: No Underwear Subway Ride ...

Posted by René at 11:00 PM

April Fools - Vox