the eye of Nova's mind

Animator Hayao Miyazaki to retire from making feature films -- I list this first because finding out this news really saddened me. His last film hit Ann Arbor this summer but I didn't get a chance to see it. I'll have to make an effort to see it now. For those who have not seen any of his work, please do see Spirited Away & Howl's Moving Castle. They'll probably give you a better appreciation of anime.

Researchers Discover Potential Clue behind Age-Related Memory Decline

Women Sell Positive Pregnancy Tests on Craigslist -- Okay. I see why this made the news, as it's so odd. However, I don't see anything illegal about it, so I don't understand why Craigslist is forbidding such sales. Distasteful? Yes. Not illegal.

Tiny North Dakota town fights against white supremacist | White supremacist said he's staying

Bar has to pay $400,000 for telling transgender patrons to stay away

Three Somerville High soccer players charged with raping students at sports camp

Home Depot Sex Arrest: South Carolina man, woman caught having sex in Home Depot display shed, police say -- You know, that's not what people mean when they say, "Get a room."

More Than Two Years After Meltdown, Doubt and Fear Remain Over Fukushima's Safety

After Chernobyl, complexity surrounds local health problems -- These first two links are current.

Here are some of the articles written contemporaneously about Chernobyl. These are from the Chicago Tribune, which did not report on the disaster until four days after the event (according to one article, "The accident occurred last Friday or Saturday, [...] but the U.S. learned of it only Monday through a report by Tass, the Soviet news agency").

When Chernobyl hit, another environmental issue--that of acid rain--was prominent in U.S. newspapers as well. While researching acid rain, I came across the term "rain dust" which is a type of alkaline rain. At the end of that article, it read, "Some radioactivity in rain dust falls to Greece in 2000 was caused by the Chernobyl disaster." (!!)

In other topics:

Head Start hit with worst cuts in its history

Scandinavian Swimmers Warned About Testicle-Attacking Monster Fish -- This is from Gawker, not the Onion.

Beetles eat greedy offspring Edinburgh University research finds -- The squeaky wheel may get the grease, but the squeaky beetle gets swallowed.

New music 'rewarding for the brain' -- an article I missed posting earlier this year (features the nucleus accumbens & the auditory cortical stores)

Dolphins Have Longest Social Memory Spanning 20 Years, Even More Than Elephants

Study: Watching Fox News Makes You Distrust Climate Scientists

Many Americans have no friends of another race: poll

Patients reel over arrest of cancer doctor -- "Dr. Farid Fata has been charged in a $35-million Medicare scheme and accused of ordering unnecessary hematology and oncology treatments and misdiagnosing healthy people with cancer[.]"

Why I changed my mind on weed -- by Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Dr. Micah Berman, Ohio State University – The Cost of Hiring a Smoker -- $5816 annually

Thieves in Venezuela hacking off women's ponytails in street to sell on as £300 hair extensions

Apple To Apples: Scammed Woman Buys Two iPhones For $1,336, Gets Two Apples

Court Finds AIDS Program's Rules Violate Free Speech -- "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for a six-justice majority, said the First Amendment bars attaching that condition [of explicitly opposing prostitution] to federal grants because it requires recipients 'to pledge allegiance to the government's policy of eradicating prostitution.'" (NYT)

U.S. group that 'converted' gays closes its doors and apologizes

Developer: Kansas Caverns Could Preserve Human Race

Fruits And Veggies Are Alive, Can Defend Against Herbivores

Some Say the Spelling of a Winning Word Just Wasn't Kosher (NYT)

Sorry, Cinderella: Not everyone thinks attractive women must have petite feet

6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism (thanks, supergee)

Vinegar screening helps cut cervical cancer deaths in India: study

Healthy lifestyle habits may improve your memory too -- "Researchers say they were surprised to find that about 14% of the youngest group (ages 18-39) complained about their memory. About 22% of middle-age adults (ages 40-59) and 26% of older adults (ages 60-99) did."

Drug shrinks tumors in metastatic thyroid cancer -- "Although metastatic thyroid cancer sometimes progresses slowly, it's always fatal, with patients surviving only about three years after diagnosis."

Conn. Bill Would Keep Some Newtown Records Private -- "[I]t appears to make the Newtown killings more important than the dozens of other killings in Connecticut each year. [Critics] also question the bill being drafted in secrecy and not being subjected to the public hearing process like other bills are."

eBay bidding soars for NY morgue fridge

Man's murder plot recorded on phone call after he butt-dials 911 -- Even worse than the previous story!

Poverty as a Childhood Disease -- "Think for a moment of poverty as a disease, thwarting growth and development, robbing children of the healthy, happy futures they might otherwise expect." (NYT)

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race -- Who thought agriculture was a good idea!?

Masturbation Is at the Root of the Culture Wars (thanks, supergee)

Rubbing alcohol as scotch? N.J. officials release details of 'Operation Swill'

A linguistic dissection of 7 annoying teenage sounds

Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice

Scientists shift on brain speech center: study -- location of Wernicke's area relocated

Inmate adds pig image to Vermont police cruiser decals

Republican urges Islam terror hearings amid 'McCarthyite' witch-hunt claims: Peter King, chair of homeland security committee, wants to show 'extent of radicalisation within Muslim-American community'

Nevada Sen. John Ensign announces he will not run for reelection -- I can't believe it took him this long to come to this decision.

The Fading Power of Beck's Alarms (NYT) -- "[T]he erosion [of ratings] is significant enough that Fox News officials are willing to say--anonymously, of course; they don't want to be identified as criticizing the talent--that they are looking at the end of his contract in December and contemplating life without Mr. Beck."

Facebook Diaper Feud Ends in Young Woman's Fatal Stabbing -- Umm . . . .

Hazelnuts and Skippy peanut butter recalled -- "Batches of [...] Skippy Reduced Fat Peanut Butter and hazelnuts sold by distributor DeFranco & Sons of Los Angeles [...] were recalled late last week because they might cause food poisoning."

Breast milk ice cream goes on sale in Covent Garden -- I love how the proprietor describes the product as "free-range".