The wonder drug for cancer is Vitamin D

Recent research is showing that Vitamin D may help drastically reduce cancer among women (and men?).

A four-year clinical trial involving 1,200 women found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn't take it, a drop so large — twice the impact on cancer attributed to smoking — it almost looks like a typographical error.

And more.

The sun advice [of avoiding the sun or using heavy sunscreen] has been misguided information "of just breathtaking proportions," said John Cannell, head of the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit, California-based organization.

"Fifteen hundred Americans die every year from [skin cancers]. Fifteen hundred Americans die every day from the serious cancers."

Headphones = Microphones

I learned that your iPod headphones may be a low-quality microphone today. I plugged my headphones into my desktop's microphone line-in jack, and talked to Roh over gtalk. I had to have the headphones practically in my mouth, but it worked. There a few sites discussing this:

Earphones and microphones are constructed on a very similiar concept, just that earphones are optimised for hearing, and microphones are optimised for recording.

Some guy even made a completely unnecessary video.
Yes, Roh, you were right. I concede. And make my previous-disbelief-turned-appreciation public for the world.

No one reads your crappy blog

Shirts for sale. My favorite quote from the site:

Wow, you've only been running your blog for six months and you already have 63 visitors?

That's amazing!

It's funny because it's true!

The World of Walmart

A great map showing where Wal-Mart's products come from.
http://www.benjaminedwards.net/Writings/walmart%20map.htm

Swarm defense

Try out this really addictive Flash game, called Desktop Tower Defense. Even better than flOw.

A concert violinist.. for only $32/hour..

From the Washington Post. Joshua Bell, the world-famous concert violinist and former child prodigy, donned jeans, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap, and played in a Washington DC Metro station for almost an hour. Total take? $32.

In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.

Another interesting tidbit from the article, about Bell's violin.

Bell bought it a few years ago. He had to sell his own Strad and borrow much of the rest. The price tag was reported to be about $3.5 million.

I bought Joshua Bell's Gershwin Fantasy many years ago, and am a fan.

Guys, are you on this website?

DontDateHimGirl is a community site where users (women) can post guys that should be avoided. Includes pictures and comments. Sample comment:

Otis is a liar and a cheater.He is from over north nobels square. He will do anything to get what he wants. He will say that he cares about you and that you are very special and will treat you well, But there is an alternative motive to this logic. He will take you for all that you have. He will nickel and dime you until you wont have anything. He looks good and drives a nice car with rims on it but he is nasty.

Classic.

Graffitti Bike

A bit old, but pretty cool if you haven't seen it. Josh Kinberg's bike will shoot out messages on the sidewalk as he's riding it. I wonder if it's smart enough to vary based on his riding speed?
Turns out he's in trouble with the law.

Best quote I read all day

For months, hackers--most likely in China and Russia, according to security watchers--have been surreptitiously installing keylogging software on WoW players' Windows computers, hijacking their accounts and selling off their often valuable in-game assets.

From CNet. WoW = World of Warcraft.

Dentist guilty of urinating in surgery sink

Story here.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British dentist was found guilty Thursday of urinating in his surgery sink and using dental tools meant for patients to clean his fingernails and ears.

A medical tribunal said it was satisfied the evidence showed 51-year-old Alan Hutchinson, who routinely did not wear gloves or wash his hands, had risked the health of "himself, staff and patients" for more than 28 years.

A dental nurse who worked for Hutchinson for 16 years said she had caught him urinating in the sink more than once.

"He was tucking something into his trousers before zipping them up hastily. I walked over and I was behind him. He moved to the left and I could smell urine," the nurse told the tribunal.

The tribunal determined that the dentist's poor hygiene habits made him unfit to practice and struck him off the dental register, banning him from work.

"You urinated into a sink in your surgery following which you did not wash your hands and then proceeded to treat a patient. This behavior was clearly inappropriate and is completely unacceptable," the tribunal chairman said.

Zoom Schwartz

I just recalled a good party game called Zoom Schwartz that we played in Whistler (thank you Mr. Crum). Great for when you don't have a deck of cards but do have a bottle of sorts.

The Death of PowerPoint (or at least, text slides)

From University of New South Wales, research that shows you should stop creating text slides in PowerPoint. Bold=my emphasis added.

If you have ever wondered why your eyes start glazing over as you read those dot points on the screen, as the same words are being spoken, take heart in knowing there is a scientific explanation.

It is more difficult to process information if it is coming at you in the written and spoken form at the same time.

The Australian researchers who made the findings may have pronounced the death of the PowerPoint presentation.

They have also challenged popular teaching methods, suggesting that teachers should focus more on giving students the answers, instead of asking them to solve problems on their own.

Pioneered at the University of NSW, the research shows the human brain processes and retains more information if it is digested in either its verbal or written form, but not both at the same time.

It also questions the wisdom of centuries-old habits, such as reading along with Bible passages, at the same time they are being read aloud in church. More of the passages would be understood and retained, the researchers suggest, if heard or read separately.

The findings show there are limits on the brain's capacity to process and retain information in short-term memory.

John Sweller, from the university's faculty of education, developed the "cognitive load theory".

"The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster," Professor Sweller said. "It should be ditched."

"It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

The findings that challenge common teaching methods suggest that instead of asking students to solve problems on their own, teachers helped students more if they presented already solved problems.

"Looking at an already solved problem reduces the working memory load and allows you to learn. It means the next time you come across a problem like that, you have a better chance at solving it," Professor Sweller said.

The working memory was only effective in juggling two or three tasks at the same time, retaining them for a few seconds. When too many mental tasks were taken on some things were forgotten.

I don't agree with the statement, "the use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster. It should be ditched." This implies, 1.) all PowerPoint is text slides, and 2.) one will never use a PowerPoint presentation as a stand-alone document. As it were, if you are building your presentation correctly with the right mix of text charts and graphics, this shouldn't be an issue at all.