Hoekstra and Hung (2002) were the first to introduce the concept of the “water footprint” of a nation, which is the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed by the nation’s population.

Therefore, in order to calculate Dutch coffee and tea related water consumption accurately, one must not only include the amount of water used in coffee machines or kettles but also the “virtual water content”, which is the volume of water needed to produce said coffee or tea. (…)

So just how much water goes into the production of a single cup of coffee in the Netherlands? 

Well, the Dutch water footprint was much bigger for coffee than it was for tea because the Dutch consume a lot more coffee than tea and tea has a lower virtual water content than coffee (10.4 cubic metres per kg of tea vs. 20.4 cubic metres per kg of coffee).

If you take into account the 7 grams of roasted coffee that goes on average into making a single cup and that a standard cup of coffee is about 125 ml, you find out that a total of 140 Liters of water goes into making a single cup of coffee in a Dutch household.

Now, the Dutch drink an average 3 cups of coffee a day, which totals to 2.6 billion cubic meters of water being used every year to satisfy the population’s need for caffeine.

{ Salamander Hours | Continue reading }

photo { Loretta Lux }

Just when it seemed that things couldn’t get worse, it appears that they have. Even some of the ostensibly “responsible” members of the eurozone are facing higher interest rates. Economists on both sides of the Atlantic are now discussing not just whether the euro will survive, but how to ensure that its demise causes the least turmoil possible. (…)

Public-sector cutbacks today do not solve the problem of yesterday’s profligacy; they simply push economies into deeper recessions. Europe’s leaders know this. They know that growth is needed. But, rather than deal with today’s problems and find a formula for growth, they prefer to deliver homilies about what some previous government should have done. This may be satisfying for the sermonizer, but it won’t solve Europe’s problems – and it won’t save the euro. 

{ Joseph E. Stiglitz/Project Syndicate | Continue reading }

The strong countries of Europe are being asked to foot the bill for the profligate countries and that is not a sustainable policy. The weak countries are de facto bankrupt, should face that fact, and default, if necessary, on their debt. This will force them into balancing their budgets, becoming more disciplined, and to live within their means. Investors will return if these actions are credible, as investors are remarkably forgiving, buoyed by hope that stability and growth will return. Default is not the end of the world but a means to restore government balance sheets that are in effective negative equity. And the US is by no means immune to the consequences of having engaged in unsustainable excesses both public and private.

{ Vernon Smith/Truman Factor | Continue reading }

If someone asked you to describe the psychological aspects of personhood, what would you say? Chances are, you’d describe things like thought, memory, problem-solving, reasoning, maybe emotion. In other words, you probably list the major headings of a cognitive psychology text-book. In cognitive psychology, we seem to take it for granted that these are, objectively, the primary components of “the mind.” (…)

In fact, this conception of the mind is heavily influenced by a particular (Western) cultural background. Other cultures assign different characteristics and abilities to the psychological aspects of personhood. (…)

Cross-linguistic research shows that, generally speaking, every culture has a folk model of a person consisting of visible and invisible (psychological) aspects. While there is agreement that the visible part of the person refers to the body, there is considerable variation in how different cultures think about the invisible (psychological) part. In the West, and, specifically, in the English-speaking West, the psychological aspect of personhood is closely related to the concept of “the mind” and the modern view of cognition. (…)

In Korean, the concept “maum” replaces the concept “mind.” “Maum” has no English counterpart, but is sometimes translated as “heart”. Apparently, “maum” is the “seat of emotions, motivation, and “goodness” in a human being.” (…)

The Japanese have yet another concept for the invisible part of the person — “kokoro.” “Kokoro” is a “seat of emotion, and also, a source of culturally valued attention to, and empathy with, other people.”

{ Notes from Two Scientific Psychologists | Continue reading }

painting { Eugène Delacroix, Orphan Girl at the Cemetery, 1824 }

Walker and his team tried to measure how sleeping can help us to process bad experiences. (…)

The results show that during the REM sleep the part of the brain that processes the emotions (the amygdala) decreased its activity, so that the prefrontal cortex, linked to rational actions, probably weakened the impact of a bad experience. Also, they noticed a drop in the levels of brain chemicals that are linked to stress.

“Somewhere between the initial event and the later point of recollecting, the brain has performed an elegant trick of divorcing emotions from memory, so it’s no longer itself emotional,” Walker said.

{ United Academics | Continue reading }

1. The medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas reasoned that the universe must have a First Cause, to which he assigned the name God.

2. Modern physicists in their way are likewise in search of a First Cause. (…)

A useful proxy for the First Cause is energy. (…) Yet no one thinks energy bears any resemblance to God in the traditional religious sense. It has neither knowledge nor will. It’s not a person. It doesn’t summon us to paradise or command us to embrace the good and shun evil. It provides our lives with no meaning. It’s just there.

{ The Straight Dope | Continue reading }

photo { Christiane Wöhler Friedebach }

Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato.

The film tells the story of a missing documentary film crew who had gone to the Amazon to film indigenous tribes. A rescue mission, led by the New York University anthropologist Harold Monroe, recovers their lost cans of film, which an American television station wishes to broadcast. Upon viewing the reels, Monroe is appalled by the team’s actions, and after learning their fate, he objects to the station’s intent to air the documentary. Much of Cannibal Holocaust is the portrayal of the recovered film’s content, which functions similarly to a flashback and grows increasingly disturbing as the film progresses.

Cannibal Holocaust achieved notoriety because its graphic violence aroused a great deal of controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was seized by a local magistrate, and Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges. He was charged with making a snuff film due to rumors that claimed some actors were killed on camera. Although Deodato was later cleared, the film was banned in Italy, the UK, Australia, and several other countries due to its graphic depiction of violence, sexual assault, and the actual slaughter of seven animals.

After seeing the film, director Sergio Leone wrote a letter to Deodato, which stated, [translated] “Dear Ruggero, what a movie! The second part is a masterpiece of cinematographic realism, but everything seems so real that I think you will get in trouble with all the world.” […]

The courts believed that the actors who portrayed the missing film crew and the native actress featured in the impalement scene were killed for the camera. Compounding matters was the fact that the supposedly deceased actors had signed contracts with the production which ensured that they would not appear in any type of media, motion pictures, or commercials for one year following the film’s release. This was done in order to promote the idea that Cannibal Holocaust was truly the recovered footage of missing documentarians.

{ Wikipedia | Continue reading }

Francesca Ciardi was one of four actors whom the Italian police believed had been murdered in the making of the 1980 horror film Cannibal Holocaust. So realistic was the film that shortly after it was released its director Ruggero Deodato was arrested for murder. The actors had signed contracts to stay out of the media for a year in order to fuel rumours that the film was a snuff movie. The court was only convinced that they were alive when the contracts were cancelled and the actors appeared on a television show as proof.

{ Wikipedia | Continue reading }

New research shows that Internet users often do not make the conscious decision to read news online, but they come across news when they are searching for other information or doing non-news related activities online, such as shopping or visiting social networking sites. (…)

“Many people don’t realize how their news reading behavior is shifting to more serendipitous discovery.”

{ University of Missouri | Continue reading }

In daily life, we recognize faces both holistically and also “analytically”—that is, picking out individual parts, such as eyes or nose. But while the brain uses analytical processing for all kinds of objects—cars, houses, animals—“holistic processing is thought to be especially critical to face recognition,” says Liu. (…)

“Individuals who process faces more holistically are better at face recognition.” (…) “Our findings partly explains why some never forget faces, while others misrecognize their friends and relatives frequently.”

There was no link between facial recognition and general intelligence, which is made up of various cognitive processes—a suggestion that face processing is unique. (…)

The research holds promise for therapies for that second category of people, who may suffer disorders such as prosopagnosia (face blindness) and autism.

{ APS | Continue reading }

Empathy divides into at least two components: “cognitive” and “affective.”

Cognitive empathy is the drive to identify someone else’s thoughts and feelings, being able to put yourself into their shoes to imagine what is in their mind. Affective empathy, in contrast, is the drive to respond to someone else’s thoughts and feelings with an appropriate emotion. People with autism typically have difficulties with the cognitive component (they have trouble inferring what other people might think or feel), but have intact affective empathy (it upsets them to hear of others suffering). So Breivik is unlikely to have autism.

In contrast, those with antisocial personality disorder (including psychopaths) typically have the opposite profile: they have no trouble reading other people’s thoughts and feelings (intact cognitive empathy) but other people’s suffering is of no concern to them.

{ The Guardian | Continue reading }

related { Weaker brain links found in psychopaths. Decreased communication between emotional and executive centers may contribute to the mental disorder. }

Man sues former hostages, says they broke promise.

Fire kills 15 eunuchs at eunuchs convention.

Who owns the aurora borealis? Norwegians claim Finns are trying to “steal” the celestial phenomenon from them.

World’s longest Christmas cake created in China.

Paris cleans lipstick off Oscar Wilde grave.

Teenage sex ‘leads to bad moods’ in later life.’ More: The researchers had a group of 40-day-old male hamsters (the equivalent of human teens) mate with adult females in heat.

Study debunks stereotype that men think about sex all day long.

Evidence has emerged that the brain’s capacity to absorb information is limiting the amount of data humanity can produce.

Creative people are more likely to cheat than less creative people, possibly because this talent increases their ability to rationalize their actions.

Would you kill one person to save five?

Are you too old to learn a second language?

Why can’t a blindfolded person tell white wine from red? A top neuroscientist explains how the brain creates flavor.

Another genetic puzzle: why is mitochondrial DNA only inherited through the mother’s side?

Boys with autism have a bigger brain.

When I was in fifth grade, my brother Alex started correcting my homework. This would not have been weird, except that he was in kindergarten—and autistic. Many researchers are starting to rethink how much we really know about autistic people and their abilities. These researchers are coming to the conclusion that we might be underestimating what they are capable of contributing to society.

A surprising drug has brought a kind of consciousness to patients once considered vegetative — and changed the debate over pulling the plug. [NY Times]

Turtle embryos can communicate across eggs. River Murray Turtle embryos can adjust their developmental rate so that all the eggs in a clutch can hatch around the same time, a new study has found.

Because of where the baby dolphin sits (near the mama’s tail) during development, the mothers couldn’t flip their tails up and down as far as they could after giving birth.

A new strain of H3N2 swine flu that circulates in pigs has been jumping occasionally into people.

A national biosecurity board that monitors “dual use” research is apparently worried about an as-yet-published study in which a mutant form of H5N1 avian influenza virus was found to be easily transmissible in ferrets, which are considered good models for flu in humans.

Quantum computers, some researchers argue, will help us think differently about what we can and can’t know, and forge a new understanding of how the world of logic and information connects to the material one.

Technology experts can detect if images are photoshopped or not.

Several universities are registering .xxx addresses to protect their reputation.

They blamed the problem on Yelp, its supplier of local business data, which could well be correct, but Apple never said “and we’ll fix it right away.”

Facebook Targets Huge IPO.

I’m One Of The 20% Of U.S. Women On Antidepressants: And My Life Is Better For It.

This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings. Related: Philosophy of a prize-winning procrastinator.

I want to focus on something absolutely central to the interpretation of the world in which we live in terms of mathematics: the notion of a point – in particular, a point in space.

Philosophy in Review, an open access, specialist book review journal in philosophy, published six times a year.

Thirty-six scheduled executions would translate into 72 kidneys and corneas divided among the regional hospitals. Every van contained surgeons who could work fast: 15-30 minutes to extract. Drive back to the hospital. Transplant within six hours. Chinese medical authorities admit that the lion’s share of transplant organs originate with executions.

Eichmann went to Jerusalem, and Mengele remained in South America. It was during the Mengele investigation that the procedures and techniques of forensic identification of human remains were methodologically developed.

Mr. Hagendorf began his project with the aim of trying every pizza in New York City’s five boroughs. But with more than 1,600 pizzerias in town, he narrowed his focus to Manhattan and set simple rules: only order plain cheese pizza; only eat at places selling individual slices…

Taking revenge, Cartrain took the box of pencils that were part of Hirst’s sculpture, Pharmacy, which was being shown as part of its Classified exhibition.

The first automatic elevator was installed by Otis Elevator Co. in 1924; the things became common in the 1950s. When Will We Have Unmanned Commercial Airliners?

China’s demand for oil will equal US demand by 2040.

Recessions and unemployment rates, 1929-2011.

Declawing Cats, Tipping, Going Vegan… 6 Innocent-Sounding Topics That Are Guaranteed Flame Wars.

How much chalk dust enters the air when a teacher uses a blackboard?

Why Do We Love to Eat Hot Peppers?

The best public restroom in America?

10 Longest Lasting Hollywood Marriages.

Your World of Text is an infinite grid of text editable by any visitor.

Free Bernie Madoff.

Hammer.

Meet the “Melonator.”

It is not new to talk about the need to acquire “irreplaceable” skills. But what is not properly appreciated is the scope of the challenge this poses to people in all kinds of jobs, and the exact defining characteristic of what will make a skill “irreplaceable.”

The basic rule of economics after the Industrial Revolution is: if a task can be automated, it will be. Or to put it differently, if a worker can be replaced by a machine, he will be. Call it the principle of expendability. The only thing that has changed since the first power loom is the number and nature of the tasks that can be automated. The first thing the Industrial Revolution did was to automate physical tasks. But now we are beginning to automate mental tasks, and what we are just beginning to see is the scope of the mental work that can be automatized. It is much wider than you probably think.

An awful lot of work that is usually considered to require human intelligence really doesn’t. Instead, these tasks require complex memorization and pattern recognition, perceptual-level skills that can be reduced to mechanical, digitized processes and done by a machine. These include many tasks that currently fill the days of highly educated, well paid professionals.

Take doctors. A recent article by Farhad Manjoo, the technology columnist for Slate, describes how computers have begun to automate the screening of cervical cancer tests. A task that used to be done by two physicians, who could only process 90 images per day, can now be done with better results by one doctor and a machine, processing 170 images per day. (…)

One more example. I recently came across a story about a composer and music theorist who created a computer program that writes cantatas in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach. (A cantata is a short piece with a well-defined structure, which makes the task a little easier.) The climax of the story is a concert in which an orchestra played a mixture of the computer’s compositions and actual Bach cantatas. An audience of music experts could not reliably determine which was which.

{ Robert Tracinski/Real Clear Markets | Continue reading }

illustration { Julian Murphy }

Researchers are great at finding correlations between lifestyle and health. Here are four study results you’ve probably seen.

1. People who have a drink or two each day live longer.

2. People who own pets live longer.

3. People who exercise 20 minutes a day live longer.

4. Religious people live longer.

What do all four of those lifestyle choices have in common in terms of a possible root cause explanation? Read the list again and see if you can find it. (…) The pattern I noticed is that each of the lifestyle choices directly lowers stress by improving a person’s attitude.

My hypothesis is that stress is the root cause of most health problems.

{ Scott Adams | Continue reading }

In every pirate movie there’s always at least one crew member who wears an eye patch, usually due to some hideous disfigurement. (…)

Actually, it looks like the only reason pirates wore eye patches was to keep one eye adjusted to darkness while boarding another ship. That’s right: If this theory is correct, they only wore the patch before and during a raid. (…)

It takes the human eye several minutes to adjust to darkness — however, this way, pirates could simply swap the eye patch and immediately be prepared to fight in the lower decks without constantly running into walls, which is something you’d probably want to avoid if you’re carrying a cutlass.

{ Cracked | Continue reading }

A team of Argentine scientists, led by Conrado Avendano of the Nascentis Center for Reproductive Medicine in Cordoba, found that placing drops of semen from healthy men under a laptop connected wirelessly to the Internet maims or even kills the sperm cells.

After four hours underneath the WiFi-connected computer, 25% of the sperm had stopped moving and nine percent showed DNA damage. By comparison, semen kept at the same temperature but away from the computer showed just a 14% drop in mobility and only 3% suffered DNA damage.

{ United Academics | Continue reading }

artwork { Katsushika Hokusai }

related { How the world’s engineers built Wi-Fi }

Over 50% of women report having faked an orgasm at least once in their life, usually to satisfy their partner. Why should a pretend orgasm be pleasing for the man? The current belief about the female orgasm is that it evolved as a way for women to separate the men from the boys. Men with good genes – who were more attractive in other words – give more orgasms. Muscle contractions that take place during the orgasm help move sperm around to where it can more easily fertilise the waiting egg. This idea has become delightfully known as  the ‘upsuck hypothesis.’ (…)

Women who thought their partner were likely to cheat on them were much more likely to admit to faking orgasms.

{ Charles Harvey | Continue reading }

“Our culture in particular is permeated with sarcasm,” says Katherine Rankin, a neuropsychologist at the University of California at San Francisco. “People who don’t understand sarcasm are immediately noticed. They’re not getting it. They’re not socially adept.”

Sarcasm so saturates 21st-century America that according to one study of a database of telephone conversations, 23 percent of the time that the phrase “yeah, right” was used, it was uttered sarcastically. Entire phrases have almost lost their literal meanings because they are so frequently said with a sneer. “Big deal,” for example. When’s the last time someone said that to you and meant it sincerely? (…)

“It’s practically the primary language” in modern society, says John Haiman, a linguist at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

{ Smithsonian | Continue reading }

{ The Geography of Stuck | The Atlantic }

{ Camp Bonifas is home to the United Nations Command Security Battalion - Joint Security Area, whose primary mission is to monitor and enforce the Armistice Agreement of 1953 between North and South Korea. There is a par 3 one-hole “golf course” at the camp which includes an Astroturf green and is surrounded on three sides by minefields. | Wikipedia }

1. Figure out what you’re so passionate about that you’d be happy doing it for 10 years, even if you never made any money from it. That’s what you should be doing.

(…)


10. Successful people do all the things unsuccessful people don’t want to do.

{ ABC | via WSJ }

photo { Loretta Lux }