Tag: Story

neurosciencestuff:

A sensational breakthrough: the first bionic hand that can feel

The first bionic hand that allows an amputee to feel what they are touching will be transplanted later this year in a pioneering operation that could introduce a new generation of artificial limbs with sensory perception.

The patient is an unnamed man in his 20s living in Rome who lost the lower part of his arm following an accident, said Silvestro Micera of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

The wiring of his new bionic hand will be connected to the patient’s nervous system with the hope that the man will be able to control the movements of the hand as well as receiving touch signals from the hand’s skin sensors.

Dr Micera said that the hand will be attached directly to the patient’s nervous system via electrodes clipped onto two of the arm’s main nerves, the median and the ulnar nerves.

This should allow the man to control the hand by his thoughts, as well as receiving sensory signals to his brain from the hand’s sensors. It will effectively provide a fast, bidirectional flow of information between the man’s nervous system and the prosthetic hand.

“This is real progress, real hope for amputees. It will be the first prosthetic that will provide real-time sensory feedback for grasping,” Dr Micera said.

“It is clear that the more sensory feeling an amputee has, the more likely you will get full acceptance of that limb,” he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston.

“We could be on the cusp of providing new and more effective clinical solutions to amputees in the next year,” he said.

dolliecrave:

worth a read.

resistereeterno:

Marina Abramović, “Rhythm 0,” 1974

Marina Abramović is best known for her performance pieces, in which she tries to explore what is possible for an artist to do in the name of art. Her best known piece was the recent “The Artist Is Present,” in which she sat motionless for 736.5 hours over the course of three months, inviting visitors to sit opposite her and make eye contact for as long as they wanted. So many people began spontaneously crying across from her that blogs and Facebook groups were set up for those people. 

Her bravest piece, however, is my favorite. This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted. 

Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. “The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.”

This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances. 

This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn’t fight back, and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I’m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise.

samael:

ceilingtheo:

shutupanddiehl:

blingostarr:

buttsexington:

America: Do whatever the fuck you want because America

#or just throw it all into the harbor

image

Does anyone actually follow that ettiquette in England?

Because my understanding of tea ettiquette in England is: OFFER YOUR GUEST TEA AS SOON AS THEY ARRIVE – GIVE THEM THE LARGER MUG, BECAUSE THEN THEY CAN HAVE MORE TEA IN IT, AND MORE TEA IS BETTER – OFFER THEM MORE TEA AS SOON AS THEY HAVE FINISHED THEIR MUG OF TEA, BECAUSE MORE TEA IS BETTER.

IF SOMEONE LOOKS STRESSED, OFFER TO MAKE THEM TEA. IF SOMEONE LOOKS UPSET, OFFER TO MAKE THEM TEA. IF SOMEONE LOOKS TIRED, OFFER TO MAKE THEM TEA. IF SOMEONE HAS JUST COME IN FROM THE RAIN, OFFER TO MAKE THEM TEA. IF SOMEONE HAS JUST RECEIVED BAD NEWS, OFFER TO MAKE THEM TEA. IF YOU ARE WATCHING TV WITH SOMEONE AND THERE IS AN ADBREAK, OFFER TO MAKE THEM TEA. IF YOU ARE MAKING YOURSELF TEA, OFFER TO MAKE EVERYONE ELSE TEA. IF SOMEONE IS NOT CURRENTLY HOLDING A MUG OF TEA, DOUBLE CHECK THAT THAT IS AN INTENTIONAL STATE OF AFFAIRS, AND THEY DO NOT, IN FACT, WANT A CUP OF TEA.

TEA.

Tea, won’t you?

novas-grimoire:

witchyroses:

binaryfrog:

thatonecalvertgirl:

multi-fandom-fangirling:

matchmadeinpurgatory:

scribble-scratch:

ranthedictator:

onshiftingsand:

ranthedictator:

alaskan-dreams:

jackiecello23:

meeya87:

outofthecavern:

yourfacesirihateit:

well-fly-ofcourse:

yourfacesirihateit:

luna-magia:

vennyvanilla:

zodiac-ler:

Lol myspace…

Hello Google..

let me lick your face. 

I might do tumblr if someone will be my 4chan…

I kinda ship Google and Yahoo

“Yahoo.” An all-too familiar voice stopped at her desk. Yahoo looked up nervously.

“Oh. Hi, Google,” she said, fixing her pencil skirt as neatly as she could sitting down.

“I was wondering if I could sit here?” His voice was sultry, barely above a whisper in the almost deserted library.

“Yeah, su-sure,” she stumbled, closing her eyes momentarily to regain her confidence. “What are you working on?”

“Nothing majour,” Google said, relaxing in the seat next to her. “I’ve had to practically do so many people’s assignments for them because they’re too lazy to do it themselves.” He smiled slightly, trying to warm up the timid girl in front of him. He sat up straighter. “What are you working on?”

“I just needed a break. People kept asking me questions, and I got so tired of it, I came in here to get my mind off of everything.”

“Maybe I can help you?” Google slid his hand up her skirt smoothly, rubbing his thumb against her thigh. She gasped quietly, but did nothing to stop him.

“I—I’d be okay with that.”

DEAD

I SHIP IT SO HARD

HAS NO ONE NOTICED 4CHAN IS BASICALLY SLENDER?

OH FOR FUCKS SAKE DON’T MAKE ME START SHIPPING THIS TOO!

Only on tumblr can you ship search engines…

This is just amazing. xD And look at Bing! I could sympathize…being short and all…but he just is trying too hard to compete with Google. Calm down, sport.

“So how was the library, hun?” deviantArt’s voice startled Yahoo, breaking her reverie. 

“Oh, uh, it was… Nice. Very nice. Just nice.” Yahoo stumbled over her words, knowing her friend would never leave her alone if she found out Google had talked to her. THE Google.

DevA’s eyes narrowed, stabbing the point of her pencil in Yahoo’s direction. “What’s your deal?” 

“W-what? Nothing!” Yahoo tried to swat the pencil away but the pixie-esque girl simply intensified her gaze.

“… Did someone troll you again today? Do I need to photoshop them with elephantiasis in some unpleasant areas?”  

“What?! No, not again! It was nothing like that.” 

DevA relaxed a bit, stretching in the office chair across from Yahoo. “Then what is it? Spit it out, girlie.” 

Yahoo was about to insist again that it was nothing, when a whirlwind of energy bounded up behind her and leaned over DevA’s shoulder. 

“Yahoo is just suffering a serious case of the UNFs. Google was totally hitting on her yesterday!” Tumblr smiled mischievously by DevA’s ear. 

“What?! Girl, why didn’t you tell me? Are you serious?” DevA screeched, her eyes widening in disbelief.

“Oh, I’m serious. I’m totally shipping it. The entire situation was oozing sexual tension, I can’t even.” Tumblr squealed.

“T-Tumblr! Don’t say things like that! With my luck, Twitter will hear and it’ll be trending by tonight and what would I say to Google if I saw him again and ohmygod what if you’ve already said something to him please oh goodness tell me you’ve not said anything to him andandand-” Yahoo gasped for breath, her head light with the possibility of her long-time crush hearing such nonsense from the hyperactive coworker. 

“What’s so wrong with Tumblr talking to me?” A sultry voice whispered across Yahoo’s ear, and by the almost-fainting look DevA was sending her and the evil glint in Tumblr’s eyes, Yahoo knew her life was over. Yep. It was just over.

“Well, uhm, it’s not that it’s wrong for Tumblr to talk to you,” Yahoo stammered guiltily as she turned to look into Google’s wise, blue eyes, “it’s just that, I-uh, am-uh working on a new project and uhm the uh, you knows don’t want me to uh speak of it…”

“Project? There’s no project. Yahoo was just telling me allllll about -” Tumblr was rudely interrupted by a slender hand across her mouth.

“Tumblr and I need to go talk about some Sterek art that has been circulating around between the two of us,” DevA declared a little too loudly for Tumblr’s comfort. 

“Mmmmpph, mm, mumph,” Tumblr mumbled, flailing her arms around trying to bat Deviant away from her.

Yahoo’s shoulders tensed slightly as Google sat down across from her. He gently fixed his colorful tie with long, thin fingers. The nervous girl had just begun to relax when suddenly a beanie-d young male came out of nowhere toting a camera.

“Hey, guys, would you mind giving me a few frames so I can show the world all about the newly forming relationship between Google and Yahoo?” YouTube asked pointing the camera directly at Yahoo’s blushing cheeks.

“W-WHAT?! No, we, that’s not, you shouldn’t, YouTube!” Yahoo flailed, her glasses nearly falling off her nose in her flustered state.

The petite form of Facebook trailed up behind YouTube, draping her arms over the teen’s shoulders. “Oh, come off it, Yahoo. It’s not Facebook official anyway. Don’t get your panties in a twist.” 

“Leave her alone, Facebook. Don’t overreact. I was only teasing, anyway.” YouTube said, shrugging the girl’s arms off his shoulders.

Yahoo had to fight the urge to to cover her reddening face and run as the camera was dropped from pointing in her direction.

Google merely chuckled, flicking up the slipping glasses on Yahoo’s nose. “Don’t worry about it. YouTube is just having a bit of fun.” 

“Well, Google, if you wanna have some fun too I heard of a really great party happening tonight-” Facebook was cut off by a smooth decline from Google.

“No thank you, Facebook. I have previous engagements.” 

“You’re such a slag, Facebook,” YouTube sneered.

“You’re such a British wanna be, YouTube!” Facebook screeched, following the young teen away to the social side of the office.

After giving an awkward chuckle, Yahoo cleared her throat and arranged papers on her desk that clearly didn’t need rearranging. “So. Um. Previous engagements? That sounds fun.” Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Smooth, Yahoo. 

Google gave a half grin, his lips quirking up to the side. “Well,” he began, ruffling his shaggy hair, “I was hoping I’d be busy on a date tonight.”

Oh. Oh. “That… Sounds like fun. I hope you have a good time.” Yahoo said, giving a half-hearted grin.

Google’s eyes glinted with something Yahoo didn’t comprehend. “I will, if she says yes.”

“Who?” It was probably Twitter. She was so cute and always had the latest new to talk about and-

“You, beautiful.” Oh. Oh. Brain overload. 

“Yahoo?” 

“Yahoo, is that a no?”

REBOOT REBOOT QUICK. “NO! No, I mean, it’s not a no, definitely not a no.” Yahoo sucked in a nervous breath, letting it out on a slow and breathy laugh. “I mean no, that’s definitely a yes.” 

Google’s eyes brightened, adjusting his tie a bit as if he were… Proud? “Great. That’s really… Great.”

I literally hate every one of you.

YES IT’S BACK

Are we not even gonna talk about bloggerxtumblr??

DON’T GET THEM STARTED.

Oh god… only this website…

Did anyone else notcie the extreme pinkie-pie that was these people’s characterization of tumblr?

MY FAVORITE POST IS BACK AND IT GOT BETTER!!!!

…Goddammit, Tumblr. 

hunterv:

sharkrabies:

p-pabo-its-not-like-i:

mayra-quijotesca:

thats-not-victorian:

Hey, guys!  So, we’re all familiar with Cyberpunk and Steampunk, but there are so many more alternate histories/speculative science fiction genres out there!  I came across this handy-dandy infographic and figured I could share a bit of these punk genres for anyone interested.

  • Steampunk
    Roughly covers the Western world during the mid- to late-19th century (ie:  Victorian era, US wild west, etc.), and sometimes up to the Edwardian era.
  • Dieselpunk
    1920s up through WWII, ending at just about the Cold War.
  • Decopunk
    A cleaner, artistic, more “optimistic” version of Dieselpunk (same time period)
  • Clockpunk
    Covers the time of the Renaissance (think da Vinci)
  • Atompunk
    Cold War era, ie: the Space Race
  • Teslapunk
    Derivative of Steampunk, but focuses on electricity rather than steam.
  • Splatterpunk
    Explicit horror and gore
  • Biopunk
    Biotechnology, genetics (part science fiction, part real life)
  • Nanopunk
    Nanotechnology, sometimes overlaps with Biopunk
  • Cyberpunk
    The granddaddy of them all:  computer technology, the internet, hackers, etc. 

Others not included in the infographic

Okay, uh, TW for graphic descriptions of rape in the Splatterpunk explanation link (specifically as examples of ~look how edgy and without boundaries this subgenre is~), but I think all the other links should be safe.

neat!

I’m not that into Steampunk, but Biopunk sounds interesting and have already thought of a cosplay I could do with it. 🙂

This is great resource for all kinds of “punk” settings.

lovenerdeen:

lovenerdeen:

The Last Meals Of Innocent Men

An emotional new ad campaign from Amnesty International asks its viewers to stomach a hard truth — images of the last meals of wrongly executed American prisoners.

As part of an initiative to abolish capital punishment completely, the influential human rights group has highlighted the unintended consequences of imposing the death penalty by focusing on a handful of prisoners who were eventually presumed innocent after they were executed. Since 1973, 142 death row inmates have been exonerated of the crimes for which they were sentenced to die, the Death Penalty Information Center reports. Some of those people spent decades in prison before their innocence was proven.

Meal 1: Ruben Cantu (Texas) was charged with capital murder at 17 years old for shooting a man during a robbery. The one witness to this crime admitted later on that he was pressured by police to identify Cantu as the criminal. He told the police twice that Cantu was not the shooter. However, Cantu was still executed in 1993.

Meal 2: Leo Jones (Florida) was charged with the murder of  a police officer in Florida. Although he said that said he was coerced into confession after hours of interrogation. The police officer and the detective involved in his case, were forced out of uniform for ethical violations a few years after his’ conviction.

Jones was executed in 1998.

Meal 3: Claude Howard Jones (Texas) was sentenced to death in 1989 for shooting and killing Texas liquor store owner. However, the recent DNA tests on the strand of hair that was used as the only physical evidence against him was proved not to belong to him.

“Knowing that these DNA results support his innocence means so much to me, my son in the military and the rest of my family. I hope these results will serve as a wake-up call to everyone that serious problems exist in the criminal justice system that must be fixed if our society is to continue using the death penalty,” – Jones’ son, Duane Jones

Jones was executed in 2000.

Meal 4: David Spence (Texas) was charged and sentenced to execution for the murder of three Texas teenagers. There was no physical evidence against him and both the homicide detective and police lieutenant that were on his case did not believe Spence to be the criminal. The prosecution solely relied on the testimony of other prison inmates in their case against Spence,

He was executed in 1997.

Meal 5: Cameron Willingham (Texas) was convicted of murdering his three children in a 1991 house fire . Four national arson experts have concluded that the original investigation in the case was flawed, while an independent investigation into the case concluded that the prosecution centered its argument on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific studies.

Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004

I remember how many notes the last meals of the guilty men got because it’s interesting to look at that but apparently hardly anyone cares when the men are actually innocent. End capital punishment.

buttgenie:

writeworld:

Instead of whispered, consider:

  • murmured
  • mumbled
  • muttered
  • breathed
  • sighed
  • hissed
  • mouthed
  • uttered
  • intoned
  • susurrated
  • purred
  • said in an undertone
  • gasped
  • hinted
  • said low
  • said into someone’s ear
  • said softly
  • said under one’s breath
  • said in hushed tones
  • insinuated

aye lil mama let me insinuate in ya ear

Honestly it’s not deadly at all: Portal 2 Ending to Portal 3 Beginning?

neronix17:

I just thought of a serious way that Portal 3 could happen and still have Chell as the main character. If you have ever seen the Truman Show you will know why I might come to this idea.

When Chell is kicked out of Aperture at the end of Portal 2, she ends up in the outside…

Honestly it’s not deadly at all: Portal 2 Ending to Portal 3 Beginning?