What I Learned Today: Matt Mills, Augmnted Reality

Matt Mills and Tamara Roukaerts demonstrate Aurasma, a new augmented reality tool that can seamlessly animate the world as seen through a smartphone. Going beyond previous augmented reality, their "auras" can do everything from making a painting talk to overlaying live news onto a printed newspaper. Ted

What I learned today: Mina Bissell

Mina J. Bissell, Ph.D., is an Iranian American biologist and a world-recognized leader in the area of the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) and microenvironment in regulation of tissue-specific function, with special emphasis on breast cancer. Mina Bissell, Ph.D., biologist She was born in Tehran, Iran and brought up in a well-educated and well-to-do family. By the time she graduated from high school, Bissell was the top graduate in her year in Iran.[1] A family friend, through the American Friends of Iran, encouraged Bissell to come to the United States.[2] She enrolled at Bryn Mawr, then transferred to Radcliffe_College where she earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry. She obtained a PhD in bacteriology from Harvard Medical School and was awarded an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.[3] She joined Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory as a staff biochemist in 1972 and subsequently became a Senior Scientist, Director of Cell & Molecular Biology, Director of the Life Sciences Division, and Distinguished Scientist.[4] In 1996, she received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award and medal, the highest scientific honor bestowed by the United States Department of Energy. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, Bissell is recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Mellon Award from the University of Pittsburgh, the Eli Lilly/Clowes Award of the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society.[5]

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/william_ury.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/william_ury.html

Reconciliation

Congress has passed 22 reconciliation bills since the process was established in 1980, most by Republicans of which almost all significantly added to the federal deficit. Many also included meaningful public policy changes, including: welfare reform, changes to Medicare and Medicaid, large tax cuts and changes to existing laws. When Lamar Alexander and John McCain complain about passing health care reform through reconciliation (which requires a majority vote remember) claiming this is "unprecedented" and will have a "cataclysmic effect", the Democrats just need to keep their eyes on the prize and stay the course. The electorate's short attention span, coupled with the fact there will be no recognizable impact by the time of the mid-terms elections, Democrats have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain. Carpe Diem, guys.

I am Nujood, Age 10, Divorced

Foreced to marry a man 3 times her age, Najood, age 10 became a wife. because married woman shouldn't be a student she had to drop out fo school. Though her father asked her husband to wait until after her first menstrual period before having sex,.....well, what's a guy to do? At 12 she boldly snuck her way to a courthouse, pleaded to see a judge and demanded a divorce. It was granted. Her story, told in the book "I am Nujood, Age 10, Divorced" tells a nightmarish story that is all to familiar in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. (Source: NYT, N. Kristoph)

Open Carry:the act of publicly carrying a firearm in plain sight

Open carry - the act of publicly carrying a firearm in plain sight. 43 of the 50 U.S. states have open carry weapon laws. Which is crazier: people walking around Starbucks with a concealed weapon, or someone who has it holstered? Personally, I hope they all do a Plexico and Darwin themselves to kingdom-come.

Taliban Fight for First Ammendment

Seriously? The Taliban on Wednesday condemned a government plan (Afghanistan) to prohibit live broadcasts of attacks. So, it's okay to ban music, television and education for girls but you're going to condemn a government plan to prohibit live broadcasts of attacks? Interesting.

"This totally undermines freedom of the press and expression and cannot be justified by any means," Taliban spokesperson Yousuf Ahmadi. Perhaps FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights) and ACLU can join together with the Taliban to fight this injustice!