Gay Shanghai

Interesting vid from DanweiTV - with a nifty band act tacked onto the end (will have to check them out when I'm in Shanghers next year).

Larry & Sergey: Inside the Google Machine

Check out this interesting 2004 vid at Ted.

That rotating globe with searches represented by spikes bursting from countries is oarsome! Wondering if it's somewhere online...

Surprised that Australia barely spiked... yea, I know we have a small population but still...

Ayaan Hirsi Ali at AAI 2007

Hirsi Ali, amazing lady, author of Infidel, speaks at the Atheist Alliance Inc. 2007 convention.

Part 1




Part 2 (Q&A)

Genographic Project results

I've just received the results for my maternal line. Rather surprised to see the line doesn't go anywhere near China and that I'd find some rellies among Australian aborigines.

Rather curious about my paternal lineage now. I can't test for paternal lineage with my DNA since I don't have a Y chromosome. I think I know what dad will be getting for Christmas 8)

"Your DNA results identify you as belonging to a specific branch of the human family tree called haplogroup M*.

The map above shows the direction that your maternal ancestors followed as they set out from their original homeland in East Africa. While humans did travel many different paths during a journey that took tens of thousands of years, the lines above represent the dominant trends in this migration.

Over time the descendants of your ancestors were the first modern humans to leave Africa and headed east, moving across the Arabian Peninsula, through the Indian subcontinent and on to eastern Asia and Australasia.

Mitochondrial Eve: The Mother of Us All

Ancestral Line: "Mitochondrial Eve"

Our story begins in Africa sometime between 150,000 and 170,000 years ago, with a woman whom anthropologists have nicknamed "Mitochondrial Eve."

She was awarded this mythic epithet in 1987 when population geneticists discovered that all people alive on the planet today can trace their maternal lineage back to her.

But Mitochondrial Eve was not the first female human. Homo sapiens evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, and the first hominids—characterized by their unique bipedal stature—appeared nearly two million years before that. Yet despite humans having been around for almost 30,000 years, Eve is exceptional because hers is the only lineage from that distant time to survive to the present day.

Which begs the question, "So why Eve?"

Simply put, Eve was a survivor. A maternal line can become extinct for a number of reasons. A woman may not have children, or she may bear only sons (who do not pass her mtDNA to the next generation). She may fall victim to a catastrophic event such as a volcanic eruption, flood, or famine, all of which have plagued humans since the dawn of our species.

None of these extinction events happened to Eve's line. It may have been simple luck, or it may have been something much more. It was around this same time that modern humans' intellectual capacity underwent what author Jared Diamond coined the Great Leap Forward. Many anthropologists believe that the emergence of language gave us a huge advantage over other early human species. Improved tools and weapons, the ability to plan ahead and cooperate with one another, and an increased capacity to exploit resources in ways we hadn't been able to earlier, all allowed modern humans to rapidly migrate to new territories, exploit new resources, and outcompete and replace other hominids, such as the Neandertals.

It is difficult to pinpoint the chain of events that led to Eve's unique success, but we can say with certainty that all of us trace our maternal lineage back to this one woman.

Haplogroup M: The Coastal Migrants

Ancestral line: "Eve" > L1/L0 > L2 > L3 > M

Your next signpost ancestor is the woman whose descendants formed haplogroup M. Haplogroup M comprises one of two groups that were created from L3.

One of these two groups, haplogroup N, moved north out of Africa and left the continent across the Sinai Peninsula, in present-day Egypt. Faced with the harsh desert conditions of the Sahara, their ancestors likely followed the Nile basin, which would have proved a reliable water and food supply in spite of the surrounding desert and its frequent sandstorms. The ancient members of haplogroup N spawned many sub-lineages that went on to populate much of the rest of the globe. They are found throughout Asia, Europe, India, and the Americas.

Your haplogroup, M*, constitutes the other group that split off from L3, and gave rise to the first wave of modern humans to make a successful exodus from Africa. These people likely left the continent across the Horn of Africa, where a narrow span of water between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden separates the East African coastline from the Arabian Peninsula at Bab-el-Mandeb. The short ten miles would have been easily navigable for humans possessing early maritime technologies. This crossing constituted the start of a long coastal migration eastward across the Middle East and southern Eurasia, eventually reaching all the way to Australia and Polynesia.

Haplogroup M* is considered an east Eurasian lineage, as it is found at high frequencies east of the Arabian Peninsula. Members of this group are virtually absent in the Levant (a coastal region in what is now Lebanon), though they are present at higher frequencies in the south-Arabian Peninsula at around 15 percent. Because its age is estimated at around 60,000 years old, members of this group were likely the first humans to leave Africa, and they likely did it heading east. Haplogroup M is found in East Africa, though at much lower frequencies than its subgroup M1. It gives the appearance of a more recent age in eastern Africa than in Asia which is likely the result of smaller populations in Africa, which would have reduced genetic diversity and would therefore appear more recent.

Your haplogroup is prevalent among populations living in the southern parts of Pakistan and northwest India, where it constitutes around 30 to 50 percent of the mitochondrial gene pool, depending on the population. Conversely, the M* haplogroup is absent or rarely found amongst people living west of the Indus Valley, and is found at low frequencies in the Central Asian populations, around 10 to 15 percent. The wide distribution and greater genetic diversity east of Indus Valley indicates that these haplogroup M*-bearing individuals are the legacy of the first inhabitants of southwestern Asia. These people underwent important expansions during the Paleolithic, and the fact that some East Asian haplogroup M* lineages match those found in Central Asia indicates much more recent (i.e., not founder) mixture into the area from the east.

Haplogroup M* has several sub-branches which exhibit some geographic specificity. Subgroup M1 is found at high frequency in East Africa, at around 20 percent in many populations. Because haplogroup M* itself is almost entirely absent from the region, M1 individuals likely represent migrations back into the continent from the Arabian Peninsula after people had left Africa. M2-M6 are characteristic Indian sub-groups. Haplogroup M7 is distributed across the southern part of East Asia, and two of its own daughter-groups, M7a and M7b2, are representative of Japanese and Korean populations, respectively. M7 individuals reach frequency in southern China and Japan of around 15 percent, and are found at lower frequencies in Mongolia. The old age of this branch indicates a pre-Jomon contribution to the mitochondrial gene pool in those areas."

Read about The Genographic Project here.

See also results from a different population group here.

Hope: New Orleans

Mack's beautiful cover art caught my eye as I browsed the shelves at Minotaur. I've only browsed through the book so far but I'm loving what I see. And it's for a good cause to boot.

"In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, more than eighty comics creators joined forces to create an anthology to benefit the victims of the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans. Premiering at Wizard World Chicago 2006, the anthology collects 33 stories in its initial print run. It will find its way into comic stores at a later date that is yet to be announced. With stories ranging from first reactions to the catastrophe, slice of life, humor, horror, the supernatural and superhero fun, original tales as well as those featuring existing characters by various creators, HOPE: New Orleans is a book catering to all tastes in genres. The proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward the Red Cross and its continued effort to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, so go ahead and support this." Source

Chillaxin with Scooterboy

Enjoying time with the Boy while he's in town.

I'll be back posting in a few days.

Ciao fer now!

Gallery of illustrated book endpapers

View more here.

Courtesy of BoingBoing.

Chuckler Gadget: Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock

heh heh :D

"First off there’s an ear-deafening, neighbor-angering 113db alarm that will go off when it’s time to get up. Keep in mind that a jet taking off 200 feet away is rated at 120db so if you don’t end up having a heart attack odds are the alarm will wake you up. But if for some reason that still proves ineffective there’s also a ’super-charged’ bed shaker you place under your pillow that will basically shake you awake and guarantee you’ll be in a great mood the rest of the day."

More here at OhGizmo!

Beijing: Cops target Africans in Punchup

Sheesh!!!

"A hazy picture of a police round-up of black people in Beijing's Sanlitun is emerging today. The full details are not fully known, but foreigners are starting to wonder if this fits into a pre-existing prejudice against black people by some Chinese. For those who have lived in China it is pretty clear that a fair amount of racism exists. Locals frequently throw unpleasant remarks awkwardly into conversations, but ignorant words and actions are quite different matters.

This weekend there were allegations that Beijing police beat up numerous dark-skinned people in city’s Sanlitun area and I am curious as to whether this reflects a broader trend in society, or if it was simply a drug sweep carried out by poorly-trained officers."

Read the entire post here. (SCMP text extracted in one of the comments).

See also on Africabeat (and the links within comments). Including one to a report by Reuters Africa.

On eBay: Greenberg's graphic adaptation of The Great Gatsby

I'm not familiar with the seller but it appears to be an ok bet (99.2% positive feedback from 117 transactions).

Buy here.

More about the book here and here.

Ruddy's Zhongwen Gaffe

Sure, it happened back in '84 but it's still funny :D

"In fact, Rudd's Mandarin-speaking ability has come a long way since his early days as a diplomat in Beijing. In 1984, when translating then Ambassador Ross Garnaut's remarks to a Chinese delegation that "Australia and China were enjoying a great closeness in their relationship", Rudd is reported to have said "Australia and China are enjoying simultaneous orgasms in their relationship".

Hat tip to Danwei.

Now, if only we could find a recording...

Hero News: Book on Charles Feeney

I first read about Feeney a number of years ago in Time, and have been a fan ever since. He doesn't appear in the news too often (spotted an article about him in the local Melbourne newspapers one year when he attempted to sneak into town to investigate potential recipients of his philanthropy).

Now, finally, we can learn more about this legend in the book, "The Billionaire Who Wasn't".

Classic Feeney: "If I can get a watch for $15 that keeps perfect time, what am I doing messing around with a Rolex?"

Read reviews of the book here.

Gimme Gadget: Infinite memory daisy chain

"The snake-like, flexible design is called Memory Infinite. As you daisy chain one to the next, their storage capacity increases; keep adding drives until you have neither more nor less than is required."

Courtesy of Gizmodo.

Solar Sailor!

Shweeet!

"Solar Sailor is an Australian invention that can right now be found sailing Sydney Harbour, a hybrid powered boat design that allows solar and wind energy to be harvest via its 'solar wing' for big enviro/financial energy savings. This tech has the potential to scale for use on ferries, cruisers, yachts, and even large tankers."

More at Gizmodo.

WSJ editor's Kmart smackdown

Sheesh!

"As soon as we stepped outside the store, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to face a serious-faced young man who identified himself as store security and asked me to step back inside. When he said the shoes I'd purchased were in the wrong box, I followed him inside, promising my family I'd be right back.

Instead, I was led to a windowless security room in the back of the store, detained for an hour and accused of deliberately switching a more expensive item into a cheaper box. The adult flip-flops, it turned out, were $24.50, and the box had been for a child's size nine, with a $16.50 price. My stunned protestations and explanations were summarily dismissed. My driver's license and credit card were temporarily confiscated, I was told to expect a civil notice of a fine by mail, and finally, I was advised never to return to the store."

Full story here. (Courtesy of BoingBoing)

The hazards of traveling to the U.S.

"Nalini Ghuman, an up-and-coming musicologist and expert on the British composer Edward Elgar, was stopped at the San Francisco airport in August last year and, without explanation, told that she was no longer allowed to enter the United States.

Ms. Ghuman, an assistant professor at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., who is British and who had lived, studied and worked in this country for 10 years before her abrupt exclusion.

...Ms. Ghuman’s descent into the bureaucratic netherworld began on Aug. 8, 2006, when she and Mr. Flight returned to San Francisco from a research trip to Britain. Armed immigration officers met them at the airplane door and escorted Ms. Ghuman away.

In a written account of the next eight hours that she prepared for her lawyer, Ms. Ghuman said that officers tore up her H-1B visa, which was valid through May 2008, defaced her British passport, and seemed suspicious of everything from her music cassettes to the fact that she had listed Welsh as a language she speaks. A redacted government report about the episode obtained by her lawyer under the Freedom of Information Act erroneously described her as “Hispanic.”

Held incommunicado in a room in the airport, she was groped during a body search, she said, and was warned that if she moved, she would be considered to be attacking her armed female searcher. After questioning her for hours, the officers told her that she had been ruled inadmissible, she said, and threatened to transfer her to a detention center in Santa Clara, Calif., unless she left on a flight to London that night."

Full story here. (Courtesy of BoingBoing).

Also,

Airport cops' database includes your reading material

"John Gilmore and Bill Scannell have used Freedom of Information requests to show that the US airport screeners are creating records of the race, personal possessions and reading material of the travelers they pull over for secondary screening."

More here.

Finding joy

Nice one from Houston about the lovely G, who dared.

Always nice when good things happen to good people.

Related links:

"You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle." Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement 2005.

See also Guy Kawasaki's advice on pursuing joy.

Offenders forced to listen to Barry Manilow

lol :D

"Judge Paul Sacco, who carries out the punishment about four times per year, said the sentenced fit the crime.

"When you have a person playing rap at extreme volumes all over the city, and they have to sit down and listen for an hour to Barry Manilow, its horrible punishment," he said."

More here.

Courtesy of StumbleUpon.

Your Jackson Pollock

My Jackson Pollock

Create yours here.

Click to change colour. Right click (or hold the Function key on Macs) to lift the 'nib'.

Preparing for Talk Like a Pirate Day