Botox may reduce empathy in users

Sebastian Niedlich (Grabthar)/Flickr

Nicole Kidman

The thought of people injected poison into their skins to remove wrinkles, has always mystified me. I do understand the will to look good, but it is so evident when you see someone with their face pumped full of Botox. Muscles in the face cease to work normally, smiles look bizarre and the face looks generally frozen like a mask.  Now there is another reason not to use Botox. A new study suggests that over time Botox use can cause people to less understand the facial expressions of others, leading them to be less empathic.

David Neal, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California, lead author of the research said, "People who use Botox are less able to read others' emotions ... When the facial muscles are dampened, you get worse in emotion perception, and when the facial muscles are amplified, you get better at emotion perception."

It has to do with a person's ability to mimic facial expressions of others. When this is not possible,the brain is less likely to understand what the emotion is. Are you reading this Nicole Kidman? (Read more here)

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Blackmailing clown gets three years in the slammer

Image via Wikipedia

Artist: Herbert Schondelmaier

I've said it before and I'll now repeat myself: I hate clowns. You just know they are up to no good behind all the makeup and hair. An illiterate clown name "Grumpy" was even elected to the Brazilian Congress last year. Here's another case of a clown breaking bad.


Frank Salvador Solorza, 46, was convicted in California of conspiracy, impersonating an immigration officer and attempted extortion. Solorza had been arrested in 2009 after he arrived at a home on a child's bicycle, while dressed in a clown suit, wig and a Pirates of the Caribbean hat with dreadlocks and sunglasses. He then grabbed a briefcase he believed contained $50,000, which was to be extortion money he was collecting.

Solorza targeting six members of a family, who are his cousins and accused them of lying on their applications for permanent U.S. residence. He contacted them via phone and letter pretending to be an immigration officer. The family members were told that if they paid $50,000, "your papers will be good forever."

Now the most bizarre part. He told the family that a man in a clown suit and riding a small bicycle would be coming to pick up the money. The family members grew suspicious and called the police who arranged the "sting" money drop. Solorza was sentence to three years in prison.

Wineries battle over moniker "Mommy" in wine name

Image via Wikipedia

Apparently, mommies are in hot demand, and I don't mean as MILFS. Two wineries are battling over the right to use "Mommy" on their wine labels. California  winery Clos Lachance Wines is attempting to get the court to agree that its "Mommyjuice" wine  does not violate the trademark of "Mommy's Time Out" wine, marketed by a New Jersey distributor.

"Mommy is a generic word that they don't have a monopoly on," said KC Branch, an attorney representing Clos Lachance.

Trademark disputes are common and one of the most famous  pitted Apple Computers and Steve Jobs against the Fab Four's Apple Corp., the Beatles publishing company. This dispute went on for many years, and was only settled in 2007, opening the way for Apple Computer (namely iTunes) and other companies to distribute Beatles's music and related products. 


Back to the vino. Have a look at the two labels below and make up your own mind. Not much confusion in my mind, even after several glasses of Daddy Vino™. 

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Infographic: Toilet paper – over or under, the great debate

Think of it – what would life be like without toilet paper. Perhaps the greatest invention man has ever come up with – it separates man and beast. Forget about antibiotics, electricity and the automobile. Now, this brings us to the great debate: over or under. This excellent graphic from Brainz puts the matter to rest (the answer is OVER!!!)


Via: Engineering Degree

Scheduling conflict: NASA to launch shuttle Endeavour same day as royal wedding

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

One giant step for Prince William and a calendar conflict for NASA. The space agency is launching the shuttle Endeavour on its final mission on the same day that William marries Kate Middleton. I'm no fan of the Royals, but I do realize that eyes in Britain and North America will largely be glued to the regal extravaganza, and likely not on the shuttle launch.

NASA was unaware that the shuttle Endeavour's final mission was on the same day as the royal wedding. "The frank answer is no," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations, said when asked if the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was a factor in the shuttle scheduling.
"I didn't realize when the wedding was when we moved the launch date," said Gerstenmaier. The shuttle was scheduled to launch on April 19 and was later postponed to April 29. "We kind of set that date independently."


"I haven't yet put on our manifest charts 'wedding constraints' so we did not factor that in," he said.

Endeavour is the second last shuttle launch for NASA. The final launch will be in June when Atlantis launches and officially ends the 30-year-old space shuttle program. I think I'll stick with the launch and watch William's next wedding. Maybe Kate should do the same, given the track record of the previous royal generation.

Credit NASA

Iran poised to outlaw dog ownership

Image via Wikipedia

Iranian dog owners: Go into hiding now! Lawmakers in this hostile state have proposed a new bill in parliament that would criminalize dog ownership. The bill warns that that dogs are a public health hazard and that the popularity of dog ownership "also poses a cultural problem, a blind imitation of the vulgar culture of the West."


Dog ownership in Iran has previously been treated much the same as gays in the U.S. military: Don't ask, don't tell. There have always been occasional crack-downs by the police (even though there is no law forbidding it), but the dogs and their owners were typically left alone, despite clerics  demonizing them in sermons.

The law would allow police to confiscate the offending dogs and impose a fine of $100 - $500 on the owner. No word on the fate of the offending dog.  "Considering the several thousand dogs in Tehran alone, the problem arises as to what is going to happen to these animals," Hooman Malekpour, a veterinarian in Tehran, told to the BBC. The  dogs likely will face the same fate as the hundreds of street dogs that the government regularly culls from the streets of Tehran. "Many in Tehran and other big cities find the killing of street dogs offensive and cruel," says Omid Memarian, a prominent Iranian journalist. "It's like the Iranian people and officials live in two different worlds." 

Frankly, I'm pretty sure this wave of dog ownership is a Zionist plot.

Turn your old analog SLR into a digital camera

What to do with that great old Canon F-1 sitting in the basement? Check out RE-35 which promises to turn your old 35 mm SLR into a smoking hot digital camera using their patented Flexisensor©  removable cartridge that replaces "analog" film.

"There are many reasons to hold on to your classic 35-mm analog cameras. Whether you invested a serious amount of money or you just all that mechanical goodness - your classic Nikons, Canons, Leicas, Rolleis or Pentaxes deserve to stay. And even if you just love analog photography: the grain, the colors, the image quality - dealing with analog film does have it’s drawbacks. The hassle and the price for materials keep you from keeping it analog more and more often.
With the RE-35 digital cartridges you can have the best of both worlds. Go digital, whenever you want to. And keep using your vintage equipment."

Did I say "Too good to be true?" Check out their site and find out.

Photo: Vintage flying saucer camera

From the FBI archives

Check out this cool camera circa 1953, designed to photograph those pesky flying saucers that you see everywhere. One lens apparently takes regular picture; the other separates light into colors to help scientists decide which planet the saucer is from.

The U.S. government recently released thousands of declassified government documents posted to the FBI's new online "Vault." Among the documents are the so-called "X-files" reports detailing Air Force investigations into UFOs and their pilots, who appear to have moved on to become air traffic controllers. 

The clipping below is from Mechanix illustrated and brought to us by the cool site Modern Mechanix. Check out the site – there's lots of interesting vintage magazine stuff there to look at.

California Republican apologizes for offensive Obama "chimp" email

Typically, I feel politicians have pretty hardened exteriors and shouldn't let smear tactics get through their skin, and the president of the United States needs extra-thick armour. In this case, however, I think the Republican party should give Marilyn Davenport, a 74-year-old elected member of the Orange County Republican Central Committee, the heave-ho. Davenport has apologized for the photo (right) that she sent out via email with the caption "Now you know why no birth certificate," however there are some things that are just not acceptable and this one is way, way over the line. Here is Davenport's apology:

"To my fellow Americans and to everyone else who has seen this email I forwarded and was offended by my action, I humbly apologize and ask for your forgiveness of my unwise behavior. I say unwise because at the time I received and forwarded the email, I didn't stop to think about the historic implications and other examples of how this could be offensive."

Forgiveness is fine – everyone makes mistakes, but party membership is another thing. Send a message out that this is not acceptable, and pull Davenport's membership car.

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Happy Passover – we're foreclosing on your synagogue

Let my mortgage go!

It's not only homeowners who are in trouble with the bank these days, it appears some religious institutions are  insolvent as well:  Namely, the Congregation Beth David in San Luis Obispo County, California. The synagogue has until May 17 to come up with $1.3 million or it will be auctioned off. The four-year-old synagogue defaulted on a $3.3 million loan late last year.

The lavish 16,190 square foot building is  is the country’s only green-certified synagogue. It features a 337-seat sanctuary, social hall, classrooms, gift shop and library.

Hard economic times have hit the synagogue's membership numbers and many of the remaining members are now not able to pay their full dues. “We did a lot of thinking and planning, but there were also a lot of things we didn’t foresee,”  Gregg Loberstein, co-president of the board of directors said.

The $18,000 monthly mortgage payment was last made one year ago. Surprisingly the bank is willing to forgive $1 million of the mortgage principle but the congregation must come up with $2.3 million by May 5 or grab their Torah and clear out.

Come on bank, let their mortgage go!


Read more here.

Interactive map shows home price reductions across the U.S.

This is a very cool interactive map by real estate listing site trulia. You just plug in your zip code, city or state and it shows you the average number of days before a price reduction, the average percentage of the reductions and the likelihood of a second reduction – valuable information if you are selling your house or just trying to figure out how marketable your property is. Perhaps a good time to be a buyer, but as a seller it's still an incredibly tough market. Bloomberg reports:

"At the end of 2010, the fourth year of the housing collapse, the share of people who said a home was a safe investment dropped to 64 percent from 70 percent in the first quarter. The December figure was the lowest in a survey that goes back to 2003, when it was 83 percent.

The median U.S. home price tumbled 32 percent from a 2006 peak to a nine-year low in February, data from the Realtors show. The retreat surpassed the 27 percent drop seen in the first five years of the Great Depression, according to Stan Humphries, chief economist of Zillow Inc., a Seattle-based real estate information company." 

  Click on the map to go to the interactive version.

Video: Fox News anchor speechless after seeing Romanian dancing politician

It's not often you see an anchor on Fox News at a loss for words. Perhaps after you watch this video you'll feel the same way. This Romanian politician shows off his dance moves on national TV, much to the chagrin of fellow party members and other politicians. Frankly, it leaves me speechless as well.

Video: Jesse Jackson Jr. blames iPad for killing jobs

Jesse Jackson Jr., the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 2nd congressional district and admitted iPad owner, made a bizarre presentation to the House of Representitives. Jackson claimed the iPad was “probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs.” Not only that, but he continued on to link it to the bankrupcy of Border's Books and the future demise of the textbook industry. Huhhh???

"A few short weeks ago I came to the House floor after having purchased an iPad and said that I happened to believe, Mr. Speaker, that at some point in time this new device, which is now probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs. Now Borders is closing stores because, why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes & Noble? Buy an iPad and download your newspaper, download your book, download your magazine."

Let's put this in perspective. The printed paper products, whether books, newspapers or magazines are basically on a slow road to extinction, but just how fast is anyone's guess. Is this a bad thing? All technological changes create job displacement. Modernization in factory production cost many, many jobs, yet are there any among us that would like to go back to the good old pre-technology days and live without modern technology, such as electricity, medicine, clean water and safe food? I suppose there are a few out there, and certainly the Taliban would cast a vote in that direction, but most of us enjoy the longer lifespans and relative comfort that modern technology has brought us.

Interactive graphic of the civil war battles and deaths

Attention civil war buffs. Have look at this interactive map by the Washington Post and watch as the civil war grows as do the casualties. The war resulted in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers and an undetermined number of civilians. Many believe the war was caused by opposing beliefs regarding slavery, but the truth is that economic and state's rights issues topped the list. Click on the graphic to go to the interactive version.

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Video: GE creates its own sun; hopefully will not bill us for the sunshine

General Electric's motto used to be "We bring good things to life" and what better thing is there than sunshine. In the remarkable video, captured by 24 cameras, GE scientists actually do re-create a miniature version of the sun.  Now just wait until they figure out a way to bill us for the sunshine. From GE:

"The sun. It gives us heat, light, food and the air we breathe. But have you ever thought about just how powerful it really is or the potential scale of what it can do for us? GE is turning the world's oldest energy resource into its newest one through their latest solar panel innovation. Watch and find out how much energy the sun can produce and what it means for our future."

Infographic: The secret of Donald Trump's hair

Image via Wikipedia

Have you been wondering how millionaire, reality TV star and possible Republican candidate (I'll believe that when it happens) Donald Trump achieves that snappy looking hair-doo?

Vanity Fair writer Bruce Handy has this to say about Trump's hair:  "My baldly-stated thesis: this could be evidence of a rarely-sighted, possibly unprecedented “double comb-over.” It looks as if a length of hair growing from the part on the left side of Trump’s pate has been combed left-to-right over the crown of his head, while a second length of hair, growing from the back of his head, has been combed back-to-front over the first length of hair. Salon-strength hair products likely play a role in the final construction of this lattice-like structure—which could also explain the “ship’s prow” look one sometimes sees in side views of Trump."

Time online has created this fun inforgraphic to show you just how it's done. 

Click on the graphic to go to the Time site.

Vegan magazine found to be passing off photos of meat as vegan

Image via Wikipedia

No passign this one off as vegan!

VegNews, the the U.S.'s leading vegan magazine, has found itself in a wee bit of a meaty controversy. It appears they have been passing off images of meat dishes, purchased from stock photo agencies, such as iStockphoto, as vegan dishes, in some cases even cropping out the bones showing in the photos. The charges come from blogger quarrygirl.com, who said, "The pictures we've been drooling over for years are actually of MEAT!" To support her claim she posted images directly from the photo agency, which described the photos as meat dishes and compared them to recipes shown VegNews, which describe the same images as showing a vegan dish. "Get your barf bags ready!" quarrygirl.com wrote.

The magazine admitted in a letter to readers, "Yes, from time to time, after exhausting all options, we have resorted to using stock photography that may or may not be vegan. In an ideal world we would use custom-shot photography for every spread, but it is simply not financially feasible for VegNews at this time. In those rare times that we use an image that isn’t vegan, our entire (vegan) staff weighs in on whether or not it’s appropriate. It is industry standard to use stock photography in magazines—and, sadly, there are very few specifically vegan images offered by stock companies. In addition, it’s exceedingly challenging to find non-stock imagery that meets the standard necessary for publication. We would love nothing more than to use only vegan photography shot by vegan photographers, and we hope to be there soon."

They certainly are not the first or last to get burned using stock imagery. Just this week, the U.S. Postal Service found itself in the middle of a controversy, when a keen-eyed citizen noticed their new stamp , showing a closeup of the Statue of Liberty, was actually a closeup of the fiberglass and Styrofoam replica at a gambling casino in Las Vegas. The image was sourced from a stock photo agency.

Last two speakers of dying language refuse to speak to each other

Image by Eyesplash viaFlickr

There are just two people in the world who can speak the language Ayapaneco fluently: Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69. They live 500 metres apart in the village of Ayapa in Mexico, and they refuse to speak to each other. No one is quite sure why they don't converse;  whether it is a deep buried grudge or a matter of simple dislike.


"They don't have a lot in common," said Daniel Suslak, a linguistic anthropologist from Indiana University. Suslak is involved with a project to produce a dictionary of Ayapaneco. Segovia, he says, can be "a little prickly" and Velazquez, who is "more stoic," rarely likes to leave his home, according to the Guardian.

Of the 68 different indigenous languages in Mexico, Ayapaneco is the one in the greatest danger of extinction. It has survived Spanish conquest, wars, revolutions, famines and floods and in now it appears it will face extinction as the last two speakers sit silently within spitting distance of each other.

Read more in the Guardian. 

Man creates fake U.S. Army unit - parades them in LA

Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr

They don't call it "lala land" for nothing. Yupeng Deng, 51, was arrested for creating a fake U.S. army unit and recruiting immigrants to join his bogus squad. He apparently gave his recruits military uniforms and marched them around a Los Angeles suburb. As well, he took them to an aircraft carrier, albeit one the happens to be in a museum in San Diego.


Deng isn't completely crazy. He told his recruits that they would become U.S. citizens if they joined his squad and charged them between $300 and $450 to join his wayward brigade. They were allowed to buy higher ranks with cash. According to prosecutors, the recruits were provided with fake documents and phony military identification cards.


"Called to duty, boots on the ground"

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Graphic: Retirement and life expectancy worldwide

We spend most of our lives working, with childhood and hopefully retirement, providing the bookends. Just how much retirement can you expect? VisualNews has put together this excellent graphic showing what the expectations are worldwide. Envy the Austrians, pity the Mexicans, who can't see to buy a break these days.

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