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Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Pharrell Williams House
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Thursday, December 2, 2010
2018 World Cup -> Russia, 2022 World Cup -> Qatar.....where???
The FIFA Executive Committee has chosen Russia to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, while the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ was awarded to Qatar. FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter announced the result of the FIFA Executive Committee's secret vote on Thursday 2 December 2010 in Zurich’s Messe.
In lauding the victorious nations, the FIFA President also made a point of praising those who missed out. He said: “I have to say thanks to to the Executive Committee of FIFA because for 2018 and 2022 we go to new lands, because the FIFA World Cup has never been in eastern Europe or the Middle East. So, I'm a happy president when we speak of the development of football.
"But I have to give big compliments to all the bidders for the big job they have done and the messages they have delivered. All have delivered the message that football is more than just a game. Football is not only about winning; it is also a school of life where you must learn to lose, and that is not easy.”
England, Netherlands and Belgium, Spain and Portugal, and Russia all submitted bids for the right to stage the 2018 finals. Both England and Spain are previous FIFA World Cup hosts, with the 1966 tournament on English soil ending in the Three Lions' only world crown to date. The Iberians staged the 1982 edition of world football’s showpiece event, when the Trophy was won by Italy.
Igor Shuvalov, Russia's deputy prime minister, vowed that his country would justify the faith placed in them by the Executive Committee. He said: “You have entrusted us with the FIFA World Cup for 2018 and I can promise that you will never regret it. Let us make history together.”
Five candidates were bidding to stage the 2022 edition of the world’s greatest sporting event. As well as eventual winners Qatar, Australia, Korea Republic, Japan and USA also submitted bids for the highly-sought after hosting rights. USA, Japan and Korea had all previously staged the FIFA World Cup finals, with Japan and Korea becoming the tournament’s first joint-hosts back in 2002. The 1994 finals took place in the US.
A clearly delighted Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani also expressed gratitude for the honour of hosting football's greatest tournament, while insisting that Qatar's historic FIFA World Cup would meet all expectations. "Thank you for believing in change, for expanding the game and for giving Qatar a chance," he said. "You will be proud of us - and you will be proud of the Middle East. I promise you this
The final presentations and the announcement of the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups was one of the biggest media events ever seen in Switzerland. Some 70 TV stations reported live from the official announcement at Zurich Exhibition Centre, where around 1,000 reporters from all over the world also covered the event.
In lauding the victorious nations, the FIFA President also made a point of praising those who missed out. He said: “I have to say thanks to to the Executive Committee of FIFA because for 2018 and 2022 we go to new lands, because the FIFA World Cup has never been in eastern Europe or the Middle East. So, I'm a happy president when we speak of the development of football.
"But I have to give big compliments to all the bidders for the big job they have done and the messages they have delivered. All have delivered the message that football is more than just a game. Football is not only about winning; it is also a school of life where you must learn to lose, and that is not easy.”
England, Netherlands and Belgium, Spain and Portugal, and Russia all submitted bids for the right to stage the 2018 finals. Both England and Spain are previous FIFA World Cup hosts, with the 1966 tournament on English soil ending in the Three Lions' only world crown to date. The Iberians staged the 1982 edition of world football’s showpiece event, when the Trophy was won by Italy.
"or 2018 and 2022 we go to new lands, because the FIFA World Cup has never been in eastern Europe or the Middle East."
FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter
Five candidates were bidding to stage the 2022 edition of the world’s greatest sporting event. As well as eventual winners Qatar, Australia, Korea Republic, Japan and USA also submitted bids for the highly-sought after hosting rights. USA, Japan and Korea had all previously staged the FIFA World Cup finals, with Japan and Korea becoming the tournament’s first joint-hosts back in 2002. The 1994 finals took place in the US.
A clearly delighted Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani also expressed gratitude for the honour of hosting football's greatest tournament, while insisting that Qatar's historic FIFA World Cup would meet all expectations. "Thank you for believing in change, for expanding the game and for giving Qatar a chance," he said. "You will be proud of us - and you will be proud of the Middle East. I promise you this
The final presentations and the announcement of the host nations for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups was one of the biggest media events ever seen in Switzerland. Some 70 TV stations reported live from the official announcement at Zurich Exhibition Centre, where around 1,000 reporters from all over the world also covered the event.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thank You Scientists!
Sleep is a fundamental component of animal biology. New evidence confirms that, in humans, its timing reflects intelligence. People with higher IQs (intelligence quotients) tend to be more active nocturnally, going to bed later, whereas those with lower IQs usually retire to bed sooner after nightfall.
The precise function of sleep is arguable. But, accumulating evidence shows that lack of sleep in humans and animals can result in obesity, high blood pressure and reduced life spans. Drowsiness impairs mental performance. For instance, 37 per cent of all motor vehicle accidents are caused by drowsy motorists, according to a University of Pennsylvania study. Even minor sleep deficiencies impact on body chemistry.
According to Juliette Faraco of Stanford University, sleep loss generates a proportionate need for "sleep rebound".
One of the most controversial and significant recent findings is the correlation in humans between the earliness/lateness of sleep preferences and intelligence.
Robert Bolizs at Semmelweist University, and his coworkers, have shown that encephalograms during sleep illustrate how sleep elements are directly related to "wakeful cognitive performance." Studies by researchers H. Aliasson and colleagues show the timing of intervals of sleep "correlates closely" with student academic achievement.
Extensive research by Satoshi Kanazawa and colleagues at the London School of Economics and Political Science have uncovered significant differences in sleep-timing preferences among people, depending on their IQ scores.
People with higher IQs are more apt to be nocturnal night-owls. Those with lower IQs tend to restrict their activities primarily to daytime.
People who prefer to go to bed early, and who are early-risers, demonstrate "morningness," whereas those whose sleep patterns are shifted later demonstrate "eveningness." Researchers say eveningness tends to be a characteristic of those with higher IQs.
According to Kanazawa, ancestral humans were typically diurnal, and that a shift towards more nocturnal activities is an "evolutionarily novel preference" of the type normally found in more intelligent individuals, demonstrating "a higher level of cognitive complexity" in the practitioners.
Recent studies at the University of Bologna suggest early-risers are comparatively more conscientious people. Related studies indicate eveningness is often age-related and that eveningness usually peaks at between 17-21 years of age; thereafter morningness becomes more prevalent.
A 2008 study by psychologist Marina Giamnietro and colleagues indicates evening-types tend to be less reliable, less emotionally stable and more apt to suffer from depression, addictions and eating disorders.
Morningness or eveningness are often genetically-based, according to researchers Lambertus Klei at Carnegie Mellon Univesity, Patrick Rietz at the University of Pittsburgh and their associates. In 2008, studies at Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry demonstrated sleep-time preferences are often inherited, and subsequent data indicates that 50 per cent of sleep-time choices are dictated by genetic factors.
"Hypocretins" are inextricably linked to sleep/wakefulness, according to Stanford University research. Hypocretins react with "wake-up" cell groups, including dopamine.
Sleep parameters vary among animals. Cows, for instance, sleep open-eyed. Horses sleep standing up. Some birds can sleep in flight, others while standing. Dolphins sleep in one-half of their brain while the other half remains awake. Bats need 19.9 hours of sleep every 24 hours, lions need 13.5, rats 13, cats 12.5, whales 5.3, deer 3.1, giraffes 1.9, most birds three to eight and donkeys three.
The precise function of sleep is arguable. But, accumulating evidence shows that lack of sleep in humans and animals can result in obesity, high blood pressure and reduced life spans. Drowsiness impairs mental performance. For instance, 37 per cent of all motor vehicle accidents are caused by drowsy motorists, according to a University of Pennsylvania study. Even minor sleep deficiencies impact on body chemistry.
According to Juliette Faraco of Stanford University, sleep loss generates a proportionate need for "sleep rebound".
One of the most controversial and significant recent findings is the correlation in humans between the earliness/lateness of sleep preferences and intelligence.
Robert Bolizs at Semmelweist University, and his coworkers, have shown that encephalograms during sleep illustrate how sleep elements are directly related to "wakeful cognitive performance." Studies by researchers H. Aliasson and colleagues show the timing of intervals of sleep "correlates closely" with student academic achievement.
Extensive research by Satoshi Kanazawa and colleagues at the London School of Economics and Political Science have uncovered significant differences in sleep-timing preferences among people, depending on their IQ scores.
People with higher IQs are more apt to be nocturnal night-owls. Those with lower IQs tend to restrict their activities primarily to daytime.
People who prefer to go to bed early, and who are early-risers, demonstrate "morningness," whereas those whose sleep patterns are shifted later demonstrate "eveningness." Researchers say eveningness tends to be a characteristic of those with higher IQs.
According to Kanazawa, ancestral humans were typically diurnal, and that a shift towards more nocturnal activities is an "evolutionarily novel preference" of the type normally found in more intelligent individuals, demonstrating "a higher level of cognitive complexity" in the practitioners.
Recent studies at the University of Bologna suggest early-risers are comparatively more conscientious people. Related studies indicate eveningness is often age-related and that eveningness usually peaks at between 17-21 years of age; thereafter morningness becomes more prevalent.
A 2008 study by psychologist Marina Giamnietro and colleagues indicates evening-types tend to be less reliable, less emotionally stable and more apt to suffer from depression, addictions and eating disorders.
Morningness or eveningness are often genetically-based, according to researchers Lambertus Klei at Carnegie Mellon Univesity, Patrick Rietz at the University of Pittsburgh and their associates. In 2008, studies at Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry demonstrated sleep-time preferences are often inherited, and subsequent data indicates that 50 per cent of sleep-time choices are dictated by genetic factors.
"Hypocretins" are inextricably linked to sleep/wakefulness, according to Stanford University research. Hypocretins react with "wake-up" cell groups, including dopamine.
Sleep parameters vary among animals. Cows, for instance, sleep open-eyed. Horses sleep standing up. Some birds can sleep in flight, others while standing. Dolphins sleep in one-half of their brain while the other half remains awake. Bats need 19.9 hours of sleep every 24 hours, lions need 13.5, rats 13, cats 12.5, whales 5.3, deer 3.1, giraffes 1.9, most birds three to eight and donkeys three.
Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta: Grade A Badass
Salvatore Giunta’s time came on October 25, 2007. He was a Specialist then, just 22 years old.
Sal and his platoon were several days into a mission in the Korengal Valley — the most dangerous valley in northeast Afghanistan. The moon was full. The light it cast was enough to travel by without using their night-vision goggles. With heavy gear on their backs, and air support overhead, they made their way single file down a rocky ridge crest, along terrain so steep that sliding was sometimes easier than walking.
They hadn’t traveled a quarter mile before the silence was shattered. It was an ambush, so close that the cracks of the guns and the whizz of the bullets were simultaneous. Tracer fire hammered the ridge at hundreds of rounds per minute — “more,” Sal said later, “than the stars in the sky.”
The Apache gunships above saw it all, but couldn’t engage with the enemy so close to our soldiers. The next platoon heard the shooting, but were too far away to join the fight in time.
And the two lead men were hit by enemy fire and knocked down instantly. When the third was struck in the helmet and fell to the ground, Sal charged headlong into the wall of bullets to pull him to safety behind what little cover there was. As he did, Sal was hit twice — one round slamming into his body armor, the other shattering a weapon slung across his back.
They were pinned down, and two wounded Americans still lay up ahead. So Sal and his comrades regrouped and counterattacked. They threw grenades, using the explosions as cover to run forward, shooting at the muzzle flashes still erupting from the trees. Then they did it again. And again. Throwing grenades, charging ahead. Finally, they reached one of their men. He’d been shot twice in the leg, but he had kept returning fire until his gun jammed.
As another soldier tended to his wounds, Sal sprinted ahead, at every step meeting relentless enemy fire with his own. He crested a hill alone, with no cover but the dust kicked up by the storm of bullets still biting into the ground. There, he saw a chilling sight: the silhouettes of two insurgents carrying the other wounded American away — who happened to be one of Sal’s best friends. Sal never broke stride. He leapt forward. He took aim. He killed one of the insurgents and wounded the other, who ran off.
Sal found his friend alive, but badly wounded. Sal had saved him from the enemy — now he had to try to save his life. Even as bullets impacted all around him, Sal grabbed his friend by the vest and dragged him to cover. For nearly half an hour, Sal worked to stop the bleeding and help his friend breathe until the MEDEVAC arrived to lift the wounded from the ridge. American gunships worked to clear the enemy from the hills. And with the battle over, First Platoon picked up their gear and resumed their march through the valley. They continued their mission.
It had been as intense and violent a firefight as any soldier will experience. By the time it was finished, every member of First Platoon had shrapnel or a bullet hole in their gear. Five were wounded. And two gave their lives: Sal’s friend, Sergeant Joshua C. Brennan, and the platoon medic, Specialist Hugo V. Mendoza.
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