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Fujitsu Flexbook

The Flexbook was created by Taiwan-based designer Hao-Chun Huang for entry into Fujitsu’s 2011 Design Award contest. Seems like it didn't win, but the idea is interesting.

Your Brain in Love

Men and women can now thank a dozen brain regions for their romantic fervor. Researchers have revealed the fonts of desire by comparing functional MRI studies of people who indicated they were experiencing passionate love, maternal love or unconditional love. Together, the regions release neuro­transmitters and other chemicals in the brain and blood that prompt greater euphoric sensations such as attraction and pleasure.

Brainy Articles

How to Spot a Psychopath:
"They give you a psychopath test," said Tony. "The Robert Hare Checklist. They assess you for 20 personality traits. Superficial charm. Proneness to boredom. Lack of empathy. Lack of remorse. Grandiose sense of self-worth. That sort of thing. For each one they score you a 0, 1 or 2. If your total score is 30 or more out of 40, you're a psychopath. That's it. You're doomed. You're labelled a psychopath for life. They say you can't change. You can't be treated. You're a danger to society. And then you're stuck somewhere like this."

The Cognitive Cost of Doing Things:
There's no such thing as a free lunch, and that goes for your brain, too. Every time you amass the willpower to do anything, it has mental costs. Writer and strategist Sebastian Marshall identifies a few of those cognitive costs to understand how to get more done while conserving as much of your mental reserve as possible.

You're Living in a Computer Simulation:
The whole "reality is an illusion" idea has been kicked around by everyone from Siddhartha to the existentialists. It is Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom who is most often associated with the idea that we are living in a computer simulation

Whiskey Power!

It is the spirit that powers the Scottish economy, and now whisky is to be used to create electricity for homes in a new bioenergy venture involving some of Scotland's best-known distilleries.

Contracts have recently been awarded for the construction of a biomass combined heat and power plant at Rothes in Speyside that by 2013 will use the by-products of the whisky-making process for energy production.

Drams!!

Final choices:
1981 Glenfarclas Family Cask
Nikka Pure Malt Black
Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch Whisky
Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey

I have had Colorado Whiskey but am too cheap to buy a full bottle, and the Glenfarclas is for my 30th birthday. I still love this idea.

Typography by Martin Pyper

I love the simplicity of the idea of the style. Absolutely beautiful in execution.

Asparagus Cake

If I ever learn to like cake, this is totally one I would love to have. Not make, serve.

Of Course

Where to live to avoid a natural disaster. And, not surprisingly, Dallas area is the worst place to be. This seems just right.

Why do Americans still dislike atheists?

Long after blacks and Jews have made great strides, and even as homosexuals gain respect, acceptance and new rights, there is still a group that lots of Americans just don’t like much: atheists. Those who don’t believe in God are widely considered to be immoral, wicked and angry. They can’t join the Boy Scouts. Atheist soldiers are rated potentially deficient when they do not score as sufficiently “spiritual” in military psychological evaluations. Surveys find that most Americans refuse or are reluctant to marry or vote for nontheists; in other words, nonbelievers are one minority still commonly denied in practical terms the right to assume office despite the constitutional ban on religious tests.

Obama's White House Correspondents' Dinner Roast