Researchers in Spain are trying to construct wheelchairs that run just with the power of the mind. Granted, I bet they still need batteries to give them juice, but imagine not having to use one of those joysticks to turn right or left. Is this the future?

Spanish scientists have begun work on a new brain-computer interface, or BCI, capable of converting thought into commands that a wheelchair can execute.
Other researchers have already had some success with hard-wired brain computer interfaces, but they're powered by large computers and are physically plugged into the brain.
The Spanish researchers hope to develop a small, mobile interface that works with electroencephalogram electrodes, or EEG, placed on the scalp.

Noninvasive and small. I wonder what they'll come up with next.

It's going to be pinkish. I'm positively disgusted with myself and bemused. The graphic is no biggy, but the css is giving me issues. MT really decided to make things complicated!
Anyway, as soon as I'm satisfied I'll upload the site design. At least it won't be this dull blue thing I've been staring at forever. I seriously wanted to do green, but I guess V-Day won even if I'm secretly cursing couples everywhere.
Ew.

A challenge has been issued, and it's taken me an entire day to write about it. It is that difficult.
Over at Feministe, a mission was set. Women were asked to list five things they loved about their body and their self. Just five simple things, and I'm sure that any female would have some trouble listing one or two things or maybe even all five, but among the disABLED community it's a bit more complicated. It's all about appearance, what is lacking or not. When a person sees you for the first time that first glance speaks volumes even if it's unintentional. Unfortunately, in our society the physical is everything, for the most part.
So to say that the last twenty-nine years have been a journey in self-acceptance would be the understatement of the new millennium! Coming up with a list of five lovely things to say about my body was downright excruciating. Not because I don't believe I'm gorgeous, but because I'm afraid of sounding vain.
1. My hair. I absolutely am anal about it. I cut it every three month, condition it when it's supposed to, don't fry it, don't over dye it, etc. It's my hair.
2. I love my eyes. They are green, but they turn into shades of greyish green or green blue depending on what I wear. Who needs contacts with these eyes.
3. My voice. It's loud, it's soft, and it sings.
4. My hands. They're the second thing people notice about me that actually labels me as what I should be and am not. I'm ambidextrous in a nontraditional way. I type with my left and write with my right, and I have the neatest, tiniest handwriting ever. These hands take me everywhere.
5. My butt. Big is in. 'Nuff said.
Ladies, your turn.
Courtesy of Wheelchair Dancer.

Texas my Texas, here we go again. An appeals court refused to throw out the conviction of a young man who was convicted of killing his twin children. The catch? The mother, 16, was only five months pregnant with the twins, and she didn't want to have the children either.
The way everything went down is appalling. It's the law that is slightly disconcerting.

The case tested a Texas law that makes it a capital offense to kill an unborn child. The law redefined a person as having full rights to legal protection from the moment of conception...
Abbott said doctors breaking the law should be given jail time and lose their licenses, rather than being prosecuted for capital murder.

Taken literally Texas is outlawing abortion, and doctors can go to jail for performing them even in the first trimester. Give a fetus rights from day one, and this is what could happen. I don't think the lawmakers even wanted to deal with a slippery slope. It was all intentional. After all in Texas religion rules, and zygotes have feelings too.
Well then what happens in a miscarriage? Imagine the suspicion.
We're all going to hell.
Fascinating, right?
And for the record, I'm writing about the law. I am in no way supporting what these kids did. Psycho pro-choicers and pro-lifers can stay away.

Bloody hell!
I stumbled across a few blogs that are retakers like moi, and apart from the fact that they rock, it just made me feel nice. It was a reminder that I'm not a loser. If they're not, then I'm most definitely not. After all, this exam is the test from hell, and rarely does anyone come back from it with their sanity intact.
Do I write sanely? No!
Of course, reading the blogs has suddenly induced something in me, and it's not good. The anxiety bitch is back, and I have to beat her back with a stick. Die, wench, die. Someone remind me about my mantra. What have I been saying for weeks? Oh yeah, I'm going to pass.
Texas can just bite me.

There was no SOTU for me, though I did read somewhere that Bush plans to devote the remainder of his presidency helping Africa. Huh?
In the meantime, my brother sent me another one of those political quizzes that is supposed to pinpoint how I lean exactly. I really liked this one just because I honestly had to think about my answers. I'm economic left/right: -5.63 social libertarian/authoritarian: -3.03.
Apparently, I heart the Dalai Lama and Mandela. And here I thought I was Machiavellian all the way.

Law firms are allegedly discriminating against homosexuals in New York. At least that's what one gay attorney at a high-end firm is claiming, and he wants to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Charney claims that one of the firm's partners, Eric Krautheimer, threw a document at his feet and told him to "bend over and pick it up — I'm sure you like that" and that partner Alexandra Korry falsely accused him of "carrying on an 'unnatural' homosexual relationship with another male S&C associate," according to court documents.

The actual article seems quite suspicious of Mr. Chaney, and his alleged abuse at the hands of these "Partners." After all, in order to make Partner at a firm it's been well documented that one must sell one's soul to the devil. We are the legal profession, are we not? What's different here?
Then I remembered (as I'm writing this because I'm brilliant) that a certain David Lat aka the former Underneath Their Robes always has the inside goods on the legal profession. Always. Sure enough his blawg has all the breaking news on this lovely gem, Charney v. S&C. So far the advice is sound. Judge not until all is known.

Dude! DUDE! Just when I think the show can no longer surprise me, it does a double whammy and pulls that one.
Then there is Grey's Anatomy. ::sniff:: Every show makes me cry. Tonight was no exception.
Finally, it looks like another whedonverse actor was cast in Tim Minnear's new show, Drive. The lovely Amy Acker will be returning to tv, and she'll be playing Nathan Fillion's wife. Wait, Capt. Mal married to Fred/Illyria? Freaky, but I can see it.

HBO just bought the television rights to George R.R. Martin's series "A Song of Ice and Fire." They intend to produce a season around each novel, and I'm sitting here thinking how in the hell are they going to find the actors to play these roles? Many of the characters are kids or teenagers, and there's sex! There's tons of it. They had better cast a damn good Jaime Lannister.
Oh my goodness. A Game of Thrones is coming to HBO! I think I can almost forgive them for canceling Deadwood.
Taken from Aintitcool.

There are all these myths out there that perpetuate this downside to being bilingual. Apparently, some people think bilinguals have a subpar vocabulary, and their intelligence is rather lacking, and it's generally just to their detriment. There is no room in the brain for two languages. Except it seems that bilingualism prevents dementia.

Canadian scientists have found astonishing evidence that the lifelong use of two languages can help delay the onset of dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who are monolingual.

Imagine what three languages could do or even four. I can picture it now. People will be rushing to become linguists. Parents will actually teach their children their native tongue. Klingon will become nationally recognized.
As for those myths, I found them on some website, and I can't believe that they even exist. Do people honestly believe that bilinguals have a lesser vocabulary? Please don't make me smack you.
Via Slashdot.