Pilots' secrets
"[I] you're afraid of those bumps that shake your coffee cup during a flight, take note that pilots avoid turbulence because it's annoying rather than dangerous," CNN.com reports. "But pay attention to the signals on board. 'It's one thing if the pilot puts the seat belt sign on for the passengers. But if he tells the flight attendants to sit down, you'd better listen. That means there's some serious turbulence ahead,' said John Greaves, an airline accident lawyer and former airline captain, according to Reader's Digest. There are also some secrets pilots want you to know, like the best time to give them a compliment. 'Most of the time, how you land is a good indicator of a pilot's skill. So if you want to say something nice to a pilot as you're getting off the plane, say "Nice landing." We do appreciate that,' Joe D'Eon, a pilot at a major airline, told the magazine."
The child's-eye view
Researchers in Japan are testing a unique child-safety device, New Scientist reports. Not only does the gadget track the location of the youngster, it also monitors what the child is seeing, and even his or her pulse. "If a child's heart rate is faster than usual, it snaps a photo of their point of view and alerts parents via e-mail. The device's makers, a team led by Seung-Hee Lee at the University of Tsukuba, say [caregivers]could use it to identify bullying, for instance. … Lee also sees the device being used in the care of people with dementia."
Language gaffes
"Calling Greek locals a 'squid,' asking for a 'condom' at the breakfast table and declaring yourself 'pregnant' to a French waiter are among the most common mistakes made by Britons attempting to speak a foreign language while abroad," according to a survey, The Daily Telegraph reports. "… The Greek word for 'good morning' - ' kalimera' - bears a resemblance to ' calamari,' while ' Je suis plein' means 'I am full' in French, but when mispronounced as ' pleine,' translates as 'I am pregnant.' In Portugal and France, the word for 'condom' is ' preservativo' and ' préservatif' and is sometimes mistakenly used when asking for jam."
Who goes there?
"Now that large institutions like NATO and the United Nations have recognized cyberspace as the fifth domain for warfare ('after land, sea, air and outer space'), and the Pentagon has brought its Cyber Command up to speed, the Obama administration has drawn up rules of engagement for America's laptop legionnaires," Miller-mccune.com reports. "In case of a major assault on the country's computer networks, it seems, the Pentagon can operate on American soil. … The trouble with this arrangement is that some ex-military types - like former vice-admiral Michael McConnell, who served as director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush - have pushed for years for more military meddling in the civilian Internet. McConnell now works for a consultancy, Booz Allen Hamilton, but before he left office he warned President Bush that the threat of cyberwarfare was dire enough that 'the U.S. government should have unfettered and warrantless access to U.S. citizens' Google search histories, private e-mails and file transfers,' according to Wired.com."
Conservation's effect
"On average," Associated Press reports, "52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians are taking a significant step toward extinction each year, a huge new analysis says. But if not for conservation efforts, the march would be even faster, researchers reported Tuesday. Efforts to save endangered animals are making a difference, even as about one in five of the world's backboned species - mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish - are threatened with extinction, according to a study published online in the journal Science."
Sad and creative
"Angst has creative perks," Wired.com reports. "That, at least, is the conclusion of Modupe Akinola, a professor at Columbia Business School, in her paper The Dark Side of Creativity: Biological Vulnerability and Negative Emotions Lead to Greater Artistic Creativity. The experiment was simple: She asked subjects to give a short speech about their dream job. The students were randomly assigned to either a positive or negative feedback condition, in which their speech was greeted with smiles and vertical nods (positive) or frowns and horizontal shakes (negative). After the speech was over, the subjects were given glue, paper and coloured felt and told to create a collage using the materials. Professional artists then evaluated each collage for creativity. In addition, Akinola also measured DHEAS (dehydroepiandrosterone), an endogenous hormone that blunts the effects of stress hormones like cortisol … Here's where things get interesting: People who received negative feedback created better collages, at least when compared to those who received positive feedback or no feedback at all. Furthermore, those with low baselines of DHEAS proved particularly vulnerable to the external effects of frowns, so that they proved to be the most creative of all."
Thought du jour
"A hero is someone we can admire without apology."
Kitty Kelley (1942-), U.S. journalist and biographer