This is a common optical illusion that I’m sure we’ve all seen before. Though the lines above appear curved, in actuality, they are straight. We’re all so used to seeing these sorts of illusions, but do we really understand how they work?

Well, it seems science may have an explanation. Scientists have always known that humans have a tenth of a second delay between seeing something, and having they register it to the brain. The big question was, what happens during this tenth of a second? Obviously a lot of things can happen in that short time frame, so if we were lagging behind, we would have severe trouble functioning.

The theory put forward by this article is that our brain extrapolates ahead of time, allowing us to “see the future.” This work great for things like fast moving balls and such, but this faculty can cause us to see things that aren’t there. Case in point: the Hering illusion. The spiral lines trick our eyes into thinking we’re moving forward, which causes the brain to go into “future mode.” This extrapolation causes the lines to appear bent to us (as they would appear if we were actually moving).

I’m not 100% sure if I buy this explanation, but its interesting to think about for sure. I always enjoy finding out about new discoveries on the function of the brain, because the implications are always fascinating. I’ll be sure to bring you any updates on this kind of research in the future.

The blaze broke out just before dawn on a sound stage at the 400-acre property, fire Capt. Frank Reynoso said. There was at least one explosion.

How appropriate is it that a fire in a movie studio where films such as War of the Worlds have been filmed would feature explosions? I have to say, if there hadn’t been at least one explosion in this fire, I would have been pretty put out. I mean, if the fires at your movie studio don’t even live up to the fires in your movies, isn’t your whole endeavor ring at least a little hollow?

In fact, as the story unfolds, I hope we here about more Hollywood style drama that occurred as a result of the fire. Perhaps a tall, handsome man who has abandoned his family will have been forced to fight through the flames as he redeems himself from his irresponsible past. Or perhaps we will find out that the fire was started by a lovable slacker attempting to impress a date. He will then have proceeded to attempt to put out the fire himself, all the time only encouraging its progress forward. Or maybe the whole thing is a precursor to an alien invasion. That could rock.

However, the reality is sure to be much more mundane. Someone probably knocked over a stage lamp, which started the fire. We can only hope that the reality is a little more Hollywood style, since it is Universal Studios, after all. We shall see what the follow up story brings. My money is on the alien thing, for sure.

Sure, we dominate sports only we really play (*cough football *cough*), but when it comes to things like soccer and tennis, we only seem to have sporadic success, despite having a huge base of players to draw off of. Millions of children are playing soccer in the U.S., so how come none of these grow up to be the star players we need to dominate in the international circuit? I suspect that the status of the sport has a lot to do with it. Being a football player at a big ten school will give you god like status on campus, whereas being a star soccer player won’t kill your social status at all, but it certainly won’t be the same as even the most marginal football player.

I’m not proposing we make any radical changes the the system to fix this discrepancy, as I’m far more concerned about the difference in attitudes between scientists and athletes. Scientists and engineers help keep the world running smoothly, and have created modern society as we know it. Athletes throw a ball around. The difference in status between these two professions is huge, to say the least. This isn’t rational, and isn’t likely to change any time soon. I just needed to throw that rant in there.

Getting back to Robby Ginepri, I do wish him luck in the rest of the French Open. If he wins, it will be a joy to watch in the same way that Lance’s win in the Tour de France were. Put those snobby Frenchmen in their place!

However, there are those of us who choose to ignore this issue, and pursue our dream to play an instrument as an adult. I have always wanted to play the cello, but my parents were never able to afford it when I was a child. We had a piano, so I learned to play the piano, which I do not regret at all. However, I still had this strong urge to learn to play the cello. About a year ago, I decided that there’s no better time to start than today, I went over to the local music store, rented a cello, and started up lessons.

At first, the going was a little rough. As I quickly discovered, starting out on a new instrument is not easy. My playing was super scratchy, out of tune, and just plain non musical. However, I kept practicing, and noticed some improvement after every lesson. I was making progress, and that, to me, seemed like a good sign.

Now, a year and a few months later, I’ve improved greatly. I can play in tune most of the time, in several positions, and create sounds which actually resemble music. I’ve got a long way to go, sure, but I can certainly see my gaining a fair level of competency after a few more years of practice. Though I may never be as good as I would if I had started as a child, I’m really enjoying the learning process, and I will certainly be a competent player in a few years. So, if you’re considering starting an instrument at an older age, don’t listen to the naysayers, go ahead and for it. You might just be surprised with your progress.

Now, I feel for Anjali and the loss of her scholarship (college is expensive these days), and I see this event as a symptom of how common sense has lost its place in today’s America. Though she clearly had the highest GPA by a large margin, completed a full degree at her school, and was clearly most deserving of the scholarship, somebody decided that since she didn’t actually stay in four years, that Anajali wasn’t eligible. This clearly violates the spirit of the rule, and takes away a valuable college scholarship away from someone who clearly earned and deserved it, simply because the high school officials had no common sense whatsoever.

I’m sure that with the nationally covered story, and her excellent academic performance, Anjali Datta will have no trouble at all getting into any school she wants, probably with a hefty scholarship attached. Still, the fact that she didn’t get such a basic recognition for her accomplishments is criminal, and I hope the school administrators realize what they have done. Life isn’t fair, but we don’t need people like that making it worse.

This story caught my eye particularly because of its focus on the concentrated solar thermal energy technology. Unlike the photo voltaic solar panels, which are what most people think of when it comes to solar energy, solar thermal doesn’t require vast tracts of land to be effective. Rather, solar thermal energy sources utilize a curved mirror to concentrate the sunlight onto a small tube filled with fluid. The energy from this fluid is then typically extracted via a heat exchanger to power a turbine for electricity generation.

The upside of this system is that a very small system can produce a decent amount of power. According to Sopogy, each station produces 500 watts, which means that two of these could power the average house (according to these numbers). It’s simple to imagine a future where those in warm climate could purchase two of these units, and fulfill a large portion of their power needs. Of course, the prices are high at the moment, but continued investment by those such as Omyidar should help bring prices down in the future. Since energy prices in Hawaii are so high, technologies such as concentrated solar thermal have a much better chance of competing in the open market.

Though its not a magic bullet, this investment represents a good first step towards the continue proliferation of renewable energy technologies in the marketplace. Hopefully, prices on these systems will come down, and a future of clean, renewable energy will finally become a reality for the US.

MSNBC has a story about how Spam, everyone’s favorite canned meat, is making somewhat of a comeback due to the declining economy. Apparently, those squeezed by the tight economy precipitated the mortgage crisis, gas prices, and other issues are finding the canned meat product to be an affordable alternative to “real” meat.

It doesn’t have to be this way, however. Though times are certainly tough, and the mortgage and credit markets are tight, there are ways to avoid having to eat Spam for every meal. The first thing to do is to get your credit and debt issues straightened out. It’s not easy (I’m just a poor student myself), but getting out of debt is one of the best things you can do for your financial life. Getting out of debt is not easy, but by following a few simple principles, you can work your way to financial freedom.

Firstly, stop buying stuff you can’t afford. Sounds simple, but you’re never going to get out of debt of you keep busting out that credit card every chance you get. If you need need to cut them up, so be it, but if you want to stop eating that Spam, you’re going need to develop some self discipline. Once you do this, you can focus on slowly playing off the debt. The best way to accomplish, in my opinion, is begin by devoting as much spare cash possible to the credit line with the highest interest rate. Once you pay this, you can move on to the next highest one, and so on until you begin to eliminate your debt entirely.

Even if you love Spam, remember that you’ll still be able to buy it when you’re sitting on some savings instead of a massive ball of debt. Even if the recession has hit you hard, you can still come out ahead if you practice smart financial habits. I’m not going to make this into a personal finance blog, but I’ve studied the subject a fair amount, and I wanted to share a few tips with you all after reading the story. Stayed tuned for more here in the near future.

In fact, I’d have to say that most guys are quite apathetic towards the relationship statuses of attractive female celebrities. Is this because men don’t see the relationship as an obstacle, or because men never visual themselves being with famous women as much as women see themselves with famous men? Personally, I think that the reason for this disparity is that women are much more attracted to the fame and fortune of male star figures, whereas men would be perfectly content dating the grocery store checkout girl, provided she’s attractive and has a compatible personality.

This theory is further supported by real life observations about the relationship habits of men and women. We see many rich and powerful men dating pretty models. Models, lets face it, are mostly nobodies who happen to be really attractive due to their luck in the genetic lottery. However, despite their lack of status, the most most famous and powerful men continue to date them despite their low status.

On the flip side of this, we rarely see male models dating rich and powerful women who aren’t also attractive. This, to me, makes it clear what the primary motives are for men and women in the dating market. Bringing it back to George Clooney, we can be sure that with his growing power and status, as well as his widely recognized looks, he will not remain single much longer. As for Sarah Larson, being an attractive young woman, she is certain to be pick up here soon, possibly by another man of similar status. If only we could all be so lucky.

For example, there are many beautiful resorts in Thailand that were hit by the tsunami a few years back. People enjoying the beautiful white sands beaches and luxury resorts of Thailand were completely unprepared for the absolute disaster that hit them. Though Thailand has recovered somewhat from this event, many tourists are still a little wary of visiting countries with a history of disaster.

Will Zihuatanejo follow this trend? It’s certainly possible, but small scale events like this tend to fade from the public eye quite quickly. The incidence of crime and kidnappings hasn’t stopped spring break vacationers from venturing into new and unknown places. However, tragedies like this remind us that no matter where we vacation, no matter how luxurious the resort, we are still only mortal.

Like many, I was quite worried about this film. The previous Indy movies were masterpieces of adventure film, and set a very high standard. After the relative debacle of the Star Wars prequels, I was worried to see what this sequel would bring. Would they capture the fun and adventure of the original, or simply devolve into ridiculous silliness? There was only one way to wind out, and that was to fork over the big buck to the movie theater.

Going into the theater, I noticed that the movie was hugely popular, showing on eight screens with massive lines everywhere. I couldn’t help but think how amazing it must be to be able to create a piece of art with that level of following, such that millions of people would take the first possible opportunity to see what you follow it up with. Amazing.

Getting into the theater, and sitting through the previews (nothing too promising there, unfortunately), I was greeted with the familiar Paramount logo, and the trademark transition into the film. This transition was decidedly less epic than those in years past, but was at least somewhat amusing. The first half hour or so of the film starts off with a huge bang, not unlike the opening of Casino Royal, another film attempting to live up to franchise expectations. It is in this opening act that we meet Cate Blanchett’s villianess, who seems up to playing Jones’ first post-Nazi nemesis. Despite some fairly implausible turns of events, I liked the opener quite well.

Moving into the meat of the film, we are greeted with many familiar sites and scenes. After Jones meets up with Shia Labeouf’s greaser character, the familiar around the world treasure hunting begins. This whole middle section of the film was great, in my opinion, and really kept up the fun and flavor of the original.

The ending, however, simply falls a little flat. It’s nothing terrible, but it certainly seemed anticlimactic, which is always disappointing. However, on the whole, the film is certainly a worthy member of the Indiana Jones family of films, and is definitely a solid summer adventure film. Even if Spielberg didn’t quite stick the landing, I had a lot of fun watching it, and in the end, thats what really makes a film worth seeing.