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From NYTimes.com: While a Magician Works, the Mind Does the Tricks

One theory of perception, for instance, holds that the brain builds representations of the world, moment to moment, using the senses to provide clues that are fleshed out into a mental picture based on experience and context. The brain uses neural tricks to do this: approximating, cutting corners, instantaneously and subconsciously choosing what to “see” and what to let pass, neuroscientists say. Magic exposes the inseams, the neural stitching in the perceptual curtain.

From Guardian.co.uk: Olympics: Spain’s eye-catching faux pas

Spain’s Olympic basketball teams have risked upsetting their Chinese hosts by posing for a pre-Games advert making slit-eyed gestures. The advert for a courier company, which is an official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation, occupied a full page in the sports daily Marca, the country’s best-selling newspaper.

Ah, this brings up some not so fond memories of my youth growing up Asian in the United States.  I can tell you one thing from the experience, the pulling of your eyes into a slant isn’t a universal sign of friendship or goodwill.

UPDATE 8/13/08:
From NYTimes.com: I.O.C. Calls Photo of Spanish Teams ‘Clearly Inappropriate’

My friend Karin showed me today at work, the Crayola Erasable Highlighter.  One side is the highlighter, the other side is a marker tip that can erase the highlight.  What will technology bring us next?

If you’re having problems getting iCal to push events to the Calendar App on your iPhone through MobileMe, make sure you check to see if your settings are correct.

I was having problems and I just assumed that it was a MobileMe issue and that once MobileMe was fixed, my problems would be solved.  It turns out that the Calendar sync setting was turned off in my iPhone.

Push settings aren’t found in “Calendar” section in the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar settings page,
but in the accounts section at the top of the same page.

Click on the account that is your MobileMe account as shown below.  My MobileMe account is still my .Mac account email address.

Make sure Calendars is switched to ON.  When I checked this setting on my iPhone it was turned off which was the cause of my iPhone not receiving push Calendar updates.

iCal on your Mac doesn’t automatically push new events to the MobileMe cloud, only when it syncs on its schedule.  To have an event pushed to your phone, you need to select “Sync Now” in the sync icon of your Mac’s menu bar.

From NYTimes.com: German City Wonders How Green Is Too Green

The town council took the significant step in June of moving from merely encouraging citizens to install solar panels to making them an obligation. The ordinance, the first of its kind in Germany, will require solar panels not only on new buildings, which fewer people oppose, but also on existing homes that undergo renovations or get new heating systems or roof repairs.

This is how far behind the United States is in solar usage.  In this city in Germany, they may be pushing a little too hard, too fast.  Here, we’re barely getting past the point of token encouragement for installations.  And even that’s going a way.  The program for Federal tax credits for solar are due to expire December 31, 2008.  Hopefully, the new incoming President will work to get those extended.

From NYTimes.com: Masked Cyclists Apologize to Chinese Officials

The masks, issued to the athletes by the Olympic committee through USA Cycling, were given to about 200 of the 596 athletes in the United States delegation, U.S.O.C. officials said. The swimming team was among those teams that brought the masks to Beijing, said one of the doctors working with that team.

But the cyclists’ grave mistake, U.S.O.C. officials say, was to wear their masks in the airport. Photographers and cameramen captured the athletes on film as the cyclists walked through Beijing’s new terminal. In minutes, those images were on television and the Internet.

If they were given the masks by the Olympic committee, why should the athletes apologize for wearing the masks at the airport?  Isn’t there air in the airport too?

From CBCNews.ca: Greyhound pulls ‘bus rage’ ads

From ESPN.com: Aug. 6: Running into a pre-Olympic protest

Interesting account of an ESPN reporter’s coverage of a pre-Olympic protest.