Stephen Hawking Says Not Finding Higgs Boson Would Be 'More Interesting'

The discovery of the once-elusive Higgs boson particle after a decades-long hunt is widely regarded as a major breakthrough, but legendary physicist Stephen Hawking thinks the field would actually be more "interesting" if the Higgs had remained a mystery.

"Physics would be far more interesting if it had not been found," Hawking told an audience at the Science Museum in London this week, according to The Guardian.

The Higgs boson is an elementary particle that is thought to explain why other fundamental particles have mass. Its discovery in July 2012, at the Large Hadron Collider housed at CERN's physics lab in Geneva, Switzerland, represented the final piece of the puzzle predicted by the Standard Model, the reigning theory of particle physics.

Last month, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in physics to Francois Englert of Belgium and Peter Higgs of the United Kingdom, for their research in 1964 on the theory of particle masses, which established the foundation for the discovery of the Higgs particle.

But, had the Higgs not been found, physicists might have been required to rethink some of the prevailing ideas about the nature of particles, launching investigations into other "interesting" and tantalizingly unanswered questions, Hawking suggested.

Still, the search for the Higgs boson, and its subsequent discovery, received widespread attention, including early debates about whether the long-sought particle had actually been detected or not.

Hawking's initial doubts about the discovery ended up costing him. "I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn’t be found," Hawking said, as reported by The Guardian. "The Nobel prize cost me $100."

Hawking spoke at an event earlier this week to celebrate the opening of a new exhibit about the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest atom smasher, at the Science Museum in London.

In addition to talking about the discovery of the Higgs particle, Hawking discussed some of the other theories he hopes will be probed by scientists at CERN.

One is supersymmetry, a popular theory based on the idea that all of the known subatomic particles have "superpartner" particles that have yet to be observed. If these superpartners do exist, scientists could begin to explain some of the most enigmatic riddles in physics, such as the nature of dark matter, which is an invisible substance thought to make up a quarter of the universe. Scientists think dark matter may be composed of as-yet-undetected supersymmetric particles.

"I think the discovery of supersymmetric partners for the known particles would revolutionize our understanding of the universe," Hawking said.

Sony sells 1 million PlayStation 4 units in first 24 hours

(Reuters) - Sony Corp said on Sunday it had sold 1 million units of its new PlayStation 4 gaming console in the first 24 hours that it was available in the United States and Canada.

The console, which Sony is counting on to kick-start a revival of its consumer electronics business, went on sale on November 15.

Andrew House, the head of Sony Computer Entertainment, the unit of Sony that oversees PlayStation, said in a statement that "sales remain very strong in North America."

"We expect continued enthusiasm as we launch the PlayStation 4 in Europe and Latin America on November 29," House said.

Sony Corp had previously announced it had received more than 1 million advance orders for the console. Still, the initial sales figures are Sony's first salvo in a battle brewing with Microsoft Corp's Xbox One console, which goes on sale Nov 22. Sony is also hoping its console can help build a platform for recovery at the Japanese company's money-losing consumer electronics operations.

Sony is aiming to sell 5 million PS4 units by the end of its fiscal year that ends on March 31. Robert W. Baird & Co analyst Colin Sebastian has said he expects 2.5 million to 3 million PS4 shipments in the fourth quarter in North America.

Both the PS4, priced at $399 in the United States, and the Xbox One, with a price tag of $499, offer improved graphics for realistic effects, processors that allow faster game play and a slew of exclusive video games.

Ford Makes a Car Lined With Coke-Bottle Material

Making a car more environmentally friendly doesn't just mean hybrid engines or better gas mileage.
A new partnership between Ford and Coca-Cola applies it to a car's interior too.
The Ford Fusion Energi, a hybrid vehicle currently in development by the car company, uses the same material to line the car's insides as Coke uses to make its plastic bottles.
Both plastic bottles and car interiors can be made from PET, short for polyethylene terephthalate. Back in 2009, Coca-Cola started to make bottles using PlantBottle Technology, a method that made PET but used sustainable plants in place of petroleum. Todd Nissen, a spokesman for Ford, said that PlantBottle technology caught the company's eye.
"We actually announced an initiative that wasn't only with Coke but with Heinz, Nike and Procter & Gamble as well," he told ABC News. "Out of those talks came the idea that we could use Coke's technology and turn PET into a fabric."
Anil Netravali, a professor in the Fiber Science Program at Cornell University, said that PET is made by having two chemicals react together: terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol. "Terephthalic acid isn't produced by plants," he said, "but ethylene glycol is. That is the sustainable part to making PET."
The plant-based PET can be found in the seat cushions and in the door panel inserts. Nissen adds that it could also be used to make some of the hard plastic parts that drivers wouldn't necessarily see, but that the lining would be most obvious to drivers.
Ford's new car is set to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show at the end of the month. "When you put something out there, it's for the purpose of getting people's opinions," he said. While it's not set in stone that the new material will make it to market, Nissen is optimistic. "If we weren't serious about considering it, we wouldn't do it."

Why are Gulf students choosing to study abroad?

Gulf countries have young populations - more than half the locals are under 30 - and that means higher education is big business.

New colleges and universities open every year but many are choosing to study abroad instead, usually in English-speaking countries such as the UK, the US and Australia.
Simon Atkinson reports from Wollongong on the New South Wales coast.

For more details, check the video link below:
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71134000/jpg/_71134545_71134544.jpg

(Source: BBC)

Why We No Longer Need HR Departments

The time has come for HR (Human Resources) departments to call it a day. HR departments often portray themselves as a valued business partner for management and staff alike. However, how can anyone take a department seriously that refers to people as ‘resources’?

Nothing matters more to companies than the people who work there. Companies are nothing without the right people! And I am sure that not one, single individual wants to be referred to as a ‘human resource’.

So, the first point I want to make is that the name is wrong: very wrong. It signals to everyone that this department manages ‘human resources’ in a top-down fashion, i.e. managing humans in a similar way to other resources such as finance, property or machines. If departments can’t see that this is sending out the wrong messages, then they don’t deserve to be there anyway.

Another issue is that HR departments are trying to serve two masters – which, in most cases, is not very successful. On the one hand, they are there to provide support for the employees and, on the other hand, they are there for the company and the senior management to help manage (and monitor, discipline, appraise, etc.) employees. This conflict of interest can cause friction and in many instances HR departments swing to the ‘support the company’ side, rather than the ‘support the employees’ side.

There is more. We can argue about whether the name is right or wrong, or whether the focus should be on the company or on the employees, but what really matters is whether HR delivers value. I have recently seen a number of companies that shut their HR departments down completely; outsourced the function or reduced it to a minimum. The reason they have done it, and not suffered any significant throw-back, is because HR wasn’t delivering any real value. Most of their time was taken up with bureaucratic and administrative tasks or legal issues. If HR doesn’t deliver some unique benefits then outsourcing it makes a lot of business sense.

Other companies, however, have invested in the ‘people function’. They realize that they need people who ensure that the company finds, recruits, retains and develops its people. So here is what I recommend:

1. Don’t call it HR!
2. Put two teams in place: a people analytics’ team and a people support team.
3. The role of the people support team is, as the title suggests, supporting all employees in the organization – from the front line to the senior leadership team. The tasks of this team include: helping employees with their development; ensuring staff engagement; identifying issues with morale and culture and generally looking after the well-being of the people in the business.
4. The role of the people analytics team is to look at people more scientifically and support the company with insights and analytics. The kind of questions this team would help to answer includes: What are our talent gaps? What makes a good employee in our company and how do we best recruit them? Which employees have got the highest potential? How can we predict staff turnover? Etc.
5. Outsource or automate the non-value adding part of HR.

As always, I am interested to hear your reactions. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?

The Future of Small Business Mobile Strategies: Five Trends

Mobile strategies? What are you talking about? My “mobile

strategy” so far is to ignore mobile devices and hope 

they go away. They’re going away soon, aren’t they?

Nope. Not by a long shot.

In fact, in many ways, they are replacing desktops entirely. And for the first time in history, a majority of all Internet activity this year is expected to come from mobile devices. Indeed, many of the most popular apps and web companies are now reporting that most of their users are connecting via mobile devices. And this trend shows no signs of slowing down as the capabilities of mobile devices continue to increase.

So, what do small businesses need to know to stay competitive going forward? Below are five clear trends that each small business owner should keep in mind when charting a course through an increasingly mobile world.

1. Mobile will be more local

Mobile users frequently perform local searches. That is, they’re looking for something, but only in their local neighborhood or zip code. This means that a small business’s mobile strategy should cater to local users as much as possible.

Optimize your mobile website text for your local zip codes and neighborhood names, and make sure that your information on popular geographical search results (Google Maps, Yelp, etc.) is always accurate. Also, don’t forget to make your address, a local map, and directions to your location easy to find!

2. Mobile will be more visual

When people are on their mobile devices, they’re usually not looking for text-heavy content. Video, on the other hand, is quite popular, and is becoming more popular by the day, due to increasing mobile video quality and data connection speeds. To the extent that video content can be made relevant to your business, you should seek to have simple videos made and uploaded for mobile consumption.

At a minimum, a simple introductory video should be playable from your homepage. Even better, produce a series of videos that are tailored to common searches in your industry. For an attorney, this might include short video lectures regarding what to do when pulled over or arrested. For a realtor, it could be videos about the top ten signs that a house is a bad buy. For a restaurant, it could be videos taken on trips to local suppliers to demonstrate the high quality of the ingredients in use.

When it comes to video quality, you don’t have to use a New York ad agency to get good results. An aging webcam, however, is probably not good enough to get the job done. Decent equipment is available to anyone nowadays. Find the right balance of quality and cost, and don’t be afraid to dive right in. (Just try to avoid going viral for the wrong reasons!)

3. Mobile will be more constant

Mobile devices are always with us. For many users, they’re the first and last screens seen each day, and they’re a constant go-to tool for a huge variety of functions. For that reason, it’s good to think of the increasingly 24/7 nature of mobile usage when designing your mobile strategy.

Make sure that all of your mobile channels are open as much as possible (your mobile website, your app, your social platforms, etc.), and keep in mind that users will be accessing them at all times of the day and from all locations.

4. Mobile will be more social

The vast majority of users use their mobile device for social activity at some point each day, and a majority of Facebook users now connect via mobile. When you publish content to your social media profiles, make sure that the content is mobile-friendly (i.e. a link to a site that has a mobile version, an image that isn’t too big, a reasonable amount of text). The more mobile-friendly you are, the more successful you will be with the biggest user base.

5. Mobile will be more promotional

Mobile is already a great tool for generating sales, but as users gain comfort with makings sales via mobile devices (already hugely popular, especially for retail consumer goods), mobile coupons, push notifications, and more, the promotional power of mobile will only increase. For small businesses, this means strongly considering having a mobile storefront tab in your company’s app, investing in mobile ads, and offering a variety of promotions to mobile users through the various platforms available.

It’s already a mobile world, and users are making it more mobile every day. For small businesses, the message is clear: it’s past time to go mobile. Longer delays will have far-reaching consequences that businesses simply can’t afford.

Headline, November19, 2013

''' HUMAN REASONING AND 

DIVINE SCHEMES '''

Research has also that shown that it makes a big difference whether a small child is constantly talked to and stimulated in various ways or is just laid down to vegetate somewhere, while her mother watches her soap operas or sleeps off a hangover.

It is just not a matter of what information is conveyed to the child. Constant interaction, even with low-I.Q. adults, has been shown to improve a child's I.Q. It is not what they convey to him but what they stimulate in him.

The physical development of the brain itself is greater in children who have much interaction and many things to think about, however simple those things may be. In the crucial early years especially, you have to use it or lose it.

Painful as it is to think of all the individuals and groups who have lost golden opportunities because of these and numerous other differences beyond their control, the only thing worse than thinking about it is refusing to think about it. A grand pretense, endlessly repeated does not become a hard fact. 

The tendency to explain differences by either genetics or discrimination ignores very large differences that cannot be attributed to either. Numerous visitors to the antebellum South wrote, either publicly or privately, of the great differences between southern whites and northern whites.

These differences ranged from church services to sex, from child-rearing to alcohol consumption, from entrepreneurship to violence. Yet whites in the two sections of the country were of the same race, language, religion and legal status.

Nevertheless, their differences extended across a broad spectrum, including the per capita rate of inventions patented, which was several times as high outside the South. Many 19th century writers, including de Tocqueville, attribute these differences to the concentration of the slavery in the south.

But the two groups of white who settled in different regions of the United States came from different regions of Britain, where the same differences existed long before either of them had any slaves.

Slavery is not a magic answer to historic questions, either for whites or blacks. Only the prevailing refusal to acknowledge that some cultures are far more effective than others leads us to grasp desperately for such all purpose explanations of performance differences, including genetics or discrimination.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Russia See Ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless  

!!! ''' Been There. Done That ''' !!!

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

How to Get Hired Without a Resume

It’s often a lot easier to test candidates in the throes of battle than it is to see their qualifications on paper

Hiring without a resume benefits the company because, instead of judging a book by the cover, Employers get to read a chapter before they buy.

So you’re about to enter the world of work. You’re ready to get in front of hiring managers and secure a job you’re passionate about. But there’s just one problem: your resume is seriously lacking.Maybe your major was so challenging that you didn’t have time to intern or participate in extracurricular activities in college. Or maybe you’re switching career paths, and your past experience isn’t relevant to the new gig. Whatever the case, you can still get hired without a resume –- it just takes some honesty and drive on both your part and the employer’s.Want to get hired without a bursting resume? Here are some tips.

Focus On Personal Projects First

You often work with technology so advanced that it’s impossible to find someone who’s already gained experience working with it. For instance, built one of your learning tools with World Students Society of Computers, Internet & Wireless, an open source framework. Because it’s relatively beneficial, opted to hire someone who didn’t have that particular skill but was interested in building smart solutions, someone who’s a fast learner.
Get your hands dirty on your own first, then use that work to pivot into a company

Any employer should be willing to teach new hires the skills they need. Get your hands dirty on your own first, then use that work to pivot into a company or use it as a replacement for a resume when speaking to hiring managers and employers. Complete a public project for yourself or contribute to an open source project, and make your work available online as WSSCIW.

Just Be Honest
If you don’t have lots of experience, you don’t have to hide it. All you have to do is explain that you’re very interested in what the employer is doing and that you see your career path meshing with their needs. Point to your schoolwork, personal projects or experience in another job that’s given you transferable skills to succeed.

Perform To Rise Through The Ranks
Rising through the ranks can happen more quickly than you’d think. Many of the senior members of our team rose from being Contributors. They showed they cared to work and were interested in what we did. They acted as a sponge for information, learned what they could and ended up with compatible jobs. One of Samdailytimes Contributor transitioned to a full-time assistant editor after just three months. Nine months after that, he became a Chief Editor others on complex projects.

If you know someone working in the field you’re interested in, get in touch and see if they’d be willing to recommend you to any key players they may know. Attend meetup events, use social media, or offer to start as a contributor or temporary employee. Networking can be a great way to get your foot in the door and ultimately rise through the ranks.

You don’t have to have tons of experience to do great things in your career. All you need is intuition, drive and true passion about what the company has to offer.

'Thor' holds box-office top spot with $38.5M

NEW YORK (AP) — In an unlikely battle of sequels, "Thor: The Dark World" bested "The Best Man Holiday" at the box office.

Disney's "Thor: The Dark World" continued its box-office reign with $38.5 million in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Sunday. Opening 15 years after the original "The Best Man," Universal's "The Best Man Holiday" opened strongly with $30.6 million.

Drawing an overwhelmingly female and African-American audience, "The Best Man Holiday" was a surprise challenger for the mighty "Thor." The R-rated romantic comedy, with an ensemble cast including Morris Chestnut and Taye Diggs, debuted with more than three times the box office of 1999's "The Best Man." That film opened with $9 million.

Marvel's Norse superhero, however, has been hammering audiences around the globe. "Thor: The Dark World" made $52.5 million internationally over the weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $479.8 million. With Chris Hemsworth as the title character and Tom Hiddleston as the popular villain Loki, the Thor franchise has proven to be one of Marvel's most successful.

Just as "Thor" approached the half-billion mark, Warner Bros.' space adventure "Gravity" crossed it in its seventh week of release.

"The Best Man Holiday" was the only new wide-release opening over the weekend, as the marketplace clears out for the release of "Hunger Games: Catching Fire." In limited release, Alexander Payne's black-and-white Midwest road trip "Nebraska" opened in four locations with a strong $35,000 per theater average for Paramount Pictures.

Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" was originally slated to open, but was postponed to Dec. 25 by Paramount.

Expected to be one of the year's biggest debuts, Lionsgate's "Catching Fire" will abruptly close the box-office window for "Thor" next weekend. "Catching Fire" opened in Brazil over the weekend, earning $6.3 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Thor: The Dark World," $38.5 million ($52.5 million international).

2. "The Best Man Holiday," $30.6 million.

3. "Last Vegas," $8.9 million.

4. "Free Birds," $8.3 million.

5. "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa," $7.7 million.

6. "Gravity," $6.3 million.

7. "Ender's Game," $6.2 million.

8. "12 Years a Slave," $4.7 million.

9. "Captain Phillips," $4.5 million.

10. "About Time," $3.5 million.

Will online learning kill the degree?

Online learning can help your career, but degrees are here to stay

Some say Moocs will replace university education, but degrees still have a value. Perhaps there is space for both.

"University wasn't for me," says Rachel Stiles. "I wasn't ready for it at the time; I wasn't mature enough."

Stiles quit her course and found a job instead. But she realised that qualifications would be essential for her dream career in medicine. With her goals in mind, she kept her job and enrolled on a distance learning degree in molecular science at the Open University.

She says: "I really enjoyed being able to earn a living, while also studying to further my career. I enjoyed being able to come home in the evenings and having something else to focus on that I was really interested in."

Like thousands of students each year, Stiles found that distance learning meant she could top-up her education at any time – and it looked good for employers.

"It seems like employers are putting more emphasis on experience and personal characteristics than they are on your actual degree. So if you can show to employer that you've worked and also studied for a degree at the same time, it says much more about you as a person.

"If anybody of any age wants to further themselves, or to learn something, it's such an easy way of doing it."

But with so many different types of online courses - ranging from accredited degrees like Stiles's, to unaccredited short courses - it can be tricky to tell the difference between them.

Many Moocs and other online courses that have emerged aim to use new technology as a platform for education. Some argue this has often meant that the quality of teaching and assessment has come second to the way courses are provided.

But although the quality of teaching can vary hugely, supplementing your learning can almost always help your career - even in a small way.

For Teodora Beleaga, what began as an interest quickly gave her career a boost. She started a Mooc course on infographics and data visualisation for fun, but soon found the online lessons came in handy at work.

She says: "At the time I was working within the data and insights department of my company, so I was able to apply what I was studying, while I was studying. I quickly became the person of reference for our department's data visualisations."

Extra education and qualifications have always helped people's careers, but with a fiercely competitive jobs market, Moocs are helping people to "top-up" their education. So will Moocs take over and make conventional degrees redundant, as some have asked?

"Unlikely," says Helen Lentell, university fellow in distance learning at the University of Leicester.

"They work when they're short. But it's not going to work for a long term study process where you need proper support. The bubble around Moocs will burst in the end, but it's still in full flow at the moment.

"If it's done well then distance learning is brilliant. But a lot of the time student services aren't provided. They often don't give the kind of support that makes distance learning work. It should all be about learning, not about the technology."

For students, the key is to read the small print and understand what the course is offering you - whatever type of distance learning course you're taking.

"Feedback is the critical aspect of learning," says Lentell. "Students need to know how much contact time they're going to get with a human being who's going to give them feedback, and what the quality of that feedback is going to be."

Whatever happens to conventional degrees, people of all ages, from all around the world will carry on turning to online learning to further their careers.

Judy Wivell, a senior lecturer in social science in New Zealand, was in her early 60s when she became a student again, taking a postgraduate certificate in clinical supervision at Derby University.

She says: "I wanted a supervision qualification to support my work, where I regularly supervise students," she says.

"The online programme worked well for me: it allowed me to complete a supervision qualification without juggling work and attendance at a course."

Ten years ago, the collapse of UKeU – a national online university – showed how distance learning can go badly wrong. It hoped to attract hundreds of thousands of students, but only 900 signed up and was labelled an "absolute disaster".

Today, online courses still vary a great deal, in quality, cost and qualifications. Online degree courses can offer similar experiences to conventional universities, but Moocs are not about to take over the role of universities. They can serve another purpose though: they can help you take your career to the next level, on your terms.

(Source: The Guardian)

Female students face a wave of misogyny in British universities

The shocking sexism displayed in a video of Stirling University men's hockey team is a stark example of the misogyny women students are experiencing in the name of 'banter'

This week, a video of the men's hockey team at the University of Stirling appeared on YouTube, showing the male students on a packed bus, engaged in a shouted chant. The chant, filmed on a mobile phone, begins: "I used to work in Chicago, in a department store …" and becomes increasingly misogynistic, racist and offensive as the journey progresses. Now the video has been viewed tens of thousands of times online, the University says it has launched an investigation.

But this video represents so much more than a single, isolated incident. In just two horribly uncomfortable minutes, it sums up the reality of what female students are facing up and down the country – a reality that isn't going away.

It was striking how recognisable many aspects of the situation were. The bravado and pack culture of the "lads" shouting their song regardless of the feelings of the many other, clearly uncomfortable, people on the bus. The young woman in the forefront of the shot who sits tight lipped, checking over her shoulder now and then, evoking an all-too-familiar sense of trapped, fearful tension. The student union officer who has now apologised , and was not involved in the chanting, but can be seen walking away at the beginning of the video rather than making any attempt to challenge the misogynistic behaviour. The passive bystander.

Then there are the lines from the song itself, each evoking an aspect of student sexism that might sound shocking to some, but will be wearily familiar to so many young women.

The idea that sexually assaulting a woman by groping her without her consent is a big joke: "A lady came into the store one day, asking for some material … felt, she got."

The gleeful belittling of women in sexual encounters: "A lady came into the store one day, asking for an orgasm … who gives a fuck what she got?"

The nasty combination of sexism and racism: "A lady came into the store one day, asking for an oriental-looking device … my Jap's eye she got."

And, finally, the joyful abandon with which painful realities are turned into a great big, "banterous" joke at women's expense: "A lady came into the store one day, asking for a lady train … a miscarriage she got."

This is not a one off. This is not even unusual. In the last month alone, the Everyday Sexism Project has received more than 100 reports of similar incidents from students at universities up and down the country. It is becoming the background noise to their education. And many of these reports reflect exactly the same attitudes that emerge in the Stirling video. The message is loud and clear: sexism and sexual violence is a joke, and woe betide you if you dare to object, you frigid, uptight bitch:

"The other day in class at university, I was sitting as the only girl in a group of 20-year-old guys, and they started making jokes about how they were going to rape girls after their night out later on … I was really angry, but felt like they wouldn't listen to me if I said something about it... or tell me to lighten up."

"I was walking from my university accommodation to the club on campus when two guys started walking next to me. They asked if I was going to the club and I said: 'Yes I'm meeting my friends there.' They then asked if I wanted some 'action' before I got there and one of them put their arm right round me so I couldn't pull away. I said: 'No thank you.' . They said it was OK they could still do something to me if they wanted because it's not rape if the woman's wearing socks."

"Getting on the bus at uni – three male students thought it was acceptable to make loud and very rude comments about my body and how I dressed. When I challenged them they said that it was 'just banter' and 'lads having a laugh'. Very uncomfortable bus ride – rest of the bus just sat in silence with no one supporting me. How is this still acceptable?"

"I'm 16 and in my last year of school. Constantly the guys (and girls) in my friendship circle make sexist remarks. Most of the time they don't realise they're being offensive, most of the time it's just 'banter'. For example, the other day my male friend said to me if I wear shorts to this Halloween party he will 'rape me, oh but it won't be rape because I will like it'. I responded telling him you shouldn't say things like that and I got called uptight … What is wrong with the world so that this is deemed OK? I am scared of going to university when I am older. Not because of exam stress but because of the horror stories I have heard from friends and family. The horror stories of girls that have been subjected to assault for 'banter'. I am scared. I am actually scared of being a female."

We urgently need to listen to these young women's voices. These are just some of the stories we have received in in the past month alone. Though individual institutions are dealing well with events in some cases, we need to step back and see the bigger picture here. Until we do, and until this wave of violent misogyny is recognised as an urgent nationwide problem by University heads, the hundreds of the reports we receive from young women will continue to end in that same, bewildered question – how is this still acceptable?

(Source: The Guardian)

Why physics students are optimists

Physics students are taught to look to the future, so are naturally optimistic; economics students learn from mistakes of the past – no wonder their world is full of gloom

The optimism of physics students seems to know no bounds, and I should know. I speak as someone who happily sat on a coach for 21 hours to witness what is, in the nicest possible terms, a hole in the ground.

The – admittedly very high tech – hole I visited with 30 or so fellow students is the future site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter), a project to harness the power of nuclear fusion. Ambitious projects like these, and my excitement to see them in progress, reflect the optimism of physic students themselves.

Science teaches you to look forward, to find solutions, and to work things out. My coursemates and I live in a secure world where solutions look apparent, because we are taught to be inquisitive.

The Iter project that I saw on my uni trip won't be completed until 2030, if we're lucky. But our willingness to visit the site shows the sunny side of science students. Projects like Iter fill us with enthusiasm.

I once went with two economics students to the European Central Bank, which I'd thought would be their equivalent of Iter. Instead, it was patiently explained to me that the ECB should "never have been formed in the first place", and that the experiment of fiscal union had been a crushing failure.

The more we explored Germany, the more it became apparent that their outlook as a whole was very different from mine. Physics students have seen science solve problems and believe it can continue to do so; economics students dwell on the dismal effects of mistakes economists have made in the past.

When we visited the Iter site, it was made clear to us that nuclear fusion will not be our get-out-of-the-energy-crisis-free card; it's not going to solve all our problems. But physics students find it hard to kick a nagging belief that technology will sort most things out in the end.

We're optimistic about our personal futures too. Other students need to focus on getting work experience in order to get a job; science has perceived job security. And anyway, we're engrossed in our studies. Lots of us aren't even thinking about jobs yet.

I love being around people who discussing light-sabres and nuclear-powered space-planes– though I admit that students studying other subjects, economics even, may well have a better sense of the real world.

Our positivity may make us seem naive. But as physics students our job is to strive to justify our optimism one day.

On our Iter trip, heads shot up when a Nobel prize was mentioned. We know we won't get one, of course, but we all hope we will. That sums us up really.

(Source: The Guardian)

Indonesia Volcanoes Sinabung, Merapi Erupt

(AP) — Two volcanoes erupted Monday in Indonesia, prompting warnings for flights and evacuation preparations, official said.

Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province unleashed volcanic ash as high as 8,000 meters (26,250 feet), the highest of its eruptions in recent days, said government volcano expert Surono.

The 2,600-meter (8,530-foot) -high mountain has sporadically erupted since September after being dormant for three years.

Officials raised the alert status of Sinabung to the second-highest level after an eruption early this month, prompting evacuation of more than 6,000 villagers living near its slopes. Its activities have continued since then, sometimes unleashing lava down the slopes.

5 Leafy Greens You've Probably Never Eaten (But Should!)

Modern cooks are rediscovering the wide world of leafy greens. But how do you buy, store and prepare these nutritious, delicious superfoods? Covering everything from spinach to bok choy to nettles, The Complete Leafy Greens Cookbook will help you embrace the unfamiliar as well as offering a fresh outlook on old favorites.

Carrot Tops

Carrot greens are bitter, herbaceous and astringent, with a hint of sweetness in the finish. They are coarse and grainy when raw. The stems taste like celery but are too stringy to use.

Although no official government analysis is available, carrot tops probably have a nutritional profile similar to their roots. This would suggest that carrot tops provide vitamins A, B6, C and K, folate, manganese, niacin, potassium and thiamin.

Chickweed


The raw leaves are soft and delicate. They taste herbaceous, slightly spinachy and astringent. The flowers and stems are nutty, with a slightly bitter finish. When cooked, chickweed leaves are milder and taste faintly like spinach, with a nutty finish and hints of tea.

Although no official government analysis is available, chickweed is thought to contain vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, niacin, potassium, riboflavin, thiamin and zinc.

Houttuynia


Houttuynia is an acquired taste, with common reactions ranging from dislike to disgust.

The leaves are tender and demure, but don't be fooled -- the flavor and aroma give taste buds a one-two punch. This green lives up to the name "fishwort." It has a raw fish flavor, more than hints of briny sea, and is extremely metallic. The Chinese/Vietnamese variety is differentiated by its citrus accents, while the Japanese variety has cilantro accents.

No official government analysis is available, but houttunyia is thought to contain vitamins A and C, copper, manganese and phosphorus. It is relatively high in fiber.

Houttuynia has been the subject of several scientific studies and is ranked high in herbal medicine. It is considered a diuretic and a laxative and is used to produce an antimicrobial extract.

Jute Leaf


Fresh leaves are described as bitter. Thawed frozen jute tastes spinachy and grassy but mild. It is mucilaginous (similar to Malabar spinach) and has an extremely slippery texture. It is disparaged as "slimy" by those who don't like it.

Jute leaf contains vitamins A, B6 and C, calcium, copper, folate, iron, manganese, magnesium, niacin, potassium, thiamin and zinc. Jute contains mucilage, considered a detoxifying agent as well as a rich source of soluble fiber.
Some historians say Cleopatra consumed it as part of her beauty and anti-wrinkle regimen.

Komatsuna


Komatsuna has a mild but distinct mustard flavor. It is slightly sharp, slightly sour, yet slightly sweet. The stems are succulent.

Komatsuna contains vitamins A, B6 and C, calcium, copper, folate, iron, manganese, niacin, potassium, riboflavin and thiamin. It is particularly high in fiber.

- HUFFINGTONPOST.com