Researchers identify genes that give cannabis its flavour

UBC scientists have scanned the genome of cannabis plants to find the genes responsible for giving various strains their lemony, skunky or earthy flavours, an important step for the budding legal cannabis industry. “The goal is to develop well-defined and highly-reproducible cannabis varieties. This is similar to the wine industry, which depends on defined varieties such as chardonnay or merlot for high value products,” said Jörg Bohlmann, a professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories...
Read more: http://news.ubc.ca/2017/03/29/researchers-identify-genes-that-give-cannabis-its-flavour/?source=Snapzu

Distraction, On Street And Sidewalk, Helps Cause Record Pedestrian Deaths

It's the oldest and most basic form of transportation — walking — and more people are doing more of it to get fit or stay healthy. But there's new evidence today that even walking across the street is getting more dangerous. A report released today by the Governors Highway Safety Association shows that the number of pedestrians killed in traffic jumped 11 percent last year, to nearly 6,000. That's the biggest single-year increase in pedestrian fatalities ever, and the highest number in more than two decades.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/2017/03/30/522085503/2016-saw-a-record-increase-in-pedestrian-deaths?source=Snapzu

In our Google era, indexers are the unsung heroes of the publishing world

One of the things that’s commonly imagined is that indexing is, in the age of Google, something that can be outsourced to a computer algorithm. Dead wrong. A concordance – essentially, an alphabetical list of all the words in a book with page references – can be done by a computer. But an index, to be useful, needs to be done by a human. In a book about the Middle East, say, an entry that said: “Syria 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 23, 25, 26, 27 … ” would be no use at all.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/30/in-our-google-era-indexers-are-the-unsung-heroes-of-the-publishing-world?source=Snapzu

College admissions: the myth of meritocracy

Why the college admissions process isn't as fair as many students believe.
Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/EqualEd-Voices/2017/0329/College-admissions-the-myth-of-meritocracy?source=Snapzu

Critical thinking suppressed in brains of people who believe in religion

The opposition between religious beliefs and scientific evidence can be explained by difference in brain structures and cognitive activity. Scientists have found critical thinking is suppressed in the brains of people who believe in the supernatural. Published in PLOS One, their study examines how the parts of the brain responsible for empathy and analytical reasoning are linked to faith and spiritual thinking.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/critical-thinking-suppressed-brains-people-who-believe-supernatural-1551233?source=Snapzu

Our Greatest Geological Discovery Is This Chocolate Boulder With Edible Candy Geodes Inside

If you thought Cadbury Creme Eggs were humanity’s greatest confectionery creation, Alex O’Brien Yeatts, a baking and pastry student at the Culinary Institute of America, has come up with a dessert that looks straight out of a geology textbook—not a cookbook.
Read more: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/our-greatest-geological-discovery-is-this-chocolate-bou-1793867846?source=Snapzu

Anarchist Cookbook author William Powell dies aged 66

Man behind manual for violent rebellion, used in a number of high-profile killings, had long repented publishing and turned to charitable work...
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/30/anarchist-cookbook-author-william-powell-dies-aged-66?source=Snapzu

Baby in a Box

A new US program is giving out cardboard bassinets to new mothers to encourage safe sleeping. Jernica Quiñones, a mother of five, was the first parent in New Jersey to get her free baby box — a portable, low-tech bassinet made of laminated cardboard. But first, she had to take an online course about safe sleeping practices, which experts say can sharply reduce the chances of sudden infant death syndrome. “Basically, you want to have the baby on the mattress, and that’s it,” she said after watching a 20-minute series of videos. The message may not be new. But health officials say it is critical to keeping babies safe.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/12/nyregion/new-jersey-parents-cardboard-bassinets.html?source=Snapzu

First Strike by Venom

It was a fun time at the first Crewalition Jam for this year. :-)
Read more: http://snapzu.com/Maternitus/first-strike-by-venom?source=Snapzu

Why You Feel the Urge to Jump

Have you ever stood in a high place and felt the urge to jump?
Read more: http://nautil.us/issue/46/balance/why-you-feel-the-urge-to-jump?source=Snapzu

The Future of Free Speech, Trolls, Anonymity and Fake News Online

Many experts fear uncivil and manipulative behaviors on the internet will persist – and may get worse. This will lead to a splintering of social media into AI-patrolled and regulated ‘safe spaces’ separated from free-for-all zones. Some worry this will hurt the open exchange of ideas and compromise privacy.
Read more: http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/03/29/the-future-of-free-speech-trolls-anonymity-and-fake-news-online/?source=Snapzu

street art and graffiti, Belgium - Hasselt (oc)

Read more: http://imgur.com/a/wGrSU?source=Snapzu

Sewage clue to silent polio scourge

Despite mass vaccination, polio is making a comeback. Sewage could become a critical early warning system.
Read more: https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/sewage-clue-to-silent-polio-scourge?source=Snapzu

The Scary Thing About GMO That Nobody’s Talking About

The Flailing, Fact-Free Hysteria Around GMO
Read more: https://shift.newco.co/the-scary-thing-about-gmo-that-nobodys-talking-about-e067410aaf1b?source=Snapzu

Life in the fast lane: Oregon Senate OKs $110 fine for slowpoke lane hogs

Going slow in the fast lane? Move over - or face a possible ticket. That's the upshot of legislation passed 19-10 by the Oregon Senate on Tuesday. “People who hog the left lane lead to road rage and frustration, tailgating and passing on the right,” said Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland. “All of these are unsafe behaviors. Several states across the nation are taking this approach to make their highways safer. It will improve traffic safety and help end an annoying behavior on the roadway.”
Read more: http://kval.com/news/local/life-in-the-fast-lane-oregon-senate-oks-110-fine-for-slowpoke-lane-hogs?source=Snapzu

Institute For Honor 2015 “Robert E. Lee Honor In Defeat” With Gary Gallagher

Gary W. Gallagher, Prof. Gary Gallagher on the U.S. Civil War, Historian Gary W. Gallagher on Command Relationships during the Civil War, Gary W. Gallagher, 2016 Cross Lecture: Gary W. Gallgher, Gary Gallagher on the Coy Barefoot Program | April 10, 2016 | S1E11
Read more: https://wn.com/institute_for_honor_2015_%E2%80%9Crobert_e._lee_honor_in_defeat%E2%80%9D_with_gary_gallagher?source=Snapzu

Germans Love White Asparagus And Austrians Love Chanterelles

Deutschland (and Austria) über us.
Read more: https://theawl.com/germans-love-white-asparagus-and-austrians-love-chanterelles-a6304ff1cab4?source=Snapzu

How teachers see the classroom redefined by the cloud

Everyplace becomes a learning space with cloud technology.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/cloud-changes-school-2/?source=Snapzu

The 265 members of Congress who sold you out to ISPs, and how much it cost to buy them

Republicans in Congress just voted to reverse a landmark FCC privacy rule that opens the door for ISPs to sell customer data. Lawmakers provided no credible reason for this being in the interest of...
Read more: http://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp-web-browsing-privacy-fire-sale?source=Snapzu

The Secrets of Tea-Tasting

If you are new to to tea, then tasting tea will well baffle you. But it's a step that can up your enjoyment of a cup. Here's a guide to tasting tea.
Read more: https://www.teabox.com/blog/secrets-tea-tasting?source=Snapzu

A world without retirement

The long read: The population is getting older and the welfare state can no longer keep up. After two months talking to people in Britain about retirement, it’s clear that old age is an increasingly scary prospect
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/mar/29/a-world-without-retirement?source=Snapzu

Bank Of Canada urges Star Trek fans to stop "Spocking" their fivers.

Canadians are ‘Spocking’ their fivers in tribute to deceased actor Leonard Nimoy, aka Spock from the Star Trek series...
Read more: http://curiousmindmagazine.com/canadians-spocking-fivers/?source=Snapzu

Anger as US internet privacy law scrapped

The House repeals rules requiring broadband providers to get permission before selling your web history.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39427026?source=Snapzu

The Most Successful People Do these 17 Surprising Things – The Mission

You were probably taught not to do these things. Ignore that bad advice.
Read more: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-most-successful-people-do-these-17-surprising-things-cfca16d0b118?source=Snapzu

One Fast Food Fanatic’s Quest to Make His Chicken Chain the Next McDonald’s

Albert Okura lives and breathes the legend of Ray Kroc – he even bought the first McDonald’s location – and he won’t stop until his own franchise is a household name.
Read more: http://narrative.ly/one-fast-food-fanatics-quest-to-make-his-chicken-chain-the-next-mcdonalds/?source=Snapzu

Native Tongues

The making of the Dictionary of American Regional English, a five-thousand page, five-volume book documenting the history of American slang. By Simon Winchester.
Read more: http://laphamsquarterly.org/communication/native-tongues?source=Snapzu

Crayola is retiring a color from its 24-count box for 1st time ever

The color in question will be revealed on Friday.
Read more: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/03/crayola_is_retiring_a_color_from_its_24-count_box.html?source=Snapzu

Mista & Venom

Sunshine, leftover paint and two huge smiles. :-)
Read more: http://snapzu.com/Maternitus/mista-venom?source=Snapzu

Training Your Brain So That You Don’t Need Reading Glasses

By middle age, the lenses in your eyes harden, becoming less flexible. Your eye muscles increasingly struggle to bend them to focus on this print. But a new form of training — brain retraining, really — may delay the inevitable age-related loss of close-range visual focus so that you won’t need reading glasses. Various studies say it works, though no treatment of any kind works for everybody.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/upshot/training-your-brain-so-that-you-dont-need-reading-glasses.html?source=Snapzu

Homemade monsters: DIY horror movie makeup from 1965

In 1965, Forrest J. Ackerman hired legendary movie make-up artist Dick Smith to produce a Famous Monsters of Filmland Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-Up Handbook. Smith (1922-2014) was the guy who did the award-winning make-up for movies like The Exorcist, Little Big Man, The Godfather, Taxi Driver and Ken Russell’s Altered States. Smith’s special edition illustrated magazine presented a 100-page step-by-step guide on how to get the look for some of cinema’s best-known movie monsters. Using a range of everyday objects—from crepe paper and breadcrumbs to ping pong balls—Smith shared some of his best-kept secrets of the...
Read more: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/homemade_monsters_diy_horror_movie_makeup_from_1965?source=Snapzu

Trump is greenlighting the harassment of transgender kids

In the weeks since President Donald Trump’s administration revoked federal guidance aimed at protecting transgender students, school has been a nightmare for 17-year-old Lyle Howard. “Ever since Trump rescinded the guidance, I’ve been harassed and bullied and yelled at in the halls,” said Howard, a sophomore at Ozark High School in southwest Missouri. “I have been declared not a person. I am an ‘it.’”
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/trump-greenlights-harassment-transgender-kids-7a2a1dd979ce#.t11bt0ckq?source=Snapzu

Fresh fruits and veggies aren't always healthier than frozen ones — here's why

A two-year study found that frozen produce is sometimes more nutritious than fresh, since fresh produce can quickly lose vitamins in the fridge.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/fresh-or-frozen-produce-which-is-healthier-2017-3?source=Snapzu

A Marvelous Moment for French Writers and Artists

The close friendship, interaction, and parallelism between writers and artists in nineteenth-century France are the subject of Anka Muhlstein’s "The Pen and the Brush." Balzac put more painters into his novels than he did writers, constantly name-checking artists and using them as visual shorthand (old men looked like Rembrandts, innocent girls like Raphaels). Zola, as a young novelist, lived much more among painters than writers, and told Degas that when he needed to describe laundresses he had simply copied from the artist’s pictures. Victor Hugo was a fine Gothicky-Romantic artist in his own right, and an innovative one too.
Read more: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/04/06/marvelous-moment-french-writers-artists/?source=Snapzu

Belgium (oc)

Read more: http://snapzu.com/tranxene/belgium-oc?source=Snapzu

7 Tips for Donating Old Books Without Being A Jerk

Are you really doing anyone a favor with your book donation?
Read more: https://litreactor.com/columns/7-tips-for-donating-old-books-without-being-a-jerk?source=Snapzu

Consumer Advocates Bemoan Senate Vote to Lift ISP Privacy Restrictions

"There would be no privacy rules," said Simpson, "and nobody could enact them." Privacy advocates and consumer groups are fighting back against the U.S. Senate's Thursday vote to undo privacy restrictions on Internet service providers. In a 50-48 party line vote, the Senate approved the Congressional Review Act, S.J. Res. 34. If the House of Representatives gives it the green light, it then will go to the president to be signed into law.
Read more: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Consumer-Advocates-Bemoan-Senate-Vote-to-Lift-ISP-Privacy-Restrictions-84407.html?source=Snapzu

You're treating jellyfish stings all wrong

So you've been stung by a jellyfish. The good news: there's no need to get your friend to pee on you. The bad news: all the other solutions you've heard of will probably only make it worse.
Read more: http://www.popsci.com.au/science/medicine/youre-treating-jellyfish-stings-all-wrong,455664?source=Snapzu

The Unsettling Vision of Rei Kawakubo

Her genius is for wrapping up the paradoxes of being a misfit and a cipher in something to wear that is magically misfitting. By Judith Thurman. (July 4, 2005)
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/07/04/the-misfit-3?source=Snapzu

Marijuana could be legal by Canada Day 2018

CBC News has learned that the legislation will be announced during the week of April 10 and will broadly follow the recommendation of a federally appointed task force that was chaired by former liberal Justice Minister Anne McLellan.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-legal-marijuana-pot-1.4041902?source=Snapzu

Millennials have an average student debt of $41,286.60

A survey conducted online in February by research agency TNS found that 59 percent of millennials polled have “no idea” when they will be able to pay back their student debt. The survey found millennials, defined as those between the ages of 18 and 35, have an average student debt of $41,286.60. That’s significantly higher than the national average amount of debt for college graduates, which the Department of Education determined is $29,400.
Read more: https://dailyinequality.com/2017/03/25/millennials-have-an-average-student-debt-of-41286-60/?source=Snapzu

About half of Detroit can't read

America's public education system is failing the citizens of Detroit, where the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund reports that 47% of people in Detroit are illiterate. In nearby suburbs, up to one-third are functionally illiterate.
Read more: http://boingboing.net/2017/03/23/about-half-of-detroit-cant-r.html?source=Snapzu

Alaska's big telecoms say they won't sell consumer data after Senate internet privacy vote

Consumer privacy advocates are concerned after the U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a resolution that will roll back privacy rules the Federal Communications Commission approved last year, but the two largest Alaska-based telecommunications companies say their customers won't be affected. A win for the telecommunications industry, the measure would undo rules not yet in effect that would have provided "heightened protection for sensitive consumer information" and require...
Read more: https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2017/03/24/alaskas-big-telecoms-say-they-wont-sell-consumer-data-after-senate-internet-privacy-vote/?source=Snapzu

Study on hormone fluctuations finds women feel more assertive when they are fertile

Female hormones impact women’s assertiveness and sexual availability, according to a study recently published in Psychoneuroendocrinology. Previous studies of female sexual behavior have found that women are the fussier sex when it comes to mate selection. This is thought to be because women put in the greater parental investment due to pregnancy, giving birth, breast feeding and historically being the primary carer for the offspring, whilst the male took on a hunter-gatherer role. Therefore, females are more selective in choosing a high quality mate that compensates for their parental investment.
Read more: http://www.psypost.org/2017/03/study-hormone-fluctuations-finds-women-feel-assertive-fertile-48507?source=Snapzu

A Delightful Dictionary for Canadian English

A reference book delves into the history of Canadian terms such as “toque,” “double-double,” and even “eh.”
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-delightful-dictionary-for-canadian-english?source=Snapzu

Flying water taxis are coming to Paris this summer.

Lo and behold, flying machines straight out of a Jetsons cartoon are set to become a reality. Think Uber but as a boat which hovers above the water– so basically, a flying boat taxi, right here along the Paris Seine River..
Read more: http://www.messynessychic.com/2017/03/21/flying-water-taxis-are-coming-to-paris-this-summer/?source=Snapzu

The Hand Work of the Footbound

Chinese women practiced footbinding for centuries—why is still too little understood.
Read more: http://stanfordpress.typepad.com/blog/2017/03/the-hand-work-of-the-footbound-.html?source=Snapzu

The Epic Creation of a Last Masterpiece

An equestrian statue of Louis XV required 15 years of labor and 30 tons of metal.
Read more: http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-epic-creation-of-a-last-masterpiece/?source=Snapzu

Millennials earn 20% less than Boomers did at same stage of life

Baby Boomers: your millennial children are worse off than you. With a median household income of $40,581, millennials earn 20 percent less than boomers did at the same stage of life, despite being better educated, according to a new analysis of Federal Reserve data by the advocacy group Young Invincibles.
Read more: https://dailyinequality.com/2017/03/23/millennials-earn-20-less-than-boomers-did-at-same-stage-of-life/?source=Snapzu

Dog pulled from California fire revived after 20 minutes

California firefighters who spent 20 minutes performing mouth-to-snout resuscitation on a dog they rescued from a burning apartment are being hailed as heroes. The dog's owner, 35-year-old Crystal Lamirande, had just returned to her Santa Monica apartment Tuesday when a neighbor yelled there was a fire. Lamirande frantically tried to save her dog, a 10-year-old Bichon Frise/Shih Tzu named Nalu, but the smoke was too thick for her to go inside, she said Thursday.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2e4856e22a5e46178a0d641bf020cb88/dog-pulled-california-fire-revived-after-20-minutes?source=Snapzu

U.S. Senate votes to overturn Obama broadband privacy rules - One America News Network

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted narrowly to repeal regulations requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers’ privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc’s Google or Facebook Inc. The vote was along party lines, with 50 Republicans approving the measure and 48 Democrats rejecting it. The two remaining Republicans in the Senate were absent and did not cast a vote.
Read more: http://www.oann.com/senate-votes-to-overturn-obama-broadband-privacy-rules/?source=Snapzu