Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere
"What is a Maine-born doctor to do when a patient in Pennsylvania complains, “I’ve been riftin’ and I’ve got jags in my leaders?”
Consult the Dictionary of American Regional English to learn that the patient has been belching and experiencing sharp pains in his neck."
"In case you aren't convinced that there are still a great many differences in American English usage, here are some quizzes to test your knowledge of our language. You have probably not heard of many of the terms or meanings. These are a stretch for most people."
Test your own ethics with our Family Affair quiz
"Can a farmer commit patent infringement just by planting soybeans he bought on the open market? This week, the Supreme Court asked the Obama administration to weigh in on the question. The Court is pondering an appeals court decision saying that such planting can, in fact, infringe patents."
via arstechnica.com
"Self-Replicating Inventions : Supreme Court asks for Government’s Views in Monsanto Patent Exhaustion Case
By Dennis Crouch
Bowman v. Monsanto (Supreme Court Docket No. 11-796, 2012)
In 2011, the Federal Circuit again affirmed that Monsanto's genetically modified seeds patents can be used to stop farmers from saving and replanting the GM seeds. The farmer, Vernon Bowman, then petitioned the Supreme Court asking for a writ of certiorari ."
30 Mar 2012
"Bisphenol A (BPA) will continue to be a part of the US diet.
Today the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would not ban the chemical from food and beverage containers.
BPA is a ubiquitous chemical that has been linked to a range of conditions, including heart disease, reproductive problems, behavioural problems and breast and prostate cancers. Scientists believe that it produces such a wide range of health effects in low doses because it mimics the hormone oestrogen, disrupting human development and making it particularly potent for infants."
"A huge, lingering ridge of high pressure over the eastern half of the United States brought summer-like temperatures to North America in March 2012. The warm weather shattered records across the central and eastern United States and much of Canada."
"An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now."
click image to enlarge
"As the national debt and budget issues monopolize the airwaves, it strikes me how little I remember from my undergraduate government courses. I can rattle off the names of several key representatives and senators, but the inner workings of their roles conjuring a bill into a law are a bit fuzzy. If you have found yourself in a similar predicament (or you are a political science buff who thrives on clever ways to explain governmental processes) this infographic is for you.
With the aesthetics of The Game of Life, today’s infographic thoroughly walks us through the trip a bill takes from introduction into the House of Representatives through publication as an official law."
livescience.com