Strange Old Vehicles

h/t AllenS

Wall Street Protest Experiment

Two Monkeys Were Paid Unequally: Protest Ensued

New Orleans principal pays outstanding students cash

At Edna Karr High School, Principal Harold Clay believes that a little change can go a long way. It’s his belief that academics are the real key to success and he annually awards cash prizes to kids who excel in the classroom.

Friday, was no exception. Clay handed out $100 bills to 33 students who had GPAs of 4.0 or higher. “When kids are focused on iPhones and Jordans, I’m saying to focus on your education and I’m going to compensate you for it.”

The message seems to have gotten across to many of those who were honored Friday.

“If you work hard in the class room someone is going to take notice, someone’s going to take heed of what you’re doing” said Karr senior Korey Finnie.

The highest achievers weren’t the only winners of the day. Nearly 400 Karr students were honored for having GPA of at least 3.5. Some were even given sports style varsity jackets and patches. “Last year I didn’t get one and I was pretty mad about It and this year I worked really hard to get it because I really wanted one” said Karr student Eyrie Toliver.

Principal Clay says he wants academics to be honored the same way as if you achieve on the basketball court so for a big time basketball player they have a signing day.
Friday was like assigning day for academic excellence. (video at the link)

"Weird things start to happen when you stare into someone's eyes for 10 minutes"

"A psychologist based in Italy says he has found a simple way to induce in healthy people an altered state of consciousness – simply get two individuals to look into each other's eyes for 10 minutes while they are sitting in a dimly lit room. The sensations that ensue resemble mild "dissociation" – a rather vague psychological term for when people lose their normal connection with reality. It can include feeling like the world is unreal, memory loss and odd perceptual experiences, such as seeing the world in black and white."

"Giovanni Caputo recruited 20 young adults (15 women) to form pairs. Each pair sat in chairs opposite each other, one metre apart, in a large, dimly lit room. Specifically, the lighting level was 0.8 lx, which Caputo says "allowed detailed perception of the fine face traits but attenuated colour perception." The participants' task was simply to stare into each other's eyes for 10 minutes, all the while maintaining a neutral facial expression. A control group of a further 20 participants also sat in a dimly lit room in pairs, but their chairs faced the wall and they stared at the wall. Beforehand both groups were told that the study was going to involve a "meditative experience with eyes open."" (read the whole thing)

"Hitchhiking robot embarking on coast-to-coast tour across US"

"It's an art project in the wild — it invites people to participate."

The humanoid robot named hitchBOT has already caught rides across Canada and in Europe, relying on the kindness and curiosity of strangers. But on Friday it starts its first U.S. tour, setting out from Salem, Massachusetts, with dreams of San Francisco ahead...

The kid-size robot is immobile on its own, so it gets from place to place by being schlepped around by strangers... Ideally, the creators hope, drivers won't leave the bot along busy roads and will charge the battery when it runs low. Otherwise, there are no rules.

"We want to see what people do with this kind of technology when we leave it up to them," said Frauke Zeller, one of the creators... (read more)