Evidence That Cannabis Can Fight AIDS

Marijuana is stored in bins for trimming and packaging in preparation to be sold retail at 3D Cannabis Center, in Denver, Friday Feb. 14, 2014. The marijuana industry breathed a sigh of relief Friday after federal banking regulators issued long-awaited permission for them to access basic banking services.

CAN cannabis counter AIDS – and not just the cachexia, nausea, and neuropathic pain:

The changes that THC produces in the gut a process formally known as “microbial translocation,” isn’t as complicated as it sounds. During HIV infection, one of the earliest effects is that the virus spreads rapidly throughout the body and kills a significant part of cells in the gut and intestine. This activity damages the gut in a way that allows the HIV to leak through the cell wall of the intestines and into the bloodstream.

When THC is introduced into this environment, it activates the CB2 receptors in the intestines to build new, healthy bacterial cells that block the virus from leaking through the cell walls. In other words, the body works hard to keep bad stuff in the intestines and the good stuff out.

Put another way: HIV kills the cells that protect the walls— THC brings them back. Reducing the amount of the virus in the lower intestines could then help keep uninfected people uninfected.

Worth a try, no?

Anorak

Posted: 18th, February 2014 | In: Reviews, Technology | Comment

Anders Behring Breivik Vows To Commit Suicide By Playstation 3

ANDERS Behring, the Norwegian who murdered 77 in 2011, is suffering. The Playstation 2 in his cell is out of date. He writes in a letter to the prison that such an antiquated machine is akin to “torture”.  Video games have always been part of Behring’s life; he used Call of Duty to sharpen his aim and World of Warcraft to conceal his plans.

So. He ‘s going on hunger strike until he gets a newer Playstation 3 “with access to more adult games that I get to choose myself”.

“Other inmates have access to adult games while I only have the right to play less interesting kids games. One example is ‘Rayman Revolution,’ a game aimed at three-year-olds. The hunger strike won’t end until the Minister of Justice (Anders) Anundsen and the head of the KDI (the Norwegian Correctional Services) stop treating me worse than an animal.”

Anorak

Posted: 15th, February 2014 | In: Reviews, Technology | Comment

Radiohead Release Mildly Diverting Music App, Probably Dubbed ‘Revolutionary’

RADIOHEAD, sulkiest of the sulky, a band so pious that they’ve had their blood replaced with sour grape juice, have released a new thing. They’ve not bothered with vinyl or CD or even a download which pretends to be free. No, they’ve worked with studio Universal Everything to create a ‘living, breathing, growing touchscreen environment’.

It is called the PolyFauna app, which can download for nothing on your phone and has been made as a collab with the band, Universal Everything, producer Nigel Godrich and artist Stanley Donwood.

Mof Gimmers

Posted: 13th, February 2014 | In: Music, Technology | Comment

1980s Video Game Hell: 5 Cartridges of Shame

ONCE the Atari 2600 hit its stride in ’81, there was simply no stopping the tsunami of video game offerings. The transition from coin operated arcade games to systems you could play in your living room can’t be overstated – it was revolutionary.  But with this influx of new entertainment came a cornucopia of bad games. Here are five of the worst offenders.

 OUTHOUSE (1982)

This TRS-80 game basically was about preventing other people from using up your toilet paper.  Think about this for a moment: It was the dawn of the video game revolution, the prospects were limitless, the future full of possibilities…. and they make a video game about preserving toilet paper?

Yeoman Lowbrow

Posted: 11th, February 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Technology, The Consumer | Comment (1)

Tainted Love Played By 13 Floppy Disc Drives and One Hard Disk Drive

RETRO tunes on retro machines:  Ed Cobb’s Tainted Love played by 13 Floppy Disc Drives and one Hard Disk Drive. Stand down the kazoo orchestra:

Anorak

Posted: 9th, February 2014 | In: Music, Technology | Comment

Bullshit, Bastards & Bylines: What To Learn From Tumblr, Buzzfeed, HuffPo And Upworthy…Yes, Really

The Daily Mail newspaper in operation in room 55 at Carmelite House, Fleet Street.
Date: 01/01/1913

Buzz me, Huff me, make me up Worthy

What to learn from Tumblr, Buzzfeed, HuffPo and Upworthy…yes, really

Which media organisations have mastered making the web jump to their own sick tunes? Buzzfeed and The Daily Mail. The rest of the media runs like pissed wolves behind these lean beasts. The Daily Mail turns its enemies into obsessive readers. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool of liberal mung bean-munching Guardian readers find themselves stumbling over to the “Sidebar of Shame” to read about a revolving cast of celebrities about whom the Mail writes bizarrely detailed dispatches.

Mic Wright

Posted: 6th, February 2014 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Technology | Comments (27)

Irish Dad’s Priceless Reaction To His Son Pretending To Fail A Driving Test (Video)

YOU Tuber Feilim Mchugh told his father he’d failed his driving test. He then filmed the reaction.  her father’s reaction driving test. The videos – “My Dads reaction to me ‘failing’ my driving test, priceless…” is terrific.

Filmed in Drumkeerin, Ireland, swearing is liberal:

Anorak

Posted: 4th, February 2014 | In: Technology | Comment

In 1934 Northwestern University Predicted Learning Via The Internet

WHO foresaw the internet? Thank to Paleofuture, we know it to be WAlter Dill Scott in this 1934 piece for Everyday Science and Mechanics magazine. Scott, was president of Northwestern University when he peered into the rosy-fingered future.

With radio, fax machines, TVs and pictures, students could learn anywhere. A the mag noted:

The university of twenty-five years from now will be a different looking place, says President Scott of Northwestern. Instead of concentrating faculty and students around a campus, they will “commute” by air, and the university will be surrounded by airports and hangars. The course will be carried on, to a large extent, by radio and pictures. Facsimile broadcasting and television will enlarge greatly the range of a library; and research may be carried on by scholars at great distances.

Anorak

Posted: 31st, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment

Forgotify, The Website That Plans To Kill Itself

Forgive me but I think this is rather amusing, a website called Forgotify. The business structure of whic is that the more successful it becomes then the faster it will close itself down.

Err, yes,  that’s right. The more people use the site then the faster it will go out of business.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 31st, January 2014 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

All Aboard The Martin Mars Flying Hotel

THERE was Luxury Aloft the Martin Mars Flying Hotel. What was once a US Navy flying boat was now swanky. In 1945,  air travel was a thing of wonder. It was sophisticated, stylish and offered the promise of romance. War was over. Technology used to drop bombs and catapult men into French onion fields was being harnessed for wonderment.

Anorak

Posted: 30th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment (1)

These 3D Printed Nail Sets Are Fantastically Cool

NEW York City-based designers Sarah C. Awad and Dhemerae Ford of the Laser Girls are using technology for the awesome by kicking out 3D printed nail art.

Rusty Blazenhoff

Posted: 30th, January 2014 | In: Fashion, Technology | Comment

Dr Who: This TARDIS Really IS Bigger On The Inside

DOCTOR Who fans all know that the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside. In late 2012, to prove it, Greg Kumparak built a tiny TARDIS that fits on a desk which uses augmented reality to expand its inner dimensions.

Take a look at his video to see how he did it:

You can read how Greg built his “Lil’ TARDIS” at his website.

Spotter: Pete

Rusty Blazenhoff

Posted: 30th, January 2014 | In: Technology, TV & Radio | Comments (3)

Tech Rewind: Before Phones Got Smart

TECHNOLOGY has been rocketing along so quickly, it’s difficult to put on the breaks, stop for a moment and get a perspective.  Sometimes you just need to dig your heels in and take a look backward.  As the current rushes you madly onward, it may do you good to just pause and see how far we’ve come in such a short amount of time.

Taking a look at progress in technology as whole is much too broad; our heads will likely explode if we try and take it all in.  Instead, let’s just look at your phone – that thin little rectangle you have in your pocket or are looking at right now…

It can do more than Hubot could ever dream of.  And while it is unlikely Hubot was capable of dreaming, it could play AM/FM radio, check the temperature, tell the time, and play Atari 2600 games.  Hubot came with a price tag of $3495 in 1981 – adjusted for inflation that comes to $8957 (£5432).  For that kind of price, Hubot better be able to do dishes, kill intruders, and stimulate pleasure centers on command.

Alas, it did not.  But let’s look at a single function on your mobile device that you likely take for granted: voice messages.

To read this advert, it sounds as though your very life is going to change thanks to an answering machine.  Indeed, the Phone Butler will rid you of your cumbersome existence, and introduce you to the jet-setting world of recorded phone messages.

Now you can spend your vacations and nights out on the town with complete ease, knowing that all your calls and messages are being handled efficiently, and are waiting at home for you!…. Don’t worry about missing calls while you’re out doing yard work, in the shower, shopping, sunbathing, or socializing with the neighbors, you’ll never have to make a run for the phone again!

It’s hard to imagine that something as commonplace as voice messaging was sold as an answer to prayers just a few decades back.  That would be like saying having no phone cord was a miracle of science – hey, what a sec…

 

“You see, with our cordless phone you’re not tied down by the cord – because there is no cord!”

No longer was mankind tethered; he was free to roam from patio to garage to toilet with splendid freedom.  Advertisements announced this latest break with great fanfare.  Of course, no longer being “tethered” meant you were also never out of reach.  So, in a twist of fate, going cordless resulted in less freedom.  Who knew?

In the ‘80s, you knew you “made it” if you could conduct business from your tub… preferably while sporting a self-important smirk.  Once again, the advertisers are driving the point home that your tech devices no longer require terminals – they are wherever you are.  Our younger generations will never know the type of world where you have designated phone and computer locations – things haven’t just become portable, they are damn near bodily appendages.

Another thing future generations will never know is the telephone queue.  The very thought of actually having to wait your turn to use a phone is madness.  But there’s a flipside to this:  If you knew you had to spend a painful amount of time waiting in line every time you had to make a call, wouldn’t you use the phone less?  And if so, might you be doing something more enriching or enjoyable with the time?

That’s crazy talk.  Let’s move on.

One thing that we’ve all collectively dreamed about in our science fiction is the “video phone”.  Every futuristic depiction worth its salt had one.  Of course, now Skype, Face Time and the like are just boring parts of life – no more shocking than your washing machine or toaster oven.  Who would have thought that a technology so anticipated would so quickly be taken for granted?

Well, we could stand in amazement at the many examples of brilliant communications technologies which have become mundane overnight.  However, the current is quickly pulling us onward.  No time to linger in quiet appreciation; in the time it took you to read this article, at least three of your tech devices have gone obsolete.

Yeoman Lowbrow

Posted: 28th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Technology, The Consumer | Comment

The Cupid Bra Only Unhooks When True Love Is Detected

WHEN do you know if it’s true love? Japanese lingerie manufacturer Ravijou has taken the guesswork out of foreplay by inventing a bra clasp that only unhooks when “true love” is detected. If that significant other is only after a quick fumble or your valuables, the clasp stays closed.

Anorak

Posted: 25th, January 2014 | In: Fashion, Technology | Comment

Electronic Heroin: A Look Inside China’s Internet Addiction Therapy Centres

SO hooked on gaming are some Chinese players that they wear nappies to avoid taking bathroom breaks. The New York Times has produced this short film on how the wired youth are weaned off electronica at treatment camps. The attitude of one therapist is that the internet is akin to “electronic heroin”, which suggests he has no idea how heroin works.

This is how China treated heroin addicts in the 1930s:

China’s Anti-Narcotic Laws, sentencing convicted drug-dealers and addicts to death, came into force first on January 8 when a drug-dealer was executed in Peiping. Five more were shot there on January 13, and the authorities state that further executions are scheduled until the drug traffic is stamped out there. Huge crowds attend the executions, and beforehand vast amounts of drugs are burned. Apart from Peiping, the laws have failed to take effect in most districts. One of the drug-dealers is forced to kneel whilst a soldier shoots him through the head from close range in Peiping, China, on Jan. 13, 1937. (AP Photo)

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: Reviews, Technology | Comment

2014 -The Future Is Now: Infographic Shows 1950s and 1960s Technology Predictions Come True

THE good people at Vital Findings have looked at predictions made in the 1950s and 1960s  to see if they’ve come true. Is the future now?

Many things have some to fruition. But not jetpacks. Jetpacks have been massive let down. And where the hell is my flying car?

High-speed travel has been limited by laws against speed and idiocy.Oh, the idiocy…

CLICK HERE FOR A BIG VERSION

Anorak

Posted: 23rd, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comment

Adam Magyar’s Super Slo-Mo Films Of Faces On The Platform As The Train Arrives

WHAT face do you pull when the train pulls into the station? One surprise looking at Adam Magyar’s super slo-mo films (50 frames per second; one 12 second moment spans to 8 minutes of film) of faces on the platform is how few people eat on trains in Tokyo, New York and Berlin. Also, no sly looks to the left and right to study the competition for seats and space?

Anorak

Posted: 22nd, January 2014 | In: Technology | Comment

Google, Amazon And Facebook Will Just Get Away With It

WE’VE been having all sorts of lovely fun the last couple of years as people uncover the stories about how little the various internet companies pay in tax. Google sells everything in from Ireland, as does Facebook, meaning that they pay tax on their UK profits over there. Well, with a cure deal that lets them send all their profits to Bermuda without tax. Amazon does much the same from Luxembourg: meaning that the poor old British taxman never sees a penny in tax on the profits being made in the UK.

All of this is, of course, entirely legal. So, the call has been that the law must be changed so that these companies are paying more tax. And everyone went off to the OECD (the club for rich countries) and they said OK, we’ll have a look at it.

The result?

Proposals for a tax crackdown on digital companies such as Google and Amazon are to be dropped, as governments push ahead with measures affecting the global economy.

Designing special tax rules for internet companies would not be viable, given the growing digital presence in large parts of the economy, an international task force has concluded.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 22nd, January 2014 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

Travel Site Wars: Now Google Is Punishing Expedia Over Dodgy Paid Links By

PLENTY of small companies out there have found themselves sliding down the Google search results after they paid some consultant or other to improve their web rankings. Because the consultants then go out and buy links from blogs and other websites: something that tricks the Google search engine into thinking that the site is more important than it is.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 21st, January 2014 | In: Money, Technology, The Consumer | Comment

The Age of The PC Is Ending

IT’S unusual for someone to go through two entire technological revolutions in their own, one, lifetime, but I think it might be happening to me. Might have to hope I can hang on for another decade or so to see it entirely becoming true perhaps. But I’m referring to the rise and the fall of the PC.

Personal computer sales slipped even further in the run-up to Christmas, capping the worst annual decline in the PC industry’s history.

Research firm Gartner estimates that worldwide PC shipments for the three months ending in December dropped 7pc compared with the same period in 2012. It marks the seventh consecutive quarter of decreasing PC sales.

It means PC sales plunged a total of 10pc in 2013. Shipments of desktop and laptop computers have never fallen so dramatically. The numbers show that annual PC shipments have now dropped to levels last seen in 2009.

OK, we might not think that is all that dramatic: they’re still shipping 90 million or so after all, even with those declines.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 20th, January 2014 | In: Money, Technology | Comments (2)

Skype Is Now 40% Of The Entire International Telephone Market

THIS is a seriously astonishing little piece of information. Skype now carries enough international phone calls that its own traffic is equal to 40% of the entire international calling market. And there’s an important point here about why economic growth seems to be slowing too. Here’s the basic news in the WSJ:

More importantly, Skype’s traffic was almost 40% the size of the entire conventional international telecom market — that is, for every ten minutes spent making international phone calls on every mobile and landline network in the entire world, four minutes are spent on Skype. The service is gradually eating its industry.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 17th, January 2014 | In: Money, Technology | Comment

ECG Data Suggests Did Michael Collins Died On Apollo 11 Mission?

YOU are looking at NASA’s picture of the “Typical ECG signal received during the Apollo 11 mission”:

Neil Armstrong was excited, but Michael Collins was…dead?

Spotter: NASA

Anorak

Posted: 16th, January 2014 | In: Flashback, Technology | Comments (3)