Entertainment stuff from the week 25-31/1/16

Hi nitrogen importers,


Oh well, i suppose it couldn't last. Weeks since feminism roughly seized the centre of the stage, and made a bigoted arse of itself: 9

Nine weeks, and now it's time to feel dirty again. The tidal wave approaches...

{Don't worry. It gets better. Beyond the wreckage, lies hope}


'Richard Dawkins No-Platformed by Atheism+'
https://youtu.be/W1bI7S0LCos

That's right, folks. It's those anti-ageist, pro-sexuality, anti-racist, and anti-sexist 'social justice' warriors, isolating and berating an old, Straight, White male, for daring to tangentially imply that maybe feminism isn't all it's cracked up to be.

All he did was tweet a video, that was not of his creation, featuring caricatures of a famous feminist (the Fuckface Feminist, as you might know her) and a famous Islamist (Dawah Man - not that the feminists recognised him - they called him an outrageous stereotype!) singing a duet, in which they shared their loves and principles.

{Dawah Man, by the way, got into the 'papers, for being filmed at a religious fake charity event (for the Global Aid Trust) held on a boat, on The Thames. See his link for an undercover video}

Of course, when the Fuckface Feminist claimed to have been subjected to violent threats (i have no idea whether she supplied any evidence, but feminism being a superstitious ideology, i suspect she thought evidence to be beneath her) feminists decided that The Dawkster must be bullied into redacting his tweet.

Incidentally, he had already done so, because he's not the demon they try to depict him as, and because he underestimated the rabidness of feminist hatemongers - if they smell weakness, they bite ever more vigorously. And that's exactly what they did.

The result of their offense on an old, Straight, White man -- that specific demographic is a minority, by the way, just like all demographics are -- NECSS decided to rescind his invitation to speak at one of their events.

NECSS (pronounced 'nexus') is the 'Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism' and despite being a generally well-respected event, has apparently been infiltrated by feminism (the Center for Inquiry alike - both Northeast USA-based organisations) resulting in some 'interesting' knotting of their principles.

"We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views." - NECSS statement (emphasis added by me)

"...except when feminism's threatened" - the unspoken extra clause.

Any ideology that compels people to forego rational thought, is deemed to be unacceptable on this blog, and so i am compelled to treat feminism in the same way as religion, quackery, newage, and all kinds of rank conspiracy theories are treated. All but one of these sets of ideologies is considered fair game, at NECSS. Guess which one's left out.


In case you were wondering, feminism and Islam find themselves marching hand-in-hand in real life - not just in cheap satirical videos.

'Muslim students try to disrupt ex-Muslim Maryam Namazie’s talk on blasphemy at Goldsmiths University'
http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2015/12/islamist-students-try-to-disrupt-ex-muslim-maryam-namazies-talk-on-blasphemy-at-goldsmiths-university

"Reza Moradi, a lecturer present at the talk, said that one Muslim protester "looked right into my eyes and with his finger, shaping hand like a handgun, touched his forehead" in what Moradi described as a "death threat"."

I warn you - when i first read the following paragraph, my only phraseable reaction was "fuck!"

"Incredibly, the Goldsmiths Feminist Society sided with the Islamist protesters. They released a statement on 2 December expressing their "solidarity with Goldsmiths Islamic Society". They said: "We support them in condemning the actions of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society and agree that hosting known islamophobes [sic] at our university creates a climate of hatred.""

That's right. The feminists sided with the Islamists, because a woman who is an apostate from Islam, and who is therefore permanently on the run, because freedom for her comes with the death sentence attached, is deemed an "islamophobe" for daring to be free! And more pertinently, for daring to imply that the ideology that condemns her to death, and motivates young men to threaten her with death in a public place, might be a slightly unsavoury ideology!

Eurrrgh :-/

And yes, that is the same Goldsmiths University made famous by feminist Bahar Mustafa in October last year, when she called for the killing of 'white men' on Twitter.


I'm not even going to bother to go into the genuine parallels between religion and feminism. I don't have the time, nor space in this post.

I know the artefactually-historic application of the word 'Entertainment' in the titles of these weekly posts sometimes seems tenuously maintained, but if i inserted a concise list of the parallels between religon and feminism in this post, you'd conclude that it had been rendered entirely extraneous!

Suffice to say: feminists are whining about a cartoon... guess who else does that.


If Dicky Dawkins made any mistake, it was to develop a sense of humour that didn't comply with other people's. And that's no crime at all. Cue a Rickardian ribbing:

"Jesus de-platformed. Heaven Gazette reports that the Second Coming is disinvited. Jesus had not a single woman or minority among 12 Apostles"

Like with the fictional Jesus, feminists are looking for any excuse to crucify the real Dawkins.

The Dawkster, by the way, is responsible for the weirdest, and most amazing thing i have seen this week. And it's this:

'Richard Dawkins on stage with Nightwish'
https://youtu.be/BxtZqfeEmaQ

Wow :-D


From that horribly macabre tradedy, this bullshit seems like a lighthearted comedy...


Pseudoscience of the week: transgender brains aren't male or female, ergo anything is true.

So stated (Un)scientific American earlier this month, in an article that opened with this hilarious hyperbole:

"Some children insist, from the moment they can speak, that they are not the gender indicated by their biological sex".

LMAO. Yes, some kids' first words are "mama", "dada", or maybe even "no", but if their first words are "Mother dearest, i appear to be an individual with a different brain gender to the sex you've imposed on me, by anatomical assessment - do please acquaint yourself with the genderbread diagram!" then your little nippers are probably rhetorical plot constructs in the arguments of a pseudoscientific bullshitter. I'm sorry to break it to you so brusquely.

The egregiousness of this article is emphasised by a recent affirmation that 'brain sex' is not a thing - something i'd written on this blog, two years ago. If there's no such thing as 'male' and 'female' brains, then of course 'transgender' brains aren't going to be 'male' or 'female'! Whatever 'transgender' means.

The content of the rest of the article is so weirdly garbled that i'd be surprised if the author understood what she meant, herself. Do i have to explain this again? I suppose i shall.

Sex is a biological phenomenon - the product of sexual dimorphism, into two or more sexes - gender is a grammatical phenomenon - the attribution of different words to different nouns, such as with pronouns. So the gender of the word 'butterfly' in French (le papillon) is 'male', but in English, butterflies have no gender, because English has managed to lose that silliness. This doesn't mean all butterflies in England are asexual, and all butterflies in France are male, or all bees in Arabic-speaking Quran-humping areas are female. Gender has nothing to do with either body or mind - it's a linguistic thing only.

{It should be noted that the genderists obfuscate between people who are born intersex i.e. neither male nor female, according to the generic conditions of a sexually dimorphic species; and those who have changed their sex, during life. It's inevitable that all transexual people will be intersex, because their genome will contradict their body. There is no reason to force them into sex categories}

On to the other part of the word 'transgender' then - the 'trans' bit. The prefix 'trans-' is from Greek, meaning 'to the other side' and is the antonym to 'cis-' meaning 'on this side'. The name of the Trans-Pennine Railway, therefore, implies that it will take you to the other side of the Pennine mountain range. It does not imply that the railway has a 'gender identity' that conflicts with its body!

In the context of sex, it's the word 'transexual' that actually means something. It means 'has changed their sex' / 'has crossed to the other sex'. That kind of thing. It suggests that some actual change has actually happened - that some actual experience of effort and personal cost has been undergone.

Why would anyone bother to do this? Because of bodily dysmorphia. (Not dimorphia - dysmorphia). Transexuality is motivated by body dysmorphia, which compels people to change their body into something they are happy with. The most common body dysmorphias are anorexia (in female humans) and muscular dysmorphia (in male humans) whereby anorexia is predicated on a desire to be thinner, and muscular dysmorphia is predicated on a desire to be to be more muscular. You'll be unsurprised to hear that a high proportion of models have the former, and body builders have the latter.

I say all of this, because i wish to stress that body dysmorphia is a serious condition, that should be taken seriously. Someone who feels compelled to change their body so drastically should be treated with sympathy. I don't know how pandering to body dysmorphia in the case of soon-to-be-transexuals works, or even whether it genuinely does, but if it does, then it's an important thing to do.

But it is not the same as saying "i like women and Women's Rights, so you're all going to call me Susan now, and use feminine pronouns too" and then not going through any attempt to change your body at all. That does not indicate dysmorphia; it does not warrant the prefix 'trans-'; and it does not deserve respect from anyone, especially those who genuinely respect transexual and pre-transexually dysmorphic people. Sex and sexuality are not ideological.

The term 'transgender' is a nonsense term that applies only to sexist ideologues who think that pretending to be an oppressed caste grants them critical impunity. It doesn't.

'Transexual' means something, 'transgender' does not.


And from that comedy, to this gallery of accidental comedians...

'RE: 36 Questions Women Have For Men'
https://youtu.be/leKXqZkfEY4

I have a selection of rhetorical comebacks. Maybe i should title this segment '36 Questions Tapejaras Have For Women':

1) Why do you have to wear those chest encapsulation devices?

2) I get that you mammals have mammaries, but i don't stand around with my wings wide open, to make room for all the fish!?

3) Why are women perceived as the more caring sex, when so many of your female humans abuse the children they're left alone with, all day long?

4) How does it feel to be the same sex as Rose West, Myra Hindley, Sarah Palin, Sylvia Browne, Margaret Thatcher, and the woman who created Donald Trump - his mother??

5) Why are sexist women (WRAs) seen as heroic, whereas sexist men (MRAs) are seen as the devil's spawn?

6) Why do you automatically decide that any Film or TV programme with lots of men in it, is misogynistic propaganda?

7) Why are you surprised when men are empathic, good with kids, or good at cooking? I'm probably better at cooking fish than you.

8) Why is it that when i have sex with humans, i'm seen as some kind of bestial pervert, but when women do it, and get pregnant, they're congratulated?

9) Why do you think that just because you're a human, i owe you fossils of my body?

10) How does it feel to interrupt me, when i'm in the middle of catching a fish?

11) Why are you always trying to prove your femininity to the male humans, that your sexuality compels you to do the 'sideways shuffle' with?

12) How is it your first instinct to berate other humans, for adhering to the scientific method - your species' crowning achievement?

13) Why isn't it weird that there's a bunch of adolescent women in a Buzzfeed studio, questioning men, and what men can and can't do with their bodies?

14) Do you ever get tired of trying to maintain your 'X' chromosomes, all the time? And why don't you use the superior Zs and Ws, like i do?

15) Why are you so afraid of the word 'sex' in the phrase 'equality of the sexes' and use the wrong word 'gender' instead? Is it because your mamma told you 'sex' is a naughty word?

16) Why do i deserve to be paid nothing, just because i'm a Tapejara? It can't be because blogging is free, can it!? CAN IT!?!

17) In what world does feminism equal egalitarianism? How is that fair on humans who genuinely care about equality?

18) Why are you so afraid of recognising your anthropic privilege? It doesn't mean you're a bad human - just recognise it, and then do something about it - give it away, to a Tapejara.

19) And on and on and on and on and on......


'Zika virus: your questions answered'
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/01January/Pages/Zika-virus-your-questions-answered.aspx


In-and-on-or-around-this-date-or-time-of-year:

The 30th anniversary of humanity's only fly-by of the planet Uranus, by Voyager 2
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-voyager-mission-celebrates-years-uranus.html


In other news:

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. The niceness follows on...

Humanities feminists have seen opportunities to berate yet more 'old White men' with Clint Eastwood taking flack for suggesting that lots of people must be crying, for not having won an Oscar. Well, what's wrong with that? Because lots of those lots of people are Black, that's why. And the oh-so-not-racists only care when Blacks don't win things. Because treating races differently isn't racist. According to the racists. Michael Caine (another old White man) has also been offended, by the same people, for suggesting that Oscars should be awarded on grounds of merit! Bah, humbug, Mikey - they must be given to Blacks - whether they want them or earn them, or neither! <s> He also said how good he thought Idris Elba was (who doesn't?) and that people should be patient (who shouldn't?) but he can just go drink his milk, and eat his mayonnaise sandwiches, somewhere else, can't he (like White people do) because what really matters in the world, what REALLY matters in the world, is a bunch of big-screen posers receiving awards from other posers, for having been paid millions to pretend to be people they're not, to the adulation of millions of other people, including thousands of web-based sycophants who think that writing articles about big-screen posers for a living means they're living a worthy life. Yes, folks, screw feeding the poor - it's The Oscars that get narcissistic Humanities (Master of Arts, in this case) graduates' limbic systems pulsating :-D
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/oscars-2016-clint-eastwood-latest-to-give-controversial-take-on-oscarssowhite-a6832746.html

Staying on the theme of narcissistic airheads who don't cow when they're thucking a bing, here's a comedian who doesn't like jokes. Amy Schumer is a comedian who built her career on puellile jokes about genitals, and how much she's used them in the past, but has since grown and matured into... well, she hasn't, she's just turned into a feminist. When someone Tweeted a joke at her, implying the same thing that she'd said hundreds of times before, she immediately clambered onto her high horse, and screeched condemnation. How very silly. You see, the thing about making jokes about yourself - the utility of making jokes about yourself - is that doing so innoculates you from being abused by others, by using the same joke. If you have a speech impediment, for example, and you make jokes about it, then someone who might want to mock you for it, would now just be repeating the same gags that you just said. Stand-up comedians deliberately write this kind of thing into their sets - fat guys make jokes about being fat, guys with tiny eyes make jokes about having tiny eyes, and guys who've lost their voices... make jokes about their shoes. The point of making jokes about yourself, is not to deny the premise of the joke, but to acknowledge the premise, so that you can berate people for stealing your jokes. Stealing jokes is generally seen as a bad thing, whereas making humour is not. People who condemn humour do not get popular, Amy. That's your lesson for the day.
https://youtu.be/-32sRffV_mg

Sexist pseudo-research of the week comes from BUSPH (Boston University School of Public Health) with their publication in 'Violence and Gender'. Apparently, guns with male names kill more people than guns with female names. Um, no - it has nothing to do with gender. And that's hurricanes, anyway. It's do with women, and how they're more worth caring about than men. This press release bangs on about homicides of women (or 'femicide' as they call it) and how it's proportional to gun availability; and then right at the end, it mentions that the frequency at which men are murdered, is approximately five times as high as the rate at which women are murdered! Their highest figures for femicide were in Wyoming, with 3.3 per 100,000 women; and for mascicide(?) were in Louisiana, with 18 per 100,000. Still think sexism's a sex war? Because it looks like the men are losing.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-link-state-gun-ownership-women.html

A couple of adolescents have died in mysterious circumstances, involving Mountain Dew and racing fuel. What's the chances copious quantities of alcohol were also involved? When absinthe was banned in Europe, the ban-clinching case was that of a man who drank absinthe, then murdered his wife, kids, and tried to kill himself. The only problem with blaming the 'green fairy' of absinthe, was that he'd also consumed a sandwich, two coffees laced with brandy, two two crème de menthes, six glasses of cognac, and seven glasses of wine. It wasn't thought worth mentioning those other poisonous potables! I wonder whether they were neglected in this case too. A second point about this story, regards the statement "Police are concerned it could be a growing, deadly trend and are asking parents to be on high alert". Someone needs a lecture about 'alarming new trends' from The Hamster Wheel, LOL.
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/deaths-of-two-teenagers-attributed-to.html

Tutankhamun also died in suspicious circumstances, but for a change, this isn't about his death - it's about his burial mask's restoration. Egyptian prosecutors have reportedly ordered eight museum workers to a disciplinary court for "gross negligence" after corrective works took place last month, to work around their clumsy use of epoxy to stick King Tut's beard back on. It was roughly a year ago that epoxy was used to stick the broken beard back on, and a spatula-like instrument was used to scratch away the residue, simultaneously scratching the burial mask. I suppose this course of events stems from the Haveatit School of archaeological restoration :-D
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-egypt-king-tut-mask-trial.html

Greenpeace has released a report stating that 'toxic' chemicals such as PFCs are "still widely present in [outdoor] products by brands such as Jack Wolfskin, The North Face, Patagonia, Mammut, Norrona and Salewa, especially in the production of footwear, trousers, sleeping bags and some jackets" out of the 40 that they tested. My advice to them: don't suck on your camping equipment. Sure, PFCs can be dangerous, and they're also potent greenhouse gases, but they don't slough off in the rain - they're emitted as part of the manufacturing process. This can be solved using water filtration, for people living near the plants, though admittedly the wildlife won't benefit from this. PFCs are used to make textiles of many kinds - in carpets, as well as clothes - to make them more water-resistant, which means improved hygiene (especially with carpets) and thereby lower usage of hazardous cleaning chemicals, when they do get dirty. This is part of the cost-benefit assessment of whether PFCs are good or bad: is the greenhouse gas effect substantial against that of CO2 or CH4? I don't think so. Is the threat of chemicals used for cleaning, less than the threat of PFCs? I don't think so. And is the personal hazard of cleaning chemicals less than PFCs? Again, i would argue no. Many household cleaning chemicals are distinctly dangerous - the fewer there are around, the better. So as far as i've thought this through, it looks like PFCs are actually safer than their alternative. Banning PFCs, therefore, would be far from a "detox" then, Greenpeace. Still, this campaign has got to be better than demonizing food, right?
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-toxic-chemicals-outdoor-gear-greenpeace.html

Pulling in a different way to Greenpeace, with it's chemophobia, are researchers like this woman, who's dedicated more than 15 years of her life to developing water filters. According to this press release, which seems bent more toward desalination than anything else, she's been working on graphene and graphene-oxide filters, that are much more efficient and effective at removing solutes "including pharmaceuticals, pathogens and endocrine disruptors" from water than alternatives. Graphene sheets being almost pure carbon, they're also expected to be very economic, in comparison to currently-available alternatives. It's going to be more work, yet, before they're tested for efficacy on large scales, and in the real world, but hopes are high.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-graphene-filter.html

The grand mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia slapped a fatwa on chess, earlier this month, condemning it as 'gambling' in a Live TV interview. He also said it is a "waste of time and money and a cause for hatred and enmity between players". Sorry, Sheikh, but that's religion, you're thinking of. The Saudi government wasted £200 billion accommodating the Hajj - an Islamic ritual that's cost at least 700 mortalities, and 850 morbidities, in 2015 alone. Chess, in stark contrast, is a harmless pastime. This has been pointed out by the Saudi Chess Association, who have been part of a campaign to have chess included in the Olympic Games, in accord with the Saudi Olympic Committee itself. The Saudi Chess Association is in the final stages of introducing a chess-in-schools programme, so as long as the undeservedly-respected god-botherer gets ignored, they might even get their way, and maybe a Saudi medal in chess, in a future Olympic Games. Now that would be something to see!
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-chess-good-young-brains.html

Islam in Pakistan has continued its never-ending vendetta against human sexuality, by ordering 400,000 websites to be blocked, for pornographic content. Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered the ban, earlier this month, of online material deemed to be blasphemous or objectionable. So, i suppose proxy servers are going to get even more popular in Pakistan, than they were before. Either that, or large numbers of frustrated people will have to put their libidos into something else - such as an unwilling sexual 'partner'. Wait a minute, demonization of human sexuality... isn't there a feminism for that? Oh yeah. And a god-bothering one too.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-pakistan-porn-sites-blocked.html

Private sector chemical research giant DuPont has announced huge layoffs, following its merger with Dow, last December. At one point, in the '50s-'80s of the 20th century, DuPont even vied with American Universities, for research output. But since those glory days of low-hanging fruit, private research has tailed off, and increasingly been relegated to Pharma repeating old drugs, with new names. The shrinkage of DuPont symbolises this tidal change, with humanity becoming increasingly dependent on publicly and charitably funded research for progress. It's a good thing that their research is more reliable, as well as more innovative, eh.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-dupont-deep-science.html

The first ever global nitrogen footprint assay, encompassing 188 countries, has found that the USA, China, India, and Brazil are responsible for 46% of the world's nitrogen emissions. The study measured NOx as well as NH3 (ammonia) and Nwp (nitrogen potentially exportable to water bodies) so it doesn't seem to cover nitrogen in the form of food. Unsurprisingly, however, it's the 'more developed' nations that import most nitrogen, including large chunks in the form of ammonia. Presumably, for agricultural purposes. The report says the vast bulk of emissions came from industries such as agriculture, transport and energy generation. Emissions from consumers' use, were mostly from sewage. Of the 189 teragrams of nitrogen emitted worldwide in 2010, 161 Tg was emitted from industries and agriculture, and only 28 Tg was emitted by consumers. For more details, follow the link.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-global-nitrogen-footprint.html

"Stop blaming SAD for your bad mood - it doesn't exist! Seasonal changes have 'NO effect on depression'" shrieks the Daily Fail. The Old Times, Sun, Torygraph, and Diana joined them a week-and-a-bit ago, to tell depressed people not to be so silly. "Just keep reading our pages, and revel in our morbidly depressive sado-masochism" they were probably thinking. Well, has SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) really been proved to not exist, the way Gluten Sensitivity was, two years ago? No. No, it hasn't. The study was conducted over the phone (which is never a great sign) and so it could easily have missed SAD sufferers, who would be unwilling to engage in discussion about the very thing about them, that they dislike the most - their persistently low mood. Medical advice for SAD sufferers is the generic anti-depression advice: keep active, especially outdoors, socialise; those kinds of things, plus keeping in light circumstances, maybe using a lightbox, or some full spectrum lamps, that are quite easily available. Whatever you do, don't read the newspapers :-P
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/01January/Pages/Seasonal-affective-disorder-may-be-a-myth-study-argues.aspx

Compensation, though, goes to the Fail and the Torygraph, for getting this story kind-of alright. But not to the BBC, for not being able to tell the differene between the numbers '26' and '50'. Five points from Gryffindor. It's genuinely true that paint around and near playgrounds in the UK, contains quantities of lead deemed unsafe to anyone, let alone children, who are more susceptible to mineral poisoning. Measured lead concentrations ranged from 116 mcg/g (micrograms per gram) to 115,000 mcg/g around playgrounds, and to 389,000 mcg/g on old bridges and phone boxes. The key there is the word 'old' as they have old paint on them, often left as un undercoat to the younger, safer paint on top. But when the younger paint starts to flake, the old paint is exposed, and that's exactly what these researchers found. It should be noted that the thresholds between 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' concentrations are generally set at 100 times lower than the concentrations at which harmful effects are seen, for the sake of caution. This means that lead being at "40 times recommended levels" (which makes lead sound like a nutritional requirement) doesn't actually mean you should stay away. Having said that, letting your kids lick paint is not generally a good idea, wherever you are!
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/01January/Pages/Playground-equipment-contains-toxic-levels-of-lead-paint.aspx

LISA is in position. The LISA Pathfinder mission has arrived at Lagrange Point 1, to study the cosmos, in fact spacetime itself, for the existence, or lack thereof, of gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are a big prediction of the General Theory of Relativity. So far, General Relativity has always been right in its predictions of what should be seen in the universe, but gravitational waves are hard to spot across the relatively-small scales that humans live in. This means, it might take a long time to spot them, if they're real. Fingers crossed until then, that Einstein's grown-up baby continues to deliver the metaphorical goods.
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/LISA_Pathfinder_arrives_at_its_worksite

From the hugeness of the cosmos, to the tinyness of the guppies of Trinidad. They are fascinating, but not because they're pretty. They're fascinating because they live in the oil-polluted waters of southern Trinidad, as well as the clean waters of the north. So how have the guppies that live in the south, adapted to living in a hydrocarbon oil-polluted environment? Well, they haven't. So how have they thrived? Simply by being less disadvantaged by the oil, than their competitors, their predators, and their parasites, which have all sharply reduced in number, in the oil-polluted waters.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-video-fish-oil-polluted.html

Ovens! Not for baking fish, necessarily, but baking in general. An EU-funded research project, into developing high-efficiency ovens for the smaller companies that have a 60% share of the European baking industry. The ovens bake using less energy (well, duh!) and also in a shorter period of time. The LEO (Low Energy Ovens) project partners say they intend to continue developing the ovens, as they are released to the market. Energy efficiency is a pressing concern for the growing populations of the world, Europe included, where higher energy usage necessitates increased fuel consumption. This means CO2eq emissions increases, from power plants, or an increased spread of renewables farms. Either way, the increase of energy consumption as economies grow, means increased economic and/or environmental cost.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-oven-technology-european-industry.html

The Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) was last seen alive, in India, in 1949, but no-one knew, back then, what produced the pinkness of the duck's head. The obvious assumption is that the pinkness comes from the same source as flamingoes' and this in fact is true - carotenoid pigments to provide the pink colour. The only place such pinkness has been seen in a duck, before, is in the tiny "ear" spots of Australia's Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus). The ducks and flamingoes are actually distantly related, evolutionarily, so it's thought that these pigment productions evolved independently, but it's not yet known which of the 40-something carotenoid pigments are present in this particular species. This discovery could not have been made without spectroscopy, nor the Smithsonian's carefully preserved collections.
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-extinct-pink-headed-duck-derived-unique.html

------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff

'Fixing Cultured Meat - Fungal ECM'
https://youtu.be/Up4V3_8DhAg

'Objects of Danger - Objectivity #54'
https://youtu.be/JU9eCtuxyZw

'Octopuses use bizarre body language to resolve conflict'
https://youtu.be/EAwumH_XdBE

'Hubble spies a rebel galaxy'
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-hubble-spies-rebel.html

'Comet landscape: Exploring Imhotep'
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-comet-landscape-exploring-imhotep.html

'Image: A half-Enceladus'
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-image-half-enceladus.html

'An Airglow Fan from Lake to Sky'
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160127.html

'NASA image: Space station flyover of the Mediterranean'
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-nasa-image-space-station-flyover.html

------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks

Word Of The Week: contempt -- the feeling that a person or a thing is worthless or beneath consideration; arrogant disdain; the offence of being disobedient to or disrespectful of a court of law and its officers

Expression Of The Week: 'have at it' -- explicitly, 'give it a go'; implicitly, attempt something with clumsiness, incompetence, or frustration; for a more concise definition, follow the link to my own detail

------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff

'Mesmerizing map showing migration patterns of 118 bird species'
https://twitter.com/galka_max/status/691607473938038784


'Hugh Laurie - Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair (Live On The Queen Mary)'
https://youtu.be/lxpFkGrkopo


'Fifty Shades of Grey featuring Mr Bean - Rowan Atkinson blu ray:dvd trailer'
https://youtu.be/9ttfL7-BB7M

'Rowan Atkinson gives Pixie Lott a full body examination'
https://youtu.be/r8C2Tm-r0V8

'Rowan Atkinson Live - Dirty Names'
https://youtu.be/R7OxTxAvvLw
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