Author: Leon

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News Philosophy Politics

Your kids are competing in the real world hunger games

Here’s another reason why communized public school system is bad for us. I apologize in advance if any of this information stirs a small storm of cognitive dissonance for you.

Hunger Games for real

“Students can only have one serving of meat or other protein. However, rich kids can buy a second portion each day on their own dime.” This is from coverage of Michelle Obama’s national school-lunch regulations.

Protein-starving the peasantry so it will remain docile and biddable is a tyrant’s maneuver thousands of years old. I was unaware until today that this has become official policy in the American public school system.

How clever of them to sell it as a healthy-eating measure! That’ll get all the gentry liberals on board; of course, their kids will be buying that second serving.

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News

Sismics Reader

Here’s another alternative to the now-retired Google Reader. This is a self-hosted solution that comes with an Android app, too. I have to admit, though, that Feedly is working really well for me.

Sismics Reader

Sismics Reader was started in March 2013 after the Google annoucement saying Google Reader will be closed 3 months later. Three months to do as good as a multibillion revenue company? Challenge accepted.

The first step was to copy paste all key features of Google Reader, then, give this application for free to anyone willing to host his own feeds reader.

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Entertainment News

Parkour Moves Indoors

My kids love American Ninja Warrior. But what’s called Parkour today, used to be Freestyle Walking and the Ministry of Silly Walks before that. The sport has really come a long way.

Parkour, a Pastime Born on the Streets, Moves Indoors and Uptown – NYTimes.com

They are skateboarders without skateboards, urban acrobats who scale walls, hurdle mailboxes and leap between buildings in stunts that might give Spider-Man pause.

Practitioners of parkour, a daring pastime born in the streets, have long seen public spaces as their playground, and parkour as the ultimate rebel’s game, one with no rules, league, equipment or winners. It started in France (the name is derived from the French word for “course”) and has spread around the world: Gaza, Tokyo, Rome and Miami are parkour towns.

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News Science

More evidence about poor sleep making you fat

If you need another reason to get good sleep, here it is.

Poor sleep makes food more appealing – health – 07 August 2013 – New Scientist

If there was ever a study not to lose sleep over, it’s this one. People deprived of a good night’s rest are more likely to experience changes in brain activity that can increase the urge to eat high-calorie foods.

Matthew Walker at the University of California in Berkeley and colleagues conducted the first study of brain activity in relation to food among sleep-deprived people. The team used fMRI to study brain patterns in 23 people, first after a night of peaceful sleep and then after a night without sleep.

Sleep deprivation reduced activity in three areas of the brain that help, among other things, to process odour and flavour signals. It also led to more activity in the amygdala, which helps govern the motivation to eat. The team also found that volunteers rated pictures of high-calorie foods as more desirable after no sleep than after a good rest.

It may make evolutionary sense, says Laurent Brondel at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. The long summer days at higher latitudes deprive animals of sleep, but they use their time awake to eat more, which helps them get through the short days of winter when food is scarcer.

Categories
Entertainment News

Falskaar mod for Skyrim

OK, I thought I was done with Skyrim. I Played through all the content and moved on to Dishonored via a sweet deal on Steam. Now I’m thinking I may give this mod a try. The author built this mod as a way to a job as a level designer.

Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky

Falskaar is a new lands mod that adds an entirely new worldspace to the world. It’s accessed by a dungeon the first time, then by boat from then on out. Falskaar’s goal was to sharpen my skills in almost all areas around the board, with a focus in level and dungeon design. The result is that there is at least a little bit of everything. There is a new land, places, people, quests, dungeons and more for the player to experience. It adds roughly 20+ hours of content, and favors all types of characters.

This is NOT a beta. This is NOT a test version. This is a 100% completed new lands mod.