In the Walla Walla Valley

theatlantic:

Atoms vs. Bits: Your Phone in the Eyes of the Law

Should cops be allowed to search the contents of your phone, including email, photographs and text messages, without a warrant? California and Oregon think so.

Read more at The Atlantic

theatlantic:

 A Computerized Atlas of the Human Brain

Yesterday, a team of scientists funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen unveiled an interactive computerized atlas of the brain. “Until now, a definitive map of the human brain at this level of detail simply hasn’t existed,” Allan Jones, the chief executive of the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science, told the Wall Street Journal. “For the first time, we have generated a comprehensive map of the brain that includes the underlying biochemistry.”

The complete atlas (the photograph above is of one thin slice of human brain tissue that was used in its construction) will be available for free at www.brain-map.org to be used as a resource for scientists.

gdolboys:

With the most recent “revelation” that Manny Ramirez juiced and with Barry Bonds having essentially admitted to using steroids (albeit “unknowingly”), the past twenty years of offensive baseball history should be reevaluated. I suggest that in retrospect, the lil’ guys should get shown some love: Ichiro Suzuki, for example, is one of the best to ever do it in any era. Let’s just look at Ichiro’s numbers:

~2,250 hits in 10 seasons. 7x MLB hits leader. 2x MLB Batting Champion (best batting average). Single-season record for 262 hits in ‘06. 10x All-Star.

Ichiro doesn’t cheat. He’s just widely gifted and works incredibly hard. And he’s humble. That’s swag.

mightyflynn:

“There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works.”

- Charlie Lau

(illustration via The Transplanted Phan)

kateoplis:

Congress, in a First, Removes an Animal From the Endangered Species List

Congress for the first time is directly intervening in the Endangered Species List and removing an animal from it, establishing a precedent for political influence over the list that has outraged environmental groups. A rider to the Congressional budget measure agreed to last weekend dictates that wolves in Montana and Idaho be taken off the endangered species list and managed instead by state wildlife agencies, which is in direct opposition to a federal judge’s recent decision forbidding the Interior Department to take such an action.

There are myriad restrictions and budget cuts for environmental initiatives in the proposed budget. Among them are $49 million from programs relating to climate change, $438 million from programs supporting energy efficiency and renewable energy, $638 million from environmental cleanup efforts by the Defense Department and $997 million from revolving funds through which the Environmental Protection Agency provides money for local water treatment and pollution cleanup programs. Conservation programs at the Department of Agriculture will be reduced by $800 million, while the agency’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program will be cut by $350 million, essentially ending its financing for the rest of the fiscal year, officials said.

Photo: Joel Sartore