U.S. Tech Lead Shrivels

US lead in science and technology shrinkingEmerging economies shifting global S&T landscapeNational Science Foundation, February 6, 2014
The United States' (U.S.) predominance in science and technology (S&T) eroded further during the last decade, as several Asian nations--particularly China and South Korea--rapidly increased their innovation capacities. According to a report released today by the National Science Board (NSB), the policy making body of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and an advisor to the President and Congress, the major Asian economies, taken together, now perform a larger share of global R&D than the U.S., and China performs nearly as much of the world's high-tech manufacturing as the U.S.

Evidence in NSB's biennial report, Science and Engineering Indicators

, which provides the most comprehensive federal information and analysis on the nation's position in S&T, makes it increasingly clear that the U.S., Japan, and Europe no longer monopolize the global R&D arena. Since 2001, the share of the world's R&D performed in the U.S. and Europe has decreased, respectively, from 37 percent to 30 percent and from 26 percent to 22 percent. In this same time period, the share of worldwide R&D performed by Asian countries grew from 25 percent to 34 percent. China led the Asian expansion, with its global share growing from just 4 percent to 15 percent during this period. "The first decade of the 21st century continues a dramatic shift in the global scientific landscape," said NSB Chairman Dan Arvizu, who is also the director and chief executive of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "Emerging economies understand the role science and innovation play in the global marketplace and in economic competitiveness and have increasingly placed a priority on building their capacity in science and technology."

Recognition on the part of national leaders that S&T innovation contributes to national competitiveness, improves living standards, and furthers social welfare has driven the rapid growth in R&D in many countries. China and South Korea have catalyzed their domestic R&D by making significant investments in the S&T research enterprise and enhancing S&T training at universities. China tripled its number of researchers between 1995 and 2008, whereas South Korea doubled its number between 1995 and 2006. And there are indications that students from these nations may be finding more opportunities for advanced education in science and employment in their home countries.
In addition to investing in their research and teaching enterprises, these countries have focused their attention on crucial sectors of the global economy, including high-tech manufacturing and clean energy.

The size of China's high-tech manufacturing industry increased nearly six-fold between 2003 and 2012, raising China's global share of high-tech manufacturing from eight percent to 24 percent during that decade, closing in on the U.S. share of 27 percent. In addition, emerging economies now invest more in clean energy--a critical 21st century industry--than advanced economies. In 2012, emerging economies invested nearly $100 billion in clean energy, primarily wind and solar, with China serving as the "primary driver of investment" with $61 billion. China's investment is more than double the $29 billion spent in the U.S.

Parent companies of U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs) perform over 80 percent of their worldwide R&D in the U.S. However, U.S. MNCs continue to increase their R&D investments in countries such as Brazil, China, and India, both reflecting and further contributing to a more globally-distributed R&D landscape. Majority-owned foreign affiliates of U.S. MNCs, for example, tripled their R&D investments in India and more than doubled them in Brazil between 2007 and 2010, nearly reaching the expenditure levels of the U.S. affiliates in China.

U.S. R&D rebounds from Great Recession
The 2008-09 recession took a toll on U.S. R&D. U.S. R&D expenditures declined in 2009, primarily due to a sharp drop in business R&D, which comprises the largest portion of U.S. R&D. This decrease in business R&D was partially offset by a temporary increase in Federal R&D funding through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

However, comprehensive data covering the post-economic downturn period reveal that the U.S. has rebounded from the Great Recession better than other developed countries. By 2011, with a resurgence of business R&D, overall R&D funding had returned to 2008 levels, when adjusted for inflation. Indicators data also show that S&T degree and job holders weathered the recession better than others in the U.S. workforce.

(The report released today does not cover the period during which Federal R&D was cut sharply by sequestration. The National Science Foundation reports that Federal R&D funding has declined in each fiscal year since 2010, dropping by 7.1 percent in fiscal year 2013.)

U.S. high-tech industries have generally fared better than those of other developed economies in the aftermath of the recession. In contrast to the European Union (E.U.) and Japan, the value-added output of U.S. high-tech industries grew in 2010-12, surpassing pre-recession levels. Similarly, commercial investment in clean energy technology declined sharply in the E.U. during the recession and has yet to return to pre-downturn levels.

One of the most notable S&T trends of the last decade has been the increased innovation capacity of emerging economies as they narrowed many gaps with the West. However, the U.S. S&T enterprise remains the global leader. For example, the U.S. invests twice as much as any other single nation in R&D, despite slipping to tenth in world ranking of the percentage of its GDP it devotes to R&D. In 2011, the U.S. spent $429 billion on R&D, compared to China's $208 billion and Japan's $146 billion. Among other S&T metrics, the U.S. leads in high quality research publications, patents, and income from intellectual property exports.

"The United States remains the world's leader in science and technology," said Ray Bowen, NSB member and chairman of its Committee on Science and Engineering Indicators, which oversees development of the report. "But there are numerous indicators showing how rapidly the world is changing and how other nations are challenging our predominance. As other countries focus on increasing their innovation capacities, we can ill afford to stand still. We now face a competitive environment undreamed of just a generation ago," said Bowen, visiting distinguished professor, Rice University and president emeritus of Texas A&M University.

The 2014 volume of Science and Engineering Indicators
is prepared by NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) on behalf of NSB. Indicators provides quantitative information on science, mathematics, and engineering education at all levels, the scientific and engineering workforce, domestic and international R&D performance, U.S. competitiveness in high technology, and public attitudes and understanding of science and engineering. The publication is subject to extensive review by outside experts, other Federal agencies, NSB members, and NCSES internal reviewers. It is available at: www.nsf.gov/statistics/indicators/.
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=130380

Working Memory Favors Quality

When it Comes to Memory, Quality
Matters More than QuantityNew York University, February 4, 2014

The capacity of our working memory is better explained by the quality of memories we can store than by their number, a team of psychology researchers has concluded.

Their analysis, which appears in the latest issue of the journal Psychological Review, helps clarify a long-standing debate in psychology about the capacity of our "working memory": Are the limits on the amount of information we can remember for a short period, such as a phone number or a snapshot of a traffic situation, best understood as a cap on the total number of memories we can store or, rather, as a limitation on their quality?

"Our findings show that we don’t simply store a set number of items and then recall them near-perfectly," says Weiji Ma, an associate professor in NYU’s Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology, and the study’s senior author. "Rather, we try to memorize all relevant objects, but the quality of these recollections is uneven and gets worse as we have to remember more."

Working memory (WM) has a similar function as random access memory (RAM) in computers, but its mechanisms are not nearly as well understood. In recent years, psychology researchers have come to contrasting conclusions on the limits of working memory. Some have posited that there a fixed number of memories we can store in there—for example, we may be able to store the positions of only four different cars in our working memory at any one time.

However, others have maintained that working memory’s storage is not defined by the number of items it can hold; rather, these scholars see its limits as better defined by the quality of memories. For instance, in recalling the colors in a painting, we may remember seeing light blue in the work when, in fact, the actual color was teal. In other words, working memory’s bounds are a matter of precision rather than quantity.

In an effort to resolve this debate, Ma and colleagues examined data from 10 previously conducted experiments across six different laboratories, in total consisting of more than 130,000 subject responses. In a typical experiment, subjects were asked to recall one of up to eight colors they had seen a few seconds ago—a well-established measurement for gauging memory. This allowed the researchers to test different models that explained the capacity of our working memory—that is, is it a function of quality or quantity?

"This is the first study in this area that uses this much data, and we hope that our data set can serve as a benchmark for future studies," explains Ma.

Their analysis showed that working memory capacity is best explained in terms of the quality of memories. This quality gradually diminished as subjects were asked to recall more and more colors.

Contrary to what many textbooks claim, memory performance could not be explained by a fixed number of memories.

Ma does add a caveat, "Our results certainly don’t mean that you always remember everything that matters. However, ‘remembering everything a little bit’ seems much closer to the truth than ‘remembering a few things perfectly and others not at all’."

Ma points to how we navigate traffic in illustrating how quality matters in working memory. When driving, we may store the positions of cars and pedestrians, the colors of the street signs, and the distance to the next traffic light. However, quality of some of these memories may be quite high (e.g., the positions of other cars) while for others it may be poor (e.g., the color of the street signs).

The study’s other authors were Ronald van den Berg, a Baylor College of Medicine postdoctoral fellow at the time of the study and now at the University of Cambridge, and Edward Awh, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon.

The research was supported by grants from the National Eye Institute (R01EY020958) and the Army Research Office (W911NF-12-1-0262).
 

http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2014/02/04/when-it-comes-to-memory-quality-matters-more-than-quantity.html

Absolute Quiddity: Good Aphorisms

The word aphorism

(literally "distinction" or "definition", from the Greek: αφορισμός, aphorismós ap-horizein, "from/to bound") denotes an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and easily memorable form.

Quotes about Aphroisms

• Habits count for more than maxims, because habit is a living maxim, becomes flesh and instinct. To reform one's maxims is nothing: it is but to change the title of the book.
Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881), Swiss philosopher, poet and critic. Journal Intime (1882)

The aphorist does not argue or explain, he asserts; and implicit in his assertion is a conviction that he is wiser and more intelligent than his readers.

W. H. Auden (1907–1973), Anglo-American poet. Foreword, The Viking Book of Aphorisms (1962)

Aphorisms, except they should be ridiculous, cannot be made but of the pith and heart of sciences; for discourse of illustration is cut off; recitals of examples are cut off; discourse of connection and order is cut off; descriptions of practice are cut off. So there remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good quantity of observation; and therefore no man can suffice, nor in reason will attempt, to write aphorisms, but he that is sound and grounded.

Francis Bacon (1561–1626), English philosopher, statesman and essayist. The Proficience and Advancement of Learning (1605), Second Book, XI–XX p. 5

Aphorisms, representing a knowledge broken, do invite men to inquire further; whereas methods, carrying the show of a total, do secure men, as if they were at furthest.

• Francis Bacon, The Proficience and Advancement of Learning (1605), Second Book XI–XX, p. 5

‘Aphorizein’, from which we get the word ‘aphorism’, means to retreat to such a distance that a horizon of thought is formed which never again closes on itself.

Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007), French philosopher and writer. Cool Memories V (2006)

APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom.

The flabby wine-skin of his brain
Yields to some pathologic strain,
And voids from its unstored abysm
The driblet of an aphorism.
"The Mad Philosopher," 1697

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914?), American writer. The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

The hunter for aphorisms on human nature has to fish in muddy water, and he is ever condemned to find much of his own mind.

Francis Herbert Bradley (1846–1924), British philosopher. Aphorisms (1930)

It [an aphorism or epigram] should sound like something that somebody might say, but it should be something that nobody has ever said before.

Ashley Brilliant (b. 1933), American cartoonist, epigrammatist and publisher. From his interview for the Wall Street Journal, 6th January 1992. (He commentating here on his "Pot-Shots" postcards.)

There is something anachronistic about the very idea of aphorisms or maxims. Contemporary culture isn’t stately enough, or stable enough, to support them.

Anatole Broyard (1920–1990), American literary critic. ‘Wisdom of Aphorisms’, New York Times, 30th April 1983

Aphorisms are bad for novels. They stick in the reader’s teeth.

• Anatole Broyard. ‘Books of the Times’, New York Times, June 6th 1984

The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other very well.

Elias Canetti (1905–1994), Jewish-Bulgarian writer. The Human Province (1942–1972)

Exclusively of the abstract sciences, the largest and worthiest portion of our knowledge consists of aphorisms: and the greatest and best of men is but an aphorism.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), English poet. Aids to Reflection, 'Introductory Aphorisms', No. 27 (1825)

In an aphorism, aptness counts for more than truth.

Mason Cooley (1927–2002), American literary academic and aphorist. City Aphorisms, Fourth Selection (1987)

Aphorisms are not true or false, but pointed or flat.

• Mason Cooley. City Aphorisms, Fourth Selection (1987)

Aphorisms have never seduced anybody, but they have fooled some into considering themselves worldly-wise.

• Mason Cooley. City Aphorisms, Twelfth Selection (1993)

An aphorism that does not score is just one more sentence.

• Mason Cooley. City Aphorisms, Thirteenth Selection (1994)

I’ve always felt aphorisms as reminders, gongs–in–words.

• Olivia Dresher (b.1945), American literary editor, publisher and poet. 'Aphorisms by Olivia Dresher', from, All Aphorisms, All the Time, a blog on James Geary's website, 24th February 2009

An aphorism is the last link in a long chain of thought.

Marie Freifrau von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), Austrian writer. Aphorisms (1890), p. 19

Windbags can be right. Aphorists can be wrong. It is a tough world.

James Fenton (b. 1949), English poet, journalist and literary critic. From his column in The Times (UK) newspaper, 21st February 1985

There is a difference between being witty – quick with the repartee and the insight – and having an aptitude for aphorism.

• James Fenton. The Guardian (UK) newspaper, 17th February 2007

To have the last word, to be beyond contradiction, to inhabit a world of assertion and paradox – it may not be every aphorist’s ambition, but it seems to come with the turf.

• James Fenton. The Guardian, 17th February 2007

Aphorisms are literature’s hand luggage. Light and compact they fit easily into the overhead compartment of your brain and contain everything you need to get through a rough day at the office or a dark night of the soul.

James Geary (b. 1962), American journalist, author and aphorist. The World in a Phrase (2005), Ch. 1

For the aphorist, I think, seeing something and saying something are the same thing.

• James Geary, ‘Anatomy of an Aphorism’, from, All Aphorisms, All The Time, a blog on James Geary’s website, 16th October 2008

Aphorisms are short, pithy sayings; they are individual passages that can be recited and remain intelligible out of context; they can stand on their own without further support.

• Dr. Louis Groarke, Canadian philosopher. Philosophy as Inspiration: Blaise Pascal and the Epistemology of Aphorisms. Essay in, Poetics Today, Fall 2007

Without losing ourselves in a wilderness of definitions, we can all agree that the most obvious characteristic of an aphorism, apart from its brevity, is that it is a generalization. It offers a comment on some recurrent aspect of life, couched in terms which are meant to be permanently and universally applicable.

John Gross, English journalist, writer and literary critic. ‘Introduction’, The Oxford Book of Aphorisms (1983)

But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in a few words.

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), English poet and lexicographer. The Rambler, No. 175, 19th November 1751

Pointed axioms and acute replies fly loose about the world, and are assigned successively to those whom it may be the fashion to celebrate.

• Samuel Johnson. ‘Waller’, Lives of the Poets (1779-81)

I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts by which a big book is made.

• Samuel Johnson. Journal entry for 16th August 1773 in, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson LL.D., by James Boswell (1785)

Genuine bon mots surprise those from whose lips they fall, no less than they do those who listen to them.

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824), French moralist and essayist. Pensées (1842)

An aphorism never coincides with the truth: it is either a half-truth or one-and-a-half truths.

Karl Kraus (1874–1936), Austrian writer. Half–Truths and One–and–a–Half Truths, Translated by Harry Zohn (1990)

Someone who can write aphorisms should not fritter away his time writing essays.

• Karl Kraus. Half–Truths and One–and–a–Half Truths, translated by Harry Zohn (1990)

One cannot dictate an aphorism to a typist. It would take too long.

• Karl Kraus. Half–truths and One–and–a–Half Truths, translated by Harry Zohn (1990)

Aphorism: what is worth quoting from the soul’s dialogue with itself.

Yahia Lababidi (b. 1973), Egyptian-Lebanise essayist and poet. Signposts to Elswhere (2008)

There is always something positive about the wisdom in aphorisms; jokes are not always that optimistic.

John Lloyd (b. 1951), British television comedy writer and producer. 'On the First Ever International Aphorism Symposium', from, All Aphorisms, All the Time, a blog on James Geary website, 11th March 2008

Aphorism or maxim, let us remember that this wisdom of life is the true salt of literature; that those books, at least in prose, are most nourishing which are most richly stored with it; and that is one of the great objects, apart from the mere acquisition of knowledge, which men ought to seek in the reading of books.

John Morley (1838-1923), 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, British statesman and writer. Aphorisms (1887) p. 11

Beware of cultivating this delicate art.

• John Morley (1838–1923), British statesman and writer. Aphorisms (1887) p. 39

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), Russian-American novelist and poet. The Gift (1937), Ch. 1, from the English edition, published by G. P. Putnam’s Son (1963)

A good aphorism is too hard for the teeth of time and is not eaten up by all the centuries, even though it serves as food for every age: hence it is the greatest paradox in literature, the imperishable in the midst of change, the nourishment which—like salt—is always prized, but which never loses its savor as salt does.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher. Mixed Opinions and Maxims, aphorism 168, 'In Praise of Aphorisms' (1879)

Whoever writes in blood and aphorisms wants not to be learned but to be learned by heart.

• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher. Thus Spoke Zarathustra, First Part, 'On Reading and Writing' (1883)

An aphorism, honestly stamped and molded, has not yet been "deciphered" once we have read it over; rather, its exegesis—for which an art of exegesis is needed—has only just begun.

• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher. On the Genealogy of Morals, 'Preface', Section 8 (1887)

Behind every aphoristic assertion there should be the watermark of a question.

Gregory Norminton, British Novelist and academic. From his Blog, ‘How to be Awake,’ 18th May 2010

They’ve [aphorisms] got a real form to them. They’re not very popular or fashionable in Anglophone culture – they are assertions, so they can sound hubristic: you sometimes find yourself thinking, "Who the hell am I to say this?" But then, why not? You expect people to disagree. The point is to stir things up.

Don Paterson (b, 1963), Scottish poet and musician. From his interview with Mark Seaton for The Guardian, 21st January 2004

The aphorism is only useful in small measured doses—but even then it’s only a kind of intellectual placebo, prompting ideas the reader should have prompted in themselves anyway.

• Don Paterson, The Blind Eye: A Book of Late Advice (2007)

Despite our attempts to imbue them with some flavor, any flavor—aphorisms all turn out so...generic; they all sound as if they were delivered by the same disenfranchised, bad-tempered minor deity.

• Don Paterson, Best Thought, Worst Thought: On Art, Sex, Work, and Death. (2008)

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.

George Santayana (1863–1952), Spanish-American novelist, essayist and poet. Little Essays, Drawn From the Writings of George Santayana, compiled and edited by Logan Pearsall Smith (1920)

An aphorism ought to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world like a little work of art and complete in itself like a hedgehog.

Freidrich von Schlegel (1772–1829), German philosopher. Aphorism 206 in, Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)

Aphorisms are the true form of the universal philosophy.

Friedrich von Schlegel (1772–1829), German philosopher. From Aphorism 259, Aphorisms from the Athenaeum (1798)

An aphorism has been defined as a proverb coined in a private mint, and the definition is a happy one; for the aphorism, like the proverb, is the result of observation, and however private and superior the mint, the coins it strikes must, to find acceptance, be made of current metal.

Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946), American born essayist and critic. ‘Introduction’, A Treasury of English Aphorisms (1943), p. 7

It is in the nature of aphoristic thinking to be always in a state of concluding; a bid to have the final word is inherent in all powerful phrase-making.

Susan Sontag (1933–2004), American essayist. 'Writing Itself: On Roland Barthes', Introduction, Barthes: Selected Writings (1982)

Aphorisms are rogue ideas.

Susan Sontag (1933–2004), Journal entry, April 26, 1980

An aphorism is not an argument; it is too well-bred for that.

Susan Sontag (1933–2004), Journal entry, April 26, 1980

Aphoristic thinking is impatient thinking

Susan Sontag (1933–2004), Journal entry, May 6, 1980

Most maxim-mongers have preferred the prettiness to the justness of a thought, and the turn to the truth; but I have refused myself to everything that my own experience did not justify and confirm.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773), British statesman, man of letters. Letter to his son, 15th January 1753. The Letters of the Earl of Chesterfield to His Son (1774–5)

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aphorisms

Aesop the Ugly Slave

Aesop (c. 620–564 BCE) was an Ancient Greek fabulist or story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop’s Fables. Although his existence remains uncertain and (if they ever existed) no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. Many of the tales are characterized by animals and inanimate objects that speak, solve problems, and generally have human characteristics.

Scattered details of Aesop's life can be found in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary work called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave who by his cleverness acquires freedom and becomes an adviser to kings and city-states. Older spellings of his name have included Esop(e) and Isope. A later tradition (dating from the Middle Ages) depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian. Depictions of Aesop in popular culture over the last 2500 years have included several works of art and his appearance as a character in numerous books, films, plays,
and television programs.

Life　

The name of Aesop is as widely known as any that has come down from Graeco-Roman antiquity [yet] it is far from certain whether a historical Aesop ever existed. in the latter part of the fifth century [BC] something like a coherent Aesop legend appears, and Samos seems to be its home.

—Martin Litchfield West

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop
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A List of Some Fables by Aesop

• The Ant and the Grasshopper
• The Ape and the Fox
• The Ass and his Masters
• The Ass and the Pig
• The Ass Carrying an Image
• The Ass in the Lion’s Skin
• The Astrologer who Fell into a Well
• The Bird-catcher and the Blackbird
• The Bear and the Travelers
• The Beaver
• The Belly and Other Members
• The Bird in Borrowed Feathers
• The Boy Who Cried Wolf
• The Cat and the Mice
• The Cock and the Jewel
• The Cock, the Dog and the Fox
• The Crow and the Pitcher
• The Crow and the Sheep
• The Crow and the Snake
• The Deer without a Heart
• The Dog and its Reflection
• The Dog and the Wolf
• The Dove and the Ant
• The Farmer and the Stork
• The Farmer and the Viper
• The Fir and the Bramble
• The Fisherman and the Little Fish
• The Fowler and the Snake
• The Fox and the Crow
• The Fox and the Grapes
• The Fox and the Mask
• The Fox and the Sick Lion
• The Fox and the Stork
• The Fox and the Weasel
• The Fox and the Woodman
• The Frog and the Mouse
• The Frog and the Ox
• The Frogs and the Sun
• The Frogs Who Desired a King
• The Goat and the Vine
• The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs
• Hercules and the Wagoner
• The Honest Woodcutter
• The Horse and the Donkey
• The Lion and the Fox
• The Lion and the Mouse
• The Lion’s Share
• The Lion, the Bear and the Fox
• The Man with two Mistresses
• The Mischievous Dog
• The Miser and his Gold
• The Mountain in Labour
• The Mouse and the Oyster
• The North Wind and the Sun
• The Oak and the Reed
• The Old Man and Death
• The Old Woman and the Doctor
• The Rose and the Amaranth
• The Satyr and the Traveller
• The Sick Kite
• The Snake and the Crab
• The Snake and the Farmer
• The Snake in the Thorn Bush
• The Tortoise and the Birds
• The Tortoise and the Hare
• Town Mouse and Country Mouse
• The Travellers and the Plane Tree
• The Trees and the Bramble
• The Trumpeter Taken Captive
• The Two Pots
• Venus and the Cat
• The Walnut Tree
• Washing the Ethiopian white
• The Wolf and the Crane
• The Wolf and the Lamb
• The Woodcutter and the Trees
• The Young Man and the Swallow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Aesop%27s_Fables#List_of_some_fables_by_Aesop

Positive Quiddity: Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many diseases in the baby. It also contains many other nutrients.

As an agricultural product, milk is extracted from mammals during or soon after pregnancy and used as food for humans. Worldwide, dairy farms produced about 730 million tonnes of milk in 2011. India is the world's largest producer and consumer of milk, yet neither exports nor imports milk. New Zealand, the European Union’s 28 member states, Australia, and the United States are the world's largest exporters of milk and milk products. China and Russia are the world's largest importers of milk and milk products.
Throughout the world, there are more than 6 billion consumers of milk and milk products. Over 750 million people live within dairy farming households. Milk is a key contributor to improving nutrition and food security particularly in developing countries. Improvements in livestock and dairy technology offer significant promise in reducing poverty and malnutrition in the world.

Nutrition for Infant Mammals
In almost all mammals, milk is fed to infants through breastfeeding, either directly or by expressing the milk to be stored and consumed later. The early milk from mammals is called colostrum. Colostrum contains antibodies that provide protection to the newborn baby as well as nutrients and growth factors. The makeup of the colostrum and the period of secretion varies from species to species.

For humans, the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months and breastfeeding in addition to other food for two years or more. In some cultures it is common to breastfeed children for three to five years, and the period may be even longer.

Fresh goats milk is sometimes substituted for breast milk. This risks the child developing electrolyte imbalances, metabolic acidosis, megaloblastic anemia, and a host of allergic reactions.

Food Product for Humans
In many cultures of the world, especially the Western world, humans continue to consume milk beyond infancy, using the milk of other animals (especially cattle, goats, and sheep) as a food product. Initially, the ability to digest milk was limited to children as adults did not produce lactase, an enzyme necessary for digesting the lactose in milk. Milk was therefore converted to curd, cheese and other products to reduce the levels of lactose. Thousands of years ago, a chance mutation spread in human populations in Europe that enabled the production of lactase in adulthood. This allowed milk to be used as a new source of nutrition which could sustain populations when other food sources failed. Milk is processed into a variety of dairy products such as cream, butter, yogurt, kefir, ice cream, and cheese. Modern industrial processes use milk to produce casein, whey protein, lactose, condensed milk, powdered milk and many other food-additive and industrial products.

The sugar lactose is found only in milk, forsythia flowers, and a few tropical shrubs. The enzyme needed to digest lactose, lactase, reaches its highest levels in the small intestines after birth and then begins a slow decline unless milk is consumed regularly. On the other hand, those groups who do continue to tolerate milk often have exercised great creativity in using the milk of domesticated ungulates, not only of cattle, but also sheep, goats, yaks, water buffalo, horses, reindeer and camels. The largest producer and consumer of cattle and buffalo milk in the world is India.

History
Humans first learned to regularly consume the milk of other mammals following the domestication of animals during the Neolithic Revolution or the development of agriculture. This development occurred independently in several places around the world from as early as 9000–7000 BC in Southwest Asia to 3500–3000 BC in the Americas. The most important dairy animals—cattle, sheep and goats—were first domesticated in Southwest Asia, although domestic cattle has been independently derived from wild aurochs populations several times since.

From Southwest Asia domestic dairy animals spread to Europe (beginning around 7000 BC but not reaching Britain and Scandinavia until after 4000 BC), and South Asia (7000–5500 BC). The first farmers in central Europe and Britain milked their animals. Pastoral and pastoral nomadic economies, which rely predominantly or exclusively on domestic animals and their products rather than crop farming, were developed as European farmers moved into the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the 4th millennium BC, and subsequently spread across much of the Eurasian steppe. Sheep and goats were introduced to Africa from Southwest Asia, but African cattle may have been independently domesticated around 7000–6000 BC. Camels, domesticated in central Arabia in the 4th millennium BC, have also been used as a dairy animal in North Africa and the Arabian peninsula. The earliest Egyptian records of burn treatment describe burn dressings using milk from mothers of male babies. In the rest of the world (i.e., East and Southeast Asia, the Americas and Australia) milk and dairy products were historically not a large part of the diet, either because they remained populated by hunter-gatherers who did not keep animals or the local agricultural economies did not include domesticated dairy species. Milk consumption became common in these regions comparatively recently, as a consequence of European colonialism and political domination over much of the world in the last 500 years.

In the Middle Ages, milk was called the virtuous white liquor because alcoholic beverages were more reliable than water.

The growth in urban population coupled with the expansion of the railway network in the mid 19th century, brought about a revolution in milk production and supply. Individual railway firms began transporting milk from rural areas to London from the 1840s and 50s. Possibly the first such instance was in 1846, when St Thomas’s Hospital in Southwark contracted with milk suppliers outside London to provide milk by rail. The Great Western Railway was an early and enthusiatic adopter, and began to transport milk into London from Maidenhead in 1860, despite much criticism. By 1900, the Company was transporting over 25 million gallons annually. The milk trade grew slowly through the 1860s, but went through a period of extensive, structural change in the 1870s and 80s.

Urban demand began to grow, as consumer purchasing power increased and milk became regarded as a required daily commodity. Over the last three decades of the 19th century, demand for milk in most parts of the country doubled, or in some cases, tripled. Legislation in 1875 made the adulteration of milk illegal - this combined with a marketing campaign to change the image of milk. The proportion of rural imports by rail as a percentage of total milk consumption in London grew from under 5% in the 1860s to over 96% by the early 20th century. By that point, the supply system for milk was the most highly organized and integrated of any food product.

Worldwide Milk Production

red = milk exporter

green = use equals production

blue= milk importer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk

Vital Plane Passenger Manners

Seven Things You Should
Never Do on an AirplanePosted by Caroline Costello to AirFareWatchdogBlog on Monday, January 27, 2014

Your plane ticket is your pass to far-flung destinations—on several conditions. Check your airline's contract of carriage; there, buried in pages of text, you'll find a list of violations that'll get you banned from boarding or even kicked off a plane. Contracts of carriage vary slightly by airline, but most contracts have some kind of language prohibiting passengers from doing anything that endangers the safety or comfort of fellow flyers. This is all subject to interpretation by airline employees, which is why we often see so many wild stories of passengers getting the boot. So what, specifically, shouldn't you do? The following seven behaviors should be avoided at all costs.

Refuse to Buckle Your Seat Belt
If for any reason a passenger can't or isn't willing to buckle his seat belt, flight crew will probably show him the door. It happened to a three-year-old boy who wouldn’t buckle up on an Alaska Airlines flight. It also happens when passengers are too large to fasten their seat belts. Travelers are required by federal law to wear a seat belt on some phases of all flights. And until recently, passengers of size could bring a seat belt extender onboard to help with fit. But in August, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared that flyers must be able to buckle up using the aircraft's original seat belt or with an extender offered by the airline, if available.

Bring a Crying Kid
Passengers who get loud, become aggressive, and spoil the comfort of fellow flyers could get kicked off a plane—even if they're still in diapers. The crew of a JetBlue flight to Turks and Caicos forced the family of a tantrum-throwing toddler to debark the plane in March 2012. According to SmarterTravel editor Caroline Morse, "The parents tried to hold the screaming toddler down in her seat with the seat belt on, but the pilot and flight attendant made the decision to kick the family off the flight and leave without them. Undoubtedly, the people trapped near that toddler on the plane were grateful, but the Daily Mail reports that the family ended up paying more than $2,000 for a new flight and hotel room for the night."

Wear Something Inappropriate
Airlines generally leave it up to flight attendants to judge whether or not a passenger's attire is inappropriate for wear in the air. As a result, instances of flyers getting the boot due to unsuitable attire are relatively common. In the past, we've reported on flight crews banning passengers for wearing low-cut tops, rocking baggy pants, and sporting offensive T-shirts. For more in-flight style tips, read Nine Things Not to Wear on a Plane [on line at http://www.smartertravel.com/photo-galleries/editorial/nine-things-not-to-wear-on-a-plane-.html?id=239&source=44525 ].

Get in a Fight
When a man smacked a fellow passenger in the head on a United Airlines flight to Ghana in 2011, the pilot, like a parent driving a car with feuding kids in the backseat, turned that plane around. But unlike your average parent, the pilot had the wherewithal to call up a few fighter jets as backup. The Air Force was summoned and two jets trailed the plane as it circled for half an hour, burning off fuel. The aggressive flyer, naturally, was removed from his flight once the plane touched down.

Here's the most unbelievable part of this story: The whole brawl started when one passenger reclined his seat into the space of the guy behind him. Some travelers might even argue he deserved the smack.

Ignore the Request to Turn Off Electronic Devices
You've undoubtedly heard the notorious tale: Alec Baldwin was kicked off a flight for neglecting to pause his game of Words with Friends when the flight crew requested that passengers power down their devices. It's important to note, however, that you likely won't be removed from your flight if you simply forget that your device is turned on and your phone rings on the tarmac. It's not that easy to get booted. But Baldwin seemed determined. He reportedly became aggressive and ignored repeated requests before the captain
decided to leave the 30 Rock star behind.

Neglect Your Hygiene
You don't have to wear a naughty T-shirt to offend fellow passengers. Simply skip the soap. A few years ago, a flyer did just that, and ended up on the wrong side of the boarding gate. According to ABC News, when passengers on an Air Canada Jazz flight to Montreal complained about a foul-smelling flyer, the malodorous man had to forfeit his flight before departure. A person on the flight told ABC News, "People were just mumbling and staring at him. The guy next to me said, 'It's brutal.'"

Drink Too Much
Visibly intoxicated passengers aren't welcome on flights; most airline contracts of carriage contain clauses that specifically state this. US Airways' contract, for example, states that the airline can refuse transport to passengers who "appear to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs."

Some people apparently missed the memo, like country singer John Rich (of Big & Rich), who was removed from a Southwest flight for being too drunk to fly, and an intoxicated Bahraini prince, who lost his seat on British Airways. (It's safe to say that these airlines offer no special treatment for the rich and famous.)

Even if you appear drunk but are really sober, your ticket could be in jeopardy. In July, we reported on a sober woman who was removed from a Southwest flight because a gate agent thought she was intoxicated. After being booted, the women obtained a toxicology test from a hospital, and her blood alcohol level was less than 0.003. Nevertheless, she wasn't permitted to board that initial flight.
 

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/17445144/7-things-you-should-never-do-on-an-airplane/?source=45568&value=2014-02-02+00%3A00%3A00&u=K7A0LSG9NA&nltv=140881_c&nl_cs=17511882%3A%3A%3A%3A17479683%3A%3A140881_c

Uniquely Human: The Ventrolateral Frontal Cortex

What makes us human?: Unique brain
area linked to higher cognitive powers29 January 2014 -- Oxford University researchers have identified an area of the human brain that appears unlike anything in the brains of some of our closest relatives.

The brain area pinpointed is known to be intimately involved in some of the most advanced planning and decision-making processes that we think of as being especially human.

‘We tend to think that being able to plan into the future, be flexible in our approach and learn from others are things that are particularly impressive about humans. We’ve identified an area of the brain that appears to be uniquely human and is likely to have something to do with these cognitive powers,’ says senior researcher Professor Matthew Rushworth of Oxford University’s Department of Experimental Psychology.

MRI imaging of 25 adult volunteers was used to identify key components in the ventrolateral frontal cortex area of the human brain, and how these components were connected up with other brain areas. The results were then compared to equivalent MRI data from 25 macaque monkeys.

This ventrolateral frontal cortex area of the brain is involved in many of the highest aspects of cognition and language, and is only present in humans and other primates. Some parts are implicated in psychiatric conditions like ADHD, drug addiction or compulsive behaviour disorders. Language is affected when other parts are damaged after stroke or neurodegenerative disease. A better understanding of the neural connections and networks involved should help the understanding of changes in the brain that go along with these conditions.

The Oxford University researchers report their findings in the science journal Neuron. They were funded by the UK Medical Research Council.

Professor Rushworth explains: ‘The brain is a mosaic of interlinked areas. We wanted to look at this very important region of the frontal part of the brain and see how many tiles there are and where they are placed.

‘We also looked at the connections of each tile – how they are wired up to the rest of the brain – as it is these connections that determine the information that can reach that component part and the influence that part can have on other brain regions.’

From the MRI data, the researchers were able to divide the human ventrolateral frontal cortex into 12 areas that were consistent across all the individuals.

‘Each of these 12 areas has its own pattern of connections with the rest of the brain, a sort of "neural fingerprint", telling us it is doing something unique,’ says Professor Rushworth.

The researchers were then able to compare the 12 areas in the human brain region with the organisation of the monkey prefrontal cortex.

Overall, they were very similar with 11 of the 12 areas being found in both species and being connected up to other brain areas in very similar ways.

However, one area of the human ventrolateral frontal cortex had no equivalent in the macaque – an area called the lateral frontal pole prefrontal cortex.

‘We have established an area in human frontal cortex which does not seem to have an equivalent in the monkey at all,’ says first author Franz-Xaver Neubert of Oxford University. ‘This area has been identified with strategic planning and decision making as well as "multi-tasking".’

The Oxford research group also found that the auditory parts of the brain were very well connected with the human prefrontal cortex, but much less so in the macaque. The researchers suggest this may be critical for our ability to understand and generate speech.

http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_releases_for_journalists/140129.html