vineri, 15 iulie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Magical Scenes Made on the Ground

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:39 PM PDT

Forget everything you ever knew about creative kids photography (except for anything by Jason Lee) and then take a look at this. Jan von Holleben, the talented photographer who made a name for himself with Dreams of Flying just sent us over these wonderfully inspiring images. Action Heroes picks up where Dreams of Flying left off...only it's bigger and better.

The Wizards


The Karate Kids


The Rockstars


The Indiana Jane


The Lovers


The Aliens


The Pirates


The Star Warriors

Source: mymodernmet


A History of the Death Penalty (Infographic)

Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:34 PM PDT

The death penalty is an extremely controversial issue. Though the supreme court abolished the death penalty in 1972, it was later reinstated in 1976 and continues to this day, most prominently in Texas. Find out more about death penalty and related issues in the infographic below.

Click the infographic to enlarge it.

Source: criminaljusticedegreesguide


Husky Dog Talking - " I love you "

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 08:05 PM PDT



Mishka makes it clear just how much she loves us!




10 Most Intelligent Animals In the World

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:13 PM PDT

Here's a list of most intelligent animals in the world. The animal listed here is sorted by the level of intelligence. This list can't be used as a scientific reference as this is just for your information. So If You have other more intelligence animals that should be listed here, please just comment on this post. So Let's take a look at top 10 most intelligent animals in the world.

1. Chimpanzee

This animal can be found in wet tropical forests and savannas of West and Central Africa. Chimpanzee are able to learn, perform the tasks of thinking organization, and has a better memory then any other animal. They have been known to beat the college educated in the memory test. They can be taught to use computers to solve numerical problems. These animals can quickly adapt and perform sign language to communicate with humans. Chimpanzees have been observed using advanced knowledge tools. This includes a spear to take animals out of small holes in trees, using branches to lure and catch prey, using stones to break nuts, and leaves a sponge to absorb water. They have seen an attack using tactical maneuvers, such as flanking prey. They often use mental manipulation within their families. Chimpanzee Genome Project is completed in 2005. This shows that chimpanzees share 98% genetically the same DNA as humans. It was approximately four to six million years since humans and chimpanzees that deviate from the evolution of their common ancestor. More recently, chimpanzees have been seen teaching sign language to their babies without human intervention. We were just beginning to understand the mental abilities of chimpanzees.

2. Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin lives in the warm waters worldwide and is the most intelligent species of dolphins. It has a very large brain and the cerebral cortex and the frontal lobe is 40% larger than humans. Cerebral cortex is a part of the brain responsible for social communications, abstract information processing, problem solving, and intelligence of a higher level. Dolphin bottle very easily trained. They have been found to have the ability to think, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas, and learn from previous experiences. They use echolocation to hunt prey, and certain forms of squeaks and whistles to communicate with one another. It is also interesting to see that in many occasions this dolphin show remorse for the other species and the signs of consciousness. In a story recently, the local dolphin named Moko saved two Pygmy sperm whales stranded on New Zealand. Whales had been stranded for hours when Moko appeared and led the pair through the bars of sand for safety. It is a beautiful sight for locals and become national news.

3. Rhesus Monkey

Rhesus monkeys are known for intelligence and it has been widely used in biological and medical research. It has great memory, the ability to learn, and make decisions for themselves. They use facial expressions very similar to human and understood by humans. Rhesus Monkey's have demonstrated suicidal tendencies, planning attacks, and highly complex social animals. They have a detailed system of shared vocal similarities to human communication. Research on the genome sequencing of the Rhesus Monkey in 2007, conclude that humans and apes share 93% of their genetic DNA. Humans and apes chromosome mosaic each other.

4. Elephant

There are three living species of elephants, African Bush Elephant, African forest elephant and Asian elephant. All the offspring is expected to inherit the same genetic genius. In many cultures the elephant is seen as a symbol of wisdom and known for their extraordinary memories. They create a mental map and is said to remember the exact location of water holes that feeding them after not visited for years. Elephant brain is the largest of all land animals. Elephants have exceptional hearing and they use their ears and trunk to listen. They communicate with the bellows, roars, like a trumpet call, and can even send voice remotely using the land. This animal is one of the few species that has shown mirror self-recognition and identify themselves as independent. This test is considered as the higher basis for empathy, altruism, and social interaction in some other species. Elephants have noted a variety of behaviors. Including actions associated with grief, making music, love, play, and the use of sophisticated equipment. Elephants have extraordinary taste for artistic achievement. They can paint a portrait that expresses itself.

5. African Grey Parrot

African gray parrot is a species found in West and Central African rain forest. Parrots is famous to show that they can imitate human speech, but the African Gray can associate words with meaning and form small sentences. This bird communicate with each other through songs, calls, and body language. African Gray's can easily be trained to have conversations and activities. They can be managed to imitate, create voices and imitate sound of household perfectly. One specific example is Alex birds. Alex can identify more than fifty objects, seven colors, five shapes, and a numeric value to six. Alex understands the difference between large and small, above and below, and even show emotion understanding by telling handlers "to go away" when he became bored with the test. Then there is the story of the African Gray Parrot in Nagarey, Japan lost from the owner, wounded, and sent to the animal hospital. While in hospital the bird began to speak with the vet says "I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura." He also provides a complete home address to the last number. Pretty sure he was right and returned to the house, but not before entertaining the hospital with a song and dance.

6.. North Pacific Giant Octopus

This animal live in the depth of the sea. They belong to cephalopods molluscs class. All types of cephalopods are known to have exceptional intellectual ability. Octopus is considered the most intelligent invertebrate life. In the experimental conditions, these animals have shown short and long term memory. They have an extraordinary observation learning and problem solving skills. Octopus nervous system has a very large, but only partially found in their brains. In about two-thirds of octopus, neurons can be found on the rope around and the arm. There are arm that has a very large autonomy. They are masters of mimicry and camouflage. They are professional escape artist and can often be found in the hull crabs, eat the catch. This animal is very keen eyesight, sense of touch, and very fast. There was a report from the North Pacific Giant Octopus that reach 600 pounds, with a range of hands 30 feet.

7. Border Collie

Border Collie is widely regarded as the most intelligent dog breed in the world. They usually spend their time tending sheep and cattle handling various forms, but It's also a great pet. With physical exercise and various forms of mental stimulation this dog is the fastest to learn. The dog is originated in Scotland, Welsh, and English border and the dogs make a direct impact on the agricultural industry. It has been reported that in certain areas Australian Outback, a trained collie can do five times the amount of work that usually done by human. Border Collie dominate over all breeds in dog sports. They excel in the high jump, utility classes, flying-ball, and even can take first place in dog dancing competitions. They have an extraordinary sense of smell and is widely regarded as the great dog. They can be trained as helper dogs, or in search and rescue as well. This dog obviously will recognize you as an individual personality, they will learn your routine, anticipate what will happen next, and find a way to get what they want.

8. Ravens & Crows

These two animals is mentioned together because both are members of the family Corvidae birds. This family is widely regarded as the most intelligent of all birds. Peak crow IQ scale, which is a scientific test to determine the intelligence of birds. They can count, distinguish complex shapes, and perform observational study tasks. Crows are social creatures and will be involved in the air to form a jousting sequence power. Wild hooded crows in Israel have learned to use bread crumbs as bait fish, think in advance and anticipate the catch. The New Caledonian Crow have been studied for its ability to use tools in looking for food everyday . This includes creating a knife that cut the leaves and stems of grass. They are also using advanced picking, smoothing, and bending of twigs and grass stems to produce a variety of food substances. Raven is similar to the crow, but larger size. Both species are black and the main difference is in their vocalizations. Ravens do a lot of the same behavior as crows, but they have been recognized for their ability to drop the beans, clams, muscles, and oysters on the highway, waiting for cars to run them over.

9. Rats

There are hundreds of species of rats in the whole world. Rat is one of the most studied and tested the animals on this planet. They have been the subject of research and experiments for various well-known and influential physiological studies. The reason for this is that mice is similar to the psychology of human. All rats learned new behaviors and tricks easily. A 2007 study found that mice have metacognition, which is a mental ability previously only been documented in humans and some primates. Mice have a remarkable sense of smell and hearing. They have been trained to detect landmines and bombs. Research and latest technology has been suggested that mice could even smell and identify human sputum samples infected with TB. This is a wonderful animal to solve the maze. Rats are social animals and show signs of remorse, joy, loss, and stress. They dream in a very similar way as humans. They also demonstrate exceptional organizational and technical maintenance. Just remember, mice are intelligent and friendly creatures so don't afraid of them.

10. Portia Labiata Jumping Spider

This species is a member of the genus Portia, kind of spiders and smallest creatures in the list. Also known as the White-whiskered Portia, they inhabit the critical areas and secondary forests in Africa, Asia, and Australia. This spider has shown the ability to learn in laboratory tests and the bug has been labeled the smartest in the world. They perform surprisingly well in various tasks of solving problems. One of the principles of their other charming skills of spider webs to their food. To do this they will pull the rhythm in the corner of the web to mimic the trapped bug or insect intruders. If Portia had been found of this spider before, it will remember what the rhythm pattern used to achieve success. Portia labiata had large eyes and have been seen using extraordinary instinctive behavior. The spider who planned to use trial and error approach to hunting and cognitive showed a strong base. When the prey comes and goes, the spider will sit and wait for hours to have a perfect moment to strike. Next, plan ahead and understanding that will eventually eat again. This spider has also shown signs of selective attention by identifying a particular object and prey on others.
Source: 1000funfacts


SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog

SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog


Is External Linking Good For SEO? - Whiteboard Friday

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 02:08 PM PDT

Posted by Cyrus Shepard

External linking doesn't sound like it's that difficult of a situation but for many SEOs there's an ongoing debate about how you should do external linking on your website. This week Cyrus, our web strategist, goes over two very different methods of handling external linking on your website. While there are benefits and problems with each strategy, we want to know what method you use and why! Feel free to leave you comments below and discuss what method you use.

 

Video Transcription

Howdy, SEOmoz fans! Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. My name is Cyrus. I am the web strategist here at SEOmoz. Today we're going to talk about external linking, linking to other websites. A lot of people wonder if this helps or hurts your SEO, and it has been a debate that has been going on ever since SEO started. So today we want to look at the two different schools of thought and see what we can find out.

Strategy one, let's pretend you have a site about red boots, and there is this great resource about amazing red boots. You have to decide if you should link to it or not on your page. Some of the arguments for not linking to it . . . oh, there we go. That's a good marker. Whiteboard Friday fail there. So, you might want to just keep your link juice internal instead of linking to that page. Keep everything within your own site so that you are not passing any value to this page because you really want to rank high for red boots. You also don't want visitors to leave your site. You went to a lot of work to get that visitor buying those red boots on your site. Why would you want to send them someplace else? Kind of makes sense. You also don't want to help your competition. If you link to them, you could elevate them in the rankings for these amazing red boots, and then people are never going to find you. By the same token, it might hurt your rankings. If you are linking out to all these other great sources, you might be telling Google, hey, these are better resources than my page about red boots. So you might fall down in the SERPs.

This is a school of thought. We see it a lot. We see people mention your brand and you read the article and they don't link to you at all. They don't link out. Some people think it is very legitimate. There is one piece of information we have that casts a little bit of doubt of whether this is a legitimate exercise or not, and that is the correlation data between external links and higher rankings. The 2011 correlation data showed that there was a 0.04 correlation between the number of external links on a page and higher rankings. Now, it doesn't seem like a lot, but taken in aggregate with all the other 200 ranking factors, it matters. It doesn't prove that a lot of links on your page are really going to help your rankings. But one thing it does disprove is this one - that adding external links to your page is actually going to hurt your rankings, within reason. If you don't take this to extreme, we can pretty much cross that one out. So, that is one theory of thought.

Now the other strategy, the strategy which I think is probably a little bit more friendly strategy, is you're a page on red boots, you have all these great resources, and you chose to link out to them without fear that it's going to hurt your rankings or that you're going to be helping your competitors too much. The biggest benefit in my mind of this technique is its automatic outreach. We spend a lot of time as SEOs writing emails saying, "Hey, will you link to me? I wrote this great resource." Just by putting a link out to somebody, they see that in their analytics. They see that traffic. It is kind of like tweeting about somebody. They know that you linked to them.

So, if I write an article on, actual example, SEO copywriting, and I link out to Copy Blogger because they are a great resource, Copy Blogger actually saw that I linked to them. They not only tweeted about my article, but they linked back to me in their weekly roundup. So by linking out I actually got a link back. Probably not going to happen over here. Here you might get a ton of links. Every link that you put out is actually an opportunity for outreach, and it is as simple as putting that in your editor, and, of course, adds value to your content.

If you want to be an authority on a subject, it makes it sort of look like an authority when you are referencing other materials. If you read a book, an academic book without a bibliography or citing any references, you might kind of wonder where they got their information. So it kind of helps you to look better in that respect.

Now this is controversial. It might add contextual signals to your content. Google is reading your page, and the other search engines too, and they're trying to figure out what your page is about. If you are linking to a page around the same topic, some people suspect that may tell Google, oh yes, this page is about red boots. You can sort of think of it in the spam context. If you have a page about red boots, but you are linking to Viagra, Google's going to say, "No, this page is not about red boots." If you are linking to a page about shoes, tons of shoes, yeah, that might help. We don't think it is a big signal, but some people think it is significant.

The final reason that this strategy may work, you see a lot of successful SEOs do it. It appears this might be a good strategy. The thing you have to be careful about with this strategy is your anchor text. If you are trying to rank for red boots and you link out using that red boots anchor text, that is probably not going to help you. You have to be a little creative with that. So, red boots, this is a great resource, tons of shoes, colorful footwear. Those are the sort of anchor text you want to use.

I am not sure which method is right. I know I prefer this one, but a lot of people actually prefer this one. What do you chose? Do you have any thoughts about which method is better? I'd like you to share your comments in the comments below and find out what everybody thinks about this.

That's all we have today. Thanks everybody.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com


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Video: Your guide to what's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

The White House Your Daily Snapshot for
Friday, July 15, 2011
 

West Wing Week

Welcome to West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, the President conducted meetings with bipartisan congressional leaders, awarded the medal of honor, and repeatedly spoke to the country about the ongoing debt discussions at the White House.    

Watch the video 

 

In Case You Missed It

Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.

Mayors Call for Balanced Approach to Debt Negotiations
A bi-partisan group of mayors met with the President this week, and they have a message for Congress: "The only 'debt limit' someone without a job cares about is their own personal debt limit they reached a long time ago. The only ceiling they care about is the one they're trying to keep above their family's heads"

STEM Jobs Help America Win the Future
A new report released today by the U.S. Commerce Department highlights the importance of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education on America's innovation and competitiveness.

Cut Waste and SAVE
The White House launches the third annual SAVE Award (Securing Americans Value and Efficiency) – a contest for federal employees to submit ideas about how to cut waste, save taxpayer dollars, and make government more effective and efficient.  

Today's Schedule 

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

10:00 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

11:00 AM: The President holds a news conference on the status of efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction WhiteHouse.gov/live

12:29 PM: The President calls the crews of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station

1:30 PM: The President meets with Ruby Bridges and representatives of the Norman Rockwell Museum and views Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With

WhiteHouse.gov/live Indicates events that will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.Gov/Live

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Is Social Media About Conversations Graywolf's SEO Blog

Is Social Media About Conversations Graywolf's SEO Blog


Is Social Media About Conversations

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:45 AM PDT

Post image for Is Social Media About Conversations

In the dawn of social media, pundits repeated the mantra that social media is about conversations. While conversations are part of the mix, I think it’s a small part, and, while it’s necessary, should be minimized with an eye for ROI

Numerous studies have shown the number one reasons fans connect with brands is discounts, coupons, promos sales. In some cases, these are existing loyal customers looking to save a few bucks. In other cases, they are shoppers seeing if you are worth trying. If someone is shopping soley on price, there isn’t a lot of room for brand loyalty. Their decision is price-based and nothing else. Spot the people who are only interested in promotions ASAP, and try to use that as an outlet for refurbished, damaged, or “last years” products.  You can use discounts to gain new customers, but use it sparingly and be aware of the long term problems associated with these customers. Customers who are only interested in cheap or free seldom turn into long term assets.

Customer Service

Customer service is an interesting part of social media. If customers are turning more and more to Twitter to complain, it’s a signal that your current customer service methods are failing. Maybe the call/wait times suck. Maybe the operators don’t have the authority to solve the problems. There are lots of reasons, but if you are here, admit you have a problem and fix it from a corporate level. Twitter is great but people shouldn’t use it because your phone operators suck and are powerless to get anything done. My early days in retail taught me that when a customer complains, they are giving you an opportunity to fix something. If you can do it, you often turn a detractor into an advocate.

Solving Problems

Solving problems is a huge way to prove to someone that you are a good guy and on their team. Even if it’s not your product or service, try to point them in the right direction. Don’t get sucked down the rabbit hole of being unproductive and end up working for free, but providing someone a direct link to a deep page on a government website or saving someone hours of searching will almost always create a friend or advocate for your company. And, if you build a library of answers to common problems, there’s very little work involved.

Talking About Current Events

Sometimes social media can be about conversations that don’t have much value but will humanize you. Unless your company or organization is known for being polarizing or not politically correct, have some guidelines and use common sense. Don’t be an insensitive clod more often than you need to. Talking about fourth of July BBQ recipes may lead to a spirited debate but is unlikely to genuinely offend anyone. Commenting about a public trial where the defendant got off is risky. Decide your comfort zone. Standing up will make your strongest fans more loyal, but it will alienate your marginal ones.

So what are the takeaways from this post:

  • Social media may be about conversations, but it’s not stricly that. Idle chatter makes you seem more human but doesn’t have much ROI, so use it sparingly.
  • Understand people’s desire to save money because it’s one of the big reasons people connect to brands. Find ways to give them what they want with sales, promos, or loyalty programs.
  • Most businesses have gone through and made customer service an unpleasant experience with budget cuts. Customers use social media out of frustration and the feeling that they have nowhere else to turn. Look at the costs: if you can solve the problems cheaper on twitter, then do it; if not, take a step back and fix the problem at the source.
  • Solving problems - While this is connected to customer service, understand that people just want to get things done as quickly as possible. By looking at your customer service calls/emails, you can probably identify your top 20-50 problems. Provide easy to understand solutions that you can send to customers. Defuse their anger and realize they are giving you an opportunity to fix something.
  • Conversations can be a part of your strategy if you keep it fun. Water cooler talk about who should or shouldn’t have been voted off dancing with the stars is unlikely to ever cause an event as long as everyone stays civil. Find ways to have fun meaningless discussions about your topic. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.
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Is Social Media About Conversations

Seth's Blog : Naive or professional?

Naive or professional?

The naive farmer farms as his parents, grandparents and great grandparents did. She plants, hopes and harvests. Anything that goes well or poorly is the work of the gods.

The professional farmer measures. She tests. She understands how systems work and is constantly tweaking to improve them. When failure happens, she doesn't rest until she understands why.

I didn''t use the word amateur, because money isn't the point. The naive farmer is failing to take responsibility and failing to learn. The naive marathon runner straps on sneakers and runs (but doesn't finish). The professional marathoner trains. The naive office worker empties his inbox. The professional works to understand how the office functions.

Mostly, the professional asks questions... What's next? How to improve? What's this worth? Why is this happening?

[By the way, it's possible to be naive and happy. It's difficult to be naive and productive, though.]

I spent the last week working with Western Seed and Juhudi Kilimo, two vibrant companies that are helping small-plot farmers in Kenya (and beyond) dramatically increase their yields, their income and their well-being. It became clear early on that the real challenge is to help the naive become professional. Once you open that door (whether it's about how you build a website, swim laps or teach school), so many other things fall into place.

Before you can sell a service, a product or an insight to the naive, you need to sell them on being professional.

 

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