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Sunday 20 November 2016
Texting can give you silly walk.
A study at the university of delaware ,u.s.a showed that people texting use a over the top walk to step over obstucles. negotiate crowds due to diminished vision.This study involved using motion cameras whilst volunteers dialed a number whilst on a treadmill for 2 minutes ,not many made errors due to texting rather than walk properly.
Monks graves found.
In the 12 th century fountians abbey,ripon,York the graves of 500 cisterian monks and lay brothers.
Saturday 19 November 2016
The shifting sexual norms in Japan’s literary history
More than 3,000 women and 900 men — that’s the number of lovers the main protagonist in Ihara Saikaku’s 1682 novel “Koshoku Ichidai Otoko” (“The Life of an Amorous Man”) tallies up as he reminisces. Saikaku, born in Osaka in 1642, became a renowned poet who wrote about the fluid, open sexuality of Edo Period (1603-1868) pleasure quarters with a startling lack of inhibition: In the 1685 collection of stories “Koshoku Gonin Onna” (“Five Women Who Loved Love”), he explores the love lives of feisty females; in “Koshoku Ichidai Onna” (“The Life of an Amorous Woman”), published in 1686, he includes a brief lesbian scene; and then there is “Nanshoku Okagami” (“The Great Mirror of Male Love”), a 1687 collection that focuses exclusively on love between men.
The sexual openness of Ihara’s characters seems to be profoundly out of place in contemporary conservative Japan. Today, the recognition afforded to the LGBT community is hotly debated in the country, and though traditionally conservative nations such as Ireland have legalized same-sex marriage, Japan is lagging behind. A recent legal ruling even rejected the right of partners (in practice, women) to keep their surnames after marriage, as a means of protecting “traditional family values.”
Though Japan’s current social conservatism appears at odds with the West’s liberalizing tendencies, it’s also at odds with the nation’s own past. Writers, stretching from Ihara to modern authors such as Natsume Soseki and Yukio -read more
Sunday 13 November 2016
Leprosy revealed in red squirrels across British Isle
Leprosy has been found in red squirrels across the British Isles and scientists believe they have been infected with the disfiguring disease for centuries.
The endangered animals carry the same bacteria that cause the human disease,research has revealed. This results in lesions on their muzzles, ears and paws, adding to the sharp decline in their numbers caused by invading grey squirrels, which appear immune to the disease.
It is possible that humans have caught leprosy from red squirrels in the past, as their fur and meat was once prized. But the last case of leprosy contracted in the UK was in 1798, indicating the risk is now extremely low.
“We should be even more concerned about the squirrels now and not frightened of them,” said Prof Anna Meredith, at the University of Edinburgh and one of the ..read more
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