The Lake Monsters of America UPDATE: The Lake Monsters of America print is now available for purchase! (click to view full size) People love to fill in mysterious areas of nature with myths of monsters. Early maps had voids of knowledge marked with warnings that "Here be Dragons," sasquatches are believed to be prowling the thick forests, and legends tell of strange creatures that might be concealed beneath the surface of our lakes. Here we present our map of American lake monsters (view it large here), showing the spread of cryptids that might be lurking in the depths of the waters of the United States. You'll see a good share of serpent-like animals of the Loch Ness Monsters variety, such as Isabella of Bear Lake in Idaho who was spotted by a Mormon pioneer in the 19th century and even had Brigham Young himself send a hunting party after the possible plesiosaur. Here are some of the more curious entities on our Lake Monsters of America map: Lake Worth Monster Honey Island Swamp Monster Eel Pig of Herrington Lake
fuck you very much This Is What a Breakup Looks Like as Cold, Hard Data Rant: Bloomberg's acquiescence to censorship is a disgrace This week has seen a flurry of allegations, suspensions, and revelations about the workings of Bloomberg News in China. If it had to be summarized in one sentence, it would go something like this: the Chinese government's influence prevented Bloomberg News from printing a story and, as if Bloomberg News were a Chinese state-run paper, the editor rolled over and let them do it. The story is not just censored in China, mind you, it has been barred from any publication at all. The basic story goes as follows (or as seen in this morning's lovely animation): Michael Forsythe, Bloomberg News reporter, wrote a story about financial ties between Wang Jianlin (China's richest man) and the CCP, only to have the story nuked by editor-in-chief Matt Winkler who feared that the story could potentially get the news agency (and its super-profitable business services umbrella company) kicked out of the country. Firstly, Mike Forsythe isn't just a good reporter, he's a great reporter.
India's Nuclear Scientists Keep Dying Mysteriously (Photo via) Indian nuclear scientists haven't had an easy time of it over the past decade. Not only has the scientific community been plagued by "suicides," unexplained deaths, and sabotage, but those incidents have gone mostly underreported in the country—diluting public interest and leaving the cases quickly cast off by police. Last month, two high-ranking engineers—KK Josh and Abhish Shivam—on India's first nuclear-powered submarine were found on railway tracks by workers. They were pulled from the line before a train could crush them, but were already dead. This is the latest in a long list of suspicious deaths. Five years earlier, in the same forest where Mahalingham's body was eventually discovered, an armed group with sophisticated weaponry allegedly tried to abduct an official from India's Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC). Trombay, the site of India's first atomic reactor. This seems to be a recurring theme with deaths in the community. @josephfcox More nuclear stories:
Julian Assange unlikely to be charged in US WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Photo: Mark Chew The Justice Department has all but concluded it will not bring charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing classified documents because government lawyers said they could not do so without also prosecuting US news organisations and journalists, United States officials say. The officials stressed that a formal decision has not been taken and a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks remains impanelled, but they said there is little possibility of bringing a case against the Australian, who has sought asylum in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, unless he is implicated in criminal activity other than releasing online top secret military and diplomatic documents. The Obama administration has charged government employees and contractors who leak classified information - such as former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and former Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning - with violations of the Espionage Act.
10 Things About Living Abroad: No Turning Back Moving around the world teaches you many things. It isn’t for everyone. It takes a special type of person to be able to do what we do. Packing up all your things into two carry-on bags and two checked pieces of luggage is struggles in itself, and to generalize imagine being a woman! I could only bring 10 pairs of shoes! Your mother will go through that luggage and make you narrow it down to seven cardigans instead of 17 and she will remind you that those shorts still don’t fit and haven’t fit for 3 years, you should probably just let them go. A wise man told me that the reason we move to new countries is because we are either running from or running to something. You should like Thought Catalog on Facebook here. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Start slow, go to a new place.
Can one single person destroy the entire world? Actually, if you want something to truly worry about, forget gray goo. Human pathogens are potentially a big worry, but there's this huge infrastructure called the medical-industrial complex that makes it possible to sequence a new virus in days (cf: SARS) and come up with potential treatments within months. No, if I wanted to destroy the world, I'd look into crop killers, specifically targeting maize, rice, potatoes, sugar cane, wheat, and rubber, and I'd look at fungi and oomycetes, rather than bacteria or viruses. Here's why:—Crop plants have innately low genetic diversity. Many are clones (sugar cane) or near-clones, so a disease that affects one will affect all of them. —We've instituted just-in-time management for food stores, and we have perhaps a month of food in storage for our (US) population at any one time. —There aren't a lot of good treatments for many plant diseases, other than destroying the infestation before it spreads. So right now, quarantine is the only defense.
Incredible Archaeological Discovery May Reset the Buddha's Birth Date I think what primarily sets Buddhism apart from other religions is the Buddha's emphasis on using direct experience as the final authority for the basis of each individual's convictions and beliefs, rather than a religious institution or tradition or authority. The Buddha presented his teachings and then invited people to verify their efficacy themselves. Along with ethical principles, meditation and mindfulness are essential tools in the real-world application of these teachings, and I think this certainly sets it apart from most, if not all of the other major world religions. I think it is also important to point out how much of Buddhism relates to exploring the interconnections between mind and body, rather than trying to give esoteric explanations of the world around us and its creation like most other religions. Additionally, what is now known as "Buddhism" is meant to be a pragmatic philosophy rather than a dogmatic, faith-based religion.
New video reveals fascinating details in alienesque hexagon on Saturn Is it possible that the rotating spiral in the middle forms the hexagon in the same way that a bee shaping a wax cavity to put honey in unwittingly makes a hexagonal shape? In this planetary case, perhaps spinning against gravity is causing the hexagon? Also, the temperature of the storm would be crucial as well as the composition of the atmosphere. In fact, the hexagonal shape of the storm may be a clue to the temperature and compostion of the atmosphere. A viscous liquid which surface tension is stretching from a circle into a hexagon? Read more at: "The answer, according to a new study, is that the cells do not start out as hexagons but as circles. They gradually form into hexagons by a subtle flow of the wax, which is turned semi-molten by the heat from a special class of worker bee. The solution is proposed by a trio of scientists in Britain and China, led by Bhushan Karihaloo of Cardiff University.
Dumplings Around the World Tote Bag It has been a little quiet around these parts lately, but I'm happy to finally announce something exciting that had been in the works for months. For the past few holiday seasons, I've looked high and low for food-related gifts for my food-loving friends and family. It was easy to find paper products and apparel printed with fruits and vegetables, but I couldn't for the life of me find goods that celebrated favorite foods from around the world. So I decided to launch a new shop call Plate & Pencil with designs that were influenced by our favorite international cuisines. We just launched in time for the holiday season, so come by to check out the goods for yourself or your global food-loving friends and family members! We're adding products all week long so stop by for a peek!
Your tax dollars at work: Inside the United States’ $52.6B “black budget” The United States’ “black budget” for fiscal 2013 amounts to $52.6 billion (or $167 per American), and it details what The Washington Post calls a “bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny.” According to a new front-page story on Thursday, the Post says that it now has the entire 178-page classified budget summary as supplied by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. This entire budget comprises the annual expenditures for the NSA, the CIA, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and other spy and military agencies. With respect to the tech-focused highlights, the Post notes that the CIA and NSA “have launched aggressive new efforts to hack into foreign computer networks to steal information or sabotage enemy systems, embracing what the budget refers to as ‘offensive cyber operations.’” Additionally, it appears there are far more potential leakers than we once thought. s00per s33kr1t