improve your memory

Within a couple hours on the internet I can find a hundred or more articles to help me improve my memory.  That's nice and I hope it helps some people but truthfully I've spent a large part of my life trying to forget some of the stupid ?hit that I've done.  Teach me how to forget!  - Autredamus

growing old(er) is similar to...

the little nubs on the f and j keys on your keyboard wearing down after much use,  so you frequently have trouble finding the "home" row and before you realize you're not on the home row you've typed a bunch of crazy crap and mistakes.   - Autredamus

have trouble understanding the previous?  then the nubs on the home row in your brain have worn out!

insight

"A good friend will always stab you in the front." 

— Oscar Wilde

Ali Ferzat...my hero section

In August 2011, shortly after this last cartoon was published, Ferzat was seized on the streets of Damascus by a militia group loyal to Assad. They beat him savagely and shattered both of his hands. Pictures of Ferzat lying black-eyed and bloodied on a hospital bed shocked the world. In 2011 he was awarded the Sakharov prize for peace and in 2012 he was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2012/jun/21/drawing-syria-revolution-ali-farzat-video

quantum tunneling compound

These spiky metal  balls are nano dimensions and held held in a special polymer so they do not touch one another. Them come in a pill size.  They are  used as pressure sensors. They utilize quantum tunneling: without pressure, the conductive elements are too far apart to conduct electricity; when pressure is applied, they move closer and electrons can tunnel through the insulator. 

jpr: You can buy one for 28c but they are made in England and available in Canada only this side of the "pond".

Sherlock's Mini Book

The Sherlock Holmes’ creator Conan Doyle hand wrote a miniature book called ‘How Watson Learned The Trick’ for Queen Mary's dolls' house at Windsor Castle.  The 24-page book measures 1.52 inches by 1.18 inches and has been republished.  The original work was among over 200 tiny books produced for the dolls' house library by some of the most famous authors of the early 20th century, including Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and Sir James Barrie.

mystery island on Titan

http://www.space.com/26325-cassini-titan-waves-magic-island.html

For years, scientists have puzzled over an anomalous feature in radar imagery of Ligeia Mare, a hydrocarbon-filled lake on the Saturnian moon Titan. A bright, seemingly solid spot appeared out of nowhere in July 2013, in an image from the Cassini orbiter's Synthetic Aperture Radar — but it failed to show up during subsequent flybys. That led some scientists to nickname the feature "Magic Island."

jpr: Looks like tidal action to me!