Google (for some reason that we won't complain about) gave Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X owners two extra months worth of security patches. They extended each phone's update deadline to November 2018.

#android #nexus6p #nexus5x

https://drd.life/2wOb2BJ

Happy Birthday Mark Hamill !

Aka Luke Skywalker. He was born September 25, 1951 and turns 66 today

#StarWars #TheLastJedi #MarkHamill

Trump adviser says NFL players should be thankful no one has shot them in the head https://thinkprogress.org/trump-adviser-nfl-protesters-ff218b312b9c/ -via Flynx

Ubuntu Dock Now Supports Progress Bars and Badge Counts

Support for the Unity Launcher API has managed to squeak in to the Ubuntu Dock package on Ubuntu 17.10 before the user-interface freezes takes place.

New Google+ content restrictions for G Suite

For those who administer Google+ for domains, the team is gradually rolling out over the next couple of weeks one of the most highly requested enterprise features: new content restriction modes (Public, Private, and Hybrid) to help manage content within the domain. Read more about it on G Suite blog.

After 15 Years in a Vegetative State, Nerve Stimulation Restores Consciousness

A 35-year-old man who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years after a car accident has shown signs of consciousness after neurosurgeons implanted a vagus nerve stimulator into his chest. The findings show that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)--a treatment already in use for epilepsy and depression--can help to restore consciousness even after many years in a vegetative state.

The research is in Current Biology. (full open access)

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ deserves better than CBS’s streaming service http://engt.co/2xsi3b4

The wind sublimates snowflakes in Antarctica - Researchers have observed and characterized a weather process that was not previously known to occur in Antarctica's coastal regions. It turns out that the katabatic winds that blow from the interior to the margins of the continent reduce the amount of precipitation (mainly snowfall)—which is a key factor in the formation of the ice cap. By forming a very dry layer of air in the first kilometer or so of atmosphere, the winds turn the falling sn...

10 Problems That The Bananas Solve Better Than The Medications

Believe it or not, bananas can solve certain health problems better than medications. Bananas are great for your overall health because they are loaded with protein

#symptoms   #potasium   #food   #healthyfood   #healthyeat   #healthydrinks   #health   #healthy   #explore   #healthyliving   #homeremedies   #healthcare   #healthycare  

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: #DonaldTrump Defending Flag With “Son Of Bitch” #NFL Protest Reax

The brightly lit limb of a crescent #Enceladus looks ethereal against the blackness of space. The rest of the moon, lit by light reflected from #Saturn, presents a ghostly appearance.

Last month, Google announced that they would be partnering with Walmart to offer an easy voice shopping experience through the Google Assistant and Google Express. Now, this new functionality is live on Google Express.

If you head over to the Google Express webpage, you'll see that Walmart items are now listed. On the Google Express page, you'll also be able to connect your Walmart account to your Google account and easily reorder items on your "Easy reorder list." If you're using a Google Home smart speaker, you'll be able to say things like "Reorder coffee from Walmart" or "Buy paper towels from Walmart." Shipping will be free if you spend at least $35 and Google Express membership fees have been completely removed.

If you don't have a Google Home, you'll still be able to order Walmart products through the Google Express app or mobile website — just not with your voice.

#Android #GoogleAssistant #GoogleExpress

10 thoughts on the Bears' 23-17 overtime win over the Steelers

10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears wore down the Pittsburgh Steelers en route to a 23-17 victory in overtime Sunday afternoon in the hottest game played at Soldier Field since at least 1982.

We heard a while back that the talented team over at WayForward were working on The Mummy Demastered for the Nintendo Switch. Today, we have received a glimpse of their labour as they have released a teaser trailer for the upcoming 2D action title. A…

Chinese maze: Village makes giant tech code from trees

At first glance, it could be the courtly maze of an English country manor - albeit with some rather large gaps.

But a tech-savvy eye will instantly see the green design for what it is - a massive QR code.

These high-tech barcodes are hugely popular in China as a way to make cashless payments on a smartphone.

Xilinshui village, in the northern Hebei province, has created one from trees in a bid to raise its profile.

The design was made from 130,000 Chinese junipers, and can be scanned from above using a phone or tablet.

It is not clear how high above the trees you would have to be to scan it - or how you might get there - but visitors who successfully capture the code will be connected to the village's tourism account on WeChat, a Chinese social media site.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-41277549

Rest in Peace, Jake LaMotta 😢😢

VIDEO: http://www.boxingchannel.tv/rest-peace-jake-lamotta/

#boxing #boxeo

After President Trump condemned NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality, hundreds more players, as well as owners and coaches, joined the protests Sunday. What do you think?

A walk in town, looking up
Vercelli, Italia

#italy #travels

Five pairs of eyes for the Volga _

SIX Years of Mountain Monday!

This week is the 6th Anniversary of Mountain Monday! I look forward to seeing your mountain photographs today and a big thanks to everyone who has participated over the years!

If you wish to participate in Mountain Monday post a photograph you have made of a mountain (or has mountains in it) - tag me (+Michael Russell) in the post, and use the hashtag #mountainmonday! You can also tag the +Mountain Monday page if you wish (it does occasionally ensure I don't miss your post). On the very first Mountain Monday I posted a photograph of Hope Mountain from Silver Lake Provincial Park in Hope, British Columbia. For each anniversary I have done the same as it is one of my favourite local parks.

A bit more about this photograph here: https://www.mrussellphotography.com/blog/silver-lake-hope-mountain/

For #mountainmonday (+Mountain Monday) by +Michael Russell
+Landscape Photography #landscapephotography by Margaret Tompkins et al.

#mountains #photography #photos #britishcolumbia #provincialparks

A peaceful sunrise over South Bank, London, captured on a clear morning.

"A window to the Heaven"
By +Luca Micheli www.lucamicheliphotography.com After walking 40 minutes to reach this place the panorama was absolutely stunning.
I've to walk on a little path to reach this place but the result is awesome.
Don't you think?
I hope you can enjoy this view like I did as well. - Luca Micheli

#photography #landscape #dolomites #sunset

Unfolding Before Me -- Fort Collins, Colorado
"Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fan-like petals on eternal soil."
-- Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

A species of hoverfly (?) mines the pollen on a white flower in the last rays of the setting sun in northern Colorado... The flower and bees won't last much longer here - it got down to 37ºF on Friday, and fall is truly in the air.

For #MacroMonday, and #hqspmacro for +HQSP Macro, and #hqspflowers for +HQSP Flowers, and #Macro4All by +Bill Urwin, +Thomas Kirchen, +Walter Soestbergen (+Macro4All ), and #macromaniacs for +MacroManiacs and +Sandra Deichmann, and +FLOWER POWER / #FlowerPower curated by +Edith Kukla, and +//flower colors// curated by +angelic labru...

spring memories

#hqspflowers +HQSP Flowers​
#btpflowerpro +BTP Flower Pro​
+//flower colors//​

A beautiful morning

Chelila, Bhutan

My last daybreak in Bhutan is over and the sun is climbing fast in a cloudless sky between mature conifers. Although these trees might look tired or damaged, the ground below is full of young trees working on reaching the very same height one day.

The forest floor was littered with spring flowers and I encountered several of the iconic species like the Kalij pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos) and Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus).

Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 18 April 2017 05:47
Altitude: 3724 meters

#landscape #sunrise #mountains #forest #himalaya #bhutan

#LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +AJ Lim +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Jani Westman +Dorma Wiggin +Ranco Sevla Sevla

#hqsplandscape +HQSP Landscape

#BTPLandscapePro +BTP Landscape Pro , owned and curated by +Nancy Dempsey

Peak Blossom

OK, that's enough, it's probably a good thing the blossom season is so short :)

Disabled Veteran Donates Thousands In Denver Broncos Gear Following Players’ National Anthem Protest

Patients who lose consciousness for more than a year are considered extremely unlikely to regain it, but a 35-year-old Frenchman who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years has shown hints of awareness after having key brain regions electrically stimulated, scientists reported on Monday.
The patient was able to follow an object with his eyes, turn his head when asked to, and widened his eyes in surprise when a researcher’s head came close to his face, none of which he did in a vegetative state. Although he is far from recovered, and although hopeful results in one patient don’t mean the technique will work for others, the study adds to evidence that there might be a way to restore consciousness to some patients, even years later.
The new report shows that even in a very low functioning brain a shift in observable behaviors from none, a vegetative state, to some limited ones, a minimally conscious state, can occur said Dr. Nicholas Schiff a neurologist at Weill Cornell Medical College who was not involve in the current case.
He led a 2007 study in which a minimally conscious patient (a person who shows occasional intention, attention, awareness, and responsiveness) improved somewhat with deep brain stimulation of the thalamus..

Unfortunately, while the French patient, Schiff’s, and a few others have been “awakened” by some sort of brain stimulation, those individual successes have yet to translate into help for thousands of vegetative or minimally conscious patients.
There is strongly accumulating evidence that it is possible in many cases to increase brain activity [long] after severe injury Schiff said, but there is essentially no infrastructure to have clinical follow-up or even larger investigative studies.
The new case involved a Frenchman whose brain damage, suffered in a car accident, left him completely unresponsive and unconscious, known as a vegetative state.
He became minimally conscious, responding to some signals from the outside world, after a month of having his vagus nerve, which runs from the abdomen to the brain, where it has numerous connections to regions that the researchers call a hot zone for conscious awareness, stimulated with a device implanted in his chest.
Brain imaging and electrical recordings of brain activity (EEG) showed changes that likely account for his improvement, scientists led by Angela Sirigu of France’s National Center for Scientific Research reported in Current Biology.
UCLA psychologist Martin Monti an expert on consciousness who has used ultrasound directed at the thalamus to awaken a coma patient, said the French study seemed solid but somewhat vague on how much the patient improved.
They just don’t make it very clear what exactly he recovered Monti said, such as just some small sign of consciousness or [whether he] could, say, blink eyes in response to command.
Brain recordings offered additional evidence that something significant had changed, however. The man had stronger brainwaves called a theta signal, which is absent in the vegetative state but present with minimal consciousness.
In particular, theta activity increased at the junction of three brain areas: the parietal region, just behind the crown of the head, which perceives sensory information and integrates it into the mysterious state called consciousness; the temporal lobe, behind the temples and responsible for making sense of sound; and the occipital lobe, located at the bottom back of the brain and responsible for processing vision. This junction is the consciousness “hot zone.”

Different brain regions also seemed more strongly connected.
Although the physical basis of consciousness is one of the deepest enigmas in biology, the best guess is that it arises from coordinated activity between the cortex and the thalamus, a switching station for sensory and motor signals, and within the cortex, which handles higher-order cognitive functions.
When connectivity between and among these regions increase for whatever reason, people in minimally conscious states spontaneously recover. In this case, the “whatever reason” was vagus nerve stimulation.
Though that seems like the vagus is punching above its weight, in fact this nerve keeps wowing neuroscientists with its powers. In this case, its apparent consciousness-raising effects stem from the multiple and far-flung connections it makes throughout the brain directly or indirectly, including with the thalamus. As best Sirigu and her colleagues can tell, stimulating the vagus seems to knit together a consciousness network that had been shredded by the man’s brain injury.
By stimulating the vagus nerve, it is therefore “possible to improve patients’ presence in the world,” she said, challenging the belief that disorders of consciousness lasting longer than a year are irreversible.
She is confident the man did not go from a vegetative state to minimal consciousness spontaneously.
His partial recovery coincided with the vagus stimulation, and after 15 years it seemed unlikely his improvement was due to anything else.
It could not be the result of chance Sirigu said.
The French case brings to at least four the number of patients “awakened” by a brain-based intervention, including Monti’s at UCLA.
But he was in a coma for only a couple of weeks. Schiff and his colleagues used an electrode implanted in the thalamus to restore some brain activity to a patient who had been in a minimally conscious state for 21 years, they reported last year, though the change did not bring about real-world improvements.
Sirigu’s approach was the same as what I and [Schiff] did Monti said, except it stimulated the thalamus indirectly, via the vagus, rather than directly.
If the thalamus really is the door to consciousness, why don’t physicians try stimulating it to bring back thousands of vegetative and minimally conscious patients? “Maybe it just needs time?” Monti wondered.

Oh Heart, When Will You Learn? - “Oh be careful little heart who trust.” A Part of an old sunday school type song That is very popular indeed. I learned it when I was three. Many times, my heart sunk to my knees. Oh Heart, Will you ever learn? If only it was so easy to ignore these yerns. When will you… The post Oh Heart, When Will You Learn? appeared first on BayArt.

Mountains of Dust in the Carina Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio (STScI)

Explanation: It's stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed.

Located in the Carina Nebula and known informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillar's appearance is dominated by the dark dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas.

Dust pillars such as these are actually much thinner than air and only appear as mountains due to relatively small amounts of opaque interstellar dust.

About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and highlights an interior region of Carina which spans about three light years. Within a few million years, the stars will likely win out completely and the entire dust mountain will evaporate.

👀

I sure freaked out in this horror game! If you have any thoughts about the video, just leave a comment down below. Thanks for watching!

Video ➞ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ISUIqaxV0&t=25s

My YouTube Channel [DannyYO] ➞ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-KtvnEZHYYbm4JXFKyiw6g/featured

#Contemp #ScaryGame #HorrorGame #Gaming #YouTube

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady broke with his longtime friend Donald Trump on Monday, criticizing the president for his “divisive” comments about national anthem protests by NFL players.

Carl Sagan often discussed the dire threat of nuclear winter, such as in this somber interview from the 1980s, vi@phalpern.

So of my personal devices, they're all on Nougat, but the LGs are all on 7.0, my Motos and Blackberry are on 7.1.1, and my Nexus Player on 8.0.