myencephalonjourneys:

Each morning, like clockwork, they board the subway, off to begin their daily routine amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

But these aren’t just any daily commuters. These are stray dogs who live in the outskirts of Moscow Russia and commute on the underground trains to and from the city centre in search of food scraps.

Then after a hard day scavenging and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and return to the suburbs where they spend the night.

Experts studying the dogs, who usually choose the quietest carriages at the front and back of the train, say they even work together to make sure they get off at the right stop – after learning to judge the length of time they need to spend on the train.

Scientists believe this phenomenon began after the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, and Russia’s new capitalists moved industrial complexes from the city centre to the suburbs.

Dr Andrei Poiarkov, of the Moscow Ecology and Evolution Institute, said: “These complexes were used by homeless dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their houses. Because the best scavenging for food is in the city centre, the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway – to get to the centre in the morning, then back home in the evening, just like people.”

Dr Poiarkov told how the dogs like to play during their daily commute. He said: “They jump on the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.”

The dogs have also amazingly learned to use traffic lights to cross the road safely, said Dr Poiarkov. And they use cunning tactics to obtain tasty morsels of shawarma, a kebab-like snack popular in Moscow.

With children the dogs “play cute” by putting their heads on youngsters’ knees and staring pleadingly into their eyes to win sympathy – and scraps.

Dr Poiarkov added: “Dogs are surprisingly good psychologists.”

Colleges have gone on a building spree, channeling the movie mantra, “If you build it, they will come.” Now they are $205 billion in debt, with students and taxpayers facing the bill.

The average primary school teacher in the United States earns about 67 percent of the salary of an average college-educated worker in the United States. The comparable figure for all of the developed world is 82 percent.

Brilliant article summarized by the following paragraph: “There is not much in this to comfort conservatives. The lessons of Ohio are that Barack Obama is a skillful demagogue, that the ancients were wise to number envy among the deadly sins, and that offering Americans a check is a more fruitful political strategy than offering them the opportunity to take control of and responsibility for their own lives. This is what Oakeshott had in mind when he wrote that liberty was something that many people simply are not equipped to “enjoy as an opportunity rather than suffer as a burden.” 

Had a chat with a very dear friend who owns a small catering business last night which employs about 5-10 people. He owns a business that depends on providing catering services to pharmaceutical companies sales reps. Apparently a part of Obamacare says that pharma companies cannot spend more than $10 per doctor to promote new medicines to doctors and educate them on the benefits. As a result, come 2014 my friend’s business model will be decimated. Of course, as an entrepreneur he will do what all of us do, he will innovate and beat the consequences of this evil law. However, the consequences of such a law means that the government has effectively inserted itself into marketing operations which are usually the growth engine of any business. Now, they will do it with healthcare and pharmas, but in the future they will decide to do this with education, manufacturing and any other industry they designate as ‘too big to fail’ or ‘systematically critical to the economy’ or for any other Orwellian Newspeakish reason they choose. Obama and his allies dared to insert this restriction on pharma companies while at the same time did nothing to curb lobbying in politics, which was a key Obama promise in 2008. So, Obama can keep his lobbyists and special interests who actually pay not only for fancy dinners at 8 star restaurants, but also pay for junkets and cruises and other junk like that. I hope and pray that the country and its voters will keep that in mind as they head to the polls to vote this weekend and on Tuesday. Obamacare is bad for job creation, lines up the pockets of insurance companies and special interests with money, does nothing to control healthcare costs, slows job creation and will significantly and negatively affect small business in this country forever.

Al Gore’s 100 million reasons to advocate ‘green energy’.

world-shaker:

[INFOGRAPHIC] The Digital Classroom

The digital classroom

emergentfutures:

‘Double’ transforms your iPad into a $1999 telepresence robot

Imagine you’re at your company, seated at your desk, when this iPad perched on a kind of pared-down Segway rolls up beside you. On the screen is the face of one of your co-workers located in another country who today is poking about your office, getting to know the layout, meeting some new people, asking a few questions. After a brief chat, it rolls off to the other side of the office. You look up five minutes later and do a double-take as you notice two of these devices having a conversation with each other by the water cooler.

Full Story: DigitalTrends

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