Author: DB

  • Hypnagogia

    A hypnagogic state is the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep.

    A hypnopompic state is that which is the transitional state that occurs before you wake up.

    During hypnagogia, people see what are referred to as hypnagogic hallucinations.

  • Stuff I Posted On Tumblr Years Ago

    Old Posts Rescued

    May 31 2012

    Biggest holders of US debt are 1. Social Security Trust Funds ($2.67 trillion) and the U.S. Federal Reserve ($1.659 trillion) 

    February 23 2011

    Moles can dig 15 feet per hour in good soils

    February 22 2011

    Radiation emitted after just 50 minutes on a mobile phone increases the activity in brain cells

    December 15 2010

    Japan’s government agreed Tuesday to continue contributing $2.2 billion a year toward the cost of stationing American troops in the country. Under the agreement with the United States, Japan’s share will remain at the current 188 billion yen ($2.2 billion) through March 2016.

    Novermber 19 2010

    A Conservative peer has resigned as David Cameron’s enterprise advisor after claiming that most Britons have “never had it so good”

    Sometime in 2010 

    U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Athens, Georgia, have reported for the first time that several species of Aspergillus niger, or black aspergilli, are capable of infecting corn and peanuts as endophytes.

    The researchers also showed that, under laboratory conditions, these species produced mycotoxins that can cause Aspergillosis – an infection that gets in via the lungs and compromises various organs, particularly in people with suppressed immune systems, such as those who have had transplants.

  • Miami Art Deco

    According to an article in Quartz, about the series Miami Vice, Miami has one of the largest concentrations of Art Deco buildings in the world.

    ‘One of the largest’ – which cities are in the running for the largest?

    The Architectural Digest lists these cities and doesn’t mention Miami at all except in the section on Mumbai where is states “Estimated by some to have the world’s largest number of Art Deco buildings after Miami…”

    Napier NZ
    Shanghai
    Mumba
    Ashville NC
    Durban
    Casablanca
    Melbourne
    Cincinnnati
    Valencia
    Perth

  • The Origin Of Tory

    (seen on Twitter and checked with Oxford dictionary)

    The etymology of the word Tory: mid 17th century: probably from Irish toraidhe ‘outlaw, highwayman’, from tóir ‘pursue’. The word was used of Irish peasants dispossessed by English settlers and living as robbers, and extended to other marauders especially in the Scottish Highlands. It was then adopted c. 1679 as an abusive nickname for supporters of the Catholic James II.

  • The Price Of Petrol in Britain

    Statistics from the BBC World at One: In 2008, when oil was $144/barrel, the price at the pumps in the UK was no more than 120p per litre of petrol. Today, the oil price is $113 but pump prices are 186p litre. The reason is that sterling was $2 to the pound, and now it is $1.20 to the pound. This drop occurred as a direct result of Brexit, and oil is traded in US dollars.

  • Harbinger

    First appeared in the late 15c. as herbengar, meaning ‘one sent ahead to arrange lodgings for an important person or group, and is an alteration of the Middle English word herberger, which is someone who provides shelter, such as an innkeeper. It is seen in the modern French word, herberge, meaning a lodging.

    It has the same ultimate root as harbour.