A Japanese institute has produced the world’s first petaflop supercomputer. A petaflop. That’s so big, I don’t even know even know what it is. I assume it spends its days simulating proteins and then goes and protests against fur.
For the baby, that is. According to a study conducted in Toronto, babies who received a pin prick blood screening and were then breastfed felt less pain than babies who were ’swaddled, given a pacifier, or a placebo’.
I think the results of this study are pretty shaky to say the least. How do they know the pain-relief effect was caused by breastfeeding specifically? Maybe it was just caused by the baby being busy consuming food (although the ‘pacifier’ option may cover this). Or maybe it was caused by simple physical closeness to the mother.
A decent study would have also done controls with babies who were:
- fed breastmilk from a bottle;
- fed formula milk from a bottle;
- just held by the mother, without actually breastfeeding.
Unfortunately they don’t say what the ‘placebo’ was. I reckon if they’d used formula milk, they would have explicitly said so. As it is, the study can only make some pretty vague conclusions.
Designed in California is a wonderfully detailed database of Apple product information from 1997 to the present. Full specs for every machine, introduction and retirement dates, and nifty timelines. What more could an Apple geek ask for?
Surely this logical method for solving a sudoku puzzle without thinking is completely obvious. I mean, how else do people solve these things? By guesswork?
This new logo is embarrassingly naff. Look at all the gradients! And why is that central circle off to the right like that?
According to their Chief Marketing Officer, Lawrence Flanagan, the new brand identity “follows an extensive analysis of the MasterCard brand and the value proposition it represents to constituents”, and the new logo reflects the company’s unique, three-tiered business model as a franchisor, processor and advisor.
It all becomes clear! They are obviously trying to communicate that they are an all-knowing, yet transparent advisor, with a strong emphasis on security (notice the thick perimeter wall around Mr Advisor), who are becoming increasingly friendly with their (yellow) franchisees, but without leaving the important (red!) processing part of their business out in the cold. Or something.