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<Scientists Trained Goldfish to Drive a Little Car It's proof that fish are capable of navigation even in unfamiliar environments. Scientists often create elaborate studies in order to tease out secrets and truths from the animal world. One such work has recently been published, with a group from Ben-Gurion University hoping to determine the true nature of a fish's navigation capabilities, as shared on Twitter. Several goldfish were tasked with driving a robot towards a goal, with the sea creatures proving more than up to the job. As per the paper available online, the apparatus for the test was relatively straightforward. Goldfish were placed in a small transparent tank of water placed on top of a robot chassis. A camera mounted above the tank tracked the fish's position and orientation. If the fish swam outward towards a given wall, the robot would move in that direction. When the fish drove up to a pink target on the wall, they would be rewarded with food. Initially, the six fish in the study drove around largely at random. However, tests were regularly performed three times a week, and the fish quickly began to learn that if they drove over to the target area, they would receive food. Over time, the fish became more capable, and could trigger the reward mechanism more times in a single given 30 minute test session. The researchers wanted to further determine just how well the fish had learned to understand their terrestrial environment. The starting position in the room was changed, and the fish were still able to navigate to the target for a reward. Similarly, adding decoy targets of different colors in the room did not stop fish from achieving the task. As a further test, the pink target was moved to a different location in the room and the fish were tested again. Initially, fish drove towards the old target location in an attempt to receive a reward. When none was forthcoming, the fish eventually learned that the pink target itself was the key to the task, and began to drive there instead. The study suggests that a goldfish's navigational abilities are not solely limited to the underwater environment to which they are accustomed. Indeed, a fish can learn to drive a robot in order to secure food. Furthermore, the tiny creatures are also able to build a greater understanding of their world, proven by learning that reaching the pink target, and not simply the original target location, is key to receiving a reward. It also helps clear up the widely-disproven myth that the common pet fish only have a 3-second memory. We've seen similar studies before, which may seem frivolous, but they teach us a great deal about how organic brains work and their true capabilities. We're still likely a ways off from teaching dogs to drive cars, but such insights are of key importance to learning about animal behavior. Creative test design is key to really determining what's going on inside the brain of a goldfish who otherwise can't tell us what's going on, as ably demonstrated by this study.>

By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 11/05/2011 Babies who are breast-fed for several months develop fewer behavioural problems in early childhood than those who are bottle-fed, researchers have said. The British study which involved around 10,000 mothers and their babies found that breastfeeding for at least four months lowered the risk of behavioural problems in children aged five by one third. Researchers say the findings, published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, add to a wealth of existing evidence on the benefits of breastfeeding. Children raised on bottled milk formula tended to show more signs of anxiety, hyperactivity or lying and stealing, researchers found. "Were not necessarily talking about tearaway, unmanageable five-year-old kids," said Maria Quigley from Oxford University, who led the research. "It might be unusual anxiousness, restlessness, inability to socialise with other children or play fully in groups." Scientists said the results could be explained either by the fatty acids in breast milk which aid brain development or the bonding between mother and child, which may affect learned behaviour. Researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Essex, York and University College London analysed data from a survey of 10,037 infants born in the UK between 2000 and 2001, who took part in the the wider Millennium Cohort Study. Mothers were asked to assess the behaviour of their children by the age of five, giving scores for different behaviours, such as clinginess and restlessness. Raw figures showed that only six percent of breast-fed children were given abnormal scores indicating behavioural problems, compared with 16 percent of formula-fed children. However, mothers who breast-fed tend to be older, better educated and from a higher socio-economic background than those who don't, the study said. Researchers therefore adjusted the figures to take those factors into account, concluding that there was a 30 percent greater risk of behavioural problems among formula-fed children. "Our results provide even more evidence for the benefits of breastfeeding," Quigley added. "Mothers who want to breastfeed should be given all the support they need." Janet Fyle, from the Royal College of Midwives, agreed that the study backed evidence that breastfeeding is best for babies but warned against victimising women who choose not to. "We need to be careful to keep a balance when interpreting the results, so that we do not send a negative message to mothers that they have failed or make them feel guilty because they bottle-fed their babies," she said. Regards,

hospital is a place where many people will lost control of their temper, not only to the healthcare staff but also their own family members... but i hope the hospital has rules to throw out those inconsiderate people

Today I witness a man jaywalking at the traffic lights when the lights was green for the cars to go. And when a merz who is approaching the traffic lights horn at the man, the man gave the driver the middle finger even though he was in the wrong. Later, I saw him getting into a white golf gti (sja504xx) , ie a driver. I would think as a driver he should know why the merz horned at him since he is also a driver. Really puzzles me what's wrong with his mindset. In fact, this is not the first time I seen either pedestrians or other drivers showing middle finger even though they are in the wrong.

I've been wondering..there's a group of drivers who are always driving around impatiently..thinking that everyone is blocking them and wasting their time..so they do comical things like horning continuously and high-beaming.. There's also another group who like to block others way..they will unwittingly go at below 90km/h on expressways lane 1...or they take their time to drive leisurely with a mobile phone in hand either texting or talking.. does this behaviour actually carry forward to other aspects of their life? how do u behave when u're on an escalator? there is not a flame thread..just something to ponder over the little things in life..

http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/03/31/st-journalist-explains-irksome-behaviour-of-prcs/ ST journalist explains irksome behaviour of PRCs March 31st, 2014 | Author: Editorial A relative of a passenger on Flight MH370 shouting at journalists in Beijing last week (Photo REUTERS). Kor Kian Beng, the ST China Bureau Chief In Beijing, wrote a ST article today (‘MH370: When grief turns into anger’, 31 Mar). He wrote to explain that the unique psyche of PRCs may help to explain the quarrelsome behavior of relatives of PRCs who were on Flight MH370. Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March and it has yet to be found. Mr Kor wrote, “For about 400 grief-stricken relatives of the 153 Chinese passengers on board missing Flight MH370, their behaviour has run the gamut from going on a hunger strike, and gatecrashing an official press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, to protesting in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing and hurling insults at Malaysian government and airline officials at meetings.” “They were protesting against the pace and course of investigations and demanding to know why the Malaysia Airlines plane never made it to its intended destination, Beijing, and how it could have remained missing since March 8.” Mr Kor specifically noted that media reports of PRCs’ behaviour contrasted sharply with that of families of other nationalities, who also have relatives on the plane. Even Acting Transport Minister of Malaysia, Hishammuddin Hussein, said, “The Chinese families must also understand that Malaysia also lost loved ones and many other nations also lost loved ones.” “I have seen images (of relatives) from Australia: very rational, understanding this is a global effort, not blaming Malaysia, because it is coordinating something unprecedented.” Mr Kor, being based in China, tried to examine the factors behind PRC behaviour and whether most people, if in the same plight and living in the Chinese society, would have responded the same way. He said, “After living here for two years, I have come to realise just how much the Chinese people suspect their government and officials of covering up scandals or hiding the truth. Just take a look at the Chinese cyberspace, where netizens often poke holes at official pronouncements and slam government policies.” “This helps explain why many relatives, until now, still believe that the Malaysian government is not coming clean on the missing plane.” Mr Kor said that many PRCs also believe in taking things into their own hands. They also believe that in the law of the jungle, only the fittest, as well as the loudest, wins. He recounted, “I was once standing in line at an airport check-in counter when a group of men rudely cut in. When I told them off, they started heckling me and calling me blind.” “Perhaps this is why the relatives who are in Beijing have been extremely vocal in their anger and demands as shown during meetings with Malaysian officials and the embassy protest last Tuesday.” Mr Kor quoted Prof Hu Xingdou, who said, “China is not a law-based society but one ruled and determined largely by the elite few. So the people know that they have to kick up a fuss, fight, and struggle to get their way.” The society’s focus on making money and becoming rich over the past 30 years has also diluted social values such as character-building at home or in school, leading many to act in less restrained or ungentlemanly ways, Prof Hu added. Other factors may include a sense of superiority, boosted by China’s rise as a future superpower, Mr Kor said. “Ultimately, the most powerful force driving the Chinese relatives’ behaviour has to be their fear of losing their loved ones, forever. Emotions running high – grief, anguish, anger, fear – cannot be assuaged easily,” Mr Kor said. Mr Kor concluded, “Would I have acted the way they did? Probably not. But then, I’m not in their shoes.”

What kinda cheapo stunt have you come across? Share N jusT4laughs I know of this guy who rushes out to wash his car when it rains!

There is a funny phenomenon in SG that English-speaking people are considered higher class people. When it is a common language in certain less developed countries. Singaporeans commonly take it as so. And newer immigrants /FTs knows about this too. Even my neighbor speaking half-fark English insist on speaking half-fark English w/o making effort to improve/or not know how. And it is commonly so. And i observed many new FTs/new immigrants here do the same, probably infested by us. But when you see the way they behave,eg,speaking loudly in buses/MRT/restaurants etc,they are no less than 3rd World low class. And it seems they think they are high class and proudly doing it away. Is there a correlation between English speaking and high classiness? What you think?

so the situation is i'm cruising at 80km/h without my foot on the accelerator when i decide that i need to pick up speed when i step on the accelerator, the rpm will increase from 1.5k rpm to 2.4k rpm then drop back to 2.2k rpm. all this while the amount of pressure that i apply is constant. noticed that this doesn't happen at lower speeds, only from 60km/h and up. adding on, my car does not jerk while switching gears during low speeds or does it have problems entering into reverse or drive gears. is this normal?

Typo in title. Auto correct again. Should be Inconsiderate Driving Behaviour Recently, I witnessed a few bad driving behavior on Singapore roads. They have always been there but if you are one of the "culprits", please do not do this. 1) I was stuck in a mini jam heading to TPE. Initially, I thought there was an accident involved and the mini jam is understandable. When I went a bit further up, I found there was indeed an accident but the debris has all been cleared to the side of the road. People are just slowing down to take a look at the debris and this cause a ripple effect and jammed up the expressway entry point. 2) A car was making a right turn but as the traffic has not cleared yet, it blocked the way of another car going in the other direction. A young punk in a white suzuki honked, put his gear on neutral and revved aggressively to show the driver his displeasure. Juvenile. Yes, the driver was blocking the way but the traffic on the other site was already moving, and there is nothing the driver could do. Whats wrong with showing a bit more patience? And i think the driver of the car blocking the way was a lady driver too, shame on the driver who try to intimidate a woman like that. In fact, I think it is exactly because the driver was a woman driver that he dared to do that. 3) At a traffic junction, red lights, a car stopped a good 25 mins from the stop line so take the driver can take shelter under the trees. There are many other cars behind.

Just came home from a late night supper and something i experienced on the way back give me the urge to pen here for a general discussion. Usually I do not drive fast unless there is urgent things and i believe this should be the general case for all other motorists. so here is what i just experienced. Was coming back from Woodlands via SLE TPE to Seng Kang cos need to send gf home. As it was quite late so I decided to drive faster. After i enter SLE, i filter to the rightmost lane before picking up speed. In a distance was a VW in rightmost lane and a Subaru in the center lane. As i approach nearer, the VW decided to pick up speed and the Subaru also decided to pick up speed. And suddenly they were like trying to outrun each other like a drag race with each other side by side. This carry on for probably few mins before the Subaru exited SLE. I was behind the VW all the while but not tailgating. Then the VW carry on accelerating until a point where he probably felt it was too fast so he filter and let me pass. In my head > Did i indirectly caused the 2 cars to drive faster than they would originally have? > If so, it will be interesting to know what they are thinking that led to this actions. I am skewed towards thinking that they are going faster because they wants to be in the front but not that they are in a hurry.

Today damn sad day for me, my baby was hospitalized last night for stomach flu. She is alright now. But I am damn angry with my ex-wife whom notified me via EMAIL that my child has been hospitalized 12 hours ago! By email???? I rushed down to the hospital within 15 mins to see my baby. When I arrived, it seemed like I was the last person to know as my sis in-laws were there with gifts already! I F-ed my ex-wife left right center and told her she didnt respect me as baby's father and how can a person send email in such a situation! My ex-wife being very confrontational type and dont want to lose mentality called me 'lower than an animal' for saying that I want to be notified other than email in an emergency!

"...From where I stood, I couldn

I know we must be respectful of others' beliefs but people should also be considerate when practising their customs. Every year, I know it is the start, middle and end of 7th month by the epic amount of smoke and ash in the air. Worse still, every patch of grass have those red incense sticks bordering them. To my knowledge, even Tiong Kok never practice 7th month anymore. Isn't there a more civic minded way of doing things?

There is a funeral going on at my place, the people there uses plastic chair to CHOP the 3 parking lots just because they want to make sure they can see parking auntie come as to avoid being issued summons. In the first place they are already in the wrong by not putting parking coupons and they are depriving the residents their parking lots which they had paid for. FYI at my place this 3 are the so called prime lot as the rest of the lots have big trees and have birds droppings. So usually those whom come back early will have chance to park there. It is strictly first come first serve. But now those #$*%^ use their chairs to CHOP the lots. Haizzz And best is they dun stay here only the black Stream has season parking. The rest all hiong one...

Picture included. SINGAPORE: Gopalan Nair, a former Singaporean who currently faces two charges for insulting two High Court judges, has been arrested for disorderly behaviour in public and for using abusive words against police officers. The arrest followed an incident at the junction of Race Course Road and Bukit Timah Road on Friday night. A police spokesman said plainclothes officers on routine anti-crime operations in the area heard a loud knock on their vehicle after stopping at the traffic light. They saw an Indian man walking away. When the officers identified themselves and interviewed the person, he became abusive and refused to furnish his particulars, saying he is an American citizen and the Police has no right to check on him. Despite repeated warnings to stop his verbal abuse, including a racist slur against one of the Malay officers, he continued to be uncooperative and persisted in his abuse. The commotion attracted a crowd of over 25 onlookers, which created a risk of public disorder due to the inflammatory remarks used by the Indian man. The police officers, after giving the man repeated warnings to calm down and not to cause a public disturbance, had no choice but to arrest him for disorderly behaviour and for using abusive words towards public servants. The man resisted arrest by putting up a fierce struggle, during which his and a police officer's glasses were broken. It was only back at the police station that Gopalan Nair disclosed his identity. A medical examination by a doctor was conducted and a blood sample was taken with Gopalan Nair's consent to be tested for alcohol. Gopalan Nair, who is out on police bail, could face a fine of up to $5,000 or a jail term of up to a year if convicted under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order & Nuisance) Act. Gopalan Nair is currently facing two charges under the Penal Code. These charges relate to an email sent by him to Justice Lai Siu Chiu in 2006, and a posting on his blog relating to Justice Belinda Ang in May 2008. Both Justice Lai and Justice Ang are High Court Judges. - CNA/ir

The follwing is an article taken from "my paper" dated 23/1/08. It just goes to show how stupid this lady is. She practically slapped herself on the face. Read the complain letter, paying special attention to the parts highlighted in red and underlined. [/left] From the complain that she wrote, i can only gather that she is greedy and trying to justify her greed. Imagine asking for The Straits Times for her parents who can't speak English. Basically, she just "buay song" the stewardess for not giving her an extra copy of the paper. In my opinion, this lady is the type of person where, no matter how polite you are, she will still be "buay song". Shocked by behaviour of SQ leading stewardess MY PARENTS and I were on flight SQ865 on Jan 13, from Hong Kong to Singapore. The Leading Stewardess was giving out The Straits Times and I requested a copy. I also asked her politely to pass another set of newspapers to my father, who was seated in another row. To my surprise, she told me loudly to share the newspapers since we are one family and that there were still many other passengers waiting to get a copy. Can you imagine how embarrassing it was for me? How would the other passengers think ¡ª that I was greedy? I was just helping my parents as they were seated elsewhere and could not speak English. She could have said something along the line of "I'm sorry Madam, but can you please share if you don't mind as we are running out of newspapers". I was stunned by her rudeness and could only manage a reply of "Okay". Singapore Airlines is supposed to be well-known for its good service, but why was I given that kind of treatment? Was it because I was seated in the Economy class? Ms Tan Ai Ching Serene

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1. It seems like major cities in Europe, Paris, Netherland and etc are begining to ban SUVs from entering into cities. Some States in USA, car that is >3 tons are not allowed in cities' roads. This affects those big SUVs. 2. In Paris, the idea being that SUVs are incompatible with city life. They want to limit traffic to much smaller vehicles and provide more space for bike lanes and anything more environmentally correct. 3. In Netherland, a city counsel felt that SUV is merely serve as a status symbol for the owner. They are designed for off-road conditions, but they are not used as such. They consume a lot of fuel, pollute, clog up traffic and are hazardous for the other traffic as well as for the owners. Driving them is considered as antisocial behavior. Denying them parking spaces is the best way to prevent them driving around the city as they cannot be denied entry to the city at the moment. 4. What do you think, this trend will catch on in Singapore sooner or later? It seems like driving a car these days also have to shoulder some social responsibility. Regards,

Why are Singapore drivers so egoistic with full of pride, impatient and rude? They speed, hog the overtaking lane, refuse to give way to emergency vehicles, drive dangerously, refuse to give way even if you signal and even speed up to close the gap. They do not signal, flare up easily and show vulgar signs even when unprovoked. What is happening? Why do drivers behave this way?

Just fixed a vacuum gauge for my Estima (Toyota 2AZ-FE) It has a tendency to go into a rapid flutter (fluctuation is about 5 in Hg) though it goes through the normal movements in response to the throttle Is this normal? There are times when the flutter is absent and the needle just moves smoothly. Can't notice any pattern