Make of that what you will.

It’s not all bleak news, though: if you live on Planet Earth, you’ll be relieved to know that it’s still there, despite the LHC’s best efforts so far.

Vitamin linked to brain shrinking

Now let’s read the first two paragraphs of the article:

A vitamin found in meat, fish and milk may help stave off memory loss in old age, a study has suggested.

Older people with lower than average vitamin B12 levels were more than six times more likely to experience brain shrinkage, researchers concluded.

Let’s leave aside the whole “correlation is not causation” thing (another bête noire of mine, which unfortunately also plagues science reporting, not just at the BBC) and focus solely on the headline. Remember, it said that the ‘vitamin’ was ‘linked’ to the ‘brain shrinking’, if I may imitate the BBC headline writers’ style. Yet the article directly contradicts the headline: the vitamin is linked to the opposite of brain shrinking. It’s the deficiency of the vitamin that is linked to the shrinkage.

I have no doubt that in the future we’ll find out that the BBC headline writers have been all taken out, shot, and replaced by a team of monkeys. Or ‘replaced’ by a ‘team of monkeys’, as they’d say.

Of course, equestrian qua sport is really silly, and anybody who says otherwise obviously hasn’t taken a good look at the ridiculous costumes involved at any level of competition. And seeing the competitors there on the medal podium, with their coats and breeches and neckties, while “O Canada” played and the Canadian, Swedish, and American flags were raised, and with hundreds of people not really standing at attention but idly milling about, vaguely bored—I couldn’t help but think I had somehow missed the equestrian event and been transported to the opening of a new IKEA store or something.

What this is actually telling you to do is to walk to the pier where you can pick up the passenger ferry to Alcatraz Island, naturally. The best part? If you click the little “plus” to expand the walking directions, you get this:

“Use caution when walking in unfamiliar areas.” Like the ocean floor in the San Francisco Bay??

Also, it’s obvious that there’s a ferry ride in there—the total time you’re told to walk is 38 minutes, but the distance adds up to a scant half mile. Of course, even though I knew perfectly well what was really going on, this didn’t stop me from having the reaction, “Oh wow, if it’s that easy to get to/from Alcatraz, what was really keeping all those people from escaping?”

Via the Slog: Researches are giving octopuses toys to find out if they prefer a tentacle over all the rest in everyday usage. Among these toys are Rubik’s Cubes. Now, I’m all for doing research on sea creatures, but when said creatures can actually solve these Rubik’s Cubes, look out, humanity…

(As usual: All photos available here. There were over 50 added today again. Enjoy.)

In the morning, we went into town and observed the changing of the guard ritual on Parliament Hill. Essentially, over the course of half an hour about fifty people in bright red uniforms with shiny brass buttons and intimidating weaponry bark orders at one another and march around a big grass field. The ceremony involves music, marching, inspection of weapons, “exchange of compliments” between the commanders of the old and new guard units, and more music and more marching.

(I am mentally composing an angry letter to the Queen about how ridiculous the music selection was—half of it felt appropriately military, but the other half was bizarre and Disneylandish; not a very good feeling to try to evoke when you’re working with full brass band and a bunch of bagpipes. Seriously, it felt like they were going to start breaking into a show-stopping song and dance number at any moment. Also, they played the Wedding March from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro for quite some time, and not enough of good old standards like The Maple Leaf Forever. I don’t know what was up with that.)

After an excellent lunch and walk through the town and the outdoor markets, we took the tour of the Parliament building, which needless to say was terrific. We got to see the very spot upon which Stephen Harper and Stéphane Dion traditionally yell at one another Mondays through Thursdays at about 2:15 pm. The Parliament buildings are full of terrific artwork and symbolism. I also proved myself an insufferable asshole by answering all the tour guide’s semi-rhetorical questions because nobody else on the tour appeared to (a) know and (b) speak English anyway. So she was all like, “Does anyone know what the first four provinces to enter Confederation were?” and everyone had one of those “party silences” until I shattered the mood with the correct answer (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Québec, and Ontario, if you had to know). I also bought a coffee mug with the coat of arms of Canada to complement my coffee mug from the U.S. Congress with the First Amendment on it.

Next stop: Toronto.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures; here are just six of the fifty-one that I added today:

Next stop: Ottawa! Also, lest we forget—happy Fourth of July!

After Fredericton, we turned north and went through Edmundston, New Brunswick into Québec, where we made a small detour to the town of Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!. Yes, Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! is a real place, but you don’t have to take my word for it—check out its entry on Wikipedia. Apparently nobody really knows where the name comes from—it’s probably just as well. At any rate, I have photographic evidence proving that (a) it exists and (b) I’ve been there. Count another notch on my list of places with crazy names that I’ve been to.

We camped right near Québec City and went into town for the 400th birthday of the city, which was celebrated in a torrential downpour with church bells ringing simultaneously all across Canada at 11 am (eastern time, natch). Thousands of people turned out despite the rain, but we west-coasters were the only ones sans umbrellas, nyah nyah. There were boring speeches by dignitaries and a military parade that almost didn’t happen because of the rain. Of course, the anti-war protesters came out in force anyway and the Québec City police were ready to meet them face-on, as it were, in full riot gear with gas masks. I did not think it wise to try to snap photos of some of these events.

So, bonne fête, Québec ! To 120, or something like that.

As always, the full photo gallery is available here. Next stop, Montréal!

But now I’m back on the road, this time passing through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine to get to Saint John, New Brunswick, where my travelling companion and I celebrated Canada Day. I call it a celebration, but what it really consisted of was hanging out on increasingly foggy docks by the harbour waiting for them not to shoot off fireworks. On the other hand, we met some extremely nice Maritimers with Opinions About Things, who were delightful, it appeared, to finally find a new audience at last. (They also had great accents, but that’s pretty much a given with Maritimers.)

Not too many photos of Saint John; we didn’t get here early enough to get any really good ones. Hopefully we’ll be able to take some more on the drive today while it’s sunny and not too foggy. As always, full gallery available here.

Next stop: camping probably somewhere outside Québec City!

Also, granules of yeast were literally jumping to their deaths out of the measuring spoon. Like, in a self-propelled, autokinetic, lemming-like way. It was the oddest thing.

Sure was tasty, though. (I’ll post the recipe at some point soon.)

But we got up early this morning and walked around the already astoundingly hot National Mall before I had to say farewell to my travelling companion Alice and see her safely off to the train depot. So I was on my own for the Air and Space Museum, which was every bit as glorious as my pre-teenage mind remembered. Assorted other adventures, including photography of some of the terrific architecture here in D.C., followed; then sushi dinner and Iron Man (for the third time, now, but it hasn’t become any less geigh) with newfound friends; then interesting adventures trying to find where to put the car for the night that wouldn’t necessitate my waking up before 7 am to move it.

Full photo gallery, of course, available here—go look at it; there are 27 new photos today for a total of 80 so far. For now, a smattering:

Next stop: the Philadelphia area up to and including Princeton, New Jersey, and New York City, New York. All right, not really one area, but…deal with it.

Remember, the full photo gallery is here; there are quite a few photos from today’s travels. Here are some of my favourites:

LAUGHINGSTOCKS OF THE WEEK: I’ve heard enough about the Alamo; how about you? Miles and Julian have become jokes; it seems like all they’ve done this season is play Alamo and/or get made fun of for playing Alamo. And I’ve got a bad feeling about the “moat” discussion that they had with Quark, namely that O’Brien will decide, “Quark’s right! We can’t build a moat around the station, but we can use a <tech> <tech> <tech> to create a <tech> <tech> <tech> around the station!”

So yeah, at any rate, there was the Alamo. A big battle was fought there. The white people lost. But then they won in the end because they remembered the Alamo, so I guess it all worked out. Also, there’s totally archaeology going on there! They’re uncovering bits of frescoes in the surviving walls that they didn’t even know were there until a few years ago.

We continued on from San Antonio through Austin, Dallas, and Texarkana. Two thoughts kept occurring to me:

1. Texas is simply too gol-dang big.
2. This part of the world has very questionable policies when it comes to naming towns. Hope? Italy? Texarkana? Arkadelphia??

Anyway, here are a few of today’s photos—as always, the full gallery is awaiting your browser.

Next stop: Nashville, Tennessee!

[Sculptor Adam] Reeder explains: “In mythology Pan played his flute and danced in the woods. In my sculpture, the flute is replaced with an iPod. The nature of Pan hasn’t changed, but the context in which he is seen has changed. The technology has changed what Pan is doing.”

Adam’s masters thesis through The San Francisco Academy of Art University is based on a series of sculptures where mythological or classical figures are used to represent Western culture and are combined with modern technological objects to illustrate how technology has changed the way people interact.

The best part: one of these meisterwerks will set you back a mere $9800.

qÁq‘tā’amas — game with wooden ball

Formed from q‘tá’abas, “wooden ball covered with spruce-roots.” There were two sides in the game, with the same number on each. Each side had a goal consisting of a little pit, which was guarded by one man. All but the two guards gathered in the centre. One man threw up the ball and everyone tried to catch it, run with it to the goal of the opponents, and put it into the pit. Those of the other side tried to take the ball away from the one that had it. The side that first made ten goals won the game. After four goals had been made, the game was suspended for a while and a general free-for-all fight took place.

I swear, it’s basically hockey: goals, goaltenders, and free-for-all fighting. Nothing changes.

Hat-tip: Alexa

Israel at 60, Jews at ±3000

• Problems of every sort: demographic, political, religious, you name it. Can Israel continue to exist? Mayyybeee…
• Israel’s huge demographic problems are being compounded as the government sits on its hands with regards to the deepening Sudanese refugee crisis.
• News flash: Anti-Semitism still exists in Eastern Europe. (And the NY Times still reports on it in the “Art & Design” section.)

Saudi Arabia and mobile pornography

• Porn constitutes about 70% of all files exchanged between teenagers’ mobile phones in the sexually repressive Arab kingdom.
• To deal with the sexually repressive culture—and Bluetooth harassment by young men—Saudi girls have developed all kinds of strategies, such as cross-dressing. There is an interesting debate over whether or not reading a man’s Facebook page is tantamount to hearing his voice, since all you’re perceiving is his writing.

Other random stuff

• Jane Doe (i.e. anonymous) rape kits will soon be available on a national scale in the United States. It’s about fucking time.
• After all these years, there is still nothing business analysts love more than to predict doom and gloom for Apple.
• Summer music camps—of whatever musical persuasion—aren’t just for young people anymore.
• A NY Times columnist comes to the startling realization that young people hold huge political power.
• M.C. Escher drawings recreated in Lego.
• A book entitled Uncensored Amazon Kindle Buyer’s Guide: Know for Sure if the Amazon Kindle is Right for You is now available in Kindle format.

And here’s what you get if you reverse those directions:

There are, of course bus services operated by both cities’ transportation systems, naturally. I am uncertain as to whether you can walk through the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, though.