Discovery in the Age of Mammals: Building Brains and Making Minds

One hallmark of mammals is the evolution of a highly developed brain capable of orchestrating amazingly complex behaviors. What our minds do so effortlessly ** the ability to nurture and love, the ability to learn, to make decisions and to solve problems, the ability to communicate through verbal and non-verbal languages, the ability to form deep social networks, the ability to be consciously aware of the world ** arises from our highly developed brains. This theme will be explored in depth with six of the most eminent scholars, writers, and speakers on the brains and minds of mammals, including humans.

5:30pm, TOUR:
“Learning Connections” Tour in the Discovery Center:
Carl Selkin, Ph.D (Vice President, Education)

6:30pm, DISCUSSION:
“The Elephant’s Secret Sense”

Join us and take a look at aspects of elephant society that contribute to survival, including new findings on that society’s multi-modal communication, dominance, relatedness and hormone expression. New discoveries about elephant bull society will be reviewed, emphasizing the importance of bonding and mentoring. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell has been studying the underground communication system of wild elephant herds for 14 years – she’s convinced it’s a much richer one than previously thought. This discussion will highlight her work with elephants and the discoveries about their capacity to communicate seismic activity in a multimedia presentation and discussion.

Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell, Ph.D.
(Department of Otolaryngology, Stanford University)
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(Photo credit: Max Solomon)

Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell is an Assistant Professor (Consulting) at Stanford University in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, where she conducts research on hearing loss and improved therapies for deaf people. She has long been intrigued by the way the hearing-impaired population feels vibrations and other animals “listen” through limbs – in Africa, began to believe that elephant herds listened to seismic vibrations through the earth. Her research on African elephant society has been published and reported in peer reviewed journals and periodicals including Science, Science News, Natural History, New Scientist, Conservation Magazine, National Geographic, The Economist, and Discover. She has just published The Elephant’s Secret Sense. O’Connell-Rodwell lives in San Diego where she and her husband direct the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific (www.utopiascientific.org), which promotes elephant conservation and scientific understanding around the world, as well as the film company Triple Helix Productions, designed to put more science content in the media and encourage girls to get interested in physics.

Each theme will be moderated by Michael W. Quick, Ph.D. (Department of Biological Sciences and Executive Vice Dean, University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts & Sciences)
A-TRAK and Kid Sister

Michael W. Quick, Ph.D.
Michael W. Quick, First Fridays forum moderator, organized the monthly discussions for Discovery in the Age of Mammals. Dr. Quick is a professor of Biological Sciences and Executive Vice Dean of University of Southern California College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and his research uses the tools of modern molecular neurobiology to examine the processes that underlie neural communication and which are responsible for drug abuse and addiction.
7:00pm-10:00pm, MUSIC:
A-TRAKKid Sister

DJ sets in the African Mammal Hall by

Frosty and Take (dublab.com)

ADMISSION INFORMATION

• Museum admission: Adult $9, students (w. ID) $6.50, Members FREE.
• Capacity of discussion, music, and tour is limited and awarded on a first come, first served basis. Please arrive early to ensure participation.
• Dinner and drinks for sale starting at 5:00pm. Organic and handmade food by Mission Bistro.
• Public parking available on Menlo Avenue across from the Museum.
• For more information e-mail performances@nhm.org.

Internet radio giant Last.fm has now joined up with all four major recording companies (Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI - as well as CD Baby, IODA, the Orchard, Naxos and more than 150,000 independent labels and artists. The agreement between the companies comes with a change though.

“Last.fm’s free-on-demand service will be advertiser supported, allowing clients many unique opportunities to reach a highly targeted and engaged audience”. - cnn

Last.fm was acquired by the CBS Corporation on May 30 of 2007 and has attracted the attention of many demographics such as the college student, the office worker, the leisure music tester, Big Foot, your mothers hip friend that smokes pot, and of course the executives in those cozy black leather seats. (update - corinthian brown leather seats) Last.fm has launched a somewhat interesting “Artist Royalty Program” that has the labels in a stir of doubtfulness. This becomes a good thing for the plethora of unsigned artists that already seem to be dominating the true independent music “scene” or “revolution”. So every time a song that the unsigned artists uploaded song gets played he or she is paid by Last.fm a royalty check. In theory one can make mad money off this but the problem, yes this is problematic because soon enough Last.fm will see many and many more acts, thus making it challenging to advertise with the “new” industry standard. I personally love the idea making music easily accessible to the mass, I only hope this could work so that everyone can get broke off you feel me.

“We’re building a platform to help redesign the music economy, enabling artists and labels to earn revenue according to how people listen, rather than how they buy,” said Last.fm’s other co-founder, Felix Miller. “Now we can offer the arrangement to unsigned music creators too. For the first time, anyone can upload tracks and get paid when those tracks are played. It’s a whole different model — one that benefits the artists, labels and advertisers - but most of all the listeners.”

Time will truly tell; Last.fm has not yet executed plans for tight lipped Last.tv but expect them to use a entirely different business model and medium.

Do you like making music? Do you like making music in the future? huh? wait a minute Mikey if the map and the treas… I’ll stop right there Chunk. Allow me to show you the next level of exclusivity.

and

reactable

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The Matrix M6001 watch tells you what time it us using a set of LCD bars at the top and the bottom of its display. The tall, top bars on the Matrix M6001 Watch tell you what hour it is, and the shorter bars on the bottom indicate five-minute intervals. The zero bar on the bottom left is broken into four segments that indicate individual minutes.

[A defcop] at -$75.00

defcop! issue#2

What’s the McFLY 2015 project?

THURSDAY, January 10th

dublab presents…
MOTIF : a highly themed, monthly happening
episode #1 = “the cover-up”
an evening of obscure cover songs selected by dublab djs.
FREE / 8pm-Midnight / 21+
Mandrake Bar
2692 S. La Cienega blvd.
(between Venice & Washington)
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310.837.3297
mandrakebar.com

On a cold and drenched Saturday night the giantdays crew were feeling a bit cold and inspired to do a bit of coat shopping when we came across the intriguing t-shirts section of Moosejaw’s website. The puzzled look on our faces occured just after the t-shirts page finished loading our preferred sorting method.

{A Brief Description}

The Moosejaw Royale is reserved for Royalty only. It is made from the finest Egyptian cloth and the decorations are made from the actual gold that Honore II, Prince of Monaco, stole from the Spanish in the 16th century. Any true Royal will appreciate the irony. You may only purchase this item if you have a minimum of three generations of royal blood in your family. If you believe you qualify please email CaspianIV@moosejaw.com with the following information. If you meet the standard qualifications you will immediately receive a code that will allow you to purchase the Moosejaw Royale.

• The number of ascots in your home.

• A brief description of your family.
• Your lineage. You must go back at least three generations.

• Your family crest. A jpeg is fine.
• The name of your butler at your country house. If you do not have a country house please do not reply.

That being said raises the value of this timeless design. [A defcop] at - $999.00

defcop! issue#1

Has masked hip-hop renegade MF Doom been dispatching lip-syncing look-alikes to cover his shows? The controversy came to light after a disastrous August 15th performance at San Francisco’s live music venue the Independent that featured a noticeably skinnier and particularly furtive Doom rapping for twenty minutes – into a dead mic. According to opening act DJ Enki, Doom’s abrupt departure provoked an already frustrated audience: fans booed, threw bottles, called for a refund (no such luck), and left convinced that Doom, or whoever performed, never rapped a word.“The only thing that was live about the show was the hype man’s mic,” DJ Enki says.

Fans took to the message boards, only to find that similar scenes had played out days earlier at the El Rey Theatre in LA, and, before that, the July 29th Rock the Bells show in NY. Though the performer at both shows physically matched Doom, witnesses claim he lip-synced. And as music outlets began circulating different accounts, increasingly strange details emerged: no audience interaction, unusually stringent bans on photographs and video recordings, a backstage on total lockdown.

The plot thickens: Two weeks later and Doom and his alleged impostor have gone MIA. He canceled the second Independent performance citing medical reasons, withdrew from an August 17th set in Seattle, skipped out on the San Francisco date of massive hip hop festival Rock the Bells, and called off an August 19th appearance in San Diego.

The ever-elusive underground hip-hop star, who has collaborated with Madlib and DJ Danger Mouse, could not be reached, but Nature Sounds CEO Devin Horwitz, Doom’s friend and business associate, says the accusations are “hard to take seriously.” The brief sets, Horwitz says, were simply part of Doom’s contract, as he is “not the kind of artist that does a two hour show.” The impostors and lip-syncing? Horwitz says he’s accompanied Doom to at least 20 performances, including the disputed NY show, and “never witnessed anything of that sort” - though he does understand the confusion. (more…)

Bringing in the new years, just got back from that mini-vaca tip. Now its time to save the festivities for next year, and bring out the exclusivities for this year.

{new shit}

• music piece on special surprise artist(s)
• diary of a mad women (this lady is upset)
• just scratch w/ jessrox
• defcops!
• you’re an idiot (a new way to insult yourself)