National Geographic has this photo and article about a beach on the Dutch island of Terschelling which was recently inundated with bananas which were washed off a cargo ship during a recent storm. Apparently, due to it’s position the island is regularly bombarded with cargo washed off of cargo ships. In recent times the beach has been covered in sneakers, aluminium briefcases and sweaters.

The whole thing reminds me about a blog I wrote a while ago about some rubber ducks which were washed around the world. There is a huge amount of junk floating around the world’s oceans. I read a book about a guy who was adrift for 76 days on his own and he came across a huge river of junk floating in the ocean.

Here is an interesting site that displays a map of the world with near real-time Wikipedia edits as they happen. It can be quite interesting to watch as people around the world make Wikipedia updates.

For instance, while I was watching someone from India edited the article on floor gymnastics

National Geographic has a well written article about memory. It is a sprawling, enjoyable article which bounces around the subject of memory.

As illustrations, two extreme cases are discussed in detail.

There is a 41-year old woman “who remembers almost every day of her life since age 11. She remembers what happened on Murphy Brown on December 12, 1988. She remembers world events and trips to the grocery store, the weather and her emotions.” Mention a date to her and memories of that time come flooding back in extraordinary detail.

“When I’m blow-drying my hair in the morning, I’ll think of whatever day it is. And to pass the time, I’ll just run through that day in my head over the last 20-something years—like flipping through a Rolodex.”

Then there is an “85-year-old man, a retired lab technician called “EP,” who remembers only his most recent thought”. After his brain was nailed by a virus he lost the ability to make new memories. He can’t remember anything that has happened since 1960 – he doesn’t even remember that he has a memory problem.

The article describes meeting and interacting with the man. His existence is only the thoughts currently in his mind. As soon as he is distracted, what he was thinking about is lost forever. If you ask him to remember something, like a number, he can remember it as long as he is thinking about the number. The second he is distracted, he forgets the number, who you are, and even that you asked him to remember something.

But EP is still able to ‘learn’ unconscious memories. For instance over the years he has learned the route of his daily walk around the block – even though he thinks he is heading out for the first time every time he goes. He has even learned who the neighbors are and is comfortable introducing himself to them.

While on holiday with some americans recently I got into a discussion about driving on the left or right of the road. Wikipedia has a good entry on the subject.

• 66% of world population drives on the right
• 72% of the world’s roads are designated for driving on the right
• There is good archaeological evidence that the Romans drove on the left of the road
• It is believed that driving on the left was more common so that a horseman could hold the reins in his left hand leaving his right free for a sword
• The switch to the right in the US happened when wagons pulled by several teams of horses came into use. The drivers then switched to sitting on the left (and driving on the right) so that their right hand could be used for a whip
• In England where smaller wagons were used no such change occurred

Discover magazine has this article listing “20 things you didn’t know about living in space. Some of the interesting ones from the article:

• The decreased pressure on the spine in zero-g causes most space travelers to grow about two inches.
• A 2001 study showed that astronauts who snored on Earth snoozed silently in space.
• Astronauts spice up their meals with salt and pepper—in liquid form. Sprinkled grains would float away, tickling noses and clogging vents.
• Some long-duration cosmonauts report that the hardest thing to readjust to about life on Earth is that when you let go of objects, they fall.