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Thoughts on Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road feels uncharacteristic of a big budget Hollywood reboot/sequel, the presence of a studio hand isn't felt. Instead what we see and hear and feel is the unbridled imagination of director George Miller, doing what perhaps he wished he could've 35 years ago when the original Mad Max was released.

Fury Road is relentless. In the interim between chase scenes I came to realise my palms were sweaty from the preceding ten minutes of explosions and crashes. It's in the quiet moments that we are given our character development, but the story plays out not just around the spaces between chase scenes, but in them. Max, played frantically by Tom Hardy becomes caught up in the escape of a band of female slaves led by the indomitable Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron. While the older films established the world that defined the post-apocalyptic genre, the world building there pales in comparison to here. The set designs, vehicle designs and character designs present a fantasy defined by adrenaline, sand and motor oil. Fantastical enough, is the world, that the oxymoron of a petrol shortage and a proliferation of vehicular abominations that make your Hummer's consumption look positively eco-friendly doesn't matter. Unlike in the original films, there is no explicit mention of the setting of Fury Road being Australian, and while the overriding accent of the cast might tend towards Australian, it seems that Miller is making a move to a setting that isn't quite grounded in this world. This is a fantasy movie where elves are the white painted War Boys, magic is explosives and swords are cars (with swords on them). 

There is a realness and an earthiness to what is on screen. Despite massive CGI backdrops (and storms), the cars, the explosions and the actors are practical for the most part. Miller hired Cirque de Soleil performers for stunts involving stilts. Violence feels meaty, crashes feel tangled and seeing an actor get a face full of sand looks just as rough as it must feel. The chase scenes are so brilliantly choreographed and each of them involving unique elements that they never grow tired. There are action scenes that play out on foot, too, and they are some of the best and most visceral moments in the film. 

The plot of the movie is thin, but never flawed. The characters we see have just enough depth to give heft to the eternal chase and the slower scenes of development exist only long enough that we catch our breath and anticipate the next time someone hits the accelerator. When the end of the film came I felt sad to be leaving the world, relieved that I could relax and excited to see where Miller might take us next. Go see it.

Original post: http://www.cranior.com/blog/2015/5/17/thoughts-on-mad-max-fury-road

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Cranior Questions: What Effect Does Marijuana Have on Kids?

With the growing global movement to legalise marijuana, including the legalisation in the American states of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, it is important to be aware of the health risks involved, especially as they pertain to the developing brain, prenatally and during adolescence.

How does marijuana work?

To understand the effect marijuana may have we need to understand the processes at play. (It is important to note that study into the effects of marijuana is continually occurring, the cannabinoid receptors were only first discovered in 1988, and up until that point little was understood about the effects marijuana has on the brain.)

To put it simply: marijuana effects the brain's cannabinoid receptors. These receptors are involved in numerous physiological processes including appetite, pain, mood and memory. Cannabinoids are chemical compounds that act on these receptors to create these physiological processes; they may include endocannabinoids, which are the ones that human bodies naturally produce, and phytocannabinoids, which are the types found in cannabis plants, in particular tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. 

Endocannabinoids (ie. human cannabinoids) play a significant role in the development of the human brain. Phtyocannabinoids (ie. THC) mimic the response that  endocannibinoids create but degrade slower and circulate for longer, Holmes writes that this can cause a problem in that it inhibits the development that might otherwise be occurring. 

Prenatal effects

During foetal life, endocannabinoids work to organise and direct brain cells and build synapses. However, if the mother is using marijuana during her pregnancy, there are subtle yet real effects on the child, due to the alteration of cannabinoid system. These changes, however, are incredibly difficult to measure, because of issues in interpretation and methodological issues. 

Campolongo et al. found that functions such as cognitive flexibility, sustained and focused attention and working memory were effected long-term in a study of 18-22 year-olds who had been prenatally exposed. They also found through a study of rats coupled with psychological studies on children, that prenatal cannabis exposure effects their emotional state, included states of anxiety and hyper-emotion. These findings were backed up by a study by Wang et al., who found that in-utero cannabis exposure effected neural systems that regulate emotional behaviour. However both studies concluded that more research was needed. 

Fride found that prenatal exposure to marijuana effected the dopamine levels in babies and may lead to enhanced drug seeking behaviours. However, they also concluded that more research was needed.

Physical effects were also found. Hurd, et al., in a study on mid-gestation (17-22 weeks) aborted fetuses found that the length of the feet and the weight of the baby was negatively impacted by marijuana use in the mother. 

Enhanced drug seeking is indeed perhaps the only effect of prenatal marijuana exposure that can be reasonably predicted. Sonon et al., in a 22-year longitudinal study on the offspring of mothers using varying amounts of marijuana during their pregnancy, found that roughly 10% more children of heavy using mothers had tried marijuana at some point than children of mothers who had not used during pregnancy, and roughly 18% more of these children had used in the last year.

The conclusions that we can draw from all of these studies are unfortunately obscured. Beyond predicting a higher chance of using marijuana in their future, prenatal marijuana exposure is difficult to study without continual brain analysis of children born through these conditions, and at this stage, such research has not occurred. As well as this, the illegality in most places, makes research difficult to conduct with people being unwilling to engage in research and samples being difficult to find. To further complicate things, many people who smoke cannabis also smoke tobacco which can confound results.

It is safe to say that prenatal marijuana usage probably has a range of averse effects. The specifics of these are however, largely unknown.

Effects of smoking during adolescence

As marijuana becomes more socially accepted, perceptions of the drug amongst adolescents have changed. Johnston and Bachman (Monitoring the Future: National results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2014), have found that the perceived risk amongst teens has substantially declined from 2008 to 2013 and as a result, marijuana is being used at a younger age. In examining a 38-year study into the effects of marijuana usage on the devleoping brain, beginning with 13 year-olds, Meier et al. found that a number of neuropsychological effects were evident, including an IQ decline, a continual use of the drug into later life, and an inability to restore the functioning that was lost during continual use of the drug during adolescence. Chadwick et al supported these findings, arguing that use during adolescence increases the risk of developing schizoaffective disorders in adult life. 

Laquielle found that cannabis use before the age of 15 was a factor in the development in schizophrenic disorders. Grotenhermen and Müller-Vahl have found that exposure in adolescents can lead to cognitive impairment that otherwise would not occur in older individuals. 

Unlike the studies that focus on prenatal exposure to marijuana, where conclusions are difficult to draw, exposure on adolescents is more easily studied. We can reasonably conclude that marijuana use during adolescence can have negative effects on IQ, the development of disorders such as schizophrenia, and cognitive impairment.

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Just the Facts: What You Should Know About Terrorist Group Boko Haram

Boko Haram are a militant Islamic group operating mainly out of Northern and Eastern Nigeria, but also operating in Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The name means "Western education is sinful" in the Hausa language, and they also go by the name "The People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad". In this article we'll explore the rise of Boko Haram following their founding in 2002, the violent 2009 uprising that saw their leader executed and thousands dead, and the continued campaign of terror that has killed an estimated 10,000 people.

Founding

Boko Haram was born of instability, state corruption, poverty, religious fervour and a resistance to Westernisation. Nigeria entered the 20th century annexed as British territory and stayed that way until 1960. During the period, Britain spread Christian education, creating tensions in a country that had been predominantly Muslim for the greater part of the millennium. Following Nigerian independence in 1960, the country was led by military dictatorships up until it became democractic in 1999.

It is this post-dictatorial Nigeria that Boko Haram was formed in, by a man named Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic Muslim cleric, in 2002. He initially established a religious complex and school in the northeast with the aim of creating an Islamic state and denouncing the police state and corruption. This political agenda, as well as a targeting of the poor, attracted unemployed youths that formed the initial Boko Haram. From here the group continued to grow, with the aim of seeing sharia (Islamic law) imposed on all of Nigeria, and not just the Northern states where sharia law was already in place.

2009 uprising

It wasn't until 2009 that Boko Haram launched military operations when police began an investigation into the group. The arrest of nine members coupled with an incident in a funeral procession, (with police demanding passengers on motorbikes wear helmets on the way to bury their comrade at a cemetery) exploded into what became known as the first Boko Haram uprising. The uprising began when a police station in the city of Bauchi was attacked by 70 armed Boko Haram members, 32 of these militants were killed in the ensuing fighting. The fighting soon spread to the city of Maiduguri, where a joint military operation against Boko Haram was launched. 700 were killed in Maiduguri alone across the next 4 days, and thousands were displaced. Police later found hundreds of women and children who had been abducted by the group locked in houses throughout the city. Mohammed Yusuf was captured and killed in this fighting, under somewhat mysterious circumstances. While police claimed that he was killed in a shootout, Colonel Ben Ahanotu, head of security in Maiduguri says he captured Yusuf and handed him over alive. A leaked cable from the US Embassy in Nigeria stated that, "[Most] asserted that the state and federal government responded appropriately and, apart from the opposition party, overwhelmingly supported Yusuf's death without misgivings over the extra-judicial killing. Security remained a concern in [the Northern state of] Borno, with residents expressing concern about importation of arms and exchanges of religious messages across porous international borders." The message implies that Yusuf had been killed in captivity.

The death of Mohammed Yusuf put a stop to the fighting, leaving over 1000 dead from the uprising. Security forces were confident that they had eradicated the sect. However, Yusuf went down a martyr in the eyes of Boko Haram's members. His second in command, Abubakar Shekau, became their new leader and the group began working on their future plans in secret.

The first major incident under Shekau occurred in 2010; 50 gunmen attacked a prison in Bauchi. Of the 759 inmates of the prison, 721 were freed and the numbers of Boko Haram was significantly replenished.

Terror Campaign and State of Emergency (2011-13)

Numerous bombings attributed to Boko Haram occurred in 2011: one, killing 15, occurred on the day that the Christian Goodluck Jonathon was sworn in as president; another, a suicide bombing, killed a policeman; a third, an attack on a UN building in Abuja (Nigeria's capital) killed 21. In December, a coordinated attack on the city of Damaturu killed over 100 people, with bombs targeting police headquarters, government buildings and six churches. The attack was an assault on both the state and on the Christian religion. A member who came to be known in the media as a regular spokesman for the group said, "We will continue attacking federal government formations until security forces stop their excesses on our members and vulnerable civilians". 2011 capped off with clashes between insurgents and police in Damaturu and a death toll for the year of over 550. In 2012, a state of emergency was declared by President Jonathon - Boko Haram issued an ultimatum to southern (Christian) Nigerians in the northern (Muslim dominated) territories: you have 3 days to leave or be killed. A series of small-scale killings occurred in the following days and in late January an assault on the city of Kano saw 190 dead.

It is important to remember that the tumultuous landscape in Nigeria is not simply the work of Boko Haram. Boko Haram first made news in 2013 with the capture of multiple French tourists in Cameroon. They had often used Cameroon as a point of retreat, with the Cameroon military seemingly being too frightened to engage with the group. However, Nigeria had enlisted the help of military in Chad and Niger to form a Joint Task Force and employ "scorched earth" tactics with little regard for the local populace. This was made evident in the massacre in Baga in April where an initial engagement by a Boko Haram member led to the Joint Task Force (JTF) burning much of the village of Baga to the ground and shooting fleeing civilians. Baga was considered Boko Haram territory and while the military deny accusations of their slaughter, refugees, officials and human rights organisations have declared that as many as 200 civilians were caught in the crossfire. A small number of these deaths were found to be Boko Haram members.

Further condemning the actions of the Nigerian military - human rights groups found that hundreds of inmates had died in military custody, with Amensty International claiming that 950 inmates had died in the first six months of 2013 alone.

The New Caliphate (2014)

The election was the closest Nigeria has had in years. Goodluck Jonathon (Christian) was defeated by Muhammadu Buhari (Muslim), a former military dictator, campaigning largely on a platform of crushing Boko Haram. With Buhari's victory, supporters took to the streets brandishing wicker brooms, his party's symbol, with an intention of "sweeping away years of government corruption and waste". Despite his past - as one of the leaders in a military group that overthrew the Nigerian government in 1983, arguing that, "a flawed democracy was worse than no democracy at all", Buhari claims that, "There shall no longer be a ruling party again. [The] APC will be a governing party. We shall faithfully serve. We shall never rule over the people as if they were subservient to government. Our long night has passed and the daylight of new democratic government has broken across the land."

“I assure you that Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will and commitment to rid this nation of terror and bring back peace,” Buhari said. “We shall spare no effort until we defeat terrorism. In tackling the insurgency, we have a tough and urgent job to do.”

Buhari will be inaugrated in May.

Originally posted at http://www.cranior.com/the-mine-1/2015/3/15/just-the-facts-what-you-should-know-about-terrorist-group-boko-haram

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An Analysis of 'To Pimp a Butterfly'

Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly' will prove to be a seminal album. It has ambitions to create an awareness, a rethinking and an introspection towards race relations in America, framed, in particular by the single The Blacker the Berry, against the recent violent clashes with police in places like Ferguson, Missouri. It has been met with critical acclaim and many a thinkpiece about its ambition, its importance and its message; it's been met with commerical success, setting records for the most streamed album in a single day on Spotify; and it's been met with adoration from within hip-hop's inner circle. Kanye West tweeted in response to the album, "Kendrick is an inspiration. Thank you for the vibrations and the spirit. Your meaning, message and execution are gifts to the world."  Kendrick, on TPAB, is interested in looking forward via an examination of the past. The album shows a moving away from his previous music (which while occasionally political, was very much focused on Kendrick and his immediate thoughts and surroundings), to an application of those thoughts and that individual experience to the greater history and politics of black people in America. Musically, the album is jazzy, it employs beat poetry, it's made up of live instrumentation and most importantly it is celebratory of all music afro-centric. It straddles happiness and upbeat funk as in 'King Kunta' and 'Hood Politics' and deep depression as in 'u', but lyrically is always concerned with how Kendrick's place (as a man, as a black man, as a touring musician, as a superstar [as in 'Wesley's Theory', "What you want you? A house or a car? Forty acres and a mule, a piano, a guitar?"] , as a product of the streets of Compton, as someone looked to for his opinion of race relations) relates to the experience of black Americans. He expresses both a resentment and a thankfulness towards the society that created him, the people whose money has made him rich, the people whose pockets he has helped to line, and himself, with the hope of ultimately making his audience think about what he has to say about the future of black America. It is curated with a level of perfectionism that propels it past, in ambition at least, most of his contemporaries and the work of his past. There are no bangers on this album. Something that might be lost in waves of either disappointment towards or adoration for the album is that, no doubt Kendrick could have released more hits such as 'Swimming Pools', 'Backstreet Freestyle' or 'Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe' from 2012's 'Good Kid, M.A.A.D City', however it seems a conscious decision that he has not. The album has a musical cohesiveness and originality that serves to reinforce his message, and that musical cohesiveness doesn't find a place for trap beats and synth hooks. In an interview with Rolling Stone, lead producer on the album Mark "Sounwave" Spears, states that, "Every producer I've ever met was sending me stuff - but there was a one-in-a-million chance you could send us a beat that actually fit what we were doing." The overall message of TPAB refers to a desire for an end to racial violence, injustice and hatred. The single 'The Blacker The Berry' caused a stir in its implication that those riotous because of the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown are hypocritical if they themselves have been involved in black on black violence. But Kendrick doesn't just point an accusatory figure. The song 'u' has Kendrick talking to himself at his lowest point, "Loving you is complicated" comes the refrain, how can he be expected to inspire a movement if he can't love himself? Later he makes it obvious the struggles he has with what he perceives as an abandonment of his roots, "You ain’t no brother, you ain’t no disciple, you ain’t no friend. A friend never leave Compton for profit or leave his best friend", the dialogue with his conscience concludes that, "If those mirrors could talk it would say "you gotta go" And if I told your secrets, the world'd know money can't stop a suicidal weakness." 'Momma' has Kendrick repeatedly telling us (whether sarcastically or with self-loathing) that he knows everything, "I know everything, know myself, I know morality, spirituality, good and bad health, I know fatality might haunt you, I know everything, I know Compton, I know street shit, I know shit that's conscious, I know everything, I know lawyers, advertisement and sponsors". But ultimately concludes that he realised he "didn't know shit until he came home". It reflects on the album as a whole, who is Kendrick to tell us how to feel about race relations? Why should we agree with his politics? Does he deserve to have this platform simply because of his success as a musician? Why should we listen to his opinion on the street when Kendrick is now a millionaire, far removed from his Compton roots? These songs clear the air and serve to remind us who Kendrick is, and that his ambitions are the product of one man and you shouldn't necessarily agree. In 'For Sale?' Kendrick holds dialogue with a Lucifer defined by a capitalistic desire to exploit him and his music. The fact that the music was indeed released forces us to consider what compromises were involved. All of this introspection is key to painting the image of Kendrick as a flawed individual, it tells the audience that it is okay to be flawed as long as one can recognise those flaws and seek to be ambitious beyond them, despite how restrictive they might feel, Kendrick is held back personally as black people are institutionally held back by society and by history. These songs provide the context from which Kendrick politicises as in Complexion, "So I'mma say somethin' that's vital and critical for survival of mankind, if he lyin', color should never rival." Throughout the album Kendrick, in between tracks, recites the lines of a poem, a few lines at first until we hear the whole thing in context at the conclusion of the final song, 'Mortal Man'. The poem ends with Kendrick saying, "Just because you wore a different gang colour than mine's doesn’t mean I can’t respect you as a black man, forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets. If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us. But I don’t know, I’m no mortal man, maybe I’m just another nigga.” Despite all his ambition and the idealistic world that Kendrick foresees, perhaps he is "just another nigga".

After this recitation we see the album's cyclical nature, and it's this that defines how we listen to the album and how we will for years to come. As the song concludes, Kendrick holds a conversation with his long dead hero, Tupac, taken from old interview audio. Kendrick asks Pac for his thoughts on the future of black people in America and Kendrick lets him know that things haven't improved much. Tim Logan and Molly Hennessy-Fiske write in a report for the LA Times that while the shooting of Michael Brown was the spark for riots in Ferguson, "the tinder fueling the anger and resentment that has exploded in Ferguson has been building for decades." Kendrick shows us this inevitability with his conversation with the past, where the prophetic Tupac tells us, "I think that niggas is tired of grabbin' shit out the stores and next time it’s a riot there’s gonna be bloodshed for real. I don’t think America know that."  Kendrick ends by proposing a hopeful allegory, that rather than exploiting and abusing those with beauty and talent and consuming what we must to survive in the world, self-examination can lead us to greater things. "Already surrounded by this mad city the caterpillar goes to work on the cocoon which institutionalizes him. He can no longer see past his own thoughts. He’s trapped. When trapped inside these walls certain ideas start to take root, such as going home, and bringing back new concepts to this mad city. The result? Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant. The butterfly sheds light on situations that the caterpillar never considered, ending the internal struggle. Although the butterfly and caterpillar are completely different, they are one and the same." The caterpillar and the butterfly are the individual, but they are also society. The allegory is a call to action. Writing, recording and releasing To Pimp a Butterfly is Kendrick being introspective and looking hopeful towards the future, it is Kendrick's cocooning and blossoming into a butterfly. It's not without turmoil and flawed thinking but Kendrick knows that, he's shown on the album through contemplation that he is a flawed, angry, depressed figure, but in showing himself we see that he's for real, and if he figures that ultimately it's worth it despite everything, maybe he's got a point.  He asks Tupac his perspective on the allegory and is met with the silence that fades the album to black. Tupac, killed in just another example of black-on-black violence, is gone, it's cyclical in that these things keep happening, however he can't answer these questions, he can never answer these questions, only the people in the present can deal with the here and now and their own unique rotation of the ever-revolving cycle. 'To Pimp a Butterfly' looks to the future through an examination of the past, musically and thematically. It looks to the future through an examination of society. But ultimately, Kendrick tells us that changing the future, breaking the cycle, can only happen in the present, and changing society can only happen when we recognise the individuals who make it up.

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How "Scientific" is the Scientific 7-Minute Workout?

You might've seen the "scientific" 7-minute workout around the place. A full body workout relying solely on your body weight, a chair and a wall. Just seven minutes a day and you can drop your excess weight and become fit and healthy in no time, it's perfect for those too constrained by time to visit the gym or go for a run. Videos on YouTube that help you time the workout by telling you when to change to the next position and when to rest, set to music that matches the tempo, are incredibly popular, with some versions of the idea having over one million views. But how scientific is the workout?

The 7-Minute Workout was devised by Brett Klika and Chris Jordan of the Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida and explored in their journal article "HIGH-INTENSITY CIRCUIT TRAINING USING BODY WEIGHT: Maximum Results With Minimal Investment." Planned with ease of use and accessibility in mind, the workout runs through a bodyweight workout involving squats, wallsits, pushups and so on and aims to promote strength development for all major muscle groups, balance the workout throughout the body, be immediately modified or adapted as necessary to increase or decrease exercise intensity, and be safe, interactive with the environment and to alternate muscle groups so that muscles can rest while other groups are targeted., while maximising the time spent working and minimising the overall workout time.

If you're interested in building big muscles, the 7-minute workout might not be for you.

In their article, the authors claim that there is "very good evidence" that high-intensity interval training provides “many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time". The key here is in the intervals. Interval training requires the rest periods to give our muscles time to recover, in the 7-minute workout they're found in the form of ten second rests and the changing muscles groups. However, it can be argued that these rest periods aren't enough. If you're interested in building muscles and improving your strength, Willardson and Lee find that with 5,3 and 1 minute intervals between sets, the 5 minute interval results in the most reps in the next set, implying that larger rest times may stimulate greater strength training. If you were still interested in trying to use the 7-minute workout to build muscle you might need to modify it to suit your needs. The authors of the workout argue that it is designed for this modification but there is only so far that body-weight training will take you, to build big muscles you'll need to add weights.

The 7-minute workout is good for your heart

However, in the interest of building your heart rate to build your cardiovascular strength and lose weight, interval training may indeed be effective. Gibala et al. find that in terms of running, sprint interval training is a time effective way to build the same skeletal and muscle strength as endurance training. Little et al. find that high-intensity training, "induces skeletal muscle metabolic and performance adaptations that resemble traditional endurance training despite a low total exercise volume." Elliot, Goldberg and Kuehl find that caloric use for 40 minutes of high-intensity training is roughly the same as 40 minutes of cycling or weight lifting. We can conclude from this that the 7-minute workout is definitely going to do you good in terms of cardio fitness and weight loss, although not necessarily more than other forms of exercise.

A word of warning

To complete the 7-minute workout as it wants you to relies on a level of fitness that might be beyond a beginner. If you are overweight, elderly, injured or otherwise unfit, the 7-minute workout may cause undue stress. Simply slowing down the workout may also have diminishing returns as it relies upon maintaining your heart rate and oxygen intake. If this is the case, you might make your own workout consisting of 10 reps for 3 sets of the individual bodyweight exercises, enough to target multiple muscle groups. This will help you get used to these exercises, all tried and true bodyweight exercises, in preparation for the 7-minute workout.

So, to conclude. The 7-minute workout is great for your cardiovascular health and weight loss, not so great for building muscles, and not quite for beginners.

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Cranior Questions: Why does the average female orgasm take so much longer to achieve than the average male?

According to Brown University, it takes the average woman 10-20 minutes to reach orgasm during foreplay and vaginal intercourse, whereas men reach orgasm after 7-14 minutes overall but only average 2-3 minutes after beginning intercourse. Why is this the case? Why does it take a woman so much longer to reach a climax than a man? While we don't have all the answers we'll explore some of the possibilities of the question that's boggled couples forever.

Why does the female orgasm exist?

To understand why the female orgasm takes longer, we first need to understand why it exists. While the man's orgasm appears to be obvious - it's tied to the act of ejaculation and drives the man to want to ejaculate and thus reproduce, the woman's orgasm is more mysterious, with seemingly no physiological basis for reproduction to occur - women can get pregnant without an orgasm. However most current studies find that the female orgasm aids in retaining sperm, the pelvic muscles contract and it is thought that this motion helps literally suck up the sperm. Baker and Bellis found that female orgasms that climaxed at any time between 1 minute before the male ejaculated and up to 45 minutes after led to a high level of sperm retention. Whereas a lack of climax or a climax over 1 minute before the male climax led to a low level of sperm retention. To put it simply, if a woman has an orgasm first she's less likely to retain the sperm, but she has a large window afterwards to finish and thus retain sperm better. This could also explain why women can often have multiple and prolonged orgasms.

Is the female orgasm designed for polygamy or monogamy?

This seems like we have the answer, and we might do. However there are certainly other factors at play. Researcher Desmond Morris hypothesised that the female orgasm evolved to encourage physical intimacy with a partner and to help reinforce the pair bond, making for better parents; a father who can please the mother, despite the length it takes to achieve orgasm, is probably more compatible with them on a physical and emotional level and thus a better fit to be her partner and the father of her child. Ryan and Jetha, however, state the opposite, arguing that the female orgasm helps to promote multiple partners in women and thus a higher chance of insemination. Primate specialist Alan Dixson echoes this sentiment in his understanding of apes such as gibbons, with what's referred to as the female promiscuity explanation, stating that, "One might argue that ... the female's orgasm is rewarding, increases her willingness to copulate with a variety of males rather than one partner, and thus promotes sperm competition." The biological basis for this is that the difficulty of achieving orgasm for the woman creates a desire to have more sexual encounters and thus increase her chances of becoming pregnant. While this seems to suggest the opposite of the "pair bond" theory, it does tell us that regardless of how, most researches agree that the time it takes a female to orgasm is related to an increased likelihood of insemination.

Why does the clitoris exist?

Another factor that needs to be discussed as to the time a female orgasm takes is the clitoris. Depending on the study, it's predicted that only 20-30% of women can achieve climax through intercourse alone.  Many women will agree that they can get themselves to climax just as fast as man can with the right clitoral stimulation; famed sex researchers Masters and Johnson found that it took the average woman only 4 minutes to reach orgasm when they masturbated, however in intercourse the clitoris is often neglected. As the penis and clitoris develop from the same embryonic structure, there is great debate between whether or not the clitoris is an adaptation or whether it is merely vestigial. Proponents of the non-adaptive hypothesis argue that clitoris can grant orgasms purely because of the fact that the male orgasm is so strongly selected for that this developmental blueprint remains in women, just as male nipples remain yet serve no function. This vestigial theory, then, provides no answer as to the mystery of the female orgasm, if we were to follow the adaptive theory however, one might argue that the length of time it takes a women to orgasm is to ensure that the man orgasms first, the clitoris allows the woman or her partner to get her to climax afterwards and thus increase the chances of insemination. 

There are numerous theories as to why the female orgasm takes longer to achieve than the male, but the consensus seems to point to an increased chance of insemination. Unfortunately for girls (and the guys trying to please them) the biological basis for the female orgasm doesn't seem very conducive to the kind of monogamous and non-reproductive sex we most frequently prefer.

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The 10 Worst Failings of Eyewitness Testimony (Part One)

Eyewitness testimony is considered by juries to be a reliable form of evidence, if a person saw something happen then surely it happened. But increasingly it is being found that this is not the case. New York-based The Innocence Project, who work to overturn cases of wrongful conviction in the United States, report that eyewitness misidentification plays a role in about 75% of wrongful convictions overturned through DNA testing in the United States. This can be the case for numerous reasons - we might assume that the witness is simply lying, but more likely is that any number of numerous psychological phenomena might convince the witness that they are more certain than they really are, things like confirmation bias, the misinformation effect, PTSD and source misattribution can cloud the memory. Most important, perhaps, is the reconstructing memory. Rather than a video recorder, memory works more like a puzzle, we put the pieces together to reconstruct what happened, but even questioning by a lawyer can alter the witness’s testimony because fragments of the memory may unknowingly be combined with information provided by the questioner; and what's more is that researchers have successfully created false memories with false stories about a person's childhood that seem believable when placed alongside events that actually happened. To jurors, however, a pointed finger by a witness at a suspect is about as damning as evidence can get.

In this list we will explore some of the reasons for wrongful convictions and the ramifications of the failings of eyewitness testimony.

10. Kirk Bloodsworth

In 1984, a nine-year-old girl was found dead in a wooded area in Rosedale, Maryland, having been sexually assaulted, strangled, and beaten with a rock. Kirk Bloodsworth was arrested based on a anonymous call stating that he had been seen with the victim and further witnesses claiming the same thing after seeing a police sketch on television, despite the description looking nothing like Bloodsworth. As well as this, one witness testified that Bloodsworth was heard saying that "he had done something terrible that day" that would affect his relationship with his wife. Bloodsworth was convicted of rape and murder because of numerous witness testimonies and mention of a bloody rock, which police had interrogated him about prior to Kirk saying anything about it. DNA testing exonerated Bloodsworth in 1993, having spent eight years in prison. The incident regarding his wife amounted to his failure to buy the food she had requested.

Sentence: Death

Exoneration: After 8 years.

9. Marvin Anderson

In 1982, a young woman was raped by a black man in Virginia. Based on the fact that the rapist was black and mentioned having a white girl at home, a police office singled out Marvin Anderson, a local black man with a white wife. Anderson had no criminal record, so the office obtained a colour I.D. from his employer. The police officer presented a photo of Marvin with his wife along with six black-and-white mugshots to the victim, from these she identified Anderson. Within an hour of the photo spread, she also chose Marvin from a live lineup, he was the only man from the photo spread in the new lineup. With the added detail of having a white wife, the victim immediately was drawn towards Anderson and seeing him again in a live lineup only confirmed what she thought to be true. From the beginning, the community suspected another man, John Otis Lincoln -  a bicycle used in committing the rape stolen from a man just half an hour prior was identified by the owner as Lincoln. Despite this he was never investigated. Anderson received 210 years in prison. John Otis later came forward and confessed details of the crime, however the same judge who presided over the original case refused to clear Anderson. It wasn't until 2001 when DNA evidence proved Anderson's innocence, he spent 15 years in prison.

Sentence: 201 years

Exoneration: After 15 years.

8. Robert Nelson

After the rape of a woman by two men in Kansas City, Missouri, police received an anonymous call stating that the attackers were two brothers named "Ramsey", who were in jail for robbery. Police found 20-year-old Robert Nelson and his brother O'Dell who were in prison for two robberies, Robert was also charged with another unrelated rape. Despite not having the name Ramsey, police filmed the brothers in a lineup, the victim made a tentative visual ID of Robert, and a positive ID after she heard him speak. Although she did not identify O'Dell, both brothers were charged with the attack; the charges against O'Dell were dismissed but Robert was sentenced to 98 years. He was later convicted of the two minor robbery charges and dismissed from the other rape case. He spent 19 years in prison before being found innocent based on an examination of DNA.

Sentence: 98 years

Exoneration: After 19 years.

7. Thomas McGowan

In 1985, a woman was raped in the small city of Richardson, Texas and she identified her attacker based on a photo lineup. The lineup contained seven pictures, four of them colour photos with men holding up booking placards. Of these, three had "Richardson Police Department" written on them. The victim was immediately drawn to the Richardson placards, due to the fact that this was where she lived. She identified Thomas McGowan, in the system because of a traffic violation, with uncertainty, when the police told her she had to say yes or no, she said yes. Police misconduct such as this is an issue in many of these cases. This evidence became the central evidence in a trial that convicted Thomas of two life sentences. Thomas spent 23 years in prison before being exonerated in 2008 based on DNA evidence that proved it could not be him.

Sentence: Two life sentences

Exoneration: After 23 years.

6. Nathan Brown

In 1997 in Louisiana a 40 year-old woman was walking through the courtyard of her apartment building when she was forcefully thrown to the ground, bitten and had her purse stolen. She managed to fend off the attacker. She described the assailant as being an African-American man, wearing black shorts and no shirt and having a strong body odour, she also stated that she did not believe that the attacker lived in the apartment complex. Despite this, police spoke to the security guard for the complex who directed them to Nathan Brown, one of the few black men in the complex. They turned up at his apartment shortly after, where they found Brown in his pyjamas, rocking his baby daughter to sleep. They performed a "show-up" a suggestive procedure which immediately implicates the suspect, asking him to get dressed and come outside. He put on black shorts and came outside to be identified by the victim, she smelt the man, and despite the fact that he smelt of soap she claimed that because her assailant was also wearing black shorts and no shirt he must be the man; the fact that he had recently had a shower only implicated him further in her eyes. At trial, she claimed that her attacker had the letters LLE tattooed on his chest, however a police officer testified that this was not in her original description. Brown had the word MICHELLE tattooed on his chest, which was exposed for the "show-up". Despite four relatives as alibis attesting to brown being at home during the attack, he was convicted in less than a day for attempted aggravated rape. Brown was exonerated in 2014 when DNA from the saliva found on the victim's dress proved his innocence.

Sentence: 25 years

Exoneration: After 17 years

The best (and by best I mean worst) is yet to come in part two. Check it out here.

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[cranior-blog]

Just the Facts: What You Should Know About Vladimir Putin

As of the date of writing, Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia. He has served as either president or prime minister (the second most powerful official after the president) in every year since 1999. After first taking presidency in 2000 he served two 4-year terms, had his protege Dmitry Medvedev succeed him because of constitutional term limits and then became president again in 2012. Prior to that he famously served in the KGB for 16 years, and at his peak he held the rank of Podpolkovnik, or lieutenant colonel, the 8th highest rank in the Soviet military ranking system. His leadership as president has been wrought with controversy, including claims of electoral fraud, war crimes, controversial decisions such as making education on homosexuality and other non-hetero sexualities illegal, and numerous policies that have been perceived as a move away from democracy. Most recently, the assassination of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on 27th February 2015 has raised questions of Putin's involvement. Here we will take a look at some of the key facts of the man that is Vladmir Putin....

Read more here: http://www.cranior.com/the-mine-1/2015/3/3/what-you-should-know-about-vladmir-putin

[cranior-blog]

"...This sociability is key in understanding why cats can't be trained like dogs can. Dogs crave social rewards just as we humans do. While training a cat relies heavily upon rewards of food (recall the rodents of their past), a dog can also appreciate a "good dog!" and a rub on the tummy as their reward for sitting..."

Read more at http://www.cranior.com/the-mine-1/2015/3/1/why-can-we-train-dogs-but-not-cats

[cranior-blog]

Why does the female orgasm take so much longer to achieve than the male?

"However most current studies find that the female orgasm aids in retaining sperm, the pelvic muscles contract and it is thought that this motion helps literally suck up the sperm. Baker and Bellis found that female orgasms that climaxed at any time between 1 minute before the male ejaculated and up to 45 minutes after led to a high level of sperm retention. Whereas a lack of climax or a climax over 1 minute before the male climax led to a low level of sperm retention. To put it simply, if a woman has an orgasm first she's less likely to retain the sperm, but she has a large window afterwards to finish and thus retain sperm better. This could also explain why women can often have multiple and prolonged orgasms."

Read more here: http://www.cranior.com/the-mine-1/2015/3/1/why-does-the-average-female-orgasm-take-so-much-longer-than-the-average-male

[cranior-blog]

Australian high school creative writing be like

It was a hot and sweaty day. The sun blared across the oval as a cool bead of sweat rolled down Matt’s face. He could hear the yelling of Tim, James, Tom, Tim, and Jim in the background. Matt was in the zone and ready to take down Ben once and for all.

[cranior-blog]

Cranior on Tumblr

Hey all of you zero followers. Cranior is a pet project of mine. If nothing else, it's teaching me a whole lot about how people consume things on the internet. I'm teaching myself a lot and this Tumblr is just another place where you can check my stuff. Hopefully you become fully fleshed real-life followers at some point so I stop talking into the void. 

On Cranior, my mission statement as it stands is simply to post stuff I'm interested in. There's a lot about the world that puzzles me or delights me and I'll try to help unpuzzle it or help delight readers.

Check the site at cranior.com. Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/cranior. I'll chuck up a couple examples of work in the next few posts. 

Cheers!