Duuuuude, I bet this movie gets glowing reviews. I thought the original movie for this was incredible when I was a kid. It was the first movie I ever saw that I felt like I was immersed in another world, something I've come to expect form science fiction movies as of late. And who didn't want a light cycle after seeing this? Jeff Bridges reprises his role from the original as well as an evil virtual alter ego(?). Going out on a limb here but I'm going to say it's yet another movie that uses the God/Devil parable but I don't mind. The beard gave it away. Here is the official trailer from the San Diego Comic Con.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
BILLY MARKS IS A MUSTACHE RIDER
I've been getting back into skateboarding again lately and am finding new riders that get me stoked to go out and land tricks. This guy Billy Marks is killing it lately. Everything he does looks easy and solid plus, he's got some really technical and original tricks. I wonder if it's the mustache.
Friday, January 8, 2010
MUSICIAN JOHN HOLLENBECK
Using his wealth of experience in jazz, classical and world music styles, percussionist and composer John Hollenbeck’s work of contemporary composition shows he is forging his own musical language. He has two new recordings: “Rainbow Jimmys,” with his Claudia Quintet and “Eternal Interludes” his twenty-piece Large Ensemble, which has been nominated for a Grammy in the large jazz ensemble category. Hollenbeck is commissioned by Philadelphia’s University of the Arts to premier a piece in the Spring of 2011 at the University’s Merriam Theater. He lives in New York City. Story source WHYY Radio and radio interview. Wikipedia entry for John Hollenbeck. John Hollenbeck website.
I had never heard of this guy until I heard the interview today on the radio. They played some samples from his records and I must say I was really into it. It just had a great feel to it and the production was right, the playing was impeccable. Everything was just right.
I had never heard of this guy until I heard the interview today on the radio. They played some samples from his records and I must say I was really into it. It just had a great feel to it and the production was right, the playing was impeccable. Everything was just right.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Which Is Acceptable: 'Undocumented' vs. 'Illegal' Immigrant?-COMMENTARY
I listen to NPR all day. Today I heard this story today (most of it) and have come to a conclusion that I think is sound and settles the argument and provides a win/win situation for just about everybody.
Because we live in the United States of America, where people are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, they should be referred to as "undocumented" until a verdict is reached. If they are found guilty in a court of law then they are referred to as "illegal."
Because we live in the United States of America, where people are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, they should be referred to as "undocumented" until a verdict is reached. If they are found guilty in a court of law then they are referred to as "illegal."
OMNI TECH SPONSOR ME VIDEO
My friend Gentle Jones got this skateboard figure in the mail today. We've been anxiously waiting for it to come ever since I saw the video early last week. To us it's an engineering marvel and possibly one of the coolest toys ever made.
I could seem to get the hang of it and Gentle had a few hours up on me anyway so we set to filming. This thing is hard to get in up close on;) Mainly because the camera is so disproportionate to the figure. I've seen so many skateboarding videos in my life and for the most part they all use the same camera techniques so I knew the shots I was going for but dangit if that camera isn't huge compared to it. I really enjoyed trying to film it though and after we spend a few more days playing with this thing we are going to be pro. Mainly because no one even knows about it yet.
I could seem to get the hang of it and Gentle had a few hours up on me anyway so we set to filming. This thing is hard to get in up close on;) Mainly because the camera is so disproportionate to the figure. I've seen so many skateboarding videos in my life and for the most part they all use the same camera techniques so I knew the shots I was going for but dangit if that camera isn't huge compared to it. I really enjoyed trying to film it though and after we spend a few more days playing with this thing we are going to be pro. Mainly because no one even knows about it yet.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
DUBAI REACHES FOR THE SKY
The world has a new tallest building today.
The Arab emirate's colossal, multibillion-dollar skyscraper, Burj Dubai, opened for business Monday, stretching 168 stories and 2,684 feet into the desert sky.
The "At the Top" observation deck, at the 123rd floor, isn't really at the top, but it's plenty high enough.
"No question, the tower is going to be a huge draw for people who want to get up there," said George Efstathiou, Burj Dubai's lead architect and managing partner for the Chicago, Illinois, architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Burj Dubai boasts a towering list of superlatives:
• World's tallest building
• World's tallest free-standing structure
• World's highest occupied floor
• World's highest outdoor observation deck
• World's longest-traveling elevator (1,640 feet, traveled in two minutes)
Burj Dubai is so tall, according to SOM, that the outside air temperature at the top can be as much as 15 degrees cooler than at ground level. So, if you're uncomfortable in Dubai's 120-degree summer heat and can't get a ticket to the emirate's famous indoor ski resort, just head up to the top of Burj Dubai, where you can cool off at a relatively chilly 105 degrees.
To read the full article where I basically copied and pasted from, click here.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Don’t blame Bush or Obama - Create better karma in 2010
I came across this article on Google News about a new book that takes on the topic of karma. It's called Laura Fair Rose written by Gene Geter and supposedly it deals with karma on the quantum level. Granted I haven't read this book but I too have thought about this subject deeply. I might have forgotten more than I remember about it. I basically think that our future is shaped by our present and that in the future we will have developed the ability to play with time/space a lot more than we currently can even imagine. Regardless of history, I believe that our future selves will ultimately tinker with history all the way back to our present age. How they perceive us/their past will determine our actual present being. It's almost like we guide ourselves towards a future that is deemed optimal or possibly it's correcting us, redeeming us from long forgotten mistakes.
This book seems kind of interesting so I might pick it up. I also like the headline for this story and that's basically why I'm posting this. We've got to stay strong, peoples! I don't know what percentage of people on the planet actually know how special and critical of a time we live in. The decisions we make and how we implement them will shape our future forever. No other generation has ever had the opportunities that we have now nor has their ever been such advanced technologies to make use of bold, new ideas. At least I don't think so. A lot of people get hung up on what we do as a species/society but more importantly it is how we do things. To take us into a sustainable future our leaders must be instilled with positivity and resourcefulness. If we do things with the best intentions and stay open to positive results while learning from our mistakes, we'll insure ourselves a long history. However if we go into the future carrying negative feelings and distrust we will surely undo ourselves. Unless of course our future selves keep us on track...
This book seems kind of interesting so I might pick it up. I also like the headline for this story and that's basically why I'm posting this. We've got to stay strong, peoples! I don't know what percentage of people on the planet actually know how special and critical of a time we live in. The decisions we make and how we implement them will shape our future forever. No other generation has ever had the opportunities that we have now nor has their ever been such advanced technologies to make use of bold, new ideas. At least I don't think so. A lot of people get hung up on what we do as a species/society but more importantly it is how we do things. To take us into a sustainable future our leaders must be instilled with positivity and resourcefulness. If we do things with the best intentions and stay open to positive results while learning from our mistakes, we'll insure ourselves a long history. However if we go into the future carrying negative feelings and distrust we will surely undo ourselves. Unless of course our future selves keep us on track...
MY FRIEND TIGER WOODS
I've been thinking about Tiger Woods the past couple of days. Probably because I've noticed that he isn't showing up on the top ten Google searches. Here's what I think...
This is a publicity stunt. Tiger is too squeaky clean. In this era a little dirt on your resume isn't necessarily a bad thing. Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all right? Believe me, marketers have spin down to a science. Besides, being know as a guy that's banged a lot of hot girls would probably bolster his image in they eyes of many men and possibly some women too.
From his high stratospheric position as a celebrity, he can afford to be able to make some mistakes and still correct his course. Just wait, he'll come back. His sponsors may drop him for now but he'll be back with a vengeance. See, the one thing they can't take away from Tiger is his skills on the golf course. He took an indefinite leave of absence from the sport just to let this thing blow over. Maybe even take some time to enjoy everything life has given him. Truth be told, he doesn't have to work another day in his life. When he does step back on the course though, look out!
As far as the legal battle goes, I think he's letting the story get carried away. He know the news agencies are so screwed up right now that they can't resist the temptation to let the story blow up until it is alleged that he had sex with 18 women. It'd be the kind of unsaid joke that the media is so fond of: 18 holes. It's too easy. And in that period of time there will be one girl that didn't actually have sex with Tiger but instead is seeking the fame/attention that this sort of story would generate. Tiger's attorneys then will let her go first in the legal battle which the judge will come down on Tiger's side on. After all, Tiger should remember who he actually slept with, right? So after that case is done an Tiger winds up winning, they'll throw out the other cases, making it look like all these women were only trying to get his money or using this as a vehicle for stardom.
My prediction for Tiger Woods this decade? He's going to be bigger than ever. Someday he might even be President.
This is a publicity stunt. Tiger is too squeaky clean. In this era a little dirt on your resume isn't necessarily a bad thing. Bad publicity is better than no publicity at all right? Believe me, marketers have spin down to a science. Besides, being know as a guy that's banged a lot of hot girls would probably bolster his image in they eyes of many men and possibly some women too.
From his high stratospheric position as a celebrity, he can afford to be able to make some mistakes and still correct his course. Just wait, he'll come back. His sponsors may drop him for now but he'll be back with a vengeance. See, the one thing they can't take away from Tiger is his skills on the golf course. He took an indefinite leave of absence from the sport just to let this thing blow over. Maybe even take some time to enjoy everything life has given him. Truth be told, he doesn't have to work another day in his life. When he does step back on the course though, look out!
As far as the legal battle goes, I think he's letting the story get carried away. He know the news agencies are so screwed up right now that they can't resist the temptation to let the story blow up until it is alleged that he had sex with 18 women. It'd be the kind of unsaid joke that the media is so fond of: 18 holes. It's too easy. And in that period of time there will be one girl that didn't actually have sex with Tiger but instead is seeking the fame/attention that this sort of story would generate. Tiger's attorneys then will let her go first in the legal battle which the judge will come down on Tiger's side on. After all, Tiger should remember who he actually slept with, right? So after that case is done an Tiger winds up winning, they'll throw out the other cases, making it look like all these women were only trying to get his money or using this as a vehicle for stardom.
My prediction for Tiger Woods this decade? He's going to be bigger than ever. Someday he might even be President.
Young Fresh Fellows
This is from one of my favourite bands. They had an excellent album this year called I Think This Is. It's so sugar-poppy good you might have to brush your teeth after you listen to it. If you're a friend of good-time rock 'n' roll this might be the record for you.
50 Things we know now that we didn't know this time last year
Here's an interesting article...
If there was an award for best quote of the year, our money would be on Richard Fisher, the director of NASA's Heliophysics Division.
Fisher was interviewed in October by National Public Radio after NASA scientists discovered a mysterious ribbon of hydrogen around our solar system.
The layer, a sort of protective barrier called the heliosphere, shields us from harmful cosmic radiation. Its existence defies all expectations about what the edge of the solar system might look like.
Fisher's response: "We thought we knew everything about everything, and it turned out that there were unknown unknowns."
In other words: We don't know what we don't know until we know that we don't know it.
Life is funny that way. You think you've got the world wrapped up in string, only to watch some bit of news come along to unravel your comprehension of how things work.
One thing we did expect: that 2009 would be full of strange and wonderful revelations.
A prediction for 2010? Same thing as this year, only different.
Here's a list of stuff we culled from 2009 that may have come as a surprise:
1. Domestic pigs can quickly learn how mirrors work and use them to find food.
2. Grumpy people think more clearly because negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking.
3. High cholesterol levels in midlife are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia later in life.
4. Analysis of Greenland ice samples shows Europe froze solid in less than 12 months 12,800 years ago, partly due to a slowdown of the Gulf Stream. Once triggered, the cold persisted for 1,300 years.
5. One mutated gene is the reason humans have language, and chimpanzees, our closest relative, do not.
6. Obesity in teenage girls may increase their risk of later developing multiple sclerosis.
7. A fossil skeleton of an Aardonyx celestae dinosaur discovered in South Africa appears to be the missing link between the earliest dinosaurs that walked on two legs and the large plant-eating sauropods that walked on all four.
8. Women who have undergone successful breast cancer treatment are more likely to experience a recurrence if they have dense breast tissue.
9. Babies pick up their parents' accents from the womb, and infants are born crying in their native dialect. Researchers found that French newborns cry in a rising French accent, and German babies cry with a characteristic falling inflection.
10. Surfing the Internet may help delay dementia because it creates stimulation that exercises portions of the brain.
11. The oldest known silken spider webs, dating back 140 million years, were discovered in Sussex, England, preserved in amber. The webs were spun by spiders closely related to modern-day orb-web garden spiders.
12. Scientists have discovered how to scan brain activity and convert what people are seeing or remembering into crude video images.
13. Pumpkin skin contains a substance that inhibits growth of microbes that cause yeast infections.
14. Hormones that signal whether whales are pregnant, lactating or in the mood to mate have been extracted from whales' lung mucus, captured by dangling nylon stockings from a pole over their blowholes as they surface to breathe. (This method could allow scientists to study whales without having to slaughter them.)
15. The higher a patient's body-mass index, the less respect he or she gets from doctors.
16. The blue morpho butterfly, which lives in Central and South America, has tiny ears on its wings and can distinguish between high- and low-pitch sounds. The butterfly may use its ears to listen for nearby predatory birds.
17. The ochre starfish or sea star pumps itself up with cold seawater to lower its body temperature when exposed to the sun at low tide. It is equivalent to a human drinking 1.8 gallons of water before heading into the midday sun, scientists say.
18. The eyes of the mantis shrimp possess a feature that could make DVDs and CDs perform better. By emulating this structure, which displays color wavelengths at all ranges, developers could create a new category of optical devices.
19. The calmest place on Earth is on top of an icy plateau in Antarctica known as Ridge A, several hundred miles from the South Pole. It is so still that stars do not twinkle in the sky because there is no turbulence in the atmosphere to distort the light.
20. The thrill of driving a sports car makes the body produce more testosterone. The findings suggest a biological explanation for why some men buy a sports car when struck by a "midlife crisis."
21. Remains discovered in China of a flying reptile named Darwinopterus could be a missing link between short-tailed pterodactyls and their huge, long-tailed descendants.
22. Bagheera kiplingi, a jumping arachnid from Central America, is the first known vegetarian spider. It eats nectar-filled leaf tips rather than other animals.
23. A massive, nearly invisible ring of ice and dust particles surrounds Saturn. The ring's entire volume can hold 1 billion Earths.
24. A new chemical compound that mimics the body's ability t o fight bacteria could be added to cleaning detergents to prevent bacterial infections in hospitals.
25. Seven new glow-in-the-dark mushroom species have been discovered, increasing the number of known luminescent fungi species from 64 to 71. The fungi, discovered in Belize, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia and Puerto Rico, glow constantly, emitting a bright, yellowish-green light.
26. Hormones in oral contraceptives might suppress a woman's interest in masculine men and make boyish males more attractive to her.
27. Women who revealed about 40 percent of their skin attracted twice as many men as those who covered up. Any more than 40 percent and the signal changes from allure to one indicating general availability and future infidelity.
28. Communities of 850 species of previously undiscovered insects, small crustaceans, spiders, worms and other creatures were found living in underground water, caves and micro-caverns across Australia.
29. The human body emits a glow that is 1,000 times less than what our eyes can detect.
30. If you're trying to attract a partner, an athletic body helps, but a good-looking face is more important.
31. Cockroaches hold their breath for five to seven minutes at a time through a respiratory system that delivers oxygen directly to cells from air-filled tubes. One reason they hold their breath may be to prevent their bodies from getting too much oxygen, which could be toxic to them.
32. Earth was bombarded in 2008 with high levels of solar energy at a time when the sun was in an unusually quiet phase and sunspots had virtually disappeared.
33. Scientists have discovered female eggs in the genitalia of a third of all American male smallmouth bass and a fifth of their largemouth cousins. Female bass occasionally show signs of male testes in their reproductive organs.
34. Nearly all animals emit the same stench when they die, and have done so for more than 400 million years.
35. Previously unknown molecules called hydroxyl radicals are produced by nature and are believed to act as cleaning agents that scrub away toxic air pollution in Earth's atmosphere.
36. A new species of giant rat was discovered in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea. At 32.2 inches from nose to tail and 3.3 pounds, it's thought to be one of the largest rats ever found.
37. Differences in body odors produced by people who are more prone to insect bites show they have lower levels of fruity-smelling compounds in their sweat than those who are resistant to mosquitoes.
38. A chemical component in broccoli can protect the lining of arteries from blockage that leads to angina, heart attack and stroke.
39. The length, curl and texture of a dog's fur are controlled by only three genes.
40. The speed of U.S Internet broadband lags far behind other industrial nations, including Japan, Finland, South Korea, France and Canada.
41. Polar bear skulls have shrunk 2 percent to 9 percent since the early 20th century. It's the result, scientists theorize, of stress from pollution and melting habitat.
42. A mysterious disease that killed off more than a third of American honeybees in 2007-08 may have been caused in part by a virus.
43. A group of deep sea worms dubbed "green bombers" are capable of casting off appendages that glow a brilliant green once detached from their bodies. The tactic is believed to be used by the worms to confuse attackers.
44. A flesh-eating pitcher plant that grows more than 4 feet long can swallow and devour rats that are lured into its slipperlike mouth to drown or die of exhaustion before being slowly dissolved by digestive enzymes.
45. An orchid on the Chinese island of Hainan gets hornets to spread its pollen by producing an aroma identical to that made by bees under attack. The hornets feed on bee larvae, so when they get a whiff of the alarm pheromone, they head to the orchids figuring bees are inside.
46. More than 350 new animal species were discovered in the eastern Himalayas, including the world's smallest deer and a flying frog.
47. The spleen is a reservoir for huge numbers of immune cells called monocyte. In the event of a serious health crisis, such as a heart attack, wound or infection, the spleen will disgorge them bloodstream to help defend the body.
48. The Amazon River is about 11 million years old and took its present shape about 2.4 million years ago.
49. A close relationship with a caregiver can give Alzheimer's patients an edge in retaining brain function over time.
50. Watermelon is more efficient at rehydrating our bodies than drinking water. It contains 92 percent water and essential rehydration salts.
Sources: Sydney Morning Herald; BehavioralHealthCentral.com; Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry; New Scientist; Neurology; BBC News; Women's College Research Institute; Current Biology; Saint Joseph Health Scene; Live Science; University of California, Berkeley; stltoday.com; Journal of General Internal Medicine; Live Science, American Naturalist; Nature Photonics; London Times; Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes; Science News; Current Biology; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Acta Biomaterialia; San Francisco State University; Trends in Ecology and Evolution; Behaviour; Eurekalert; Tohoku Institute of Technology and Kyoto University; Evolution and Human Behavior; Journal of Experimental Biology; Geophysical Research รข?? Space Physics; U.S. Geological Survey; Evolutionary Biology; National Geographic News; Oxford University Museum of Natural History; Rothamsted Research; Imperial College London; National Human Genome Research Institute; Communications Workers of America; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Science; Redfern Natural History Productions; Current Biology; World Wildlife Fund; Geology; Journals of Gerontology; University of Aberdeen Medical School
Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324.
To see more of the Tampa Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tampatrib.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Tampa Tribune, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
If there was an award for best quote of the year, our money would be on Richard Fisher, the director of NASA's Heliophysics Division.
Fisher was interviewed in October by National Public Radio after NASA scientists discovered a mysterious ribbon of hydrogen around our solar system.
The layer, a sort of protective barrier called the heliosphere, shields us from harmful cosmic radiation. Its existence defies all expectations about what the edge of the solar system might look like.
Fisher's response: "We thought we knew everything about everything, and it turned out that there were unknown unknowns."
In other words: We don't know what we don't know until we know that we don't know it.
Life is funny that way. You think you've got the world wrapped up in string, only to watch some bit of news come along to unravel your comprehension of how things work.
One thing we did expect: that 2009 would be full of strange and wonderful revelations.
A prediction for 2010? Same thing as this year, only different.
Here's a list of stuff we culled from 2009 that may have come as a surprise:
1. Domestic pigs can quickly learn how mirrors work and use them to find food.
2. Grumpy people think more clearly because negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking.
3. High cholesterol levels in midlife are associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia later in life.
4. Analysis of Greenland ice samples shows Europe froze solid in less than 12 months 12,800 years ago, partly due to a slowdown of the Gulf Stream. Once triggered, the cold persisted for 1,300 years.
5. One mutated gene is the reason humans have language, and chimpanzees, our closest relative, do not.
6. Obesity in teenage girls may increase their risk of later developing multiple sclerosis.
7. A fossil skeleton of an Aardonyx celestae dinosaur discovered in South Africa appears to be the missing link between the earliest dinosaurs that walked on two legs and the large plant-eating sauropods that walked on all four.
8. Women who have undergone successful breast cancer treatment are more likely to experience a recurrence if they have dense breast tissue.
9. Babies pick up their parents' accents from the womb, and infants are born crying in their native dialect. Researchers found that French newborns cry in a rising French accent, and German babies cry with a characteristic falling inflection.
10. Surfing the Internet may help delay dementia because it creates stimulation that exercises portions of the brain.
11. The oldest known silken spider webs, dating back 140 million years, were discovered in Sussex, England, preserved in amber. The webs were spun by spiders closely related to modern-day orb-web garden spiders.
12. Scientists have discovered how to scan brain activity and convert what people are seeing or remembering into crude video images.
13. Pumpkin skin contains a substance that inhibits growth of microbes that cause yeast infections.
14. Hormones that signal whether whales are pregnant, lactating or in the mood to mate have been extracted from whales' lung mucus, captured by dangling nylon stockings from a pole over their blowholes as they surface to breathe. (This method could allow scientists to study whales without having to slaughter them.)
15. The higher a patient's body-mass index, the less respect he or she gets from doctors.
16. The blue morpho butterfly, which lives in Central and South America, has tiny ears on its wings and can distinguish between high- and low-pitch sounds. The butterfly may use its ears to listen for nearby predatory birds.
17. The ochre starfish or sea star pumps itself up with cold seawater to lower its body temperature when exposed to the sun at low tide. It is equivalent to a human drinking 1.8 gallons of water before heading into the midday sun, scientists say.
18. The eyes of the mantis shrimp possess a feature that could make DVDs and CDs perform better. By emulating this structure, which displays color wavelengths at all ranges, developers could create a new category of optical devices.
19. The calmest place on Earth is on top of an icy plateau in Antarctica known as Ridge A, several hundred miles from the South Pole. It is so still that stars do not twinkle in the sky because there is no turbulence in the atmosphere to distort the light.
20. The thrill of driving a sports car makes the body produce more testosterone. The findings suggest a biological explanation for why some men buy a sports car when struck by a "midlife crisis."
21. Remains discovered in China of a flying reptile named Darwinopterus could be a missing link between short-tailed pterodactyls and their huge, long-tailed descendants.
22. Bagheera kiplingi, a jumping arachnid from Central America, is the first known vegetarian spider. It eats nectar-filled leaf tips rather than other animals.
23. A massive, nearly invisible ring of ice and dust particles surrounds Saturn. The ring's entire volume can hold 1 billion Earths.
24. A new chemical compound that mimics the body's ability t o fight bacteria could be added to cleaning detergents to prevent bacterial infections in hospitals.
25. Seven new glow-in-the-dark mushroom species have been discovered, increasing the number of known luminescent fungi species from 64 to 71. The fungi, discovered in Belize, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia and Puerto Rico, glow constantly, emitting a bright, yellowish-green light.
26. Hormones in oral contraceptives might suppress a woman's interest in masculine men and make boyish males more attractive to her.
27. Women who revealed about 40 percent of their skin attracted twice as many men as those who covered up. Any more than 40 percent and the signal changes from allure to one indicating general availability and future infidelity.
28. Communities of 850 species of previously undiscovered insects, small crustaceans, spiders, worms and other creatures were found living in underground water, caves and micro-caverns across Australia.
29. The human body emits a glow that is 1,000 times less than what our eyes can detect.
30. If you're trying to attract a partner, an athletic body helps, but a good-looking face is more important.
31. Cockroaches hold their breath for five to seven minutes at a time through a respiratory system that delivers oxygen directly to cells from air-filled tubes. One reason they hold their breath may be to prevent their bodies from getting too much oxygen, which could be toxic to them.
32. Earth was bombarded in 2008 with high levels of solar energy at a time when the sun was in an unusually quiet phase and sunspots had virtually disappeared.
33. Scientists have discovered female eggs in the genitalia of a third of all American male smallmouth bass and a fifth of their largemouth cousins. Female bass occasionally show signs of male testes in their reproductive organs.
34. Nearly all animals emit the same stench when they die, and have done so for more than 400 million years.
35. Previously unknown molecules called hydroxyl radicals are produced by nature and are believed to act as cleaning agents that scrub away toxic air pollution in Earth's atmosphere.
36. A new species of giant rat was discovered in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea. At 32.2 inches from nose to tail and 3.3 pounds, it's thought to be one of the largest rats ever found.
37. Differences in body odors produced by people who are more prone to insect bites show they have lower levels of fruity-smelling compounds in their sweat than those who are resistant to mosquitoes.
38. A chemical component in broccoli can protect the lining of arteries from blockage that leads to angina, heart attack and stroke.
39. The length, curl and texture of a dog's fur are controlled by only three genes.
40. The speed of U.S Internet broadband lags far behind other industrial nations, including Japan, Finland, South Korea, France and Canada.
41. Polar bear skulls have shrunk 2 percent to 9 percent since the early 20th century. It's the result, scientists theorize, of stress from pollution and melting habitat.
42. A mysterious disease that killed off more than a third of American honeybees in 2007-08 may have been caused in part by a virus.
43. A group of deep sea worms dubbed "green bombers" are capable of casting off appendages that glow a brilliant green once detached from their bodies. The tactic is believed to be used by the worms to confuse attackers.
44. A flesh-eating pitcher plant that grows more than 4 feet long can swallow and devour rats that are lured into its slipperlike mouth to drown or die of exhaustion before being slowly dissolved by digestive enzymes.
45. An orchid on the Chinese island of Hainan gets hornets to spread its pollen by producing an aroma identical to that made by bees under attack. The hornets feed on bee larvae, so when they get a whiff of the alarm pheromone, they head to the orchids figuring bees are inside.
46. More than 350 new animal species were discovered in the eastern Himalayas, including the world's smallest deer and a flying frog.
47. The spleen is a reservoir for huge numbers of immune cells called monocyte. In the event of a serious health crisis, such as a heart attack, wound or infection, the spleen will disgorge them bloodstream to help defend the body.
48. The Amazon River is about 11 million years old and took its present shape about 2.4 million years ago.
49. A close relationship with a caregiver can give Alzheimer's patients an edge in retaining brain function over time.
50. Watermelon is more efficient at rehydrating our bodies than drinking water. It contains 92 percent water and essential rehydration salts.
Sources: Sydney Morning Herald; BehavioralHealthCentral.com; Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry; New Scientist; Neurology; BBC News; Women's College Research Institute; Current Biology; Saint Joseph Health Scene; Live Science; University of California, Berkeley; stltoday.com; Journal of General Internal Medicine; Live Science, American Naturalist; Nature Photonics; London Times; Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes; Science News; Current Biology; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Acta Biomaterialia; San Francisco State University; Trends in Ecology and Evolution; Behaviour; Eurekalert; Tohoku Institute of Technology and Kyoto University; Evolution and Human Behavior; Journal of Experimental Biology; Geophysical Research รข?? Space Physics; U.S. Geological Survey; Evolutionary Biology; National Geographic News; Oxford University Museum of Natural History; Rothamsted Research; Imperial College London; National Human Genome Research Institute; Communications Workers of America; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; Science; Redfern Natural History Productions; Current Biology; World Wildlife Fund; Geology; Journals of Gerontology; University of Aberdeen Medical School
Reporter Jeff Houck can be reached at (813) 259-7324.
To see more of the Tampa Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tampatrib.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Tampa Tribune, Fla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Goochagoochagoochagoo!
This is the "Surprise Kitty" video that everybody has seen except for me apparently. I think cat's are adorable. I do have a new rule for the decade though. No more cat people or dog people. If you're going to have one, you have to have the other. I think it'll bring more balance into the world. Both animals rock.
Friday, January 1, 2010
"Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday-Song of the Decade?
Is this the song of the Decade? Maybe it's the song of the next decade. The internet is an amazing thing. This would have never happened 1547 years ago. It just goes to show you that you can do anything you want in this life but we owe it all to the ones who came before us. Let's try to make the world a better place than when we came into it.
Jimi Hendrix - Band Of Gypsys - Power Of Love
Exactly 40 years ago tonight Jimi Hendrix played this song with the Band of Gypsys. My wish to you this new year/decade is that you find the power of love.
DAWN OF A NEW DECADE
This is an old group that made fusion/jazz//rock into a whole new thing. They were from the 70's and they were called The Mahavishnu Orchestra and they were incredible musicians. It's total nerd music. The guitar player, John McLaughlin, is pretty well known as being a shredder. Since we are starting a new decade and it's the morning this seemed appropriate. Happy New Decade to you! :D
DUELING GUITARJOS/HAPPY NEW DECADE
I had a friend that always mentioned this scene from the movie Crossroads with Ralph Machio. And he'd always do that thing with his hands that Steve Vai does when he does the fail at the end of this clip. I've never seen this movie before but I think I already get the gist of it.
Happy New Year! We are at a crossroads in time. Not only is it a new year but it's also a new decade. It's time for something new. It's time for all your dreams to come true.
Happy New Year! We are at a crossroads in time. Not only is it a new year but it's also a new decade. It's time for something new. It's time for all your dreams to come true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)