fun
clock | December 17, 2008This was the unbeatable UK hit in 1981. I was in the UK for two months that summer and this song was #1 on the charts throughout that time:
awild | December 17, 2008In an earlier post I listed my favorite insect images of the year taken by other photographers. Now it's my turn. Here is the best of my own work over the last 12 months.
Laccophilus pictus, Arizona
Dinoponera australis, Argentina
Parasitic Cotesia wasp attacks a Manduca larva
Polyrhachis schlueteri, South Africa
Crematogaster tricolor, South Africa
Weaver Ant (Oecophylla longinoda), South Africa
Rose Aphids (Macrosiphum rosae), Arizona
Thaumatomyrmex atrox, Venezuela
Simopelta queen and workers, Venezuela
Pheidole obtusospinosa, Arizona
Harpegnathos saltator, India
clock | December 14, 2008Perhaps we should buy this: No Limit Texas Dreidel - Jewish Gift Pack Family Entertainment:
Let My People Go All In!! Take Dreidel, combine it with poker, and you've got a new dreidel experience that is truly fun, and a game that is the talk of the Jewish community. You'll check, bet, raise, or fold depending on the strength of your dreidel hand (or how much you like to bluff). Standard edition game is for 2-4 players (not suitable for children 3 and under/choking hazard). Each set includes 4 shakers, a "spinner" button, 4 small dreidels and 3 large dreidels, and comes in a heavy quality…
clock | December 13, 2008While these gifts for geeks don't really excite me, I wouldn't mind putting my giant hamsters into one of these (more cool images, including of stuff one may want to own - here):
clock | December 13, 2008And now that everyone is on an elephant-blogging spree, here are clips from two of my favourite childhood movies, both featuring elephants - Elephant Walk and Hatari:
clock | December 10, 2008YouTube Usage Decoded:
Why are certain videos on YouTube watched millions of times while 90 percent of the contributions find only the odd viewer? A new study reveals that increased attention in social systems like the YouTube community follows particular, recurrent patterns that can be represented using mathematical models.
The Internet platform YouTube is a stomping ground for scientists looking to investigate the fine mechanism of the attention spiral in social systems. How is it possible, for example, that one YouTube video of a previously unknown comedian from Ohio can be viewed over ten…
clock | December 6, 2008Creation Museum, step aside! Welcome to Dinosaur Kingdom, a Virginia roadside amusement park in which plastic dinosaurs eat plastic Union soldiers:
Dinosaur Kingdom is a twist on the biblical Creationist view that people and dinosaurs lived together. Here, people live with dinosaurs -- but only until the dinosaurs eat them.
As the tour begins, visitors are asked to imagine themselves in 1863. A family of Virginia paleontologists has accidentally dug a mine shaft into a hidden valley of living dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the Union Army has tagged along, hoping to kidnap the big lizards and use…
clock | December 6, 2008Have you ever heard of Cummingtonite?
Cummingtonite or magnesium iron silicate hydroxide is a metamorphic amphibole with the chemical composition (Mg,Fe)7Si8O22(OH)2. Monoclinic cummingtonite is compositionally similar and polymorphic with orthorhombic anthophyllite, which is a much more common form of magnesium-rich amphibole, the latter being metastable. Cummingtonite shares few compositional similarities with alkali amphiboles such as arfvedsonite, glaucophane-riebeckite. There is little solubility between these minerals due to different crystal habit and inability of substitution between…