Calico Cat

I love LA

2009-12-23T04:04:26Z

Well, Santa Monica anyway. Whilst I was out shopping with niall_shapero and fabula_umbrae last Saturday in 3rd Street Prominade in Santa Monica, a group of swimsuit-clad college-student age folks with Santa Claus hats jogged past us singing "The 12 Days of Christmas". Now how many places do you encounter great moments of surrealism like that? :)

This was after we went to see Avatar which is nifty even if it is the old exploiters vs the Noble Savages plot. Well... actually not quite if you take careful note of fine details I suspect even Cameron hasn't considered the implications of. But I'll be holding that discussion over in my Inksome journal probably tomorrow (worry not, I'll link from here) with people who have already seen the movie. Visually it's impressive, and most of the scientific howlers take place on the website, not on screen. So avoid the website and enjoy the movie. (Fair warning if you're watching it in 3D which you should if you can - I am not generally subject to Doom sickness, but at one point I turned my head during a rapid paced scene and got mildly dizzy. If you are, you may want to settle for a really large flatscreen version.)

Yay Cephalopods!

2009-12-14T23:23:30Z

My thanks to james_nicoll for the link (in this blog entry).

Once again, evidence that cephalopods are just plain inherently cool.

"Bizarre" Octopuses Carry Coconuts as Instant Shelters
Matt Kaplan
for National Geographic News
December 14, 2009

Octopuses have been discovered tip-toeing with coconut-shell halves suctioned to their undersides, then reassembling the halves and disappearing inside for protection or deception, a new study says.

Interesting family

2009-12-13T01:53:42Z

Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

Tiger, lion and bear form unusual friendship

Baloo the bear, Leo the Lion and Shere Khan the tiger have the most unusual and unlikely friendship between them.

Rescued eight years ago during a police drugs raid in Atlanta, Georgia, the three friends were only cubs at the time and barely two months old.

They had been kept as status symbol pets by the drug barons.

Delivered to the Noah's Ark animal rescue centre in Locust Grove, Georgia, the decision was made to keep the youngsters together.

"We could have separated them, but since they came as a kind of family, the zoo decided to keep them together," said Diane Smith, assistant director of the Noah's Ark zoo.

"To our knowledge, this is the only place where you'll find this combination of animals together, they are our BLT, (bear, lion and tiger).

Living with the zoo's founders for the past eight years, Shere Khan, Baloo and Leo have now moved to a purpose built habitat were the US public can now witness first hand their touching relationship.

Rest of article.

Memeagain

2009-12-10T05:27:51Z

Seen all over though most recently from mdlbear.

If I came with a warning label, what would it say?

Returning evidence to the crime scene

2009-12-09T21:45:01Z

And fortunately, unlike most cases doing so when it's still usable.

WWII Veteran Had Hitler's Art Book On Bookshelf

By Jamie Stengle, Associated Press Writer

DALLAS – After fighting his way across Europe during World War II, John Pistone was among the U.S. soldiers who entered Adolf Hitler's home nestled in the Bavarian Alps as the war came to a close.

Making his way through the Berghof, Hitler's home near Berchtesgaden, Germany, Pistone noticed a table with shelves underneath. Exhilarated by the certainty of victory over the Nazis, Pistone took an album filled with photographs of paintings as a souvenir.

"It was really a great feeling to be there and we knew, by that time, he was on his last leg," Pistone told The Associated Press.

Sixty-four years after Pistone brought the album home to Ohio, the 87-year-old has learned its full significance: It's part of a series compiled for Hitler featuring art he wanted for his "Fuhrermuseum," a planned museum in Linz, Austria, Hitler's hometown.

Pistone's album is expected to be formally returned to Germany in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department in January. Germany has 19 other albums discovered at the Berchtesgaden complex that are part of a 31-album collection of works either destined for or being considered for the Linz museum.

click link on headline for rest of article.

OK, this sucks...

2009-12-09T03:48:22Z

Hey, Uganda, haven't you had enough problems? This is evil. E-vil. Kill it, not your fellow man.

And for the US lawyers/judges/whatever out there, I don't suppose the actions of those Americans whom I gather from other articles on the subject were heavily involved in generating this disgrace qualify as illegally making foreign policy, but surely there's something they're guilty of, isn't there?

And more cute...

2009-12-03T07:13:19Z

Stumbleupon turned up this picture of a small hermit crab with a rather..unusual current abode...

Coolness!

2009-12-02T04:22:40Z

I'd like to recommend this post by danceswthcobras anent a rather cute house centipede looking rather like this. Those who don't care for arthropods may wish to skip the links, but it's not often you find a critter so reminiscent of a cathedral's worth of flying buttresses. :)

Thank you, Jeeves.

2009-12-01T05:25:58Z

My thanks to Harry Mary Andruschak for enlightening me to the existence of this marvelous object. If I were going to pay $100 for an alarm clock this would definitely be IT. Civilized...

Prrrrrrrrfect !

2009-11-30T08:14:10Z

Or anyway I suspect the cats think so. My thanks to David Loewe on rec.arts.sf.fandom for the link! Unbelievable Cat-friendly House Design from Japan

Look, the hotel gave me free internet!

2009-11-29T05:01:57Z

That was interesting - somebot with the LJ alias feefifoo posted a happy birthday message as a comment to an old message of mine. On the site itself, it displayed as Happy Birthday, came to a stop, with no indication of a link or the like.

BUUUTTT…

The email announcement gave the entire message, html and all. Lo and behold, after the birthday message came an html div tag, style defined as 'text-align:right; font-size:0; overflow:hidden; display:none;' followed by the word Data89, followed by a link to www dot data89 dot come from the words ‘web data extraction’.

The message has, of course, been deleted, with the email stashed in the physh tank until I find out if LJ needs a copy. I certainly don’t see anything in there likely to do anything without being clicked on. But figured I might as well pass the word.

Writer's Block: Book review

2009-11-19T06:30:15Z

What (if any) books would you ban from a high school library? Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit?

View 1455 Answers

What I think should be banned from school libraries is out of date and inaccurate science texts. Last time I visited the middle school I attended as a kid, I found a few that dated to the mid '60s (when I attended)...

Granted, by the time it gets into print most science is no longer current, but at least there should be basic texts replaced every few years...

World's Biggest

2009-11-13T22:39:35Z

Billed as the world's largest excavator, and I shouldn't wonder if they're right, I gotta admit it's the scariest looking piece of digging machinery I ever saw...

Built by KRUPP of Germany 45,500 tons, 95 meters high, 215 meters long.

Spotted on Shangrala's World's Largest Things page.

Mememania...

2009-11-11T21:46:09Z

OK, most of the folks who know me are probably aware that I only recall keeping two New Year's resolutions. One, of course, was to not make any more New Year's Resolutions; the other (obviously made earlier) was to never forward chain letters. This of course extends itself into email because I don't want to spam anybody, especially my friends.

However, this doesn't mean I can't post the meme from one to my LJ and this one Leslie Fish forwarded to me* IS kinda cute. Feel free to play with it:

Answer me first on this question, then forward to your friends. Wait until you see the responses...it's hilarious!
The Question is:
If you saw ME in the back of a police car what would you think I got arrested for?
Reply to me, alone, then fwd this on** and see how many crimes you get accused of.
Don't forget, answer me first then forward it on. Have fun!

* Tracking back to "ladywriter" who may have originated it.

** In your LJ or something, otherwise the crime you get accused of first will justifiably be spamming. :>

Light Sails!

2009-11-10T03:48:45Z

Let's hear it for the Planetary Society!

Setting Sail Into Space, Propelled by Sunshine
By Dennis Overbye

Peter Pan would be so happy.

About a year from now, if all goes well, a box about the size of a loaf of bread will pop out of a rocket some 500 miles above the Earth. There in the vacuum it will unfurl four triangular sails as shiny as moonlight and only barely more substantial. Then it will slowly rise on a sunbeam and move across the stars.

LightSail-1, as it is dubbed, will not make it to Neverland. At best the device will sail a few hours and gain a few miles in altitude. But those hours will mark a milestone for a dream that is almost as old as the rocket age itself, and as romantic: to navigate the cosmos on winds of starlight the way sailors for thousands of years have navigated the ocean on the winds of the Earth.

“Sailing on light is the only technology that can someday take us to the stars,” said Louis Friedman, director of the Planetary Society, the worldwide organization of space enthusiasts.

(here for the rest of the article)

More pictures

2009-11-09T22:56:44Z

On Earth this time - and fair warning, it's a large page because there are 97 of them, mostly on a theme of nature reclaiming abandoned human works. I particularly like the meadow behind the "No Trespassing" sign.

Mars!!!

2009-11-08T19:57:15Z

I forget who pointed this page out to me, but The Big Picture put up this page of 31 Martian landscapes from the HiRISE camera on the Martian Orbiter on Nov 6 that is impressive to say the least. It's got links to more information on each too!

Writer's Block: Who will you be?

2009-10-31T03:53:57Z

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? Are you going to wear coordinating costumes with a friend or partner? Did you buy something pre-fab or make it yourself?

Submitted By crazyprotein

View 1030 Answers

I've already been to a Halloween party as a jogger zombie - dug out the rattiest old t-shirt I own, added a pair of running pants and shoes, and slathered myself with makeup and fake blood.

To hand out candy, I'll probably do my usual - put on along black khaftan and a witchy hat and hand candy out from a plastic cauldron.

More Cute

2009-10-22T03:30:01Z

Ok, Ok, another one from baaaaabyanimals (courtesy ladycrim this time around), kittens! Two of them!

In other news, finally got both address and active computer connected to the net at the same time, and made a contribution to the National Association of Free Clinics. Link is to donation page. This courtesy Keith Olbermann who started bringing this up a week or so back and has been getting steadily more surprised looking as enough contributions have already come in via same to fund several one-day clinics including one in New Orleans. The NAFC does those one-day visit things you hear of where they see everybody who can make it during the time period, thus helping people who otherwise have only the choice of the emergency room and no treatment at all. Check these folks out.

Cuteness! Cuteness!

2009-10-20T23:37:43Z

From a post by altairastar to baaaaabyanimals.

It appears a hedgehog gave birth behind a curtain in a five star hotel, the Prestonfield in Edinburgh. They received five star treatment too, courtesy of the Scottish SPCA's Middlebank Wildlife Centre in Fife. Seven weeks later, the family is due to be released into the wild shortly. Wonder if she'll recommend the Prestonfield to her friends?

This Little Piggie

2009-10-11T01:28:53Z

Someone has bred pigs whose piglets compare in size with a large but not fledged duckling. Cute!

kayshapero @ 2009-10-09T18:13:00

2009-10-10T01:12:46Z

Now THIS is what we need more of in Congress...

Writer's Block: The one that got away

2009-10-10T00:39:03Z

Do you believe in the concept of a soulmate? Do you think you've met him or her? Do you ever worry that "the one" got away?

View 1849 Answers

Define "soulmate". If it's the old "everybody has, guaranteed, a perfect partner out there", I'd hesitate to say that. Experience does tell me two people can mutually fall in love with each other, and spend the rest of their lives learning that it only gets better as you go on. If that's what you mean, I have met "the one" and married him 31 years ago. :)

What if...

2009-10-08T04:40:20Z

Models were actually proportioned like fashion illustrations...

Or anyway ineptly Photoshopped into stick figures... Thanks, wordweaverlynn.

Getting Weird out there

2009-10-05T20:58:00Z

COROT-7b, where it rains iron...