Welcome to ...

The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Top 10 Cryptozoology Stories of 2009

 Wp-Content Uploads 021900692  Wp-Content Uploads Aleqm5J6C5Wfh8Bovjov 3D4Pnnifbz0La-1  Wp-Content Uploads Couverture Kraken18 Over at Cryptomundo "The Top 10 Cryptozoology Stories of 2009." Some old news: including the eating of a near-extinct bird, baby coelacanths, and alligators in the sewers. Others were news to me: an African Pygmy Hippo killed in Australia, the rediscovery of a species of crow and turtle thought to be extinct, and the quest for black panthers in Europe.

Photos of a day-glo, underwater world

dayglolobster.jpg

The Dyche Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas has this almost hidden little room in the basement where you can go in, close a curtain, flip on a blacklight and watch as a collection of seemingly ordinary rocks light up with a fluorescent glow. This series of images, taken by photographer Louise Murray, reminds me of how much I like that room at the Dyche. Only, instead of rocks, Murray snaps photos of coral, fish and other sea creatures, using a portable blue light.

Fluorescent colors are produced by cells responding to certain wavelengths of light hitting them - causing the cell to emit its own light on a different wavelength, which creates a different color. Traffic cones and highlighter pens are just two everyday examples of fluorescing objects that humans can detect without any equipment. Above ground people can usually pick up other fluorescing objects using ultra violet lights.

Forty-year-old air sample

A man in Beaumaris, Australia provided scientists with the oldest sample of air from the southern hemisphere. John Allport, 76, gave a scuba tank that he had filled in 1968 to researchers from the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research labs. From Nature:
 News Thegreatbeyond Pu4BThe air archive maintained by CSIRO started in 1978, and contains samples of clean air from a station at Cape Grim, Tasmania. It’s the oldest such archive in the world. Now with Allport’s tank, last used in 1970, the record has been extended further.

The air contained traces of propellants, refrigerants and emissions form aluminium smelters. Paul Fraser, who leads CSIRO’s greenhouse gas research team says that the scuba tank is going to be really useful: “If tanks were filled in a clean coastal environment their usefulness in measuring greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chloro-flurocarbons (CFCs) is much broader,” he says.

Man jailed for eating rare tiger

A man who killed and ate what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was sentenced to 12 years in jail.

Full Story

Texting While Driving Raises Crash Risk Sixfold

From the "Duh!" Department:

Drivers who text-message are putting themselves and others in danger as they switch their attention between two complex tasks, a new study confirms.

Full Story

Glenn Beck Named "Misinformer Of The Year"

Media Matters has unveiled its choice for 2009's Misinformer of the Year, and it's Faux News' Glenn Beck.

Full Story

Court upholds 4-year sentence for Egyptian blogger convicted of insulting Islam and president

Egypt's High Appeal Court has upheld the four-year prison sentence given to an Egyptian blogger who was convicted of insulting Islam and Egypt's president.

Full Story

Bear, lion, tiger living in harmony

A lion, tiger and bear recovered in a drug bust in 2001 have been living together ever since at an animal rescue center near Atlanta.

Worst decade ever for U.S. stocks

Worst decade ever for U.S. stocks

Investors might have done better simply stuffing their money under a mattress.

Feds target drugs in drinking water

Feds target drugs in drinking water

Federal officials are getting closer toward regulating pharmaceuticals in the water supply.

Fund manager, firm feud over $9 cab fare

Fund manager, firm feud over $9 cab fare

Andrew Kaplan, whose company oversees $1 billion, is in a spat with a global energy firm.

Financial scams that target seniors

Financial scams that target seniors

Phony calls from banks are just one tactic con artists use to trick people out of their money.

Online bank-heist claim stirs intrigue

Online bank-heist claim stirs intrigue

Russian hackers may have stolen tens of millions from Citibank, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Prince William spends night on the streets

Prince William spends night on the streets

The royal heir trades palace linens for a patch of concrete in a cold London alley.

Military defends pregnancy punishment

Military defends pregnancy punishment

A U.S. commander justifies a new policy calling for penalties for troops who get pregnant.

Billions in profits made during the panic

Billions in profits made during the panic

David Tepper's hedge fund earned a whopping $7 billion by betting against the U.S. recession.

Prized dogs fetch six figures in China

Prized dogs fetch six figures in China

"Tibetan mastiff fever" pushes prices up to $600,000 for one purebred.

Chocolate taste test yields popular winner

Chocolate taste test yields popular winner

Testers pick their favorites among top choices great for gift giving or simply for eating.

Court orders Microsoft to stop selling Word

Court orders Microsoft to stop selling Word

A federal court ordered the software giant to stop due to a patent violation.

How to keep IRS auditors away

How to keep IRS auditors away

Keep your income under a certain level, and the IRS won't bother you 99 percent of the time.

Now the repugicans are threatening climate change legislation

John Avavosis had this to say:
The Republicans are going to block every single thing the Democrats attempt to do. They are single-mindedly focused on taking back control of the Congress, and blocking Obama's agenda to better help a Republican take the White House in 2012. This should not surprise anyone. The real question is what effect will this have on the Obama administration's and the Democratic Congress' approach on climate change. Will they still try to work out a bipartisan deal with members of Congress who has already said they want to block this deal?

This is setting us up for a repeat of the health care debate. It's all going to come down to 60 votes, and 60 Democrats and Independents. The White House needs to launch a campaign, now, to get this legislation passed, to build public support, and ultimately pressure recalcitrant Democrats and Indies to support the legislation - if you can build enough support with the public, you can sometimes pressure members of Congress to do the right thing. But as we found with health care reform, if you don't build enough support, members of both parties start to go rogue.

The President needs to get over his aversion to controversy, and the White House needs to start campaigning hard, now, for the best deal. Let's all work together and do this. For real this time.

Ewww!

What's brown and crispy on the outside, and white and creamy on the inside?

A cockroach.

East Coast Snowstorm Viewed From Space

From Treehugger:

NASA snow storm image
Image via NASA's Earth Observatory

NASA's Earth Observatory has released this incredible photo of the snow storm that hit the east coast over the weekend. To see such an enormous patch of land completely covered in white is impressive. Covering 300 miles lengthwise, the satellite image shows the Potomac and Susquehanna Rivers from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay.

Sixty satellite images of Earth

satellite-images.jpg

Webdesigner depot has 60 beautiful satellite photos of Earth.

"The Dasht-e Kevir, or valley of desert, is the largest desert in Iran. It is a primarily uninhabited wasteland, composed of mud and salt marshes covered with crusts of salt that protect the meager moisture from completely evaporating."

Microbes survive 30,000 years inside a salt crystal

Microbes entombed in a salt crystal have survived for 30,000 years by feeding off the remains of algae that were trapped along with them.

Microbes survive 30,000 years inside a salt crystal

Science News

From BBC-Science:

Drawing of the dinosaur's reconstructed skull (Image: National Academy of Sciences)
A bird-like dinosaur that prowled an ancient forest 125 million years ago used venom to subdue its prey, a new theory says.

Almost 300 species - including giant trees and tiny fungi - have been described for the first time by UK botanists in 2009.


THE BIG PICTURE
Click to reveal

Year-end money moves to make

4 year-end money moves to make

Here are financial tasks you should get done before 2010 begins — and ones that can wait.

Ahmadinejad lashes out over leaked memo

Ahmadinejad lashes out over leaked memo

Iran's leader accuses the American government of an elaborate deception.

Man who inspired 'Rain Man' dies

Man who inspired 'Rain Man' dies

Kim Peek, the man who inspired the Oscar-winning movie "Rain Man," has died at age 58.

Young sailor Dekker flies back to the Netherlands

Police say 14-year-old sailor Laura Dekker has arrived back in the Netherlands after disappearing from home and flying to the Caribbean.Police spokesman Bernhard Jens says Dekker is being interviewed by police at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and will then be turned over to child care authorities.

Young sailor Dekker flies back to the Netherlands

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

There are no unusual holidays or celebrations today

but

There are only 2 more shopping days until xmas!

Daily Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2009.

There are nine days left in the year.

Today In History December 22

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
Bergen, Hordaland, Norway
Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
Moncalieri, Piemonte, Italy
Espoo, Southern Finland, Finland
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Athens, Attiki, Greece
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Sion, Valais, Switzerland

as well as Serbia, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

If you don't have any creative or artistic friends, it's time to get acquainted with some.
Place an ad in the paper, join a creative group or sign up for an art class at your local college.
At the moment, you do your best work when you have a collaborative partner and it would be a shame to let your talents go to waste.
Ask your friends and relatives about their hobbies and artistic skills.
Their answers may very well surprise you, but in a very good way.

Creative or artistic friends - that's an understatement!