Thoughts, by Caro

Is there anything better than stupid fashion advice?

2009-08-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

I think not.

I honestly have no idea what these people are on, but this article is basically incomprehensible, and the bits I can make out are seriously funny. I will totally keep my trenchcoat providing it is a 'good cut' and 'the right colour for my skin'.

IT'S BLACK, IS THAT OKAY?

Also, were you aware that in theory we’re all meant to be in harem pants, carrot-top trousers and pyjamas? I DID NOT KNOW THAT.

Apparently, freezing water in just the right way (and in lots of different 'just the right way's) is really hard

2009-08-19T20:55:00.001-07:00

So say the ice experts in Vancouver, BC who are trying to prepare for the 2010 Olympic Games

Who knew ice was so complicated?

Because we needed more reasons to love Paris. Really.

2009-08-19T20:53:00.001-07:00

Cleaning the Seine has brought wild salmon back to the French capital

Will they out-do London, though? I mean, now that it's a bit tidier, the Thames boats otters, salmon AND endangered seahorses.

BEAT THAT, FRANCE. :D

Is Alaska doing better without Sarah Palin at the Helm?

2009-08-19T20:50:00.001-07:00

That would be a rousing HELL YES.

With Palin fresh out of the governor's seat, the Alaskan legislature wasted no time in overturning her veto of stimulus funds for energy efficiency. You may recall that Palin had previously said thanks, but no thanks to allotting Alaska $28 million in federal money for statewide energy efficiency improvements--apparently, her state felt differently.

In a resounding 45-14 vote, Alaska legislators have definitively decided that the state will be taking the funds, and making buildings more energy efficient after all. Palin had opposed the efficiency funds--it was the only part of the stimulus for her state that she rejected--because she was concerned it would force Alaska to adopt stricter building codes. After the state received a letter from the US Department of Energy stating that this was certainly not the case, however, she remained unconvinced. Even though she's now out of office, she continued to protest accepting the funds from her Facebook page.

I hate to call her a moron except that, oh wait, no I don't, and I totally just did.

MORON.

Goooooooooo SCIENCE!

2009-08-19T20:49:00.001-07:00

Scientists successfully reverse MS in mice

The implications are just insane.

Taxonomy rules!

2009-08-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

And this is why.

As a librarian, I'm all about naming things so as to properly organise them and see where they fit with other things.

And no, this has nothing to do with stuffing dead animals.

Taking literary artwork in a whole new direction

2009-08-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

Book Autopsies

Beautiful, and mind-blowingly complex.

Whoddathunkit

2009-08-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

Bolivians turn to ancient way of farming to survive floods

It really does sound like a headline from The Onion ('Way of Farming That Sustained Civilisation For Thousands of Years Just Might Work After All'), but by using pre-Columbian techniques, Bolivian farmers may have found a modern, liveable, sustainable way to grow crops successfully in areas that sustain annual floods. They are, if anything, MORE productive that current methods, and they may, if used widely, actually cause the agrarian communities in huge parts of the world to prosper, instead of fester.

Entpotic Phenomena

2009-07-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Photographs of voluminous fabric, completely hiding the jumping individual inside them.

Beautiful, a little eerie, and lots of fun.

Breaktaking art made only with toothpicks and nails

2009-07-30T22:30:00.001-07:00

Stunningly beautiful.

How many poked fingers and hammered handed did that take?

Guinness is ACTUALLY good for you!

2009-07-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.

"A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as a low dose aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks."

Snazzy!

We are all so relieved.

2009-07-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Four-hour rescue operation saves over 1500 ceramic gnomes

I know I'll sleep better at night now that I know they're being taken care of.

Yummm.

2009-07-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

If you're a fan of Threadless, the the indie t-shirt shop, or Cake Wrecks, the blog that documents how 'professional' cakes can go so wrong, you will probably enjoy Threadcakes, a site which encourages and people who turn their favourite Threadless designs into edible, frosting-covered awesomeness, and then showcases the results.

They're all inventive and interesting, and some are really quite good.

SO BIG!

2009-07-28T19:48:00.001-07:00

What scientists think may be the world's largest cave has been found in Vietnam.

It is apparently three times the size of Wembley Stadium in London. HOSHIT is I think the only proper reaction to that.

Hiya.

2009-07-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

Yeah, so I haven't really been around, and I apologise for that, but it means I have a super-huge backlog of awesome stuff to post about! So that's fun.

To start:

A food dye that's been around for years may have beneficial effects when used to prevent further damage to already severe spinal injuries... with the one minor side effect that it turns patients blue.

Nothing like waking up from a horrible accident, unable to move and the colour of a blueberry.

Hi!

2009-05-14T18:32:00.001-07:00

After dancing about Australia for awhile I've finally plunked myself down somewhere - Wellington, New Zealand, to absolutely no one's shock - and while I'm not totally settled yet, I'll probably be posting here a lot more than I have been lately which is... never. So! Let's start things out with a true meeting of disciplines.

Scientists at two US universities have agreed on naming a new species of Venezuelan diving beetle Agaporomorphus colberti in honour of TV humourist Stephen Colbert.

Apparently, “This new species is similar to members of a clade within the genus exemplified by A. knischi... and unique in having similar, extremely complicated male genitalia.”.

Um. Neat?

An excellent list.

2009-04-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

20 Things I Love About Penguins

That's one old baby.

2009-04-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

When he was 16, Chris Biblis was diagnosed with leukaemia and the radiation therapy he had made his sterile. 22 years later, he and his wife and taking care of their new baby girl - and she's his biological daughter.

Girl born a record 22 years after father's sperm is frozen

The crazy thing? When they froze his sperm back in 1986, the process used to create Stella didn't even exist.

Is your mother relatively sane?

2009-04-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Mine is (she's actually completely lovely), and I have never been more grateful for this than when reading Postcards from Yo Momma.

Just, WOW. Some people have issues. Of course, some of them are also terribly sweet and incredibly charming. I hope your maternal experience, like mine, was of the latter sort. :)

Hello from Wellington - again

2009-04-17T15:13:00.001-07:00

I am still in New Zealand, but thought the following was interesting enough to post about:

13 Things That Science Can't Explain

I love this sort of stuff. For all that we know, there are millions of these little issues hanging out there, happening everyday, completely inexplicably. This just lists a few of the big ones.

Hello from Wellington, New Zealand!

2009-04-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

The Southern Hemisphere is awesome, as you would expect, and Wellington in particular is lovely. I don't have anything amusing or bizarre to share, other than to join in on the rage that is currently going on over Amazonfail.

If you've not heard of it, click that link and educate yourself - it's really really uncool.

Other than that, I'm still a week or two away from being at my final destination, and may not be settled until awhile after that, even. So, expect intermittent postings.

And now, yoghurt on the balcony.

I take off tomorrow on a journey of epic proportions!

2009-04-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

No really, it's like 10,000 miles. When I surface, I will be in Perth, Australia, and many things will be different. I have a number of stops before I get there, though, and I fully expect to post before then. If not, well, here's your warning about it.

I know, you're shocked and dismayed, but it will be okay! I keep telling myself this. We'll see if I'm right.

Until later.

Feeling like Indiana Jones of late?

2009-04-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

Or maybe just wanting to?

Well, try out Totem Destroyer, which is somewhat inappropriately named, because it is not the totem you are destroying.

You are in fact aiming to save the Totem, and, by strategically destroying destroyable blocks of a certain required number (different for each formation), toget the Totem to a better (I imagine more retrievable is the goal? Although it really doesn't seem to matter.) location.

There are 25 different formations ('levels'), and you can try them again as many times as you like. It's really quite fun, despite the lack of Nazis.

So enjoy that.

Things to think about

2009-04-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

My new favourite person of the past two days is Maggie Mason, who runs, among other things, Mighty Goods, Mighty Junior, and Mighty Haus. She also keeps a personal blog, Mighty Girl, and it is this I have been reading back into, pages and pages, and in doing so I have discovered her list of 100 Things To Do Before I Go.

I like this because most of these sorts of lists are big things, big Accomplishments, and hers are either nice and nebulous or small and precise. Also, there is no mention of death. She could be going anywhere, really, and I like that thought. Anyways, here is my ~~totally cheating~~ repost of the things she has that I would also like, someday, to do.

Go dog sledding
Safari in Africa
See the salmon run in Alaska
Ride a camel in the desert
The Pyramids at sunset
See Cuba
Watch the sunrise over the Agean
Grow vegetables (we did this when I was a kid and man, it's fun)
Be conversational in seven languages (maybe not seven for me)
Set foot on all seven continents
Set foot in all fifty states
Stand atop the Great Wall of China
Stand inside the Taj Mahal
Have a dog again
Attend TED
Taste 1,000 fruits
Live in a house with a window seat
Parasail
Swim with bioluminescent plankton
See the floating fire lanterns
Participate in a giant food fight
Plant a tiny orchard (who doesn't love fruit trees?)
Zip line through a canopy
Lemonade on the front porch swing, warm summer night
See a glacier
Live in another country for a year

I have technically already done the last one (I lived in London for 16 months), and I'm about to do it again, but man, it is addicting. I am thinking about my own list, and while I likely won't post it here, I am still very intrigued by the notion of setting out in words things that I would like to do. It seems like a step closer to doing them, and that feels nice.

Extreme Sheep LED Art

2009-04-02T17:18:00.001-07:00

Everyone and their pet frog has been posting and reposting this, and I finally watched it. Now I know why.

Supremely awesome.

So I saw a blog recently where someone had listed their year in cities.

2009-04-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

And I liked it, so here is my 2008 in cities*.

- London, England
- Dublin, Ireland
- Didcot, England
- Oxford, England
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Oban, Scotland
- The Inner Hebrides (no cities, really, so pretend)
- Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland
- Drumnodrochit, Scotland
- Pitlochry, Scotland
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Utrecht, Netherlands
- Zakynthos Town, Zakynthos Is., Greece
- Volendam, Netherlands
- Budapest, Hungary
- Vienna, Austria
- Munich, Germany
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Berlin, Germany
- Hamburg, Germany
- Paris, France
- Seattle, USA

Admittedly, this was a rather odd year for me. You can tell because more than 1/3 of the way into 2009, my list is as follows:

- Seattle, USA

Further bulletins as events warrant.

*'Cities' defined as 'cities I actually got off a plane/train in'.

Included: fridge, oven, microwave. Not included: coherence

2009-04-01T11:18:00.001-07:00

It's Lovely! I'll Take It!

A blog that chronicles the horrid pictures some people choose to include with their real estate listings. Unspeakably funny commentary.

Bored? Play with some sand!

2009-04-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

Thisissand.com

V. enjoyable.

Western Spaghetti by PES

2009-04-01T11:13:00.001-07:00

A lot of fun, basically.

Barcelona 1908-2008

2009-03-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

Video taken from a Barcelona tram in 1908, and how the same streets looked in 2008, 100 years later.

Regent Street from Oxford Circus

2009-03-29T15:38:00.001-07:00

Regent Street from Oxford Circus
Originally uploaded by IanVisits

London, without people. This guy (I imagine his name is Ian, given his username) has gone around taking pictures of London when no one is there. It's eerie, and yet really lovely at the same time.

Check it out.

What do you need?

2009-03-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

You need squid hats, and you need them right now.

Well, okay, maybe you don't, but I sure do. :D

Kneebiters.

2009-03-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

A seven-year-old French schoolgirl has been pulled from the clutches of a kidnapper by her classmates who kicked and punched the intruder until he fled

Kick-ass 7-year olds, that's what I'm talkin' about.

The Ark has 14,598 knots, and Ham keeps winning at Uno.

2009-03-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Noah's Blog

Day 6
So I was loading up the last of the animals last week when I walk past my neighbor Roger, the Molech-worshipper. He looks up and says "Hey, looks like rain."

True story.

Day 7
Now wondering if it was wrong to have borrowed Roger’s hedge clippers.

Day 15
It’s been the same every day for the last two weeks, but then last night, our mama elephant gave birth. I’ll put up some pics soon.

Oh noes! Gay ducks!

2009-03-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

Blue Ducks (native to New Zealand) might die out in the UK after a last attempt to introduce one of the two remaining males to the one remaining female resulted in the two males pairing off instead.

Poor gay ducks, flouting heteronormativity and the saving of their race. Ah well. You can't stand in the way of love, and there are still some in New Zealand, even if they're rare.

Time lapse of a baby playing with his toys

2009-03-23T18:33:00.001-07:00

Before you get all pissy, read the note at the beginning - they edited themselves caring for the baby out of the final film. :)

Cute as the dickens, and the music's great.

Feeling peckish?

2009-03-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

See what represents 300 calories in various common foods.

Interesting, and informative. Also, pictures of food with items for scale! How is that not fun?

Feeling uninspired?

2009-03-23T18:27:00.001-07:00

There, that should help.

Cutest. Website. Ever.

2009-03-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Zooborns

Zoo babies, worldwide. They got Cute Overload beat by a mile, guys. No whiny-talk, either, which is, you know, helpful for those of us who are still mildly sane.

Amazing.

2009-03-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

Burglar chased off by man dressed as Thor

The photo is the best.

SIGNS

2009-03-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

The sweetest thing I think maybe ever.

A duck in a truck

2009-03-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hi! My name is Caro, and I think Creationist theory is seriously dim. Probably this is not the blog for you if you have a problem with that.

2009-03-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Creationist Students Take Field Trip to Hotbed of Evolution: The Smithsonian

What I really love about this is the total ignorance of anything that doesn't fit into their religious paradigm. Yes, they're at the museum, and yes, they're looking at the displays and disputing them, but there is never ANY discussion of how they purport to disprove what theyr'e seeing. There is never any effort to say just how evolution, as the far-and-away leading theory of human and animal creation, is wrong. There is never any discussion of how, as scientists with a less-than-majority view, they are about to prove to or even mildly convince themselves (much less anyone else) that what they believe is true might actually be so.

What I mean is, Darwin came up with the idea of evolution by looking at all the evidence he could get his hands on, from animals to plants to geology to vulcanology to comparative anatomy to palaeontology to EVERYTHING - he went around the globe gathering evidence and had some of the most highly respected (and creationist, I might add) scientist of his day send him their finds - and then he set about testing it, over and over, with myriads of different species of plants and animals, for about 30 years. By the time he came to actually putting his theory down on paper, not only had someone else also come up with the same exact idea based on the wealth of available evidence, but he had looked at and managed to successfully link every single bit of evidence he ever encountered into his idea of how we and our world came to be.

'The Bible' as an all-inclusive counterpoint... well, it doesn't exactly hold up, especially if you are supposedly a trained scientist and you are supposedly trying to operate within a scientific world of hypothesis, testing, and theory production, much less work with the previously discovered information that upholds the current level of knowledge in your field, based on the same set of scientific practices and beliefs that dominate all science. It just... it all comes from the same ideas, you know? You can't separate evolution from basic science, and believe anything of what we know without adding evolution on to it. Evolution IS basic science.

I just don't get how they are disregarding every shred of evidence when they purport to believe in a great many of those shreds. It sure doesn't sound like there is a comprehensive point vs point commentary here, a "up to this point, stuff is right, but then right here, there is a misinterpretation" or "right here we stop believing in stuff". The latter would patently be ridiculous, but what it seems like they are teaching is that all science is complementary to a creationist viewpoint, and I just DO NOT get how they are saying that with any kind of evidential explanations.

Tthe 20 students listened attentively as co-leader Marcus Ross, an enthusiastic palaeontologist who teaches at Liberty, expertly explained about the world-class fossil collection and told ripping tales of the towering tyrannosaurus rex that was casting skeletal shadows over the group.

"I love it here," said Ross, who has a doctorate in geosciences from the University of Rhode Island. "There's something romantic about seeing the real thing."

Modern creationists don't deny the existence of dinosaurs but believe that God made them, and all animals, on the same sixth day that he created man. In fact, Ross's only real beef in the fossil hall is with the 30-foot lighted column that is a timeline marking 630 million years of geology. As a young-Earth creationist, he asserts that the vast majority of the rocks and fossils were formed during Noah's flood about 4,000 years ago. Most palaeontologists date the T-Rex to 65 million years ago.

This is what I mean! How is this guy, a trained palaeontologist, looking at the dating systems that have proved, again and again, to be wholly correct, and going, "Nah, I read in this book here that all that chemistry you're doing? Is bullshit. But that stuff you're doing where you are testing to see what he ate and comparing it to the plant fossil record of similar dates? That's way cool." HOW. HOW HOW HOW.

How is the basic level of palaeontological research, which is based on looking at clues from what we have to extrapolate what fossilized and extinct animals ate and where they lived and how they hunted or foraged or lived, going to be achievable if you disbelieve every element of the foundation for it - but ONLY when it results in evolutionary principles? And then, how are you going on to say that that stuff, the stuff we find out using 'basic science', is okay, but drawing conclusions from that that aren't based on God? Is stupid. More to the point, how is he telling stories of the T-Rex that he believes are true without acknowledging that the science that gave us those stories in the EXACT SAME SCIENCE, down to the very basics of forensic actions, that gave us its place in the evolutionary timeline?

And how is telling all these crazy stories about T-Rexes being awesome and ferocious and then going on to assert that DINOSAURS AND MAN COEXISTED?

I just have no comprehension at all of how such ignorance explains itself to itself, but then I suppose if you're making up the rules about what's true you can totally make up the rules about what you tell yourself about that truth, too.

Are you in New York? Is your deli sandwich really really good?

2009-03-16T15:06:00.001-07:00

Then scan it, and post the scan to Scanwiches.

Share your sandwich with the world.

Rats Laugh When You Tickle Them

2009-03-13T20:25:00.001-07:00

"Evangeline Harper," Carroll said.

2009-03-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

"I'll never forget her name if I live to be 100 years old."

The firefighter crawled on his stomach through the pitch-black apartment, the smoke so thick he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Somewhere inside was a baby and he had to find her. A window broke, light filled the room, and he saw her lying in her crib, dressed only in a diaper, unconscious. Soot covered her tiny nose. She wasn't breathing and had no pulse.

He grabbed her and breathed life into her as he ran from the apartment.

That was 1968.

Last month, they met again.

In the neighborhood where they first met, Carroll, a slim 71-year-old, got out of his car, dressed in a navy blue uniform he had borrowed from a fellow firefighter, strode up to the 40-year-old woman, and beamed.

"You've grown a lot since the last time I saw you," he said, laughing and putting out his hand. She smiled, gently took his hand, and looked at him almost shyly.

"Thank you so much for remembering me," he told her.

Then he pulled her into a tight embrace and they held on to each other as they stood on Keegan Street, just a few yards from where he had carried her limp body decades ago.

"Thank you so much," she said softly.

Turkish man survives train crashing into truck

2009-03-12T00:23:00.001-07:00

Absolutely unbelievable. Two massive things collide, he's right in the middle, and one goes over him, throwing him just inches away from the other one, almost totally unhurt.

Can I get some of his luck? I'm betting he has a tad to spare.

Ever wished your concrete bunker had a, um, concrete skylight?

2009-03-11T23:22:00.000-07:00

Your wish has been granted.

Concrete that allows light through - it's like we all live in the FUTURE.

Om nom- oh hey, that's cute.

2009-03-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

Edith Zimmerman

Fun with food. :)

Regulatin' Genes

2009-03-11T11:50:00.001-07:00

I understand exactly none of this, but it's still pretty awesome.

Pretty, pretty puppies

2009-03-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Oliver Daily

Two Weimaraners, Oliver and Hugo, and their daily photos. <3

People are pretty incredible, sometimes.

2009-03-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

Modern Love

"Looking across the dinner table at my wife, or seeing her across the room at a party, the hopeless crush I have on her is as wonderfully out of control as when I first saw her more than four decades ago through the screen door. I still get excited after work when I pull in the driveway and know that I’ll soon get to see the sexy, beautiful, very funny person I live with. And, later on, snuggle up to her in bed. We’ve rolled up and down the hills of Tuscany, squeezed into pubs in Ireland, explored narrow streets in Paris and Rome, gone to Red Sox games, had coffee in the sunshine in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago and Miami."

15 years ago, his wife was paralysed from the chest down. Sometimes it's been awful, but mostly it's been amazing. I found reading about it really lovely.

I am willing to admit that I think Barack Obama is pretty amazing.

2009-03-10T00:48:00.001-07:00

But guys, no one is THIS amazing:

No one.

So they can bounce AND weild numchucks? Crap.

2009-03-09T09:46:00.001-07:00

Man in underwear fights off ninja kangaroo

Wtf are marsupials coming to?

Fly away, fly away.

2009-03-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Was approved for my Australian visa last night. Now I guess I actually have to go? It's all so much more difficult now that it's real. :P

It's a very tragic circumstance.

2009-03-05T22:31:00.001-08:00

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

- G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Cross your fingers for me.

2009-03-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

I am applying for a visa to live in Australia for a year tomorrow!

We'll see how that goes.

Oh Truman.

2009-03-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Truman the octopus totally rules.

2009-03-05T17:15:00.000-08:00

You've heard of kosher salt? Now there's a Christian variety.

"Retired barber Joe Godlewski says he was inspired by television chefs who repeatedly recommended kosher salt in recipes.

"I said, 'What the heck's the matter with Christian salt?'" Godlewski said, sipping a beer in the living room of his home in unincorporated Cresaptown, a western Maryland mountain community.

Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, kosher administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, said marketing Christian salt as an alternative to kosher salt reflects, at best, ignorance about Jewish dietary laws. He said all salt is inherently kosher because it occurs naturally and requires little or no processing."

Just, wow.

She's not even learned her multiplication tables, guys.

2009-03-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The girl in question is 9 years old. She was raped over a number of years by her stepfather, and she was pregnant with twins. If she had carried them even remotely close to term, there is basically no way she wouldn't have died, and the babies with her.

If God is angry that you decided to help a save the life of a 9 year old rape victim? I'm sorry, that's not a God I want to be in good stead with.

Oh ew.

2009-03-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

An Atlanta woman has a bone to pick with the candy company Mars after she took a bite into her peanut M&M and says she discovered what a local biologist says is a vertebra from a small mammal.

o_O

And the polar bears cheered.

2009-03-04T17:37:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times:

"A few weeks before he left office, President George W. Bush told federal officials that, in effect, they did not have to bother getting the advice of wildlife experts before taking actions that might harm plants or animals protected by the Endangered Species Act.

On Tuesday, President Obama said that, in effect, they did.

[...]

The announcement drew loud applause from the audience of about 500 who had gathered for the anniversary ceremony. Thousands of other employees watched by teleconference and video, the Interior Department said."

The Sierra Club, meanwhile, sent this out:

Today's announcement marks the unequivocal return of science to the agencies that govern our fish, wildlife, and natural resources.

The Bush rules would have allowed agencies with little or no wildlife expertise to make decisions that could mean life or death for animals like the polar bear. When it comes to protecting wildlife, we should listen to the scientists who spend their lives studying these animals.

These midnight regulations represented all the disdain for science and political trumping of expertise that characterized the Bush Administration's efforts to dismantle fundamental environmental laws.

Our wildlife are clearly in much better hands now. President Obama is bringing science back into decision-making.

Thank God for that.

o_O Okaaaaaaaay.

2009-03-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to find my friend Veronica a flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Wellington, NZ to visit our mutual friend André, because she has been looking for one for ages and is sick of it, but also needs to book something soon. She can get to Singapore really easily, so we were looking from there to see if options were different than going through Sydney, which automatically happens otherwise. It's also really easy to get from Wellington to Auckland, so we went going Singapore - Auckland, let's see what happens.

THIS is what happens:

Singapore - Tokyo: 7hrs
Layover: 24hrs
Tokyo - Los Angeles: 10hrs
Layover: 11hrs
Los Angeles - Auckland: 12hrs

All told: 64 hours

And the return?

Auckland - Los Angeles: 12hrs
Layover: 50 hrs
Los Angeles - Tokyo: 12hrs
Layover: 19hrs
Tokyo - Singapore: 7hrs

All told: 100 hours

I just... what? Thanks Kayak! WAY TO BE USEFUL.

INVISIBLE OCTOPUS

2009-03-03T15:55:00.001-08:00

It's MAAAAAGICAL! :D :D :D

Man, I love octos.

Bayeux Tapestry

2009-03-03T15:54:00.001-08:00

Look! An animated version of the Bayeux Tapestry! With SOUND!

Starts at Halley's Comet. :)

Japan clearly controls everything

2009-03-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

A PINK dolphin has been found in an inland estuary in Louisiana.

Yes, there's a picture.

There's nothing quite like the oldest known sample of bomb-grade plutonium being found in your home state! After it was tossed aside! 65 years ago!

2009-03-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

My favourite part: Any handling of the sample has to be done by trained personnel in protective suits - as it is still highly radioactive.

GOOD TIMES, PEOPLE. GOOD TIMES. D:

Way to go, Hanford. Thanks for that.

Jaisalmer

2009-03-01T23:21:00.000-08:00

BBC audio slideshow of the Golden Fort, continuously lived in for 5,000 years

Just, wow.

Nature's Great Events - The Great Melt - The Walrus

2009-03-01T23:00:00.001-08:00

Basically, walruses eat too much, get into strops because they have bad skin, and then fart all summer long.

Walruses are giant teenage boys in seal suits. They even have SWORDS, MY GOD.

Terminalia ferdinandiana

2009-03-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

If you're feeling down and fear you might have a touch of scurvy, don't reach for an orange. An orange only has around 50mg of Vitamin C per 100g of fruit.

What you want is a Kakadu plum, which has a stunning average of 3000mg of Vitamin DC per 100g of fruit. In wild fruits, nearly 5% of the mass of a Kakadu plum is pure vitamin C.

That's just sort of mad.

I think a single, small snowflake just fell past my window.

2009-03-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

Either that or it was an errant Rice Krispie.

Do you like reading about the Copenhagen bike scene?

2009-03-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

Copenhaganize.com

Yeah, me too, sometimes.

(And yes, it's in English.)

38 Cute Animals, 1 Cool Screen, 8 Different Uses

2009-03-01T11:05:00.001-08:00

What is there to say, really? The bunny falling over in his office should be my favourite, but that hedgehog? With his little feet? COME ON.

Pretty!

2009-03-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

Sunburst wall art

I found this ages ago through Dooce (who is amazing). It is still pretty.

Dark Horse, the Thoroughbred of Sin, has a recommendation for you

2009-03-01T10:56:00.001-08:00

Did you miss Dr Horrible the first time out?

It's on Hulu now, and well worth a look-see if you like:

(a) Musicals
(b) Superhereos or supervillians
(c) Laundromats
(d) Joss Whedon
(e) Nathan Fillion being ridiculous
(f) Things that are totally awesome

:)

Interviw with an HR vampire

2009-03-01T10:51:00.003-08:00

50 common interview questions and how you should answer them

As someone who very soon is going to be looking for a job, this is A++.

Useful informations for the win

2009-03-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

How much is a first-class stamp in the US?

Now you know.

Hurray for space and sci-fi fans!

2009-03-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

NASA wants help in finding a name for new Node 3 - the new addition to the International Space Station

As a Firefly fan, I am terribly pleased to report that at the time of posting, 'Serenity' was winning by a whopping 86%. :D

An oldie, but a goodie

2009-03-01T10:42:00.001-08:00

Girl gets belly-button ring stuck up nose

The contortions that must have occurred. Ye gods. The last line is my favourite.

Thoughts, by Caro

2009-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

A place to link to things, talk about things, and recommend things.

Thoughts, just generally. :)