Monthly Archives: January 2012

Release the Kraken!
Jan 31 2012

News Mash: Avalanches are the Krakens of Mother Nature’s fury!

Certain sports…

Aren’t for the faint of heart;

They are the epitome of “dangerous”…

But that doesn’t keep those interested in such pursuits away from the thrill they seek.

Even if?

It is often pursued to their own peril.

[via Daily Mail] A 24-year-old snowboarder has been killed after triggering an avalanche in back country which officials had warned the public against using after a bout of violent snowstorms.

Alecsander Barton, originally from Michigan, was boarding from the peak of Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah with two friends when he triggered an avalanche that measured 700 feet wide.

It occurred at a time when avalanche danger had been classified as ‘high’ due to heavy snowfall and loose, powdery snow.

Barton’s two friends – a snowboarder and a skier – were not caught in the snow. They called 911 and, using beacons, found his body had been carried 2,400 feet by the snow.

Barton, who was two days from his 25th birthday, was already dead.

‘It sounds like they had skinned up the side of the mountain. Once they got to the peak, something happened. An avalanche was triggered,’ police lieutenant Justin Hoyal told ABC News 4.[Read More]

Avalanches are one of Nature’s powerful monsters…

Which bow to no man, released by Mother nature on her whim.

And although no, we can never hope to bend Mother Nature to our will?

Thanks to science one day, hopefully, we will better understand them…

[via Gizmodo]While we’ve come up with ingenious methods of escaping avalanches, science still isn’t well-versed in their inner mechanics. A Montana State University researcher is trying to change that by setting off his own mini-avalanches—just, you know, indoors.

Engineering professor Ed Adams performs his research out of the Subzero Science and Engineering Research Facility at MSU. The 2,700 square foot lab has been in operation since 2008, making it one of the most state-of-the art facilities of its kind.

Adams is researching the effects of radiation recrystallization when deeper snow get warmer than the powder on top and creates instability in the snow pack. For his experiments, Adams “grows” snow in specialized, -5-degree cold rooms that house small 65-degree pools of water. He blows air over the water, channeling the vapor up a chimney, and through an array of strings that collect and crystallize the vapor.

The ice crystals are then harvested and transported to an Environmental Chamber—one with a refrigerated ceiling that mimics natural snow fall. Why? Because “Once snow gets on the ground, it’s in an ongoing state of change,” Adams told Popular Science. [Read More]

And with better understanding of such change?

Hopefully we will be better equipped to keep snowboarders safe, healthy and whole…

And prevent such a tragic loss of life.

As well as able to keep them doing?

The amazing things with their snowboard, that some of them seem to do with such ease, which we all LOVE to watch with wonder & marvel!

Hopefully, that day…

Will come soon.

Rest in Peace, Alecsander Barton.

Poor Pitiful me
Jan 31 2012

Poetic Celebrity Parody – “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me” Edition!

Oh Poor,
Oh Poor,
Oh Poor, pitiful me
I feel like wailing
What a terrible, tragic thing
Which happened to me
A deadly blow to my heart
Which killed a true romantic
Me!
My heart is ailing
My hope is failing
I am ruined for life
My pure, innocent heart
Stabbed with a sharp, scalpel knife
By this boorish boy-man
I may never be the same
I was so much in love
Innocent and pure
As the driven show
With this broken heart
How am I gonna find
Husband number three

Oh Poor, pitiful me!!! 

[Source]

Jan 31 2012

Stupid Man Tricks – Perfect Shot, Edition!

Be careful with the gun, punk…

Or you might just may shoot someone!

Oh…

See?

You did, you did shoot someone.  *claps*

You – your own foot. 

[Source]

A clumsy thief shoots himself in the foot while guarding the door of a bank during a robbery in a small Brazilian town.

Rightly deserved, you stupid thief!

Jan 31 2012

BOSS Gifs – When “Still Life” Is Not Still, Edition!

In art history, painting still life was always regarded as “proof” of a painter’s skill.

The masters were admired by how they perfectly painted an apple or a vase.

Modern times however, has modern times skills.

Now, still life is no longer “still” …

But our admiration of a masters ability?

Stays just the same.

[Source]

Not-So-Still Life of the Day: Artist Scott Garner‘s “Still Life” isn’t exactly your traditional painting of some fruit and a vase. It’s an interactive gallery installation with a rotating, motion-sensitive frame.

Thanks to a little bit of magic — okay, it’s a simple C application — when the frame spins, so do its contents. Even more impressive, the lighting moves at the same time, keeping the scene realistic.

Like a BOSS!

ughaly
Jan 31 2012

News Mash: That if that IS indeed a UFO? It’s a kitty cat I must hire!

One must consider all the possibilities.

As terrifying as they might be…

Of what just MIGHT have been discovered?

On the floor of the Baltic Sea!

[via DailyMail] Shipwreck surveyors found a remarkable object in the depths of the Baltic Sea, but before they start celebrating, they need to figure out what it is.

A Swedish company named Ocean Explorer have discovered an unidentified object using their sonar technology in a secret location in the Baltic Sea.

Because of a lack of funding and bad timing, they have not been able to pull a team together to see for themselves.

Their sonar pictures show that the object is a massive cylinder with a 60 metre diameter and a 400 metre-long tail.

A similar disk-shaped object was also found about 200 metres away.

 

The sonar picture of the unidentified object resembles the famed Star Wars ship the Millennium Falcon

At this point, the story behind the object is anyone’s guess.

‘We’ve heard lots of different kinds of explanations, from George Lucas’s spaceship — the Millennium Falcon — to ‘it’s some kind of plug to the inner world,’ like it should be hell down there or something,’ said Peter Lindberg, a diver on the team.[Read More]

I have come to the conclusion…

Due to a prospective matter most dire;

That if that IS indeed a UFO on that ocean floor?

It is a kitty cat I must hire!

[via io9] Novelist and film critic Anne Billson wrote “My Day by Jonesy,” a recap of the first Alien film from Jones’ point of view. Apparently, Jones spent most of the film fretting over his food and being annoyed that the humans (or “can openers” as he calls them) keep waking him up from his naps. But he does take some interest in the xenomorph, which he refers to as the “hairless kitten.” He also offers a very different interpretation of the film’s climactic showdown:

To my surprise I see, just before the can-opener does, that the giant hairless kitten has snuck into the mini-Nostromo with us, and has evidently taken my advice to heart, because instead of thrusting its proboscis straight through the can-opener’s brain, it’s hanging back and acting cute. Or trying to act cute, because, frankly, it still has a lot to learn. All that coy tentacle-uncoiling doesn’t seem to be amusing the can-opener at all. In fact, even from inside the hypersleep capsule I can see she’s freaked out by it. She’s backing into a sort of closet, as far away from the giant hairless kitten as possible, and is climbing into some sort of animal trainer’s padded suit, presumably so she won’t get scratched if the giant kitten lashes out unexpectedly.

I wonder whether to intervene, whether to tell her that, in fact, the giant hairless killer-kitten is really only following my advice and trying to be friendly.

But then I think, Nah. This mini-Nostromo isn’t big enough. In fact it’s really rather small. Room for just one cat at a time.

[Read More]

To intercede for me,

From the hairless kittens that WILL come;

Which creep up from the ocean floor one day…

The day of alien brought armaged–…um, don.

bad google
Jan 31 2012

News Mash: Google isn’t near as smart as it thinks it is!

And doesn’t know near as much as it thinks it does.

I say that as a person who was initially really ticked off by the invasion of privacy, via Google’s new policy in which it basically tracks you through all its services, all over the web.

Nice, eh?

Google – The ultimate stalker!

[via Digital Journal] Google is facing severe criticism from several quarters after it revealed its plan to link user data across its online services, including email, YouTube and social-networking. Many say Google’s move is an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

The Washington Post says Google is seeking to collate a “massive cauldron of data” about its users. Privacy advocates say Google is violating privacy of its users who have previously not had their information shared across different web services. According to The Washington Post, “A user of Gmail, for instance, may send messages about a private meeting with a colleague and may not want the location of that meeting to be thrown into Google’s massive cauldron of data or used for Google’s maps application.” Tech site Gizmodo, described Google’s new move as violating its promise never to do “evil.” According to Matt Honan, “It means that things you could do in relative anonymity today, will be explicitly associated with your name, your face, your phone number. If you use Google’s services, you have to agree to this new privacy policy. It is an explicit reversal of its previous policies.” [Read More]

So, yeah…

The initial news of Google’s new application of stalking everyone it meets, all over the net?

Disturbing.

Until one takes into consideration the accumulation of all of this information that they are compiling…

On YOU!

[via Gawker] How Old Does Google Think You Are?

Here’s today’s fun internet game: who does Google think you are?

[...]

It’s part of Google’s new thing where they ruthlessly violate your privacy. You can click here to see who Google thinks you are. Share the best in the comments. [Read More]

Because generally?

Other than the categories I favor (Science – Biological Sciences – Anatomy), all else in this ‘Who does Google think you are thing?” is so wrong it’s funny!

Cause an adult male, 65+ I’m assure you I am not, no…

Though if it makes you feel all superior to think of me that way Google, have at it!

I will just sit over in the corner & point and laugh at you…

And all of your hilarious, FAIL’ing, evil ways!

I love you not only for what you are
Jan 31 2012

I am thankful for you, for who that I am when I am with you – Here’s to us!

“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”
~Buddha 

[Source]

“Dance as if no one were watching, Sing as if no one were listening, And live every day as if it were your last”
~Anonymous

evolving into me
Jan 30 2012

News Mash: Natural evolution can be so many things, but when it comes to viruses…

Terrible….

Scary….

Frightening!

And these points (above) are the positive points-to-ponder in the ever so lovely article below.

*weeps*

[via NYTimes]Viruses regularly evolve new ways of making people sick, but scientists usually do not become aware of these new strategies until years or centuries after they have evolved. In a new study published on Thursday in the journal Science, however, a team of scientists at Michigan State University describes how viruses evolved a new way of infecting cells in little more than two weeks.

The report is being published in the midst of a controversy over a deadly bird flu virus that researchers manipulated to spread from mammal to mammal. Some critics have questioned whether such a change could have happened on its own. The new research suggests that new traits based on multiple mutations can indeed occur with frightening speed. [Read More]

Only made worse?

By the fact…

That this evolution is obviously happening in nature.

And?

Oh, it’s spreading!

[via Gizmodo] NDM-1: The Bacterial Gene That’s Resistant to 15 Different Antibiotics

Standing as the most densely populated city in the world, New Delhi has plenty of public health issues to deal with on a constant basis. But now health officials have some very urgent matters to deal with: new strains of super-bacteria, the most destructive of which contain the gene dubbed NDM-1 and are resistant to 15 widely used antibiotics.

According to the Atlantic, these super-resistant bacteria have been showing up not only in puddles around New Delhi’s but the water supply. 13 percent of these germs have the NDM-1 gene. Patients have been showing up at hospitals infected with the NDM-1 bug, and doctors have been able to do little to treat them. In the worst case scenarios for bacterial infections, a group of antibiotics called carbapenems are generally used. These NDM-1 bacteria are virtually impervious. […] [The Atlantic] [Read More]

And?

Oh, yeah…

Next step: You know it – This natural evolution is spreading to humans!

[via The Extinction Protocol]January 29, 2012 – MEXICO CITY – An ongoing swine flu outbreak in Mexico has left at least 29 people dead and nearly 1,500 others infected, health officials confirmed on Saturday.

Thousands more are also ill as the country faces several types of flu this season. Since the start of the ongoing winter season, at least 7,069 people have reported suffering from symptoms similar to those of swine flu. Lab tests are still underway and have so far confirmed 1,456 cases of the disease, which is officially known as A/H1N1. According to Mexico’s Health Ministry (SSA), at least twenty-nine people have died of swine flu so far this season.

While no health emergency has been declared, officials expect the death toll will rise in the coming weeks as Mexico also faces A/H3N2 and B influenza. The H1N1 influenza virus emerged in the Mexican state of Veracruz in April 2009 and quickly spread around the world, causing the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a global flu pandemic in June 2009. At least 18,000 people have died of the disease since, although the actual number is believed to be far higher. In August 2010, the WHO declared that the swine flu pandemic was over. “In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza,” the WHO said at the time. “It is expected that the pandemic virus will behave as a seasonal influenza A virus.” –Wire update (BNO News)[Read More]

Evolution in nature… (Hello, bird/swine flu mutations!)

Can be cruel!

So?

I reiterate…

Terrible. Scary. Frightening! And times the thought by infinity.

Yikes!

Jan 30 2012

News Mash: Don’t be sad about Taco Bell breakfast items, here have a cookie!

Ponderism: When to comes to food…

And what ‘tickles your fancy’?

To each your own!

And there is no way I can mean than any more…

Than when I say three little, seemingly harmless (Until meshed together), words.

Potato. Chip. Cookies.

Have at it!

[via SmittenKitchen] Potato Chip Cookies
Adapted from Emeril

Cookie
1 cup (2 sticks or 225 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt (optional, see note above)
1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans
1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour

Potato chip salt finish (optional)
1 tablespoon crushed potato chips
1 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt

Chocolate dip finish (optional)
4 ounces (115 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon butter, canola oil or vegetable shortening

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter with 1/2 cup of the sugar until lightly and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and table salt, if using, until smooth. Add the pecans, 1/2 cup crushed potato chips and flour together and mix until just combined.

Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Scoop a tablespoon-sized mound of dough and form it into a small ball with the palms of your hands. Roll the ball in the remaining sugar until coated. Place on prepared baking sheet and using the bottom of a drinking glass (or, in my case, a kitchen tool I’m unhealthily obsessed with) to slightly flatten the cookies. Cookies only need to be an inch apart; they only spread a little. Sprinkle with a few flakes of the potato chip salt, if using. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake cookies until lightly golden at the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer to cool on a wire rack.

If dipping in chocolate, melt chocolate with butter, oil or shortening in a double boiler or in short bursts in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Dip half of each fully cooled cookie in the chocolate, and let dry and harden on a wire rack. [Read More]

Or?

Taco. Bell. Breakfast.

If that is your rathers?

Oh, you can innocently (until you heart explodes from clogged arteries) have at all…

The new items on Taco Bell breakfast menu?

That your little heart can stand.

[via FitPerez] It’s here! It’s here! It’s FINALLY here!

The best part of any fast food restaurant has been and will always be its breakfast menu. No, it’s not the best food for you or for your mouth, but when you want something quick and tasty, you can’t go wrong with an sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich.

It has been in the works since 2007, but Taco Bell is ready to get into the breakfast business with what they are calling First Meal.

The 11-item menu will debut in 10 states on January 26 and is described as, “everything people love in breakfast, but done in a Taco Bell way.” [Read More]

*sidenote* And considering the items?

Your heart probably won’t be able to stand a whole lot, but don’t be sad about it…

Here, have a cookie.

*no*

And just because the topics in this post are disturbing enough to inspire…

And well yes, because I am awesome-blogger?

Here you go!

Welcome to Obesity!
Formerly known as Obesity Research, Obesity is the official journal of The Obesity Society. Available in print and online, Obesity is dedicated to increasing knowledge, fostering research, and promoting better treatment for people with obesity and their loved ones. Obesity publishes important peer-reviewed research, cutting-edge reviews, commentaries, and public health and medical developments. [Read More]

From me to you…

With much love, devotion and concern.

Bon appetit!

Jan 30 2012

BOSS Gifs – And Off To Space We Go, Edition!

Two Canadian teenagers did something for fun and glory?

Their childhood dream was achieved…

When they saw to it that a Lego man flew where no other toy had gone before: Into space!

[Source]

A few months ago, Mathew Ho approached his pal, Asad Muhammad, with a plan to use a weather balloon to to carry a camera high above the clouds. Over a period of a few months, they came up with a design for a capsule that would carry four cameras and their Lego man mascot above the clouds. See full story http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/25/lego-balloon-space.html

Like a BOSS!

Jan 30 2012

Poetic Celebrity Parody – The Great Cat Avenger, Edition!

Cats are wonderful
Cats are sweet
Cats aren’t meant to…
Symbolize political-speak!

Those that hurt them,
I will hunt them down.
No matter what it takes…
I will run them to ground!

The Great Cat Avenger,
That is me;
You jack with a cat, Buster…

I will never let you be!

[Source]