PBS-Nature-Skunks the Misunderstood Mammal
Have you ever seen a skunk up close? Most likely we’ve all smelled them when they’ve been near bye and were threatened. That unmistakable smell they make is obnoxious and incredibly hard if not impossible to get out of your dog when they decide that they just have to investigate what that black and white thing is running around in the bushes!
I’ve never met a skunk myself, but I’ve never had reason to be afraid of them either, and a recent PBS-Nature program reinforces that idea. Skunks are inquisitive and independent mammals that are a bit nocturnal and also don’t’ fear dogs or humans-or many animals. They’re natural enemies are the owl and the motorized vehicle. Lest you think I’m joking think of the last time you smelled a skunk or saw one. It was probably on the side of the road as road kill and if you smelled its pungent aroma it was probably for a short time as you were driving down a county road or driving home-for those of you who live in more rural areas.
The skunk may very well be completely misunderstood. Humans have them as pets-granted most of the time their scent glands are removed prior to being placed in a home-and the gladly take food from humans and walk around us if we’re sitting in the park. They squirt their noxious liquid as a last and best defense when they are cornered or scared.
I not only learned a lot from the Nature Video but found it fun to watch as well. I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the independent and inquisitive skunk!
PBS Video-Skunks! March 2010
http://video.pbs.org/video/1168758029
PBS-Nature-Skunks! March 2010
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/is-that-skunk/introduction/4514/
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Pluto and Clyde Tombaugh
Is Pluto a Planet?
Have you ever stopped to think about what makes a planet? Or what IS a planet? Or even more so whether something should BE a planet? I studied existentialism when I was a philosophy major in undergrad school and I never thought that I’d be applying definitions of existence to planets and planetoid materials. But the Cosmology class I took my senior year definitely helped me when I watched a recent PBS show on Nova-the Pluto Files.
The show’s host-Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson claims that Pluto is simply not a planet and that it’s not big enough nor does it manage to “clear the neighborhood” of its orbit. I recall a lecture by one of my physics Profs in my first astronomy class-I minored in physics-and the thought at the time was that Pluto was most likely a former moon of the planet Neptune. Pluto was allegedly not very large-look at all the other planets after all! Pluto also was not in the elliptical plane that all the other planets orbited in and wasn’t in a circular orbit but an elliptical orbit that even brought it inside the orbit of Neptune.
Now we can debate the scientific aspects of the definition of whether Pluto is or is not a planet, but I will say that that man who actually discovered Pluto Clyde Tombaugh would probably be rather disappointed today if he were alive. I had the opportunity and pleasure of actually meeting the man. It was a lecture hall at the University of Windsor [Canada] in May of 1989 that he made a guest lecture appearance on a Friday night. Because where else do you expect science geeks to congregate on a Friday night but in a Canadian University!
I can remember several things about his lecture that night. That he spent many, many hours looking at glass slides of the stars looking for that one slide that had a change in it that signified a celestial body crossing the heavens. And that there were some 25,000 plates that he looked at as well as if anyone thought he missed something-like a tenth planet-then we were all welcome to look through those plates again! But he wasn’t planning on doing it!
More men have been to the moon than have discovered a planet. Pluto-planet or not-is a large mass that orbits our sun and was a major find and announcement back when it was discovered in 1930. No one can take away that from Clyde Tombaugh.
PBS-Pluto Files-March 2010
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pluto/
Nasa-Pluto the dwarf planet
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/pluto_worldbook.html
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Have you ever stopped to think about what makes a planet? Or what IS a planet? Or even more so whether something should BE a planet? I studied existentialism when I was a philosophy major in undergrad school and I never thought that I’d be applying definitions of existence to planets and planetoid materials. But the Cosmology class I took my senior year definitely helped me when I watched a recent PBS show on Nova-the Pluto Files.
The show’s host-Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson claims that Pluto is simply not a planet and that it’s not big enough nor does it manage to “clear the neighborhood” of its orbit. I recall a lecture by one of my physics Profs in my first astronomy class-I minored in physics-and the thought at the time was that Pluto was most likely a former moon of the planet Neptune. Pluto was allegedly not very large-look at all the other planets after all! Pluto also was not in the elliptical plane that all the other planets orbited in and wasn’t in a circular orbit but an elliptical orbit that even brought it inside the orbit of Neptune.
Now we can debate the scientific aspects of the definition of whether Pluto is or is not a planet, but I will say that that man who actually discovered Pluto Clyde Tombaugh would probably be rather disappointed today if he were alive. I had the opportunity and pleasure of actually meeting the man. It was a lecture hall at the University of Windsor [Canada] in May of 1989 that he made a guest lecture appearance on a Friday night. Because where else do you expect science geeks to congregate on a Friday night but in a Canadian University!
I can remember several things about his lecture that night. That he spent many, many hours looking at glass slides of the stars looking for that one slide that had a change in it that signified a celestial body crossing the heavens. And that there were some 25,000 plates that he looked at as well as if anyone thought he missed something-like a tenth planet-then we were all welcome to look through those plates again! But he wasn’t planning on doing it!
More men have been to the moon than have discovered a planet. Pluto-planet or not-is a large mass that orbits our sun and was a major find and announcement back when it was discovered in 1930. No one can take away that from Clyde Tombaugh.
PBS-Pluto Files-March 2010
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pluto/
Nasa-Pluto the dwarf planet
http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/pluto_worldbook.html
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
New Mini is in Europe but not the USA
New Mini is here but not here in the USA!
It seems to beg the question of WHY car producers from Ford to BMW don't send their smaller, fuel efficient cars here to the USA. The MINI brand has a long line of loyal supporters and continues to grow each year, so why not send the new fuel efficient diesel engine to the USA?
So why do Americans keep buying the same SUVs and large sedans? Is it because we’re too fat and cant’ get into smaller cars? Is it because we like large cars to make us feel like BIG important people? Is it Freudian and that the size of our car somehow equates to the size of our male or female genitalia?
Maybe it’s because there are next to no options when it comes to buying an interesting and affordable smaller vehicle.
UK-MINI
http://www.mini.co.uk/html/model_range/mini_cooper_d/home.html
MSN-Autos-10
cars we should see in the USA
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=1132690&icid=autos_1337>1=22011#9
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
It seems to beg the question of WHY car producers from Ford to BMW don't send their smaller, fuel efficient cars here to the USA. The MINI brand has a long line of loyal supporters and continues to grow each year, so why not send the new fuel efficient diesel engine to the USA?
So why do Americans keep buying the same SUVs and large sedans? Is it because we’re too fat and cant’ get into smaller cars? Is it because we like large cars to make us feel like BIG important people? Is it Freudian and that the size of our car somehow equates to the size of our male or female genitalia?
Maybe it’s because there are next to no options when it comes to buying an interesting and affordable smaller vehicle.
UK-MINI
http://www.mini.co.uk/html/model_range/mini_cooper_d/home.html
MSN-Autos-10
cars we should see in the USA
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=1132690&icid=autos_1337>1=22011#9
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Maple Syrup-The Next Crystal Meth?
Maple Syrup Addiction-March 2010
So the word on the street is that there’s a “hot” shipment of pure
Canadian “Snow” coming down from the Northern Ontario region across the bridge later this week. Everyone is talking about how this stuff will simply blow your mind-not to mention your taste buds! And for anyone who doesn’t get it yet who’s reading this-I’m not talking about drugs-I’m talking about maple syrup!
So allegedly Canadian maple syrup is the best anywhere on earth! I have a friend and co-worker who attest to this and who was born and raised in the land of the Maple Leaf! It’s supposed to be like pure sugar but better. A liquid golden fluid that drips so sweetly from the bottle and your mouth absorbs it before it gets to your stomach. The sweetness causes your mouth to somehow water while you taste it and your eyes dilate and your breathing and heart slows as if you were on a narcotic.
Imagine if this syrup were illegal and indeed did need to be smuggled in to the country. Instead of the USA looking to the south for the drug war we’d have a new drug war! The border to the North would be guarded and there would be talk of a huge fence and wall to be built across the northern territories of Wyoming, North Dakota and Minnesota! Imagine seeing US Naval ships patrolling the Great Lakes because Canadian smugglers would be coming across Lake Superior, Huron and Erie.
Detox centers we have now would re-open their doors to newly diagnosed diabetics and those trying to inject crystal-syrup into their veins. Imagine iHop as a distribution and delivery point for the “stuff” all across the USA. Imagine how we’d have gone from selling maple syrup in every grocery store across the USA to searching kid’s lockers and getting search warrants to enter homes for the illegal product. People would be passed out on the floor and on couches after eating the flour and egg “delivery-systems” of pancakes and waffles!
Imagine seeing people laying in the streets passed out from ingesting and injecting too much maple into their body. Scoring crystal-syr would be the new way to get high and the new “science-project” that each school kid would be working on in the basement at home!
Your long lost grandma and grandpa up north would be watched by the FBI as suspected drug sellers and distributors! Imagine visiting Kalkaska or Menominee and seeing DEA and FBI agents breaking down doors on a drug bust! Or the heightened state of alert on our side of the border at Portland or Sue Saint Marie here in Michigan!
Certainly this could never happen-right?
Sugary Maple Syrup is just a fun and delicious way to enjoy your breakfast waffles and pancakes. We never have to worry about maple syrup becoming a banned substance. Do we?
iHop
http://www.ihop.com/
Vermont Maple Syrup
http://vermontmaple.org/
Michigan Maple Syrup
http://www.mi-maplesyrup.com/
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
So the word on the street is that there’s a “hot” shipment of pure
Canadian “Snow” coming down from the Northern Ontario region across the bridge later this week. Everyone is talking about how this stuff will simply blow your mind-not to mention your taste buds! And for anyone who doesn’t get it yet who’s reading this-I’m not talking about drugs-I’m talking about maple syrup!
So allegedly Canadian maple syrup is the best anywhere on earth! I have a friend and co-worker who attest to this and who was born and raised in the land of the Maple Leaf! It’s supposed to be like pure sugar but better. A liquid golden fluid that drips so sweetly from the bottle and your mouth absorbs it before it gets to your stomach. The sweetness causes your mouth to somehow water while you taste it and your eyes dilate and your breathing and heart slows as if you were on a narcotic.
Imagine if this syrup were illegal and indeed did need to be smuggled in to the country. Instead of the USA looking to the south for the drug war we’d have a new drug war! The border to the North would be guarded and there would be talk of a huge fence and wall to be built across the northern territories of Wyoming, North Dakota and Minnesota! Imagine seeing US Naval ships patrolling the Great Lakes because Canadian smugglers would be coming across Lake Superior, Huron and Erie.
Detox centers we have now would re-open their doors to newly diagnosed diabetics and those trying to inject crystal-syrup into their veins. Imagine iHop as a distribution and delivery point for the “stuff” all across the USA. Imagine how we’d have gone from selling maple syrup in every grocery store across the USA to searching kid’s lockers and getting search warrants to enter homes for the illegal product. People would be passed out on the floor and on couches after eating the flour and egg “delivery-systems” of pancakes and waffles!
Imagine seeing people laying in the streets passed out from ingesting and injecting too much maple into their body. Scoring crystal-syr would be the new way to get high and the new “science-project” that each school kid would be working on in the basement at home!
Your long lost grandma and grandpa up north would be watched by the FBI as suspected drug sellers and distributors! Imagine visiting Kalkaska or Menominee and seeing DEA and FBI agents breaking down doors on a drug bust! Or the heightened state of alert on our side of the border at Portland or Sue Saint Marie here in Michigan!
Certainly this could never happen-right?
Sugary Maple Syrup is just a fun and delicious way to enjoy your breakfast waffles and pancakes. We never have to worry about maple syrup becoming a banned substance. Do we?
iHop
http://www.ihop.com/
Vermont Maple Syrup
http://vermontmaple.org/
Michigan Maple Syrup
http://www.mi-maplesyrup.com/
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
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