...Pets Act Like Kids.

Dogs and cats have been with us for a long time now. We domesticated them 1000s of years ago after realizing how we mutually benefit from each other. Dogs have great hearing but we see better and having a big warm animal next to you in a cave during winter was pretty nice too. During all this time our furry little friends figured out a thing or two as well.

This isn't what it looks like

One of the cool things (I think) about dogs is their ability to follow and interpret our body language. When we point at something they look at where we are pointing. Even looking to the left or right with our eyes will send a dog's head turning. These are called ostensive cues. Dogs would even go against what we would expect based on these cues. During a recent study a group of control dogs were left alone with two plates of food. One plate had more and tastier food on it than the other. On their own the dogs would chose the bigger plate. Next, humans would enter the room and show a preference to the smaller plate. They ate from it, smiled, and acted as though they liked it better than the bigger plate. After, dogs would chose the smaller plate.

It doesn't work the other way around.

Where dogs are easily fooled, cats try and fool us. Researchers studied many recordings of different purrs cats make and found a particular type of purr. This purr communicates an urgency and a certain unpleasantness to it that annoys the owner. The owner would do anything to make it stop, usually by feeding the cat or paying more attention to it. Cat owners are more susceptible to it than non- cat owners suggesting its something and owner learns from the cat.

No surprises that the cat is the manipulator.

Kids do both as well. Before kids can communicate verbally they use both ostensive cues and crying. We often say body language makes up 70% of all communication, maybe this is because we learn this first. And anyone who has had kids can tell you they can distinguish between a cry for food and a cry because they need changing.

And that is what I learned today.

...Acting Could Kill You.

Only if you lived in the mid-18th century though. Something we often take for granted are all the ways we have to entertain ourselves. Besides sitting around with a pint, there are computers (games, internet, etc), phones, books (not many people could read in the 1850s), PlayStations, iPods/Pads, sports, and others I'm sure. In 1849, there was the theatre. In New York City the theatre was the place to be. People from all classes and backgrounds would go and was the only public forum available. Actors became huge stars and amassed quite the following. Fights often broke out and arguments were usually settled with giant rotten fruit fights. On May 10th, 1849 a riot broke that resulted in 25 dead and dozens more hurt. Today it's known as the Astor Place Riot.

Quelling riots since 1982

As it is today, Shakespeare was the man. Every show performed was one of his plays. Poor miners working in the middle of the Arizona desert would sit around and do his plays from memory. In New York two Shakespearean actors formed a bitter rivalry with each other and the audience took sides. Edwin Forrest became the leading American actor (supported by those who identified themselves as Natives and the working Irish, who just hated anything the British liked) and Charles Macready was a British actor (adored by the upper class New Yorkers who still saw themselves of British decent). The upper class population were tired of sitting themselves in the same space as the working class and opened up their own theatre, The Astor Place, where Macready performed. As expected, the working class didn't appreciate this and would crash the Macready performances. One day things just got so out of hand the city police and militia were called in.

To be or not to be cool

If you've seen Gangs Of New York you'll know where this goes next. The authorities shot into the crowd killing about 25 (one being a small child). This might seem extreme but you must remember that this was all they had. The two actors became symbols for cultural and class divide among the citizens. For once there was something the differing classes could unite around. The actors themselves hated each other but had no intention for this to happen. Macready was on his way out of the country when the riots broke. American playwrights started to become popular shortly after.

The 11th Hamlet.

And that is what I learned today.

...What Tantalum Is.

Tantalum is an element which you can probably tell by looking at its name. Its a transition metal with atomic number 73. One version of its isotopes is the rarest in the entire universe. It makes up about 1-2 parts per million of the Earth's crust and is mined primarily in Australia. There is a mine in Brazil that accounts for 20% of the world's supply. Future resources are being looked at in other countries, mainly northern ones, as ice melts more of it becomes economically viable. It has had a negative impact as well. During the Second Congo War, the deadliest conflict since WWII, it was used to fund government and rebel factions. The mining in Congo also had another effect. People mining the metal often shot and killed endangered animals, such as gorillas, for food.

Maybe we can save the bears by having them mine?

It is becoming a very important metal. It's a tough material and is used in armour busting shells and medical replacements (like a hip replacement), It is very, very good at conducting electricity and avoiding corrosion. It is used heavily in computers, dvd players, and video game consoles (all item's popularity is on the rise). It is also used to make surface acoustic wave filters which helps improve sound quality. Currently it runs about $300/lb and is expected to increase as we all want and use more and smaller electronics.

In my day we used to use iron.

And that is what I learned today. 

...About Gaudi.

Antoni Gaudi was and early 20th century Spanish architect. Two of his main loves were nature and religion and his work reflected this. Having studied geometry he noticed the relationship between nature and math. Fractals, cones, and hyperbolic paraboloid are all examples. Gaudi often admired tree trunks and skeletons being both functional and eye pleasing. No matter what the intended purpose of the building, it was still designed with heavy religious tones. Revered today, he was seen as a controversial figure while alive. His designs often broke laws and building codes and when against the typical designs of the day. 7 of his works are UNESCO World Heritage sites (all in Barcelona). He was pretty much the first to use trencadis, making mosaics with broken pieces of ceramics (tiles and dinner plates). He hated sketching his designs, preferring to build scale models and following them during construction.

Saw one of these in the backyard today.

I came across him while reading about the Sagrada Familia which is a church located in Barcelona. Building started in 1882 and it is still incomplete. Construction relies mainly on private donations (causing work to stop when there is no money), has been interrupted many times due to war, and parts of it keep having to be rebuilt from vandalism or arson. In fact, the half way point of construction only happend in 2010 and the completion date isn't until 2028. The outside looks skeletal and the inside was designed to look like a forest. Pillars are meant to be tree trunks and the ceiling like leaves that allows light to shine through from the stained glass windows. Barcelona is on my list of the next 3 places to see partly because of this building.

I can see it taking awhile.

And that is what I learned today. 

...How to Fire Guns.

We were trying to figure something out to do for my brother's 30th birthday. I had found out about a target range north of Toronto that you can use without having to have a gun licence a few years ago. It became of of those things that you always talk about doing but never end up doing it. So the upcoming birthday was a good excuse to try. Its a pretty good deal, you pay about $40 to use the facility and pay for any ammo after that (about $15 for 25 rounds, on average).

This would've been cheaper.

We decided to try a handgun (Beretta 92FS), a rifle (AR-15) with a red dot sight, and a shotgun (Remmington 12ga). They also had a long range rifle (sniper rifle, really) I wanted to try but it was out of service. Everything I expected about shooting was wrong. It was way louder than I thought, the recoil was more than I thought, reload was easier than I thought, and aiming was very tough. Having said that I did get the most points on the target. It was a very 'Zen' like experience. I've heard people do it to get their mind off things and it does. Once you get that first shot off that's all you focus on and you realize you have an actual gun in your hand. Its an awesome experience and you should try it.

This also would have been cheaper but way less fun.

And that is what I learned today.

...You Can Blame The Swiss for Your Credit Card Debt.

I find it hard to fathom how people used to communicate centuries ago. Everyone you talked to was within walking distance but every now and then you had to talk to someone outside of that zone. A son may have had to move away in order to settle on new land and you may have needed to get a hold of him. This was often done by letter and up until the early 1900s, when the phone was invented, this was always the case. There was no post office or system set up by the government and most mail carrying was done by private business. If you lived in London and needed to send a letter to Manchester, you either found someone who was going anyway (a sailor on a merchant ship were good) or a person who did that as an occupation. You never paid up front for the service as quite often people would take the money and just throw out the letter. So, often the recipient paid for the letter, but this proved difficult as well. If the receiver didn't have the money or didn't want to pay, the letter didn't get delivered and whatever you had to say to that person was lost.

Things used to be quiter for Santa.

The Swiss were one of the first places to standardize mail routes in the country and set up postal stations in certain cities. The routes and carriers were now reliable but the payment was still an issue. Postal Orders were invented to solve this problem. Postal Stations sort of worked like banks as well. A sender would pay for the letter delivery up front, a certificate saying he did so was created, and sent along with the letter. The other end verified the payment and delivered the letter to whoever it was meant for. Boom, your Mother's Day card was received and you didn't get yelled at. This eventually paved the way for postal stamps and the Swiss were early adopters of this as well.

I swear I sent it Mom...

The idea spread and it made its way to the new colonies of the Americas. Post delivery was a bit more dangerous in these times. Postal companies often and actively sought orphans for delivering mail since it was pretty much the only job they could get and anyone with families avoided that type of work (the mortality rate was very high). The Pony Express was started to make this type of work easier. Riders would ride full tilt and push their horse almost to death from running so fast. When they reached a waypoint the rider would switch horses and continue riding within seconds, or, the letters were passed between two riders in motion just like an olympic relay race is done today. Seeing the profit in this, and the fact it was now a reliable money maker due to the Swiss inovations, two men by the names of Henry Wells & William Fargo started American Express.

Wish they would have stuck to making chocolate and clocks

And that is what I learned today. 

OTHER THINGS I LEARNED:
-The 1933 movie of Alice in Wonderland will give you nightmares.

...Art is Expensive.

'The Scream' just sold at auction for just under $120 million. Its the highest ever price paid for a piece of art at auction. The weird thing about this is, I get it. I'd pay that much if I had the money. I often say that if I ever won the lottery I would buy an issue of Detective Comics #27. For those of you who don't know that's Batman's first appearence and roughly sells for a cool million.

I'd spend a million to punch Joel.

There are four versions of 'The Scream' each painted/created in a different manner. The one sold at auction was made in 1895 and was done with pastel by Edvard Munch. The painting has been stolen many times over the last 100 years or so. One of the more interesting thefts happend during the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. The cat burglers used the Olympics as a diversion and even left a note thanking the museum for its lack of security. The thieves were eventually caught, tried, and convicted without the painting being recovered. They were released on a technicallity eventually. The British agents that helped the Norwegian authorities entered the country under false identities, which is illegal, which also voided their participation. The painting was obviously recovered but the Norwegian police have never said how.  

I look at this every christmas.

And that is what I learned today.

...Some Facts on Religion.

I came across an article about how world religion statistics have changed over the past 100 years or so. It was written by George Weigel who is a Catholic theologian and published on a Catholic Education website, but we're talking numbers here. No matter who it is written by or what religion the put their faith in doesn't change how many Jewish people there are in the world. In other words, the source is trusted and seems to be without bias.

It's OK this time Fox.

The most shocking statistic to me seems to be that Christian denominations went from 1,900 to 35,500 over the past century. "Distinct" religions went from 1000 to 10,500 during the same time. An example are the Ahmadi Muslim Community. They are based out of India and believed Jesus escaped from the cross and died in India when he was 120, there are 25,000 followers living in Canada. It started in 1914 when the leader of the Ahmadiyya Movement died and there were arguments over who should lead next (the other group formed was the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement). This practice isn't new as the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims comes down to pretty much the same thing.

Who gets the temple?

Other interesting points:
-in 1900 there were 558 million catholics and about 2 billion today. But as a percentage of world population it has decreased overall (going from 34.5% to 33.1% today).
-There were 25 million bibles printed last year in 1735 different languages (there are 208 million IKEA catolouges printed every year).
-Independant Churches, such as the assholes in the Westboro Baptist church, make up around 400 million Christians.  

Priase be to Dagstorp

And that is what I learned today.

 

...A Possible Reason for Left Handedness.

We all know that being left handed is a rare thing. Its a statistic that most people know: 1 in 10 are left handed. Its also not exclusive and right handed people do things left handedly (I shoot left in hockey and eat left handed). But why does it even exist in the first place? It seems the world should have half it's population as left handed or none at all. Early tools weren't specific in what hand you needed to use them with so there's no need for a difference in handedness to develop. But a new study out of Northwestern University suggests its a competitive trait.

August 13th is Ned Flander's favourite day.

One of the only things where being left handed is an advantage is in sports. In a sport such as golf of bowling being a southpaw has no advantage, but a left handed pitcher will do better against right handed batters in baseball. In fencing the ratio of left handers is 1 in 5, double what the national average is. Same is true for boxing. A left handed boxer has an advantage over a righty and looking back over the history of man we did a lot of fighting (with hands and swords). Its this persistent competitive nature that we have that seems to keep it around.

Another advantage.

Being left handed was seen as a curse and as a sign of the devil for most of human history. That sort of thinking sounds absurd but we really only just stopped thinking being left handed was bad for you. Just ask your parents if their mom or dad ever gave them a smack for using their left hand. The word sinister comes from the Latin word for left and the word left in other languages follows suit. Gauche (French for left) also means clumsy, the Russian equivalent means unauthorized and is slang for committing adultery, we even say 'two left feet' when we can't dance.

Must have been left handed.

A lot of tools and materials can be used with either hand (corkscrew, hammer, or tweezers), but leftys still get the shaft most of the time. Watches, guitars, and video game controllers are all built for right handed people. You can get left handed versions of these items but they are rarer to find and custom orders come at great expense. Left handed military personnel have it tough as their machine guns eject super heated casings to the right, away from the face forcing left handers to use their less dominant hand. Not really a good thing when your life is at stake. But like anything they just cope with it until it doesn't seem like a problem at all.

Left or right....it doesn't matter.

And that is what I learned today.

OTHER THINGS I LEARNED:
-How our skin is waterproof.

...About the Tulip Bubble.

You may know that tulips are heavily associated with the Dutch people, along with strange last names. They have fields of the flower planted all over the country, but the flower is actually of Turkish origin. It was brought to Europe from the Ottoman Empire as gifts to the European rulers and aristocrats. The flower hit The Netherlands smack dab in the middle of their golden era which took place during most of the 17th century. At this time The Netherlands became the centre of world trade and was prospering from it. The Dutch East India company had secured a monopoly for the Asian trade market, their systems of canals were ideal for ship navigation (the main method of transportation), they had started the world's first national and centralized bank, and invented the stock market. They were close to the regions we know today as Britain, France, and Germany with no Alps in the way and products could easily make their way all over Europe from there. They had possession of Manhattan Island (known as New Amsterdam then) and today's neighbourhood of Harlem is named after a city in the Netherlands. Antwerp is still an important hub for the diamond trade.

These guys knew their Dutch history.

What does all this have to do with tulips? When they first arrived on the scene people went ape-shit for them. Tulip bulbs were bought with huge sums of money, often at prices that would have bought you a nice piece of land with all the fixings. But what really made the prices soar was its vulnerability to the Tulip Breaking Virus. This virus changes the pigmentation of the petal streaking it with ribbons of white or other colours producing some dazzling looks. No one knew it was a virus and experts of all kinds popped up claiming they could tell if a bulb would 'break' or not. There was no real way of telling if it would 'break' until it bloomed, and since they only bloomed in mid-spring, bulbs were bought and sold year round. The winter made transporting the bulbs impossible as it would kill the flower. So contracts were bought and sold between people based on what speculators were saying about the future prices of tulips. This has led to the modern day practice of future contracts. 


For Sale. 4200 guilders - a real steal. 

Its hard to say what exactly caused the bubble to burst and as we have seen in the past few years it doesn't take much. One reason is the plague. It hit areas that held tulip bulb auctions and buyers stopped showing up. Sellers had no buyers and if you've taken any Economic 101 classes you know this isn't good. Also, the Dutch government changed the rules about buying contracts. If you held a contract to buy 100 bulbs from Vendor X in the spring, you had to buy them, its a contract after all. The policy change made the futures contracts into option contracts. Now, if you held a contract for 100 bulbs you didn't have to buy them and could cancel the contract as long as you paid a small fee (about 3.5% of the original deal). Holders of contracts just paid the fees to cancel them instead of risking getting the plague. Sellers got out of the business since they were losing money with all the cancelled contracts. Eventually no one was buying or selling tulips and a lot of people lost a lot of money over it. And as we have seen over the past few years it sorta wrecks everything when a bunch of people have debt and no money to pay it off. This snowballed and is probably the reason why we aren't enjoying a smoke and a pancake while watching the latest ep of The Big Bang Theory.



I'm glad he's not my neighbour.

And that is what I learned today.

...Duct Tape Doesn't Work Well on a Hostage.

So, I'm writing this against my better judgement. I'll be admitting to something I'd rather not but was asked by a friend to write about it. And here I am. We should all know that Hollywood lies to us about some things, and its usually just to emphasize something (bears don't roar for instance). But something I've seen over and over again is the use of duct tape as a way to secure and/or silence a hostage. A simple piece of tape on the mouth can keep people from screaming and wrapping a bit around a wrist and chair will instantly prevent you from trying to escape.

Ok....that might be bit tougher.

I was bored at work and while at my desk I see a giant roll of duct tape and then proceeded to reach a new low. I tested it out. I put a piece over my mouth and wrapped some around my arm and a chair. With a little wiggling and stretching I managed to get it all off rather easily. Plus its a cloth backed tape, so as soon as there is a tear in it, it'll rip the whole way without issue. The tape was made to seal leaks not contain humans. Duct tape doesn't have a really interesting story. It was originally meant for military use only but soldiers returning from WWII noticed that it could be quite handy around the house too.

I'm chalking this up to my P.I. training.

And that is what I learned today.

...A Little Medical History.

Lately I've been pondering what people will be laughing at us for 100 years from now. For instance: In 1910 it was thought Halley's Comet would kill all humans as the nitrogen from its tail would mix with the oxygen in the atmosphere making nitrous oxide and we would all die from laughing, literally. To study the Doppler Effect they put a marching band on a train and measured the pitch as it approached. It all seems silly now, but it was high tech science at the time. I think in the future they'll be baffled by the size of the Large Haldron Collider as most kids will probably build them for science fairs. I think life before the internet will be compared to life before discovering fire. Even now kids are saying this.

I laughed at this at the time. But my parents bought one anyway.

In the early 1900s doctors lost a lot of patients by a lack of blood. They could fix the wound but the body itself couldn't replace the blood quick enough. This led to the first blood transfusions and you want to know how they did it? They would just sew blood vessels of the donor and the receiver together right out in the open. Plus they didn't quite know how to sew them together evenly so blood would just be squirting all over the place and doctors just hoped some would transfer. Plus....they didn't know about blood types yet so most of the patients died anyway.

Blood brothers.

Another problem was organ removal. Doctors would need to get behind a healthy organ in order to fix the injured one. Problem is, they didn't know how to keep blood flowing to it to keep it healthy enough to be put back in. Eventually someone invented an artificial pump, called a perfusion pump, and everything was ok (sort of. The device was far from perfect but it paved the way for better versions and many lives were saved). The man who invented it? Charles Lindbergh.

Good thing he avoided the Bermuda Triangle....I'm looking at you Amelia.

And that is what I learned today.

...Fish Can be Dicks.

The kind of fish I'm talking about are any (or at least most) of the fish that swim together in large schools. Their sole defence is swimming in groups together so that if they are discovered by any hungry whales, that maybe....just maybe....., they won't get picked off. Little do they know it usually doesn't make a difference. Once a hungover tuna sees the school as it's version of a McDonalds BigMac its all over for them. The tuna will usually attract other tuna, then other fish (sorry, mammals) such as dolphins or whales, and depending on the carnage...sharks. And they will all eat and eat until there is nothing left.

What tuna looks like when I'm hungover.

For a long time scientists didn't know how these large schools swam together with such precision. Same with huge flocks of birds. As far as we know they just do. Each fish just tries to keep his distance away from the next. If he moves right the fish next to him moves out of the way, also moving right. And like ping pong balls on mouse traps, it sets of a chain reaction of all fish moving right. So what happens when one of these little guys gets hurt? The blood could attract predators or an injury can slow down the group. So they leave him behind. Ditch him. But how do the fish know to do this? Turns out the injured fish releases a chemical called chondroitin sulfate. It seems an accidental evolutionary tactic. Scientists think its just given off with an injury anyway and fish just don't like it. Over time the fish learned to recognize it and understand what it means.

Round and round we go!

And that is what I learned today.

OTHER THINGS I LEARNED:
-The old english word 'Ye' is pronounced like our word 'The'

...I Feel Guilty Not Updating More Often.

Another rapid fire session folks......I do apologize that I suck at doing this. One of the things I want/enjoy doing is providing you readers with a little more than a sentence or two. But sometimes what you learn can't be expanded any further, meaning you might see some shorter posts coming up. Having said that, I still have been writing stuff down and I learned each of these on a different day. I'll start with the oldest and end with today's.

#7
...Where the Term Taser Comes From.

Its an acronym, just like LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) actually is, although TASER is not that scientific. It comes from a very old series of novels starring Tom Swift. Swift was a teen genius and his inquisitive nature led him to invent all sorts of fururistic devices, a different one for each book. Some crook would catch wind of his device (whatever it was in that issue) and figured out that he could use it to rob a bank or something. But Swift would always prevail.

I could use one of those.

Some of his inventions (remember that most of his novels were written in the 1910s. Inventors were all the rage then) include: a diamond making machine, a photo telephone, a wizard camera (portable camcorder), an electric locomotive, and his electric rifle. First let me point out that these inventions were in the book before they came out in real life. Many of his other inventions were just bigger and better than what we had back then but have now (his giant telescope for instance could see other galaxies). Both Steve Wozniak and Isaac Asminov both list Tom Swift as an influence. Second its the electric rifle that was the TASER, which stands for Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle (the 'A' was added to make it easier). The man who invented the Taser took the idea directly from Tom Swift.

Still from the new Police Academy movie.

#6
...Sugar Free Gum Can Give You The Runs.

Blame Sorbitol, Blame Sorbitol! That's right folks....that's the culprit that makes you clench your butt as you freshen your breath. The chemical does occur naturally in a few fruits and trees but has the ability to retain its sweetness once extracted. Our bodies don't absorb it very quickly and on top of that Sorbitol likes to draw water to it from other sources. Its a recipe for....well disaster.

When you're sliding into first.....

Doctors figured it out based on two patients with the same symptoms but unknown cause. Both patients were having 'problems' but nothing had changed in their lives to explain it. Eventually it came out that each patient would chew 15-20 sticks of gum a day. That's probably why you haven't noticed it yourself, it takes a high dose to have an effect. Its found in a lot of 'diet' food products and cough syrups.

Now available at Costco.

#5
...There Are Avalanche Rescue Cats.

This fact, specifically, is what I referred to above as a two sentence post. So, here it is: There are avalanche rescue cats. A man by the name of Steve Ruskay started CARCA (another acronym), the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Cat Association. He claims that cats are easier to train and are better at finding people buried under the snow. Plus cats are just easier to take care of.

Step 1: Rescue Human.
Step 2: Eat Human.

He came up with the idea over his frustration with traditional probe techniques. That's where you stick a pole into the snow and hope that it pokes someone buried. A fine method over a few feet of space but tougher on the side of a mountain. It's not official yet as there is a lot of red tape to get this approved. But on the one outing that he took a cat, the cat found the person. So far it works 100% of the time. There's a documentary online somewhere about it and you can see the cute volunteers here.

Cuter? I doubt that's a valid reason for funding unless you're a polar bear, baby seal, or a homeless child. 

#4
...The Most Unlucky Number Around.

1000000000000066600000000000001. That's the number. For one, you might be able to see why. A big ol' 666 right in the middle. Flanking the number of the devil are 13 zeros on each side. Plus its a prime number and palindromic. They call it Belphegor's Prime and the symbol for it is an upside down pi symbol. Why is it Belphegor's prime? I'll answer that question with another question....mark, ? Couldn't find out why. I guess the other demons were busy.

Nice ass.

Belphegor is one of the princes on hell (along with Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Satan). Quite the title. He's the prince of sloth and his modus operandi is tricking people with inventiveness. He would offer ideas for new and radical inventions and the man who sold his soul for them would get rich quick. Since money is the root of all evil, it doesn't take much to see where this ends up.

'Any one know Edison's phone number?'

#3
...How To Kill A Whale.

I wouldn't ever kill a whale, except for those smug Narwhals. I know the Inuit (or Eskimos, there's a bit of a debate which term is correct) used to hunt for humpbacks back in the day. This always impressed me that they were able to do this. With a few spears and fast feet they could kill this giant beast and feed for days. But they had help in the form of Aconitum delphinifolium, a flower also known as the Larkspur monkshood.

Ooooo....look at me....I have a useless, giant tooth.

It's unclear how exactly they figured it out but the could extract a toxin from it they used to cover their spear tips. If the spears didn't kill the whale it would take a few days for the whale to die due to its size and slow heart beat but when it washed up, it was party time. Whale hunters were seen in awe by the other villagers. They would sequester themselves before a hunt to bond and prepare as the event was very dangerous. The flower is small and blue. Reminds me of the flower Bruce Wayne had to carry up the mountain in Batman Begins. I even looked online for a connection but couldn't find one.

Ninja training, lesson #1.

#2
...There's A Purple Crab.

I've written about strangely coloured animals before. And there are other colour lobsters as well (if you think white is a colour). So I was very excited to hear of the purple crab. More excited than anyone outside the field of Carcinology should be anyway. The purple crabs act just like any other crab and are found up and down the North American west coast.

Must be gay.

The best reason for being purple, as well as being covered with red, white, yellow, and other coloured spots is to distinguish themselves between other crab species and genders. Crabs can tell the difference between colours so its likely its the case. 4 new species of purple crabs have been discovered in the Philippines just a few weeks ago, and again, behave like you'd expect them do.

Tastes like grape.

#1
...Who Glenn Seaborg Is.

Mr. Seaborg has done a lot for humanity and made some incredible discoveries during his time here on earth. He has also fell victim to the age old human trait of being ignored for his achievements but how we love Kim Kardashian for doing nothing. I wish that behaviour had a name. Glenn discovered and isolated ten nuclear elements: plutonium, americum, einstienium, curium, berkelium, califorium, fermium, nobelium, and mendelevium. I may not know what each does but I know they are important enough to name them after some pretty important people. Glenn got one named after him, seaborgium, while he was still alive (another big deal). Oh, and he also worked in at Berkely University in California, America...if you get my drift.

I can see the similarites.

He is also responsible for one of those weird lines of elements at the bottom of the periodic table that's separated from the rest. He was instrumental in the development of the atomic bomb having isolated plutonium-239 (the isotope that pretty much makes the whole thing work). He was against the use of the bomb though, having signed a secret document sent to Truman asking him to show the Japanese a test of a bomb before using it on them. He also later supported and added to the anti-nuclear bomb movement. He found iodine-131 which is still used in medical treatments today. The lab where he did most of his work is labelled a U.S. National Historic Site. The guy was good. There's even a wikipedia page solely for things named after him.

What? Too cool for the rest of us?

...There's Such a Thing as an Alligator Snapping Turtle.

I came across this animal after reading an article from National Geographic. The author was just on a hike by himself and had a seat next to a lake. He felt something graze across his boot and this turtle had popped out of the water to have a look at him. The hiker then took his time to slowly back away from the turtle for fear of its ferocious bite.

Away, vile reptiles!!

Mr. Macrochelys temminckii is the largest North American fresh water turtle and is found mostly in the southern USA. Mt is a frequent victim of the black market exotic pet trade, which is having an effect on animal populations more than most people realize. The Japanese are crazy for it, not only as a pet but a culinary delight as well. There's an unverified account of a 400 lb turtle found back in 1937 but the biggest known (for sure) is about 250 lbs. Most go about 2 feet in length and weigh 175 lbs. So for the hiker it must have been a shock to see one with its front feet on your boot. Their bite however only measures the same as a human (well below a number of turtle species), but that can pack a serious punch.

Say hello to my little friend.

Their hunting techniques are interesting to note as well. The inside of their mouth is camouflaged and its tongue has an extra appendage on it that mimics a worm. It sits motionless on the lake bottom with its mouth open and tongue out luring minnows. They are carnivores and eat most types of meat including chicken or pork. There are also cases of them eating other turtles and small alligators but this all happened when confined with these other animals.

Say ahhhhhh

 And that is what I learnded today.