Archive for January, 2012

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Caught on Camera


21 Jan

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It’s happened again! Scientists have found a species believed to be extinct! This time, it’s the Miller’s Grizzled Langur, a monkey living in the jungles ofBorneo. These guys are so rare, and it has been so long since they’ve been seen, that the scientists who “found” them (via camera traps) did not even know what they were looking at. In fact, museum sketches were the best pictorial evidence they had to go on.

The old habitat of the monkeys had been destroyed, and they were honestly believed gone. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of how resilient animals are.

The Internet Wins


20 Jan

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Organized, peaceful protest works. I know it does not always seem like it does. But the Occupy Wall Street folks changed the conversation in this country. It may not seem like much, but we no one is going to work on fixing problems no one is talking about. Changing the conversation matters.

In that same vein, the very loud internet protests of this week have resulted in Congress withdrawing the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy measures. Protecting intellectual property is good, but not at the expense of our freedom of speech. We do not need more laws; we need better laws.

It’s a Carnival!


19 Jan

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Over at the Dog Ate My Wallet, my personal finance blog, I’m celebrating a milestone. I’ve decided to host a Pets and Personal Finances Carnival. The carnival will go up on Saturday, January 28. If you’ve got a post about pets and money or money and pets, send it on in so that you can be included in the fun.

Just head on over to my Contact page for the email address to send the link to. Please make sure the subject line says Pets/PF Carnival so that I don’t lose it. Entries from any kind of blog are welcome.

No SOPA


18 Jan

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I thought about not posting anything today as part of the SOPA protest, but since I accidentally skipped Monday, I think it may just look like the Seattle snowpocalypse knocked out my connection.

I am against SOPA. As a writer, I am for copyright protections, but not handled in such a mishmash, no one knows if they’re breaking the law or not, kind of way. Do not let your internet provider be the one who chooses what sites you can visit.

The First Amendment protects us from censorship. Don’t let them claim the internet is not protected by the Constitution.

Sherlock


17 Jan

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We’re probably the last of our friends to finally catch an episode of the new Sherlock, a modern day reboot of classic Sherlock Holmes. And it does appear that Masterpiece Mystery will be playing more episodes, so hopefully we’ll see those as well. (I think there are three total.)

C is a fan of the Sherlock Holmes books, so he tends to be pretty picky about the adaptations. We both enjoyed this one, mostly because it focused on the spirit of Holmes and Watson and did not worry about the rest (I guess that’s the joy of making it modern).

Game Review: Arkham Horror


15 Jan

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Played Arkham Horror for the first time. We (the players) actually won the game. Our Ancient One never came out as we managed to close all gates on the board, with us having more gate tokens than players. I’m not really certain it is supposed to be as “easy” as it was.

The first few turns took a while as we all got used to the rules and style of play, but after that, things moved well. I still think our game took 90+ minutes though, so it’s not something that’s going to replace Dominion. Less time that Runebound though.

Blog Feature: Two Pitties in the City


14 Jan

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Given a Chicago alderman’s renewed attempt to ban Pit Bulls in the city, I want to highlight the wonderful people at Two Pitties in the City.

I love Pits. I think they are absolutely wonderful, sweet, and loving dogs. It is not the fault of the dogs that they’re currently the breed of choice for idiots.

The people at Two Pitties are also the founders of SociaBulls (look for them on FaceBook), a group that takes their Pits (and other dogs) on large group walks throughout the city. Hopefully, they will be able to counter some of the negative press.

Congratulations, It’s a Submarine


13 Jan

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The H.L. Hunley, the world’s first successful combat submarine, can now be seen completely unobstructed, at the Charleston conservatory in Charleston, SC.

Preservation is not yet completed. Conservators need to remove corrosion from the iron hull and then add chemicals so that the submarine can be shown in open air, but still, you can now view the whole thing.

While the Hunley was a major accomplishment for the Confederacy, it was also a source of tragedy, with three full crews dying inside her hull. Pictures of the final crew are on display next to the tank that holds the sub.

Behold the Sunflower


12 Jan

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I love this quote from MIT mechanical engineer Alexander Mitsos “”It is very scary that we did all the [numerical optimization] work and then we go back to nature,” he noted. “We could have started there.”

What is he talking about? Designing solar power arrays based on the sunflower. It sounds simple when you think about it. We call it the sunflower partly because it follows the sun. Is it any surprise that it’s optimized to catch the sun’s rays?

Regardless of the simplicity of the design, reducing the size of solar power arrays by 20% is huge. Go nature.

Old Dreams


11 Jan

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Way back when, I was a History major who wanted a masters in Museum Studies and my brother was an Archaeology major. I used to have these fantasies of us working at an important archeological site together and finding something amazing, something like the Hallaton Helmet.

Dating from Emperor Claudius’s invasion of Britian around two thousand years ago, the helmet took over 10 years to restore after it was first found (by a guy with a metal detector, along with a number of ancient coins). What a perfect combination of the work of archeologists and the specialists at the museum.

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