Biomes Blog

Entry #2389: I Am a Rock

Trivia (25 Biomes points): What’s this?

I’m thinking the “replate” movement isn’t going to really take off. The idea is you put unwanted leftovers in a doggie bag, and place them on top of trash cans so other people can finish them. This way food doesn’t go to waste.

In spite of this study, I’ll still be using my reusable grocery bags. Although I always throw a few in the washing machine each time I do a load of laundry.

This is a NASA satellite image of the gulf, showing the size of the oil slicks (and this is just the oil on the surface).

Hump day musical interlude: Ok Go’s "This Too Shall Pass".

Entry #2388: This is Eddy

Tuesday coonhound blogging: Creole teaches us about the Gulf Stream current. The rings I have coming out the sides are eddies. If the oil does get around the Florida peninsular, these are what will bring it to East Coast beaches. Clicking makes her big.

Today’s long read is an excellent explanation about how offshore drilling works. This lesson will make some sense out of how the Gulf mess happened.

Now we’re cookin’: Panda bread.

Stuff you should know: How to pronounce this year.

Cars in barns.

Entry #2387: Also Known as a Sambar

Albino Monday: Hans finds a white Shajal.

Timewaster of the Week: Homer Simpson’s words of wisdom.

Even now, Caribou Barbie is still chanting “drill, baby, drill”. This is what drill, baby, drill gets you.

Learn something every day.

Entry #2386: Fifty Seven

This week’s Green Thing is a refrigerator that uses almost no electricity.

Reader Hans found this pretty amazing video of a group of trained Russian brown bears playing hockey. Argue about the humane or inhumane aspect of it, but it is still really something to watch.

Movie Rating. The second-best western ever made just turned fifty-years-old. It still holds up pretty well. After watching it last night, I started playing around on Wiki and was surprised to see how many films and shows Eli Wallach (who's still alive, at 94) has done. Five starfish out of five.

Morford: BP welcomes you to the apocalypse.

Buy your swiss chocolate knife here.

Entry #2385: Ecdysis as a Noun

Soon millions of birds will descend on the Gulf Coast, following the Mississippi Flyway from arctic Canada and Alaska and the Boreal forests and prairies of all of North America. And millions will die. (via Hans)

This week’s niche blog is the Train Horn Blog, a site about gadgets that make a lot of noise. 

Welcome to mshed.com. There really is nothing of any interest here. Just a shed.

Today’s slide show is scenes from the harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival.

Fifty things we know now that we didn’t know a year ago.

Entry #2383: Wolf Watcher

More photos of animals.

Geek Stuff: The human faces behind movie aliens, including Chewbacca, R2-D2, and the thing from Alien.

Play! the physics game Demolition City.

Cool site of the week: Wolf Watcher. Dave Harnoff is a wolf lover and collects news and information about packs around the country.

iPod Shuffle:

1. This Traveling Around (Lyle Lovett and his Large Band)
2. Simple Song (Lyle Lovett)
3. Old Habits are Hard to Break (John Hiatt)
4. A Campfire Song (10,000 Maniacs)
5. Across the River (Bruce Hornsby)

Entry #2382: Wood to Aransas

Animal of the Week: Whooping cranes have been a model on how we can rescue a species on the brink of extinction. The flock is scheduled to return to the gulf in October, and Virgo Tex is wondering what will happen to them then. Here’s a map of where they migrate to and from (via Hans).

Meet Brother Sharp, a homeless man in China who became an internet star.

Take a journey into a black hole.

Entry #2381: Camera Pron

Camera toss pictures are photos made by throwing your camera up in the air with the continuous shot button pressed down. Here are some examples of the results.

This is a static image that is supposed to be an illusion of movement. I keep looking, but I don’t see it moving at all.

Someone got a great shot of a fireball meteor over the Mojave Desert.

Photos of happiness.

Hump day musical interlude.

Entry #2380: Scarion and Mystery Fish

Via Ray by email, I see that Alex Kearns’ blog is doing some good coverage of the sickening developments in the gulf.

Now we’re cookin’: Pickled products from around the world.

Profits before people: Seven of the world’s most irresponsible companies.

Tuesday coonhound blogging: Creole's the most patient dog I've owned when it comes to waiting in the car. Click to embiggen.

Stuff you should know: Why we forget our dreams.

Entry #2379: Hemitripterus citrinus

Albino Monday: I picked up this yellow color morph of a sea raven on Saturday. I'm not sure what the exact odds are of finding one this color, but they're pretty low. Here's a shot of a normal colored one and one that is really, really yellow.

Today’s long read is a critical analysis of my shoes.

Good news. If the gusher isn’t stopped, the oil from Deepwater Horizon could keep pouring out at its current rate for only another two to four years. And then it will be empty. Meanwhile, the BP CEO is attending yacht races.

Entry #2378: He Is Resin

This week’s Green Thing are streetlights powered by windmills.

Strange Worlds is a collection of photos of landscapes made out of unusual things. This is Mars made out of paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder and charcoal.

Lightning Jesus statue slide show.

Morford: 19 reasons why God torched Jesus.

The death of my octopus, Ruby, was reported on the local news last Wednesday.

Entry #2377: Canine Squeakectomies

Pet Corner: Busted pets.

If religion is just a story, then why does it upset people so much when atheists say that it isn’t true?

This week’s niche blog is Eating off the People’s Princess, a blog devoted to images of food served on a plate with Princess Di’s image.

The oldest known pencil in the world was found in the attic of a 17th century German home.

Today’s slide show is twelve rich kids who grew up bad.

Entry #2376: It's Happening Again

I see faces in everything.

Play! Juggler.

At Mapenvelope you can print out mailing envelopes with a google map on it showing where the letter was mailed from. Just enter your location, write a message and print it out.

Geek Stuff: How a geek should not board a plane. The laptop might catch fire, but I don’t think it would actually explode. Still funny, though.

iPod Shuffle:

1. Wasted Time (The Eagles)
2. You'll Be Coming Down (Bruce Springsteen)
3. How the Heart Approaches What it Yearns (Paul Simon)
4. Planned Obsolescence (10,000 Maniacs)
5. Tennessee (Shawn Colvin)
6. Jack Straw (Bruce Hornsby)

Entry #2475: With Lilikoi Cream

Animal of the Week: A photosynthesizing sea slug.

The guy with the glasses does fifty impressions in fifty seconds.

150 french toast recipes.

According to this site, T. got the trivia right with Ashton Kutcher, who beat Britney Spears by about 32,000 followers.

Meet the five most fraudulent psychics of all time.

Entry #2375: Jim

Trivia (8 Biomes points): Based on number of followers, who is the top twitter user of all time?

For nine hundred years these dead trees have been standing in a former desert oasis.

 

Things you can buy at a Chinese Walmart.

Coolsounds has a big collection of mp3’s from various movies and television shows.

Hump day musical interlude: When I saw him live a few years ago, I didn’t even know who he was. But it was probably the most enjoyable concert I’ve ever been to. The whole thing was pretty much just like this, which may not be your thing.