Monday, April 28, 2008

About The Signs

The Signs (of the times) is a good source of information, generally.

Oh sure, sometimes it goes off into wild eyed, tinfoil hat speculation and conspiracy theory territory, but its my job to ferret out those posts which lack credulity and bring you only the most plausible information. If I fuck up, so be it.

Headline links to site.

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Trivial animal trivia


Yes, that is a male.
Live with it.

This will keep you busy for a while and fill your head with some of the fucking trivia in my mind. Muahahaha.

Feel content I won't be adding comments. Even though I could because I know much more trivia about these subjects.

I need a fucking life. I was talking to a cockroach earlier. Its dead. But it never contradicts nor argues with me. Tomorrow I'll be talking to a brick. Same response.

I think its a "he" (the cockroach), but I could be wrong. I don't sex (farm term for establishing the sex of something) cockroaches. Nor Chickens for that matter.

Now in a bar its another thing entirely. Ya gotta be sure.
This week the Zoological Society of London published a list of the world's weirdest animals, including a purple frog that lives 12ft underground.

A RABBIT loves licorice - but it is very bad for them because they cannot digest sugars.

DALMATIONS are the only breed of dog that gets gout (because they are the only mammals, other than humans, which produce uric acid).

SLUGS have four noses - well actually a pair of gills for breathing and a pair of rhinopores (chemosensory organs) used for smelling.

HONEYBEES have hairs on their eyes to help them collect pollen.

The left leg of a CHICKEN is tendered [more tender?] than the right one, which it uses most, therefore increasing muscle development.

The sperm of a MOUSE is longer than the sperm of an elephant.

MICE are highly promiscuous and need particularly large testes to keep up with demand.

More human deaths have been attributed to FLEAS than all the wars ever fought. As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing one third of the population of Europe in the 14th century.

A CAT uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.

GOLDFISH lose their color if kept in dim light. Much like humans getting a tan, they need sunlight to keep their pigment.

ALBATROSSES have a wing span of up to 14ft and need to land only once every couple of years to breed. They can travel hundreds of thousands of miles each flight.

Certain Chinese and American ALLIGATORS can survive the winter by freezing their heads in ice, leaving their nose out to breath for months on end.

DOLPHINS sleep with one half of the brain at a time, and one eye closed.

When two DOGS approach each other, the dog which wags its tail very slowly - showing anger - is in charge.

Some LIONS can mate more than 50 times a day.

If you lift a KANGAROO'S tail off the ground it can't hop - they use their tails for balance.

For every person there are roughly 200 million INSECTS.

A CROCODILE cannot stick its tongue out, because it is attached to the bottom of its mouth. This is why they appear to gulp their food down.

ELEPHANTS are the only mammals that can't jump.

CAMELS have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

Many HAMSTERS blink only one eye at a time.

A FLAMINGO can eat only when its head is upside down. Its tongue pumps water through the sieve-like ridges that line its beak in order to trap microscopic algae.

A DOLPHIN'S hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from 15 miles away.

BUTTERFLIES taste with their hind feet.

A SNAIL can sleep for three years if conditions are adverse (such as during a drought).

BEES have five eyes - three small ones on top of their head and two larger ones in front.

POLAR BEARS are the only mammal with hair on the soles of their feet. It helps them to get a good grip on icy surfaces, and also acts as a heat insulator.

Most ELEPHANTS weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.

The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their head are the RABBIT and the PARROT.

PENGUINS can jump as high as 6ft in the air.

The last animal in the dictionary is the ZYZZYVA, a tropical weevil.

ELEPHANTS have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.

The leg bones of a BAT are so thin that they cannot walk.

GREAT WHITE SHARKS can go as long as three months without eating.

GOAT'S eyes have rectangular pupils, which enable them to watch over their broad, flat grazing area for predators.

KIWI BIRDS are blind and hunt by smell.

GIRAFFES have no vocal cords and communicate by vibrating the air around their necks.

A female OYSTER may produce 100 million young over her lifetime.

MOSQUITOES are attracted to the color blue twice as much as to any other color.

No two ZEBRAS have the same markings.

The longest recorded flight of a CHICKEN is 13 seconds.

A BEE must visit 4,000 flowers to make one tablespoon of honey.

By swallowing water, the PUFFER FISH becomes too big for other fish to swallow.

A full-grown BEAR can run as fast as a horse.

Female FLEAS drink 15 times their weight in blood every day.

When a GIRAFFE'S baby is born, it falls from a height of 6ft, usually without being hurt.

A DRAGONFLY can spot an insect moving 33ft away.

CAMEL milk does not curdle, because it has adapted to the desert heat.

POLAR BEARS can swim 60 miles without pausing for a rest.

Via Jonco.

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Aircraft cockpits (flight decks* to be PC)


F-117 Nighthawk

And you get confused by all the instruments on your automobile's dashboard? Muahaha.
The F-117 is the world’s first operational stealth aircraft. Through a combination of faceted surfaces, advanced materials, and other technologies, the Nighthawk is virtually undetectable to radar. With precision weapons, the F-117 can destroy heavily defended, high-value targets with impunity. Essentially designed by electrical engineers, the F-117 is inherently unstable and stays airborne through a sophisticated flight control system. The original cockpit design used many off-the-shelf components, such as F/A-18 displays. A complete set of standby flight instruments is included as a backup. Plastic glareshield extensions are used to minimize instrument reflections on the flat canopy side panes.

More photos at the link provided by Neatorama.

Confession: I often steal without remorse from Neatorama, but I see it as advertising the site. Such Is how rationality works.

* Don't laugh, aircraft manufacturers already have changed to the term "flight deck". I'm guessing most pilots haven't.

Via Neatorama.

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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Invaluable source of information on Iraq