Pamukkale

Hot springs in Turkey characterized by a high content of hydrogen carbonate and calcium, leading to the precipitation of calcium carbonate (chalk) in the form of terraces, frozen waterfalls, and stalactites.

"These sources were well-known in antiquity. They were described by the Roman architect Vitruvius. The Phrygian Greeks built Hierapolis on top of the hill. They ascribed medical properties to the spring water, bestowed by the gods, especially Asklepios (demigod of medicine) and his daughter Hygieia (goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation), under the protection of Apollo (god of medicine and healing)." (text from Wiki, photo from Pixdaus)(more impressive if you click to view full-size)

An impressive sight...

Click to enlarge. Tentatively identified as cownose rays, which often school in large numbers. Source for photo unknown (found on Pixdaus).

The sad state of U.S. science education

"Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in US schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science…

… a quarter of the teachers also reported spending at least some time teaching about creationism or intelligent design. Of these, 48% – about 12.5% of the total survey – said they taught it as a "valid, scientific alternative to Darwinian explanations for the origin of species"…

When Berkman's team asked about the teachers' personal beliefs, about the same number, 16% of the total, said they believed human beings had been created by God within the last 10,000 years."

(additional grim details at this New Scientist link)

"Smackdown" by a Saudi newswoman

In this video, the young woman in the black hijab is Buthayna Nasser, a Saudi newswoman, being interviewed on Lebanese television; she totally destroys the fundamentalist cleric with her logical refutation of his statements.

This is about a year old and is MEMRI television, which has a history of questionable translations based on a political agenda, but in this case whatever the precision of the translation, the content is clear. This brief segment may help some people understand that there are multiple viewpoints about the role of women in Saudi society.

I enjoyed the top-rated Reddit comment: "Men fear women because they can do Sudoku while carrying on a coherent debate!"

The rapids under old London Bridge

“The location of the bridge's 19 timber pier supports (starlings) was determined by riverbed conditions and this meant that they were varied in spacing across the river. Consequently, the arch spans varied in size too and boats navigating the arches encountered different currents and river conditions at each one. Some were more dangerous than others. Over the years, boatmen christened the arches with various names, such as Gut Lock and Long Entry…

Navigating through the bridge in a boat could be very dangerous because the closeness and number of starlings backed up the river water, creating rapids. In some places the drop in water height from one side of the bridge to the other was more than the height of a man. Many people lost their lives 'shooting' the bridge and "Drowned at the bridge" became a common entry in the registers at nearby graveyards.

Some Londoners presumably did as Cardinal Wolsey did. On his frequent visits to Greenwich to see Henry VIII, he would have his barge stopped above the bridge and get out and travel to Billingsgate by mule, where he would rejoin his barge — providing it had successfully negotiated the rapids.”

(Text and image from the ever-interesting Scribal Terror)

Did you have problems at your wedding?

This couple was getting married in Sichuan province when the earthquake hit. The photographer took the top picture of fragments falling off the church. The wedding guests look like 9/11 survivors, and the 100-year-old Christian church is badly damaged.

More pictures from that wedding HERE.

Bernoulli is probably rolling in his grave

The logarithmic spiral was first studied by Descartes in 1638 and thereafter by Jakob Bernoulli. Bernoulli called it the "miraculous spiral" because of its mathematical properties and its propensity to appear in nature (the link shows a logarithmic spiral in a Nautilus shell, a hurricane, a spiral galaxy, and broccoli). He was so enchanted by the form that he left instructions for a logarithmic spiral to be engraved on the headstone of his tomb.

The stonemason, however, did not draw a logarithmic spiral - he drew an Archimedian spiral. (Credit to the new shelton wet/dry and mathworld.)

TV versus high-definition TV illustrated

Albino tadpoles - how cool is that??

I have enjoyed raising tadpoles to frogs in a terrarium, so this story from today's DailyMail caught my eye.

Experts on amphibians have been caught on the hop by a rare batch of albino tadpoles living in a garden pond.

Tiny pale globules of frog spawn and tadpoles are now under observation at a secret and closely guarded address in Carmarthenshire, west Wales. Experts from Froglife were called in after at least four separate blobs of albino spawn were found deposited in the pond.

"Albino individuals of adult frogs, toads and newts have been reported in the past, though sightings are considered very rare," a spokesman said. "Cases of multiple albinistic individuals in a breeding population are even rarer."

"Usually albino amphibians fail to live to a breeding age - their white colour makes them a blindingly conspicuous beacon for the various animals that depend on frogs for food..."

"Caught on the hop." Obviously used here for its punning effect, but a new phrase to me - presumably with etymologic origins on the cricket field?? Perhaps one of my anglophile readers can clarify...

Photographer skewered by javelin

Newspaper photographer Ryan McGeeney... was spared serious injury in the mishap, and even managed to snap a photo of his speared leg while others worked to help him.

"If I didn't, it would probably be my editor's first question when I got back," McGeeney said.

[He] was taking pictures of the discus event and apparently wandered into off-limits area set aside for the javelin throw. Striking just below the knee, the javelin tip went through the skin and emerged on the other side of his leg. "It wasn't real painful. I was very lucky in that it didn't hit any blood vessels, nerves, ligaments or tendons," McGeeney said.

Much of the javelin was cut off at the scene. The piece in McGeeney's leg was removed at a hospital, and he received 13 stitches.

(Credit to Nothing to do with Arbroath)

Paralympic runner going to Olympics

I usually avoid blog entries about sports, celebrities, or other things that will be covered in the conventional media, but this story has some added interest. It will be a topic of conversation - and debate - right through the summer Olympics.

Oscar Pistorius is a South African who was born without fibulas and had both lower legs amputated when he was 11 months old. He presumably wore conventional prostheses for years, but now has been fitted with J-shaped "cheetah feet" made out of carbon fiber. There has been a vigorous debate as to whether these devices provide him with an unfair advantage.

Similar debates have raged in the past over everything from athletic shoes to pole vault poles to swimsuits. Those, of course, were items that all competitors could use if they could afford them; these feet represent a unique conundrum.

I'm a great fan of the principles of Olympic sport, though I detest the inherent (and ever-growing) nationalism, and I'm an even bigger fan of the Paralympics (which I think more closely embodies the true Olympic spirit). So I'll blog this for interest.

And you have to smile at this guy's nickname... Blade Runner.

(Credit to the Presurfer for the image, citing a Gizmodo article)

Giant mice eat rare seabird chicks alive

"For tens of thousands of years, the birds of Gough Island lived unmolested, without predators on a remote outcrop in the south Atlantic. Today, the British-owned island, described as the home of the most important seabird colony in the world, still hosts 22 breeding species and is a world heritage site.

But as a terrible consequence of the first whalers making landfall there 150 years ago, Gough has become the stage for one of nature's great horror shows. Mice stowed away on the whaling boats jumped ship and have since multiplied to 700,000 or more on an island of about 25 square miles.

What is horrifying ornithologists is that the British house mouse has somehow evolved, growing to up to three times the size of ordinary domestic house mice, and instead of surviving on a diet of insects and seeds, has adapted itself to become a carnivore, eating albatross, petrel and shearwater chicks alive in their nests. They are now believed to be the largest mice in the world. Yesterday Birdlife International, a global alliance of conservation groups, recognised that the mice, who are without predators themselves, are out of control and threatening to make extinct several of the world's rarest bird species..."

Full story at the Guardian (U.K.).

If we hired like we vote...

I was reminded of this cartoon when I saw a quote from Senator Clinton today, encouraging a crowd to "think about this as a hiring decision."

200 miles per gallon in new Volkswagen

"VW has been talking for a long time about its L1 concept, so called because it uses a measly 1 liter of gasoline to go 100 km... Of course, the amazing mileage comes at a price... The single passenger actually sits behind the driver, like in a small airplane. The tiny engine will only get the car up to about 75 mph and, as such, VW doesn't expect to sell a lot of these vehicles. Safety concerns might also keep the car from being a best seller. But, since it does have four wheels, it will have to meet all of the normal safety regulations for cars. VW will continue to release details on the car, but it is firm that this vehicle will be produced by 2010."

It will compete with the three-wheeled 300 mile-per-gallon Aptera. "The Aptera is fuel-efficient because it is extremely light, and it keeps itself so light in a few ways. First, the engine is tiny, one cylinder, but that's OK, because it's only ever used to charge the batteries. It also stays light by doing away with one of the wheels. This also helps because then, according to American safety regulations, it is technically a motorcycle, and so doesn't have to jump through any of the normal safety hoops."

Since they appear to be hybrid motorcycle-cars, these vehicles are unlikely to replace current cars en masse, but they will fill a niche. It will depend on whether a driver or family can save enough on fuel to justify one of these as a second vehicle. I drive about 16,000 miles per year, about 8,000 of that city driving suitable for a minicar. At my current 20 mpg city, that's 400 gallons per year; switching to a 200 mpg car would cut gas consumption to 40 gallons, saving 360 gallons. At $4/gallon that saves $1,440 per year - not enough to justify a $20K car in strict economic terms. But gas may go to $8/gallon, or the car prices may come down. Things could get interesting...

Where's Waldo?

The photo was taken yesterday during a campaign stop by Barack Obama in Portland, Oregon. The chief of Portland Fire & Rescue estimated that 75,000 people were present for the speech. Click to enlarge (and more photos at the link to show this one isn't Photoshopped). When was the last time ANY presidential candidate in ANY election cycle drew a crowd this big? Perhaps when JFK gave his famous "I am a jelly doughnut" speech in Berlin.

75,000 people didn't turn out to see who the candidate is or what he looks like; they know that from television. They didn't come to hear the content of a speech which was almost certainly a repeat of content expressed many times previously. They were there to make a point - voting with their feet. It reminds me of the final scene from "V for Vendetta."

John McCain and the Republican party should be trembling in their boots at the prospect of facing this kind of enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee.


addendum: Here's the coverage from CNN: "Obama made low-key campaign stops this weekend, hitting a street festival in Keizer and stopping for ice cream in Eugene."