Clipmarks | Patty2007's Pops

'bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality'

Thu, 08 May 2008 15:15:04 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: The fact that the animal has five X and five Y chromosomes is "the weirdest thing about a very weird animal," said Ewan Birney, a co-author on the paper, based at the European Bioinformatics Institute, near Cambridge. "In theory it means there are 25 possible sexes, though in practice that doesn't happen."

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A DNA study found the creatures to be a mix of mammal, bird and reptile with, even more strangely, 10 sex chromosomes

Platypus proves even odder than scientists thought

At first dismissed as a prank, and later cited as proof that God has a sense of humour, the duck-billed platypus has finally given up its evolutionary secrets

The creature, considered one of the strangest mammals in the world, has become the latest to have its genetic code sequenced, revealing it to be a bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality. While humans have two sex chromosomes, the X and Y, the platypus has 10, with five of each kind

An international team of scientists extracted DNA from a female platypus, named Glennie, reading all 2.2bn pairs of her genetic "letters". Thought to have begun to diverge from other mammals 170m years ago, the platypus has been regarded as the nearest thing biologists have to a missing link between the earliest reptiles and mammals

Dinosaur killer may have struck oil

Wed, 07 May 2008 09:17:53 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Larry O'Hanlon

The dinosaur-killing Chicxulub meteor might have ignited an oilfield rather than forests when it slammed into the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago, say geologists.

The dinosaur-killing meteorite crashed into oily shales, researchers say. This would have caused the oil in the rocks to vaporise and ignite, making tiny carbon particles, or cenospheres, like this one

Smoke-related particles found in sediments formed at the time of the impact are strikingly similar to those created by modern high-temperature coal and oil burning, as opposed to forest fires, says Professor Simon Brassell of Indiana University.

He and colleagues from Italy and the UK publish their report on the discovery in the May issue of the journal Geology.

Evidence of some sort of large burn that may have changed the world's climate at the end of the Cretaceous has been around since the 1980s.

But scientists can't agree on just what sort of fire it was.

Dali Atomicus

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:55:42 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: I found it interesting how they got the shot and how many tries it took to get it.

Clip Source: www.flickr.com

"Dali Atomicus" by Philippe Halsman - 1948

You can find out more about Halsman here : www.temple.edu/photo/photographers/halsman/phbio.html and i fully reccomend looking at some more of his work - his collaborations with Salvador Dali were some of the most innovative work around.

And something to note - you could do this in photoshop now easily but Halsman did not - this was shot live. It took 26 tries to get it over five hours - Halsman counted to four, Dali leapt, 3 assistants threw the cats, one threw the water from a bucket and Halsman's wife held the chair. Its all done in the camera.

Tags: salvador, dali, philippe, halsman, photography, art, photograph

Gandhi 'never existed', Churchill 'made up'

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:41:32 GMT

clipped by: sohil

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Mahatma Gandhi never existed while Britain's wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was a fictional character. Don't fret. This is only what most Britons think about the great leaders.

According to a survey carried out in Britain, many believe that Mahatma Gandhi and Churchill are just mythical figures like Florence Nightingale, popularly known as the 'Lady with the Lamp'.

Moreover, despite his celebrated military reputation, 47 per cent of respondents feel the 12th-century English King Richard the Lionheart is fictional, according to the survey of 3,000 British teens.

In contrast, a number of fictitious characters like Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur and Eleanor Rigby were given real life status.

While almost 65 per cent of respondents believe that mythical figure King Arthur existed and led a round table of knights at Camelot, 58 per cent of teens think that Holmes really lived at 221B Baker Street.

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across
the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830 - 1890

Go to the site, read some more, and listen.

Clip Source: www.sapphyr.net

Native American Wisdom Quotes

Inspirational sayings, quotes, and words of wisdom from a Native American perspective, reflecting Native American beliefs, philosophy and spirituality.

Lakota Instructions for Living

Friend do it this way - that is,
whatever you do in life,
do the very best you can

with both your heart and mind.

And if you do it that way,
the Power Of The Universe
will come to your assistance,

if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.

And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,

that's the Way It's Going To Be.

May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears,

And, above all, may silence make you strong.

pictures of Australian skies

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:57:37 GMT

clipped by: boozich
clipper's remarks: looking up at the sky. Holmes said, "Watson, look up. What do you see?
"Well, I see thousands of stars."
"And what does that mean to you?"
"Well, I guess it means we will have another nice day...dude!"

Clip Source: muzich.blogspot.com

Australian skies

Tags: pictures, australian, sky, skies

Fundamentalist Christians; A point of view

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:16:57 GMT

clipped by: DouglasDirk
clipper's remarks: I agree with precepts that Fundamentalist Christians are trying to impose their standards of morality upon the whole of the United States, causing division. The concept of creationism and evolution is a personal decision among all people and each person's beliefs should be respected. Remember, separation of church and state!! Freedom to believe one theory is the right of all people! Fundamentalism is out of control with their agenda to push their beliefs upon others and integrate it into the Federal Government, State Government, Local Government causing great conflict and much harm on society.

Clip Source: www.noanswersingenesis.org.au

Fundamentalist Christians (and creationists) also believe that our society should conform to their moral and social precepts even though we live in a pluralist society (with more Islamic people than Jewish, for instance, and an increasing variety of religions and adherents). I believe there is no place in our society for the teaching of narrow Christian fundamentalist dogma particularly when, in the case of Creationists, most of that dogma is presented as science.

Creationists are fundamentalist Christians. Fundamentalist Christians believe the Bible to be the true and absolute word of God. Creationism is the extension of fundamentalist Christian belief into the arena of scientific endeavour. Creationists believe that the entire cosmos, the Earth and all its creatures, were created by God in six days between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago as described in the Old Testament's Book of Genesis

Tags: religion, christian, morality, evolution, creationism

Still a Democracy. 'How about you?'

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:00:31 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: The voters will decide, with a far stronger opposition media than exists in the USA proselytising against the government. Venezuelans have not lost civil liberties the way people in the US or the UK have in recent years, and ordinary citizens continue to have more say in their government, and share more in its oil wealth, than ever before. It is doubtful that the referendum will reverse these changes, regardless of the outcome.

He does seem to be trying to give the poor some healthcare and some hope. 'How about you?'

Clip Source: www.newstatesman.com

World Affairs

Venezuela: still a democracy

the mainstream media generally abandons quaint notions of balance and objectivity when reporting on Venezuela

this often extends to left-of-centre newspapers not known to slavishly follow the Bush administration's lead when reporting on other oil states where regime change is either sought, Iran, or in process, Iraq

President Lula da Silva of Brazil defended Venezuela last week, asking why "people did not complain when Margaret Thatcher spent so many years in power"

"You can invent anything you want to criticise Chavez, but not for lack of democracy." Lula has repeatedly defended Venezuela's government as democratic, but these comments are never reported in the English language media

if Hillary Clinton is elected next year, we will have Bushes and Clintons as heads of state for a full consecutive 24 years

Chavez is also castigated for proposing to get rid of the independence of the Central Bank

there are sound economic reasons for this amendment.

Tags: venezuels, chavez, constitution, democracy

Kansas gets it. What about Washington?

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:01:00 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: It's a good site with a great idea -- elections by voters for their choices, not only those who "pay" for a place on the ballot box

Clip Source: www.unity08.com

[Video]

Whitney Novak, Unity08's National College Coordinator, talks about Washington's inability to cooperate across parties while her own home state of Kansas (a "red" state) has a "blue" governor and it's own "Unity Ticket" in office (a Democratic Governor who chose a Republican Lt. Governor!). Kansas gets it, how about Washington D.C.?

Tags: election, 3rd party, unity08, politics

Christmas tree in the World 2

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:40:06 GMT

clipped by: matsu_keita

Clip Source: nightview-intheworld.blogspot.com

Tags: christmas tree, christmas, tree, night, light, lighting, neon

Autumn tint seen from various angles

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:43:51 GMT

clipped by: matsu_keita

Clip Source: matsukeita.blogspot.com

Tags: autumn tint, tint, autumn, angles, tree, trees, nature, sky, yellow

Beautiful View about Mountain

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:46:26 GMT

clipped by: matsu_keita

Clip Source: matsukeita.blogspot.com

Tags: mountain, beautiful, nature, sky, blue, green, rock

Fisheries producing smaller less fertile fish

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:56:32 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Karin Strohecker

Industrial-scale fisheries have changed fish evolution, exacerbating the effect of overfishing by producing smaller and less fertile fish,

Dr Ulf Dieckmann, from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, and co-authors write a commentary on managing fish stocks today in the journal Science.

Dieckmann also says that overfishing and the practice of throwing lower quality fish back into the sea to raise the value of fishing quotas might explain the massive drop in population

"Human activity had a possibly irreversible evolutionary effect in just a few generations," he says

"We are running up a Darwinian debt that future generations will have to pay back."

Looking at fishery data from the past few decades, the scientists found that increased mortality due to overfishing has favoured fish that mature smaller and earlier, yet also carry far fewer eggs at their first reproduction.

"The question is not whether such evolution will occur, but how fast

Tags: fish, fishing, evolution, human, intervention

Denial Makes The World Go Round

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:40:38 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Everyone is in denial about something; just try denying it and watch friends make a list. For Freud, denial was a defense against external realities that threaten the ego, and many psychologists today would argue that it can be a protective defense in the face of unbearable news, like a cancer diagnosis.

Yet recent studies from fields as diverse as psychology and anthropology suggest that the ability to look the other way, while potentially destructive, is also critically important to forming and nourishing close relationships. The psychological tricks that people use to ignore a festering problem in their own households are the same ones that they need to live with everyday human dishonesty and betrayal, their own and others’. And it is these highly evolved abilities, research suggests, that provide the foundation for that most disarming of all human invitations, forgiveness.

Tags: i'm, the, queen, of, de, nile