Clipmarks | hitchhiker08's Comments

Inedible and dangerous: black and white animals

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:06:28 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie
clipper's remarks: I was playing a game with my daughter and discovered there are more black and white animals than I thought.

Clip Source: tiger.gsfc.nasa.gov

Clip Source: www.fantom-xp.com

Clip Source: www.wildlifedamagecontrol.net

Clip Source: findarticles.com

In the human arena, simple black-and-white color schemes jump out from a more complicated world as effective attention-getting devices. Like the stripes on railroad crossing gates, they warn of danger. To would-be predators, patterns found on the likes of striped polecats, marbled salamanders and Carabid beetles cry out that the wearer is inedible, dangerous or foul tasting. Predators quickly learn not to touch.

While in Egypt preparing bird skins for a museum collection, the scientist noticed that swarms of hornets were feeding on the skinned remains of doves but ignoring nearby carcasses of pied kingfishers. Could it be, Cott wondered, that the black-and-white plumage of the pied kingfisher was warning coloration? The biologist ran blind taste tests with the flesh of 38 different species of birds, using humans, cats and hornets as tasters. Astonishingly, the diverse group concurred, giving the 'least edible' rating to the only three black-and-white birds on the menu.

13 Strange Last Requests

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:55:42 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: Some funny ones at the site!

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

13 Last Requests That Prove It's OK to Laugh at Dead People

Fredric Baur Gets Canned

Back in the '60s, Baur was the man who finally got sick of chips being all willy-nilly in big disorganized bags, and invented the Pringles tube we all know, love and store our weed in. A few weeks ago Mr. Baur captured a nation's attention and journalistic integrity when he made his family jam his remains into one of his pillars of delicious.

It's unclear if he wanted his remains to stay fresh longer than leading dead body or just wanted to render the slogan "Once you pop, you can't stop" creepy instead of vaguely obscene. But what we really want to know is if everybody in the food packaging industry does it that way? Is there some guy out there who had himself frozen into a Push Pop? Or compressed into a can of aerosol cheese?

Mark Gruenwald Gets Immortalized in Print (literally)

Dr. Harold West Declines Vampirism

John Bowman Packs a Lunch

Jeremy Bentham Performs a Wax Haunting

A Giant Solar Tower Could Power the Future

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:10:31 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: On a sunny day, the air at the top of the tower would be 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), whereas the air in the greenhouse could reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). As this hot air escapes up the tower at 34 mph (15 meters per second), it spins 32 turbines that generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity.

Even with all this power, the solar tower is less than one tenth as efficient as solar cells in converting the sun's energy into electricity.

The advantage for a solar tower is that its materials are much less expensive.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

A new energy concept called a solar tower could generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes.

Looking like a giant smokestack, it would release no noxious fumes — just sun-heated air.

Demonstrated more than 20 years ago, the basic design calls for solar collectors to warm the air near Earth's surface and then channel it up the tall central tower. Turbines placed at the bottom make electricity from the updraft.

EnviroMission has designed a kilometer-high solar tower (0.62 miles) and is now looking at possible sites in the southwestern United States.

The solar tower is an updated version of a solar chimney — a centuries-old technique for providing ventilation to a home by creating a natural updraft from sun-heated air.

The optimum configuration is an 800- to 1,000-meter tower (twice the height of the Empire State Building) surrounded by a greenhouse canopy 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) in radius on the ground.

Int'l Whaling Comm. Fails, Threats to Whales Mount, Whaling Nations Dig In

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:39:32 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: A new report on climate change suggested dire consequences for the world’s whales if immediate steps aren’t taken to mitigate the effects of changes in sea temperature, freshening of seawater from melting ice and increased rainfall, sea level rise, loss of polar habitats, and the decline of krill populations. Meanwhile, the IWC’s Scientific Committee continued its important work on assessments of threats to whales from ship strikes, fisheries entanglements, and underwater noise generated by human technology, including energy company exploration, as well as from emerging and recurring diseases.

Clip Source: www.hsus.org

With whales threatened by increasing harm from ship strikes, pollution, underwater noise, and climate change, whaling nations promised no reductions in their take at this year’s International Whaling Commission meeting, which ended Friday in Chile.

No End to the Killing

The biggest whale slaughter in the world will continue, as Japan kills nearly 17,000 Dall’s porpoises. Japan did not even respond to the plea from the United States and other nations at IWC to reduce its killing of the Dall’s to sustainable levels.

Japan’s “scientific” whaling programs, JARPA and JARPN II—barely disguised commercial whaling programs embattled by scandals over crew members’ embezzlement of whale meat and meaningless academic observations by scientists—will also continue. JARPA kills about 1,000 whales per year in the Southern Ocean and JARPN II kills approximately 200 more.

Greenland wants to take 10 humpback whales.

Courage is not the absence of the fear...

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:47:10 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: Courage is taking a bold step forward despite all your fears...

Clip Source: www.authspot.com

The sudden sound emanating from a bird which couldn't sleep, or the sudden twist of a twig which falls on your path, that is making you to stop in silence for a moment… All you can hear is the irregular beating of your heart, with less rhythm and more fear… The thump of the shoes coming from a nearby place, making you to hesitate, stop and listen to and pouring oil into your already disturbed imagination of all sorts of unwanted shapes and sizes… You are strongly tempted to turn around and run back towards your home! The fear of the unknown

The fear of the unknown becomes the prominent feature of your midnight walk alone! You continue to walk on, with the unknown fear and with the discomfort in your heart… With such persistence arrives the confidence of just one step more at a time… Somehow, you walk on, despite the sounds, the misgivings, the fear factor and the darkness all around you! Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is taking a step forward despite all your fears

dinner in the sky

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:42:38 GMT

clipped by: boozich

Clip Source: wvs.topleftpixel.com

Dinner in the Sky is a great event brought to Toronto's Dundas Square by AMEX. 24 people get lifted about 50 meters to enjoy their food in the sky.

An amazing rescue

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:01:00 GMT

clipped by: sillysam
clipper's remarks: The Che Guevara shirts were a nice touch.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Old-fashioned fake-out results in freedom for hostages

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Government agents posing as rebels tricked a gang of armed desperados into handing over 15 hostages during a rendezvous deep in Colombia's unforgiving jungle.

Agents spent months worming their way into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, an insurgent force that has waged war on the Colombian state for 40 years, Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon told CNN.

"We convinced the FARC that they were talking to those of their own," said Gen. Mario Montoya of the Colombian army. "It was all human intelligence."

Once the hostages -- including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors -- were gathered, the agents ordered a 90-mile march through the steamy jungle, Montoya said.

Colombian security forces posing as FARC rebels jumped out, some wearing shirts emblazoned with the likeness of revolutionary icon Che Guevara

Translucent Sea Creatures - Photo Gallery

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:12:19 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: Wow - aquatic neon lighting?!

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

Photo Gallery: Translucent Creatures

A pelagic, or open-ocean, octopus gives off a neon glow in Hawaii. Most species of octopus have no internal skeleton, unlike other cephalopods.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A photographer's strobe gives a violet sheen to this translucent juvenile roundbelly cowfish off the coast of Kona, Hawaii. Also known as the transparent boxfish, the roundbelly cowfish has two short horns in front of its eyes.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A hydromedusa spreads its luminescent tentacles in the Weddell Sea near Antarctica.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

Darkness in Antarctica's Weddell Sea gives this comb jelly a chance to show off its candy-colored bioluminescent cells.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A transparent larval shrimp piggybacks on an equally see-through jellyfish in the waters around Hawaii.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

An opalescent squid uses its giant eyes to navigate the nighttime waters around Papua New Guinea.

Tags: bizarre, marine life, ocean, cephalopods, fish, sea

I finally made my own homepage

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:43:57 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Okay, tell me the truth, is this ridiculous?

Clip Source: www.nathanrein.com

About me: I am a historian of religion who studies the Protestant Reformation. I teach at a small, private, nonsectarian liberal arts college about 45 minutes outside of the city of Philadelphia, called Ursinus. I live in the town of Phoenixville with my wife, two children, and three cats. The page you're looking at is basically an online calling card; here you can find ways of tracking me down, seeing what I'm doing, or contacting me.

Tags: me, vanity, nathanrein.com, homepage, web, about_me

Number 2 clipper stops clipping

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:56:24 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Alan, I really miss your clips (and face)

Clip Source: clipmarks.com

alanocu

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506 Followers | 456 Guides

Make alanocu a Guide:

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Clip Source: clipmarks.com

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Study: World Gets Happier

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:31:59 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: Are we really happy? Well we were never born to be sad and pathetic...

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Study: World Gets Happier

The United States ranks 16th.

Denmark is the happiest nation and Zimbabwe the the most glum, he found. (Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term Sunday after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate. Observers said the runoff was marred by violence and intimidation.)

A Happiness Index created from the answers rose in 40 countries between 1981 and 2007, and it fell in the other 12.

Previous research has found that happiness is partly inherited and that money doesn't buy much of it.

Yet the new survey finds people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries. And controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others.

A survey released last week found one reason America doesn't top the list: Baby Boomers are generally miserable compared to other generations.

81 percent of Americans say they believe the country is on the "wrong track."

Tags: study, research, happiness index, happiness, contentment, economy, baby boomers

Bubba The Baby

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:05:03 GMT

clipped by: jatfla
clipper's remarks: All those years the public believed the Media and it's protection of Bill Clinton. The man apparently had charisma but no core strength. His persona was *created. I never would have voted for Hillary but she is a cut above her husband and even Obama. Hint, hint....how a person is portrayed by the Media & that person's handlers may not be who that person really is....beware of *created* candidates who conform outwardly but are vile and petty on the inside.

Clip Source: www.nypost.com

BUBBA THE BABY

APPARENTLY, crippling his wife's campaign wasn't enough for Bill Clinton:

Sen. Clinton's been dutifully supporting the winner, her husband reportedly told friends that Obama could "kiss my ass"

reports have suggested that he's "miffed" about how Obama treated him and believes that Obama's campaign cast him as a racist. He wants an apology.

Clinton chose - in the most spectacular way possible - to put his own desires ahead of his nation, his party and his family when he had an affair with an intern and then lied to his closest aides and the American people about it. Then, for good measure, he lied under oath.

Hillary has always been the rock.

It's her husband who'd never have made it without her.

Clinton took the first step toward rapprochement - a phone call that Obama graciously called "terrific." No word on who placed the call.

25 Incredibly Artistic Websites

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:54:13 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: vandelaydesign.com

25 Incredibly Artistic Websites

If you spend much time browsing through web design galleries you’ll notice certain trends in design that vary from time-to-time. Right now, there are a number of sites that effectively utilize illustration and other types of very artistic design. Hopefully this collection will be a good source of design inspiration for you. Feel free to mention your favorites in the comments.

New Era Cap

Singularity Concepts

Octwelve

Art Geex

Pain is Good

Intuitive Designs

Meomi

Cult Foo

Sully’s Design Studio

Laura Alter

Web Designer Wall

We Heart Stuff