Clipmarks | vk2yoc's 'strange' clips

The Sunspot Enigma: The Sun is “Dead”—What Does it Mean for Earth?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:57:47 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: I wish they'd make up their minds.

Dark spots, some as large as 50,000 miles in diameter, typically move across the surface of the sun, contracting and expanding as they go. These strange and powerful phenomena are known as sunspots, but now they are all gone. Not even solar physicists know why it’s happening and what this odd solar silence might be indicating for our future.

Although periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, this current period has gone on much longer than usual and scientists are starting to worry—at least a little bit.

"This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930," Dr Chapman noted in The Australian today.

If the world does face another mini Ice Age, it could come without warning.

Now this 11-year low in Sunspot activity has raised fears among a small but growing number of scientists that rather than getting warmer, the Earth could possibly be about to return to another cooling period

"Stock up on fur coats"…just in case.

"WILL THE BANANA BECOME EXTINCT?"

Wed, 28 May 2008 11:42:45 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: Eat a banana now, while you still can.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Adios, Banana: Why Future Generations Will Likely Never Taste One of Our Favorite Fruits

It’s less sensational news than skyrocketing food and oil prices, but the beloved yellow banana may soon disappear forever. Bananas are even more heavily consumed in many parts of the world than rice or potatoes, but now a fungus called Panama Disease is turning them brick-red and inedible. Here’s the worst part: There is no cure for Panama Disease and it is spreading very quickly. Experts surmise that within the next three decades, the sweet and creamy food staple will be nonexistent.

“The story of how the banana rose and fell can be seen a strange parable about the corporations that increasingly dominate the world – and where they are leading us.”

Thanks to bad corporate behaviour and physical limits, we seem to be at a dead end. The only possible glimmer of hope is a genetically modified banana that can resist Panama Disease. But that is a distant prospect, and it is resisted by many people:

World's Most Bizarre Statues

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:58:59 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: There's some very strange artists around.

Clip Source: www.oddee.com

In front of the Ernst & Young building (Los Angeles)

Optimus Prime (Southern China)

The "Magic tap" (found in "Aqualand" of Cadiz, Spain), which appears to float in the sky with an endless supply of water. Actually, there is a pipe hidden in the stream of water that holds the whole structure.

A Mona Lisa made of computer chips (ASUS headquarters)

(Prague)

(Oslo, Norway)

(Santa Fe, New Mexico)

(Potsdam, Germany)

(Springfield, Missouri)

"The Shark" (Headington, Oxford)

"Iron Lady", in front of the building Regentes (Netherlands)

(Salt Lake City)

(Singapore)

(Fulda, Rabanusstraße)

Keukenhof (Lisse, Holland)

In front of the Bukcheon Museum (Seoul, Korea)

A contemporary representation of Charles La Trobe in central Melbourne (This temporary installation was removed at the end of June 2006 and has been acquired by La Trobe University).

Mazinger Z (near Tarragona, Spain)

Bronze statue of writer Franz Kafka (Prague)

Statue of a giant piece of shit (Ponta Grossa, Brazil)

Tags: bizarre, statues

Very Unusual Sculptures.

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 12:33:50 GMT

clipped by: vk2yoc
clipper's remarks: You don't see this sort of thing everyday.

Clip Source: blog.kavefish.com

Tags: strange, art, sculpture