Dude's Coffee Blender

Spirit of Survival

2011-05-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

A book by Gail Sheehy, 80's

An orphan girl, Mohm, from Cambodia, her family was killed by the Khmer Rouge military, adopted by the author, story told of her journey. Reminded me of JC Trom, a girl from Korea, adopted by Trom family of Apple Valley, I met while our familys were camping at Black River Falls campground, I showed her the night falling stars sparkling and sleeping fish with eyes open.
(Saya masih rindu dia.)

To Mohm, Jacee, orphans, I wrote a song, some lyrics:

Wings Prayers & Teddy Bears

without sons & fathers:
can you hear the thunder
in a little girls' tears?
can you mend her broken heart
and soothe all her fears?

without mothers & daughters:
it would be hard to find a trace
of a smile on a little boys face
without mothers & daughters
amazing grace

without brothers & sisters:
they carry us around
before putting us down
make us reach out for the stars
yet keep our feet on the ground

Anticipation & I've seen all good people

2011-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

Two classic songs released in 1971:

Anticipation, by Carly Simon (written while waiting for a date with Cat Stevens) http://www.mixx.com/videos/8860937/youtube_carly_simon_anticipation_live

I've seen all good people, by Yes
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/yes-all-good-people-1971/7831f2f7f91b584419df7831f2f7f91b584419df-294436341245?q=youtube+I've+seen+all+good+people+yes&FORM=VIRE8
seem to be similar in music, despite being very different in words.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticipation_(Carly_Simon_album)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ve_Seen_All_Good_People

"Perhatian"

2010-04-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

drysuit? burkini? neoprene wetsuit? speedo? skinnydip? culture & custom, ritual & fashion...

group

2009-02-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Girls are no less competitive than boys, they simply employ different tactics. While boys use head-on aggression to get what they want, girls rely on the pain of social exclusion.

To test the apparent differences in how very young children compete, Joyce Benenson at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, US and her colleagues divided 87 four-year-olds into same-sex groups of three. In successive trials, each trio received either one, two or three highly prized animal puppets.

The sexes behaved similarly when there were two or three puppets to go round. The differences became clear, though, when there was just one puppet for each group.

Boys tended to ask for the puppet, grab at it, or even chase the child who had it. In contrast, girls punished the puppet-holder by excluding her from their clique, whispering behind her back or even hiding from her.

Avoiding risks

Benenson says that these socially aggressive tactics may explain why girls exhibit greater jealousy over same-sex friendships than boys. They could be trying to protect themselves against exclusive coalitions.

Melissa Emery Thompson at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, also in the US, praises the study for creating "organic yet controlled situations in which the children's natural behaviour emerges spontaneously".

She says the results help to dispel the myth that females are the less competitive sex. Even at an early age, they avoid risky direct aggression in favour of subtler forms of competition, such as small shifts in tone and expression, or spreading rumours.

Emery Thompson says that these differences also explain why human males tend to cooperate more effectively in groups while many females "work well in pairs and tend to maintain only a few close relationships."

"Attenborough doubts we will arrest the decline in the world's biodiversity. "The thing that really appalls me is that there are three times as many people alive on Earth as when I started making programmes. The space left for other species has been eaten up."

Yet there is plenty of space... vast areas of relatively little change, humans concentrate and minimally effect the surface generally aside from large animals and blocs of vegetation.

It's not just humans who succumb to peer pressure - rats do too. Brown rats have a tendency to disregard personal experiences and copy the behaviour of their peers. What's more, the urge to conform appears to be so strong that they will choose to eat food they know to be unpalatable when interacting with other rats that have done the same.

Bennett Galef and Elaine Whiskin at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontaria, Canada, put rats off cinnamon-flavoured food pellets by injecting the animals with a nausea-inducing chemical after their meals. Given a choice, these trained animals preferred to eat cocoa-flavoured food pellets.

However, when those rats then spent time with "demonstrator" rats that had just eaten and smelt of cinnamon, they regained their liking for it (Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.11.012).

Until now, humans and chimps were the only other animals known to conform in this way.
The big question now, he says, is why they conform. "It's not immediately obvious why a rat or chimp or human would cast aside what it knows from its own experience and adopt an inferior course of action just because everybody else is doing it."

Market Capitalization

You buy stock in $1m Co. for $1 a share, a year later, stock is trading at $100 a share, so appears your stock is worth $100 a share because someone just traded theirs for that price; if the price of stock drops to $1 again, the $99 lost never actually existed.

=====================================================================================

In article <6gnlv9$hl...@xenon.inbe.net>, Marc Verhaegen @village.uunet.be> writes

>Hi all
>I'm only a few days on the internet.
>For about 20 years - a few years after I read Elaine Morgan's The Descent of
>Woman - I'm trying to get AAT papers published in scientific/anthropological
>journals, All comments are very welcome.

I am a spectator of the argument game, and you have provided a new and interesting opponent; yourself. You will provide many hours of entertainment to spectators such as myself. The arguers argue. They will argue to waste your time, and as one tires, others will take their place in the game.

Know your objective, attain it.

Here are some of the rules which the gamers will follow:
1) They never provide answers, only spurious questions and ridicule.
- have no questions

2) They always end the mail with a glib quotation by someone quite
obscure and preferably dead or an apparent mistake of yours.
- followers

3) They will always write patronisingly to you just before their most
aggressive play.
- the pre-warning conduct

4) The least able of them is always the most aggressive, trying to impress
his betters.
- the code of cohesion

~doa

The simple life

2008-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/travel/escapes/12ashrams.html?em

Cuppa Coffee on the International Space Station

2008-11-24T11:33:00.003-08:00

Wing-shaped coffee cup allows sipping hot brew, round cup doesn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk7LcugO3zg

Away from Earth's gravity, fluids become spherical due to surface tension (concentric gravity). This wing -shaped cup allows wicking, like candle wax seeps up a candle wick and like sap is sucked up a tree stem via evapotranspiration capillary action despite gravity.

Bird wings in flight produce the same result, the air flows out to the tips and then separate away (turbulence aka drag). Bird feathers have slight micro-ridges which produce this micro-turbulent boundary layer, fish scales also do; the faster the fish or bird, the smaller the ridges.

Here see how the dimpled surface of a golf ball produces a thin turbulent layer, reducing surface drag and thus allowing it to travel twice as far as a smooth ball:

http://www.livescience.com/common/media/video.php?videoRef=081119_GolfBallScience

The blood capillaries in our bodies follow the same rules in nature. While diving, the mammalian divers reflex engages with apnea, vasoconstricting outlying veins and arteries bringing the blood to the body core, then when backfloating with eupnea vasodilation pulls blood to the extremities allowing the blood to be warmed directly by solar radiation and indirectly by immersion at the warm water surface in the manner of a poikotherm. Chimps don't have this feature, since they are always fully "clothed" with their fur coats and are completely reliant on internal metabolic heating. Cool, eh? ;)

Masjid on the moon: 2012, American Islamarine Society, "FreeDome" constructed of origami-like folded hyper-paper, an insulated laminated hexa-pent spheric structure of super-lightweight impermeable materials, with moon stone/cement/foam matrix basefill, built inset within a lunar crater of proper proportion, with omni-orientable turntable floor, and attached to isotropic vector matrix octet truss space frame lunar base qasalam ramadan hotel. Somewhat similar in principle to the American Antarctic Dome residence and work station, but employing interwoven rings (arcs) and mylar etc. rather than bolted aluminum or plexiglas triangular or hexapent panels.
http://www.ecophotoexplorers.com/images/antarctica/Dome.jpg

hijab ~ tudung ~ modest clothing

2008-11-23T00:18:00.000-08:00

Sunlight and osteoporosis: The reduction of seafood in the diet (compared to a million years ago) plus habitually wearing heavy clothing (to reduce evaporation and to follow culture mores) means more sunlight is required to prevent osteoporosis.
http://www.moneduloides.com/?p=571

Trajectory in brain cortical thickening, intelligence: http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2008/12/how_the_temporal_trajectory_of.php

New fashion: Squid Scarf with mitten tentacles ... ?? [h/t pharyngula] http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/squid_hats.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
(Not advertising, just PR!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is the biological rationale for wearing the veil and layered clothing?

To reduce water (sweat) loss, advantageous for people without access to water eg. desert nomadic herders. "Covering your aurah" is equivalent to a mammal's fur layer, it retains body moisture preventing dehydration. reality 101. One advantage of our human ancestors living along seashores had was protection against freshwater microbial pathogens (virus, bacteria, fungi), which could not adjust to the powerful combination of direct sunshine (ultraviolet light), freshwater submersion and saltwater submersion, together with the paranasal sinus emitted Nitric Oxide and the cutaneous eccrine glands produced slightly basic urea/dermcidin/defensins and slightly acidic skin surface. http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/static.do?p=education_discussion/molecule_of_the_month/current_month.html

Chimps don't swim. Humans do. What are you?

Humans can swim before we can crawl, walk, run, sit or stand. Yet some people want to mimic chimpanzees, mentoring others to be afraid of water. That's the path to chimpiness and polluted oceans with no fish and dead coral reefs. As fellow Minnesotan Greg Hussein Laden says "Don't be a chimp!". I concur. Get in the water, learn to swim, dive, backfloat. Be human. If you are scared, ask me to help, I will, if it's not too late.

"Female primates love chatting: IT has long been known that it is a female trait to enjoy a good gossip. Now scientists think they could have pinpointed the reason behind the female tendency to chit chat – by studying monkeys. The researchers found that like women, female macaque monkeys were more likely to make friendly noises to each other, such as grunts and coos, than the males of the species." [The researchers obviously are unaware of Dive Song, the human-only language development during backfloating and diving between dive partners, which did not occur among other primates. DD]

They think the discovery could add weight to the theory that language evolved from the need to form social bonds, with females needing to build closer relationships than males. [Rather obvious IMO. DD] http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Why-do-women--.4712406.jp

Menstruation causes brain flip: The female brain has a clever way of mitigating the stress experienced during menstruation: it flip-flops. Such a change could help women cope with the hormonal maelstrom going on in their bodies without causing huge behavioural shifts. Oestrogen levels levels, in particular, plummet around menstruation. http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2008/11/female-flipping-brain.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

color ~ warna ~ varini

trust me to teach you to swim, backfloat and dive. No fear. Fun, and safer than walking across the street. :)

ingatlah ni, a chimp in fine linens yakking on a cell phone in a lexus is still a chimp if she can't swim.

cuz it's biology, baby! and good for the ventricles too!

ps. if you don't have a sense of humor, go buy one. life is too crazy without one. wasalam.

~ daud di nor calif ~

tri-ax weaving ~ bonding

2008-11-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

Snowshoe (rawhide strips & wood frame), surfboard (cardboard strips & epoxy) and bola raga (rattan).

Both raindrops (icosadodecahedral spherical) and snowflakes (hexagonal planar) are molecularly tri-ax bonded in nature.

floppy puppy in flight

2008-11-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

last eve, the ephemeral scent of the vitalized seashore while walking around
this morn, the heavenly smell of baking bread molded into raisin bagel form

Barack Hussein Obama, President, USA

2008-11-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

His father from Kenya with east African (Kenyan) ancestry, his mother from Kansas with west European (British) ancestry, Barack spent his childhood years in Hawaii and Indonesia (where he went diving!). Mungkinlah dia bisa berbicara bahasa Indonesia & bercakap bahasa Melayu sikit, macam saya pulak. ;) Born American, yet comfortable internationally. He has much respect, though that is just the entry ticket, lots of issues to deal with.

I only hope his nickname does not become "Oh-Bomb-Ah", in the fashion of G. W. Bush's nickname "Bush-Whacker". Let Obama be known as the "Peacemaker". InsyAllah. God bless America.

Cheers to the President of the United States of America! Let freedom reign!

http://www.myspace.com/barackobama

I have one thing to say: Let this man do his job, he will most definitely earn his paycheck.

Freckles are cool; well, mine are anyways. hehe. Mahalo, Simba~Singa.

Congratulations to the democratic party, and the O bama family; we are the world!

ok that's enough patriotic political stuff. Back to nature & nurture. (^-^)

Fall behind, Spring ahead

2008-11-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

It's Daylight Savings Time here, so the clocks ran backwards for an hour, sort of.

If your gonna fall back, make sure it's soft like water, so you can back-float comfortably.

After the winter ends with the ice melt, time to spring forward, diving into the sunny future.

I just brewed up a nice hot cup of java, with some evaporated milk, kopi susu, scrumptious!

Oh, coming up, the Coffee Opp will be having a grand opening in the Ink People Gallery:
http://california.tribe.net/event/THE-COFFEE-OPP-GRAND-OPENING-FESTIVAL-NOVEMBER-15TH-4-10PM-THE-INK-PEOPLE-CENTER/eureka-ca-95501/8c37824e-7860-4f66-b8c7-ccb9d481a3d8

Kevin (from Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean) is emceeing the show, lots of activities.

ps. just got some reed-weave flip-flops, comfy, walked out in the rain, chilly but fresh.

BOO!

2008-10-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

(working on a grant proposal to Save the Redwoods foundation, my theme: "Can you save the forest for the trees?" a switch from the old saying "Can you see the forest for the trees?") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Redwoods_League

LOLrus found da bucket!

li'l minisaurus walking the woodland streets asking for sweets

Happy Halloween (see zoo animals munching pumpkins here: Hall-Zoo-Ween ) & Dias de Los Muertos ye'all! May the jack-o-lanterns light your path on this hallowed eve, and the costumed li'l goblins, witches, pirates and princesses get lots of snacks with their calls for "Trick or Treat!" (^-^)

Arts Alive Saturday night: Tuxford Gallery, Mexican theme, "the days of the dead", Brenda Gallery, Mongolian photos and paintings (I made a paper yurt!)

Images

2008-10-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

1st aid medical gauze
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/gallery.php?grouping=year&year=2008&imagepos=107

Killifish embryos
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/moreinfo.php?grouping=year&year=2008&imagepos=24

Shaving cream with water
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/moreinfo.php?grouping=year&year=2008&imagepos=29

and this one from Bent Objects: http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/2008/10/literary-interpretation.html

and finally, pass the peanuts
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT/message/48610

notes: scissoring/swiveling is when 2 lines overlap at a point, and the lines are not anchored, scissoring occurs in 2 dimensions on a square or other polygon but not a triangle, and in 3 dimensions on a cube or other polyhedron but not a tetrahedron, duo-tet, octahedron or icosahedron.

just because ( me <3 ne )

2008-10-20T00:34:00.000-07:00

no emosaurus for me thanks anyways.

Lyrics | Todd Rundgren - Hello, it’s me lyrics

[there's a swedish viking in russia, actually a kampong girl]
[i'm part swede and my home state's football team is called the minnesota vikings]
[there's a waterfall nearby called minnehaha falls, on the mississippi river]
[i think of her when i see water falling, cuz she is mini and she likes to laugh]
[but she is scared of water. and it doesn't really matter at all.]

just trying to say goodbye. cuz she's too far away. and so am i.

i guess nobody will really understand this. me neither. i so much want to talk with her. yet there is nothing i can say. wish i didn't feel this way. rindu. :(

предложение? apenye?
===================================================================================

science: study & practice of natural order
religion: study & practice of social order

It is my humble opinion that supernaturalists cannot speak authoritively of nature,
and that naturalists cannot speak authoritively of supernature.

Evolutionary biologists, including human medical researchers, discover the flow of species changes through time by examining changes in organisms (via sexual reproduction mutations and natural selection), they see life as a movie subject.

Theistic creationists, including priests, reverends, rabbis, imams, discover the unity and perfect order of systems at any given time, they see life as an illustrated objective.

Both are right, of course, in their own minds. So there is nothing to argue about.

http://groups.google.com/group/aasara?hl=bg

and finally

i made a snowman today (yukidaruma in Japanese) and put it atop my computer monitor, it is made of paper, bottom ball is ivory snow color, middle ball is blue, and top is a picture of an ink bottle with an Ink People face. the balls i wove like takraw balls with 6 strips of paper. it's kinda cute, like below. see ya ;)

====^====
===/|\===
=|||||||=
==(^_^)==
==== ====
=(== : ==)=
==== ====
(__= : =__)

can you hear the thunder in a little girl's tears?

2008-10-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

http://eurekareporter.com/article/081018-oprah-honors-betty

http://www.oprah.com/media/20081009_tows_betty

The story on Winfrey’s Web site reads: “Born in China, Betty was separated from her family at age 7 during Mao Zedong’s brutal Cultural Revolution. Tormented by hunger and lack of social contact, Betty went mute (tidak dibunyikan). After four terrifying years, Betty escaped from China by walking 1,600 miles to Hong Kong and later arrived in America with only $20.”

Betty is safe here in Kuala Walu Wiki, Nor Calif. She speaks wonderfully too. :)

"can you hear the thunder in a little girl's tears?"
"can you mend her broken heart, and soothe all her fears?"

(I met her husband, physics professor at Humboldt State University. I don't know why she told him I'm a physicist. That's funny. I can't even do the math, I just guess.)

Congratulations Betty Chinn, such an awesome angel.

And Oprah, good call!

"a spring in my step"

2008-10-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Primatology
leaping indri lemurs

springy sifaka lemurs

Top two pics: baby gibbons. Bottom: indri, siamang

Indri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indri
href="http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Indri_indri/">http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Indri_indri/
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=indri+lemur&search_type=&aq=f

There seem to be many parallels between the indri and the siamangs. The abundance of liana vines in island SE Asia for siamangs to swing (brachiate) and the lack of liana vines in Madagascar for the Indris may be why clinging and leaping was adopted among the Indris. Both tend to walk/skip bipedally rather than quadrupedally, and both have enlarged laryngeal air sacs likely indicating past vertical floating in tidal forests.

Inhabits montane and coastal rainforest from sea level to 1800 meters (6). Indris are active during the day and are most at home in the trees, where they feed on leaves, flowers and fruit, but they do occasionally descend to the forest floor to cross small treeless areas or to eat soil (4) (6). On the ground they cannot walk on all fours and so move around on their back legs, standing upright and holding their arms outstretched for balance, skipping in a unique fashion through the forest (6). The indri is one of the most endangered species of lemur on Madagascar, and one of the most threatened primates in the world (4). They live by the coast, where forests have become so fragmented that they are almost too small to sustain viable populations (6).

Except a narrow strip at the eastern coast most of their natural habitat, the rainforest, is destroyed. Indris are amongst the most endangered species.

Even if you are luckily you meet Indris it's more likely to hear their voices instead of seeing them up in the trees. Their voices are said to be amongst the loudest within the animal kingdom. Indris live in family groups and they use their voices to mark their family range.

They give birth to just one young at a time. The young Indri stays in the family for a long time, even if there are younger siblings. Indris are very similar to gibbons concerning these behaviours. Other characteristics of Indris are their large ears, the long hands and the very short tail whereas most other prosimians have long tails. They belong to the few prosimian species which are active during the day; most of the other prosimians are nocturnal animals.

Why is the indri that endangered? Most of the Indri's natural habitat is destroyed by now and the Indri isn't able to adapt to other habitats than the rainforest. The destruction was caused by the growing number of human inhabitants and their need for soil to plant rice which is the common food on the island. Madagascar is a poor country and the methods of planting rice are not very efficient. Conservation societies worked out a masterplan together with the government of Madagascar to use the soil more efficiently, hoping that no more rainforest areas are destroyed in the future.

When elephants weep
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385314280/

Anthropology

Early humans from Africa to Asia: Speed walking or a stroll along the beach?
http://sciencenow. sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/1007/3

Speed walking? Wouldn't they all resemble each other cranially very strongly if
that were the case? There's a lot of cranial differentiation, indicating long term separations between groups geographically.

from 2002
http://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12098208

http://anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins/ha/erec.html

Ok one more entry, about what singles typically are looking for in a prospective mate: "This could explain why women are drawn to indicators of resource and future investment, while men are more likely to look for youth and waist-to-hip ratio - signs of reproductive potential and the ability to tolerate the stresses of childbirth". h/t Ed Yong link: the cost of having children

That doesn't sound very romantic, does it? So analytical. Oh well, that's life.

Maskibition show & awards

2008-10-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

mask yg alien?

Quite a great collection of masks here at Arts Alive in the Gallery, perhaps 100 or more,personally crafted and decorated in numerous styles and fashions. Will add more pics later. The Darth Vader mask is cute, being made from kitchen utensils.

http://inkpeople.org/2008/10/03/maskibition-24-artsalive-at-the-ink-people-2/

Maskibition is sponsored by American Hydroponics, Dell Arte and Sun Valley Farms

The Coffee Opp coffee shop is up and rollicking (Kev, our Coffee Opp guest worker/Manager from Mauritia, managed to produce a volcano eruption in the coffee maker, the coffee and grounds looked like lava pouring down the sides of the machine and on the floor, he was too nervous, so many people came. All cleaned up now.)

And dekat sini, in the Municipal Auditorium, a bunch of kids are roller skating, singing and screaming to the music.

Tomorrow morning: live drawing (nude, not me la)
Tomorrow night, punk metal concert. Ear plug time.
Next night: watercolor landscape painting class, with Alan Sanborn

Also fiber arts (weaving), print making, Lunel's yoga class, etc.

"Kembali ke Bali"

Oh, Dell Arte is having their annual Bali study abroad class in mask making, wayang kulit, etc. FEBRUARY 9 - MARCH 12, 2009. I wanna go diving in Bali! Nak ikut? JOM kita pergi main menyelam & mensurfing kan! Full cost $5,000 US... nak duit raya ... sponsor anyone? [hint hint]
http://72.167.83.180/dellarte.aspx?id=13

When the rain comes

2008-10-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

October begins the rainy season here. Raindrops are falling on my head, plop plop drip drop.

I have a Humboldt Hydroponics hoodie, of forest green hue, so if the rain is mild, I can just cover my hair with the hood. If it rains harder, then I'll need a brolly (payung) or proper rain gear, I think I disposed of last year's set.

In the gallery, the artistic mask exhibition is up 'Maskibition', and the Coffee Opp is getting the coffee shop set up.

Shoshanna's dance group has a benefit for the coffee opp in Arcata: link

I must admit that I've never thought much of belly dancing, but as I watched them perform the sword dance at the Ink People's annual dinner (Brahm Craic), I was impressed with their synchronised and balanced performance art. Much more than simply wobbling their bellies.

Strange medicine? People can be so bizarre, no? Yikes!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7649851.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1634584.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7649876.stm

Eur-Asian inter-racial relationships at gene expression http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2008/10/the_prenatal_wages_of_interrac.php#more

Why did I put this piccie here? I dunno. privyet. zhiv. da zvidanya.

Cinta: Tape (in Spanish, pita in Malay)
Pita: Flatbread (in Turkish, pizza in Italian, pet in Hebrew, pain in French, roti in Hindu)

salam eid al fitri

2008-09-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

s... -_-
e
l... ^_-
a
m.. ^_^
a
t... -_^

h... -_-
a
r... ^_-
i

r... ^_^
a
y... -_^
a

m.. -_-
a
a... ^_-
f

z... ^_^
a
h... -_-
i
r... -_^

b... -_-
a
t... ^_^
i
n

Equatorial atmospheric air currents

2008-09-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Lungs of the world http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2008/09/the_lungs_of_the_world.php

the arc

2008-09-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Arc Anciel ~ Double rainbow (ciel in French is sky or heaven)

Arc Anciel ~ Circumzenithal arc

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1056500/Pictured-Rare-upside-rainbow-spotted-UK.html

gerbang ~ lengkok ~ buih =-= portal ~ entry ~ bubble

Another kind of arc: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/photogalleries/2008-best-science-photos/photo6.html

Ninja cat!

2008-09-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Reminds me of Chibi... (karate kat ... kucing yg zen master)
h/t to Gene E.
==================================================

Fly & Spider | Fliderspy?

by Terry at: http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/

nothing important to say

2008-09-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

Let's stop deforesting the Earth! Save the neem tree, protect mangroves, kelp forest and coral reefs.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080917/full/news.2008.1114.html

um, no, adik, i didn't get a haircut, i just buka topi je :p

[I've always liked this classic rock song, I've seen all good people by Yes]

Didja notice the vocal refrain of John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" mixed in? tight!

pening...demam?

2008-09-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

pening... demam... pedas? lapar sket.

had a bit of a tension headache earlier, took a few aspirin, now ok.
perhaps a slight fever? (update: better now I guess.)

===================================================================
Stathmin: motherhood, socializing, amygdala
fearless_mice_are_neglectful_mothers_but_social_butterflies

Brain asymmetry in vertebrates = multi-tasking
asymmetrical_brains_help_fish_and_us_to_multitask

h/t Ed Yong

bites, flights & sights

2008-09-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

oops! http://stickgal.blogspot.com/

mariposa: metamorphosis

award video: who sees t' day?

*randomness*

when hate is stronger than love

2008-09-11T02:08:00.000-07:00

ingat lah ...
the innocent victims ~ al fatiha
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bravery & belligerence & boundaries

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when love is stronger than hate

alas_my_loves casalamballiekumselam ramaramadanmariposa

alas (English) sympathy ~ alas (Español) wings ~ alas (Melayu) base

Love bridges all of us... together.

daud di nor qalif, kampung kuala walu wiki

ps. Here's a love letter to Pulau Nu Yorkistan from Cheryl @ Intersection love_letter_to_new_york
p2s. Graph @ Gene E. & Talk Islam who was responsible for 911
p3s. btw, i was told by one guy, "that's not a (sky)bridge, that's a bra strap!" :| macam madonna?
p4s. Petronas twin towers originally designed by Calif. Arc. firm KCG
p5s. I provided some small funding for it and other projects via Bank Negara.

pendek jumpa tinggi

“It is not the critic who counts: not the one who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena..."

'Citizenship in a Republic' US Pres. Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910 (h/t zaidhakim)

Perhentian Islamarina Seadiving Clinique: natural healing treatment of respiration disorders, back pain, dietary, stress mgmt...
(PISC ~ pisces/pesca/fish/ikan, pronounced 'peace')

7?

2008-09-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/08/16/egypt.septuplets.birth.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText?iref=werecommend

The father wanted required a son. (agrarian sociodynamic tribal patriarchy)

He had 3 daughters.

So his wife took fertility drugs,

and now he has 6 daughters...

and 6,666,666,666 kin.

http://somethinguniqueforall.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-many-kids-will-you-have-it-all.html

petnatzet copla ~ Siber-Alaskan Lynx~ mal du mer

2008-09-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

sable

Chai Samovar of Turkey, Greece, Central Asia and Russia traditions

In the service of the Russo-American Telegraph Company that attempted to carry out the plans of Major Collins to make an electric connection between Europe and the United States by way of Asia and Bering's Straits in the 1860's.

Even varied by glimpses of the Mexican coast, the occasional appearance of a whale with its column of water thrown high into the air, and the sportive action of schools of porpoises which is constantly met with.

The cosmopolitan character of San Francisco is the first thing that impresses a visitor. Almost from one stand-point he may see the church, the synagogue, and the pagoda. The mosque is by no means impossible in the future. During my stay in California, I visited the principal gold, copper, and quicksilver mines in the state, not omitting the famous or infamous Mariposa tract.

The day before we came in sight of land, my dog repeatedly placed his fore feet upon the rail and sniffed the wind blowing from the coast. His inhalations were long and earnest, like those of a tobacco smoking Comanche. In her previous voyage the Wright carried a mastiff answering to the name of Rover. The colonel said that whenever they approached land, though long before it was in sight, Rover would put his paws on the bulwarks and direct his nose toward the shore. His demonstrations were invariably accurate, and showed him to possess the instinct of a pilot, whatever his lack of training. (Malayo-Polynesians had dogs on their seagoing conquests.) Salmon form the principal food of the Kamchadales and their dogs. The fishing season in Avatcha Bay lasts about six weeks, and at its close the salmon leave the bay and ascend the streams, where they are caught by the interior natives. In the bay they are taken in seines dragged along the shore, and the number of fish caught annually is almost beyond computation.

The "samovar" or tea-urn is an indispensable article in a Russian household, and is found in nearly every dwelling from the Baltic to Bering's Sea. "Samovar" comes from two Greek words, meaning 'to boil itself.' The article is nothing but a portable furnace; a brazen urn with a cylinder two or three inches in diameter passing through it from top to bottom.

Mr. Fluger had been only two years in Kamchatka, and was doing a miscellaneous business. Boardman's agent confined himself to the fur trade, but Fluger was up to anything. He salted salmon for market, sent a schooner every year into the Arctic Ocean for walrus teeth and mammoth tusks, bought furs, sold goods, kept a dog team, was attentive to the ladies, and would have run for Congress had it been possible. He had in his store about half a cord of walrus teeth piled against a back entrance like stove wood. Phillipeus was a roving blade. He kept an agent at Petropavlovsk and came there in person once a year. In February he left St. Petersburg for London, whence he took the Red Sea route to Japan. There he chartered a brig to visit Kamchatka and land him at Ayan, on the Ohotsk Sea. From Ayan he went to Yakutsk, and from that place through Irkutsk to St. Petersburg.

There is a story of a man in California who followed the track of a grizzly bear a day and a half. He abandoned it because, as he explained, "it was getting a little too fresh." There is a story of a traveler who paid his hotel bill in a country town in Minnesota and received a beaver skin in change. The landlord explained that it was legal tender for a dollar. Concealing this novel cash under his coat, the traveler sauntered into a neighboring store. "Is it true," he asked carelessly, "that a beaver skin is legal tender for a dollar?" "Yes, sir," said the merchant; "anybody will take it." "Will you be so kind, then," was the traveler's request, "as to give me change for a dollar bill?" "Certainly," answered the merchant, taking the beaver skin and returning four muskrat skins, current at twenty-five cents each.

The sable is the principal fur sought by the merchants in Kamchatka, or trapped by the natives. Dogs are fed almost entirely upon fish. They receive their rations daily at sunset, and it is always desirable that each driver should feed his own team. The day before starting on a journey, the dog receives a half ration only, and he is kept on this slender diet as long as the journey lasts.

A new company was formed and chartered in July, 1779, under the title of the Russian-American Company, with its chief office in St. Petersburg, where the Directors formed a kind of high court of appeal. It was authorized to explore and place under control of the crown all the territories of North-Western America not belonging to any other government. It was required to deal kindly with the natives, and endeavor to convert them to the religion of the empire. It had the
administration of the country and a commercial monopoly through its whole extent. All other merchants were to be excluded, no matter what their nationality. At one time so great was the jealousy of the Company's officers that no foreign ship was allowed within twenty miles of the coast.

The Imperial Government required that the chief officer of the company should be commissioned in the service of the crown, and detailed to the control of the American Territory. His residence was at Sitka, to which the principal post was removed from Kodiak. In the early history of the Company there were many encounters with the natives, the severest battle taking place on the present site of Sitka. The natives had a fort there, and were only driven from it after a long and obstinate fight. The first colony that settled at Sitka was driven away, and all traces of the Russian occupation were destroyed. After a few years of conflict, peace was declared, and trade became prosperous. The Company occupied Russian America and the Aleutian Islands, and pushed its traffic to the Arctic Ocean. It established posts on the Kurile Islands, in Kamchatka, and along the coast of the Ohotsk Sea. It built churches, employed priests, and was quite successful in converting the natives to Christianity.

For many years the Company prospered. In 1812 it founded the colony of Ross, on the coast of California, and a few years later prepared to dispute the right of the Spanish Governor to occupy that region. The natives were everywhere peaceable, and the dividends satisfied the stockholders. The slaughter of the fur-bearing animals was injudiciously conducted, and led to a great decrease of revenue.

When our Secretary of State purchased the Emperor's title to the western coast of America, there were various opinions respecting the sagacity of the transaction. No one could say what was the intrinsic value of the country, either actual or prospective. The Company never gave much attention to scientific matters. Veins of copper have been found near the Yukon, but so far none that would pay for developing.

Building stone is abundant, and so is ice. Neither is of much value in commerce. The fur trade was the chief source of the Company's revenue. The principal fur-bearing animals are the otter, seal, beaver, marten, mink, fox, and a few others. There is a little trade in walrus teeth, mammoth tusks, whalebone, and oil. The rivers abound in fish, of which large quantities are annually salted and sent to the Pacific markets. The fisheries along the coast are valuable and of the same character as those on the banks of Newfoundland.

An hour after dropping the Danzig we stopped our engines and prepared to run under sail. The whole crew was called on deck to hoist out the screw, a mass of copper weighing twenty-five thousand pounds, and set in a frame raised or lowered like a window sash. With strong ropes and the power of three hundred men, the frame and its contents were lifted out of water, and the Variag became a sailing ship. The Russian government is more economical than our own in running ships of war.

What a hindrance to a traveler and literal man of the world is this confusion of tongues! There is no human being who can make himself verbally understood everywhere on this little globe. In the Russian empire alone there are more than a hundred spoken languages and dialects.

Major Abasa and the Ispravnik of Ghijiga escorted us from the landing to their quarters, where we soon warmed ourselves with hot tea, and I took opportunity and a couple of bearskins and went to sleep. Late in the day we had a dinner of pea soup, reindeer meat, and berry pudding. The deer's flesh was sweet and tender, with a flavor like that of the American elk.

In this part of Siberia there are many wide plains (_tundras_) covered with moss and destitute of trees. The blueberry grows there, but is less abundant than the "maroska," a berry that I never saw in America. It is yellow when ripe, has an acid flavor, and resembles the raspberry in shape and size. We ate the maroska in as many forms as it could be prepared, and they told us that it grew in Scotland, Scandinavia, and Northern Russia.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=102529&pageno=48

[At lunch, I had just been reading a historical novel about an American family from San Francisco which moved to Alaska during the Russian fur trade and discovered gold, that's why I included this article here, it provided some background.]

Ampang Medikal = Amateur Medikal?

2008-09-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

"jangkitan jaundice dimata"?

Is jaundice an eye infection? Of course not, it's a liver condition. The symptoms include yellow-orange skin tone & sclerae (white portion of the eyes) from accumulation of bilirubin pigment. My mother had jaundice when going through her cancer treatment, there was no "eye infection".

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec10/ch135/ch135b.html

Ampang Medical, an attempted copycat of Grey's Anatomy, based in Malaysia, obviously needs professional medical advisors aboard. Nobody needs false medical information on public television, especially kampong folk that might think Ampang Medical is actually representing real doctors and hospitals.

'Ampang Medikal', Please seek medical help immediately. STAT. Good luck!

h/t bakawali

malaria

2008-09-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.afreeman.org/2008/02/28/great-interview-week-scientific-serendipity-in-sydney-2/

Chromera velia, a unicellular photosynthetic symbiotic brown algae found associated with coral reefs, which leaves when the reef water becomes too warm resulting in bleached coral, has been found to be related to malarial Plasmodium and other apicomplexan parasites like toxiplasmosis.

Apparently, these blood-borne parasites derive from coral cell symbiont alga, and still contain vestigial chloroplasts (chlorophyll compounds, like in tree leaves that construct tissue from hydrocarbons using sunlight energy) , but now obtain energy from their animal hosts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6468381.stm

Newsletter folding

2008-09-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

nothing much, few hundred newsletters to fold, a bit late due to technical difficulties with internet router etc.

I had my one meal of the day earlier this evening, shared with a bunch of other guys.

Sunny windy day

2008-08-31T23:48:00.000-07:00

Blue sky & sunny, but a very wintery wind came, from the north mountains.

Well September is here now, summer is flying south. Happy Labor Day!
~sehari cuti~

Blues by the Bay this weekend http://www.redwoodcoastmusicfestivals.org/

For a month now, I've been eating typically one lunch meal per day, for no reason.
But I won't mention about coffee consumption. uhum. nobody's perfect. salam selam...

I lost something precious recently, a belief thingy. nothing important.

I just found something this morning, a keychain thingy. nothing important.

I'm still breathing, and I still don't know why. Please forgive my ignorance, errors, faults.

~ Ramadhan Mubarak ~ daripada daud di nor calif, anak kanaka haoli, kuala walu wiki, US

MDR-PS-Speech

2008-08-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

[Update Nov. Some of this is now outdated. Oral communication while at depth was indeed done, via clicking.]

Speech, though completely dependent upon the
mouth/larynx, is not particularly sensorial. Eating, breathing,
sniffing, sneezing are all face-sense-related, talking isn't. Talking
is all about internal air valve control.

One cannot talk underwater, yet if not for underwater air valve
control, speech would not have happened.

In a way, both speech (audio sense only) and physical gestures (visual
sense only) require an absence/reduction of other of senses, otherwise
risking interference. (Compare the small eyes of echolocating
cetaceans (especially river dolphins, which are almost blind) vs huge
eyes of ancient non-echolocating marine reptiles.)

What is the physiological opposite of the anaerobic MDR Mammalian
Divers Reflex which occurs at depth? Instant exhalation
(photic/pressure/thermal induced) & aerobic breathing at surface, with
optional controlled exhalation vocalized speech. Has anyone
immediately upon surfacing from a *long* dive, spoken during the first
exhale? I think humans are programmed/selected not to, just like
seals. First exhale, then speak/bark. Not sure though.

I think also that the LCA Hominoid/Hominid could not call while
floating vertically, possibly due to (water) pressure on the
throat/sac/hyoid/thyroid cartilage. Only when pressure was eased,
could a vocal sound be produced (compare to having a "knot in ones
throat" or feeling choked up), I guess. This allowed breathing clearly
through the nose during floating, then upon grasping and lifting up or
wading, the air sac pressure is off, and oral breathing and calling
can start.

[{Highly significant}]
This might have been a predecessor of being able to suction feed in
Homo underwater, having the oral breathing disconnected during
submersion, allowing the open pharynx for feeding and swallowing, then
upon re-emergence to light/pressure change, the larynx reopens to the
mouth and instantly exhales but with no vocalization, just a pure
instant complete air exchange of the lungs, trachea, mouth. Only the
little air in the nasal area is not forcibly exchanged. Why? Either
because the sinuses and eustacean tubes were pre-flooded with seawater
(per Seb Murat), or because of some other reason (high-pressure nasal
sneeze might cause damage to delicate nasal
veins/arteries/turbinates/olfactory nerves/middle ear/inner ear
barotrauma).

Today's scuba divers and free divers instead keep their chin down near
the throat, with their eyes 60 to 90 degrees from the streamlined linear
posture (and more like a vertical floating ape posture), which differs
from this ancient diving technique, and may indicate why the photic
sneeze "doesn't work" in today's divers.

no clue

2008-08-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

yeah though i walk thru the valley of the shadow of death

i will fear no evil

but i have no staff or rod to comfort me, and no wife to join me.

and the still waters are icy...

and the bonobots climb after the $ and status

just another day

~ daud di nor calif ~

tears like rain

2008-08-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Human emotional tears are anti-fungal, thanks to salt, protein defensins and dermcidin. This developed as a result of living around seawater for millions of years, where both salt and water are abundant. The same is true of eccrine sweat.

Chimps, gorillas and orangutans left the mangrove rich seashores millions of years before, their rare tears and sweat are not saline, because there is almost no salt in the rainforest.

There is very little inland Iodine and Selenium (plentiful in the sea), so hypothyroidism, cretinism and goiters are often found in people living far from the sea, or on mountain islands without easy access to the lower shores.

Common chimps don't weep tears, rather they become enraged. (I hate you!)
Pygmy chimps also don't weep, rather they have sex play. (I distract you!)

Humans do weep, those that don't, are in a more primitive state of emotion; a stronger brittle shell but a more fragile center. Prisons are full of people who never weep. Psychiatric hospitals have people that can't release their emotions in a healthy way, so doctors medicate, but usually only dull the senses.

Tears release tension which otherwise destroys bonds.

"Tears : Tears produced by emotional crying differ in chemical content from those caused by irritants such as onion juice. Emotional tears contain more protein than tears induced by irritants. Researchers are now examining the contents of emotional tears for substances such as endorphins, ACTH, prolactin and growth hormone, all of which are released by stress. While the research on psychoactive substances in tears is just beginning, there is reason to think that emotional tears may be important in the maintenance of physical health and emotional balance.

Crying is not grief; it is a way of getting over your grief. Trembling isn't the same as fear. Rather it is part of a letting go of fear. In the same manner, embarrassed laughter, yawning, and even rapid, excited talking are parts of the healing process that get mistaken for symptoms of the problem".
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Somebody must care about the forest, the field, the ocean, more than the individuals, otherwise the individuals overpopulate and destroy the environment ("tragedy of the commons").

But if nobody cares about that somebody, then it doesn't matter.
It just becomes numbers, and resource warfare, which just escalates, until people stop planting food crops, being too busy destroying and defending property and rituals. Then only wild forest food is easily obtained, but that soon disappears, leaving famine and chaos. This can happen anywhere there are humans.

Penghutanan al khalifah, daud di nor calif
Univ WI, Univ Malaya, Trop Forestry Ctr

UPM edu.my Dogathon 2008

did i say that out loud?

World Shelters

2008-08-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was in Arcata, where I chatted with Bruce LeBel, the exec. dir. of World Shelters, a non-profit organization providing emergency temporary housing to victims of earthquakes, tsunamis, other disasters around the world. He showed me around, I checked out the Qshelter, octahut and icosa Udome, where they are working on insulation and a snow peak.

http://worldshelters.org/

on the walk around the bay, I plucked lots of sweet blackberries along the trail.

Now I'm resting from the long hike through the brambles, watching the ladies go to their friday yoga class. Their room is temporarily full of a variety of nests, including birds nests featuring the dune dwelling snowy plover*, and artistic renditions of nests, for this month's Arts Alive gallery.

Funny how a Udome or round hut is an upside down nest, both utilize the spherical principle of 'maximum space enclosed by minimum material' (least surface area and structural support). Also, the tubular quonset Qshelter resembles buckytubes.

Olympic stadium in China the "birds nest"

* Although the show's theme is nests, the snowy plover, like many other shorebirds, does not actually build a woven nest, unlike tree roosting birds which do. They usually just dig a shallow hole in sand or pebbles or grasses and deposit their camouflaged eggs; some seabirds deposit non-rolling eggs in rocky clefts hidden from view.

It's a very hot day, absolutely perfect for diving.

Invisible cloak?

2008-08-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Little Red Invisible Riding Hood

honey_wheres_my_supersuit

Cultural perceptions: East & West

Holistic vs Analytical Eyes-mouth vs nose (Hat tip to Ed Yong)

Geophysics of ice cream

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
- Albert Einstein, scientist (1879 - 1955)
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Melanin, Grouping, Anatomy

2008-08-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

Pleiotropy in the melanocortin system, coloration and behavioural syndromes

Article

In vertebrates, melanin-based coloration is often associated with variation in physiological and behavioural traits. We propose that this association stems from pleiotropic effects of the genes regulating the synthesis of brown to black eumelanin. The most important regulators are the melanocortin 1 receptor and its ligands, the melanocortin agonists and the agouti-signalling protein antagonist. On the basis of the physiological and behavioural functions of the melanocortins, we predict five categories of traits correlated with melanin-based coloration. A review of the literature indeed reveals that, as predicted, darker wild vertebrates are more aggressive, sexually active and resistant to stress than lighter individuals. Pleiotropic effects of the melanocortins might thus account for the widespread covariance between melanin-based coloration and other phenotypic traits in vertebrates.

ps. Is this accurate or not? Please inform. (Hat tip to Razib at Gene Expression)

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Evolving forgiveness
"For instance, his description of Robert Axelrod’s work on game theory modeling and cooperation is extremely insightful and resounding proof that natural selection actually leads to a nicer world in the long run. Primate studies, as he describes them, also suggest that the standard response - and healthy - mechanism of closure to an act of aggression is forgiveness and reconciliation. Human psychology studies back this up, and identify the components of apologies that elicit forgiveness the best.

And in the next-to-last chapter, he debunks the notion that religion is the shortcut to forgiveness and compassion. True, as McCullough notes, religious individuals often forgive more readily - *if* the offender is part of the same social network, and particularly if the offender is part of the same religion. Moveover, devoutly religious individuals are more likely to exhibit more intolerant and vengeful attitudes towards offenders who are outsiders, on the margins of society, etc."

in sum: Group bonding requires internal similarity, external dissimilarity. ie. oil and water don't mix without surfactants due to differing polarities or so.

==============================================================================================

Your inner beast
Human anatomy article

Human anatomy is a formative experience in the training of future physicians -- it is the students' grand introduction to the body, when they memorize the names of bones, organs and nerves as they painstakingly dissect a real cadaver. That first year, as well as in years after, the medical students were curious about what kind of doctor I am. I am a fish paleontologist who studies finned creatures that have been extinct for more than 370 million years. Seeing the history inside our bodies is like peeling an onion: The first layers we see reveal the history we share with primates (large brains and opposable thumbs). Peel deeper and we find the layers of history shared with other mammals (hair and breasts), reptiles (our distinctive way of chewing food), fish (arms, legs, backbones and heads), worms (an anus on one side of the body and a mouth on the other), jellyfish (the DNA recipe that builds our bodies), sponges (our many celled bodies) and so on.

Earthquake in Eureka!!

2008-08-16T23:14:00.000-07:00

My kampong going goyang-goyang just now ~ haiyo ~

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc51207076.html
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/hefferan/geol320/strikeslip.html

They say 4.6, but I think it was a 5.3, maybe here a bigger jolt due to the soft wet silt ground foundation surrounding the Kuala Walu Wiki (Humboldt Bay), on the Cascadia Subduction Zone of the west coast of America. It was quite a sharp lurch to the brick building, no bricks shaking apart, but I heard the walls moving and the floor jolted. I almost dove under the desk! abes!

Hope nobody gets a big tsunami! InsyaAllah.

_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/^\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_

Salam Merdeka ~ Indonesia ~ Malaysia ~ Singapura ~ United States of America

nasi goreng mamak

2008-08-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hungry bear "finds" fish snack. (Winnie the pooh prefers honey)

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Kitty kat air terjun (kedua)

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Nasi Goreng Mamak | You + Me = Rice + Oil

Comic Steve Martin : "I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks." Silly. haha

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Got a bunch of Malaysian and Indonesian students here in Eureka just arrived.

muka muka malu, selamat datang ke kampung kuala walu.
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ps. thanks to Patty for the sweet pea flowers on my desk, very pretty and sweet scent.

Kwiz Kampong Dunia

2008-08-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

[The city and country name are at top, quickly click where you think they belong]

This Traveler IQ challenge compares your geographical knowledge against the World's First Travel Blog's other 2,924,506 travelers who have taken this challenge as of Monday, August 11, 2008 at 12:57AM GMT. (TravelPod is part of the TripAdvisor Media Network)

Wei, susah! I got travel IQ: 113 and level 10. Make sure your mouse is very smooth and double click if it doesn't register your guess. Small islands are not visible, so it's hard to know where they are located, like Palau, Micronesia. Just try it now, it's fun. Here's the one for Asia, I got 122 pts IQ, not so good hahaha. ta pe, fun je.

This Traveler IQ challenge compares your geographical knowledge against the World's First Travel Blog's other 2,924,641 travelers who have taken this challenge as of Monday, August 11, 2008 at 01:45AM GMT. (TravelPod is a TripAdvisor Media Network member)

Things fall apart

2008-08-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

ARCH COLLAPSE

Gravity, erosion rob Utah of it's bedrock arches

erosion = body radiation due to chemical/physical plane/surface bond fracturing
gravity = earth's center density accumulates, pressurizes/displaces subsurface

arch based on compression of stone particles due to tension of earth's gravity, when enough particles have eroded (cement bonds broken), the matrix faults and shifts and eventually collapses.

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Reading a 1958 classic book by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, called Things Fall Apart about a family of the Ibo tribe in traditional Nigeria, especially focused on the main character's relationships with family, village, clan, and foreign colonials. The book's plot is here: link. On page 57 at the moment, a challenging read, the title doesn't connect with the story yet, though I'm sure it will.

Shog bo Yoruba! Hausa! Ina su Igbo! Swahili! Ma dun belly full! My friends, brothers and sisters of Africa. Peace in your hearts, food in your stomachs, clarity in your sight.

While studying at Univ. Wisconsin, I had some Nigerian friends, I do miss them sometimes, especially Alaro (she & I worked one summer in dorm cleaning with other int'l. students) and Nnamdi (so much like Eddie Murphy), and recall Ene (he distrusted Americans, we enjoyed argueing) and "crazy" On'e who tried to kill me with a kitchen knife (I belly-laughed so hard, he joined me in laughter and put away the knife). The book's main character reminded me of him, I hope he has limited himself to killing goats. InsyaAllah.

Morocco imam competition link
call of the muzzein: survival of the fittest loudest? The clearest call surely comes from within. No need to electrically amplify, is not the high decibel traffic in the modern city already loud enough, especially near hospitals where calm is of the essence? I do like hearing the call, just hoping for a bit of balance in congested areas. An alarm clock should not be turned to maximum, that is a symptom of lethargy, sloth and lack of awareness, an unhealthy combination. Now I sound like I'm preaching, sorry, not my job.

Alhamdulillah waselamaleykumselam

daud di nor calif

That joke is soooo old!! But it's new to me...

2008-08-06T01:01:00.000-07:00

# humor post for restroom - benjo - banio - tandas - bilik air - comfort room - WC #

The world's oldest joke, 3900 years ago, is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." [silently I'm sure kut .. eewww .. honey.. busuk! lulz..]

A 3600 yr old gag about a pharaoh, said to be King Snefru of Egyptian pyramid fame, comes second -- "How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish." [wei, jom sapo nak gi mancing! haha]

The oldest British joke dates back to the 10th Century and reveals the bawdy face of the limeys -- "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before? Answer: A key." [kalo ta paham, ta pe, lagi inosent, lagi baek]

The oldest American joke is XXXsensorXXX ta bleh wat kat DCB sori, noti lahhh ;)

Jokes don't change much, just the way they're pronounced.

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World's oldest head covering (tudung knit net fabric): 25,000 years old female figurine, the Willendorf Venus
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_sc/sci_austria_voluptuous_venus_1

Quote of the Day - Marie Curie - "Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas."

Sincerity, Trust, Balance, Focus, Guidance

2008-08-06T00:11:00.000-07:00

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2008-08-04T01:30:00.000-07:00

Kitty kat Thousand Islands

2008-08-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

hard core

2008-08-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

Medical analysis: Bone deformity, mineral loss & joint pain due to hard floor praying

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article4412074.ece

Sema Yılmaz^{1, 3}, Hamide Kart-Köseoglu¹, Ozgen Guler² and Eftal Yucel¹

(1)	Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

(2)	Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

(3)	Vatan cad., Devrim sit., B/blok No:29/4, Selcuklu, 42040 Konya, Turkey

Received: 10 March 2007 Accepted: 24 September 2007 Published online: 10 October 2007

Abstract Prayer is one kind of worship that is composed of repetitive action during praying in Islam. The prayer is performed five times a day, every Friday, bairams and death ceremonies. The aim of this study is to search the role of this repetitive action on knee, hip osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Forty-six patients who had been performing the prayer at least for 10 years, and 40 patients who had not performed the prayer, were included in this prospective study. Each patient was evaluated with standard questionnaire form, joint examination was done and various laboratory parameters were studied. Anterior–posterior radiography of the pelvis and weight-bearing knees of each patient were examined. Each film was evaluated by two investigators separately and first scored by using Kellgren and Lawrence (K&L) scale, then the width of the joint space of hips and knees were measured directly using a steel ruler and recorded to the nearest half millimeter. Bone mineral density (BMD) of lumbar spine and femur was measured. Patients having Heberden’s nodes, Bouchard’s nodes, and carpometacarpal disease were frequent in worshiper group. Joint space width measurements and assessment according to K&L scale did not differ between worshipers and non-worshipers. BMD of lumbar spine was decreased in worshipers and also decreased with patients having Heberden’s nodes, Bouchard’s nodes, female gender and age. Prayer has no effect on knee and hip osteoarthritis, and may be related with hand osteoarthritis. It seems to have negative effect on lumbar BMD, but further investigations are needed.

Keywords Prayer - Osteoarthritis - Osteoporosis

Perhaps tatami mats or a sandy beach in the shade of a coconut palm might be more healthy.

~peace~

Coconut thoughts (retread)

2008-08-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

canteeek ni gambo!

Botany 101 metaphor

Coconuts can't grow if cracked from the outside. Coconuts can grow if the root inside can penetrate out through the shell, away from the light, down into the dark soil, stabilizing position (representing basal trust network stability, parental bond, security, daily nutritional foundation), only then can the stem grow up (representing freedom, independence, choices, responsibilities).

The stem (and branches-leaves-etc.) all have to grow up away from the shell, towards the light/energy source.

The leaves grow towards the light, but then, they point outwards (away from the stem, which is the structural support) so the horizontal leaf surface absorb maximum light.

This is like reaching out to friends... They can't give light, but can reflect it and also help slow the gusts of storm winds. However they also compete (need their own space to grow), so one can't overextend too far, or the stem will weaken (too dependent on other people weakens self-discipline, slows growth).

Sometimes the wind blows hard or the water level in the soil drops or rises, these are life's challenges. Every night, darkness allows sleep (rest & restore inside).

Don't worry about cracking the "shell", that happens naturally as you grow both deeper and higher. :)

Coconut embryo: coconut-bubble

ps. We have many other palm trees here in Kuala Walu Wiki, Nor Calif, but only one coconut palm tree grows naturally in California.

Flying to LA for lunch

2008-07-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

priceless.

1,000 km for a sandwich & meeting a friend.

have a nice trip, lib, see ya tomoro!

ps. i got coffee crumbs in my Seattle blend coffee... no problemo

pps. punk rock concert tonite. last week folk-punk-metal-teen headbangers..

Analysis of romance

2008-07-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

I never thought I would write this kind of post, but I just read this article in the newspaper:

The Elixir of Love

Love really is blind, at least to temptation. Researchers at Florida State University report that people settled in a loving relationship find an attractive member of the opposite sex not alluring but repellent. The researchers, in observing a number of people and their interactions, said that "while single people were naturally attentive at the sight of an attractive face, people in loving relationships became uncomfortable and looked away." This reflex, which happens before the conscious brain can process an image, is probably an evolutionary adaptation that promotes pair bonding, according to psychologist Joseph Forgas. He concludes, "What these studies suggest is that romantic love serves a very important function, tempering our natural desire to pay attention to, and to continuously seek out, the best available mate." The Eureka Reporter
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and here follows my nonsense analysis of the analysis (meta-analysis?), except of course, I immediately ignore the actual topic and drift elsewhere into TV advertising, baby bird behavior and storybooks. Yes, I'm alive, awake, aware, and myself. Thankyou muchogracias mersiboku shiashiani arigato etcetera.
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Actually, that sounds right. When a pair bonds, each individual is actually feeling their own love being reflected back, which is why people can fall in love with a picture of an attractive person without ever meeting them in person, this is due to mirror neurons in the brain of humans, (found also in dolphins and great apes, but not in other animals). I think this is partly the reason for the tradition in middle eastern countries not to make images of people, to avoid developing a bond with a picture or illusion. Today, technology allows fast accurate image making (3D films, interactive video games, air brush paintings...) which can confuse the viewer into partially believing a reality that actually doesn't exist. Story telling is just another version of that, with or without photos as props. The desire to escape boring reality is simply being human. (Also, not only images are reflected, sounds also are, for example, the desire to sing along with an attractive pop star singing a love song.)

Advertisers know this very well, that's why TV commercials always feature a pretty face with their products, so watchers associate the two. That's ok, as long as you know that it's actually your own love and beauty that is being reflected back to you, and not some actor that is just getting money to pay the rent.

Mirror neurons = reflect, mimic or copy another's behavior. Humans are rich in this, that's why humans are good learners, compared to most instinctive mammals. Chicks and ducklings 'imprint' their identity and actions to copy their mother, but only for a few days when hatching, after that they stop. Humans have the ability to continue learning much longer, although many stop when they finish school, and become fixed to an unchanging job.

Oxytocin, vasopressin & dopamine: The social-romantic-reproductive hormones. These kick in as reaction to specific mirror neuron stimuli, although they may already be abundantly supplied due to oestrus cycle.

"I get a kick out of you"

And finally, aardvarchaelogist Martin on romance & chicken spam: http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2008/07/birthday_clustering.php
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2008/07/estonian_chicken_spam_nightmar.php

Have u ever been naughty?

2008-07-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

yeeeeah, me too, coupla times. (whose counting, right?) nice is better when possible.

this week all cloudy and chilly, good for fighting the forest fires here in nor calif, but not very summery. today, sun came out for few hours, nice.

had staff meeting, dis, dat and da udder, kind of missing su'm.
(btw, tort is made from nutmeal, cake is made from flour. i had no idea.)

oh yeah

2008-07-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

New canvas baseball hat from libby: RBSC Royal Bangkok Sports Club
(I hung up the daffodil hat on the wall.)

"bonobo flutter" from the album "Dial M for Monkey"

Bonobos (pygmy chimps) wade bipedally in shallow water, but do not swim.
Humans swim, dive, backfloat.

Orangutan mother wading, infant clings to fur, no skin fat, lar. air sac, no swim-dive-backfloat

Bonobo mother wading, infant clings to fur, no skin fat, lar. air sac, no swim-dive-backfloat

gorilla mother wading, infant on grass, no skin fat, lar. air sac, no swim-dive-backfloat

human mother with infant, skin with fat not fur, no air sac, yes swim-dive-backfloat
(Human babies have both buoyant insulative WAT white skin fat and (vascularized) inter-scapular self-warming BAT brown fat like most young mammals; while bird chicks, reptile young and piglets have no BAT, so require sunlight, downy nest or shivering for warmth. I don't think human infants shiver when cold, but not sure.)

See these videos, note that the large bellies are not from fat, but from stomach full of plant leaves, which digest slowly. Gorillas in forest opening; the ending show a mother cradling infant in arm while wading

Social Disclaimer: Perhatian! Dilarang mandi tanpa pakaian. Attention! Bathing in public without clothing is not advised. (But also, don't bathe with overly loose bulky clothing, such as a burqa; a burkini is preferable, or other attire more suitable for water.)

Salam selam daripada daud di nor calif, kampong kuala walu wiki, dunia kita. One life 2 share.

Pre-pupal pupils' pseudo-pupils

2008-07-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

______ wiggle worm ______________ "sleeping, do not disturb" __________ so colorful ! __________

ramarama ~ dan ~ mariposa ~ y ~ papillon ~ et ~ butterfly ~ ramaramadanmariposaypapillonetbutterfly!

Don Garlick's article on 'smart' pre-pupae: pupal-memories

Train a caterpillar (ulat) to avoid bright light, then metamorphic transformation (kepompong), then the moth (kupu) avoids bright light too. Metamorphosis from crawling worm (caterpillar) to encased pupae (cocoon/chrysalis) to flying adult (moth/butterfly), most of the body cells die, liquify, re-solidify and reform inside the cocoon to adult.

http://www.all-creatures.org/pica/glf-caterpillar-spbushst.html
Amazing mimicry, the obvious 'eyes' are not actual eyes, but protruding fake "reflecting" pupillary eyespots, the orange 'mouth' is actually the head. The six true small forelegs tuck beneath the 'jaw' during the pose position, while the large false feet along the abdomen propel not by complex leg musculature but by subcutaneous abdominal rippling, a simple neural activity. Scientific evolutionary evidence for artistic elegant design via natural selection process. Alhamdulillah.

Egyptian Obelisk in the garden

2008-07-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/egypt/obelisk.html

I don't have a photo, but we installed a donor's gift in the front entrance garden, a square-based, "gold" pyramidian-topped, obelisk with Egyptian hieroglyphics, similar in concept to the obelisks of Karnak, Egypt, at a reduced scale. The donor had gone on a trip to Egypt years before to study the pyramids, and constructed the obelisk himself; his daughter tells me he's moving to a hospital for cancer treatments, and moved out from his home, and wanted to donate it as a sort of public display. I think it looks nice, it has a sort of 'marbled' exterior. The hieroglyphics include the scarab, some wiggle lines (for water?), etc. which I can't read, but I'll ask the folks at HallofMaat.com about it, they are Egyptologists.

[In memory, I celebrate my parents heavenly birthdays, dad: 7th of July, mom: 18th of December. al fatihah ~ rest in peace]
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

some guy named matt tripping to a tune

Helix Nebula galaxy, by Hubble Telescope

2008-07-03T02:35:00.000-07:00

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080702/ts_alt_afp/usrightspolygamysectchildrenfashionoffbeat;_ylt=Am.ZlJZKMEji8Hd5sxnOEpxH2ocA
Polygamous ex-mormons produce new 'modest' clothing line

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080702/full/454021a.html?s=news_rss
Sialic acid change uniquely human, anti-malarial? Seafood adaptation?

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seorang perempuan pakai gandik atau tiara
seorang lelaki nampak, kata 'cantik mutiara'

http://braintwinkles.blogspot.com/2008/06/something-new-60.html

GANDIK (TIARA) ialah pakaian hulu bagi Seri Paduka Baginda Raja Permaisuri Agong iaitu diperbuat daripada emas putih bertatah penuh dengan permata berlian berbunga awan larat. Di tengah-tengahnya, di atas awan larat itu terdapat anak bulan dengan bintang, kedua-duanya diperbuat daripada emas putih juga. Gandik ini dipakai oleh Seri Paduka Baginda dalam istiadat-istiadat kebesaran Diraja dan pada waktu Pertabalan Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong. {Istana Negara}

GANDIK (TIARA) is upstream of clothing for His Majesty the King & Queen Agong made of white gold jewelry with diamonds Jade full flowering clouds tired. In the midst of clouds above the tired, there is the new moon with the stars, both made of white gold also. Gandik is shared by His Majesty the ceremonial ceremonial pomp-Royal Coronation at the time and His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

(edited after comments)

and so it goes

2008-07-02T00:47:00.000-07:00

sayang, i dunno if you're gonna read this.

i wanna tangle with you. softly. fairly.

sometimes i wanna lose. other times,

your gonna have to play hard to win.

and ... if i never upset you,

how can i be a good hubby?

i can only try.

love is worth the fear of losing.

i don't know how to say (iloveu anyways)

i don't know what to do (ya Allah)

~ selamat jalan ~ balik kampung ~ sayang salam ~

(yah, i can't believe i edited this part... why?)

25 yrs ago today, Bucky Fuller passed away

2008-07-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

"Think of the Queen Mary ship - the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder "called a 'trim tab'. It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around, which then turns the whole ship."

http://www.maxprotetch.com/main.html?id=339&show=21
http://www.maxprotetch.com/main.html?id=339

(Kind of reminds me of perau samoa & bola sepak takraw)

Just two of Bucky's many elegant inventions, showing the incredible human mind when unhindered by dogma and allowed to explore and design sensiblya most remarkable intelligent designer.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/06/09/slideshow_080609_fuller/?slide=2#showHeader
http://www.readyaiminspire.com/Buckminster_Fuller_Leadership_By_Design.html
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:Ib8XdlHZrAQJ:www.bfi.org/%3Fq%3Dnode/406+grunch+of+giants&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/14/arts/buck.php?page=1
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=3448

Bucky Fuller: Grunch of Giants

"Man-made laws, legal agreements, royal fiats are not tools. Man-made laws and customs are not technology. They are political power ploys, originally instituted only by-physical-might-asserted and -sustained "rights." Corporations are not tools. They are conventionally accepted power-proclaimed legal contrivances.

There are two fundamental types of tools: those which can be produced by one human unaided in any way physically or metaphysically by any other humans and those which could not be invented, developed, or operated by one human alone. The latter, multi-human-involvement tools, are the industrial tools (high tech machines).

The solo-evolved tools are craft tools. The solo-developed craft tools can be complex and even powered, as by a harnessed creature or a dammed stream of water. Craft tools used as weapons make it possible for physically small humans to overwhelm physically either big humans or even bigger animals--tiger pitfall traps are one example.

This brings us to the slaying of the giant Goliath by David and to the generalized principle of brain-mastered brawn by mind-mastered brain, of the metaphysical mastering the physical.

This in turn brings us to the present confrontation of humanity by the Grunch of Giants--the supranational corporate conglomerates--the greatest giants in all history invisibly "Rough-Riding" planet Earth. While you can see their skyscrapers and factories, these are only the physical properties occupied by the human-drone workers employed by the elusively invisible corporate conglomerates".
==================================================================
I had a dream to start a corporation, Dream Stars & Desert Islands, but it's inactive, as I wanted to marry first, have a wife-life-partner to enjoy the process of growth. Not sure if it will be for profit or not for profit; doing innovative, healthy, enjoyable and environmental sustainable business. InsyaAllah.

lagu

2008-07-01T01:25:00.000-07:00

lirik lagu link

So what did YOU do this week?

2008-06-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

~~~~~*~~~~~~ I asked a girl to marry me.~~~~~~*~~~~~~

(twice.)

yah, edited this one too, malu

Keep holding on ~ Avril Lavigne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbynwp9km0g

You're not alone Together we stand I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold And it feels like the end There's no place to go
You know I won't give in No I won't give in

Keep holding on 'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong 'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on 'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

So far away I wish you were here Before it's too late, this could all disappear
Before the doors close And it comes to an end With you by my side I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend Yeah, yeah

Keep holding on 'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong 'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on 'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

Hear me when I say, when I say I believe
Nothing's gonna change, nothing's gonna change destiny
Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly

http://www.metrolyrics.com/keep-holding-on-lyrics-avril-lavigne.html

(i dunno wot to do, nak kawen, ta de instruction manual pulak)

Bahasa ~ Speaking

2008-06-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

Malaysian & European language roots shared with Sanskrit/IE/Persian
bhāṣā - Sanskrit; prabhāṣeta - speaks
phasa - Thai
bahasa - Malaysian-Indonesian: bisa bicara bahasa (bus/bas/bis)
(s)bhaas - PIE: *(s)peis- (to blow, aspirate), voice
(s)pra.ha. - German: spreche (sprekke), add s, h to k sound
(s)p.a.h. - Dutch: spaaks (speks), add s, r lost, h to k sound
p.a.has - French: parlez (parley), r lost, b lost, has to rle
prabhas. - Spanish: habla (abla), pr to h, bha to bla
prabhas - Arabic: tanafas, pra to tana?, bhas to fas
.r.ha. - Hebrew: ruah (ruhah), u added, p & bha & sa lost
p..b.a - Greek: pneuma, pra to pnu?, bha to ma
(s)p.r.heta - Latin: espiritu ~ breath/preach/respire/spirit/speak
(s)p..t, k(s)pktreta - English: spit, expectorate
(s)p.r.eta - English: aspirate (rough suction, sip, slurp "srottt")

just because

2008-06-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

......comey (^:^)

......humans can hold their breath for up to 6+
......minutes, apes for much less than a minute.
......(click pix to enlarge)

gambeau 1: anak comel meditating deeply

gambeau 2: angkasawan jumpa anak dunia air

gambeau 3: rambut tak panjang, emak punya rambut panjang. (during pregnancy, mother's hair strengthens for better grasp)

underwater-babies.html
kids see clearly while diving
(looks like fun)

Kitty kat air tejun & gunung di Bogor

2008-06-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Cutting Wood, Stone and Bone

2008-06-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Wood, bamboo, bone, stone have grain patterns (cellular fiber matrix) that vary from linear to spiral. Spiral patterns are harder to split linearly lengthwise, and are usually cut with a saw.

Eg. Wood/Stone/Bone cutting: splitting vs sawing

A plank is split following the grain orientation, producing some splints/splinters, and then often smoothly planed;

while a board is sawn in any orientation, producing some powdery sawdust, and then often smoothly sanded.

word derivatives: 2D fiber -> 3D fabric | 2D mat -> 3D matrix

I intended to write a bit more, but it's rather technical.

la

2008-06-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

the la's - there she goes again (they dis-embedded the vid but the link works ok) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fL0WiB69T0

=====================================================================================
:|

Is this an incorrect perception? Biased perhaps. Stereotypes are often biased.
maafkan ku kalau anda tak suke gambo tu. silakan kata saya. It was meant to tease, but not to hurt. Sometimes it is hard to know the difference, yeah? ok. [update: am i being too serious bout this? hmm, just lil bit]

I've been teased a lot at various times (like everybody, right?), been physically hurt a few times (ouch!), and emotionally hurt once badly it shattered me (took some time to recover from that). Life is complicated, sometimes painful, and sometimes tears are all there is. I hope I don't make you cry, but sometimes I hope you do cry anyways. Because some people cannot cry, they can only hate and harm themselves and others around them. sian. They may lose their humanity. Let's keep it. Real life ain't made for emo crybabies, but it ain't for robots either. [update: I hope that doesn't sound harsh. I meant that if someone is always weeping or never weeps at all, maybe they would benefit from rebalancing therapy or medical treatment. ok, now i sound like a softie. can't win for tryin.]
Earn your tears, face your fears. aite. jom. gambatte ne.

salam, dari daud ~ di nor calif

The Great American Soda Pop Controversy

2008-06-16T02:33:00.000-07:00

http://popvssoda.com:2998/
Gene expression: Razib's map

In USA, some people call soft drink like Pepsi as 'pop', others as 'soda', others call it Coke (even if it's Pepsi or Root Beer).

This reminded me of coconut in Malaysia, some call it 'nyiur' (probable shared origin of the English word 'nut' and Latin word 'nux'), others call it 'kelapa', some 'kopyor'. It would be neat to see that mapped out like above.

In US, also, the word for the upturned water faucet for drinking is 'water fountain' in some areas, 'bubbler' in others.

basketree

virtual pool (sape takut air, bole mandi disini)

Fathers Day * Hari Abah, dek bday (June 15)

2008-06-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

In memory of Clarence and his son Wayne (my father), and appreciation for present & future dads. [oleh abang daud di nor qalif, tok adik beradik]

Sons and Fathers

Without sons and fathers, what would we do?
Do the best we can, as we know they'd want us to...
They make a hard hot world, a much safer place
they make a million memories, that will never be erased

Can you hear the thunder
in a little girl's tears?
Will you mend her broken heart
and soothe all her fears?

Well that's what teddy bears are for,
when loved ones have gone through the door
Yeah that's what teddy bears are for,
when loved ones have gone through the door
and that's what wings and prayers are for.

[A gentleman's poetic reflections on Fathers Day, DDeden 2007]
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How great thou art ~ Allah akbar

O lord my god, when i in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made;
I see the stars, i hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

When through the woods, and forest glades i wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When i look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, my saviour god, to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my saviour god, to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art.

O when I see ungrateful man defiling
This bounteous earth, god's gifts so good and great;
In foolish pride, god's holy name reviling,
And yet, in grace, his wrath and judgment wait.

When burdens press, and seem beyond endurance,
Bowed down with grief, to him i lift my face;
And then with love he brings me sweet assurance:
'Small child, for thee sufficient is my grace'.

Then sings my soul, my saviour god, to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my saviour god, to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art.

Carl Gustav Boberg wrote the song in Sweden in 1885 following a two mile walk through a thunderstorm from a prayer meeting. My father loved this song, he sang it loud and clear, I think in part because my mom was an artist, sort of a dual meaning for him. It was performed during his funeral and did bring some tears to my eyes as I sang with the choir.

al fatiha ~ papa ~ rest in peace

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

my sis ~ happy birthday ~ schoen geburstag ~ shinzekweile ~ selamat hari jadi

i wanted to marry before doing anymore stuff with the sibs and cuzzies
that's why i've been out of touch and why i went away. i'm proud of you doc.

hope you've got your faith restored in full, whatever one is best for you.

happy birthday sis! hope you can try some of that 'evening in missoula' herbal tea, it really is good stuff, even to a coffee-phile like me. peace, love and bubbles.

Cute Aussie candles (platypus & frogs), and blue candle on space station in microgravity (spherical flame) compared to earth's regular gravity (teardrop flame). I think the yellow color is due to tiny impurities (soot, buckyballs), while the blue flame doesn't burn the soot. neat. yeah, i know, i couldn't resist being the geeky science nerd brother, hehe. remember, despite the science teacher's ignorance, fire and water are both fluid and thus naturally spherical, not formless, when not in the presence of a large gravitational object (like planet Earth).
[ps. stick in a 'thus' and you sound like einstein.]

Time to rest, my eyes are tired. alhamdullilah ~ alleluyah.

Khalifah, Art & Science Shows in the galleries

2008-06-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

Ecology in Islam: Protection of the Web of Life a Duty for Muslims By Dr. Hasan Zillur Rahim, physicist-engineer in Northern California, editor of IQRA, newsletter of the South Bay Islamic Association, in San Jose, CA.

"The earth's resources land, water, air, minerals, forests are available for our use, but these gifts come from God with certain ethical restraints imposed on them. We may use them to meet our needs, but only in a way that does not upset ecological balance and that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Thus, not knowing about stewardship and accountability, we reduce Qur'anic teachings to narrow definitions of crime and punishment. This is reflected in unenlightened environmental leadership found in some Muslim countries today.

The Fundamental Role of Water

Several verses of the Qur'an deal with the hydrological cycle and the fundamental role water plays in sustaining life on earth. In referring to the fertility of the soil, to the unique properties of fresh and sea water, to the course of rivers and the presence underground of springs and aquifers, and most significantly to the aquatic origin of life, the Qur'an places water at the top of all the natural phenomena on earth. The miracle of water is emphasized in a particular verse where God, addressing those who may doubt the truth of resurrection, first gives the example of the growth of the fetus within the mother's womb, leading to the birth of a human being."

Among all known hominids/hominoids, humans have the flattest swim-fin-like or flipper-like hands and feet (compare H sapiens hand X-ray to Phocid and Sirenia forelimbs vs. Pongo/Pan), all other hominoids have more phallangeal/metatarsal bone curvature.
====================================================================================

Live play performance by the schoolkids, reptile show, bird show, Arts Alive exhibit (3D Fabrications) and Open Studios (all public invited to see artists work). Quite busy, I did some painting, washing up, carried in the snakes (huhu!); Naturalists and schoolteachers will be speaking.

June 7, 6 to 9 p.m. 411 Twelfth Street, Eureka. The Ink People Center for the Arts will host a show of fish prints, masks and interpretive wildlife posters made by students at the Transitional Opportunity Program School (TOPS) and Lincoln Elementary School. The featured artwork is produced through Ink People's O. G. Redwoods Are Alive! program. This monthlong science and art project is implemented with the help of many local and state agencies as well as community nonprofit organizations.

Enjoy the artwork of some very talented local youths at this community event, a part of Eureka’s monthly Arts Alive! program. Meet live reptiles, amphibians, and birds of the redwood forests. Talk with ecologists who study and care for our natural world. Learn how you are part of the web of life.

MORE INFORMATION: For information about ASK ME (Art & Science Kids interested in Media & Education), contact program director Barbara A. Domanchuk at (707) 442-8413 or (707) 768-1738. ASK ME is a DreamMaker program of The Ink People Center for the Arts.

This event is made possible in part by the League's Education Grants Program.

Education

"In the end, we conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught."
- Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist and poet

http://www.savetheredwoods.org/education/coastredwood.shtml

Environmental Seminars in the Russian River Area

The public and aspiring docents are invited to the Russian River area of California for seminars on topics ranging from redwood ecology to environmental living. Sonoma Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods.

Russian Gulch State Park

HIGHLIGHTS: Along with majestic redwoods, Russian Gulch State Park is home to 7,630 feet of ocean frontage, a large, collapsed sea cave with churning water.

ACTIVITIES: Swimming, tide pool exploring, skin diving, rock fishing, a 36 foot waterfall, a paved three-mile bicycle trail, and miles of hiking trails through the redwood forest. Call the Visitor Center at (707) 937-5804 for details.

Floating hot tub hydrotherapy

2008-06-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.tugtub.com/about_us.html
Floating Hot Tub

Do they have a canopy version too, like this life raft?

Is this great hydrotherapy? ME LOIKE! Imagine in chilly weather or cold water, can "chill out" in a hot tub? A few minutes dive into the cold water, then hop in the hot tub and warm up keeping steady breathing, kind of like a liquid Finnish sauna.

I like it for one reason: the ocean water here is so dayamn cold , one can't swim without a thick wetsuit. This floating hot tub seems like one could dive, then with a small side ladder climb in to warm up, then dive again. Strap on an electric trolling motor and go cruising around the pond or bay, what a blast!

If I had any extra money, yeah, I'd get one and keep it with my (future) sailboat.

I'm sure one can also use it on dry ground or in a house, so very convenient, multiple use. Neat idea...

Morons, mucus & microbiota

2008-06-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

icosahedral Phage
Science Biology: Bacteria + viral Phage in the gut

http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2008/06/repost_morons_in_microbiology.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage
Note pictures, expecially the hexagonal space packing one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icosahedral_symmetry
http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/lehre/bza/virus/introicos.htm

Humans produce saliva-like mucus along the length of the GI tract, respiratory tract and the reproductive tract. Humans have ten times more bacteria cells than human cells in their bodies, only 10% of your cellular body is genetically really you.

Bacteriophages use 'morons' (novel genes) which cause diarrhea by excreting chemicals, this moves the virus (which had been inside the bacteria) away to new victims via fecal material, eg. E. coli.

"The bacteria only cause diarrhea because of genes encoded by phages!

'Morons' are genes that bacteriophages carry around which are unnecessary for the virus, but helpful for the host bacteria. Like the MORON toxins that encode Type III secretion effectors that make you poop when you're colonized by Salmonella or Cholera or the MORON toxins that make you poop when you eat spinach sprinkled with E. Coli.."

'What is the advantage to an E. Coli or Cholera strain that makes me want to die as opposed to a strain that just hangs out not causing problems? The Backpacker'

"Because you poop and then bacteria can spread to new hosts, fecal to oral :) Poop is the key** Its like how influenza makes you feel like crap, but you cough/sneeze, which spreads the virus to new hosts! people die from this, if they don't have access to adequate medical treatment..."
=================================================================================

So it's the secretion of the bacteriophage that affects the ionic membrane producing diarrhea, while antibiotic treatment kills the bacteria, thereby killing the parasitizing virus. The bacteria itself is not toxic, and will sit in the body until time for virus reproduction, when toxins are released.

Wikipedia:

Bacteriophages can be found in all reservoirs populated by bacterial hosts, such as soil or the intestines of animals. One of the densest natural sources for phages and other viruses is sea water, where up to 9×108 virions per milliliter have been found in microbial mats at the surface[2], and up to 70% of marine bacteria may be infected by phages.[3]

They have been used for over 60 years as an alternative to antibiotics in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.[4] They are seen as a possible therapy against multi drug resistant strains of many bacteria.

Here comes the sun

2008-06-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

the sun is shining. new day.

i'm gonna do some art, either drawing or painting, when i got time, the building entrance. mebbe.

Tania (temp worker) is cleaning the art closet, what a mess, 30 years of paints, art supplies, etc.

"There she goes" by sixpence none the richer, copied by masterjedi at youtube / combat zone at squint sony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxThvhtoqG8&feature=related

past leads the future

2008-06-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

past precedes future action... but does not control it.

the wheel of life keeps turning

5 pillars are the spokes in the wheel of life

hmm, this post is frustrating because...?

ok, now i realized why...it's a drizzly day since yesterday, no sunshine or stars, just drizzle and clouds.

Good Song

2008-05-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

I remember riding on the looooong highway from Los Angeles, California to Phoenix, Arizona, while I worked on a carnival summer job with the Kastl crew, setting up, slawing, testing and operating the High Miler roller coaster, for the Arizona State Fair, during the really hot summer days. (Also did the swinging musical chairs and the twirling teacups for the kiddos http://www.kastlamusements.com/rides/rides.asp)

One song, by Sixpence None The Richer, was Kiss Me, which I heard while riding in the truck (lorry) cab. I also got to enjoy listening to them at a live performance, that was sweet. Simple song, heartfelt.

Matt Slocum wrote the song for his wife. Pretty neat. I'm hoping and praying I will soon have a lady to write songs for n dance with n dive with n marry, and other important stuff like changing baby's diapers and monthly sore-back scrubs and pampering during the irritable times. (and teach her to swim and float to prevent drowning) Sabar siket. InsyaAllah.

[Bearded barley is Russian grain (mcm beras), see the "whiskers" on the seed pod 1/2 way down the page here: linky]

lirik lagu Kiss Me

Kiss me out of the bearded barley. Lightly, beside the green, green grass.
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step. You wear those shoes and I will wear that dress.

CHORUS
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight. Lead me out on the moonlit floor.
Lift your open hand. Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance, silver moon's sparkling. So kiss me.

Kiss me down by the broken tree house. Swing me high upon its hanging tire.
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat. We'll take the trail marked on your father's map.

Mothers & Daughters : mengerti?

2008-05-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

in two dimensions (with added colors), looks like butterflies, but in three dimension, it's hominid pelvis configurations, from Lovejoy, 2005, fig. 5

...attention: this post is considered veiled...
_____________________________________________________________________________________

She and her rainforest ancestors: hanging, standing or sitting while plucking/tree climbing/bipedal wading/quadrupedal walking on knuckles and feet but no swimming/diving/back-floating. Note the huge biceps/triceps and long arms but short legs, and long fingers-toes but short palm-sole and hyper-erect ear pinnae, lack of subcutaneous fat, hyper-trophic muscles, very short achilles tendon.
11 yr old female

She and our seashore ancestors: standing, sitting or mid-dive while plucking/cliff climbing and bipedal shoreside beachcombing wading and walking and running/swimming/diving/back-floating. Note the long legs but short arms, long flat palm-sole (paddle-like) but short toes, slightly erect ear pinnae and long hydrodynamic scalp hair, subcutaneous fat, (comparatively) atrophic muscles, very long achilles tendon. [Note: wearing high-heeled shoes daily causes shrinkage of the achilles tendon, best to combine with barefoot walking and stretching]
10 yr old female

Newborn infant: mother grips branch, eats birth mucus and afterbirth (same as deer), infant no fat layer, face emerges ventrally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfVnFJDjUyQ

Newborn infant: mother immersed, does not eat mucus or afterbirth (same as dolphin), infant SC fat layer, face emerges dorsally. (midway through and end of video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyL1Hak2xwY

labour progression and birth of human, bipedal-linear pelvic structure requires newborn to rotate on axis, no other primate does this. The afterbirth remains viable and continues to pump blood and oxygen for a minute after birth, allowing extended full submersion of infant. This may indicate that the human ancestral condition was a slow birth, semi-immersed in warm water.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3aPusn8Hj5o

One way to flip a breech baby?: handstand (vertical diving posture) in water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQvDXy-6Kzs&mode=related&search

Hominid pelvis structure and bipedalism (but lacks semi-aquatic information)
http://www.wannabe-anthropologist.com/wba_writing_pelvis.php

Human vs chimp pelvic structure, birth process
http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/resources/clarifications/HumanBirth.html#

Pregnant mums swimming, diving, back-floating: (big tummies, Spanish vid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l80jkfQK_uA&feature=related

380,000,000 year old mother placoderm giving birth, umbilical cord present internal.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/05/materpiscis_attenboroughi.php
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(I've no idea why I put this here, rather than in the arc.)

your money or your life

2008-05-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Social status & derived financial valuation

http://ecocene.org/blog/?p=40

"This suggests that money and social standing are evaluated similarly, and can substitute for each other. However, it should be of little surprise that the same part of the brain that evaluates status also evaluates money. But money hasn’t been around forever… some part of the brain had to take on the task of handling it. This may explain why money equates so easily to social status; not just because we think of it in similar terms, but that the brain function that developed to measure social status took on the task of evaluating money."

translation: money-trade stemmed from social selection.

"During the game, they were told that fake contestants were doing better or worse than them. Individual's brains apparently react very strongly to the status of other players. So it seems like thinking that you are doing better than someone else has a stronger reaction than a monetary reward, even if it’s a complete stranger."

translation: you don't have to run faster than the lion, as long as you can run faster than the other person, preferably a stranger. Therefore, if a stranger seems to be ahead in the race, fear motivates and invigorates. In an anonymous society (cities), a clique of like-minded individuals forms to maintain a perceived lead against outgroups and non-group individuals, and expresses fitness (activity, glittery stuff to show up others), conformism (ritual, rule) to show allegiance.

Membuatkan Nature-Path "Housepital"?

2008-05-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Note: this post is better with a grain of salt.
===============================================
Nature-Path differs from both natural path and naturopathy, as defined by wikipedia.
اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭ al mustaqīm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy
http://www.the-natural-path.com/
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/05/a_perfect_storm_of_quackademic_medicine.php
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/06/doctors_of_naturopathy_in_minnesota.php?utm_source=mostactive&utm_medium=link

They focus on herbal remedies and "cleansing" of often imaginary toxins from the body, as well as vegetarianism and yoga and other techniques, many of which are more or less placebos.

Basically, nature-path is individually optimal health and wellness or eunoia, not just simply stasis, and the opposite of disease and illness.

I formerly worked at the National Wellness Institute at the University of Wisconsin system, for Dr. Bill Hettler, assisting in establishing their wellness network database, where I learned of the medical industry's dilemma: the propensity to treat patients by killing the pain and quieting the symptoms rather than to heal by tuning into and magnifying (not increasing) the pain and symptoms for analysis and treatment.

http://www.nationalwellness.org/

If you ask a typical medical practitioner, what is apnoea or paranoia, they will respond immediately with the right answer, but if you ask about eunoia, they may need time to recall, because they are so completely focused on returning a patient to average (not optimal) health stasis, thus allowing unhealthy habits (which may have caused the disease) to be retained.

But if one's attention zooms in on treatment of the negative symptoms, one cannot effectively treat the whole person. It is the positive equilibrium which actually heals the body, the drugs and surgery only assist it. (Obviously, I'm not including acute traumatic injuries, chronic genetic defects, etc. which require specialized conventional medical treatment at some stages, but still gain long term advantage with holistic treatment such as naturopathy.)

Eureka Eunoia Ecostay: organic foods, sea shore rehab, radioscopy, fitness, balance.
Locale: adjacent to the Wharfinger (= syahbandar) building and marina.
There has been interest in developing an eco-hostel here, but how about an eco-hospice or eco-hospital?
http://eco-hostel.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26

not sure why, i have this feeling to design and construct an eco-hospital & human physiology complex. There are already 2 conventional hospitals nearby, mad river hospital and st. josephs hospital, which serve humboldt county.

{i call this one a pipe dream, since there is no financial funding for it.}

there's a veterans memorial clinic, and a red cross blood bank clinic, a skin health & beauty college and two hotels (closed- empty) very near here. this all could be converted to a pro-active health center spa complex.

basically, featuring less chemical medicines and invasive surgery and more health-focused lifestyle adaptation, including dietary habituation, fitness habituation, socio-mental stress reduction (surfing through the peaks and valleys of life's challenges), with a view that "the body heals itself when allowed and encouraged", rather than pumping bodies full of artificial chemicals from Big Pharma or even worse, pushing homeopathic snake oil (unnecessary colonic cleansing) and ritualized magic cures (this pill/herb/prayer/chant/suppository) will cure anything!). mostly people don't need to be cured, just rebalanced.

the local billionaires might be induced to support this, and there's another one, a malaysian indian real estate moghul that might also, named roy i think. i won't ask warren buffett, he's too busy buying hydroelectic dams that destroy the salmon fishing for local native tribes (dayak merah).

(ps. wearing my brown slacks, brown summer sweater, tan sports jacket, grey sox & white sneakers and a camouflage baseball cap "hunting and fishing news"; fashion police jangan datang lah...hehe)

pps. this tea is yummy: evening in missoula herbal tea, from missoula, montana, usa linky

What's in your genes?

2008-05-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080526/ap_on_sc/woman_s_dna_1

Woman's genome sequenced.

I was wondering if they'd ever get around to that, after sequencing men, chimpanzees, monkeys, cows, platypuses, etc.

I mean, goodness sakes, they are human, yah?!

Kinetics update

2008-05-25T15:14:00.000-07:00

I sure enjoyed seeing these crazy craft and crews, splashing and cruising along the trail. (Some of them even reminded me of the kavadi of the Hindu Thaipusam festival, and the rainbow colored becaks and tuk-tuks.)

Some pics I copied from Radio station KHUM blog: (see photo credits there)
http://khumksr.blogspot.com/

the wooden yacht with wagon wheels

the happy hippy hippo, with wiggling ears and opening mouth

The glorified viking ship, and the oops! factor. The floats were too close together, no stability in the water, so when it rolled into the water it flipped on it's side; I watched but couldn't do anything to stop the roll-over, try again guys!

Note: Safety equipment required: Life vest float, toothbrush, teddy bear. Do not try this at home without supervision.

Oh, yeah, I also toured a US Navy ship (real one) docked at the pier, enjoyed checking out the huge propeller screw engines and electrical generators, listening to the grease monkey engineer talk about diesel power in the noisy engine room and galley and crowded bunks area, fun time, open to the public during Memorial Day weekend. The ship was used to launch aircraft, as troop carrier and then a hospital ship IIRC, during WWII and is being restored. Coolness!

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OTOH, (the left one) George Bush, US president stupidly supports increased oil consumption and waste, by tax payback economic stimuli which is used to pay for more expensive gasoline ($4./gallon <-> today price up to $4.35/gallon). bodoh betui. More oily wars coming soon? Mucho loco Señor George.
http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2008/05/another_oil_company_subsidy.php

Much better idea (but not yet public), from the common sense calif: traix, mass transport that allows independent individual expression without fossil fuel, that improves health and efficiency, and reduces smoggy city air and congestion.
traix

Kinetic Sculpture Festival is here again!

2008-05-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

Kinetic coffee 2004

[katak] croak slough
http://www.kineticuniverse.com/
http://kineticgrandchampionship.com/
[Features live streaming on internet during the race saturday-monday]
http://www.kineticuniverse.com/KUI-pix/index.html

"For the Glory!" Hobart Brown, the glorious founder. The 40th annual race, this week. "NO petrol engines were used in this event" me, the humble nor calif. All Kinetic Sculpture Races provide healthy challenges to their pedaling competitors over 40 miles of: * Sand * Mud * Water * Pavement ^ people pedal together power ^

While other races may only last one or two days, the Grand Championship course is long and grueling, subjecting the racers and their machines to extreme stresses; some planned, others not. But not to worry, the racers are in top shape or as the Hobart Brown, the Glorious Founder says, "If you aren't in top shape when you start, you will be when you finish." "Kinetic Sculpture Racing is human powered engineering and art all wrapped up in the most imaginative racing machines you've ever seen!"

I'll be walking down to watch it as they cross the bridge to downtown Eureka Calif. and then the next morning as they go into the water of Humboldt Bay (Kuala Walu Wiki).

Linger

2008-05-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

[Since the song is called linger, why did they cut off the last 15 seconds? hmm? hmm? alas...]

Portuguese translation of the pretty Irish lilting song Linger by the Cranberries

(P) prolongar = (E) linger = (M) berlengah lengah

(L) cor = (P) coração = (E) heart = (M) hati

(P) ~ meu coracao ainda bate forte cuando te veio
(E) ~ my heart still beats strong whenever I see you
(M) ~ hati saya masih memukulkan kuat bila bila saya nampak saudari
(M yg medical: plz see comments)

http://www.marilynvossavant.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=621

CRANBERRIES LYRICS "Linger"
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cranberries/linger.html

If you, if you could return, don't let it burn, don't let it fade. I'm sure I'm not being rude, but it's just your attitude, It's tearing me apart, It's ruining everything. I swore, I swore I would be true, and honey, so did you. So why were you holding her hand? Is that the way we stand? Were you lying all the time? Was it just a game to you? But I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, Do you have to let it linger? Oh, I thought the world of you.
I thought nothing could go wrong, But I was wrong. I was wrong. If you, if you could get by, trying not to lie, Things wouldn't be so confused and I wouldn't feel so used, But you always really knew, I just wanna be with you. But I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, Do you have to let it linger? And I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, Do you have to let it linger? You know I'm such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha. Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, Do you have to let it linger?

Muhammed Ali berkata

2008-05-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

a man who has

no imagination

has no wings

-=\O/=-

http://www.g.mayer@mayer-of-munich.com
====================================================================
Is it just a coincidence that these names are similar: mehemot (great) and muhammed ali (who boasted so famously, "I am the greatest!"? I think so, but I don't know. Please, someone inform me, ok? I know some persons names are mehemot, like mehemot ali, who had a trained tiger.
http://books.google.com/books?id=AXUZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA505&lpg=PA505&dq=mehemot&source=web&ots=h4yFJRJKvI&sig=LTwBePqzPIWeWRYFyDqbFq0qoPs&hl=en

"Several etymologies have been given for the name 'mammoth'; among others, the word 'behemoth' in the Book of Job, and the Arabic word ' mehemot,' signifying an elephant of very large size. One of the most interesting is the Tartar word ' mamma,' meaning the earth, suggested by Pallas, a Russian scientist, who first gave a description of the animal. " The Tungooses and Yakoots," he says, "believed that this animal worked its way in the earth like a mole. The mammoths had retired, they say, into great caverns from which they never emerge, but wander to and fro in the galleries" [actually, they found the mammoth corpses which had fallen through thin ice into crevices and swamps and froze, but they didn't live underground in caverns.)

At the time of the Great pyramids of Egypt were built, there were probably still some mammoths alive on coastal islands near Siberia (Wrangels Island), and there were still some giant sloths on Caribbean Isles, which probably gave rise to the Bigfoot legends of native Americans.

http://paleomammalsonline.blogspot.com/2008/05/meet-mighty-mammoth.html

the call of the mighty mehemot: mammoth trumpet http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/aucilla11_1/trumpet.htm

Happy Teachers Day to all cikgu's

2008-05-15T23:44:00.001-07:00

Life is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, and the lesson aferward.

><> ><>
><> ><> ><>
><> ><> ><> ~ ><^)>
><> ><> ><>
><> ><>

(hard to draw a school of fish hehe)
==============================

Girls are smart, yeh? This from Sciencewoman Blog:
http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/2008/05/isef_2008_the_best_of_the_best_1.php

Three talented, hard working, and lucky students are the recipients of the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award, which includes a $50,000 college scholarship. This year's winners are:

* Efficient Hydrogen Production Using Cu-Zn-Al Catalysts Prepared by Homogeneous Precipitation Method by Yi-Han Su, 17 from Taipei Municipal First Girls' Senior High School in Taipei. (A girl! From Taiwan! And I happened to pick up her abstract and take a picture of her board! (I'll have the pic and highlights from the abstract later this afternoon)

* Development of Biosensors for Detecting Hazardous Chemicals by Natalie Saranga Omattage, 17, from The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science in Columbus. (Another girl!)

* Computation of the Alexander-Conway Polynomial on the Chord Diagrams of Singular Knots by Sana Raoof, 17 of Jericho High School in Jericho, New York. (Another girl! It's a sweep!)

And another one:

Three students were also awarded the Seaborg SIYSS Award, which consists of a trip to the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm in December. These students, the three top high school seniors, will get a chance to hob-nob with the Nobel laureates, hear them give their lectures, see the medals get awarded, and attend a glamorous feast and ball at the Stockholm town hall. They'll also get to interact with other top young scientists from the European Union and around the world. Short of winning a Nobel prize itself, this is the closest you can come to being at the center of the events. These smart, dedicated, lucky soon-to-be world travelers are:

* Kaleigh Anne Eichel, 17, of Strongsville Senior High School, in Strongsville, Ohio for her project
The Ability to Learn: Learning and Communication between Comet Goldfish

( congrads to the champs! and to their gurus !)

Gate = Bridge = Pass = Pax = Peace = Salam = Shalom = Taarak

2008-05-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Palesraeli Hadhari

lihat sabar, young padawan... Do not make me take a Jedi stance and draw out my Jedi Light Sabre Kris and wave it about menacingly!

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/this-is-a-kosovar-muslim-11372

The reason I was disappointed in the behavior of the Serbs (and not much more with the Montenegrens, Croats, Macedonians) was that I had such high regard for their rich, ancient cultural history. They had greed but no need to harm their neighbors.

of the innocent on all sides who died, al fatiha ~ blessed and rest in peace
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for those interested, this is one path one might take, among many equally valid:
http://www.seasons-of-peace.net/opening/fatiha.htm

however, being, of nor calif, my singular responsibilities differ from imams ~ an example is that i don't count prayers, as there are never enough for those who lead, nor do i count the footsteps nor swimming strokes or breaths taken and given.

i do not support the nation of israel,
i do not support the nation of palestine,
i do offer my whole hearted but just symbolic support to de` caffienate krislamarina caliphate of palesrael, in peace, via resource allocation, manufacturing, trade, technology, etc. as chief executive officer (ceo) of the non-profit corporate caliphate, pro the dream maker program in the form noted as 'dream stars & desert islands' (dsdi), once i've found a lady and married, insyaAllah. Until then, i can only watch the suffering in silence, since i cannot claim this position if i'm solo, sad to say. i lost `my' princess to an imam, which is why i do not follow or submit to the imam, though i do not oppose them; they have their duties, i have mine, alhamdulillah.

اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ ihdinā ṣ-ṣirāṭ al mustaqīm
guide us to the straight path ~ guide us along the arc of life

The Quran says:

“Let there be no compulsion in the religion: Clearly the Righteous Path is distinct from the crooked path.” (Quran 2:256)

The righteous or straight path is a smooth curvilinear arc, not jagged or crooked.
Of course, real life is bumpy, but the ideal is to go through it smoothly.

please note that straight = curved because earth is spherical in the space-time continuum, it is not a flat surface. an example of this, is the making of window glass: a puddle of molten glass must rest upon a puddle of molten tin, in order to have a consistent thickness, since both puddles, like the oceans follow the earth's curvature. in two dimensions (X, Y), the path is straight, in three dimensions (X, Y, Z) the path follows an arc, in four dimensions it follows an orbital cycle (X, Y, Z, T (T = Temporal)). life is fluid and therefore spherical and cyclical following planetary orbital seasons, through the temporal dimension of light years of time, not crystaline like a rock which cracks and erodes into alluvial fans or eluvium, therefore, the straight path is an arc, by definition. those who have been to the moon and outer space have verified this fact. earth is not flat land, it is curved. all paths are curvilinear made up of arcs. many do not understand this, and do not understand scientific theory of geology, ecology, biology, spatial geometry, etc. it is nature, it is the primal gift. sela. salud. salam. shalom.

on the other side

2008-05-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

so far away ... je ne comprends pas

courage, diva, iloveurightoutloud through tears and fears,
cramps and cries, chores and snores, giggles and sighs...

both sides now: Joni Mitchell
lyrics/joni+mitchell/both+sides+now

Nice instrumental version by Sungha Jung: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yauNUxfQaHk

Oh poo! Replication of chemostat E coli

2008-05-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

Dirty diapers and the beginnings of life

[Random selections from Carl Zimmer's blog The Loom]

"If you type in "Escherichia coli" into PubMed, the search engine for the National Library of Medicine, you get 253,128 scientific papers. Today millions of diabetics get their insulin from E. coli that carry human insulin genes.

So you might think there must have been some eminently rational plan to select E. coli to become the creature science knows best. But there wasn't. It was discovered by Theodor Escherich, a pediatrician. In 1885 he delivered a lecture announcing the discovery of a rod-shaped microbe in the diapers of healthy babies. He was struck by how fast it grew on all sorts of food--milk, potatoes, blood. Scientists in the early 1900s used it to study metabolism, but they also used a lot of other bacteria. It was one among many.

As the French E. coli biologist Jacques Monod declared, what is true for E. coli is true for the elephant (regarding reproduction)".

Larry Moran at Sandwalk blog: Carl Zimmer is among the very best—possibly the best—of the modern science writers. His new book Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life is going to be on sale May 6, 2008. I was mildly disappointed to see Carl repeat a common myth about DNA replication in E. coli on page 29.

http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/05/dna-replication-in-e-coli-problem.html
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/04/buy-this-book.html

Larry: Here's the problem. How can E. coli divide faster than it can replicate it's chromosome?

Me: (Probably completely wrong, since it's purely guessing) light-dark cycle as a factor in replication timing, ability to speed up dependent on if light-dark cycle is speeded up? The thing is, of course the light-dark cycle (diurnal-nocturnal, day-night) can't directly affect the gut bacteria, since they are inside the body. But is there a clock which synchronizes the GI tract according to a) body temp = activity, b) glandular secretion / biochemical stimulation via the eyes, skin, transparent fingernails etc.? Well I just wanted to throw that in at his blog comments.

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080522/full/news.2008.848.html

Here's Larry's solution: http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/05/dna-replication-in-e-coli-solution.html?showComment=1210535040000

It seems to me to be a tidal phenomenon, waves of replication of DNA daughters, making new ones before the old ones have fully separated, in the same way waves at the seashore will overlap one another. Well, that's cool, tidal is cooler than temporal clocks, possibly being subjective to solunar effects hypothetically. I'd like to know the wavelength and frequency of these waves, and compare to heart rate and oceanic waves, might be a correlation there.

Carl's post-operative articles at his blog, the loom, scroll down to see his top 5 questions about E coli and his book Microcosm:
http://scienceblogs.com/loom/

and his honest admission of his booboo: "Meanwhile, Larry Moran is going over the book with a fine-tooth comb and catching at least one mistake. Ouch. I knew I should have been more careful about how fast chromosomes replicate. Something to fix in the next printing..."

coolness for any biofreaks, right? hehe. Nature rules people's stools! ahaks.

Mothers Day * Hari Ibu

2008-05-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

In memory of Byrde and her daughter Caryl (my mother), and appreciation for present & future moms. [oleh abang daud di nor qalif]

Mothers and Daughters

Without mothers and daughters, where would we be?
sitting in an empty boat, out on the open sea...
They make a cold cruel world a much warmer place
they deserve all our love and almost all of our space

It would be hard to find a trace
of a smile on a little boy's face
without mothers and daughters
a^m^a^z^i^n^g ~ g^r^a^c^e.

Well that's what teddy bears are for
when loved ones have gone through the door
Yeah that's what teddy bears are for
when loved ones have gone through the door
and that's what wings and prayers are for

[A gentleman's poetic reflections on Mothers Day, DDeden]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining like the sun,
We've no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun

The lyrics are based on a prayer of King David (prophet Daud) in which he marvels at God's choosing him and his house. John Newton, the author of the lyrics to Amazing Grace, had a turning point in his spiritual life when a violent storm occurred one night while piloting a ship at sea, he realized his helplessness and concluded that only the grace of God could save him. My mom really liked this song, especially when accompanied by Scottish bagpipes and guitar, me too.

al fatiha ~ mama ~ rest in peace

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://hasni.blogdrive.com/
cari entry: Selamat Hari Ibu Wednesday, May 07, 2008

lost a friend and a hope

2008-05-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

just one more day, xayang,

just one more day, saya seorang sendiri.

looking into your eyes, even so briefly, i believed.

fear, trust, innocent, honesty, humble, peaceful, kind, loving.

i'm so sad that we didn't have sons & daughters together.

i'm so sad that we didn't hold hands together gether.

i'm so sad that i never saw you again.

saya harap mazy dan anak dan suami sedang rasa yang baik dan sihat.

Protecting the herd, the flock, the school, the team

2008-05-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

Imagination: *MUTHU & INTERVIEWER - FINAL PART*

Interviewer : "Just imagine you're in the 20th floor of a building and
it's on fire. How will you escape?"

Muthu: "It's simple.. I will just stop my imagination. "

[copied from a mirian duckie's blog]
***********************************************************************

Religion and imagination
http://scienceblogs.com/evolvingthoughts/2008/05/religion_and_imagination.php
Category: Evolution • Philosophy of Science • Religion • Social evolution
Posted on: May 5, 2008 10:04 PM, by John S. Wilkins

Blogging on Peer-Reviewed ResearchIn a piece reported on in New Scientist, Maurice Bloch has proposed another basis for religion: imagination. Because we can project ourselves and imagine the "transcendental" relation in social and personal relationships, we can imagine that there are agents not visible or present, he claims. The paper is also a good historical review of theories of religion, and makes the point that "religion" is not well defined as a topic of investigation of explanation.

Like many others, Bloch infers that religion is a byproduct of things that were evolutionarily adaptive, such as cognitive skills. His critics also think there are other aspects of evolved psychology that apply here, like "theory of mind", or the ability to infer that others have minds like our own, which underwrites the tendency to see agency in natural processes:

Chris Frith of University College London, a co-organiser of a "Sapient Mind" meeting in Cambridge last September, thinks Bloch is right, but that "theory of mind" – the ability to recognise that other people or creatures exist, and think for themselves – might be as important as evolution of imagination.

"As soon as you have theory of mind, you have the possibility of deceiving others, or being deceived," he says. This, in turn, generates a sense of fairness and unfairness, which could lead to moral codes and the possibility of an unseen "enforcer" - God – who can see and punish all wrong-doers.

A recent paper [pdf] by Shariff and Norenzayan claims that humans who believe they are being watched in their social transactions are (marginally) more likely to cooperate rather than cheat; another argument is made by Barbara King, that religion derives from the faculty of empathy that social apes must have. There are a plethora of explanations of "religion".

"But it seems to me that we need to be more careful in our choice of explananda. These different explanations explain different things. A principled division of things to be accounted for would resolve much confusion. As it happens, I'm proposing just that in a talk I'm giving at Sydney Uni Philosophy Department tomorrow at 3 - if you are in town, come by and hear me."

silly mat salleh di bule land

2008-05-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

omg hilarious answers to this Brit's interrogation. Brilliance + Ignorance.

Q. What is the religion of Israel?
A. "Diaperhead?" [DD: WHAT????]

Q. What is a mosque?
A. "Some kind of animal?" [DD: alamak, mina ta paham soalan tu?? bukan nyamuk aise]

Q. Where is France?
A. (pointing to Australia) "here, south" [DD: hmm give up]

alles kaput

2008-05-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

,,,,,,,,|'_____________________________________|________________________________`|.........

hey what you lookin at ??

.......................
........,\|/,........
........(O O)........
--oooo--(_)--oooo--
================

so then again ~*~ u so de

2008-05-04T05:10:00.000-07:00

ne

so desu ne

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/cat+stevens/moonshadow_20028197.html

Codeword: Gold Show

2008-05-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

gold show here today for Arts Alive (every 1st saturday of the month is Arts Alive, lots of open houses at art shops, theatres, coffee shops). Nice art pieces, abstract paintings and sculptures etc. My favorite was outside though, the beautiful sunny day. :) I stopped by Russian Innocence dome to see their creative icons, quite nice.

Golden Sunrise Saturday.

Morning has broken

Nature provide seed
for everyones' need
but not enough feed
for all of your greed

paraphrase: MGandhi

EARTHQUAKE!! [Earth-dance]

2008-04-29T23:09:00.001-07:00

EARTHQUAKE!! Moderate earthquake rocks northern California

* A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook northern California on Tuesday
* The quake hit shortly after 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET)
* There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

(CNN) -- A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook a rural part of northern California on Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The moderate quake hit shortly after 8 p.m. (11 p.m. ET) about 11 miles east-southeast of Willow Creek, which is about 190 miles northwest of Sacramento.
===============

Yup, we got hit by a little quake. I thought it was a 5.1, but it was a 5.2.
Felt like surfing a medium wave. We had a smaller one yesterday, just a hiccup. Willow Creek (home of sasquatch/bigfoot) is a few miles from here.

Now I am repainting the ceiling and gallery walls. Always something to do... scraping, then sweeping, then spackling, then priming, then painting...

update: ok priming the ceiling & window sills all done, and painted all the cube pedestals "old whisper white" color (kind of yellow-pink ivory shade) and spot painted the table and cabinets. Looks lots better than before, definitely. Katy & the ladies are hanging their artworks now for the Gold show. No more quakes for a while hopefully, insyAllah. Shilpa stopped by, namascar. Ok. Had coffee at McD. So what's next? diary entry? nothing. journal? nada. nuther day. nanti tido.

jom !

2008-04-28T15:40:00.001-07:00

Dr Taj Hargey, chair of the Muslim Education Centre of Oxford:

"The only requirement is that when women swim they should be modestly clad."

"The Prophet Mohammed pbuh is recorded as saying that it is a Muslim's duty to learn to swim as it could save his or her life".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's right girls, learn to swim, in a safe way. But ... even gorillas and orangutans can swim. (The pygmy chimpanzees seem scared to swim) Only HUMANS can dive and backfloat, so better learn that too! I can teach if u want. Jangan jadi chimpanzee oy.

even the desert camel can swim... and the long tailed macaque and big nose proboscis monkeys can swim better ... pompuan muslimah jom ... dive like the beautiful dolphin, backfloat like the happy sea otter hehe jangan takutleh jom jom

selamat selam jom kita berswimming & berdiving & berbackfloating

Art Gallery painting day

2008-04-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

today, i scrape the ceiling of the art gallery, then sweep the floor, then paint the ceiling with latex primer paint (cuz got rainwater stains and loose chips).

I finished the scraping and sweeping, take a break...But feeling sleepy, nak napping dulu.

update: finished half the ceiling, ran out of paint. Maniana.
2nd update: the others didn't paint the walls, so I did.

still got hundreds of newsletters to fold, better get busy...

Human biology

2008-04-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

http://anthropology.net/2008/04/24/pardis-sabeti-in-the-most-recent-issue-of-science/

A lady Iranian anthropologist, Pardis Sabeti MD, PhD

http://anthropology.net/2007/07/31/anthropology-and-islam-call-for-paper/
Anthropolgy & Islam conference in China, papers, from Kambiz

squall season

2008-04-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

[Jedi grand master Yoda prepare to cut the birthday cake]

epi brpday cik paan taicho chan ! :)

Volcano Kettle

2008-04-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

One minute water boiler kettle, for fuel-efficient, quick "coffee or tea or mee" while on a fishing or camping trek.
http://www.eydonkettle.com/stormkettle.html (2 handed, aluminum, L & S, fry kit)
http://www.safariquip.co.uk/i_kelly_kettle.html (2 handed, aluminum, 2 and 2.5 pint)
http://www.thermette.com/thermette_how-to.htm (one handed operation, copper metal)

Just a coincidence, I just came back from McDonalds for a coffee, and happened to walk by a group of teens who stood around a small camp stove, which was actually a coffee can with a side handle, a central grate with wood pieces on fire, and ventilation holes beneath giving a draft, which made the fire flow upwards through the can's chimney. It had a resemblance to the thermette, but did not have a water container, it was just a stove. I had never seen one quite like that, though I've I've seen other "hobo stoves" made from coffee cans before. I like the kettles above, but the prices aren't cheap, the smallest and cheapest is the 1 pint kelly kettle for $75, a good investment for some traveling campers, hunters, fishermen, kayakers etc.

I've been trying to think of possible improvements to the design, but haven't come up with anything practical except possibly to make it a bit shorter, so as to reduce the bulkiness while carrying. Still considering other details. Seems there's a bit of waste heat going out the chimney which could be of practical use, eg. setting a pebble atop it to heat, as a foot warmer at night after evening tea. But then one could simply boil a bit more water and put it in a hot water bottle as well. Anyway, neat concept.

Transformers

2008-04-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

Amazing change from owl to peacock to karate cat?. Haiyo!

How about this one?

Hijabgirl "Who is trying to stop her? What is her mission?" Changes from niqab to ninja faster than maggie mee can cook...
hijabgirl
godsninjas

Allah ya'atik al-afyah ~ God give you strength

[couldn't find pic of the pompuan muslimah version of ninja girl]

Brains and Bits (part deux)

2008-04-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Einstein 's Brain, Watson's Genome

follow up from John Hawks: Watson's DNA

home :: topics :: humor :: quotes :: rosalind-franklin-genome-watson-2008

The teaser to this post on Science Blog:

The next generation of genome sequencing has been published using the DNA of James Watson. I'll bet they used Rosalind Franklin's DNA as a test drive and didn't tell us.

(DD: ahaks! Good one JH! Watson & Crick discovered the geometrical structure of DNA, but not without Franklin's research)

Why do humans have big brains?

GEOFFREY MILLER is a man with a theory that, if true, will change the way people think about themselves. His idea is that the human brain is the anthropoid equivalent of the peacock's tail. In other words, it is an organ designed to attract the opposite sex. Of course, brains have many other functions, and the human brain shares those with the brains of other animals. But Dr Miller, who works at the University of New Mexico, thinks that mental processes which are uniquely human, such as language and the ability to make complicated artefacts, evolved originally for sexual display.

One important difference between peacocks' tails and human minds, of course, is that the peahen's accoutrement is a drab affair. No one could say the same of the human female psyche. That, Dr Miller believes, is because people, unlike peafowl, bring up their offspring in families where both sexes are involved in parenting. It thus behoves a man to be as careful about choosing his wife as a woman is about choosing her husband.

Both sexes, therefore, have reason to show off. But men and women will have different criteria for making their choices, and so the sexual-display sides of their minds may differ in detail.

Testing this hypothesis will be a long haul...
[Economist, Aug. 2007]
http://blogs.usatoday.com/techspace/2007/08/coffee-break--2.html?csp=34

(DD: Perhaps, but only if specific nutrients are present in the diet such as Iodine, Selenium, Omega 3 oils, etc. Else, cretinism, hypothyroidism, goitres occur.)

Brain scaling: “what rules differ across orders of mammals, and thus might account for phylogenetic variance across groups?” After doing some calculations, they found that if the same cellular scaling rules for rodents applied to primate brains, “a brain comparable to ours, with approximately 100 billion neurons, would weigh >45 kg and belong to a body of 109 tons, about the mass of the heaviest living mammal, the blue whale!” [Evo Fresno]

Hyper-link: how to make a link in a blog/comment

2008-04-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

the link, as a simple word: "how"
Instructions on how to hyper-link. (Click on it)