Ancient monster whale more fearsome than Moby Dick
Looks like a sperm whale with some really fearsome fangs.
More pictures can be found HERE, though it seems to be written in some weird moon-man language.
Jul 192012
Jul 192012
Humans have 46 chromosomes. Our primate brethren have 48. How’d that happen? Here’s an explanation:
Blogging the Human Genome
Over the years I’ve seen numerous Creationists yammer on about how the fact that we have 46 and other primates have 48 means that it’s basically impossible that we share a common evolutionary ancestry, that the steps from 48 to 46 are biologically impossible. As it turns out, it’s not only possible and explainable… there’s a family in China with some inbreeding that has produced a guy with *44* chromosomes, and he’s apparently doing just fine.
The secret to speeding up evolution isn’t radiation-based mutation… apparently it’s being a stereotypical hillbilly.
Jul 192012
Turns out, it’s soybeans.
It apparently turns out that a diet rich in soybeans, including soy milk, will wreck your hormonal balance, make you grow boobs, make your junk shrink, wipe out your sperm, kill your libido (which is for the best, since it also makes you impotent), screw with your emotions. Babies who were weaned on soy milk seem to have more asthma & allergies. And when you get old, soy makes you senile.
It seems the effects may be permanent, too.
Yeeeeesh.
Jul 192012
A bit of history I’d never heard of was Chinas “Four Pests” extermination program of 1958. It seems Chairman Mao got it into his head that what China needed to do was exterminate mosquitoes, flies, rats… and sparrows. Sparrows eat seeds, and lots of sparrows eat lots of seeds, which means less food for the teeming millions of slaves and serfs in Communist China. Can’t have that! So China went to war against the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. And were remarkably successful at it, virtually making the species extinct in China.
And leading, in part, to the deaths of 30,000,000 (that’s thirty MILLION) Chinese humans.
China’s Worst Self-Inflicted Environmental Disaster: The Campaign to Wipe Out the Common Sparrow
The level of FAIL was spectacular, and well worth the read.
Jul 182012
The Kennecott Smokestack is a modest pile of concrete a mere 1,215 feet tall down in Magna, associated with the Bingham Canyon Mine. Oddly I’ve not bothered to take many photos of it; these date from 2009.
Jul 182012
A few years ago I found this in Jay Miller’s giant stack of stuff down in Arkansas. It was devoid of context, just a loose photocopy. Most likely it represents some Bell Helicopter illustrator having some fun spoofing the modifiability of the Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter. I’m guessing this dates to the 1980’s.
Jul 182012
Earthlink, the provider of my netcom.com email, seems to be having some trouble. I’ve been trying to access my email for a few hours with only occasional partial success… I can see that I’ve got some email, but I can’t open it or respond to it. The robot on the Earthlink phone line sez that they’ve got email trouble and that gosh they’re sorry, and please try again in a few hours. Hmmmph.
So if you sent me a message via email, or bought something via PayPal and are awaiting a reply… keep waiting, I guess.
Jul 182012
Here’s a list of some of the images I’m considering for future cyanotype blueprint releases. Not all of them will be released… some will look good on screen but terrible in print form, for instance. If something here really looks like it’d be something you’d want, here’s the chance to say so. Some below are shown in “negative.”
Jul 172012
Airbus Explores Building Planes With Giant 3D Printers
A video featuring an Airbus concept passenger jet for circa 2050, apparently meant to be 3-D printed:
[youtube DcKb3ldQznU]
The idea of printing an entire jetliner in one go is certainly interesting, but it’s problematic. The clear advantage of such a capability would be the ability to create an incredibly optimized and unified mechanism. A single wingtip-to-wingtip skin would be light and strong. And if something broke or wore out underneath it, or if the skin cracked or dented or abraded or delaminated… you’d have to replace the whole thing.
Jul 172012
Oh, goodie.
U.S. to have Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World
Currently held b y Japan with 39.5%; they have wised up and are dropping it by 5 percentage points, leaving the US the most expensive place on the planet to do business.
Does anyone *really* wonder why companies moved overseas?
