Things we get fixated as a society. Cultural icons, in other words.

Friday, June 09, 2006

MILITARY VEHICLES

MILITARY VEHICLES

"Military Vehicles from Jeeps to Tanks of all ages and types for private collectors, museums and commercial users. Military Vehicle, Militaria and Ex Military Equipment dealers and private advertisers - updated every 12 hours. Military Vehicle, Militaria and Re-enactor events. "

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Andromeda Galaxy

Andromeda Galaxy

"Wider and possibly brighter than our own Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy was once thought to be the dominant member of the Local Group of galaxies. Although it is Milky Way's nearest large galactic neighbor, this large spiral galaxy (type Sb with two arms) lies around 2.52 ± 0.14 million light-years (ly) from the Solar System (Ribas et al, 2005). It can be found in (0:40:27+40:40:12, J2000; and 0:42:44.3+41:16:9.4, ICRS 2000) Constellation Andromeda, the Chained Maiden. It is located northwest of Mu and Beta Andromedae (Mirach); west of Nu Andromedae; northeast of Theta and Sigma Andromedae; north of Pi, Delta, and Epsilon Andromedae; and south of Theta and Omega Cassiopeiae. Andromeda can be seen by Human eyes from Earth without a telescope as a "little cloud" (see Akira Fujii's photo to better relate the galaxy's location to the brightest stars of Constellation Andromeda)."

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

The Dolphinarium

The Dolphinarium

"The dolphins have a six days “working” week, Monday being their relaxation day. This schedule has never been changed. They receive their daily food at 5 or 6 portions, only during training and performances. Their menu contains of 8-10 kg perch pike, sprat, sardines, and their favorite delicates – the herring. The trainings include old elements of the performances, as well as new techniques. The visitors enjoy most of all when dolphins walk on their tails over the water, catch fish from the coach’s mouth, sing. In the moment they are practicing human participation in the pool. Soon new trainees are expected in the dolphinarium – sea lions."

Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins

"Mariners, Marauders, Mustangs, Missiles, Moons, Sharks, Suns none of those other names suggested to the American Football League expansion franchise in 1965 could raise a fin to the runaway winner.
"Dolphins" was submitted by 622 entrants in a contest which attracted 19,843 entries and more than a thousand different names. The dozen finalists were delivered to a seven-member screening committee of local media.
The bottlenose dolphin, an intelligent creature with an irresistible built-in grin, has inspired wonder for centuries. Plutarch observed 1,900 years ago that the dolphin "is the only creature who loves man for his own sake." Every trainer will have a tale of the dolphin's cleverness and ingenuity, and scientists are fascinated by a dolphin's natural equipment which far surpasses the range of Navy sonar equipment.
"The dolphin is one of the fastest and smartest creatures of the sea," Joe Robbie said in announcing the team name on October 8, 1965. "Dolphins can attack and kill a shark or a whale. Sailors say bad luck will come to anyone who harms one of them."
Mrs. Robert Swanson of West Miami won two lifetime passes to Dolphin games with her nickname entry. The tiebreaker was picking the winner and score of the 1965 game between the University of Miami and Notre Dame. It ended in a scoreless tie. "

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

American Lamb Board

American Lamb Board

"The American Lamb Board (ALB) was created by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to administer the Lamb Promotion, Research and Information Order. The ALB works to strengthen the domestic lamb industry’s position in the marketplace through advertising, public relations, culinary education, and retail promotions. The 13 member volunteer Board represents all sectors including six producers, three feeders, one seedstock producer and three first handlers."

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Computer crash

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/crash.html

"If your computer crashes, it is not your fault. If the program is good and your hardware is functioning properly, there is nothing you can do to make your system crash."

Why Does My Computer Crash, Freeze or Hang All The Time?

Why Does My Computer Crash, Freeze or Hang All The Time?

"Do you see a lot of messages like, "This program performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" ? Or do you find that your mouse often freezes and you have to reset your computer to regain control?

"This is a very common complaint for many computer users. Why this happens can be due to a number of things. "

Armageddon

http://www.armageddon.org/

"Armageddon is a highly modified DIKU MUD, a form of multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORG), designed to provide a roleplaying experience in the harsh desert world of Zalanthas. Armageddon is as focused on serious roleplay as any MUSH; but it combines that roleplaying focus with the hard-coded realism of a DIKU MUD. Players are required to maintain a high level of roleplay at all times. "

Armageddon

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. (Revelations 16)

Saturday, April 15, 2006

The Frog and the Princess

The Frog and the Princess (A tale by the Grimm Brothers)

"In olden times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful hat the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face. Close by the king's castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well, and when the day was very warm, the king's child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain, and when she was bored she took a golden ball, and threw it up on high and caught it, and this ball was her favorite plaything. Now it so happened that on one occasion the princess's golden ball did not fall into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground beyond, and rolled straight into the water. The king's daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished, and the well was deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen. At this she began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted. And as she thus lamented someone said to her, "What ails you, king's daughter? You weep so that even a stone would show pity."

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Australian Leader Testifies at Oil Hearing

Australian Leader Testifies at Oil Hearing

"Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday his senior advisers did not alert him to warnings that Australia's monopoly wheat exporter was allegedly paying kickbacks to Saddam Hussein in the discredited U.N. oil-for-food program."

From Korean history

Preamble: Approaching the 19th Century - East Meets West

"1868 - Tokugawa shogunate in Japan ends with the restoration of the emperor (“Meiji Restoration”). Japan begins to implement internal political and economic reforms, partly designed to strengthen Japan against foreign incursions. Legal class distinctions abolished (1869). Universal male military conscription established (1873).

"Japan becomes increasingly militaristic towards Korea for numerous reasons, including (a) the “political necessity of finding an outlet for the energies” of the samurais affected by the Meiji Restoration, (b) to acquire a captive market for Japanese consumer goods, (c) to preempt Russian encroachment in Korea, and (d) chauvinistic impulse of the Restoration leaders to expand the Japanese Empire."

Sunday, April 09, 2006

NAVAJO WAR AGAINST WHITE SETTLERS

NAVAJO WAR AGAINST WHITE SETTLERS

"Adjutant General Kennedy was inclined to regard the situation with a good deal of concern, although expressing the belief that the trouble would not extend very far north. He did not know whether or not Governor Waite would order the national guard to the front, but thought that he would do so. He declined to give copies of the telegrams received by him and sent, or to allow any one to see them, stating that it was contrary to orders. In speaking of the affair he said that there are 250 bucks who are raising the disturbance. "They are all mounted and equipped," said he, "with the best repeating rifles and have ample supplied for a long war. They are a bad lot and revel in plunder and murder. There has been ill-feeling among them for a long time and it has at last come to a head. "

Who Was Socrates?

Who Was Socrates?

"Socrates himself was born in Athens around 470 B.C. He was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and Phaenarete, a midwife. During the early part of his life, he seems to have followed in his father's footsteps, working as a sculptor. He was married to Xanthippe (who is often depicted as something of a shrew) and she bore him three sons, Lamprocles, Sophroniscus and Menexenus. Socrates was hardly an ideal husband or father; he was so preoccupied with his search for wisdom that he often neglected his family and was not overly concerned with supporting them financially.

"As for his education, it is said that he was a student of Anaxagoras, one of the famous early philosophers of Greece. At first he spent his time studying cosmology (or the study of the nature of reality) but later abandoned this field in order to devote himself almost exclusively to ethics. He came to believe that it was his mission to act as a kind of "gadfly" to the Athenian people, provoking them into recognizing their moral ignorance. Needless to say, his constant interrogation did not endear him to all of the citizens of Athens. While Socrates developed a following among many of the more idealistic young men of Athens--Plato, for example, was a devoted disciple of his--he soon incurred the wrath of some of the most powerful men in the city."

Greek Philosophy Plato

Greek Philosophy Plato

"Plato (speaking through Socrates) divides human beings up based on their innate intelligence, strength, and courage. Those who are not overly bright, or strong, or brave, are suited to various productive professions: farming, smithing, building, etc. Those who are somewhat bright, strong, and especially courageous are suited to defensive and policing professions. Those who are extraordinarily intelligent, virtuous, and brave, are suited to run the state itself; that is, Plato's ideal state is an aristocracy, a Greek word which means "rule by the best." The lower end of human society, which, as far as Plato is concerned, consists of an overwhelming majority of people in a state, he calls the "producers," since they are most suited for productive work. The middle section of society, a smaller but still large number of people, make up the army and the police and are called "Auxiliaries." The best and the brightest, a very small and rarefied group, are those who are in complete control of the state permanently; Plato calls these people "Guardians." In the ideal state, "courage" characterizes the Auxiliaries; "wisdom" displays itself in the lives and government of the Guardians. A state may be said to have "temperance" if the Auxiliaries obey the Guardians in all things and the Producers obey the Auxiliaries and Guardians in all things. A state may be said to be intemperate if any of the lower groups do not obey one of the higher groups. A state may be said to be just if the Auxiliaries do not simply obey the Guardians, but enjoy doing so, that is, they don't grumble about the authority being exercised over them; a just state would require that the Producers not only obey the Auxiliaries and Guardians, but that they do so willingly."

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Snails & Slugs

Snails & Slugs

"If you're reading this where it's warm and rainy, you shouldn't have problems finding snails and slugs. They're found at the base of your house's foundation on the shady northern side, or maybe nibbling lettuce in the garden. If you're reading this during a drought, however, you may need to snoop around. Look for them early in the morning when dew wets everything. If it's really dry, you may just have to wait, for your backyard's snails and slugs may well be underground or beneath rocks or fallen trees, in suspended animation, waiting for rain. I found the one in the picture above resting on a slender bunch of grass flowers. In real life this snail's shell is less than half an inch long. In the picture the two long appendages atop the head are tentacles, used to feel the snail's environment. If you look hard you can see two stalked eyes projecting forward and downward from below the tentacles."

Snails and Slugs Management Guidelines

Snails and Slugs Management Guidelines

"Snails and slugs are among the most bothersome pests in many garden and landscape situations. The brown garden snail (Helix aspersa) is the most common snail causing problems in California gardens; it was introduced from France during the 1850s for use as food.
Several species of slugs are frequently damaging, including the gray garden slug (Agriolimax reticulatus), the banded slug (Limax marginatusi), the tawny slug (Limax flavus), and the greenhouse slug (Milax gagates). Both snails and slugs are members of the mollusk phylum and are similar in structure and biology, except slugs lack the snail’s external spiral shell."

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

London bridge

London bridge

"The 'London Bridge is falling down' Nursery Rhyme is based on the one of the most famous landmarks in London. It's history can be traced to the Roman occupation of England in the first century. The first London Bridge was made of wood and clay and was fortified or re-built with the various materials mentioned in the children's nursery rhyme. Many disasters struck the bridges - Viking invaders destroyed the bridge in the 1000's which led to a fortified design, complete with a drawbridge. Building materials changed due to the many fires that broke out on the bridge."

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty

"Humpty Dumpty was a colloquial term used in fifteenth century England describing someone who was obese. This has given rise to various, but inaccurate, theories surrounding the identity of Humpty Dumpty. The image of Humpty Dumpty was made famous by the illustrations included in the 'Alice through the looking glass' novel by Lewis Carroll. However, Humpty Dumpty was not a person pilloried in the famous rhyme!"

Monday, April 03, 2006

Dragons in Ancient China

Dragons in Ancient China

"Dragon occupies a very important postion in Chinese mythology. It shows up in arts, literature, poetry, architecture, songs, and many aspects of the Chinese conscience. The origin of Chinese dragons is unknown, but centainly pre-dates the written history. "