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In The PiNK

link: Pink Manta via Dodo ==================

Link above takes you to a set of photos (copyrighted) that show a rare PiNK manta ray happily swimming near Australia. Seemed just the thing for a Valentine month, especially since its male... and was chasing a faster female ! ================

Dial for a Cause

and put a scammer to good use ==================

Don't want to give a scam person/website your phone #? Give them a real #, but one that helps a cause instead. Just make sure its an auto-response (no real human) tel#.

Example: Dialing 1-855-443-6554 gives author Suzanne Collins an automatic vote in PBS's fav 100 books & authors poll. So, according to my pal Matt, if you always give scammers a # like that, which leads to an auto-response you will add hassle to a scammer's day w/o inconveniencing a real human. Brilliant.

omg... owls eat crayfish? Amazing. I did not know that. === Want to see the live version? Below is the link to a 24/7 web cam inside an owl nest. The male has brought more than one crayfish to his lady. And now they're raising 3 eggs / owlets. Enjoy ! link in new window: Barred Owl Cam =====

The Cake is a Lie

...but it is nice looking

*pic is from: here, on instagram

This is the creation of Vegedeco Salad in Nagoya, Japan. Look closely - its almost all vegetables except that the 'cake' part is made gluten-free & low-carb with soy bread.

see also article from: Mother Nature News

PAN - worth seeing!

How did we miss this 2015 fantasy film? ================== The plot is a quirky 'prequel' to Peter Pan. The bad reviews came about because early ads made it look like a Hugh Jackman action movie and it definitely isn't that. HJ is Blackbeard, not Hook. So instead its a swashbuckling movie with some cool special effects - complete with people & ships flying & swimming all over. ================ ================ I liked it. Go and see if Peter fulfills his destiny. Wiki info link: 'PAN' movie, a 2015 prequel to the Peter Pan story. ================

The Leftovers, part deux

Season 2 of HBO's 'The Leftovers' has begun

'The Leftovers' is not old parts of a feast, instead its a book written by Tom Perrotta. And last year HBO turned it into a tv show. The story opens 3 years after the 'Sudden Departure', where 140 million people around the world simply vanished. The audience follows the impact in the residents of the town of Mapleton, NY. Naturally we suspect that the townsfolk weren't all exactly normal before this mini-Armageddon began... and now here it is with even more oddness in S2.

And if you'd like to see more, here's HBO's recap of S1:

Keep those home fires burning, folks. Literally.

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

*also part of this week's Theme Thursday :)

Bare Necessities

According to 2,000 UK adults (18 to 65) here's what you need:

TOP 20 BARE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

1. Internet connection

2. Television

3. A cuddle

4. A trustworthy best friend

5. Daily shower

6. Central heating

7. Cup of tea

8. An “I love you” now and then

9. A solid marriage

10. Car

11. Spectacles

12. Coffee

13. Chocolate

14. Night in on the sofa

15. Glass of wine

16. A good cry every now and then

17. A full English breakfast

18. A foreign holiday once a year

19. iPhone

20. A pint

Hm. Tv, a shower, central heat & tea beat out Love & Marriage?

...Is it possible they only surveyed the House of Lords?

Maybe they just asked Her Majesty's extended family?

link in new window: the Daily Mail article

also, its National Ice Tea Day, enjoy!

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Life On Replay

But NOT real life, thank heavens...

Someone who's heard me sing along to the radio got me a present - a 'Sims 3' game, with a bonus package consisting of the essence of singer Katy Perry.

(and I said)...Wait..What?



I had to laugh; this 'Showtime' edition lets you create a mini-you and have him/her blunder through a KP style career track that starts you out busking on the street for coins and may let you into 'superstardom'.

But if your mini-you doesn't succeed?..
...there's infinite do-overs, whew!

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

Definitely a more certain outcome than the lives of the characters in Ken Griswold's award-winning novel 'Replay' - where a few select people must randomly re-live portions of their past lives.

I re-read it recently, and their choices make it painfully clear that decisions must be made, and that you can't avoid all of life's uncertainties.

==================
Here's a few bits of one guy's Sims lives:

================
As for me?...
I've yet to unwrap my Katy Perry simlife.

Maybe I'm not ready for all those colorful choices?

For TT's 'Life Uncertainties' day
================

Walk Around The Lake

... in just a few million footsteps.

On April 29 2010, Kate Crowley & Mike Link, veteran naturalists, set off via foot & kayak to circumnavigate Lake Superior.

145 days later they'd gone full circle.
It was 1555 miles. (2503 km)
That's quite a walk.

They took video, and collected valuable data on water quality, invasive species, ecology, geography, and human impacts all along their hike. So it was a scientific venture as well as a personal adventure.

link to their interactive map

---

Their trek struck a chord with me because my family traveled to see Split Rock lighthouse, one of their landmarks, when I was a child. The shore was rocky, the lake was clear, cold & endless.

And I was chilly after only a few minutes.
Can't imagine how bone-cold you'd be after 5 months.

They saw these moose tracks along the shore...

...and maybe it went in circles around them but
I bet it didn't go as far as they did. :)


For TT's 'Full Circle' day
=======================

A Round of Donuts

Have a ball, its Nat'l Donut Day!*
*oops, a day late, its really the 1st Fri in June.

Hey, lets make it a world-wide celebration, by trying out as many different doughnut versions as we can. Here's a few to get you started:

China - Jin deui (煎堆) - a hollow fried pastry made of sticky rice-flour, w/ a sweet filling

Finland - a Meat doughnut (Lihapiirakka)

France - Beignet - heavenly pockets of yeast dough, sugared
(also a New Orleans treat - that's where I had'm - yum!)

Greece - Loukoumades - donut balls dipped in honey & spices

and here's Japan's Karinto ...



Its deep-fried, of mostly flour, yeast, & brown sugar.
...no matter what it actually looks like....

Norway - Smultring, ("lard ring") donut-like but smaller

Peru - Picarones - a sweet, ring-shaped pumpkin fritter

South Asia - Paratha - fried bread, stuffed with vegetables

West Africa - Akara - fried dough made w/ black eyed peas

Not enough? See more at this (link in new window):
List of international fried treats.

And last but not least...

Gee, dogs really do love donuts... ;)

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

Ice Cream Sandwich

The classic, and edible, types:

Homemade, but sadly not by me...
Cheesecake ice cream, plus caramel !

Recipe from the nice lady @ Triple Scoops
(click to go there)

Storebought...
This chocolate-chocolate one is a winner.

@ Lord & Taylor's cafe, NYC
(click to go there)

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versus the newest (non-edible) type:




Google's new OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich.
(not quite sure why...)

The new features tempt me; they seem quite jazzy:

- visual voicemail
- incognito mode
- panorama camera
- time lapse images
- photo editor
- beam data transfer
- more wireless access
- plus 'Peoples' & other apps

VERDICT:
Cool new product. And lets hope it will be unlike my other OS's and my other ice cream sandwiches, and won't ever 'freeze up'. :)

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Unveiling their new symbol @ Google's office:



For TT's 'Ice Cream' day
================