Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Hazards of Being Beautiful

A new giant cat may become extinct before most humans know they exist...
Clouded Leopard


Here's 22 seconds of its first ever footage:

{22 sec}

This is the Sundaland Clouded Leopard,
filmed in Sumatra for the first time.


This cat was filmed using a camera trap in Berbak Nat'l Park. Can you imagine being the first person to watch it? You're expecting yet another day of wild pigs, and then suddenly there it is!

...But then you'd realize that as soon as you report its existence, others will come to hunt it either for fur or 'conservation'. Having seen the disaster the Chinese wrought upon their pandas, I've lost faith in the programs that drag animals out of their natural habitat.

And we all know if it looked like a warthog it'd be left in peace.
I hope its future isn't as cloudy as its pretty pelt.




fyi: found a 3 min slideshow of clouded leopard info:

{3 min}

*And sadly, just as the video says, it is true that many female leopards in captivity were killed by males. Just because the 'scientists' never bothered to study those leopard mating habits in the wild, before putting random leopards together. Shameful.

for TT's 'cloud' day
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Thursday, May 19, 2011

You Can Believe It

Certain Celebrity Correctness ?
click to go there
Its time has come,
with 'Gossip Cop'.

Their credo is "When a story appears on the Web, in print or on air, Gossip Cop will be on the scene, separating fact from fiction. Every day we’ll be posting new stories, photos, and video – and busting bad dish."

For example,

You'll be happy to know that ‘CSI’ Did Not “Ban” Justin Bieber.


So now when you jump into the shallow end of the gene pool, you'll be less likely to bump your head on some bad dirt.

I know I'll sleep better... while at my computer.




Also just for fun,
here's the U.S. band GOSSIP singing
'Love Long Distance'


Whilst wearing giant balloon heads?...

For TT's 'gossip' day
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Monday, May 16, 2011

The Owl and the Pussycat

aka Gebra the owl, and Fum the cat

Gebra is a barn owl

They don't have a pea-green boat, but they do have fun:

{2 min}

As you can see from the video, they did dance...

Whether they dined on mince & quince, who knows?
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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Electric unicycle with a stabilizer !

Electric Unicycle !

SoloWheel is balanced by a gyroscope, and its supposed to be easy to ride, like a Segway. I love riding on a Segway, and this works the same way - Solowheel accelerates when you lean forward and slows down when you lean back:

{25 sec}

Going downhill the battery recharges, so you can go up to 12 mph, and get more than two hours on a charge.

I have e-unicycle envy... I want one.

Anyone have a spare $1800 I can borrow?


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Thursday, May 12, 2011

Escape The Cursed Room

click to start game
Sounds like our average work day lament, eh? Its a breezy day, the sun is shining and we're stuck indoors. Don't mind it so much in the winter, but today I'd like to get out of this room.

But lucky for us, escape is now possible!

'Escape the Cursed Room' is a sequel to 'The Grudge', a point-n-click adventure / escape game. In this (free) online game, you are locked in a room and you try to escape the room by finding items and solving puzzles.

So, want to escape a bit right now?
Just click the image above and you'll go there.

Have Fun!

*And then please come back and tell me.
Because I've never gotten out.

Oh no, I might still be there!...

fyi:

Never played a game like this before?...
Below is a quick & colorful walk-thru for the
'Escape The Bathroom' game. (has spoilers)
{79 sec} ( other games @ EscapeGames24)
No, I couldn't get out of this bathroom without help.
Wait, that sounds pathetic doesn't it?...
But hey, I consider that fly part cheating!

For TT's 'Escape' day
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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Operation Pumpkin

A totally unique tidbit about the UK royals.

Royal Wedding ?
According to last weeks Register, "Operation Pumpkin" was the name of the top-secret contingency plan for a "runaway bride" should Kate have gotten cold feet and bolted from the abbey.

Apparently the UK security 'spooks' planned for every possible eventuality - including that of Kate leaving Wills at the altar.

The puzzle was, how do their operatives switch tasks from guarding the wedding procession, to creating a moving security cordon around the escaping future Queen - while simultaneously attempting to preserve Prince William's option to pursue and perhaps dramatically win her back?

"Frankly, it's a nightmare scenario," one highly-placed MI5 source confessed to the Reg yesterday. "But you have to plan for every possible contingency, and let's face it, this one's hardly that unlikely, is it? Obviously we had to get together with Clarence House and work something out.

"Naturally, they wanted us to simply make her go through with it - but we said you must be joking: in the UK, in front of millions of witnesses? No way. And the plods would never play ball anyhow.

"So we said, look, if she bottles it we'll just have to get her out pronto, helicopter off the roof maybe, then sort her out with a new identity and young Bill will just have to go on the honeymoon on his own."

(fyi 'Clarence House' means 'Prince Charles & his staff')


Anyway, royal officials were unhappy with that plan. They reluctantly accepted that Ms Middleton remains free to bolt right up until the last moment, but argued that she should be compelled to flee on foot for at least a short distance, so allowing the Prince to pursue her and so perhaps regain some PR benefit for the royal family - and maybe even persuade the absconding future consort to come up to scratch once more.

"That's when it got difficult," says our source. "Now you've got her running out of the Abbey, crowds everywhere, him chasing after her. She's got to be able to run, he's got to be able to catch up if he can. Nightmare."


After protracted, top-secret negotiations between royal staff from Clarence House and representatives from the Metropolitan Police, MI5 and elements of the military, a compromise was agreed. In the event of Operation Pumpkin being put into effect Ms Middleton will be permitted to run out of Westminster Abbey with her bodyguards trailing discreetly at a distance. Plain-clothes undercover police, MI5 officers and SAS soldiers stationed in the crowd will form a mobile flying wedge ahead of her, clearing a path for the fugitive future princess to escape down.

Prince William will then have a limited time, the subject of tense negotiations between Clarence House and security chiefs, in which the path behind Ms Middleton will be kept open for him to go after her, after which the mobile protective cordon will close again at the Abbey end due to lack of manpower and the Prince will have let his bride slip through his fingers.

If Wills reacts fast enough, however, he will be able to chase after his fleeing fiancee for just under half a mile.

"Clarence House wanted a full mile," says our source. "But we said come on, play fair, she's in her wedding dress and there has to be some limit on the overtime budget."

If the Prince fails to intercept Ms Middleton over that distance, the security team will decide that no on-the-spot reconciliation is possible and a strategically positioned taxi, driven by an undercover SAS operative and unobtrusively escorted by several unmarked police cars, will opportunely pull up to carry the escaping ex-future-princess to safety.

"We got Clarence House to cut that by a few minutes by agreeing they could put ringers in the crowd to shout stuff like 'Go on love, give him a kiss'," reveals our source.

We asked our source what plans were in place should Wills, rather than Kate, attempt to flee the wedding.

"Come off it," he said. "We only plan for things that make sense. He doesn't want to be back on the dating scene wearing a rug, does he?"

lol.
I hope someone interviews one of those 'ringers'...
I'd love to hear what they told them when they were hired.


p.s. Cinderella reference, apt or not?...


For TT's 'puzzle' day
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