Blog about things I find interesting, or incredibly stupid.
Mostly its to make fun of other people, post links I find funny and lower the amount of crap I post elsewhere - email me, feel free to comment and please click an ad from time to time!
From the BBC: At 7mm (0.27 inches) long, Paedophryne amauensis may be the world's smallest vertebrate - the group that includes mammals, fish, birds and amphibians. The researchers also found a slightly larger relative, Paedophryne swiftorum. Presenting the new species in PLoS One journal, they suggest the frogs' tiny scale is linked to their habitat, in leaf litter on the forest floor.
via the Gizmodo portion: In fact, their calls have evolved to be strikingly similar to the chirps of insects. According to the expedition's leader, Chris Austin from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, catching the frogs was easier said than done,
It was night, these things are incredibly small; so what we did after several frustrating attempts was to grab a whole handful of leaf litter and throw it inside a clear plastic bag. When we did so, we saw these incredibly tiny frogs hopping around.
This evolutionary niche does have its drawbacks, however. Being so tiny, the frogs are often preyed upon by creatures like scorpions that otherwise couldn't take a frog.
Maybe its the history of large-scale projects being funded in order to employ people, maybe its a coincidence (its not) or maybe there is actual data behind this idea (there is).
From the BBC:
[Its] noted that the world's first skyscraper, the Equitable Life building in New York, was completed in 1873 and coincided with a five-year recession. It was demolished in 1912. Other examples include Chicago's Willis Tower (which was formerly known as the Sears Tower) in 1974, just as there was an oil shock and the US dollar's peg to gold was abandoned. And Malaysia's Petronas Towers in 1997, which coincided with the Asian financial crisis. The findings might be a concern for Londoners, who are currently seeing the construction of what will be Western Europe's tallest building, the Shard.
Click the source links below for more info and analysis.
I'm going to try to be as unbiased as possible here, because I think both articles make good points.
Most of the problems with electric cars IMO is that they're built for the driver to feel better about driving at all, not to solve an actual environmental problem. Click the links below and please feel free to comment.
Honestly I like the idea of an electric car, but not in its current iterations and likely not as anything other than a 1-2 person commuter car. I highly doubt in my lifetime it will be the norm for a personal vehicle, but hopefully it'll be a 2nd car for a measurable percentage of people. I think the largest single problem lies in battery technology. Until that is solved by a breakthrough, a new approach entirely and/or a more efficient way of "refueling", they'll be held back from widespread adoption.
Well, the race doesn't actually go through Dakar anymore... you know, due to a slight issue with local militia groups... (I didn't want to use the T-word on my page).
Short version:
Dakar is an annual overland "rally-style" race of several different vehicle classes (from motorcycles to full-sized Trucks, by trucks think 4WD garbage trucks, no I'm not kidding) over all types of terrain, although its mostly desert. Originally the route was from Paris (sometimes Lisbon) to Dakar, Senegal.
From its wikipedia page: Due to security threats in Mauritania, which led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, the 2009 Dakar Rally was run in South America (Argentina and Chile). It was the first time the race took place outside of Europe and Africa.[1] It has stayed in South America from 2009 to the present (2012).[2][3] The race is open to amateur and professional entries. Amateurs typically make up about eighty percent of the participants.
Despite its name it is an off-road endurance race, called a rally-raid rather than a conventional rally – the terrain the competitors traverse is much tougher and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than the modified on-road vehicles used in rallies. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 kilometres (500–560 mi) per day.
In summary, Dakar f***ing rules. Being stateside and the vast majority of racing coverage being NASCAR its not always easy to follow it. Despite this, The Versus network (Now called NBC Sports network apparently) has a good 30 minute synopsis each night of that days stages. Check it out!
I've haven't posted in a while but I just wanted to say Happy New Year.
Insert comment about "new beginnings" or "everything is going to be different" or "new outlook on life starting NOW!" here _____________________
