Posts Tagged ‘nature’
June 11, 2013
I never get tired of looking at the moon and I found this “fun fact” on my iPad Moon app today:
How long would it take to get there?
Car ( @ 60 mph) – 5 months, 22 days, 15 hours, 56 minutes, 48 seconds
Plane (@ 600 mph) – 17 days, 11 hours, 23 minutes, 41 seconds
Sound (@ 761 mps) – 13 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, 8 seconds
Saturn V (@ 17,432 mph) – 14 hours, 26 minutes, 20 seconds
Light (@ 186,282 mps) – 1.351 seconds
This is because the moon is at (or nearly at apogee) which makes it 251,673 miles away, or 1,350,546 Eiffel Towers away from Earth. The moon’s phase is a waxing crescent.
Here are some moon tattoos.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, astronomy, moon, nature, science, tattoo Tuesday, tattoos | 2 Comments »
June 3, 2013
The answer is that the first Sunday is June is traditional for celebrating the Day of the Rice God. From Chase’s Annual Events:
Chiyoda. Annual rice-transplanting festival observed on first Sunday in June. Centuries-old rural folk ritual revived in 1930s and celebrated with colorful costumes, parades, music, dancing and prayers to the Shinto rice god Wbai-sama.
Disclaimer: this is a totally self-serving plug from the author, Anne Bonney – pirate-potter.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, Day of the Rice God, history, holidays, Japan, nature, pottery, rice | Leave a Comment »
May 31, 2013
These beautiful creatures are white tigers. As you can see from the black stripes, these tigers are not albinos. Researchers in in China’s Chimelong Safari Park sequenced the genome of white tigers and their normal colored relatives. They found a variation in just one gene, SLC45A2, that makes the difference, and makes white tigers white:
The SLC45A2 gene makes a protein of the same name, which consists of 560 amino acids. A single mutation in the gene—a change in just one DNA letter—switches one of those 560 amino acids from an alanine to a valine. This distorts the protein’s shape, and potentially prevents it from taking part in the creation of red-yellow melanin. Every white tiger has two copies of this mutated gene, and can only make the distorted protein. That’s all it takes to change their coats from orange to white.
Read more about the research, the white tigers, and the plight of tigers in the wild at National Geographic’s Phenomena: Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, Chimelong Safari Park, Friday, genetics, mutation, nature, sappy cat blogging, tigers, white tigers | 2 Comments »
May 7, 2013
I think I mentioned the nest outside my front door. Here are some photos. The nest is in perfect condition, but the birds must have changed their plans because it does not look as if it was ever put to its intended purpose. Maybe the porch light was too much.
This week I celebrate the vernal appearance of birds and their nests.
Happy spring – and happy mother’s day a bit early.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, art, birds, entertainment, holidays, mother's day, nature, nests, spring, tattoo Tuesday, tattoos, whimsey | Leave a Comment »
April 26, 2013
Get ready to rumble – there’s a whole lot of shaking going on because today is Richter Scale Day. April 26 is the birthday of Charles Richter (born in 1900 in Overpeck, Ohio) who developed the eponymous scale for comparing earthquakes. Richter repeated emphasized that there is no upper limit to the scale, however each level of the scale represents a ten-fold increase in magnitude from the previous level. The most powerful earthquake recorded was the 1960 Chilean earthquake that measured 9.5 on the scale.
Magnitude differs from intensity, as explained on the USGS earthquake site:
Magnitude and Intensity measure different characteristics of earthquakes. Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake. Magnitude is determined from measurements on seismographs. Intensity measures the strength of shaking produced by the earthquake at a certain location. Intensity is determined from effects on people, human structures, and the natural environment.
For a comparison of magnitude versus intensity, look here.
Read an interview with Charles Richter here.
Read more about earthquakes here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Charles Richter, earthquakes, geeky science blogging, geography, geology, history, nature, Richter Scale, science, USGS | 2 Comments »
April 19, 2013
I know they are not kitties, but I could not resist these photos:
Credit: Daily Squee
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, cats, Dogs, ducklings, ducks, Friday, nature, photography, sappy cat blogging, whimsey | 4 Comments »
April 12, 2013
What is more fun that cats in hats?
Cats in hoodies, of course.
photo credit: SodaHead
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, cats, Friday, hats, hoodies, nature, photography, sappy cat blogging, style, whimsey | 1 Comment »
Gunsmoke and Knitting 