Tales from the Pond (Aquarium)

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Horrible article everyone should read

Yesterday I changed the water in my aquarium and parted the mess of Hornworth which has invaded it while I have been busy. I can't bring myself to throw any out, especially since it has become apparent both filters have not been working for a while. The aquarium is now completely dependent on its plants, which also means that I'm not going to add any other animals to that particular tank. The java moss has also experienced a sudden growth spurt. The inhabitants actually seem to enjoy all of the growth, and the only other plants present are crypts, Windelov, and Anubias, which are doing fine. The nana petite and barterii have both grown plantlets and there are little windelovs and crypts in various places, too. The moss ball has exploded.

I saw my paler Dario Dario at the front, which strangely appeared to be decked out nearly in battle colors and was showing the dominant "eye stripe". I was confused as to what had happened. I finally managed to spot Dopey doping around at the bottom and then Trixie, who proceded to boink her head on one of the filters. Dopey is an H. curp. hybrid in the tradition of irresponsible Petsmart suppliers. Trixie and Little Frog are obviously at least strongly influenced by H. bog., the more succesful subspecies. Dopey reminds me of a little man, an adorable little man who does funny things all the time. They were so cute I had to give them food. Little frog came out, obviously excited. He was bought at Aquatic Warehouse after stowing away in one of their tanks for a while, where I spotted him and decided he would be the final ADF. I proceeded to watch Little Frog figure out where the food was and then miscalcuate and go towards the bottom again. Naturally, Trixie was the first to figure out where it is, and LF joined her again while Dopey spun around the bottom like a dope. Trixie accidentally bit LF a bunch of times. Meanwhile, by the moss ball I see proof that the paler Dario has won his/her fight as she half heartedly chases away the more dominant male, who has a bite in his tail. I love the extra blue ruff on the top of his fins. These guys are so much fun and tiny. They don't really care about the food, as they feed on the multitude of microoganisms in the now very established aquarium.

Last I saw Trixie and LF were feeding, while Dopey..will figure things out one day.


Videos from Jezebel commentor/Jezebel

Robots, Plants, and Dystopias

I love this simple yet salient article on the Freakanomics blog criticizing the way data is used in today's journalism.

"The lead article is by John Noble Wilford (who’s still going strong, btw), and includes one of the most elegant little uses of data I can recall seeing in a news article:

Although Mr. Armstrong is known as a man of few words, his heartbeats told of his excitement upon leading man’s first landing on the moon.

At the time of the descent rocket ignition, his heartbeat rate registered 110 a minute — 77 is normal for him — and it shot up to 156 at touchdown."

MIT is also tracking trash in an effort to show how far it can reach. I think the criticisms present about the sampling are relevant, though they may be showing how even conscientious people can have far-reaching affects with their disposables.

NASA apparently secretly launched a moon rock into space to celebrate yesterday's anniversary of the moon landing. Why?! We only have so many and I want one, you could have given it to me instead! Also lost opportunities for science, blah blah blah.

You know, after reading a couple accounts of the UK terrorism laws on Boing Boing I'm starting to understand things like V for Vendetta, Quatterman, and Warren Ellis (who is a person not a thing and in San Diego where he can do horrible, horrible things to me). Damn, it makes here look like a a veritable utopia of individual rights in some cases. I'm not going to go into debating the amount of freedom they have versus our amount of freedom because I don't know enough on the subject and am too lazy to do the research. All I will say is that this issue is not black and white.

Lego Microtome


"A microtome is a small machine that biologists use to slice specimens into very thin sections to examine under a microscope. Instructables user lemonie made his own out of Lego! In this video demo, the device cuts garlic in slices just 250 microns thick. That's about twice as thick as a human hair. Seems like the Lego Microtome could be scaled up for slicing paper-thin prosciutto! Lego Microtome (Thanks, Christy Candida!)"

People are thankfully working on shark repellants to save them from fishing lines.

It's amazing how Twix and Burger King cross the line from using women for sexy points to using women. Thanks, I love being objectified and taken for granted! I'm not a person, I'm a walking Barbie doll who's all plastic with no inside.

These paper robots are awesome! That's what that picture is, btw.

How NOT to raise a chimp in your family:
"I collect books by people who have raised apes in their homes. One of the first, The Ape and the Child, was written in by behaviorist W.N. Kellogg, a man with a peculiar brainstorm: that he should raise a chimpanzee as a twin to his own infant son, treating them in exactly the same fashion, and comparing their development......Results? Mixed. The chimp, Gua, took more quickly to her civilizing education than her brother. She appeared smarter, stronger, and more emotionally developed on a number of counts: she was better at using glasses and silverware, walked earlier (chimps generally don't walk upright), responded to verbal commands sooner, and was more cooperative and obedient......For example, though Donald had learned to walk before Gua joined the Kellogg family, he regressed and started crawling more, in tune with Gua. He'd bite people, fetch small objects with his mouth, and chewed up a shoe. More importantly, his language skills were delayed. At 19 months, Donald's vocabulary consisted of three words. Instead of talking he would grunt and make chimp sounds..."

My new plant from Trader Joe's named "Blue Wonder"(pictured) was rootbound, so today I bought another pot for it. When repotting it it looked so happy in the outdoor sun that I decided to leave it there(yes, it is a full sun plant). Now I need an indoor plant and the cycle continues. Maybe I'll get bamboo?

Will Arnett praying for breasts.