Science+Explosions=Awesome

 A long exposure shot of a bottle rocket firework.

Photo credit:
http://thisisthestoryof.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/long-exposure-of-a-bottle-rocket-picture/

Baby Hedgehogs are so cute I want to cry

 Baby hedgehogs known as hedgehoglets. Squeeeee. Aren't these things just the cutest things you have EVER SEEN?!??!??

Hedgehoglets are born after a gestation period of 35–58 days, and the mothers have average litters of 3-4 newborns. They're born blind, with a protective membrane covering their quills, which dries and shrinks soon after birth. They're suckled by their mother for 4-6 weeks.

Here I am. Come at me bro!

Hey there everybody! Or nobody. Hmmm, I'm still not used to talking to the idea of a future person yet. I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Dani. I am a nerd and I absolutely love it. Did you know Dr. Seuss invented the word 'nerd'? Did you also know that Mel Blanc, the voice actor for Bugs Bunny was allergic to carrots? I love random facts that most people don’t really know or care about. I love art. I love to paint and build and draw more than anything else. It's not something I just want to do, I need to do it. Art helps me... breathe. I have these ideas and dreams and thoughts swirling inside my head every moment of every day. The only way to keep my head from exploding is to write them or draw them or paint them.
 
I suppose my life is like every other generic 1st world teenage good life. I have two amazing parents, I go to an amazing school, and I’m not persecuted for my ideas and beliefs. I want to see the world. Learn the languages of every country I can until I die. I want to help people and help the earth. I want to make a difference in this world. I want to learn and learn until my brain can’t bear it anymore. I want to make a name for myself that sparks happiness in somebody's eye. I want to see every color of the rainbow on a cloudy day. I will try my hardest to make my dreams come true and then share some of them here with whoever wants to read them.
 
I've lived. I've had more than my fair share of tragedies and suffering. I remember the things in my past in order to be the wiser from them. I am not bound by them or anything or one else. I live my life as a free person. And a happy person. I like Doctor Who and Vincent Van Gogh. I have a phobia of ants and I absolutely love spiders and big bugs. I love who I am and I want to share what I love about myself and my life with you people.

1st introduction and movies

Hey there. It feels weird typing as if I’m writing to someone. I have always wanted to write a blog and find uses for all those miniature writing pieces I write. I want to keep track of my writing and keep it up. I need to practice the art of creative writing and I would like to remember some little things that would just take up a post-it note on my computer desktop. 

The hard part I've found in the last half hour in writing a blog is getting started. What do you start with? Something serious? A picture? After whole minutes of scrutiny, I've decided to make a list of iconic movie quotes: ones that almost everyone recognizes even if they haven’t seen the movie. Maybe at least a start of a list. If anyone has ideas, feel free to send them to me. Other than that, here goes nothing! 

I’d like to point out how interesting it is to me that these quotes, most of the time nonsense, sticks with us. I wonder why that is. Why these words are wired into our subconscious memories such that we recognize them when other TV shows and movies reference them for comedy. 

I personally don't watch a lot of movies because I can't sit still long enough. Here are some movie quotes that I recognize without having seen many of the movies where they are spoken.

A SHORT LIST OF SOME ICONIC AND CONSIDERABLY WELL KNOWN MOVIE AND TV QUOTES

1.      “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” –The Wizard of Oz

2.      "You had me at 'hello'." - Jerry Maguire

3.      "It's alive! It's alive!" – Frankenstein

4.      "Mama always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get." - Forest Gump

5.      "You can't handle the truth!" - A Few Good Men

6.      "I see dead people." - The Sixth Sense

7.      "My precious." - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

8.      "E.T. phone home." - E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

9.      "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" - Planet of the Apes

10.  "You're gonna need a bigger boat." –Jaws

11.  “I’ll be back.” –Terminator

12.  "If you build it, he will come." –Field of Dreams

13.  "Bond, James Bond" - James Bond

14.  "Here's Johnny!" – The Shining

15.  "Say 'hello' to my little friend!" –Scarface

16.  "Elementary, my dear Watson." –The adventures of Sherlock Holmes

17.  "I feel the need—the need for speed!" –Top Gun

18.  “I'm the king of the world!” –The Titanic

19.  “You’re a wizard, Harry.” –Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

20.  “Off with her head!” –Alice in Wonderland

21. "It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's superman!" –Superman 

22. "To infinity, and beyond!" –Toy Story

9/11: A day of Hate. Not of religion

Of all the conspiracies surrounding September 11^th, 2001, none of them hold up. Or I should say; none of them but one. The attacks were committed by extremists who hated everything they thought America stood for. Now we may not be angels, but nobody deserved to die that day. Nobody. 

Even now, after more than a decade, everyday people show that they didn’t learn anything about love and open-mindedness from it. We didn’t see that that blind hate like those extremists possessed was the same as the blind ignorance and assumptions so many now relate to the incident. 

People can slip up. Spew ignorance. Make connections between the religion, Islam, and the attacks. They say they didn’t mean it, but still their words have meaning regardless. The assumptions they make, those quick judgments. It’s as if an atheist could say that all Christians are evil because they claim to have the same religion as individuals who cherry-pick parts of the bible to justify their persecution towards certain groups of people. Maybe you aren’t old enough to know. But you are certainly old enough to learn. 

The Crusades, the Inquisition, the Klu Klux Klan. Are these movements guided by a religion of peace? No. They were led by self-important men who think they know more about the God they claim to worship. They diminish their God by claiming to speak for him. 9/11 was not the work of religion. It was arrogance, hypocrisy, ignorance. It was hate. Those horrible men who hijacked those planes hijacked Islam that day too. They insulted the Islamic God.

Care and love and faith was so absent that day. America hasn’t quite managed to bring it back yet.

That’s My Name…

9/12/12

There are some words subconsciously tied with certain events, emotions, or ideas that invoke an unexplainable effect on me when spoken. Many writers explain this fundamental power of language able to silence a room or win a war. Hearing derogatory terms such as retard, twat, and f@got directed at others causes me serious psychological pain. 

I hate the use of words like those in particular because people think having a mental disability or being a girl or homosexual would reduce a person’s worth. Through over-use they have morphed into nothing more than common insults. Using the racial slur: ‘N---’, lies on a whole new level of ignorant because of its ties to racism and violence, but people online or friends throw it around like nothing. 

Our modern society has diminished, muted, and nullified the true power and definition of the word. To some circles the word can mean ‘idiot’ or even just ‘person’. I understand that some African Americans began using it so show their oppressors that it wasn’t an insult to them anymore, but I believe that the history of that word needs to be remembered. We need to understand all the hate and discrimination that our country injected into ‘N---’ because it is an important part of America’s history. Its background reminds us of what we were, and what we still need to do. Like so many other words whose potency should be respected, that big ‘N-bomb’ has been worn out to say the least. The phrase “That’s my name, don’t wear it out” represents more than names, it describes the situation of these ‘worn-out’ swear-words. 

The terrible name representing America’s history of hate and segregation has decayed and its power forgotten. I think the potential consequences of rewriting or weakening the meanings of words should be a higher concern in social awareness, and that the influence of N--- should remain an unspeakable slur.

The tale of a desperate puffer fish.

Deep under the sea there is still so much shrouded in mystery and undiscovered. I mean a fish doing art! This pattern, roughly 6 and a half feet wide, were made by male puffer fish. It's thought to be a 'display' to attract females and/or a shield to protect their young from potentially dangerous ocean currents. 

He worked at it for several hours, sweeping his tail in the sand to carve out the structure. He didn't just shape it either - he decorated it, using small stones and shells.

Underwater photographer Yoji Ookata first noticed these bizarre geometric circles off the coast of Japan. He was understandably pretty confused, and asked the advice of colleagues.

Miracles in science and technology saved an eagle's life

This is Beauty the bald eagle. In 2005, Beauty was shot in the face by a poacher, causing the damage you see here. Her beak was so badly damaged it was impossible for her to eat or hunt on her own. 

Fortunately, she was rescued by volunteers at Birds of Prey Northwest before she starved to death. They nursed her back to health by hand feeding her, and hoped that she would recover. It became apparent that she would never be self sufficient again and they considered euthanizing her.

However, raptor specialist Jane Cantwell teamed up with mechanical engineer Nate Calvin as well as several other scientists, engineers and dentists to model a nylon polymer beak that would replace Beauty's damaged upper mandible. The beak was then printed on a 3-D printer and attached to Beauty.

Thanks to their hard work and the 3-D printer, Beauty can now eat, drink and preen herself. Unfortunately, the beak is not secure enough for her to return to the wild, but it has meant a second chance in life for this bird.

For more info, watch this video: http://vimeo.com/15184546

Science! The Tardigrade. indestructible and strangely adorable....

The first living organism known to mankind able to survive in outer space. They look a little like panda bears in Haz-mat suits! I'm thinking human sized versions of these could be a really cool Doctor Who monster someday! Or an endangered species that must be saved..



This little guy is a Tardigrade (it even has a name that sounds like TARDIS), or a water bear. In 2008, water bears were the first animals demonstrated to be able to survive the vacuum of space. They are virtually indestructible and can survive being blasted with radiation, intense pressures and years of desiccation.
Specimens were launched into space by Swedish scientists and they returned unharmed after eight days.

For more info on their superhero tendencies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/12855775

This image is courtesy of The Scientist, where it is a finalist in their 2012 Lab image awards. Go vote for water bears! http://the-scientist.com/2012/08/08/2012-labby-image-finalists/

Science can be cool: Beautiful firefly squid on the beach

I think this is such a beautiful picture. It almost looks like fairy lights but even better.
 
This is a picture of the Sparkling Enope squid (also known as the flirefly squid or in Japanese: Watasenia scintillans) at Toyama Bay, Japan. 

They are about 6 inches long and die after only a year of life. Found in the Western Pacific ocean, it lives at depths of 183-366 meters and only comes up to the surface at night to show off its brilliant bioluminescence. Its photophores, the organs that produce the light, are located at the end of each tentacle. Interesting fact about the Sparkling Enope squid is they are only species of cephalopod that has evolved to be able to see color in three visual pigments. Scientists think that this is to help them distinguish between ambient light and their own bioluminescence. The firefly squid lights up for two reasons: the lights on the tentacle can flash to attract fish that the squid feed on and the squid can light up its entire body to attract a mate during the months of March to June.

For more information check out: http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/firefly-squid.html
Image credit: http://findlaydonnan.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/glowing-firefly-squid-beached-along-the-japanese-coast/

Science can be cool: Glaucus atlanticus

Some science (and other educational things) is really interesting to me and I want to share really cool facts, pictures, and stories sometimes.

For example, this little guy is a species of sea slug called the Glaucus Atlanticus.It grows to around 35 mm. It earns the name that sounds like Atlantis because it looks a little like a mythical water dragon. \(^-^)/
They float partially with an air bubble, which they swallow and store in their gastric cavity. It's just so cute! But they also have a rather unique defense mechanism. They store the nematocysts produced by jellyfish (their prey) in their own tissues to protect against predators with a weaker version of the jellyfish's sting.That sting of these creatures can sometimes be felt by a human.  

For more information, check out:
http://seaslugsofhawaii.com/species/Glaucus-atlanticus-a.html

Human fears and the intrigue of mysteries

In a conversation with a friend the other day, we found that the reason he hates horror movies and the reason I love them is the same. He questioned why I enjoy that rush of fear and paranoia that he categorizes as almost physical pain.

This darkness-- this mystery-- this unknown is the quintessential basis of modern horror. The scariness of an unknown and therefore hard to defeat attacker along with a habit of reckless but unbearable curiosity pokes an instinctual and almost universal terror for the human mind.  For example: we all say we shout at the scantily-clad college girl who peeks in the closet only to find sudden and gruesome death, but it scares us nonetheless. Curiosity kills the cat. We recognize that overwhelming urge to peek—to know for sure what lurks on the other side of that ominous closet door. It scares us because we know inside that we would look in it too.

Anyways, my answer to my friend is simple. I call to attention the wisdom of Queen Victoria in the Doctor Who episode Tooth and Claw:

“And that’s the charm of a ghost story, isn’t it? Not the scares and chills, that’s just for children, but the hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place. It’s the Creator’s greatest mystery that we’re allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent. And we must wait.” (2006).

Humans have never been comfortable with the idea of unknown. Throughout history we have created our own theories however irrelevant to fill the gaps in our knowledge. We don’t like not knowing something. Outer space scares us because we don’t know what we could encounter. Death scares us because we don’t know what lies beyond life. The simplest of all, in which I will use as examples to basic principles of fear, is: Darkness. One of the most common but underestimated feared ideas. We can't see in the dark and that is scary. I am scared of the dark. I can admit it. That’s the point though.

Have you ever been reading a book or even watched a movie that after, you have this abstract sensation of ‘becoming aware of the darkness around you’? Suddenly realizing how dark it is and you can't help but remember every scary thing you’ve encountered in your life? We are so afraid of the unknown that we create crazy ideas and justifications to freeze and cower.

I used to do just that. Slept with a nightlight and a flashlight under my pillow, wouldn’t watch TV with the lights off, etc. I absolutely hated horror movies too. But one day I sort of became aware of the darkness around me again. I am afraid of the things in these horror movies so why hide? Embrace it. It sounds ridiculous but I really love those low-budget shriek-fest films now. I didn’t resent the darkness and unknown in scary movies, instead I used that to delve into myself and understand it more. I don’t really need to say how great of an idea it is to learn more about something in order to become less afraid. I assure you though, I have plenty examples.

To continue that idea of human fears of unknown, I like this quote from Professor Brian Cox: “Yes, in a sense. I'm comfortable with the unknown, that’s the point of science. There are places out there, billions of places out there that we know nothing about. And the fact that we know nothing about them excites me, and I want to go out and find out about them. And that’s what science is. So I think if you're not comfortable with the unknown then it’s difficult to be a scientist. So I don’t need an answer; I don’t need answers to everything. I want to have answers to find.”

This is just some food for thought. A little something to think about when you go to sleep. This is why I uncannily love horror movies. They encourage a possibility of deep unknown. They explain plain and simple the true and ideal fears of human beings. They make life seem more real and more mysterious and so much more interesting.

My heroes are...

Today, I would like to talk about heroes. Not the groan-inducing character breakdown of 'The Hero's Journey' present in almost every High School English class. Nor am I referring to a philosophical analysis of the idealism behind popular heroes, which describes the theme most of my other writings show. I want to share my personal heroes-two of them in specific, and why I think of them as my heroes.

A hero is not simply one I feel I should honor, but one whose life choices and story I aspire to and respect. For example, my twin sister died of cancer when we were 8 years old. I remember her well and miss her but she isn’t my hero. She is definitely someone that I mourn and love, but not a hero. An inspiration sure, but not my hero.

My good friend Sonja is one of my heroes.  She is one of the people whom I would trust with my life. The way she forgives and listens and helps others is something I work every day to imitate.

C.S. Lewis is another one of my heroes. Also one of my favorite authors his way of thinking and mastery of beautiful and concise language astounds me and allows me to read and reread his work. I love the way he explains spirituality and the patterns of human behavior in Mere Christianity and I respect the genius way he explains each and every idea in his work The Abolition of Man. I understand and agree with his view of the human condition and the natural parallels throughout the universe.

Both of these people are two of my heroes in very different ways. I've carefully chosen those few people who I call my heroes. I hope I'm not the only one. It’s refreshing to define who they are and specifically why. You should try it too. Who is your hero?