February 22, 2011
The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spicy heat (or piquance) of foods. The number of Scoville heat units (SHU) indicates the amount of capsaicin (a chemical compound that stimulates chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially the mucous membranes) present. The scale is named after its creator, American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville who developed it in 1912. The chilis with the highest rating on the Scoville scale exceed one million Scoville units, and include specimens of naga jolokia.
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February 22, 2011
Lake Vostok is the largest of more than 140 subglacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. The overlying ice provides a continuous paleo-climatic record of 400,000 years, and the lake water itself has been isolated for 15 million years. The lake is named after the ship of Fabian von Bellingshausen, an Antarctic pioneer. There is presently underway a scientific effort to reach the lake by drill. The lake is under complete darkness and expected to be rich in oxygen, so there is speculation that any organisms inhabiting the lake could have evolved in a manner unique to this environment. These adaptations to an oxygen-rich environment might include high concentrations of protective oxidative enzymes.
Living Hydrogenophilus thermoluteolus microorganisms have been found in Lake Vostok’s deep ice core drillings, an extant surface dwelling species. This suggests the presence of a deep biosphere utilizing a geothermal system of the bedrock encircling the subglacial lake. There is optimism that microbial life in the lake may be possible despite high pressure, constant cold, low nutrient input, potentially high oxygen concentration and an absence of sunlight. Due to the lake’s similarity to the Jupiter moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, any confirmation of life living in Lake Vostok would strengthen the prospect for the possible presence of life on Europa or Enceladus.
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February 22, 2011
The Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) is a motorcycle club whose members attend the funerals of members of the United States armed forces at the invitation of the deceased’s family. The group was formed in 2005, to shelter and protect funerals from protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church, who claim that the deaths of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are divine retribution for American tolerance of homosexuality. PGR members position themselves to physically shield the mourners from the presence of the Westboro protesters by blocking the protesters from view with their motorcade, or by having members hold American flags. The group also drowns out the protesters’ chants by singing patriotic songs or by revving motorcycle engines.
Although initially founded by motorcyclists, the organization is open to anyone, regardless of political affiliation, veteran status, or whether they ride or not. The Patriot Guard was established in Mulvane, Kansas at American Legion Post 136 in 2005. The group’s mission quickly expanded to include the funerals of law enforcement officers, fire department personnel, all first responders, and any active duty member or veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces from all previous wars and conflicts and is now largely focused on recognizing and honoring the sacrifices of fallen servicemembers as well as their families and loved ones.
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February 22, 2011
The Coup is a political hip hop group based in Oakland, California. It formed as a three-member group in 1992 with emcees Boots Riley and E-Roc along with DJ Pam the Funkstress. E-Roc left on amicable terms after the group’s second album. The duo is politically Marxist in its music and aligns itself with other radical hip-hop groups such as Dead Prez. The group’s music is characterized by electronic sounds and bass-driven backbeats overlaid by humorous, cynical and sometimes violent lyrics criticizing capitalism, American politics, patriarchal exploitation, and police brutality, among other things.
In Novemeber 2001, The Coup released ‘Party Music’ to widespread praise and condemnation. The original album cover art depicted Pam and Boots standing in front of the twin towers of the World Trade Center as they are destroyed by huge explosions, and Riley is pushing the button on a guitar tuner. The cover art was finished in June 2001. In response to the uncanny similarity of the artwork with the WTC attack of 9/11, the album release was held back until alternative cover art could be prepared.
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February 21, 2011
A platonic [pluh-ton-ik] solid is a three dimensional shape where each face is built from the same type of polygons, and there are the same number of polygons meeting at every corner of the shape. There are only five Platonic Solids: Tetrahedron, Cube, Hexahedron, Octahedron, Dodecahedron, and Isosahedron. The shapes are often used to make dice, because dice of these shapes can be made fair. 6-sided dice are very common, but the other numbers are commonly used in role-playing games. Such dice are commonly referred to as D followed by the number of faces (d8, d20 etc.).
The tetrahedron (4 sided), cube (6 sided), and octahedron (8 sided), are found naturally in crystal structures. In meteorology and climatology, global numerical models of atmospheric flow are of increasing interest which use grids that are based on an icosahedron (20 sides,refined by triangulation) instead of the more commonly used longitude/latitude grid. This has the advantage of better spatial resolution without singularities (i.e. the poles) at the expense of somewhat greater numerical difficulty.
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February 21, 2011
The Dharmacakra (Sanskrit for ‘Wheel of Law’) is a symbol that has represented dharma, the Buddha’s teaching of the path to enlightenment, since the early period of Indian Buddhism. The symbol is represented as a chariot wheel with eight or more spokes.
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February 21, 2011
Shoefiti is the practice of throwing shoes whose shoelaces have been tied together so that they hang from overhead wires such as power lines or telephone cables or onto trees or fences. This practice plays a widespread, though mysterious, role in adolescent folklore in the United States. Soldiers leaving the military often paint a pair of combat boots yellow or orange and toss them over a power line or telephone wire near the barracks or unit to which they were assigned.
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February 21, 2011
Lucy Temerlin (1964–1987) was a chimpanzee owned by the Institute for Primate Studies in Oklahoma, and raised by Maurice K. Temerlin, Ph.D., a psychotherapist and professor at the University of Oklahoma and his wife, Jane W. Temerlin.
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February 21, 2011
Hi-C is a juice drink made by the Minute Maid division of The Coca-Cola Company. Hi-C was created by Niles Foster in 1946. By 1958 it had become an American supermarket staple, available nationwide. Foster’s original formula contained orange juice concentrate, peel oil and orange essences, sugar, water, citric acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The name ‘Hi-C’ stressed the vitamin content. Hot-packed in enamel-lined 56-ounce cans, the product needed no refrigeration before opening.
Grape, the second flavor introduced, evolved naturally from the fact that the Geneva, Ohio, co-packer was also processing fresh grapes. Apple and cherry drinks were introduced as a result of the fresh fruit processing operations at the Paw Paw, Michigan, co-packer plant. The contract packing concept is still used today by the Coca-Cola Foods Division. In 1987, Ecto-Cooler was a product tie-in with the cartoon series ‘The Real Ghostbusters,’ based on the 1984 live-action film.
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February 21, 2011
A slush or a slushie is a flavored frozen drink. Frozen carbonated beverages, typified by the Slurpee or ICEE, are made by freezing a carbonated drink. These machines are complicated and expensive, and notably require a carbon dioxide supply. They make a very fine and ‘dry’ slush. Frozen uncarbonated beverages are made by freezing a non-carbonated juice or liquid. These machines do not require a pressure chamber, and so are much cheaper and easier to maintain. They make a slightly wetter slush. They are notable in the wide variety of drinks they create, including coffee-flavored ices and alcoholic drinks like margaritas and daiquiris.
Conventional slush drinks, typified by the Slush Puppie, use a single slurry made by freezing a sweetened base, similar to apple juice. This slurry is mixed at serving time with a flavoring syrup. These drinks are notable in that the flavored syrup can be drawn out of the drink, leaving a relatively-unflavoured base ice behind. ‘Instant’ slush drinks (beverages that turn to slush upon opening) are formed via supercooling (e.g. Slush-It!, the Chill Chamber which allows businesses to store beverages at below freezing temperatures, and supercooled Sprite from Coca-Cola which required special vending machines).
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February 21, 2011
The Nano Hummingbird or Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) is a tiny, remote controlled aircraft built to resemble and fly like a hummingbird, developed in the United States by AeroVironment, Inc. to specifications provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Hummingbird is equipped with a small video camera for surveillance and reconnaissance purposes and operates in the air for up to 11 minutes. It can fly outdoors, or enter a doorway to investigate indoor environments.
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February 21, 2011
Mars-500 is a multi-part ground-based experiment simulating a manned flight to Mars. The experiment’s facility is located at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, Russia. A total of 640 experiment days have been scheduled, divided into three stages. During each stage, a crew of six volunteers live and work in a mockup spacecraft. Communication with the outside world is limited, and has a simulated 20 minute delay. The supply of on-board consumables is limited.
The longest stage of the experiment is intended to simulate a complete 520-day mission to Mars, and began on June 3, 2010.
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