HEMA - online winkelen

HEMA - online winkelen

click on the link and watch the fun. HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands .

Take a look at HEMA's product page (catalog) - just wait a couple of seconds, let the page load and watch what happens.DON'T click on any of the items in the picture; just wait..

This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer, who has too much time on his hands. Click on the link below:

YouTube - K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

YouTube - K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

This has nothing to do with the last post, but it came up right after Jews Don't Camp, and I love this song as done by KD Lang. Something to listen to when you want a good cry.

YouTube - Jews Don't Camp!

YouTube - Jews Don't Camp!

This is for my wonderful cousin, Naomi, who really needs to listen to this today.

Interesting dolphin bubbles. [VIDEO]

Interesting dolphin bubbles. [VIDEO]

I love dolphins and did I mention that I'm going to Woods Hole?

hula for turtle release

This was not fun to upload and I think I finally managed to do this without crashing the computer. Here's the wonderful hula done in honor of the turtle release. There's nothing like authentic Hawaiian dance. Forget hotel luaus. This is the real thing.

Woods Hole

Open your windows and listen closely. That screaming you hear is me! I've been invited to be a journalism fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. This is the hat trick for me of fellowships. NCAR was more fun that I ever thought possible, and I suspect Woods Hole will be even cooler. So the woman who hates boats, water and can't swim is off to study all things in the ocean. At least I know I can swim with my watch, much like Dumbo could fly with his magic feather.
Blogging and movies from Cape Cod, here I come!

YouTube - NATURE | Behind the Scenes of "Hummingbirds" | PBS

YouTube - NATURE | Behind the Scenes of "Hummingbirds" | PBS

If you love hummingbirds, you will love this video

Mice cages can alter rodents’ brains and skew research results, study finds

Mice cages can alter rodents’ brains and skew research results, study finds

This is terrific. All psychology used to be based on undergraduate students who had to volunteer and now we find that they mice they use in lab may have been affected by their cages.

Footloose glaciers crack up: New detailed observations of what happens when glaciers float on ocean surface

Footloose glaciers crack up: New detailed observations of what happens when glaciers float on ocean surface

now this is something that Leslie and I will need to know.....any minute now.

what is this?

It's a hard disk drive back in 1956... with 5 MB of storage.

In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC,
the first 'SUPER' computer with a hard disk drive (HDD).
The HDD weighed over a ton and stored a 'whopping' 5 MB of data.

Do you appreciate your 8 GB memory stick a little more now

Common house ants form supercolonies, prosper in urban settings

Common house ants form supercolonies, prosper in urban settings

Now, this might explain why the outside of my house is crawling with ants. Between the ants this year and the several rats that came in from the forest, my home has become a haven for wild creatures.

Tornado safety: What is the safest room in the house?

Tornado safety: What is the safest room in the house?

I had the opportunity at NCAR to hear about VORTEX, the research being done by NCAR on tornados. They just finished chasing tornados, right before I arrived in Boulder and had I wanted to, I could have gone on a 3 day mission around several states trying to catch the dangerous formations. There were a convoy of 40 scientific vehicles and researchers driving like mad when they saw a storm. They were blocked by looky-loos, who wanted to take videos and sell them. But the interesting thing was- they don't know if tornados form top to bottom or bottom to top.

Strange Hawaiian caterpillar. [VIDEO]

Strange Hawaiian caterpillar. [VIDEO]

And this one is from Josh, my son, who thought I might like it. He was right.

Giant excavated ant colony reveals marvellous wonder. [VIDEO]

Giant excavated ant colony reveals marvellous wonder. [VIDEO]

Boy. I thought I had problems with the flying ants that invaded my back yard! Wait til you see this.

Fireflies blink in synch to send a clear message

Fireflies blink in synch to send a clear message

Go outside and see if you can confirm this observation. There's nothing like a hot summer's night for a great science experiment!

Computing power cracks egg shell problem

Computing power cracks egg shell problem

although I always thought it was the rooster who came first, scientist think otherwise

my favorite part of the fellowship

The absolute best thing about the NCAR fellowship was meeting Charles Knight. This scientist began working with NCAR in the 1960's and studied ice in Barrow, Alaska. He taught me how to make ice ribbons and showed me how to make ice spikes. He also did freezing with super cold water. He is the last of the old-time scientists, who makes his own lab equipment. He was doing ice spikes and was using a black and white camera set up with a note "take off your glasses", pinned to the scope. The reason he was using a film camera and not digital or video, was because, "he has to pay for his own film and NCAR won't give him a digital camera!". I kid you not. His other gem was the quote, "your model is only as good as your computer."

I loved this man! I'm sorry the rest of the journalists didn't meet him.

jolly good fellows

Here's a group photo from the fellowship. I can honestly tell you that these were the most amazing jounalists and spectacular people. I hope they come visit.

super computers at mesa lab 2

Now the really funny thing was they wouldn't let me into an empty LEED building but they would let me into the super computer lab. Go figure. The giant white containers are filled with water in case of emergencies. There's a little robotic arm that goes back and forth looking for files that are stored.

Apparently changes were made to the archival system following "climate gate" and the loss of data. No one really wanted to talk about that, tho, - can you blame them?

super computers at mesa lab

You know you have a super computer because there are only 500 in the world AND you get to name them. In an attempt to be ironic, no doubt, all IBB super computers have the word "blue" in the name. No mention if one is called "blue screen of death". The Mesa Lab as Lynx, Frost and Blue Fire.

It may not have grabbed anyone else's attention, but the clock was really interesting. I don't know if I could work with one of these kinds of clocks on my desk.

And what can do you with an old super Cray computer? Turn it into an interesting piece of furniture!

flat iron mountains and fellows

This really was a magical place. Here's one photo of some of the journalists and one deer fellow

NCAR- Mesa Lab

This is truly one of the most remarkable works of architecture. And true to the theory of fabulous works of architecture- it leaks when it rains. It is also incredibly difficult to find your way around and the floor with the board room doesn't have a bathroom. It is located 4 floors below.
It was fabulous to see. Imagine working in a place where the deer romp in the back garden and you can climb mountains or ride bikes in your lunch hour

National Energy Lab

This is the super secret lab that we had to show our passports in order to get see what I gather was a very large, empty office building. Apparently we had to submit document several days in advance to be approved. Since we couldn't go in I asked one of the jounalists to take notes and tell me what was there. He told me that the Mars Rover prototype was in the building. Of course he was joking, and it was very funny as each of the other journalists took turns telling me about all the cool things we had missed.
Honestly- I have a Nexus pass that I needed an FBI background check and a retinal scan and a fingerprint, but they won't let me in an empty building.

nailed it!

For reasons I can't explain, nothing is loading on this web site. I have some terrific video which crashes each time I upload it. The last few blog postings are of the NCAR super expesive and way cool plane. It's like a kid's toy. Scientific equipment snaps on and off the wings and nose cone. The entire plane is stripped bare and people and equipment can be strategically loaded into place. They have a room where the equipment is spray painted. Now the interesting thing was why some of the equipment was a funny puke yellow. If something is this color it means it is a prototype. We couldn't take photos of the nose of the plane as it was a secret. Not that any of the journalists would know what the equipment might be, but no photos.
It should be noted that I am a "foreign national" and so cannot be trusted to know such details.

part 3

argh!!

I have now loaded these silly pictures 4 times and each time the program crashes. Let's try this yet again

where do hurricanes come from - part one

turtle independence day- photos

Number two on my list of things to do before I die, was the Turtle Independence Day at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. The staff there work with Seaworld to save the endangered Hawaiian Green Turtle. They raise the tiny turtles for several years to give them a chance to grow large enough to survive some of the predators who want to eat them. They clean them up, put on a tracking chip and with great ceremony, release them into the wild. The chanting and dancing by a local group made the release more meaningful. Each turtle was given an Hawaiian name and was gently carried to the ocean on a stretcher held by children or Keiki.

july 4th - rubber duck races

everyone has a bucket list of sorts. Mine isn't especially impressive or ambitious.
I did manage to get several things off that list in one day.
For reasons I can't explain, I have always wanted to see the rubber duck races in front of our home in Waikoloa. This year I had that chance. A wonderful fundraiser for CP, anyone can adopt a duck for 5 bucks. The first duck aross the finish line wins big prizes for the sponsor. My duck was clearly a lame duck and didn't win, place or show.

Sharks can really sniff out their prey, and this is how they do it

Sharks can really sniff out their prey, and this is how they do it

Happy Canada day

It's July 1st and we're off to the beach. I find blogging in the Summer is much like flossing my teeth......I know I should do it more frequently but I don't. Have a great holiday


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Location:Hawaii