6489 Thursday.
Feb. 26th, 2004 06:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Playing with color balance, early in the morning after mugging for the camera.

I am a radioactive zombie. grr. snarl.
I would like a thin mint cookie or three, if no brains are available.
thank you for your time.

I am a radioactive zombie. grr. snarl.
I would like a thin mint cookie or three, if no brains are available.
thank you for your time.
| |||
Reach for the lasers with Antic's Sims-ulator! |
I don't normally watch Hollywood Squares, but I noticed the last time I flipped past it, they were having a theme... "crime fighters week".
Robert Culp, Hal Linden, Kate Jackson, Dennis Weaver, Mike Connors, and Erik Estrada were all on the grid.
Very cool. Quite a little flashback to some of my favorite TV as a kid (and to this day, really.)
I'd have loved to see some crazy crossover show of Mannix, I Spy, and Barney Miller and "CHiPs".
MK12: man of action... must be seen to be believed. Mr President, Dr. Steve Elvis America and Robo-bobo monkey robot. Even stupid person know MONKEY HATE CLOWN! The Whole MK12 site is pretty keeno.
I ended up having a 2 hour nap last night, and just chilled out. I'm still getting together with the mother for dinner tonight, albeit as a duo rather than a trio.
Got my check for $13.86 from the CD MAP antitrust suit. Should I use the money to buy music? Somehow, I think it'll go to Chinese food or action figures (see bottom) instead.
Asia's bear-sized catfish are disappearing - From the UC Davis:
One of the world's largest freshwater fish, an Asian catfish as big as a bear, may disappear in the near future, warns a UC Davis conservation biologist from his research base in Cambodia. The giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), which grows to 10 feet long and 650 pounds, is a migratory species in the rivers of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It has been a mainstay for local fishers for centuries. Now very few fish are being caught. At one typical traditional fishing spot on the Mekong River at Chiang Khong, Thailand, 30 fish were caught in 1995, seven in 1997, two in 1998 and none in 2000 and 2001.
Asia's bear-sized catfish are disappearing
One of the world's largest freshwater fish, an Asian catfish as big as a bear, may disappear in the near future, warns a UC Davis conservation biologist from his research base in Cambodia.
The giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), which grows to 10 feet long and 650 pounds, is a migratory species in the rivers of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It has been a mainstay for local fishers for centuries.
Now very few fish are being caught. At one typical traditional fishing spot on the Mekong River at Chiang Khong, Thailand, 30 fish were caught in 1995, seven in 1997, two in 1998 and none in 2000 and 2001.
Zeb Hogan is a conservation biologist and a UC Davis doctoral student studying the fish on the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers. "I'd go down to where the fishermen had their nets out and ask, 'Caught any fish?' And they never did," Hogan said.
"Here is a fish that has been caught for hundreds of years. Now it looks like it's on the way out."
Hogan's doctoral adviser is UC Davis fisheries biologist Peter Moyle. Like some of the California native fish that Moyle studies, the giant catfish migrate hundreds of miles each year between downstream feeding areas and upstream spawning areas.
"The giant catfish and other fish in this diverse ecosystem are extremely important to the health and economic well-being of local peoples but are threatened by the construction of hydropower dams and other problems," Moyle said. "We hope that Zeb's work will help call attention to a potential impending ecological and social disaster."
A Danish biotech company has developed a genetically modified flower that could help detect land mines … The genetically modified weed has been coded to change color when its roots come in contact with nitrogen-dioxide (NO2) evaporating from explosives buried in soil.
Within three to six weeks from being sowed over land mine infested areas the small plant, a Thale Cress, will turn a warning red whenever close to a land mine.
How cool is that?
Oestergaard said the problem of sowing the seeds in a potential land mine could be overcome by clearing strips through a field by conventional methods or by using crop planes.
Currently land mines are mostly removed by putting a stick into the ground to locate the mine, then removing it and detonating it. Dogs and metal detectors are also often used.
"We don't think our invention will completely replace other methods. The main target of this product is soil that will be used for different agricultural activities," Oestergaard said.
Although there are no official figures for the number of victims of land mines, peace activists say tens of thousands are injured, maimed or killed each year.
Aresa's invention, based on research at the Institute of Molecular Biology at Copenhagen University, uses a plant's normal reaction to turn red or brown when subjected to stressful conditions such as cold or drought, but has genetically coded it to react only to nitrogen-dioxide.
TESTS START THIS YEAR
Aresa has succeeded in growing the genetically modified plant and hopes to launch restricted tests this year and to apply for field tests in Denmark and abroad after that.
Oestergaard said a prototype could be on the market within a couple of years but he declined to give a more specific date.
The use of land mines was outlawed in the 1997 Ottawa Convention and more than 90 countries committed themselves last year to cleaning up the debris of war to reduce the number of civilian casualties from munitions left by armed conflicts.
Aresa, a private company, is currently seeking strategic partners to speed up its development, both through financial and intellectual support, and has filed for intellectual property protection under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
Oestergaard said Aresa's scientists were not the only ones trying to use genetically modified plants to detect land mines but its research was entirely independent from other projects.
It hopes to use the Thale Cress also for detecting and cleaning soil contaminated by heavy metals such as lead, copper, zinc and chromium, a major source of pollution in many industrialized countries.
Oestergaard said the modified weed was infertile and unable to spread its seeds, meaning the risk was minimal that the plant would spread into unwanted areas.
Where would I go tomorrow if I wasn't on call? (look at this stuff) Ack, I wish I'd known about it sooner... I wouldn't have given MM the first part of the evening.. I'm only on call until 9pm-ish. I may try to swing by afterwards, and see if anything's happening. It's about a block away from the singing fountain. The show will be open for a couple of weeks, so I have time to check it out. It'd be interesting to meet all of the artists, though. I'll probably go on Saturday.
SUBCULTURES: THE ART OF THE ACTION FIGURE
Friday , February 27th 2004
Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale
Mark K. Wheeler Gallery
1799 S.E. 17th Street
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33316
FREE ADMISSION
Reception from 5:30pm - 8:00pm
It's not your fault you've never heard of "action figures as art"! You've only seen the watered down version of "toy concepts" on store shelves, after it's been through the gears of industry.
That all changes with this exhibit:
"SubCultures: The Art of the Action Figure"
THE RENAISSANCE IS NIGH...!
Featuring:
- Casey Lau
- Plan-B Toys
- Mister Ban YJ
- Suckadelic
- Friends With You
- SpaceSpore
- Ugly Dolls
- Ahn Tran & David Mack
- Achy Breaky Toys
- Evan Dorkin & Sara Dyer
- Crittaz
- Softies
- Iron-Cow Productions
- Art Asylum
- Critterbox Toys
- Scary Girl
- Tim Biskup
- SpyMagician
- Fafi
With music by THREE TON GATE, Snowden and more!
no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 06:41 am (UTC)Here's the link if you are interested.
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/wolv26_20040226.htm
no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 06:48 am (UTC)1000 square mile range? that's a big territory for a 50 lb beastie!
no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 06:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 09:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 09:09 am (UTC)you mean pink, purple and day-glo eyes aren't scary?
no subject
Date: 2004-02-26 09:11 am (UTC)you are un-well
Re: you are un-well
Date: 2004-02-26 11:06 am (UTC)Protect your brain. Stockpile thin mints. Give them to anyone claiming to be a zombie.