Scotto's Wall Scrawls

Wonderful time with Magda last night. My last time with her tomorrow night, (Until Late October / Early November, now. Then she'll be in town for a month, then gone for Christmas and back again in January-February)

Not much to update, because I spent most of my time with her and the Newtie-berry. A fine time was had by all.

Yummy dinner was fettuccine Alfredo which Newton was very interested in, until the fresh black pepper was added.

Newt wasn't jealous of MP at all.

Hey, I didn't know South Florida was the waterspout capital of the world... I don't feel so bad about losing lightening strikes, now. (we're only #2, after Tropical Africa, and we still *see* more hits )

Found out as a side effect of talking with flying_blind  about rains of frogs.

( more info )

Back to the game at hand. Not looking forward to workload or the Monday meeting, but it'll get weathered.

Some LEO that doesn't know a browser from his bunghole is trying to tell us to totally redesign our website with no security, so it's easier to use. We'll see how nicely I can package that information for the chief later on.

• An American, Abner Doubleday, invented baseball. This myth was purposely fabricated by the dangerously patriotic founder of the Spalding sporting goods company in the early 1900s. In reality, 250 years ago the British were playing a primitive version called both "rounders" and "base-ball", and Jane Austen refers to baseball by name in 1798's Northanger Abbey, 40 years before its supposed invention at Cooperstown.



• The Sphinx's nose was shot off by Napoleon's troops. Actually, it was busted off in the 1300s by an Islamic militant... they were trouble even then... who considered it a pagan idol and therefore blasphemous.



• A captain of a ship at sea can perform weddings. Seems logical enough, the couple being in international waters and all, but it ain't true: In fact, U.S. Navy regulations, and those of the navies of many other countries, specifically prohibit ships' commanders from joining people in marriage.



• Your hair and nails continue to grow after you die. Nope...but the fleshy parts of your body recede from your hair and nails, making them appear longer.



• Bumblebee flight violates the laws of aerodynamics. Nothing that flies violates the laws of aerodynamics... that's why they're laws.



• Humans use just 10 percent of their brains. Because the brain is highly specialized, we only use a tiny fraction of its cells at any one time... it's closer to 5 percent... but we use virtually all of it over the course of a day.



• Cutting/shaving hair makes it grow faster. Not by the hair of your chinny-chin-chin: How fast hair grows back, like how quickly a man goes bald, is simply a matter of genetics.



• Einstein was a crappy student. You wish. He was gifted at Latin and Greek as a boy, and doing college-level physics at 11. Yes, he got expelled from high school, but only because he couldn't master French...and as a pre-World War German, he probably assumed France would be speaking German soon enough anyway.

Yawning is extremely contagious -- 55% of people who witness someone yawn will yawn within five minutes. If a visually impaired person hears a tape of someone yawning, he or she is likely to yawn as well. Face it, the likelihood of you making it to the end of this answer without looking like one of these gaping maws is unlikely.

Although the contagious nature of yawning is well established, we know less about why this is so. Researchers are currently giving the topic some serious attention. One theory suggests it's a holdover from a period in evolutionary history when yawning served to coordinate the social behavior of a group of animals. A recent study postulates that contagious yawning could be part of the "neural network involved in empathy."

While the mystery of contagious yawning has yet to be solved, perhaps researchers are closing in on an answer. On the other hand, given the subject matter, we wouldn't blame them for falling asleep at the wheel. In the meantime, give the "yawn challenge" a try -- it's tougher than it looks.

via

Prairie Dogs Move Into Cemetery, Bones Move Out ( Read more... )

Nice out, so I'm considering early-morning walkies before work.

Knowing how much I enjoy morning sleep, I suspect that my walks will end up in the evening.

Talked to Danny last night about unexplored areas of land on Earth. He thinks that pretty much every square mile of land has been physically touched by humans in some way or another, but I disagree.

I want to find a map or something of areas never touched.. Areas in Alaska, Africa, etc. Just to get an idea of what's small pieces are left for explorers to uncover. I wonder.. there are some theories that say that 2-3 thousand years ago that the Congo was mostly grasslands.

Speaking of which - WASHINGTON (AP) -- From lines scratched in ancient dirt to Medieval charts with drawings of monsters in unknown parts of the ocean to modern computer printouts, maps have served a vital role throughout human history.

Now, one of the nation's most venerable mapmakers, the National Geographic Society, is updating its massive Atlas of the World. ( Read more... )

( Unification Day. )

I was right, seasons do bring change. I can see color returning to the world, and I hope for more warmth, though the sun is retreating from the earth. I have a heart full of hope, reds, browns and ornj.

Baja bantu bajila, pakuba baja nwena, baseka.
Those who eat people, cry; those who eat a crocodile, laugh.
Explanation: We rejoice when our enemies are killed, but we cry when our friends are killed.

Mpa-tsehla ha e bolaee.
Translation: A full belly does not kill.
Explanation: Food without clothing is better than clothing without food.

Mo-ja-pele o ts'oana le mo-ja-morao.
Translation: The first eater is like the latter eater.
Explanation: Waiting time is the time that pays best.

'Mele oa motho e mong ke chaba se hole.
Translation: Somebody else's body is a far-away nation.
Explanation: What is experienced by one cannot be experienced by others.