Thursday, February 26, 2015

- 2/24/15 Animal Facts


         I am NOT going to do something as difficult as last post. Instead, listen to this: a lobsters blood is colorless but when exposed to oxygen it turns blue! And that armadillos have 4 babies at a time and are all the same sex! I can imagine it now...

Armadillo mother: I'm pregnant!! (121 days later) It's a girl! And a girl! And a--
Other grown armadillo children: Wait--lemme guess, a girl?
Armadillo mother: Hush! It's, it's... A girl! Wait one more... A girl!
Other grown armadillo children: *facepalm*

And that's not all of the facts I have... Did you know that when lightning strikes it can reach up to 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit? This seems cooler...

Mom: Kids, what would you like to eat today?
Kids: Fried egg!
Mom: Okay. *gets egg* I'll set it outside while I get the pan... *puts egg outside and leaves*

(lighning strikes egg) (Egg gets fried)

Kids: Yummy! Fried egg! *run outside to eat*
Mom: WAIT! STOP, IT'S NOT FRIED YET--*sees perfectly fried egg* Wait, what?

And that's not even the best of them, hear this: African Grey Parrots have vocabularies of over 200 words!!! That's no bird-brain!

Man: Aww, parrot, I'm going shopping, okay?
Parrot: Polly want a cracker. Polly want a cracker.
Man: Be a good little bird *leaves*
Parrot: WOOHOO! FREEDOM! *dials number on phone*
Parrot friends: *fly in through window* PARTY!!! *eat popcorn and watch a movie all day*
Man: *comes home* What the...?
Parrot friends: *leave*
Parrot: Polly want a cracker?

And then there is still the awesome fact that fire usually moves faster uphill than downhill, and that it's possible to lead a cow up stairs but not down. Nature never fails to amaze me! That's all for now, bye!

* 2/22/15 Ostrich Eye vrs. Brain

        Hello! I have a very interesting fact for this post. Did you know that an ostrich's eye is larger then it's brain? Well, I'm sure you've heard the term "bird-brain" which is supposed to be an insult because birds have such small brains. But in this case, is it the eye that is big, or the brain that is small? I will proceed to list the facts I have acquired, compared to an average songbird:

A sparrow weighs 31 grams.
A sparrows brain weight is 14.17 grams.
Therefore the ratio is approximately 31/14

An ostrich weighs 102,512 grams.
An ostrich's brain weight is 42.1 grams.
Therefore the ratio is approximately 102512/47

An ostrich is 3306 times larger then a sparrow.
An ostrich's brain weighs approximately 2 times more then a sparrow.
Therefore the ostrich's brain is 1653 times smaller then it would be if it was proportional

            And yet, the eye of the ostrich is at the same time very large, so that factors in as well. So, I come to the conclusion that the ostrich's brain is 1653 times smaller then it would be if it was proportional, and that the eye is 1.13064133017 times larger the brain.
            A final note: All math done is approximate. The work is likely to be incorrect, do not claim as factual in your own work. The comparisons may or may not be valid, it is not proven or decreed either way.
            A final, final, note: The "final note" seems like one of those ads that you hear on the radio about some sort of medicine, that always mentions something like, "If your head gets swollen, your chest gets tight, you have problems breathing, or you break out in a rash, call your doctor and stop taking this medicine! This medicine might cause chest inflammation, head pains, and abdominal issues. If you have any of these symptoms, your life could be in danger. Stop taking this medicine now!" And just like that, I mentioned that my work is likely not true, despite all the effort I put into gathering the information and solving the equations. *sigh*. I wonder of those medicine-selling people feel this way... Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Bye!


Friday, February 20, 2015

- 2/20/15 Weather Journal


         I have noticed that my posts are getting a little less... informative. And really, this isn't a blog for sarcasm and humor, it's to learn about Nature! So, as you probably know from my posts last year, I am working on (still) an endless (not quite) book called The Great Big Book of Nature. TGBBN is not complete, but I will post what I have so far about it on my website!!! It'll be called TGBBN. No, The Great Big Book of Nature. No, too long! Nature book? Nah... Polka dotted jaguarondi? That's it! JK, umm, All About Nature? Okay, will do. So what are you waiting for, go check it out! Or not. Instead, why don't you make a weather notebook?
         Okay, a weather journal k is a notebook for you about the weather! How do you make one? Take a notebook and record important things such as the temperature, wind direction, clouds, and precipitation. How do you figure that out? Take the temperature with a thermometer, the wind direction with a weather vane and a compass, the clouds by looking at the following diagram, and the precipitation with a rain gauge/snow stick. Go, try it out!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

- 2/18/15 Can't Wait Til Spring!


        A while back--a very, very, very long time ago, I posted about WolfQuest, a game I play where you are a wolf trying to survive in the wild. I provided a whole walkthrough for the first part, how to get started and move around. Now, I've gotten even more interested in it: to the point where I am now immersively studying wolves and writing a 5 paragraph essay on them. No, this is not an school assignment, it's fun, believe it or not, at least to me. So on the weekends/doing free time, I going crazy studying and learning about wolves. If you are also interested, go to www.wolfquest.org for awesome info.
      I did some research on plants (and solar panels, and wolves... what's up with me and studying?) and I learned that the best time to plant tomatoes is in April. But my brain is screaming "Garden garden garden garden garden garden garden garden garden garden!!!" And driving me nuts. I just want to grab my hoe and churn my garden plot to loose soil and sprinkle in fertilizer and dig a hole and plant a ochre/tomatoes/bean seed/pepper or whatever I want to plant. It's an addiction, planting! This year I will not miss a day to post on my blog FROM NOW ON. I promise (I hope). Can't wait until then...
      I had a diary this year, but I gave up on it a little bit into the year (a week...). What does that have to do with anything? It's my silly excuse for writing 3 paragraph posts every other day. But I really can't keep someone's attention talking for as long as it will take to you to read this, but at least in writing people can come and go and read, and it won't bother me. Well, the first paragraph was about Wolf Quest, and the last sentence will too. I made a slideshow about wolf behavior. Till the next post, people.

Monday, February 16, 2015

+ 2/16/15 My New Plants


      I admit, I have not been on here posting for a while, and "a while" has amounted to--yes--a whole month. And in that period of time I have both acquired and lost a plant. That plant I have lost is Invi. No, she did not die, but she caught the disease that killed Marigold and Athorya and is dying as well, and I fear that the disease will pass on to Bella. So I sorta kicked Invi out of my room and left her in my mothers care which she originally came from.
           Bella, you ask? Well, Bella is my new plant, my stunning, pink flowered, slender, dark leaved orchid plant. No, I do not favor my plants based on looks, but I must say that Bella is beautiful. She wilted a bit but she had a rough time on the way from Cleveland, Ohio to Wilmington, Delaware. How? Well for starters, the trip between those two cities is what, 8 hours? That sounds right. And orchids love warm temperatures, say in the 70s. And the temperature at that time? Oh, some negative number.... Yes, a heat loving plant made a journey in temperature's lower then 0. Just lovely. Hey, I had a rough time too...
           Oh, wait! I sincerely forgot (like, for real) that I recently acquired another plant. Well, two more plants. Three, counting Bella. Sorry, sorry! My other two plants are (not named) and (not named). Isn;t that helpful? Lol, no, I doubt it. I mean, my other two plants are Nephrolepis exaltata (neff-FRAHL-lepp-piss eck-sahl-TAY-tuh) and Chamaedorea elegans (kam-ee-DOR-ee-uh EL-uh-ganz). Wait, now what???? You mean you don't get that??? (gasp). Even though I provided a way to pronounce it? You really ought to know such things on the blog of an Ecologist... Just kidding XD. Their common names are Boston Fern and Neanthe Bella. Easier to say for you, perhaps, but I prefer--don't worry, I won't bore you with the long names. Haha!