if you ever go to ikea and buy a hundred ikea plastic bags, be sure to use the following response to answer questions like “what are you gonna do with 100 ikea plastic bags?”:
i’m opening my own ikea store!
in the past weeks, i’ve heard quite a bit about animal planet’s new series called whale wars.
the show documents sea shepherd’s anti-whaling campaign in antarctica.
the official website seems to limit video access to a the US (or at least they’re blocking austria), so i wasn’t even allowed to watch the official preview.
however, i eventually found a youtube user who’s uploaded the episodes - here’s the link: whale wars - operation migaloo.
the footage gives you a good feeling of what the sea shepherds are doing to protect the whales. the amount of compassion for their cause is remarkable. admittedly, some of their methods are pretty much on the outer edge of borderline. however, they’re the only organization that atcively stops illegal whaling in international waters!
in episodes #2 (”nothing’s ideal”) and #3 (”international incidents r us”), the animal planet team also provides first-hand insight on last january’s “kidnapping” incident that has made news around the world.
eric cheng has an informative article with a set of links in his blog.
i have to say: this is one of the most compelling, thrilling documentaries i’ve seen in a long time.
meanwhile, the institute of cetacean research is publishing press releases critizicing animal planet (PDF) and their new series (PDF).
ever since the 2008 nobel prize in chemistry went to a team of scientists who discovered and modified the green fluorescent protein (GFP), everybody seems to be interested in the crystal jelly (aequorea victoria) that produces it.
here are three pictures of aequorea victoria that i took in 2006:
please contact me if you are interested in using them.
last week, i took part in a practical class dealing with specific kinds of microscopy - namely confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
while we’re still waiting for the results of the second part, we’ve had plenty of time to play around with the CLSM.
here’s one of the numerous animations:
it shows part of a leaf of arabidopsis thaliana, that was genetically modified in a way that makes certain structure molecules within the cell walls visible.
to be more specific, the sequences of the green fluorescent protein (GFP, originally a gene of the crystal jellyfish, aequorea victoria) and a corresponding microtubule binding domain were inserted into the plant’s DNA, so that the cell walls would emit green light when exposed to light of a particular frequency (not all cells actually produced these molecules).
autofluorescense of chloroplasts is displayed in red.
using the CLSM, about 20 images were recorded at different levels of the leaf. these layers were then rendered in an animation that highlights its tridimensionality.
the image width equals 150 μm, that’s approx. 1/7th of a millimeter.
Iceland for sale on eBay
Great scenery and wildlife but financial situation in need of repair — collect in person.
Iceland, which is going cap in hand to Russia for a 4 billion euro loan to bail out its failed banks, was offered for sale as a wholesale lot on eBay on Friday.
“Located in the mid-Atlantic ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean, Iceland will provide the winning bidder with — a habitable environment, Icelandic Horses and admittedly a somewhat sketchy financial situation.”
source: uk.reuters.com
screenshot of the ebay item page
Paradise almost lost: Maldives seek to buy a new homeland
The Maldives will begin to divert a portion of the country’s billion-dollar annual tourist revenue into buying a new homeland - as an insurance policy against climate change that threatens to turn the 300,000 islanders into environmental refugees, the country’s first democratically elected president has told the Guardian.
source: guardian.co.uk
follow the below link and you’ll find one of the funniest email conversations i’ve read since the laminated plaque dialogue by zefrank.
according to the authors, both conversations are real and unchanged!
just recently, somebody sold the drawing of the 7-legged spider on ebay. ;)
four our second week in thailand, we left koh samui and headed on to koh tao [G] - a tiny island (it has a maximum diameter of 7 km) situated about 50 km northward.
we did a padi open water course with emily and amanda at big blue. while i very much liked the course itself, i cannot recommend staying in their cheap rooms. they’re cheap for a reason!
four days later, we took our temporary diver’s certifications and headed down to the southeast of the island and spent the rest of the week at coral view resort, a lovely, quiet place with a beautiful beach, with a panoramic view of close-by shark island, and koh phangan in the distance.
right by the resort restaurant, there’s the office of impian divers.
robert, who runs the diveshop, told us: “impian divers is the smallest diving school of koh tao, and probably also the smallest dive instructor” (pointing at himself).
the entire staff (all three of them: keitha, robert and tom) were very friendly and welcoming, and they took the time to chat.
with hindsight, i’d have done the entire diving course at impian divers.
there was a lot of underwater life to see, even just snorkelling (i was snorkelling when i met the shark).
amongst others, we saw a blue-spotted stingray (taeniura lymma), hawksbill turtle (eretmochelys imbricata), yellow boxfish (ostracion cubitus), triggerfish (balistidae), baby squid, giant groupers (epinephelus lanceolatus), sergeant major fish (pomacentridae), barracuda (sphyraena sp.), seal-faced pufferfish (tetraodontidae), and three nudibranches (cool stuff!) including phyllidia varicosa.
all of the underwater photos (except for the last 5) were taken with my pentax optio w60, which is waterproof down to 4 meters without any housing.
alltogether, i think diving has been one of the greatest experiences i had in several years - especially around koh tao, where the sea seems to be stuffed with wildlife.
