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sea monkeys

Mon, 2011-06-27 05:28 — bklasky

Jake got Sea Monkeys (brine shrimp) for his birthday. I played with my camera to try to get some closeups. Aliens? (I need to get more light on them and will keep playing).

 

usa vs. tanzania

Tue, 2010-06-15 02:44 — bklasky

Bill McKibben quoted on NPR: "The average American family uses more energy between the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and dinner on January 2nd, than the average Tanzanian family uses in the course of a year."

grandpa's office

Sun, 2010-05-09 05:27 — bklasky

Ben spent a few days this week down in L.A. clearing out his grandfather's office (his grandfather passed away last year, at the age of 96). Living through the Great Depression caused Grandpa to be a bit of a packrat. Many things had 50+ years of dust on them. Some of the funnier highlights included:

  • 250,000 (yes, a quarter million!) stamp hinges
  • 10,000 coin rolls
  • old car transmissions and carburators
  • a geiger counter
  • cameras from the 1930's and 40's
  • lots of ball bearings
  • a Vietnam-era bomb (without a warhead - whew!)
  • and, two guns

    • diapers.com

    Tue, 2009-06-16 03:50 — bklasky

    This was in our mailroom at work today. Nice tagline.

    rosa sat...

    Wed, 2009-01-28 19:47 — bklasky

    The following quote is being attributed to many different people, ranging from rapper JayZ to an elected official in Lousiana. It appeared on our blog a few months ago, but the following youtube video puts a whole new perspective on it. You must check it out!


    one giant leap for mankind

    Wed, 2008-11-05 14:56 — bklasky


    When I was just a baby, my mother propped me up in my older sister's lap and snapped a picture of us holding a newspaper with the headline "Man Lands on the Moon!" Jake is only 2 and a half years old, and won't remember this week's election - but I felt it was worth capturing the moment for posterity. This feels like a really special time to me.

    The following are a few of my favorite quotes, celebrating the occasion:

    that's smokin'

    Thu, 2007-04-05 06:23 — bklasky

    On the way into work today, I heard a story on NPR indicating that smoking of cigarettes is down considerably in China over the last few years - down to 350 million smokers! That's considerably more Chinese who smoke than the entire U.S. population (around 300 million). Apparently more than half of adult men in China are regular smokers. Zoiks!

    banana slugs everywhere

    Wed, 2006-08-02 22:44 — bklasky

    On my way into work today, I saw several large gooey banana slugs. The weather's warm these days and, like us humans, our mollusk friends are coming out to play. Here are my favorite banana slug facts:

  • They are hermaphroditic - each slug is equipped with both male and female reproductive organs...so they can mate with themselves! They choose to do this only when no other slugs are around, typically seeking partners so they can trade their genetic material and create a healthier slug geen pool.
  • They have sex rituals - Slug sex lasts for hours and is characterized by ritualized bouts of lunging, nipping, and side swiping with their tails.
  • They are well endowed - During sex, slugs display extremely large sex organs...up to half their body size. In fact, the scientific name for banana slug - dolichophallus - is Latin for "long penis."
  • They apophalate! - After sex, slugs often have trouble "disengaging" from their partners. They spend hours twisting and pulling...and frequently resort to the practice of apophalation to separate themselves. That's a big scientific word that means "biting your partner's wee-wee off."
  • They are faster than you think - Despite being, well, sluggish...they cover a fair amount of ground. They can move 6.5 inches per minute, or 32 feet in an hour. Of course, this means they "run" a 100-yard dash in a little over 9 hours. But trust me...when watching them, they move faster than you'd expect.
  • They are slimey - and their slime is really amazing stuff. It serves as a deterrent to predators because it tastes bad and has a natural anesthetic (which numbs your lips if you kiss them - trust me, I know). The slime prevents moisture loss, and helps them get where they are going - by providing a lubricant to squeeze into tight places, adhere to steep surfaces, or hang upside down from slime threads. It also protects their fleshy underparts from dry or sharp objects. A banana slug can actually glide easily across a sharp razor blade without cutting itself!

    • supposably

    Sun, 2006-06-25 23:03 — bklasky

    Some friends and I recently debated whether "supposably" is a word. Turns out, it's a word...but it isn't a synonym for "supposedly" in the way that so many toddlers use it. According to Webster's:

    Supposable \s&-'pO-z&-b&l\, adj.

    Capable of being supposed: CONCEIVABLE
    sup·pos·ably \-blE\ adv.

    envrironmental amnesia

    Sat, 2006-05-13 17:27 — bklasky

    I read something interesting today about the concept of "environmental amnesia" - check it out:

    If one’s only experience is with a certain amount of pollution, then that amount becomes not pollution but the norm against which more (or less) polluted states can be measured at a later time...I have called this environmental generational amnesia (Kahn & Friedman, 1995).

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