Flippin' Cool!

I'll give you 10:1 odds that the kid in the news story is a little brother. I know from experience that second-born boys find fun in dangerous activities.






Reuters
updated 3:42 p.m. ET, Tues., July 14, 2009
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A boy celebrating his third birthday was unhurt and apparently unfazed after he floated nearly eight miles down a river riding atop his toy truck, police said.

The boy's family was camping at a popular park near Fort St. John, in northeastern British Columbia, on Sunday when the boy wandered off unnoticed and somehow entered the nearby Peace River, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday.

The boy's parents at first thought he was playing with other relatives at the campsite. But police were later alerted and had begun a search when a boater found the boy, and the toy, about 7.8 miles away.

After a nearly two-hour journey down the swift-moving river, the boy had no injuries and was apparently unaware of the danger he had been in.

"He was very excited to see the police," said RCMP Constable Jackelynn Passarell.

A local news report said the boy made sure the boater who found him also retrieved the toy truck.

Hard Working Turtle

Hard Working Turtle
Originally uploaded by Utahbeach

I took video of a turtle digging a hole in our backyard to lay her eggs.

Kaplooey!

Wow, check out this photo from space that captures the power of a volcanic explosion.



Caption:

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this striking view of Sarychev Peak in Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan, on June 12. Volcanologists are excited about the pucture because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive eruption.

News Story:

Amazing volcano photo shows shock wave
Image from space shows several phenomena that occur early in eruption
LiveScience
updated 2:15 p.m. ET, Mon., June 22, 2009
An amazing new picture from space reveals a volcanic eruption in its earliest stage, with a huge plume of ash and steam billowing skyward and creating a shock wave in the atmosphere.

Sarychev Peak on Matua Island is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan.

The new photo was taken June 12 from the International Space Station. NASA says volcano researchers are excited about the picture "because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption."

The main plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam, according to a NASA statement. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.

The surrounding atmosphere has been shoved up by the shock wave of the eruption, scientists said.

Volcano plumes are so chaotic that they produce lightning, as revealed in pictures for the first time earlier this year.

The smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass above the ash column. This cloud is probably a transient feature, scientists say, with the eruption plume is starting to punch through. The cloud casts a dark shadow to the northwest of the island.

Often, winds high in the atmosphere sheer a volcano's plume and flatten it out. That didn't happen with this one.


The photo also shows a ground-hugging plume of light gray ash, probably a mix of hot gas and ash in what volcanologists call a pyroclastic flow, descending from the volcano summit. Pyroclastic flows — deadly to anything or anyone in their paths — are known to be up to 600 degrees and rush across the land at 130 mph.

Commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

The last explosive eruption from Sarychev Peak was in 1989.

Conan's Evil Sidekick

I've watched Conan O'Brien's first two nights manning the The Tonight Show on Hulu.com and have enjoyed it a lot. He seems to have retained his off-beat sense of humor he displayed on Late Night despite the older audience demographic. Though, I can't stand Andy Richter - they have him mic'd too loud, and his laugh is annoying and ploying. I hope he does not last long.

I like the look of the new studio, but I can't believe someone did not see that Conan has an evil face over his right shoulder when he's at the desk.



Do you see it? The hills morph into a face looking left, the left eye is lit blue with a pupil clearly seen. The nose is almost touching the edge of the vertical glass and, below that, the mouth and jaw are easy to decipher. So, although I like Conan, and his guests have been stellar the first two nights - Will Ferrell, Tom Hanks, Pearl Jam and Green Day - the annoying Andy and evil face take me out of the show too often.

Quick Hits

We had a great Memorial Day weekeend in Maine. The weather was unpredictably gorgeous, affording us 2 beach days. Liam even went swimming a couple of times.

On the drive up Rt. 128 Friday evening, we passed some radio towers. Liam (age 6) exclaimed excitedly, "Someone is taking a bunch of pictures up there!" Colleen and I looked at each other not understanding what he meant. "Look at all of the flashes!" Ha! He thought the airplane beacon was someone whose job it was to sit atop the radio tower and take pictures of everything around it.

Later on the same ride, Grady (age 8) out of the blue told us that we couldn't water ski anymore. Because we never have water skied together, we just let it go. He started up again, though, and said it's against the law. We asked him what he meant. He said that the president said no one was allowed to water ski anymore. Then it clicked - he had heard about water boarding and thought it was water skiing. Heh, heh.

New template

I got tired of my old template being so skinny that pictures would be cut off and the YouTube videos I put up could only be the small size. I'm going to go with this one for a while unless, for some reason, it doesn't work for you. Please let me know via comments if it's screwy at all.