It's full of ...clouds?

Conditions: Clearing, finally.

On the skids

You have to laugh. A video on youtube of some idiot skiing down the escalator of London's underground has hit the headlines, with people calling it stupid and reckless. And it is, of course. But another thing that's stupid is the amount of attention everyone has given it, thereby ensuring others are going to try it themselves, perhaps in your very own town! I enjoyed the newscaster who frowned professionally as she introduced the story, then we cut to the actual video, then back to the newscaster who can't quite hide the smirk of hypocrisy before moving on to the weather. Every now and then the professional polished mask of the network news slips off and we get a peek at the uncaring, ravenous, ratings-obsessed corporate monster that lurks underneath.

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View the stunt here!!!




Toby the Heimlich dog.

This is brilliant. A woman in MD (wherever that is) started choking on a piece of fruit and is saved by her 2 yr old Golden Retriever. As she started to choke, the woman:

attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn't work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.

"The next think I know, Toby's up on his hind feet and he's got his front paws on my shoulders," she recalled. "He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest."

That's when the apple dislodged and Toby started licking her face to keep her from passing out, she said.

"I literally have paw print-shaped bruises on my chest. I'm still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I'm OK," Parkhurst said.

"The doctor said I probably wouldn't be here without Toby," said Parkhurst, a jewelry artist. "I keep looking at him and saying, 'You’re amazing."'

Ok, I'm not made of stone. Well not entirely. So I rate this story a hearty awwwwww.

To Saturn!

Normally I equate space travel with $1000 dollar pizzas: Something that's simply not practical. But a story this week has illuminated something on Saturn that demands a closer look: A giant hexagon sitting above the north pole!

From the Daily Mail:

A mysterious giant hexagon lies above Saturn's north pole, captured by cameras on Nasa's Cassini Orbiter.

Spanning 25,000km - equivalent to the width of two planet Earths - the bizarre geometric feature appears to remain virtually still in the atmosphere as clouds swirl around it.

The infra-red images show the hexagon - which contains a smaller six-sided formation - extends about 60km down into the clouds.

The hexagon is similar to Earth's polar vortex, which has winds blowing in a circular pattern around the polar region. On Saturn, the vortex has a hexagonal shape.

The six-sided shape is in stark contrast to the swirling, hurricane-like vortex at Saturn's opposite pole.

What the hell is it? Some kind of structure? Perhaps the top of the device that has been generating the storm clouds that have permanently obscured the surface of Saturn? Let's see what Kevin Baines of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has to say. Ken?

"This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides.

"We've never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."

There it is, indeed. I doubt this will be enough to unite the warring humans of planet Earth, but it could be a start.



Peace out.