Indonesian Bird

Indonesian bird newly discovered by scientists.

The Togian white-eye was first spotted by scientist in 1996. Recently the scientific community has recognized it as a "new species". I found the use of the word "new" to be very interesting. The bird has been there for a long time. It's not like one day in 2006 the sun rose and POOF there was a new green bird that had never existed before. The species has been there for a long time, however scientist have adopted a "new to me" kind of attitude when it comes to scientific discoveries. While I agree that it is very cool to find something that no one has seen or understood before, it doesn't mean the thing didn't exist. Gravity was always there, Newton just recognized it as an entity and gave it a name. Ok, so that may be stretching it a bit, but the concept is the same. instead of saying things like "the new Togian white-eye" how about we just say "the Togian white-eye". Or we need a word to describe something that is "new to me" but not really new at all. Does anyone know if there is a word for that?

The Power of a Good Shirt

Recently I went clothing shopping. This is usually a bad thing as I never return with the item I intended to buy, and all the items I did not intend to buy. This time I went shopping for new jeans. I had worn a whole through my old ones (they had lasted me 3+ years).

When I got to the store I discovered the worst thing possible... J.C. Penny was having a sale. I know most would see a sale as a good thing, but it's really not. It just means I'm going to buy more items that I don't need.

I restrained myself.

Be Proud.

I only bought 3 pants, 2 shirts, 4 sweaters and a jacket. (Yes I used the word only to describe 10 items) If you had seen the amount of items I tried on you would understand that I used great restraint.

And to top it off it was all under the amount I allow myself for impromptu shopping sprees!

Anyways, the shopping wasn't really the point of this post. The point is a new, stylish shirt can bring light to the cloudiest day. Wearing my new shirt to work today has made me feel more confident than what I would feel in a shirt I've worn to work several times before. It probably helps that it's pink!

So my advise, If you stuck in a rut, go buy a new shirt, preferably pink. (Yes, this even applies to guys.)

Babies R' Us

Awe she's so cute

Isn't he precious

Awe do you have a boo boo on your tuddly tush

Ok so that last one might not be as common, but these are all things you hear when a baby or toddler enters a room. It seems like women just melt over these tiny, miniature versions of themselves. The lose all semblance of maturity, and start talking gibberish. I mean what does "Gha Ha" mean anyways? It certainly is not in any oxford dictionary I ever saw. I have never felt the desire to coo and cuddle a baby. It was a learning experience to be with my niece and nephews during this phase of their life. I was very happy when they became old enough to play tag.

This is the age I love. Their youthful endurance is inspiring. When they smile because their having fun playing with their aunt makes is far more understandable and rewarding then when they smile cause they just flashed their belly.

I do like babies. They are cute, usually, and pretty simple. Food, Sleep, Poop, Food. That's a life I understand. Simple. Clear. What I don't understand is the reaction of most women to their presence. My reaction is to hold them, tickle them, but funny faces and high pitch voices are not natural for me. Maybe this would change if I had a kid, but I can't imagine that.

Stretching is not so great afterall

Research suggests that stretching does not affect soreness or risk of injury during exercise.

~NY Times

According to at least two studies reported on in by the New York Times, stretching is not as beneficial as it has been thought. It does not lesson the chance of injury during activity. Stretching does not decrease the amount of soreness one might feel after a difficult workout.

The reason I am so happy about this is I never stretch, and I always get yelled at for it, whether by my boyfriend, my roommate, or my mother I always get told: "If you had stretched you wouldn't be sore right now." Well HA! I would be sore anyways!

Pictures

The signature piece of pottery from the Jomon of Japan. This was the first culture to develope fired pottery (based on current dates).



In homage of the worst holliday hallmark has ever invented (see earlier post for more details)




Since television is currently lacking any interesting sports (I do not consider basketball interesting, it's just a personal preference) here are some pictures of the most exciting contest currently underway. Who will win for the Democrates?? Obama? Clinton?



Gorrillas do it face to face! Apparently scientist had not witnessed gorrillas have sex in the missionary position, until now! Isn't this exciting!?!?



Mr. Thaci talks to the press as the announcement for Kosovo's independence becomes ever closer. The announcement is expected to happen any day now, with the U.S. stating that they will recognize Kosovo when the time comes.



A Pterodactyl fossil has been found in China. "We have this really amazing creature, sparrow sized, which lived essentially in the trees, showing us a very new, very interesting side of the evolutionary history of those animals," said Alexander W. A. Kellner of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Valentines Day

I am not a fan of this so called holiday. This probubly stems from listening to my father talk about it as a conspiracy created by halmark and other corporations to increase sales. However, the idea of it being a "Hallmark Holiday" doesn't bother me too much, after all what holiday isn't one now a days. There are two main reasons I dislike the holiday.

1. The Expectations. Every man knows that he is expected to do something great. Each guy then either tries to reach those expectations or not, in either case he fails. Why does he fail? Because women create these crazy ideas of what they "expect" their significant others to do on this loathsome holiday. These expectations are usually above and beyond what any normal person would think on any other day, thus dooming the men because they can't possibly meet these expectations. Then when expectations are met the girl either has to pretend like they were, even though there is dissapointment or be out right disappointed (hopefully she chooses the former).

2. A years worth of romance and thoughtfulness is cramed into one day. It's too confining. If someone thinks of something really sweet to do for their significant other they are far more likely to save it for valentines day than to just act upon their inspiration. These means instead of a romantic day on November 6 or July 23 the couple get one day, with the rest of America on February 14. I personally would much rather smaller romantic things throughout the year than one out of proportion day.

So those are my thoughts on February 14.

$1 Paperback!

I LOVE books! I like to read them. I like to have them site on my shelf and look pretty. I love books.

Yesterday a group had a book sale. It was a fundraiser, where all of the proceeds would go to the winner of the "Outstanding Student Award" given by the Alumni Association. There were over 1,000 books on sale. All of the books were donated by one professor. What's crazy about this, besides the fact that one guy has over 1,000 books available to donate, is that he only donated the books that were in his attic because they couldn't fit in his library. THE MAN HAS A LIBRARY!

How many books do you need to have before you can call something a library? How does one person collect that many books? How many books do you have to have to donate over 1,000 without blinking?

This man amazies me.

I, of course, bought some books. I purchased 7 books for $8. Each paperback was $1 (5 for $4) and each hardcover was $3. (Can you figure out how many paperbacks and hardcovers I bought?) The 7 books includded:

Michangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
Journey to Portugal
Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of South America
The Complete Writings of Thucydides
Chocolat
The Creators
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword