Monthly Archives: October 2014

Random Humor for Your End of the Work Week

Random humor for your enjoyment!

2 Comments

Filed under Humor and Observations

Interesting Contradiction…

Am I the only one that find it strange that with Ebola, we are being told that politicians and governments should stay out of it and it let the medical people handle things properly – which effects about ten people in the United States and 10,000 worldwide…

But, those same people say that with healthcare in general, the federal government needs to control everything to make sure we get good care at low prices and so politicians needed to pass the Affordable Healthcare Act (aka Obamacare) – which effects over 300 million people?

Convenient hypocrisy.  How about we let patients and their doctors work together and leave the government out of healthcare?  But perhaps the government could do something that IS its role, like controlling the borders?

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Unique Business Card Ideas

Here are some clever and unique business cards for your amusement:

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

Researchers Have Found That Plants Know They Are Being Eaten

forage foraging evan struvinski angelica plantMelia Robinson/Business Insider

Vegetarians and vegans pay heed: New research shows plants know when they’re being eaten. And they don’t like it.That plants possess an intelligence is not new knowledge, but according to Modern Farmer, a new study from the University of Missouri shows plants can sense when they are being eaten and send out defense mechanisms to try to stop it from happening.

The study was carried out on thale cress, or Arabidopsis as it’s known scientifically, which is closely related to broccoli, kale, mustard greens, and other siblings of the brassica family and is popular for science experiments. It is commonly used in experiments because it was the first plant to have its genome sequenced, and scientists are intimately familiar with how it works.

Going forward with the question of whether a plant knows it’s being eaten, the University of Missouri researchers first took a precise audio recording of the vibrations a caterpillar makes as it eats the thale cress leaves, with the working theory that plants could feel or hear the vibrations in some way.

The researchers controlled the experiment by coming up with other vibrations that simulated other natural vibrations like wind noise that the plant might encounter.

The results? According to Modern Farmer, the thale cress produces mustard oils that are mildly toxic when eaten and sends them throughout its leaves to try to keep the predators away. The research also revealed that when the plants felt or heard “munching vibrations” from the caterpillar, they sent out extra mustard oils. But the plants didn’t react when other vibrations were present.

“Previous research has investigated how plants respond to acoustic energy, including music,” said Heidi Appel, senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU.

“However, our work is the first example of how plants respond to an ecologically relevant vibration. We found that feeding vibrations signal changes in the plant cells’ metabolism, creating more defensive chemicals that can repel attacks from caterpillars.”

Read more: http://inhabitat.com/plants-know-when-theyre-being-eaten-and-they-dont-appreciate-it/#ixzz3HaaTunbx

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

Cute Dogs For Your Monday Blues!

Here are some cute doggies to cheer you up!

Leave a comment

Filed under Animals, Humor and Observations

15 Outrageous Halloween Homes

Written by Nate Morgan — September 22, 2014

Reposted from:  http://ilovehalloween.net/blogs/news/16787547-15-outrageous-halloween-homes

One of our favorite things about Halloween are the outrageous home decorations that seem to pop up out of nowhere. Every neighborhood has one of “those” houses; AKA the ones that seem to be in relentless competition for the most festive house award. To say the inhabitants of such houses are dedicated is a gross understatement, and we have nothing but respect for their enthusiasm. So, we’ve collected 15 of the most over-the-top Halloween decorations we could find. Enjoy!

1. Giant Spider

Wow… Looks like the enormous arachnid apocalypse is finally upon us. We just hope they have home insurance.

2. Spider Invasion 

… And as the giant spider apocalypse continues, even the babies lust for human blood.

3. Nightmare Before Christmas Characters

This family deserves nothing less than a personal doorstep visit from Tim Burton himself!

4. Crash Landing

Sadly, these decorations are usually short-lived because the government comes to clean them up immediately.

5. “Pop is Dead”

They forgot “Here lies Yoncé. She (didn’t) wake up like this, and now we can see her halo.”

6. Huge Prehistoric Awesomeness

It would be awesome if they had the Jurassic Park theme playing from hidden speakers as people drove by. Totally bad@#$.

7. Monster Silhouettes 

“Honey, do you ever get the feeling that the neighbors are watching us?”

8. Zombie Takeover

We thought sleek, modern houses like this one couldn’t get any more sinister. We were wrong.

9. Simpsons Extravaganza 

We can’t help but wonder if they like the Simpsons…

10. Colossal Pumpkin King

How on Earth was this built?! We’re pretty sure the reason that man is smiling is because he somehow avoided almost certain death while erecting that monstrosity.

11. Ghost Buster Central

“If there’s somethin’ strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call?”… Not these residents, they’ll just make everything more strange.

12. Inflatable Nightmares

A halloween horror headline: “Oxygen-deprived family perishes after blowing up too many holiday inflatables.”

13. Get the Cops Called to Your House

Yeah, we know “less is more,” but this one may be too realistic for certain neighbors. For those of you wanting to duplicate this, don’t be surprised if the po po show up.

14. Pumpkin Palace

If this isn’t a fire hazard we don’t know what is.

15. This is Halloween

Last but not least, the ultimate Halloween decoration money shot. This is our favorite, by far.

But don’t go anywhere yet! We have to give a shout out to our creative followers: April Victorine and her family created this awesome haunted carriage scene completely from scratch. The skull pillar was created by our friend James Kyle who used chicken wire, expanding spray foam and milk jug skulls…

Have some Halloween handy work you’re proud of? Let us know and we may feature you in our next blog post. Thanks for reading!
Written by Nate Morgan — September 22, 2014

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

The Worst Places To Seek Refuge During The Zombie Apocalypse

Posted: 10/21/2014 8:26 pm EDT Updated: 10/21/2014 8:59 pm EDT
If and when the zombie apocalypse is nigh, we will all have to make one monumental decision: Where to seek refuge?

Steer clear of the 25 cities on the map below, produced by real-estate website Trulia. Unless you’re a zombie, in which case, live it up! (Oh wait, you can’t.)

zombieapocalypse

When the undead rise up, hitting the beach in zombie-free bliss will not be an option. Honolulu is ranked as the most appetizing city for hungry zombies.

Residents of Honolulu will make easy targets for the walking dead, what with the city’s high walkability and lack of hardware stores (where there are potential zombie-killing weapons). Honolulu also has a high hospital density, making it easy for zombies to find weak victims, and it is extremely congested, with some of the worst traffic in the nation.

New York is number two on the list, followed by Newark, Boston, and Washington D.C.

Trulia calculated the survivability of the cities using the following criteria: highest walk score, lowest hardware store density, highest hospital density, and most congestion.

So where should we find refuge? We might take a page from the book of “The Walking Dead’s” Rick Grimes and build a fortress in Atlanta — it doesn’t even appear on the map.

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

Cosplay Pictures for Your Weekend

Your Saturday dosage of cosplay pictures.  Enjoy!

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

Random Humor

Random humor for your end of the work week…

Leave a comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

Vehicles – If you could only choose one…

Which vehicle would you choose if you could have only one of the following?

1 Comment

Filed under Humor and Observations