Food 411

I just came across a culinary interest database website that I think some of my readers would like to know about.  It's called Food 411, and I'm already making notes on dishes I want to prepare.

I have to be honest, I haven't looked at any of the other various sections of this site, of which there are many.  So far, however, I am very pleased with the recipe database.  The search feature takes a bit of a learning curve to figure out just the words to use to get your desired results.  Other than that, I love this site.

Don't look at it any time you aren't prepared to become hungry.

The Point Blank Critic

What Big Eye's You Have...

Remember when we were just getting the first proof of the giant squid?  The whole world watched the first live video captured of the beast closest to the much feared kraken of nautical lore.

Well, now we get to meet the colossal squid!

A mostly in tact specimen of a colossal squid carcass has been discovered, and is now at New Zealand's national museum.  In thawing it out, they discovered many interesting things, including that they eyes are still in good condition.

Apparently this is a first.

The only predator I know about for these things are very large and very old whales beneath the coldest waters in the southern hemisphere.  I wouldn't think that a whale could gouge out eyes in a fight, but maybe I'm wrong.

In measuring these eyes, they discovered that they are the largest yet known on earth at about 27 centimeters.  That's about the size of a soccerball, a metaphor that comes with a visual which makes me both giggle and cringe.  Check out the video of the thawing process from the CNN story.

The Point Blank Critic

Twitter: Live Updating

You may notice a new addition to my sidebar today.  The section named Point Blank Critic Live is a feed from my new Twitter account.  Twitter is a quick status updating system that allows people to send updates in many various ways, most notably via text messaging.

The popularity of Twitter has been growing steadily for a while now, but has really taken off in the last couple of months.  Recently, a student who was photographing at an anti-government protest in Egypt was arrested, but was able to secure help by updating his Twitter account.

While I don't expect to be arrested for anything or in any situation where it could make a great emergency contact, Twitter is neat and will allow me to post short thoughts that I have throughout the day.

The Point Blank Critic

Vote Now!

Just a note, my previously mentioned submission to Threadless is now available for voting/scoring.  Please stop by and tell me what you think!

The Point Blank Critic

Earth in the (kinda) Dark

We hear words like "noise pollution" and "light pollution" from time to time. They come up less often now since so many people are worrying about more physical forms of pollution, but if you've ever tried finding a place to view an astronomical event you know that light pollution is an annoying, if not destructive, reality.

One of NASA's more interesting developments in recent years is their Earth Observatory website which tracks various information about the planets surface through observation from space.

Recently, EO released an image of lights on Earth compiled from 9 months of observation. You can see how the more heavily urbanized areas are bright and dense, while at least the coastlines of our continents are almost all outlined in light. It's an interesting perspective to really see how much light were generating on our surface. It's easy not to realize the true reach of light from our perspective, where our bulbs seem to give in to the darkness after only 10 or 15 feet. But, relative to the darkness of space, we seem to be working our way to becoming a star instead of a planet.

Penguin In a Wetsuit!

The cutest things you can see on most days are kittens and penguins. But the cutest thing you'll see this week is a penguin in a wetsuit.

The penguin, Pierre, is a very old penguin at the age of 25 living at the San Francisco Zoo. Pierre was losing his feathers and would avoid getting in the cold water without his natural protection.

The solution? Get a custom penguin wetsuit made to keep him warm.
And it's working. Pierre has regrown his feathers and is feeding better. Now his zoo buddies are weening him off of the suit. Hopefully he will keep up his renewed lifestyle.

I'm pulling for you Pierre.

The Point Blank Critic