Games, General Geekery, and what knots found on the web
Friday, May 24, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Edward Scissorhands Fossil Found : Discovery News
Edward Scissorhands Fossil Found
May 20, 2013 01:57 PM ET //
An Edward Scissorhands-like fossil has emerged from a national park in Canada, British researchers reported.
Found in the valley of the Stanley Glacier, in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, the newly discovered species features the body structure of a 505 million-year-old sea creature with scissor-like claws.
“When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands,” David Legg, who made the discovery while working on his Ph.D. at Imperial College London, said in a statement.
Legg, who detailed the finding in the Journal of Palaeontology, decided to name the new species Kooteninchela deppi (pronounced Koo-ten-ee-che-la depp-eye) in honor of Johnny Depp’s starring role in the 1990 cult movie.
NEWS: 500-Million-Year-Old Animal Looked Like a Tulip
Directed by Tim Burton, the movie was about an artificial man named Edward, built by an inventor who died before giving him hands. This meant he was left with a set of blades in the place of fingers.
“Even the genus name, Kootenichela, includes the reference to this film as ‘chela’ is Latin for claws or scissors. In truth, I am also a bit of a Depp fan,” Legg said.
An ancestor to lobsters and scorpions, Kooteninchela deppi roamed the sea about 270 million years before dinosaurs actually began to appear.
Less than two inches long with an elongate, multi-segmented body and millipede-like legs, the creature boasted large compound eyes similar to that of a fly. These eyes were located on top of movable stalks called peduncles, helping the creature to more easily search for food and look out for predators.
Over half a billion years ago, the cost of British Columbia in Canada was located much closer to the equator and the sea temperature would have been much warmer than it is today.
Living in very shallow seas among wild sponges, the tiny creature — a hunter or scavenger — used its multiple legs to scuttle along the sea floor. According to Legg, its large Edward Scissorhands-like claws and the long spines that enhanced them helped to grab prey or scour the sea floor for creatures hiding there.
Belonging to a group called the “great-appendage” arthropods, or megacheirans, in reference to the enlarged pincer-like frontal claws that they share, Kooteninchela deppi is helping researchers to understand more about life on Earth during the Cambrian period, when nearly all modern animal types emerged.
ANALYSIS: Tinkerbell the Fairyfly Is Invisible to Humans
Indeed, the “great-appendage” arthropods are early ancestors to everything from scorpions and millipedes to insects and crabs.
“The prawns covered in mayonnaise in your sandwich, the spider climbing up your wall and even the fly that has been banging into your window and annoyingly flying into your face are all descendants of Kooteninchela deppi,” Legg said.
He added that current estimates indicate there are more than one million known insects and potentially 10 million more yet to be categorized.
“It potentially means that Kooteninchela deppi has a huge family tree,” he said.
Images: 1.The Kootenichela deppi fossil and Edward Scissorhands. Credit: Imperial College London; Wikimedia Commons. 2. Kootenichela deppi reconstruction. Credit: Imperial College London.
Found in the valley of the Stanley Glacier, in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, the newly discovered species features the body structure of a 505 million-year-old sea creature with scissor-like claws.
“When I first saw the pair of isolated claws in the fossil records of this species I could not help but think of Edward Scissorhands,” David Legg, who made the discovery while working on his Ph.D. at Imperial College London, said in a statement.
Legg, who detailed the finding in the Journal of Palaeontology, decided to name the new species Kooteninchela deppi (pronounced Koo-ten-ee-che-la depp-eye) in honor of Johnny Depp’s starring role in the 1990 cult movie.
NEWS: 500-Million-Year-Old Animal Looked Like a Tulip
Directed by Tim Burton, the movie was about an artificial man named Edward, built by an inventor who died before giving him hands. This meant he was left with a set of blades in the place of fingers.
“Even the genus name, Kootenichela, includes the reference to this film as ‘chela’ is Latin for claws or scissors. In truth, I am also a bit of a Depp fan,” Legg said.
An ancestor to lobsters and scorpions, Kooteninchela deppi roamed the sea about 270 million years before dinosaurs actually began to appear.
Less than two inches long with an elongate, multi-segmented body and millipede-like legs, the creature boasted large compound eyes similar to that of a fly. These eyes were located on top of movable stalks called peduncles, helping the creature to more easily search for food and look out for predators.
Living in very shallow seas among wild sponges, the tiny creature — a hunter or scavenger — used its multiple legs to scuttle along the sea floor. According to Legg, its large Edward Scissorhands-like claws and the long spines that enhanced them helped to grab prey or scour the sea floor for creatures hiding there.
Belonging to a group called the “great-appendage” arthropods, or megacheirans, in reference to the enlarged pincer-like frontal claws that they share, Kooteninchela deppi is helping researchers to understand more about life on Earth during the Cambrian period, when nearly all modern animal types emerged.
ANALYSIS: Tinkerbell the Fairyfly Is Invisible to Humans
Indeed, the “great-appendage” arthropods are early ancestors to everything from scorpions and millipedes to insects and crabs.
“The prawns covered in mayonnaise in your sandwich, the spider climbing up your wall and even the fly that has been banging into your window and annoyingly flying into your face are all descendants of Kooteninchela deppi,” Legg said.
He added that current estimates indicate there are more than one million known insects and potentially 10 million more yet to be categorized.
“It potentially means that Kooteninchela deppi has a huge family tree,” he said.
Images: 1.The Kootenichela deppi fossil and Edward Scissorhands. Credit: Imperial College London; Wikimedia Commons. 2. Kootenichela deppi reconstruction. Credit: Imperial College London.
Edward Scissorhands Fossil Found : Discovery News#mkcpgn=rssnws1
Saturday, May 18, 2013
This century-old abandoned ship now hosts a floating forest
This century-old abandoned ship now hosts a floating forest
This century-old abandoned ship now hosts a floating forest
Sydney's Homebush Bay is home to many a broken and forgotten ship, but at least one of those derelict boats still houses a bit of life. The SS Ayrfield, long decommissioned, has a mangrove forest growing from its corpse.
Originally launched as the SS Corrimal, the Ayrfield was built in the UK in 1911 and the Australian government used it during WWII to transport American troops and supplies. The Miller Steamship Company bought the ship in 1951 (and named it the Ayrfield), and it operated as a collier between Newcastle and Sydney until 1972, when it was decommissioned and sent to Homebush Bay, which was, at the time, a ship breaking area.
Amidst the rest of the ghostly ship hulls, the Ayrfield stands out thanks to its current inhabitants, which add a bit of green to the rusty ship graveyard.
Photo by Jason Baker.
Friday, May 3, 2013
May Updates GENCON
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Thursday, May 2, 2013
Sun King Brewing and Gen Con Partner for Official Beer in 2013
Sun King Brewing and Gen Con Partner for Official Beer in 2013
Based on the success of last year's official beer partnership, Sun King Brewing and Gen Con LLC have announced a partnership to create an all-new beer for Gen Con Indy 2013. In addition, for the first time in Gen Con Indy history, the event will feature a 21-and-over beer garden located on Georgia St. The official beer also will be available for purchase at numerous participating local restaurants and bars.
“Gen Con is an incredible experience, and we’re excited to work with them and Indianapolis Downtown, Inc., to expand the scope of the festivities,” said Sun King brewer/owner Dave Colt. “Utilizing Georgia St. is a great way to enhance the experience for attendees, but it also allows everyone the opportunity to enjoy and discover the wonders of Gen Con!”
Similar to last year, fans will again help select the official name for the Gen Con Indy 2013 beer. An official contest will be announced on Gen Con's Facebook page with more details to follow. If you're in Indianapolis and of legal drinking age, stop by Sun King's brewery and tell them how excited you are for the Gen Con 2013 official beer!
“Gen Con is an incredible experience, and we’re excited to work with them and Indianapolis Downtown, Inc., to expand the scope of the festivities,” said Sun King brewer/owner Dave Colt. “Utilizing Georgia St. is a great way to enhance the experience for attendees, but it also allows everyone the opportunity to enjoy and discover the wonders of Gen Con!”
Similar to last year, fans will again help select the official name for the Gen Con Indy 2013 beer. An official contest will be announced on Gen Con's Facebook page with more details to follow. If you're in Indianapolis and of legal drinking age, stop by Sun King's brewery and tell them how excited you are for the Gen Con 2013 official beer!
Outlook - game.pawn@hotmail.com
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunken Egyptian city reveals 1,200-year-old secrets | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News
Sunken Egyptian city reveals 1,200-year-old secrets | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News
A giant statue recovered from the ancient city Heracleion. (Reuters)Until a decade ago, no one knew if Heracleion, believed to be an ancient harbor city, was fiction or real. Now, reports the Telegraph, the researchers who found it—150 feet beneath the surface of Egypt's Bay of Aboukir—are sharing some of the amazing historical artifacts preserved there.
The finds include 64 ships, 16-foot-tall statues, 700 anchors and countless gold coins and smaller artifacts.
According to underwater archeologist Franck Goddio, credited with having discovered the site, the city was probably built sometime around the 8th century B.C., which makes it older than the famed city of Alexandria. Over the years, it fell victim to a number of natural disasters before being swallowed by the sea, probably around A.D. 700.
“We are just at the beginning of our research,” said Goddio. “We will probably have to continue working for the next 200 years for [it] to be fully revealed and understood.”
It's believed that gradual soil erosion eventually caused Heracleion to fall into the Mediterranean. “It is now clear that a slow movement of subsidence of the soil affected this part of the south-eastern basin of the Mediterranean,” Goddio writes on his site. “The rise in sea level—already observed in antiquity—also contributed significantly to the submergence of the land.”
The Telegraph reports that researchers are beginning to more fully understand what daily life was like in the city, also called “Thonis.” Mainly, they describe it as having served as the main hub for sea traffic entering the region, including all trade from Greece.
“We are getting a rich picture of things like the trade that was going on there and the nature of the maritime economy in the Egyptian late period,” Damian Robinson, director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford, told the Telegraph. Robinson is part of the team that has been busy uncovering artifacts from Heracleion's sunken remains.
“It was the major international trading port for Egypt at this time,” Robinson added. “It is where taxation was taken on import and export duties. All of this was run by the main temple.”
The city is also believed to have had a rich cultural history. Helen was said to have visited it with her lover Paris shortly before the onset of the Trojan War.
A researcher looks over a sunken statue from Heracleion (Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation)
A giant statue recovered from the ancient city Heracleion. (Reuters)The finds include 64 ships, 16-foot-tall statues, 700 anchors and countless gold coins and smaller artifacts.
According to underwater archeologist Franck Goddio, credited with having discovered the site, the city was probably built sometime around the 8th century B.C., which makes it older than the famed city of Alexandria. Over the years, it fell victim to a number of natural disasters before being swallowed by the sea, probably around A.D. 700.
“We are just at the beginning of our research,” said Goddio. “We will probably have to continue working for the next 200 years for [it] to be fully revealed and understood.”
It's believed that gradual soil erosion eventually caused Heracleion to fall into the Mediterranean. “It is now clear that a slow movement of subsidence of the soil affected this part of the south-eastern basin of the Mediterranean,” Goddio writes on his site. “The rise in sea level—already observed in antiquity—also contributed significantly to the submergence of the land.”
The Telegraph reports that researchers are beginning to more fully understand what daily life was like in the city, also called “Thonis.” Mainly, they describe it as having served as the main hub for sea traffic entering the region, including all trade from Greece.
“We are getting a rich picture of things like the trade that was going on there and the nature of the maritime economy in the Egyptian late period,” Damian Robinson, director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford, told the Telegraph. Robinson is part of the team that has been busy uncovering artifacts from Heracleion's sunken remains.
“It was the major international trading port for Egypt at this time,” Robinson added. “It is where taxation was taken on import and export duties. All of this was run by the main temple.”
The city is also believed to have had a rich cultural history. Helen was said to have visited it with her lover Paris shortly before the onset of the Trojan War.
A researcher looks over a sunken statue from Heracleion (Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation)
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