Author: spunkycarol
Archie Andrews, Gigilo?
Despite a majority of fans voting for Betty Cooper to be his choice, comic-book character Archie Andrews will pop the question to well-off Veronica Lodge. Talk about it being “about time” — they’ve been dating on/off for 68 years.
Mystery “Blob” in Arctic: Algae or “The Thing”?
Time Magazine has a story on a massive “blob” in the Arctic Ocean off the Alaska coast. Tests have deemed it to be a massive bloom of algae.
2009 Worlds Ugliest Dog
Pabst, a boxer-mix, was named the winner of the 2009 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. (kinda ironic that “Pabst” won a blue ribbon….)
Photo via news:lite, and provided by Sonoma-Marin Fair
The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest is in its 21st year and has been trademarked by the Sonoma-Marin Fair.
World’s First Self-Watering Plant?
Desert rhubarb in bloom (G. Ne’eman)
World’s First Ever Self-Watering Plant Discovered in Israel
The Plant That Can Water Itself
” The Desert Rhubarb can hold 16 times more water than its rivals and has developed a unique ability to effectively water itself in its barren habitat.
Scientists claim ridges in the leaves act like mountain valleys, funnelling the water slowly and directly into the plant while stopping it evaporating. A team from the Department of Science Education-Biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim, in Israel, said the leaves act like a mini irrigation system. Lead researcher Professor Gidi Ne’eman said “We know of no other plant in the deserts of the world that functions in this manner. We have managed to make out the ‘self-irrigating’ mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16 times the amount of water than otherwise expected for a plant in this region based on the quantities of rain in the desert.”
The topography of the leaves channels water to the roots (S. Lev-Yadun)