i'm not studying because i heard you get points just for writing your name on the test. so i'm going to write my name 75 times. that ought to equal a C+ by my calculation.

Perfect! I'll check with the gf, but something tells me she'll be wanting something more along these lines:

I love giraffes! Met a few at a zoo and found them quite shy. They are so cool!!!

Surely there's a challenge exam.

Nope. We're all avoiding it. Skipping school.

The teachers at my school are so hopeless that I once got out of an exam by being in another exam. No joke. And I've been marked away because I was on a school-organised excursion. The right hand doesn't know that other hands exist.

S**t, er... mean sorry, am a bit late for lesson... :o



The baobab tree (adansonia digitata) - also called 'monkey-bread tree', 'dead-rat tree' (coz of the look its fruit have) or 'upside-down tree' (Arabian legend has it that the devil turned it around) - is thought to be the largest succulent plant. It can be found in Africa, Madagascar (see photo ^^) where it is the national tree, India, Australia. All of its parts can be used purposefully - medicine, vitamin / mineral source, food, drink, coffee-substitute, shelter. Large trunks (10m diameter means ~ 2000 years of age, btw) are sometimes even used as shops, for small business / production sites, pubs and jails! Young trees (see photo vv) look much unlike adult exemplars but more like "normal trees", this adds to the mysterious character the tree has in folklore.

Two more legends from Africa:

I) The baobab was the first tree on Earth, then came the slender palm tree. The baobab became jealous and wanted to be taller. And when the flame tree appeared with his red blossoms, the baobab wanted to be just as beautiful. As the fig tree came to Earth, the baobab yearned to have such sweet fruits too. But (the) god(s) did not grant the baobab's wishes and
a) turned the tree upside-down to shut him up
b) the baobab buried his head in the soil out of fury

II) Each of the animals should plant one kind of tree. Only the stupid hyaena messed up the job by planting hers head first...

time is an illusion. lunchtime doubly so.

(that's how I get to do this on a tuesday morning :) )

We had an English teacher who was very eclectic. Though I hated her then, she is one of my greatest school memories.

She would wear green bands on her arm when it was frog dissection day in Science class.

She would wear a huge hat and declare herself "Cerce without mercy" during Greek study time.

She worshipped West Side Story.

She submitted a poem of mine to a contest and it won, though I had forbid her from doing so because of my own lack of confidence.

We threw grapes in her hat, without her knowledge (or so we thought. As an adult looking back, I'm sure she knew all along).

We made endless amounts of fun of her though I learned more from her than almost any other teacher. I just didn't know it at the time.

And I can't even remember her first name:(
Not so much an interesting fact as school time memories.

i enjoyed reading that. please post more of this sort of thing.

Cross-Modal Integration
 

The Sound Induced Visual Rabbit

Scroll to the bottom of the page, to where it says "Three rabbits accompanied by a different number of beeps". Fixate the cross and press the red buttons on the left, sequentially. How many rabbits do you see each time ?

Scroll back up to read the short explanation. (this worked on me but did not work on my colleague...)

^^That's awesome...it worked on me, too. Perception is a funny thing...
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The word "bistro" was borrowed into French from the Russian "bystro," meaning quick. Presumably the Russian soldiers occupying France after that silly business with Napoleon weren't very kind about urging the cafe waiters to hurry it up.

The word "robot" was borrowed into several languages from the Russian film Robot, derived from the Russian word "robota," meaning to work.

The word "alkalai" is thought to have derived from the Arabic "al-qili," meaning wood ash, one of the earliest forms of a strong basic substance used by humans.

TIP, your illusion didn't work on me - but that might be because I've spent so much time lately syncing sound-to-frame in iMovie and I've unlearned the mental assumption that provides the fill-in rabbits :p

***

Amazona leucocephala bahamensis: the Abaco variant of the Bahamian subspecies of the Cuban Amazon parrot is the only cave-nesting parrot in the world. There is one other ground nesting parrot, the Kakapo of New Zealand. Like the Kakapo, the Abaco parrot is endangered (though the Cuban Amazon overall is listed "near threatened").

These parrots nest in small caves or "potholes" that develop in the local limestone geology. The entrances to these caves are at ground level, and the caves themselves may only be a few feet deep. Though these parrots are not physiologically distinguishable from their Cuban brethren, the Cuban parrots *never* nest in caves.

Is cave-nesting a learned behavior, or is it instinctual? Nobody knows, because the research hasn't been done yet.

^^I first read about the kakapo in Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See. As far as I know, it was his only non-fiction book, and it's a real departure for him in terms of subject material -- it's decidedly terrestrial. :) And it's so, so quirky and brilliant, and a little bit gone already. Just like the man. And the kakapo.

erm.....what's photosynthesis again?
something with leaves and sunlight?
or was that logarithums?

:confused: