In the spirit of Batman.....CAVES!

This week I am house sitting for a family at my church. Seeing that I am alone with their dog Lady during the evenings and nights, I brought over my family's dvd series Planet Earth. I am now watching about caves! So I thought that I could share some of my new-found knowledge :) 

There is a cave called The Cave of Swallows, that's 400 meters deep, deep enough to engulf the empire state building o.O It is the deepest in the world

Caves are the least explored places on Earth. 

In New Zealand there are cave glow worms that "fish" with a line of silk. They have a capsule at the base of their tail that lights up, and acts as a lure for prey (insects). These worms have solved a big challenge for cave dwellers, finding a constant source of food.

When water from a river travels above ground, it absorbs the carbon dioxide, making it slightly acidic. So when it travels down underground through caves, it eats away at the lime stone. This creates caverns and winding mazes through the caves.

Deer cave in  Borneo is so big a jumbo jet could fly through it. The size of the cave allows animals to gather there in large numbers. There are 3 million bats that live there! There they are protected form the elements, and protected from predators. there is a 100 meter high hill of bat poop in the cave. this is important for cockroaches that carpet the hill. they eat the continuous supply of bat droppings. There are also crabs in the cave.When the bats leave the cave they form a doughnut shaped formation to confuse birds of prey that lay in wait for them. This hunting ends when the light fades. By the morning, most of the bats will return, the hunting from the birds of prey don't make a big dent in the population.

Cave swiftlets birds make their nests on the walls of caves. They are shaped like cups, and are made of strands of the bird's saliva. The nests are also edible... people eat them. When a nest is removed, the birds immediately start making a new one.

Stalactites hang from the ceiling of caves. 

Stalagmites "grow" from the ground up.

when these two meet, they form a column. 

These are all made of dissolved limestone.

Disorientated is a word.....I knew of disoriented... not tated... haha

Cave Angelfish only live in cave waterfalls. They can climb waterfalls

The water that flows from Cueva de la Villa Luz is colored white because of all the sulfuric acid. Explorers that enter this cave must wear respirators and monitors. Poisonous gases rise to fatal levels so quickly, early warning systems are essential. There are fish in these waters, even though there is not a lot of oxygen in the water and lots of sulfuric acid. There are cave mollies. There is also Snottites, they are vast colonies of bacteria, that are capable of growing a centimeter a day, they drip sulfuric acid strong enough  to burn skin. they extract energy from the hydrogen sulfite gas. They are known as Extremophiles, because they can survive in such extreme environments.

 

  *These photos were found just by googling what they are. I do not own them*

And there you go, some new information. I would highly recommend watching this series, and Blue Planet. Soo fun to watch.

Summer is Here!

 In preparation for the Color Run in September, I have been trying to get back into shape! yay? haha Well I have been running 2 miles since the 14th, on weekdays, leaving the weekends as rest days.


On Wednesday a few friends and I went hiking; we went to the Oneonta Gorge, and hiked the lower Oneonta Falls. It was a lot of fun! This was in addition to the 2 miles I've been running o.O It was a lot... The river/stream coming down the gorge was higher than usual, and with my camera and stuff, I couldn't swim across a deep patch to get to the waterfall. But the water was freezing, so I'm glad I wasn't in it deep for longer than I wanted to be. :) Here's some more information on the hike (click) :) And, here is some information about the Oneonta Gorge (click).


Oregon is just so pretty, is it not? There's no way you won't get wet on this hike. So if you ever go, prepare, and dress to get wet. There is a log jam, that can get very slippery, and is not easy to get over.

I was supposed to start my job at PSU on Monday, but, 1. Financial aid didnt tell me soon enough that I needed to get another document in, in order to get my request to start working towards my Federal Work Study award. 2. Financial aid only has one counselor that reviews the requests. 3. It could be a 2 week wait till I get approved to start working. GRRR! But, once I get that, I am free to work 20 hour weeks. yay!


On Monday, I can go pick up my final movie poster project from Art 118. Got an A in that class, both my art classes actually :) Really happy about that too :)

Letter Anatomy

Last week in my design class we were learning about Letter Anatomy. In that link you will find the terminology we went over with explanations and terminology of different parts of letters. Who knew typography was so technical :) In addition to learning these terms, we also had to trace 2 capital A's and 2 capital G's, 2 lower case a's and 2 lower case g's in different fonts. Then we had to pick a font he had printed out (4 options) and trace and fill in the WHOLE alphabet, upper and lowercase. 

Color Psycology - Blue

Since blue is my favorite color, and I really like Color Psychology I thought color psychology of the color blue would be a good first topic. :)

So looking online I found a site that goes through the major colors. I found this out about blue:

"Ask people their favorite color and a clear majority will say blue. Much of the world is blue (skies, seas). Seeing the color blue actually causes the body to produce chemicals that are calming; but that isn't true of all shades of blue. Some shades (or too much blue) can send a cold and uncaring message. Many bedrooms are blue because it's calm, restful color. Over the ages blue has become associated with steadfastness, dependability, wisdom and loyalty (note how many uniforms are blue). People tend to be more productive in a blue room because they are calm and focused on the task at hand. Some studies are showing that weight lifters can lift more weight in a blue gym - in fact, nearly all sports are enhanced in blue surroundings." - http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html

and...

It affects you "intellectually.
Positive: Intelligence, communication, trust, efficiency, serenity, duty, logic, coolness, reflection, calm.
Negative: Coldness, aloofness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.

Blue is the colour of the mind and is essentially soothing; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have to red. Strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm the mind and aid concentration. Consequently it is serene and mentally calming. It is the colour of clear communication. Blue objects do not appear to be as close to us as red ones. Time and again in research, blue is the world's favourite colour. However, it can be perceived as cold, unemotional and unfriendly." - http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours

and :) ....

"Physiological Effect: In contrast to red, blue proves to lower blood pressure. Blue can be linked to the throat and thyroid gland. Blue also has a very cooling and soothing affect, often making us calmer. Deep blue stimulates the pituitary gland, which then regulates our sleep patterns. This deeper blue also has proved to help the skeletal structure in keeping bone marrow healthy.

Psychological Effect: We usually associate the color blue with the night and thus we feel relaxed and calmed. Lighter blues make us feel quite and away from the rush of the day. These colors can be useful in eliminating insomnia. Like yellow, blue inspires mental control, clarity and creativity. However, too much dark blue can be depressing." - http://library.thinkquest.org/27066/psychology/nlcolorpsych.html

Hope you learned something, I know I did :)

Weekly Dose of Useless Information

During the summers when I was younger, my parents had me and my sister research a different topic of our choosing. I cant remember exactly if it was a different topic every day or every week and then we would have to report back during dinner. So I am thinking I will provide a weekly informational post about random subjects they will probably be useless, but hey it's always good to increase your knowledge, even if you don't use it. So starting next week, Friday, I will have researched a topic all week and will post my findings :)