JOIN THE GREEN REVOLUTION -- SAVE THE EARTH

"SAVE THE EARTH, IT IS THE ONLY PLANET WITH CHOCOLATE!"  Anonymous

 

I decided to join the Green Revolution, completely.   I mean, it does not get any better than this!!  Except maybe if Danica Patrick were driving the car. . .(Cavey, the Danica pic is just for you)

 

CHOCOLATE POWERED RACING CAR REVEALED

A Formula 3 racing car with a top speed of 145mph has been unveiled, which is made of vegetables and powered by chocolate.

The Telegraph, UK, OnLine, Motoring News

The British-built ecoF3 racing car has a steering wheel made from carrots, a bodywork crafted from potatoes and a soya bean seat.

 

 

 

A bizarre new racing car made of vegetables and powered by chocolate will hit speeds of 145 miles per hour Photo: SOLENT

 

 

 

It uses plant oil-based lubricants to grease its moving parts and boasts a biodiesel engine capable of running on chocolate extracts and vegetable oil

The car's bodywork was made by mixing vegetable fibres with resins and it is the first Formula 3 car built from eco-friendly materials.

But the ecoF3 is currently ineligible to compete in next season's championship because the engine's unusual fuel means it fails to meet regulations. They are hoping racing chiefs will change the rules so they can compete in championship races next season.

James Meredith, project manager of the WorldFirst team from Warwick University, in Coventry, West Mids, which designed and built the car, said the car breaks new ground.

 

He added: "It's been very exciting working on the project and important for our team to develop a working example of a truly green motor racing car.

"The WorldFirst project expels the myth that performance needs to be compromised when developing the sustainable motor vehicles of the future."

 

 

 

 

 

  

MONO MONDAY #57 (MONDAY PLUS #43)

MonoMonday:  A beauty queen in her own right!!  LadyBug with her favorite toy, until she tore the squeaker out of it!!

 

I decided to highlight her big baby browns by taking the color out all but her eyes, but then decided to put the color back into the ball.  After all, it was her favorite.

 

 

And for the Plus #43, Gator kindly gave me permission to use his Peacock picture from two weeks ago. 

 

 

 

I lightened it up just a touch:

 

 

I have seen this trade done on other Peacock pictures, and thought I would give it a try. Here's looking at you!

NOT TONIGHT DEAR, I HAVE A HEADACHE

Australia, the marvelous land down under, full of fantastic other worldly scenery, amazing animals that are unique to the Southern Continent.  So strange are they, that first explorers were thought to be telling tall tales, or rum induced visions.  And now another strange one for the chronicles.

 AUSSIE LIZARD ROLLS OVER TO AVOID SEX

by Anna Salleh; Australian Broadcasting Corp. Science Section OnLine

Females of an Australian species of lizard rely on testosterone for a most unusual method of keeping amorous males off their back, researchers have found.

Evolutionary ecology Dr Devi Stuart-Fox of the University of Melbourne, and colleagues, report their findings online ahead of print publication in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A.

 

 

 

Surprisingly, this pose of a female Lake Eyre dragon lizard stops unwanted males from mating with her (Source: Devi Stuart-Fox)

 

 

 

In most animals that use colourful displays for attraction, it's usually the male that's flashy, such as the peacock.

But the female Lake Eyre dragon lizard (Ctenophorus maculosus) is an exception. She displays a bright orange belly and throat during parts of her breeding season, which researchers think is driven by the hormone testosterone.

 

 

 

 

A male Lake Eyre dragon (Devi Stuart-Fox)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WAR OF THE SEXES 

Sexual conflict between persistent males and reluctant females has led to an evolutionary tit for tat involving all manner of behaviours, says Stuart-Fox.

"You get this runaway process where males evolve elaborate ways of trying to gain matings and females evolve elaborate ways of trying to avoid matings," says Stuart-Fox.

But she wondered about the evolutionary benefit to females of spending time on their back, which makes it difficult for them to run away from predators.

Especially given they live in a rather drab landscape, the bright orange could be a flag to predators that says "come and get me" , says Stuart-Fox.

But she says more recent studies have suggested predators do not recognise the brightly-coloured female lizards as prey.

So, says Stuart-Fox, the risk of being vulnerable to prey is much lower than the risk of having unwanted sex.

 

Interestingly, the colour features prominently when the female wants to put off a male from copulating with her.

Stuart-Fox and colleagues took a close look at a number of female lizards taken from Lake Eyre in South Australia and observed what happened when they were in the company of males.

PERSISTENT MALES    

When Lake Eyre lizards copulate the male bites the female's neck, climbs on top of her, wraps his tail around hers and inserts one of his two penises. (I am at a loss for words. . .JohnOh)

No wonder this fellow looks so smug!!

 

 

 

This can be hazardous to the health of the female because when the males bite them on the neck this can pierce the female's spine and result in death.

Therefore once the female's eggs have been fertilised, she will try to avoid mating. But males aren't easily put off.

"The males are really persistent," says Stuart-Fox. "They try and force copulation and they harass females all through the breeding season."

Unreceptive females scare off advancing males by taking on a threatening posture.

If this doesn't work, they throw themselves on their backs and reveal their bright orange underside.

"Males can't actually force themselves onto a female when she's on her back," says Stuart-Fox.

 SEX STEROID 

 

Stuart-Fox also measured the levels of sex steroids in blood samples taken from the lizards over time.

 

"Where are the women?!?"

 

 

Progesterone and testosterone usually decrease once female lizards are no longer receptive to mating, but not in the Lake Eyre dragon lizard.

"They maintain high testosterone levels all through the reproductive cycle including when they weren't receptive later in the cycle," says Stuart-Fox.

The researchers believe the testosterone is used to drive the female courtship rejection behaviours.

 

 

 

 

 

 WAR OF THE SEXES   

Sexual conflict between persistent males and reluctant females has led to an evolutionary tit for tat involving all manner of behaviours, says Stuart-Fox.

"You get this runaway process where males evolve elaborate ways of trying to gain matings and females evolve elaborate ways of trying to avoid matings," says Stuart-Fox.

But she wondered about the evolutionary benefit to females of spending time on their back, which makes it difficult for them to run away from predators.

Especially given they live in a rather drab landscape, the bright orange could be a flag to predators that says "come and get me" , says Stuart-Fox.

But she says more recent studies have suggested predators do not recognise the brightly-coloured female lizards as prey.

So, says Stuart-Fox, the risk of being vulnerable to prey is much lower than the risk of having unwanted sex.

  

CATS AND DOGS

Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.~ Joseph Wood Krutch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats.
~ Anonymous

 

The reason cats climb is so that they can look down on almost ever other animals...it's also the reason they hate birds.
~ KC Buffington

 

 

 

 

 

We have a theory that cats are planning to take over the world, just try to look them straight in the eye....yup, they're hiding something!
~ Dog Fancy

 

 

 

In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.  ~Dereke Bruce

 

As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.  ~Ellen Perry Berkeley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A cat's got her own opinion of human beings.  She don't say much, but you can tell enough to make you anxious not to hear the whole of it.  ~Jerome K. Jerome

 

Like a graceful vase, a cat, even when motionless, seems to flow.  ~George F. Will

 

 

 

 

It always gives me a shiver when I see a cat seeing what I can't see.  ~Eleanor Farjeon

 

Cats are the ultimate narcissists.  You can tell this because of all the time they spend on personal grooming.  Dogs aren't like this.  A dog's idea of personal grooming is to roll on a dead fish.  ~James Gorman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cats as a class, have never completely got over the snootiness caused by that fact that in Ancient Egypt they were worshipped as gods.  ~P.G. Wodehouse

 

Dogs have owners, cats have staff.  ~Author Unknown

 

God made the cat in order that man might have the pleasure of caressing the lion.  ~Fernand Mery

 

  

ANZAC DAY A TIME TO REFLECT AND GIVE THANKS

We must never forget the young men and women who have given so much for all of us, to remember their sacrifices over the many years, and  far away lands.  We should remember the young Turks who gave their all too.  Politicians beat their chests, and young men and women are marched off to fight.  Pray for peace.

THE  BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA

by Eric Bogle

When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in 1915 my country said: Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli

It well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell
He nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again

Oh those that were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying

Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla

And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda
When they carried us down the gangway
Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories

I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

Links for more information about and the history of ANZAC DAY.

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/anzac-day/introduction

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/

This link is from a Turkish tour page,  very good over view on  Gallipoli

http://www.allaboutturkey.com/gelibolu.htm