Triassic Extinction Event - How Useless?

The Triassic extinction event, informally known as the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred over 200 million years ago.

It is the Earth's most severe known extinction event, with up to 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct.

Scientists examining evidence across the world from New Jersey to North Africa say they have linked the abrupt disappearance of half of earth’s species 200 million years ago, to a precisely dated set of gigantic volcanic eruptions. The eruptions may have caused climate changes so sudden that many creatures were unable to adapt—possibly on a pace similar to that of human-influenced climate warming today.

This study provides the tightest link yet, with a newly precise date - 201,564,000 years ago, exactly the same time as a massive outpouring of lava.

This is wonderful precise information, and reasonably useless.

While the rapidity of climate change inducing issues such as the rate of rise of CO2 in the atmosphere is said by some to be more worrying than the actual amounts, is this linked to this event over 201 million years ago?

It is more concerning that countries are not actiing together nor fast enough to do much about todays potential climate issues. 

Fed Up with Websites ??

Several of the major news web sites in Australia now overlay their start pages with a nearly full page ad that must be closed to view the main web site.  Sometimes there is no close button- the  "x" - it has to load and run, then go away itself.

This is advertising taken to the absolute max......and a monumental... turn off.  Would I buy that garbage that interferes with my reason for coming to the web page?  Not likely.  Would you buy?

Now the same start pages are full of superfluous garbage, narrow columns and every effort to cram more crap on the page......another tunoff.

Not sure what one can do........but at least boycott those advertisers using this type of approach.

Or go back to news accumulators such as Google!

Why Swimming Does Not Suck

http://vimeo.com/59632496

This is not me advocating swimming, and I am not sure that they have really captured the absolute essence of swimming, but they are part way there.

The sensuous feel of water past the skin, smooth movement through the water once you have the skills to do it right, isolation from mobile phones, other influences, people external to the pool, and so on just add to the great feeling.

Think the fluid movement of a dolphin.

It is a great short video.

https://open.abc.net.au/posts/william-lap-swimmer-at-bomaderry-19hp7zu

Endangered Species Sometimes Live in Strange Places

Bikini Waxes Wiping Out Pubic Lice

Jan 15, 2013 03:00 AM ET // by LiveScience

                  

Related Links

Humans First Wore Clothing 170,000 Years Ago

First Signs of Lake Life Having Sex on the Beach

The Bikini: A History in Photos

Pubic lice have plagued mankind for thousands of years, but the itchy pests are now facing a enemy that threatens to wipe them out: bikini waxing.

Also known as crab lice, the tiny insects lay their eggs on pubic hair. But as Brazilian waxes and other hair-removal procedures become more common among men and women, the bugs' breeding cycle is interrupted, and populations are now plunging as low as bikini briefs themselves.

The main sexual health clinic in Sydney, Australia, hasn't seen a woman with an infestation of pubic lice since 2008, reports Bloomberg, and cases among men have fallen 80 percent in the past decade.

The Bikini: A History in Photos

A 2011 study published in the journal Sex Roles revealed that 80 percent of college-age men and women in the United States have removed some or all of their pubic hair.

The popularity of bikini waxing exploded after it was given exposure on television shows like "Sex and the City," Bloomberg reports. Men are signing up for extensive hair-removal treatments like one called the "Sunga" that costs $90 and removes all pubic hair, including on the scrotum, according to the Daily Mail.

Pubic lice are a different species from head lice, and evidence suggests humans caught pubic lice from gorillas some 3 million years ago (no not from human-gorilla sex, but rather from sleeping in their nests or eating apes), according to a 2007 report detailed in the journal BMC Biology. Because a lice infestation is easily treated with insecticidal soaps, and because they don't spread any diseases, public health organizations keep few records of infestation rates, Bloomberg reports.

More from LiveScience.com:

• 50 Sultry Facts About Sex
• 10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species
• The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites

Pope Benedict XVI - Legacy

What has the Pope achieved?

So much has focussed on his abdication, that not a lot of sense has been assembled on what has really happened during his papacy, especially the big issues.

The following article is written and published on the ABC Australia [ www.abc.net.au ] web site but deserves wider reading by those with a bit of thinking ability.

The Catholic Church definitely cops a real pasting by the mainstream media at times.......this does serve as a counterpoint, and written by somewhat of an outsider.

If a thinker.....try reading it.

link is here -

http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/02/27/3699436.htm?WT.svl=featuredSitesScroller

A REAL Monsoon at Last

What a wonderful weekend................a monsoon at last!!!!

Cool cloudy days, some periodic sunny overcast skies, and monsoonal showers.  Not a lot of rain, around 40mm at our place in the gauge this morning [most from a decent burst early this morning] and maybe 10mm today.  But at last some relief from the horrible crappy hot weather.

More monsoonal showers tomorrow, but alas.........maybe drier after that.

Just nice while it is happening.

And the frogs are just loving it.