MOONBOW

Moonbow or Lunar Bow.

This image of a lunar bow was photographed by Thomas Thies of Gearhart, Oregon, after the sun had set on December 8th 2003.

The rainbow, which lasted for about 20 minutes, was out over the ocean with the moon rising behind the photographer. The bright yellow lights near the horizon are crab boats.

Just as sunlight produces rainbows during the day, moonlight can produce rainbows at night. They're rare because moonlight isn't very bright. A bright moon near to full is needed, it must be raining opposite the moon, the sky must be dark and the moon must be less than 42degrees high.

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY

This image from Keith C. Langill is a fogbow. It's a reflection of sunlight by water drops similar to a rainbow but without the colours. The photo was taken with the sun behind the photographer.
To download a larger version this is the place.

DEEP OCEAN

Raman spectrometers tell scientists what almost any substance - solid, liquid or gas - is made of, eg. paint pigments on ancient temples on land but it also goes well under water.
The spectrometer works by focusing a laser on a target object. Most of the beam scatters off the object at the same wavelength as the laser. A small part of the beam (one in 100,000,000 photons) interacts with the chemical bonds of the molecules inside the target area and scatters at different wavelengths. Reading these wavelengths scientists can distinguish the composition of any samples collected.

Sheri White has helped develop the Deep-Ocean Laser Raman In-Situ Spectrometer (DORISS). This is a precision laboratory instrument in a pressure-proof container designed to work on the seafloor where many materials exist only in unusual conditions and can't be brought to the surface to study. She had already helped build and test ALISS (Ambient Light Imaging and Spectral System) to measure the light emanating from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. White was able to determine that the energy from this vent glow came from thermal radiation produced by extremely high-temperature (approx 350 degrees C) vent fluids.

A major problem with DORISS is the fact that spectrometers only see the precise point where their laser beam focuses, an area smaller than a pinhead and then it has to be held absolutely still for minutes at a time, something impossible to do from a ship at sea level to a ROV aat the end of a 4,000 metre tether on the ocean floor. White's answer was to build a 3-legged lab bench - Precision Underwater Positioner (PUP). This device complete with rigid legs, camera, light and crossing lasers helps to position the laser probe precisely and stably on the small targets in the deep ocean.

Chip Brier is a postdoctoral fellow who developed the Suspended Particulate Rosette (SuPR) to collect samples from the deep ocean vents. SuPR can collect 24 separate 100 litre samples where other samplers collect a single 2,000 litre one.

White and Brier are working to integrate a raman spectrometer into the SuPR for a trial run through a hydrothermal vent plume effectively analysing the chemical and trace elements as they emerge before combining and transforming as they interact with sea water. Then by taking a succession of samples they hope to record what happens as the chemicals and particles (eg. iron, manganese) interact with sea water elements (eg. vanadium, chromium) forming new minerals.

MY SECOND RUG

This was given back to me after my Mother-in-Law died. It didn't come back looking like this. I almost put it in the box to send to the dog's home but when I looked at the squares some of them had worn quite well for 25 years. The brown main colour was pretty ratty and some squares had felted very badly after being washed in hot water and others had cigarette burns where she'd fallen asleep and dropped ash on them. So I rescued the goodish ones and crocheted them into a new main colour and I'll use it as a picnic rug. I still have the pattern but it's one you have to think about as you work so I don't think I'll repeat it but this was only the second rug I ever completed so you could say it's part of the family history.

The first one was very simple and it went on the boy's bed. In first grade, the teacher used to take the kids around to each house so they all got to know their classmates and parents.

We didn't have fancy furniture, just old stuff that I could paint to match whatever colour he wanted. He suffered from Bronchitis a lot so I made a wool rug for extra warmth. In one of those moments that mothers wrap up in silver paper and pink bows and put away in their hearts, he announced to the class that the best thing in his room was this rug because, "My mum made this by herself, for me."

I COULDN'T RESIST ANOTHER

What Flower Are You?
	You are a Sunflower. You are spirited and vivacious. Willing to do anything to help others be happy, and ask nothing in return. You always see the bright side of any situation and are the life of the party. It is impossible to feel down when you are around.
Find Your Character @

I AM STILL ONE

What Animal Were You In Your Past Life?
	You were a unicorn. You were mysterious and noble. You have fairytale traits, and other people can only dream in envy. Your nature is completely impossible to decipher and behind all that, you know that you shine bright, for only the luckiest people get the chance to know you.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

ABOUT PAINTING THE TEMPLE

Copan, in Honduras, was one of the largest of the Mayan City States during the classic period. The re-constructed Hieroglyphic staircase contains the longest written inscription from Pre-Columbian America. It's 92 steps tell the story of Copan's rulers up to AD 755.

This is another of Copan's wonders. Underneath Temple 16, in the centre, archaeologists found the perfectly preserved RosaLila Temple. It was still covered in vividly painted stucco unlike the rest of the buildings and sculpture (intricate sculptures, just google) of Copan. It had been maintained and used for an exceptionally long time and when it was finally abandoned, the two storey, multi-roomed structure was carefully preserved and buried intact when a new temple was built.

Physical and Chemical Sciences PhD researcher Rosemary Goodall from the Queensland University of Technology used a new infrared analysis technique called FTIR-ATR (Fourier Transform Infrared-Attenuatted Total Reflectance) spectral imaging to study the red, green and grey paint applied to the stucco masks on the exterior of the building.

This technique has not been used for archaeology before and combined with Raman spectroscopy, Goodall found the chemical "signature" of each mineral in paint samples only millimetres in size. The advantage of FTIR-ATR is that while other techniques provided analysis of a microscopic area, it mapped a larger portion from which the recipe of paint could be more easily deduced.

Since the RosaLila Temple has more than 15 layers of paint and stucco, the mineral make-up of the pigments tells scientists what colours were painted on each layer. The stucco itself became more refined over time and changed in colour from grey to white. Ms. Goodall discovered a green pigment and a pigment of Muscovite mica. Mica is used in paints today to create a shimmer effect and the Maya may have used it to get a sparkle effect on the temple which is the only building found with the mineral. Mica isn't found near Copan so it was probably traded from other Mayan cities like Tikal in Guatamala while Copan was a centre for the obsidian market.

Ms. Goodall now wants to take a portable Raman spectrometer to Copan to do more paint analysis as these tests do not destroy any samples. The research will help stop any further damage to the Copan complex.

The temple has been re-constructed to scale and can be seen in the Sculpture Museum at Copan.
This building was used for a hundred years according to the opening and closing ceremonies dated precisely by the Mayan calendar. While the temple was repainted between 15 and 20 times, Goodall estimates the mica was only used every fourth or fifth repainting. Because the Maya had very regular calendar periods, the research team will look at the paint layers and try to determine if the frequency of use correlates to important dates in the history of Copan's Royalty. The calendar is based on a 20-year period called a Katun and the Katun endings were important times of ceremony in the life of the King.

The team consists of Ms Goodall, her PhD supervisor Peter Fredericks with Dr. Jay Hall (University of Queensland) and Dr Rene Viel (Copan Formative Project, Honduras) directing the long-term UQ-led archaeological field research program at Copan.

I'VE THOUGHT OF THE CHILDREN

As one of the very last acts of the Howard Government, Brendan Nelson bought $14 million worth of cluster bombs - weapons that contain mini-bombs, some of which remain unexploded on the ground for years awaiting innocent civilians. It's the first time Australia has bought such a weapon, and one we would hope the new Government would categorically reject.

But right now, as the international community meets in Dublin to ban them, the new Australian Government is going out of its way to frustrate the process. They're calling for their 'SMART 155' bomb to be excluded, and for rogue nations who persist in using cluster bombs to be permitted to do so. We've got just a few scarce days left before the fragile international agreement is drafted. Sign the petition today telling Kevin Rudd to ban the bomb: no loopholes, no exceptions.

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/BanTheBombs

Thousands of civilians have lost their lives and limbs, mainly children from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. So much so that the international symbol of the campaign is a limb. Just last week the Pope took the unusual step of calling on the international community to outlaw the deadly weapons.

But our government has refused to accept that a total ban on cluster munitions has to prohibit countries from assisting other nations who use cluster bombs. They are also arguing that the Smart 155 is not a cluster munition, despite having no independent tests on its safety and refusing to provide any evidence to back up that claim.

The UK Prime Minister yesterday reversed his decision to exempt his own weapons, leaving Australia increasingly isolated. We should be encouraging positive international agreements to save lives, not hindering them. Tell the PM today - as this decision is being made right now - to ban the bombs.

I've already voted, click the link and add yours. Whatever Nelson gets now, he's got it coming after ordering these.

@$#%^&*ING TAXI SERVICE

After another day at Southland and then mother's I decided I couldn't face the walk home so I rang for a taxi at 4.01 p.m.

I sat outside on the fence from that time until 4.45 when I rang again on the mobile this time.

I sat there for another 15 minutes until I nearly froze my tits off. No joke, it turned freezing.

I went back inside and rang the operator, no problems there's one on the way.

At 5.25, I rang again. Was I sure the address was ...........? @#$%!!

At 5.55, I rang the supervisor who checked and said 5 taxi drivers had said the pick-up was completed. She was outraged and 5 taxi drivers were listed for a rocket. If I wasn't picked up in 10 minutes, I was to ring her again.

At 6.15, another call to the supervisor and the despatcher. The sixth driver was threatened with no more jobs for the night unless I was picked up.

In all this time, not one taxi was spotted in the street. Even when I went inside I was sitting in front of a six foot wide/tall window where I could see the street. When it was dark, I put all the outside lights on.

At 6.27, a taxi arrived and I was delivered home at 6.32. The driver looked like Professor Snape, so much so I checked to see if it was a full moon. No kidding, he had shoulder length black hair parted in the middle and was wearing a long black coat. He also had no sense of direction but he was polite.

At 6.40, I had the gin in the glass and had opened a packet of jellybeans for tea.

How was your day?

GLACIER CAVING

This is a glacier cave in the Greenland Ice Sheet. The caves are made when seasonal meltwater or geothermal vents cut fissures and channels through the ice.

Spelunk over to here for more

Yes, it is Bombay Blue and no, I don't have a glass by the computer. It's a coincidence that's all.

WHILE I WAS POSTING

The email ding dinged and it was another Russian spam email.

It was a naked tart.

You wouldn't believe where she was holding a long stemmed wine glass.

It didn't have crystals and Bombay would never allow itself to be dragged down to that level.

WITH ALL THE MONEY SAVED

I just can't stop thinking about all that money I'm saving. Here I was last week wandering around the Swarovski Crystal shop at Southland and thinking how expensive everything was and I didn't know I could afford these.

I wasn't overly impressed with the jewellery except for the pendant and that hit me right in the drool centre of my brain. It's called "Dementra". It has a sculpted-cut Copper crystal. Ceralun(TM) applied directly onto the facets and then set with light Colorado topaz, light smoked topaz, Golden Shadow and Fuchsia crystals. It really is a knock out, much better than the photo.

I liked these as well. The stems are filled with little crystals and the Bombay would be so sweet to drink from them. The first drink that is, the Bwca and I have a tendency to break glasses after the second. I think we broke glasses before we had the bottle open.

OUR GREAT WHITE ROO

Anyone who wants to wear a white T-shirt and smile for a satellite photo should be at Monash University's Clayton campus tomorrow morning.

NASA will use four satellites to photograph the kangaroo and measure how much of the sun's warmth would be lost if the planet were covered in white cloud which bounces sunlight back into space.

The "space roo" is 32 metres by 18 metres and made from white cardboard and scientists will compare the photos with images taken a year ago.

UPDATE ON TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Way back in November 2006, I blogged about this stranded oil rig on the island of Tristan Da Cunha and the dangers it could pose for the ecosystem of the island.

I finally remembered to go back and see if anything had been done and the rig was towed into deep water and sunk in February, 2007.

A colony of Brazilian Porgy fish had apparently made their home around the rig and had swum with it to Tristan. It was hoped that the fish would follow the rig to where it was sunk and be eaten by predators.

You can read the whole saga here

DEAR SANTA/BIRTHDAY FAIRY

I don't care what old tight-arse says, I LOVE THIS PENGUIN! You can find it and other penguin goodies

here.

HOW TO STRANGLE A DOLLAR

Interesting read in the paper this morning about a book called, 'Wealthier than you think'. It was written by self proclaimed tight-arse and penny pincher, Paul Squires who says that by following his rules, average Australians can put as much as $50,000 back into their own pockets within five years. He says we are all living beyond our means and letting a river of money slip through our fingers every day. In the article he didn't say what to do with the $50,000.

These are his top 10 penny-pinching ideas.

1. Avoid your family. Christmas and Easter gatherings are expensive and psychologically damaging.
I'm trying hard but I can't see a thing wrong with this idea. Avoiding my family would have saved a giant amount of psychotherapy bills but it was also a good way of getting a free feed.

2. Limit your mates.
All my mates are internet mates so you're using your electricity to post on your blogs which I read. When I read, I'm eating and drinking alone so I don't share with you. You live a long way away so I don't have to visit and you don't get to visit me so I save on house-cleaning products. And if you don't really like me (Mr Squires says this happens) or I don't like you, we can turn each other off or I can leave you on and not hurt your feelings.

3. Ditch "friends" who are living beyond their means.
Hmm! People with Visa debt shouldn't throw plastic cards at others with bigger debts.

4. Don't fall for "special day" marketing, such as Mother's, Father's and Valentine's days.
Nothing about very big special birthdays in there. So all my 'living beyond your means' limited internet mates can still send me cyber wishes in July. I will then have a cyber party and youse can all get cyber pissed and I'll sit here eating a real cake.

5. Don't volunteer for committees. It can become a financial burden.
I'm right with this. I've done my time on the kinder, school, canteen, fete committees.

6. Don't buy jewellery.
I knew it, he's lost me. I love my shiny things.

7. Have a weekly black-out night to save on electricity.
I like candle light as well as the next person but read a book with my eyesight, oh laugh. What does the man do, go to bed at sundown? Of course if you have a 50 square house with 200 lights you probably could save a bit on the bill. I'll give this one a miss too. Although I could navigate by the light of the computer and the TV and the lights have gone out while I was in the middle of a shower so I know I can dry myself in the dark but still he's really getting pinchy here.

8. Buy a standard TV, not a home theatre package.
Right, I have two geriatric televisions, one hooked up to the DVD and the other's hooked up to the video but I don't have them going at the same time especially not on black-out nights. I didn't buy either of them, a plus and I didn't buy the DVD, a plus and the video is 10 years old, a plus and I tape movies instead of going out.

9. Dress your children in hand-me-downs.
Has this man tried to tell a teenager that they can't have the latest craze?
My father-in-law was great at this hand-me-down stuff. If anyone in his street died he was on the door step before the flowers wilted, shoes, reading glasses, anything. He'd have taken the pennies off the eyes if they still had viewings at the house.

10. Don't be super-sized. Avoid two-for-one deals.
I spend half my shopping time in the supermarket working out if I'm getting a good deal on two-for-one deals. I work out the cost difference divided by the time the goods will take to run out divided by how many pension days that equates to and when that's done, I'll buy it because it looks nice or smells good.

This is not good. I consider myself an excellent spendthrift but I'm heading towards penny-pinching in a big way.

But where's my $50,000?

THAT THREE THING

That saying about things happening in threes. The saying that always makes you look over your shoulder when two stupid things happen. I thought about it today and wondered when the third thing was going to happen and I realized it already had.



Tuesday I left the oven on so high I set off the smoke alarms and had to open every door and window in the house. I just wandered off and forgot. Charcoal vegetables, good thing I'd had that vanilla slice for lunch and the cupcake for breakfast. I noticed tonight when I finally got around to washing the dish that it now has a lovely meandering crack across the bottom. That's one.



Now for two. My office chair has been wobbling like a clown on a spring so I had a look at the workings this morning. I seem to have created a crack in the steel base plate. I can't blame the workmanship, I've been sitting on this seat for a quarter of a century so it's seen some heavy duty service. I just have to sit very upright and still and be careful scooting along the carpet in case the wheels decide to come off as well. I've already been through the great lounge chair disaster. It's just that it's my chair. I bought it with the first real chunk of money that was mine.



And then there's three. I'm standing at the stove, currying up a storm and talking to Ma on the phone (multi-tasking) and I'm blind in one eye. I mean I'm seeing perfectly well out of the left eye but the right one is blurred but not hurting. Calm is restored when I swivel the left lens of my glasses and spot the right lens in the curry. The screw came unscrewed. It's really weird to be able to see clearly out of one side and not the other. Okay, so that's three and I'm counting them as three.



**

And while I'm here. Where do the news services (hah!) and current affairs shows ((double hah!)) get off making air time for a crappy criminal being brought home for justice and having another crim's wife giving a tour of criminal haunts in Melbourne?

I HAVE A REASON TO EAT

I eat when I'm stressed and now there's an earthquake to stress about.

The way to shoot a diet down in flames is to have AustraliaPost deliver a cupcake to the door at 8.30 in the morning. It was from the Vintage Garden and Cupcake Cafe in Buninyong and it was just the best breakfast and worst diet thing ever. Thank you Dysthy.

Just to make sure I didn't do a diet right meal all day I finally made it to San Sebastian and their fabulous vanilla slice delight in Hampton. This is not just a vanilla slice, it's a meal but the chairs are a snug fit for a large bum. It's also expensive but worth it.

Then I had a flu shot, blood pressure which was 45 points lower than the last one and then I made it to the bus with two minutes to spare before the ticket expired. Now I call that a good day.

CHAITEN VOLCANO, CHILE

This image from NASA showed the ash plume from the eruption had passed over Argentina to extend over the Atlantic Ocean.

This is inside Chaiten. A 1000 metre high lava dome within a caldera about 2.5 kilometres wide and 4 kilometres long.

Here the ash plume has soared 12 kilometres into the air. Scientists now believe the eruption is at the critical point where the ash column could collapse quickly, generating pyroclastic flows down the sides of the volcano or it might subside gradually and do little damage. The ash has already contaminated ground water across Chile and Argentina and the army has forcibly evacuated the civilian population from the possible fall-out area.

FINISHED THIS - STARTING ANOTHER

I found the photo under a pile of blogfodder that was misplaced during all the moving of tables and computers etc.

My sister actually received this on Christmas Day, a record for my gift making and giving.

The rug is usually done on a No 3. crochet hook but I thought I'd save time and use a 3.50 hook. It doesn't save time and it uses more wool and it doesn't look quite the same. So for the next rug, in progress, it's back to the No 3. The 'in progress' rug was also supposed to be for last Christmas but there's always another Christmas in front of me.

The main colour is off-white in a silk/wool blend which was easy to crochet. I had to hand it over determined never to think of what Sister will do if it ever gets dirty. I made that decision after I watched her jam a wool filled doona into her washing machine and put it on 'Hot Wash'.

This is my favourite rug to crochet but not to make up. Crocheting 600 of these little squares together is a real pill but it lasts forever and I like to use pure wool. It's called a 'Jewell' blanket and made with a main colour of black it looks like tiny stained glass windows.

I keep saying this will be the last one I make but I can't resist the oddment baskets at any wool shop. The little blob at the top which is clearer if you click is a patchwork chicken. Next Christmas project because we didn't get to it this Christmas. I've bought all the fabric, got the pattern now to remember to start in October, when I've finished this rug.

ALWAYS SEND YOUR CHILD TO THE BEST SCHOOL

A good public school which will cost you more than a suburban house is supposed to turn out good citizens, educated, polite and upstanding.

Crap to the public schools little bastards who ran off the bus taking the emergency window handle with them thereby setting off the alarm which stops the bus which is taking me home and makes me just a tad homicidal.

Congrats to the driver who when into the newsagent and came back with sellotape for a makeshift repair.

Remember those old comedies where someone would take an orange from the bottom of the pyramid and the whole lot would fall? I'd like to choke the supermarket packer who thought it would be a good idea to do the same with blocks of chocolates. By the time I managed to get 10 or so blocks back on the shelf, I was half looking around for a concealed camera recording for 'Funniest Home Videos'.

It wasn't a pyramid of chocolate more like a roman arch with one block as the keystone. Impossible to re-create so I shoved the leftovers in the nearby freezer.

As our Bwca would say, 'Bad man did it and ran away'.

VOLCANO

This image is from NASA showing the ash plume from the Chaiten Volcano as it streams across Argentina to the sea.

As the volcano continues to erupt through the night, it creates its own electrical storm complete with massive lightning bolts.

DRESSMAKING TIPS FOR THE STITCHINGLY CHALLENGED

1. Don't bother, buy them.

2. If you have to make them try to do it sober.

3. If you decide to get all arty and put in concealed pockets, don't cut out the pockets until you've cut out the wristbands.

4. If you cut out the wristbands properly make sure the back neck is going both ways not all the same way.

5. Don't panic when you can't find the scissors, you're sitting on them.

6. Don't cry when you realise you're cutting out fat dresses again from the fabric you were saving for the thin dresses you thought you'd be wearing by now.

7. Forget no. 2 and drink.

BB IS BA

I was unfortunate to have to endure 5 minutes of BB last night because I didn't want to miss the opening credits of 'The Revenge of the Sith'.

Channel 10 must be joking.

Or Channel 10 has discovered a way to remove a brain from a living person and turn them loose.

Channel 7 has put 'Stargate Atlantis' on so late that even I can't stay up to watch it.

And why? Because Channel 7 is showing 'Trinny and Susannah undress the nation'. A couple of pommie tarts who'd be right at home at BB are going to tell me how to dress. Two words, piss off.

My sister has a house guest who smokes (another rant). She smokes but always keeps the door open and tries to make sure the smoke doesn't blow over me.

House guest, who doesn't like BB so one point to him, is inclined to shut the door.

My lungs feel as though I've been smoking for years. My hair stinks. My dress, petticoat, bra and knickers are in the washing machine. My eyes feel raw.

I understand addiction, no cake shop is safe from my slavering jaws, but to feel like this every day is insane.

And just to round off the day, Mommie Dearest asked me to start looking for some new summer nightdresses to buy for her. Summer??? The only buying I had in mind was a ticket for the Orphans' Picnic.

TIME

I've had a week of past years coming back to haunt me. A neighbour passing me in the supermarket with another grandchild in tow and telling me about the next one about to be born.
"And how are yours?"
"I don't know. No word, no photographs in twelve months."

Home to another email from another neighbour to let me know that a girl my son grew up with had given birth to a baby boy. She already has two girls, the eldest a year younger than my granddaughter. I haven't seen her for 10 or 12 years but it sounds as though she's happy and going well. And I swear and tear up because she's here and he's not.

I give myself a mental shake and remind myself that thinking like that is not fair to her. She's 35 and made it through anorexia, drug addiction, being pimped out by a boyfriend and getting Hep C but not HIV through good fortune. She's here because I helped her throughout her life.

I helped her on the day of the funeral when she wept in my arms. When she cried, "I'm nothing. I'm no use to anyone so it should be me that's dead. It should be me." But it wasn't and I want for her to be a wonderful mother with her life full of laughter.

So I dragged out the box of mementos and read the notice she'd put in for Euan.

Euan (tragically) died aged 24. I've know you since I can remember, and to think of all the things we got up to when we were kids and young teenagers. There's a never ending list; Pavlovas in the face, swimming lessons with you and all our birthday parties when we were young. I could go on forever. I'm just thankful I was the one who had the privilege to have grown up all my life with such a fine young man who was taken far too soon, and will live on forever in my heart and mind and memories over the past 24 years that can never be taken away. Rest in peace my little matey. All my love forever.

Iwant her to live in happiness forever, the bubbly blonde with the blue eyes who laughed and fought with him and loved him.

IT LIVES

The rodent made an appearance at 9.55pm.

It came out of the bottom of the space heater which was on.

It had a quick shufti around.

Spotted me and run back up the space heater.

Apparently it has flame retardant fur.

And no Bwca, I didn't see the whites of its ears.

I refuse to put a trap in the middle of my lounge room.

It'll probably die of hunger. Damn, I hate moral dilemmas.

GAY PARENTING CHANGES

Themuriels blogspot has the best explanation of how new laws will affect gay and lesbian families.

CONTRASTS

Dr Susan K. Avery is the first atmospheric scientist and woman to lead the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in its 78 year history.

She is an atmospheric physicist and her research interests include studies of atmospheric circulation and precipitation, climate variability, water resources and the development of new radar techniques and instruments for remote sensing.

She earned her doctorate in 1978 and has been on field expeditions in Greenland, Antarctica and Australia but only on land so she's looking forward to her first expedition aboard a research vessel sometime this year.

"Understanding the ocean has never been more important to society," she said. "We depend on it for food supplies, minerals, energy resources, shipping, and recreation. It is host to diverse ecosystems and is tightly coupled to our climate and weather."

AND WHAT ARE THE MEN DOING?

Well, Roberto Cavalli has designed this pair of gem embellished sandals for a mere $1.449.00

And Christian Louboutin designed these shoe boots for the tiny price of $877.00

Woman - 1. Men - 0.

We will rule the world and do it in comfy shoes.

CRETACEOUS PARK

It doesn't quite have the same ring as 'Jurassic Park' but this piece of amber does conjure up the start of the movie.

This is an 87-million-year-old praying mantis found encased in amber in Japan. It came from an amber mine in the northeastern Iwate Prefecture in a deposit containing other insects such as flies, bees and cockroaches.

It measures 1.4 centimeters from its antennae to the tip of its abdomen and while the forelegs, head and antennae appear to be well preserved, the wings and abdomen have been crushed.
This mantis is the oldest ever found in Japan and one of only seven in the world from the Cretaceous period.

The fossil is unusual in that it has two spines protruding from its femur, something that no other mantis from the Cretaceous period has. It also has tiny hairs on its forelegs.
The late Cretaceous was a transition phase between ancient and modern worlds so the fossil has intermediate elements of ancient and modern mantises.

The block of amber is being polished to give researchers a better view of different parts of the fossil and will be on display at the Kuji museum through June.