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So, basically, nobody knows. But I think I've figured it out, folks. Seriously. You must watch this fearsome creature and see for yourself. Look at the ears! Look at the tail! And then if you don't expire from the cuteness, you too might agree that the Egyptian jerboa--with the legs of a kangaroo, face of a mouse, body of a bird and tail with a bushy tip, might very well embody the pure evil that is Set.* |
*Obviously, just kidding! Nobody knows what Set was, but I couldn't resist the winsomeness of the jerboa. |
Posted by Vicky Alvear Shecter at 10:18 AM |
Labels: ancient egypt, Egyptian jerboa, God of Chaos, Hieroglyphics, Set or Seth |
That is one weird looking critter!! Like a bird, but not... But I LOVE the Fennec fox - how CUTE!!! :) |
Want one! Its such a cute kangaroo/mouse/hamster/fox-thing. |
oh, yeah, I was totes scared. |
Oh, that's a dastardly looking critter, for sure. I was quaking in my flip flops. |
I know, right?! I want one Soooo bad...so that I can be totes scared all the time. ;-) |
Okay...that kinda is one CREEPY looking thing. I think it's the bird body that has me spooked! And the hopping...and the bushy tail thing that looks like a riding crop. EEK!<eot>Zojirushi Bread Makers Cooking Strategies For Preparing Those Delicious Meals |
Zojirushi Virtuoso Bread Maker Helpful Cooking Tips For Real Life Situations |
No matter the size of your family, cooking is something important to master, for both yourself and others. Having the ability to cook is beneficial in so many ways, notwithstanding the nutritional and financial benefits of knowing this art. Here you will find informative tips that apply to many aspects of food preparation and cooking. |
Have you ever wondered how your neighbor's pie crusts turn out to be golden glossy and brown while yours is always pale? There is a trick to learn which guarantees the desired result every time. Beat some egg whites and brush it over the pie. You will take outglossy and beautiful, golden brown pies from your oven. |
One thing that you can do is to leave your eggs and butter at room temperature overnight if you are baking. This will prepare them to be used as ingredients when you bake the next day. Understanding the temperature to store certain ingredients will help to maximize the ease of creating your meal. |
Have you ever had feelings of guilt when you have thrown away rotten fruit? Is it possible to save the fruit by cutting the bad part out of it? Unfortunately, there isn't any way to save fruit that has begun to rot. Get rid of them quickly, as mold can develop and cause health problems. |
One useful tool to use when chopping herbs into smaller sizes is the cutting board. Often while cutting, herbs move around instead of staying in place. Simply apply a little salt to the cutting board before you begin cutting your herbs, to stop this from happening. This will keep them in place and make your cooking much easier. |
It is important to know that just because a recipe does not call for a certain spice does not mean you cannot add it. For instance, you may feel that garlic would make the dish taste better, which may be true. So, do not be scared, go ahead and add it. |
When freezing meat it is important to use freezer bags. Meat will get freezer burn if it is not properly stored. Meat that has freezer burn will not taste good when it is cooked, and it often has to be thrown away instead of being eaten. Can also be easily avoided, although this can be very costly. |
Cauliflower is white when you first place it in water, but it has a tendency to sometimes turn a grayish or yellowish color. To prevent that from keeping and happening your cauliflower perfectly white you should try adding a little bit of milk to the water while it is cooking. |
To keep salt in shakers dry and fresh, add uncooked white rice to the shaker. The rice will absorb any moisture from the environment instead of the salt, and stops the salt from dissolving or caking. Rice is not noticeable in a glass shaker and is too large to be shaken out with normal use. |
Do not bake a cake too long or to short of a time. The time recommended on the box or in a recipe is a guide to be used with caution, because many factors, such as high altitudes, can have an effect on the actual time needed. Sticking a toothpick in the center of the cake is a time proven test for doneness. If your toothpick is clean, your cake is ready to be taken out of the oven. Keep baking for a longer period of time if there is batter left on the toothpick. |
Cooking with fresh, raw cloves of garlic can easily create an zojirushi bread maker overpowering smell that can linger on your kitchen, clothes, and nose, you need not worry about removing the smell from your hands. After your are finished with the garlic, you should rub your hands on your stainless steel sink for half a minute before you attempt to wash them with soap and water. |
To revive a milk-based sauce or side dish that has sat too long and lost moisture, simply add a little milk. Adding milk can make finished mashed potatoes smooth and fluffy again and can also make a pasta sauce less and lighter like a gravy without affecting the final flavor. |
Now that you've reached the end of this article, you should find yourself a little bit wiser about what it takes to create extraordinary food at home. Start experimenting with recipes and implement the tips that you have learned here and enjoy. You never know - you just may have found a new vocation.<eot>Something a lot of people, even people who know me very well, probably don’t know about me: I’m a bit of a closet space geek. I’ve been a science fiction fan for as long as I can remember, and as a child of the 80s grew up on Star Trek, Star Wars, and the rest of the usual sci-fi classics of my generation (and of course readers of this blog will know that in recent years I have become a pretty big Dr. Who fan). I would always pick up sci-fi novels when I was a teenager, and I particularly remember loving the Foundation series by Asimov. But beyond Sci-Fi I was always interested in the actual science behind space, and still remember finding books in my elementary school library about rocketry, quantum physics, and space exploration which I devoured (or at least tried to, most of it was way over my head). I built and flew model rockets. I even went to “space camp” a couple times. |
We probably all remember at least some of our answers to what we wanted to be when we grew up. There were 4 distinct phases to mine: Ghostbuster (until I realized that I am actually pretty scared of ghosts) followed by Paleontologist (until I realized that digging in the dirt VERY slowly isn’t actually that much fun) followed by what I am going to rather inexactly call “space dude”. Astronaut is of course always a sexy job, but I was realistic even at that age that I didn’t exactly have the body type of a test pilot. Being a rocket scientist sounded pretty good as well, and I remember some pretty serious day dreams in my pre-teen years of pursuing something in the engineering or science realms related to space. However those dreams soon enough came crashing back to Earth (pardon the pun) with the following realization: I neither am very good at, nor very much enjoy, math. And that appeared to be pretty much a career limiting move when it comes to the space sciences. |
Thus I eventually settled on my last, best destiny: public policy. However over the last number of years I’ve realized that there is actually an overlap in my professional pursuits and my childhood interests in that space policy is not only a thing, but arguably an increasingly important one. Though my day job for much of the past decade has focused on a very different type of intersection between technology and public policy, I still love reading and learning about all things space related. |
So I have been following with great interest the big year for space exploration that has been happening with the first visits to some of the more inaccessible reaches of our solar system. First there was the landing in November of the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the first ever “soft” landing on a comet (“soft” being in quotation marks as it ended up being a bit of a bumpy ride). Then the Dawn spacecraft using a remarkable ion propulsion system became the first ever spacecraft to orbit two different extraterrestrial bodies when it entered into orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Amongst other things, it discovered the enigmatic “bright spots” on Ceres’ surface which have still yet to be explained. |
However for most people the main attraction of the 2014/15 space exploration season is taking place as we speak. The New Horizons spacecraft which launched from Earth some 9 1/2 years ago, is about to reach Pluto with it’s closest approach taking place in just a few hours at 7:49am EST July 14th. This is the first time we will have ever seen Pluto up close, the last of the major bodies in our Solar System to receive a visit from us humans. The Voyager era was before my time, so this is really the first time in my lifetime that we are getting to experience the thrill of newly exploring a major body in our solar system. Up until a few weeks ago, Pluto and its moons were nothing but a few pixels in even our best telescopes. But now with even just the preliminary images we are starting to get a fascinating look at this previously unknown world. |
Image of Pluto taken by New Horizons on July 12 from a distance of 1.6 million miles (2.5 million kilometers). Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute |
For those who are interested in learning more about the New Horizons mission and following it as starts sending back data from its flyby, by far the best resource I have come across is Emily Lakdawalla’s blog on Planetary.org. Start with her “What to expect when you’re expecting a flyby” post and you can follow the breadcrumbs from there. I also have a Twitter list of over 100 space peeps which I have been slowly building which will provide you with a pretty good live look at what is going on as many of them are following the final approach to the Pluto system at the mission control centre. |
Aside from the hard science of the mission, Pluto holds a special place in our collective psyche and expect to see some more light-hearted takes on this new chapter of space exploration. Earlier this week I stumbled upon this music video tribute to Pluto which aside from being fun and catchy, is actually also surprisingly touching: |
As the high-resolution images start coming in over the next few days, no doubt Pluto will be gracing newscasts and newspapers around the globe. In fact this is likely to be one of the highest profile moments for space exploration we have seen in many years. Which I think is more than a little sad. |
Sad because there are so many amazing things happening in the field of space exploration right now which for most people are flying completely under the radar. The commercialization of space exploration with the emergence of companies like Space X and Virgin Galactic. The rapid advancement of space programs in non-traditional space-faring nations such as India and China (In the past 18 months alone China landed a rover on the Moon and India put a probe into orbit around Mars). The search for exoplanets which has already found thousands of planets around stars in just our little corner of the galaxy. Big advancements in astronomy including the planned launch in 2018 of the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The beginnings of a mission to send a probe to Jupiter’s moon Europa to look for signs of life beneath its frozen oceans. The development of the Space Launch System and Orion Program by NASA with plans within the next decade to send humans on a near-Earth asteroid re-direction mission, and possibly back to the Moon or on to Mars – which will be the first time since the Apollo Moon landings that there has been a serious program to send humans beyond Low Earth Orbit. I could go on, and each of these topics could merit not just a post but volumes onto themselves. |
All that to say, there are some amazing things happening right now in the realm of space exploration. Yet not only is the public awareness of what is happening in this field shockingly low, but so too is government support. For example, spending on space programs make up just a fraction of what is spent on the military. With some quick Wikipedia research, here is a snapshot of how annual expenditures compare in the top ten spending countries on space vs. their military expenditures for the most recent years available. |
Country Space Program Military % |
United States 17,800,000,000 518,000,000,000 3.44% |
Russia 5,600,000,000 70,000,000,000 8.00% |
France 2,500,000,000 53,100,000,000 4.71% |
Japan 2,460,000,000 47,700,000,000 5.16% |
Germany 2,000,000,000 43,900,000,000 4.56% |
Italy 1,800,000,000 24,300,000,000 7.41% |
China 1,300,000,000 129,400,000,000 1.00% |
India 1,100,000,000 45,200,000,000 2.43% |
Canada 488,000,000 20,100,000,000 2.43% |
United Kingdom 414,000,000 61,800,000,000 0.67% |
With space program spending being in the single digits as a percentage comparison to military spending in each of these countries, that means it is just a fraction of a percentage point compared to the overall national budget. For example, in the United States NASA’s budget is currently less than 0.5% of the national budget, and even during the hight of the Apollo program was less than 4.5%. |
My point being this: so many amazing things are happening in the field of space exploration in spite of the remarkably low levels of funding, just imagine what could be done if for example we collectively doubled humanities’ spending on space programs by re-purposing a few percentage points of military spending to the peaceful exploration of our cosmic neighbourhood. The breadth and speed at which our reach, knowledge, and experience as a species would increase would be staggering. Moments like the New Horizons mission remind us that we are living in the future; but that future won’t last long if our public policy priorities don’t follow.<eot>NFTerra: Are Terrapins Terra's Hottest New P2E NFT Game? |
This article highlights three of the most important Terra NFT news items each week. This week: important updates from Terrapins on Terra, an interdimensional change for LunaBulls, and another sell out for Derby Stars. |
Terrapins on Terra Release Litepaper for Upcoming P2E Game |
Official Terrapins Website |
Terrapins on Terra, a collection of 10,000 turtle NFTs with over 100 hand-drawn traits, announced its litepaper for an upcoming P2E (play-to-earn) game, The Battle for Terra: Pins, on Feb. 16. |
The game features adventure- and battle-style gameplay for both casual and active players, the latter of which makes use of NFT rarities and traits to determine power, defense, and special abilities during matches with other players. But it isn't all about having the best Terrapins NFT with the rarest traits. Items, spells, and a leveling up system allow the more active players to increase the effectiveness of their NFTs in battle. |
The Battle for Terra: Pins has three access entry points for holders, renters, and casual players. Terrapins NFT holders are instantly given full access to the game to start earning experience points and rewards. If players do not have a Terrapin, they can rent one for a fee and play the game as if they had their own Terrapins NFT. Finally, if casual players want to play without having or renting a Terrapins NFT, their experience points will grow more slowly and they will not be allowed to compete for $UST, Terra's native stablecoin, prizes in the arena. |
The game's utility token is $TPIN, which can be burned for in-game gold. Gold is used to purchase gear from the marketplace, craft and upgrade equipment, speed up Terrapins' recovery times after battle, buy-in to tournaments, and more. |
In the future, the team plans on offering plots of land as unique NFTs, personalized homes for players to farm and upgrade, raid parties, and more. Oh, and the lucky users who find rare drops of DNA can upgrade Terrapin eggs (an NFT drop exclusively for Terrapins NFT holders) into Terranosaurs because what is a game without dinosaurs? |
Terrapins on Terra (@terraterrapins) just announced its Battle for Terra: Pins #playtoearn game whitepaper. |
This OG $LUNA #NFT project is clearly building. If executed properly, the Terrapins team could surprise this year. |
🧵 Here are some key takeaways: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/GOzx0CVGwn |
— Jason Bales 🌕 (@BalesTJason) February 16, 2022 |
LunaBulls Goes 3D With Interdimensional Tesseract NFTs |
LunaBulls, a collection of 10,069 bull NFTs, completed The Rupture, a process that converts each 2D, pixelated LunaBull NFT into a 3D character through an interaction with the project's Tesseract NFTs, on Feb. 17. |
Tesseracts are 3D cubes from another dimension, and once a LunaBull interacts with it, it is transported to another dimension. The Tesseract disappears and can never be used again. But the 2D LunaBull still exists. Holders can switch back and forth between 2D and 3D. |
Upgrading NFTs in a non-dilutive manner is starting to gain popularity, as recently shown by the Little Lemons Friends, a project that converted cartoon versions of its NFTs to pixelated lemons made uniquely for the metaverse. Allowing holders to swap between the two versions increases overall utility without diluting the total supply. |
LunaBulls is currently in talks with Lunaverse, a virtual world build on the Terra blockchain, to integrate its NFTs as playable characters in the metaverse. |
Tesseracts were airdropped for free to all 4,800 LunaBulls holders, and the remaining supply was sold for 200 $UST each. |
As of the time of writing, the Tesseracts minting period is over and holders will have to purchase unused Tesseracts from the marketplace. LunaBulls that have already interacted with a Tesseract are bound forever to both the 2D and 3D versions of the NFT. When sold, both versions are sold. |
Derby Stars Races Toward the Finish Line With 3,000 NFT Drop |
Derby Stars, a P2E (play-to-earn) horse racing game on the Terra network, sold out its second NFT presale drop via OnePlanet's NFT marketplace on Feb. 15. |
The sale took place in three parts: a private sale for whitelisted members, a public sale for anyone, and an English auction for anyone. The private sale included 1,500 common and rare horse NFTs. The public sale included 1,470 common and rare horse NFTs plus any leftovers from the first sale. And the auction included 30 unique 1/1 horse NFTs. |
The auction started at 25 $LUNA, Terra's native staking and governance token, and ended with a high bid of 300 $LUNA. |
Akin to Zed Run, Derby Stars is bringing horse racing to the metaverse. Each horse has key traits and rarities that help determine their racing ability in different scenarios. These traits and rarities are passed down through breeding. Each horse's pedigree and racing records are stored permanently on-chain. |
Derby Stars also has plans for land ownership, horse-riding jockey avatars, and more. The game is expected to officially launch in 2022.<eot>Claims about productivity of a given affix are often made categorically without any empirical evidence. This paper deals with the question of derivational productivity in a German variety spoken in Switzerland. Although there are a few studies regarding German suffixes and their productivity, it does not exist any study for this special variation of German. Four German suffixes (-nis, -heit/-keit/-igkeit, -ung and -sal) should be explored in a diachronic way. The question explored is whether... |
The term "sprachlicher Zweifelsfall" ('linguistic case of doubt') is not yet well established in the terminology of linguistics. The first part of the paper therefore outlines a definition of "sprachlicher Zweifelsfall" and a classification of various types. Basically, the definition takes up the fact that even fully competent speakers sometimes do not know definitely which variant to choose from two (or more) alternatives. Doubts like this evolve on all levels of language (phonetics, morphology, lexic,...<eot>Well, hello there! Anyone still there? It's been quite some time since my last blog post, but for once this isn't actually due to a lack of crafty happenings in these parts. I've had lots to blog about - the Goldhawk Road blogger meet-up, a finished Kelly skirt (blog post coming soon) and a whole host of selfless makes including a couple of pairs of socks (Roobeedoo warned me that knitting socks is addictive and she's not wrong!) and a rabbit for a small person. I am also the luck recipient of the Super Sweet Blogging Award from the very kind Rachel at A Study in Stitching - again blog post coming soon, I promise! |
There's been lots of non-crafty happenings too - the boy and I have had an offer accepted on a house (squee!) which is incredibly exciting and a little bit scary and grown up. I really love the house, the two features that sold it to us (quite literally) are the large kitchen with space for a big dining table and the open fields at the front. It's three bedroom (which allows a study for the boy and a sewing room for me!) and has a lot of character. It's in a lovely village which is halfway between where I and the boy work and near to Derby but not too far away from where we live now so I can still pop back. I'm now very impatient to move already, but it turns out that buying a house is a very long (and expensive!) process involving lots of different people doing lots of very slow things. We're going back to the house tomorrow with a tape measure so we can work out where our furniture will go and if we need to find anything new to fit the space. I'm trying very hard not to get too excited, as things could still fall through, but I have everything crossed. If all goes well we could be moving in a few months time. The thought of actually packing everything up fills me with dread, but I'm sure it will be worth it.... |
So the process of sorting everything out with buying the house is taking up a surprisingly large amount of time, add to the fact that we are trying to de-clutter too before the move and it's been a busy few weeks! There has been plenty of crafting being planned behind the scenes and taking place on my daily commute though. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may have seen a sneak peak of my latest knitted make...it's growing by the day and here is the latest picture...can you guess what it is yet? (Note: it's a lot less purple and a lot more red that it appears below, but I had trouble taking a picture that accurately reflected the colour properly). |
Like others in the UK I am looking forward to a long weekend of de-cluttering, relaxing and hopefully some sewing thrown in as well. What crafty plans do you have for the weekend? Whether it's two days or three, I hope it's a good one :) |
K xx |
Posted by Kat at 10:55 am |
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3 comments: |
Emmie 24 August 2013 at 01:53 |
I'm doing exactly the same on this rainy day! My mum is coming Monday morning so there's a lot of cleaning and tidying to be done (and also trying to sew a skirt for my sister! wah! |
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Catherine Daze 24 August 2013 at 02:17 |
How exciting! Fingers crossed for you. |
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Sabs 25 August 2013 at 04:04 |
Congrats on the house Kat! Great news. I'm knitting too at the mo. Your yarn looks gorgeous! Hopefully catch up soon x<eot>Hyderabad, Sep 27 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh appears to be heading for political crisis over Congress's decision to bifurcate the state with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Friday making it clear that he is ready to give up his post to keep the state united while state Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana and some other ministers are also planning to quit. |
He said the state and the future of Telugu people was important for him than the post of chief minister. |
He, however, advised central and state ministers, MPs and state legislators from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and Andhra) not to resign so that they can put forward people's views during debate on Telangana bill in parliament and the resolution in the state assembly. |
Addressing a press conference Friday evening, the chief minister strongly opposed Congress Working Committee's decision and warned that the state's division would lead to wars over water between Seemandhra and Telangana and badly affect the interests of farmers, government employees, teachers, students and other sections of Seemandhra. |
He pointed out that people of Seemandhra were staging protests for two months while government employees, transport workers and teachers were on indefinite strike. |
Satyanarayana, who is also transport minister, called on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan Friday evening. He is reportedly planning to quit both as state Congress chief and minister. Four other state ministers are also likely to quit with him, party sources said. |
Animal Husbandry Minister P. Viswaroop had Thursday submitted his resignation to the governor. |
Kiran Reddy said even 60 days after CWC decision, there is no clarity as to how the issues like water sharing and capital will be addressed. He said only a political decision was taken and the government can move forward only after addressing the concerns of people and showing a solution in writing.<eot>The Cambridge English Exam Professor: 18/04/10 - 25/04/10 |
Ambition will be rewarded |
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