Sport is described as some as Testosterone driven violence and I'm not just talking about women's track and field. In many occasions we see someone snap and go beserk and most of the time we shrug and say ' Its a contact sport'. But every now and again there is one that sticks in the back of our throats that is just too much. Who can ever forget Catona kicking a fan, Tallis punching a rookie, Hoppergate (crouching tiger, hidden finger) or matty bury crunching little steve 10 mins before winning best and fairest for the season. Today I read about another one that just left a bad taste in my mouth. This clearly is just not cricket.
Top Sumo wrestler retires after punch-up
Japan's longest-serving active sumo wrestler has retired in shame after punching an opponent in the face, Japanese media has reported.
A disgruntled Kotokanyu saw red after losing a bout to 19-year-old Ikioi in Tokyo at the weekend, storming into the locker room and punching him.
The highly respected Sadogatake, who runs the sumo stable Kotokanyu belonged to, submitted the wrestler's retirement papers to the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) on Tuesday.
"He did something you just cannot do in sumo," Sadogatake told reporters. "It was right to draw the line there and then."
His outburst was just the latest incident of violence to shatter the serene image of the ancient Japanese sport.
Russian wrestler Roho was banned for three days after smashing a bathroom window and slapping two photographers in a post-bout tantrum in July.
Roho's meltdown was reminiscent of the infamous 'battle of the bathtub' involving firebrand Mongolian Asashoryu three years ago.
Grand champion Asashoryu squared off with another towel-clad Mongolian as tempers flared during a post-bout soak at the Nagoya tournament three years ago.
There are many disturbing things in that story but there are just somethings you just can't do in sumo. However the most disturbing is the thought of 2 sumos in towels...
On a cheerier note I'll be away for 2 weeks on camps so don't start calling me scooter due to my lack of postage. When I'll get back brace yourselves for an riveting analyses of camp ministry. Spelled wrong of course.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Science deafens us to God.
Article in the Sydney Morning Herald:Science deafens us to God, Pope tells his people . I was all fired up to deliver a fire and brimstone blog on this but then i actually realized that it was another case of media talking out of context. So that cut my legs out from under me. What the pope is actually saying is that Europe needs to wake up to God. He then follows it up with 'Europe should not let science and reason make it "deaf" to God' He isn't of course saying that they are bad but due to the current (media) culture "What is said about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited for our age." The more I hear from the pope the more encouraged i am that there is still hope for the Roman Catholics. But now i need some to blog about and I don't have the energy to launch into a tirade about the media.
So instead I believe that Us scientists (and possibly Medical ppl) Have an advantage over many of you in that our occupations strengthen our faith. The more i get down on a cellular level the more I am convinced of a designer: The more I get out into nature The more I'm convinced of a loving creator. (It is for this I think we should all be at least mildly conservationist at heart- No one I know was converted by chopped down trees- but I do know people who have been converted by Wonder of creation) The More Fishing I do the more I'm convinced God has a sense of humour. http://www.lafishmag.com/CrucifixFish.html
So instead I believe that Us scientists (and possibly Medical ppl) Have an advantage over many of you in that our occupations strengthen our faith. The more i get down on a cellular level the more I am convinced of a designer: The more I get out into nature The more I'm convinced of a loving creator. (It is for this I think we should all be at least mildly conservationist at heart- No one I know was converted by chopped down trees- but I do know people who have been converted by Wonder of creation) The More Fishing I do the more I'm convinced God has a sense of humour. http://www.lafishmag.com/CrucifixFish.html
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
What Type of blogger are you?
I couldn' resist this quiz and am trying to set the record for best time in subsiquent blogs. Wilst we about some different types of people style of blogging (e.g. Nathan: ego-centric, scooter- lazy, Ben ma- competetive, lazy,andlazy) Do you know your own? Apparently I am
| You Are a Snarky Blogger! |
 |
A Stinging reminder.
Well as the oceanic expert in this blog i thought it best to post a remark on the passing of Steve Irwan. ... Well i couldn't come up with one. It goes to show though what happens when you start to stray outside your give area of speciality. Here are 10 facts about stingrays :).
1. Stingrays are fish! They are close relatives of the shark.
2. Stingrays live at the bottom of the sea. They can bury their flat bodies in the sand on the sea floor if danger approaches.
3. StingraysÂ’ tails have sharp spines that sting like a scorpion. They use these to defend themselves from attacks by enemies.
4. Stingrays have mouths on their bellies so they can suck up food they find on the sea floor, but because their eyes are on the top of their heads they canÂ’t see what they are eating!
5. Like most sharks, stingrays give birth to live young. They have between three and five in a litter.
6. Stingrays like to visit cleaning stations where other fish eat the parasites stuck on their skins.
7. The worldÂ’s smallest ray is the short-nose electric ray that is only 10cm across. The biggest is the manta ray that is over 6.7 metres wide. Rays are among the largest fish in the sea.
8. There are about 500 different species of ray.
9. Stingrays eat fish, crustaceans, molluscs and worms.
10. Rays are said to be cleverer than sharks!
I can't help thinking of the out cry if it had of been a croc or a shark- people would be mounting campains to destroy this menace to humanity. Currently it is only the people who make that seafood flake stuff calling for singrays deaths to get cheaper stock in. It is a reminder that things don't always turn out how you expect. and here is a video clip that shows that
http://www.lotophage.net/2006/07/07/species-showdown-1-shark-vs-octopus/
And Now for something complete different
Every wonder which muppet you were most like? Apparenently I am most like... Have a go yourself.
1. Stingrays are fish! They are close relatives of the shark.
2. Stingrays live at the bottom of the sea. They can bury their flat bodies in the sand on the sea floor if danger approaches.
3. StingraysÂ’ tails have sharp spines that sting like a scorpion. They use these to defend themselves from attacks by enemies.
4. Stingrays have mouths on their bellies so they can suck up food they find on the sea floor, but because their eyes are on the top of their heads they canÂ’t see what they are eating!
5. Like most sharks, stingrays give birth to live young. They have between three and five in a litter.
6. Stingrays like to visit cleaning stations where other fish eat the parasites stuck on their skins.
7. The worldÂ’s smallest ray is the short-nose electric ray that is only 10cm across. The biggest is the manta ray that is over 6.7 metres wide. Rays are among the largest fish in the sea.
8. There are about 500 different species of ray.
9. Stingrays eat fish, crustaceans, molluscs and worms.
10. Rays are said to be cleverer than sharks!
I can't help thinking of the out cry if it had of been a croc or a shark- people would be mounting campains to destroy this menace to humanity. Currently it is only the people who make that seafood flake stuff calling for singrays deaths to get cheaper stock in. It is a reminder that things don't always turn out how you expect. and here is a video clip that shows that
http://www.lotophage.net/2006/07/07/species-showdown-1-shark-vs-octopus/
And Now for something complete different
Every wonder which muppet you were most like? Apparenently I am most like... Have a go yourself.
| You Are Dr. Bunsen Honeydew |
 You take the title "mad scientist" to the extreme -with very scary things coming out of your lab. And you've invented some pretty cool things, from a banana sharpener to a robot politician. But while you're busy turning gold into cottage cheese, you need to watch out for poor little Beaker! "Oh, that's very naughty, Beaker! Now you eat these paper clips this minute." |
Saturday, September 02, 2006
She sells sea-shells by the seashore
I thought I'd answer a question posed by Barbie's Ex (Ken???) That was a really good question but it is really 2 questions so I'll answer them both and ask a trivia one too.
For those who are too lazy to look up the question here it is 'hey Mr c how are shells made? Like the big ones you put your ear on to hear the wind whistling through your ears?'
Well firstly you start off with an organism which is about the size of a pin head- (some are bigger most are that small) Its blood has a very high concentration of Calcium and Carbonate. At the mantle of the animal it secretes it which depending on the mantle's shape a protective layer. I'll use the conch shell as the example. So it surrounds itself with the mantle or Lip as the only exposed area. The calcium calbonate keeps getting deposited as the animal gets bigger. We aren't really sure if this is a excretetion over time or if the animal can control it. All we know is that it is such a example of a higher system that must have delevoped over millions of years :) Just thought I'd give an example of what the mantle is- if you look at a snail the mantle is the part of the snail you can see when it is in its shell. Clam shells the mantle is the coloured section- different shape mantle different shell design. So the shells keep exanding as the animal's size does.
Now Seashells do not really make any sound of their own. Inside they have many hard curved surfaces, which are good reflectors for sound. So any sound waves that get inside are jumbled up by all kinds of echoes. When you hold the shell up to your ear, you hear the noise of all those jumbled-up echoes. That does sound much like the noise of ocean waves beating against a shore.
If you have a seashell with a big cavity inside, try it out again at home next to your ear. Unless you get in a very, very quiet place, it will keep roaring as if it had brought some of the ocean with it. But you will hear nothing in space :) because you will be dead.
There is a fascinating shell that I thought i might point out. Spirula has a chambered shell of Nautilus. Each chamber is connected to the body by a tube called the siphumcle. The chambers are filed with a special liquid and gas mixture. Spirula can float or sink by changing the pressure on this mixture. So this thing literally controls its depth by pressure in the chambers in the shell.
Trivia Question:
What shell based/derived product/food sold the most in the year 2004? (yes the thing is a food.
Any other sea questions you'd like me to answer?
For those who are too lazy to look up the question here it is 'hey Mr c how are shells made? Like the big ones you put your ear on to hear the wind whistling through your ears?'
Well firstly you start off with an organism which is about the size of a pin head- (some are bigger most are that small) Its blood has a very high concentration of Calcium and Carbonate. At the mantle of the animal it secretes it which depending on the mantle's shape a protective layer. I'll use the conch shell as the example. So it surrounds itself with the mantle or Lip as the only exposed area. The calcium calbonate keeps getting deposited as the animal gets bigger. We aren't really sure if this is a excretetion over time or if the animal can control it. All we know is that it is such a example of a higher system that must have delevoped over millions of years :) Just thought I'd give an example of what the mantle is- if you look at a snail the mantle is the part of the snail you can see when it is in its shell. Clam shells the mantle is the coloured section- different shape mantle different shell design. So the shells keep exanding as the animal's size does.
Now Seashells do not really make any sound of their own. Inside they have many hard curved surfaces, which are good reflectors for sound. So any sound waves that get inside are jumbled up by all kinds of echoes. When you hold the shell up to your ear, you hear the noise of all those jumbled-up echoes. That does sound much like the noise of ocean waves beating against a shore.
If you have a seashell with a big cavity inside, try it out again at home next to your ear. Unless you get in a very, very quiet place, it will keep roaring as if it had brought some of the ocean with it. But you will hear nothing in space :) because you will be dead.
There is a fascinating shell that I thought i might point out. Spirula has a chambered shell of Nautilus. Each chamber is connected to the body by a tube called the siphumcle. The chambers are filed with a special liquid and gas mixture. Spirula can float or sink by changing the pressure on this mixture. So this thing literally controls its depth by pressure in the chambers in the shell.
Trivia Question:
What shell based/derived product/food sold the most in the year 2004? (yes the thing is a food.
Any other sea questions you'd like me to answer?
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