This Isn’t a Follow Up

When you last met your daring explorer (me, though daring isn’t that fitting) she was caught in a web of confusion (know as the baby shower). Today she had finally been released from the mental ward where … No. Wait. The baby shower was actually a success so there is that.

This post isn’t really a follow up to that, but it was a fun experience and I would highly suggest you give it a go. Of course you need the whole pregnancy thing to make it work, or you can just throw one for the heck of it. But then that would be a little bit strange and people would probably shun you afterwards. You may not want to try that.

Spring is here, and I am a new Aunt. Things couldn’t be better. I won’t share any photos, my family has seen them all on Facebook anyway and sharing them with the internet at large would be more than a little creepy. Not that I think “you” are creepy, but you have to admit that there are plenty of creepy people wondering the net. That is why I choose to keep my Facebook and Twitter accounts private.

Anyway, when I made the baby shower post I felt a little overwhelmed and there was a good reason, but once I threw the last guest out (wait … saw them to the door), well it seemed manageable. And it was.

But there was a lot of build up to it, and if you aren’t one to plan you might actually feel less stressed than I was. I tend to over plan, which makes things run smoothly, but also makes things stressful. Altogether it was a great experience and it was one that I am glad I had the honor to experience (that is more or less a “thank you”).

I realized how neglected my site was in the last couple of months but I will be adding some new post soon.

‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’ Hits the $1 Billion Mark

It was a battle between the dinosaurs, the popular Steven Spielberg franchise and the one that immortalized George Lucas. But in the end Star Wars: Force Awakens took the title of most successful movie of 2015. Beating out Jurassic World by $46.9 million.

Still, The Force Awakens isn’t just the most successful movie at the world box offices it has also claimed a couple of other titles for itself as well.

Box Office Mojo reported that it also reported that Star Wars is also the second highest grossing domestic release of 2015 with $544.5 million. World wide it took in place 15 on the all-time records. It is also claimed the largest second weekend ever. Whereas most movies drop by nearly 70% in the second week Star Wars stayed strong. But those are just a few of the highlights. This page contains all of the “ALL TIME RECORDS”, all 37 of them, for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Cheap Diamonds May Be Around the Corner

Introducing Q-carbon.

…researchers are already claiming that Q-carbon is magnetic, electro-conductive, glows in the dark, is relatively inexpensive to make and has stolen the crown of “world’s hardest substance” from diamond. gizmag.com

What does that mean for us? Not much right now, but the process behind the creation of Q-carbon is more inexpensive. The lead researcher behind the new method had spend a long time attempting to find an inexpensive carbon to diamond conversion.

Here is how the process works:

The researchers created Q-carbon by starting with a thin plate of sapphire (other substrates, such as glass or a plastic polymer, will also work). Using a high-power laser beam, they coated the sapphire with amorphous carbon, a carbon form with no defined crystalline structure. They then hit the carbon with the laser again, raising its temperature to about 4,000 Kelvin, and then rapidly cooled, or quenched, the melted carbon. This stage of quenching is where “Q” in Q-carbon comes from. … “It will take something in the order of 15 minutes to create one carat of diamond,” Narayan told us. “But other applications will make a bigger impact.” Narayan says he envisages Q-carbon’s first useful application will be in creating “a diamond factory for nanoproducts” for use in drug delivery and industrial processes. gizmag.com

While it may have a limited use right now, Q-carbon has the potential to change the was synthetic diamonds are produced. As new applications are conceived the demand will further push the technology giving it a push to the next level.

Nicolas Cage returns stolen Mongolian dinosaur skull

I cannot say that I have ever enjoyed a Nicholas Cage movie. Is that relevant? Maybe, maybe not. They just don’t appeal to me. Nor can I say I have followed the tabloid adventures of the A-lister that some have suggested is slipping towards a more consonant focused career. Still you can appreciate a good deed when you encounter one, and his recent act was maybe enough to give him another go.

The title gives you a quick look at what I am talking about, but here is a little bit more insight into the event.

Mongolia was robbed, one of it’s national treasures was stolen, the skull of Tyrannosaurus bataar. The Tyrannosaurus bataar is a relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex and only lived in Mongolia. The skull had been smuggled out of the country over the Gobi desert where it was purchased by Nicholas Cage in 2007. The actor paid a reported $276,000 for the fossil.

When he learned about the origins of the skull he agreed to return it. This is only one incident of fossil smuggle that is an ever present challenge for researches since many find their way into private collections.

What was interesting is that when I read this it made me realize several things. First, that the T-rex had family. And that there is an active market for fossilized dino bits.

In closing it was nice to see somebody was willing to do the right thing, even if it cost them a quarter of a million dollars.

Hit-and-Run Suspect Arrested After Her Car Reported the Accident to Authorities

If you think it is a good idea to leave the scene of an accident, think again. Not only are you in for a large amount of head ache when they do come to your door, it might not even be possible. That is what one Florida resident learned when he car called the authorities after it had been involved in a traffic accident.

Police in the city of Port St. Lucie were altered to the accident when the Ford’s Emergency Assistance notified them to the accident.

The safety feature activates when sensors on the car detect a sudden change of speed or movement. The call is automatically placed with emergency services and GPS data is then submitted giving response crews an exact location where the accident took place to further speed up rescue efforts.

Police released a recording of the incident in which the driver of the vehicle attempted to convince dispatchers that nothing had occurred. When asked what took place the driver responded: “Ma’am, there’s no problem. Everything was fine.”

Depending on what the laws in Florida look like they may wish they would have hung around.