Pangaea

This is a subject that I have wanted to feature for a long time,but there is so much information,both pro and con that I wasn't sure how to approach it without it being to long,since what I like to do is just give enough information to whet your appetite,then if it interests you you can dig deeper on your own. So here it goes.
Pangaea (there are even several spellings) was a single land mass made up of all present continents,it is believed to have existed 300-200 million years ago. I am not clear if this theory has ever been proven for sure one way or another. Some fact in support of it are similar fossils are found on different continents shores suggesting they were at one time joined. Then there is the way when looking at a map of the world if you mentally make it into a jig-saw puzzle the continents seem to have been part of a whole at one time.
The only part of this theory I don't find fascinating is that it makes the existence of Atlantis seem less likely,which is another tale I am fond of.

U.S. Territories

Talk about your ignorant Americans,I found myself being an apt description of just that today. I knew Puerto Rico was a U.S. territory and where it was located but like many U.S. Americans I assumed Guam was also located somewhere in the Caribbean,beep I lose! In actuality it is in the South Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines an somewhat north of Australia.It is a small version of modern America with duty-free shops,boutiques and of course fast food. In case I am not the only one that didn't know all the U.S. Territories here is a list:Midway Island,American Samoa,Virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands.
You will note that at least I am not so ignorant as to say just plain Americans as opposed to U.S. Americans, as South Americans and Canadians are also Americans as are Central Americans.

Father's Day

I know,not until the third Sunday in June, but I read something interesting about it this morning and will surely forget it by the time the warmth of June graces us. What I read was that Father's Day was started in Spokane,WA. and I thought how is it possible that I didn't know this holiday was started in the Pacific Northwest? I guess for the most part it is fact,in 1910 Sonora Dodd asked the Spokane Ministerial Alliance for a day honoring her dad who single handedly raised his six children after his wife died in childbirth. The first one celebrated was on June 19,1910 the Sunday closest to her dads birthday. However according to Wikipedia the first Father's Day took place in Fairmont,W.Virginia on July 15,1908 it was organized by Grace Golden Clayton who wanted to honor the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in a mining disaster several months earlier. It is interesting that this date was also decided by the Sunday closest to her dads birthday.
In 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson officially proclaimed it a national holiday and it was decreed by law in 1972.

Absent that Day?

Quite by accident I learned a couple of days ago that Gitchi Gummi was the American Indian name for Lake Superior. Is this something that was taught in school and I missed? All I remember about Gitchi Gummi is it being mentioned in "Song of Hiawatha". In addition to this revelation I found out that Gitchi meant big and Gummi meant water,which makes sense in the "Song of Hiawatha" as it is mentioned as the shining big sea water.
The song by Gordon Lightfoot,The Sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald describes the lake. "The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee". The lake it is said,never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy. With a load of iron ore twenty- six thousand tons more than the Edmond Fitzgerald weighed empty that good ship on true was a bone to be chewed when the "Gales of November" come early. You will also note that the spelling differs from the song and the Indian name,and I found no reason for this so it leaves me with yet another unanswered question.

Another Relativity

The time space continuum has experienced yet another little hiccup. I watched the Beatles movie "A Hard Days Night" today and it transferred me back many years and I remembered watching them on the Ed Sullivan Show,I even recalled what chair I was sitting in. They were such big news at that time,and now we are left with only two of the Fab Four. I know I had seen the movie before at some point but it was really a blast from the past today,or maybe I am just in a nostalgic mood. I did find out a couple of things that I don't think I knew before,one was that George met his future wife,Pattie Boyd while filming,she was one of the school girls her line was "Prisoners!!!" Also I learned that Ringo had a tremendous hangover when filming the part where he decides to runaway,or as the Grandfather put it,go on parade.
Time is no longer uniform and absolute.

Hoodies

I have been watching the younger drivers for some time wondering why they were wearing the hoods on their hoodies up while they were driving. It is an obvious impairment to peripheral vision,and though they think their reflexes can save them from any jam they get in,nothing trumps experience when it comes to driving. Why would you need the hood up once you are in a car? It isn't like you are out in the weather,and let's face it is  akin to horses wearing blinders to prevent them from seeing things to the side and spooking,again why would you want to inhibit your senses when it could mean your life? Yesterday I witnessed a near accident because,are you ready? A young male drive wearing a hoodie,if not for the other driver he would have been creamed. Come on people use a little sense here, is your fashion statement or whatever it is you are trying to say worth risking your life or the life of others? As far as I can see it really isn't that great of a look anyway,unless of course you are trying to hide how you look,and if that is the case grow up!

Why Camouflage?

As a child I was told animals were colorblind,though I chose not to believe that. Why would animals coloring use camouflage to protect them from their predators if that were the case? I decided it was time to find out if I had been right. I don't know how recently these finding have become common knowledge but I thought if I hadn't heard about maybe there were others that hadn't either.
The general answer is most animals see color to some extent. A general rule is diurnal animals see color while nocturnal animals don't,but as with most rules there are exceptions. The presence of cones in the eye determines whether colors can be seen,with lack of cones the eye usually have a greater number of rods allowing for keener night vision. One exception to the nocturnal rule is the owl as they have cones.Dogs and cats have 2 sets of cones,making them colorblind to specific colors,though they have more rods giving them greater night vision. The colors they see with most ease are blue and yellow.
In contrast humans have three sets of cones for detecting color in three different wavelengths,though each cone detects a wide spectrum that overlaps to create other hues. Colorblindness comes from a fault in both sets of retinal cones,it is more common in males because it is linked to the X chromosome and the genes are carried on the X chromosome of which males only have one. 12-20% of the white male population is colorblind.