Walter Breuning , who is officially the oldest man in the world at 114 years, answers questions crowdsourced from the Internet.
Category: history
A parody of Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl (And I Liked It)
Did you know that carrots were not originally orange? Carrots were generally purple or yellow, orange being an uncommon mutant variety, until the 16th Century, when breeders in the Netherlands stabilised and improved the taste and cultivation of the orange variety.
It appears to be a myth that they did so as a tribute to William of Orange, but it is a nice coincidence that the Dutch developed the orange carrot, their royal family is the House Of Orange, and their national colour is orange.
From Irregular Webcomic. It’s funny, clever, sciency, has multiple storylines, and is one of the most regularly updated webcomics out there – pretty much my ideal comic.
(Three posts in a row! The long weekend really helped recharge my batteries.)
USA Today compiled this awesome animation (that I can’t embed) that shows the progress of the International Space Station from 1998 to 2010.
I had no idea the ISS had got so big. Impressive!
Check out the International Space Station Comes Together
The employment contract negotiations at the company I work for have broken down and the unions are taking industrial action. Only about half the employees covered by this contract are members of the unions and have chosen to strike.
So work has been very interesting lately, especially since Thursday when the strike began!
These are a mixture of my photos, of driving across the picket line and inside work, and photos from a friend who is picketing (indicated by a G after the caption).
Three of my friends from the lab, taken from the window of my car, as I drove in on the first day of the strike.
I carpooled on the second morning, and got a better shot. This is the reception entrance, and most of these people work in the lab.
Picketing outside the warehouse entrance. (G)
Being on the picket line is such hard work! (G)
The NUW provided BBQ. (G)
Work has a BBQ on the last Friday of every month. This Friday we had a morale boosting fancy BBQ with prawn skewers!
People from the lab, enjoying the BBQ.
Early Friday evening, one of the Australian TV channels did a live broadcast. I think this is the transmitting equipment. (G)
The reporter preparing for the live broadcast. (G)
The live broadcast can be viewed at this link, although I am not sure how long the link will work for. Please be aware that no statement has yet been released by the company, so the facts have been spun by the unions. In particular, there are no safety issues, and while staff numbers are reduced, it is by no means a skeleton staff.
There are still three more days left on the strike, so I’m sure I’ll have more interesting photos to post later.
Not completely accurate, but it is hilarious!
Items of Interest 