Thursday, May 14, 2009

Bite-sized watermelons!

These micro melons are 20 times smaller than traditional watermelons, measuring just over an inch (3cm) from tip-to-tip

The rare Pepquino melon has the identical external pattern and distinctive shape of conventional watermelons and has a fresh crisp taste similar to a cucumber and juicy light green flesh.

It's a natural wild fruit, first discovered by Dutch food producers in South America who brought it to the Netherlands and cultivated it in greenhouses.

It can be eaten as a snack or appetiser, like olives, in a summer salad, stir fried or made into a sorbet and teamed with dark chocolate. Keeping up with the new trends, hip London restaurants are already making Pepquino melon martinis.

Prices start at £10 per 250g box, which contains around 50 melons.

It is a good business idea, but I doubt that the trend will last long.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Global Warming Diary


New findings show that oceans may rise unevenly around the world.

It was suggested that if the West Antarctic ice sheet melts down, enough water will be released to boost the ocean levels by 5 meters. Yet, such a significant redistribution of terrestrial mass from Antarctica is expected to reduce the gravitational pull in the area. Consequently, Earth's rotation axis will shift by 500 meters!

Incorporating this into the climate change formula, they deduced that the seas will drop near Antarctica while rising by 7 (5+2) in the Northern Hemisphere.

According to this analysis, the water level is supposed to remain unchanged some where in Africa. Now, where should we invest?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The reject

Pluto's name was removed from the IAU Walk of Fame in 2006.




















The definition of "planet" set by the International Astronomical Union states that in the Solar System a planet is a celestial body that:
1) is in orbit around the Sun √
2) has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape) √
3) has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit. :(

The third clause gave Pluto the boot from the Big Boys Band.
If Pluto was larger, it would be gravitationally dominant and thus, there would be no bodies of comparable size other than its own satellites or those otherwise under its gravitational influence.

Pluto was further humiliated as "dwarf planet", which is a celestial body that fulfills only the first two conditions.

Size does matter.

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