Meet meow!!

The Guinness world record for the heaviest cat is 47 pounds, but that Guinness stopped taking entrants, fearing that owners were fattening up their house kitties just to get in the record books.

When Santa Fe shelter workers saw Meow, their question was: How on Earth did this cat get so fat? Was the critter some latent freak of the nuclear tests done in the Roswell desert?
“At first we heard that the old woman had fed it only hot dogs, but that wasn’t true,” Martin told The Times. “We think she was sedentary and sat in front of her TV feeding the cat. He probably just ate everything in sight.”

Would you give Meow a home???

Who is Gideon Sundback?

Check out today's Google Doodle to learn more about this electrical engineer with the Universal Fastening Co.

Can you list 10 things that his genius has improved????

Guaranteed To Make You Think!!

Put on your thinking cap and see how many of the following you can solve!!

1. Use the numbers 20, 10, -4, -2, and -1, and the signs +, -, x, and / to obtain the HIGHEST and the LOWEST numbers possible. All numbers and operations MUST be used once for each problem, and the answers MUST be integers!
2. Find four consecutive ODD integers whose sum is -80 (you must show me your equation too).
3. A standard deck of cards contains 52 cards - four groups (2 black suits and 2 red suits) of 13 cards. Each suit contains an ace, king, queen, jack, and the numbers 10 thorugh 2. Assuming the deck has been shuffled - find the porbability of drawing the following cards (express your answer in simplest form)
• A red card
• A king
• A queen or a jack
• An even number
• The 7 of hearts
• A prime number
4. Palindromes are numbers, words, phrases, or sentences that are read the same from left to right as from right to left. For example: (words) RADAR, BOB, DAD, (phrase) A MAN A PLAN A CANAL PANAMA, (sentence) MADAM I'M ADAM, (numbers) 22, 303, 1991.
• Find two palindromes whose sum is a palindrome.
• Find two palindromes whose difference is a palindrome.
• Do you think it is always true that if the sum of two palindromes is a palindrome, their difference is also a palindrome? Explain!
• Create a phrase or sentence that is a palindrome.
5. Secret codes & ciphers - a cipher is a secert system of writing in which every letter is replaced by a symbol. Can you decipher the following cipher???
• 20-23-15    9-19    20-8-5    15-14-12-25    5-22-5-14    16-18-9-13-5

Which problem was most challenging for you? Why? What strategy did you use to meet the challenge??

Cat-sized African rats survive in Florida

It is the largest rat in the world, growing to be as big as a raccoon and weighing up to 4kg (8.8 pounds). The African Giant Pouch rat, also known as the Gambian pouch rat, is a nocturnal pouched rat native to Africa. Gambian pouch rats have been found in Florida's Grassy Key despite efforts to eradicate them. Officials worry that the voracious rats might wipe out some crops and upset the delicate ecological balance if they manage to reach the Florida mainland. The African species first appeared on Grassy Key, Florida in 1999 after eight rats escaped from a local exotic pets breeder. The rats primarily eat fruit and grains but have been known to also eat insects, crabs and snails. Ecologists worry that they will harm crops in Florida.

The rats are trained for the tuberculosis (TB) detection program at Sokoine University in Morogoro Tanzania, and to locate inert anti-personnel mine in southern Mozambique. Also, mine detecting Gambian giant pouch rats (Cricetomys Gambianus) work in mine fields near Vilancoulos in southern Mozambique.

 

What is your opinion of these unique creatures?

Frozen Planet

The ends of the Earth! Penguins, icebergs, Polar Bears, below zero temperatures, and more! Now, thanks to the Discovery Channel, you can travel to this frozen wilderness and experience first hand its beauty & unique qualities.




Streaming video by Ustream
 
Watch penguins zoom through the water at speeds of 24 mph - live via penguin cam.

Live video from your Android device on Ustream

See Penguins turn to a life of crime as they become rock thieves; struggling to build the perfect nest in this barren land.

Play the Criminal Penguin game and see how skillful you would be at building a rock nest!

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/frozen-planet/criminal-penguins-game/#mkcpgn=emdsc2

Tell us - what amazes you about this white wonderland???

Learn a new word!

Scroll to the bottom of the Blog and visit "Word Ahead"! Find a new word - what word did you add to your vocabulary today? What's it mean? can you use it in a sentence? Have fun with WORDS!!!!

What's YOUR Dream??

Meet, Ian Purkayastha, 19-year-old “Truffle Dealer”

In the digital age, most of today's young, hot-shot entrepreneurs are working in the world of high tech, specifically in social networking. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams come to mind.

Then there's Ian Purkayastha, a 19-year old international businessman who's "networking" the old-fashioned way — face to face -- and making a big splash selling and promoting one of the world's most ancient and low-tech products: Truffles. To be sure, there aren't billions to be made in truffles, at least not yet. But truffles are by far the most-expensive ingredient in the culinary world, fetching up to $5000 per pound for the most desired varieties.Truffles may be used in the world's top restaurants but there's nothing fancy about the truffle business. Truffles are subterranean fungi typically harvested in the wild or from specially planted groves

with the aid of trained pigs or, more recently, dogs. It's a dirty business, literally and figuratively: Truffles must be dug up and, especially in Europe, the black market for high-end truffles really is "black": dealers have been known to kill their rival's dogs.

Enter Purkayastha who, at age 15, fell in love with foraging for wild mushrooms in the woods of Arkansas, where he's originally from. Soon thereafter, he tried truffles and it was love at first bite. Purkayastha was so taken with the truffles he ordered some from a French distributor so he could cook with them at home. That might have been the end of the story — a kid with a sophisticated palate and an usual hobby — except that Purkayastha also has an entrepreneurial spirit.

After selling some of his truffle stash to local chefs to help pay for his shipments, Purkayastha realized he had an opportunity to combine two of his greatest passions: truffles and sales.

Watch the video to find out more about this incredible young man - who is living his dream!!!

 

"It sounds cliché and corny but I had a dream and made it happen by working hard," he says. Remember, Purkayastha has done all this before the age of 20 and yet manages to stay grounded, humble and mature well beyond his years. When most of his peers can't pry themselves away from the computer screen, or are living at home because they can't find work, Ian Purkayastha is thriving in a rarified world — and eating very well.

So...what's YOUR dream??? You're not that much younger than Ian was when he started out seeing his dream become a reality!! If you could - what would your dream job be? remember - YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Monster Titanoboa Snake Invades New York

New York commuters arriving at Grand Central Station will soon be greeted by a monstrous sight: a 48-foot-long, 2,500-pound titanoboa snake.


The good news: It's not alive. Anymore. But the full-scale replica of the reptile -- which will make its first appearance at the commuter hub on March 22 -- is intended, as Smithsonian spokesperson Randall Kremer happily admitted, to "scare the daylights out of people" -- actually has a higher calling: to "communicate science to a lot of people." The scientifically scary-accurate model will go a long way toward that: If this snake slithered by you, it would be waist-high and measure the length of a school bus. Think of it as the T-rex of snakes.


This newly discovered species, known as titanoboa (yes, the words "titan" and "boa" are in there), which lived 65 million years ago, is about to have its close-up. The New York City appearance is promoting an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History in D.C. opening on March 30, which ties in to a TV special on the Smithsonian Channel called, what else, "Titanoboa: Monster Snake." The two-hour program airs April 1.


Remains of the titanoboa were first discovered in a Colombian coal mine in 2005. One of the researchers specializing in the Paleocene era, the time after the death of the dinosaurs, was Jonathan Bloch. A vertebrate paleontologist from University of Florida's Museum of Natural History, the scientist led multiple expeditions, along with Carlos Jaramillo of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The team collected remains from the mine, which resulted in the find. Together with ancient-snake expert Jason Head of the University of Nebraska, they named the world's largest snake Titanoboa.


Bloch admitted that when the team was first collecting the skeletons of Titanoboa, he didn't immediately understand what he had found until he returned to the lab. With the help of his students, he was able to identify the fossils as snakes, just much, much bigger than the ones of today. He described the enormous vertebrae as "sort of like if you saw a mouse skull the size of rhino skull."


The predator, which is related to a boa constrictor but actually behaved like an anaconda, lived in water and fed on fish, other titanoboas, and crocodiles (very, very large crocodiles).


If this sounds like Hollywood's next blockbuster, Bloch noted that this time around, truth is actually bigger than fiction: The predator from the movie "Anaconda," for one, is not as big as titanoboa. "This is really an example where reality and the past have exceeded the imaginations of Hollywood"


Watch the short video clip below and then tell us- what do you think of Titanoboa?? Why do you think it disappeared 65 million years ago?? Do you plan on watching the TV special?? I know that I do :)

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28688824

ELO Comments Wanted

This is for those dedicated, after school students who spent time today investigating the blog! What do you think?? How did you spend your time?? Tell me at least one thing that you learned today!!

Creative Writing with a Scientific Flair

I am sooo excited to see your finished products!! I hope you have FUN with this project - make it your own creative creation - ready to share with the class on Monday, March 5th. Use the resources found in the Activity #4 section of the document to help with ideas, pictures, additional information, etc!! You will have to click "download" to make the resource links active in this document.

Everybody Has A Question - What's Yours??

Have you asked a question today? What did you do with it?

Did it take you somewhere new? Did it bring you here?

The Google Science Fair is an online science competition seeking curious minds from the four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you need is an idea.

Geniuses are not always A-grade students. We welcome all mavericks, square-pegs and everybody who likes to ask questions. Simply upload your project here to win some life changing prizes.

Everyone has a question. What’s yours?

Check out this site and get started! This year's deadline to enter the online Science Fair is April 12th!

http://www.google.com/events/sciencefair/index.html

Wintery Friends

We may not have a lot of snow this winter - but this little creature loves the snowy weather! What's your BEST time for completing this month's puzzle??

The Color of Health

What do a poison arrow frog, a copperhead snake, and your dinner plate have in common? A strange question for sure - but the answer is - they are colorful! What we eat makes a big difference in our energy levels, our mood, and even our self-esteem. When we choose foods rich in protective factors (such as fruits and vegetables) we are also doing something positive for our health and well being.
Nature has given us a “rule of thumb”. Many of the very chemicals that make foods good for us are the ones that give them color, turning blueberries blue, spinach green and carrots deep orange. For optimum health, scientists say, “eat a rainbow of colors”. “Your plate should look like a box of Crayola crayons”.

So...what color is YOUR food?? Travel through the following Powerpoint to find out about the phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables and the benefits of eating these foods as part of a balanced diet! Don't forget - when you get to the end of the PowerPoint you will find an E-quilt. Click on each "word box" and travel to a site where you can find out even more about "The Color of Health"

What color is your food

View more presentations from plippy.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

The Year of the Dragon

The first day of the 2012 Chinese New Year is on January 23, 2012 in China's time zone. This day is a new moon day, and is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system. The exact new moon time is at 15:40 on 23-Jan-12 in China's time zone.


The Year 2012 is the 4709th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4709th year on January 23, 2012. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Black Water Dragon is the 28th Stem-Branch in the cycle. Since (60 *78) + 29 = 4709, therefore 2012 is the Water Dragon year, which is the 4709th Chinese Year.

Learn more by clicking on the middle box and each word box in the E-quilt below.

Chinese new year

View more presentations from plippy.

Football Fun 2012

Have some football fun! Learn about players, teams, past NFL tributes and future possibilities. To get started - click on"Download" found at the bottom of this post and have fun!!! Oh - don't forget to vote for your SuperBowl champion in the survey found on the right side of the blog!

A One in a Zillion Kind of Mutation

King Penguins are notorious for their prim, tuxedoed appearance -- but a recently discovered all-black penguin seems unafraid to defy convention. In what has been described as a "one in a zillion kind of mutation," biologists say that the animal has lost control of its pigmentation, an occurrence that is extremely rare. Other than the penguin's monochromatic outfit, the animal appears to be perfectly healthy.

The "under-dressed" penguin was photographed by Andrew Evans (of National Geographic) on the island of South Georgia near Antarctica.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Is the "luck of the Irish" with you??? What's your best time for completing this month's puzzle??

Holiday Jigsaw

Holiday E-Quilt

Holidays E-Quilt

A New Species - Under The Sea

Imagine meeting this creature - this photo was released by Census of Marine Life and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - it shows a transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes, creeping forward on its many tentacles at about 2 cm per minute while sweeping detritus-rich sediment into its mouth at 2,750 meters in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of marine species eke out an existence in the ocean's pitch-black depths by feeding on the snowlike decaying matter that cascades down, and even sunken whale bones.

A Thanksgiving Trivia Quiz

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the blog to participate in the Thanksgiving Trivia Quiz. Which trivia question stumped you??? Let us know.

And don't forget to answer the Thanksgiving survey question found at the right!

What is your favorite thing to do on Thanksgiving - do you eat turkey all day, watch football, visit relatives, get ready for the "Black Friday" sales???? Share with us how you spend your day.

MSA The Easy Way

Here's a fun, easy way to brush up on your MSA vocabulary words! Good Luck :)

Click here for full screen version

Celebrate Fall

Celebrate the harvest season - see how quickly you can solve the puzzle!!

T-rex Was a Wimp??

The recent discovery of a fossilized skull in England crowns the new king of predatory dinosaurs: a 53-foot “sea monster” called a PLIOSAUR. The 155-million-year-old monster’s fossilized skull was found on the shores of Weymouth Bay, England, along a 95-mile stretch of land that is called Jurassic Coast.

Experts believe that the skull - which measures over 6-feet - contains the largest dinosaur jaw ever found in England, or the world, and that it means pliosaurs were powerful enough to rip a small car in half. “This is one of the largest, if not the largest, pliosaur skull found anywhere in the world,” said Dr. David Martill of Portsmouth University, “and contains features that have not been seen before. It could be a species new to science.” The pliosaurs were marine reptiles with a head similar to a crocodile and large, paddle-like fins. These predators lived throughout the Jurassic period. Their fossils dwarf those of the 40-foot long T-rex of the Cretaceous era.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find,” said Richard Edmonds, earth science manager for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

How would YOU feel if you made such a discovery????

GIANT Spider - Creepy!!!

Just in time for Halloween!!!

Move over Spider-Man. Scientists have discovered the remains of a new species of spider the size of a CD, making it the largest known web-slinger around. The spider, classified as a new species of golden orb-weaver, is known as Nephila komaci. Its remains have been found throughout South Africa.
A live specimen has yet to be discovered, prompting many scientists to believe that either these spiders are endangered or that they dwell far up in treetops.
With a body length of 1.5 inches and a leg span of 4 to 5 inches, the female N. komaci is the largest web-producing spider in existence.
Female Nephila evolved to a large size not only to carry more eggs, but to overcome a predator of those eggs as well. Some female Nephila spiders can even snag birds, bats and lizards, the report stated. Males, on the other hand, have never evolved past a modest size.

M.E.S.S. October 27th - Qualifying Words

When taking a test, be "word-wise". Watch out for QUALIFYING WORDS!

These are words that help you decide if a sentence is true or false!

Words like NEVER, ALL, NONE, and ALWAYS usually make a statement FALSE.

Words like FREQUENTLY, USUALLY, SOMETIMES, and GENERALLY usually make a statement TRUE.

I'm going to write a sentence using a qualifying word. The next person should tell me if it is a true or false sentence, what the qualifying word is, and then change that word to make the sentence the opposite (true or false). Then...you write a new sentence with another qualifying word for the next person to respond to - OK?? Here's my sentence:

Middle school students never clean their rooms.

M.E.S.S. October 20th - Test Taking Skills

When it's time to take a test - these 3 words will serve you best:

DESIRE

PREPARATION

CONFIDENCE

What advice can you give other students about the qualities for success when taking a test??

NASA's Moon Bombing - Crashing in a Crater, Looking for Ice

NASA's LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite)sent a missile traveling at twice the speed of a bullet to blast a hole in the lunar surface near the moon's South pole today, October 9, 2009. Take a look at the video so see the results! What do you think of this 79 million dollar venture??

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Return To The Moon Activity

Moon Computer Lab Work

The Bar Code is 57 Today!

Today marks the 57th anniversary of the day the first patent was made on the Bar Code.

Granted to American inventors Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver three years after it was filed, patent number 2,612,994 was for a pattern of concentric circles, rather than the set of straight lines used today.
The first trial of the bar code was in 1966, and in 1970 the familiar Universal Product Code (UPC) design, still used around the world, was agreed on as an industry standard.

The first item to be scanned using UPC was a packet of Wrigley's chewing gum at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio in June 1974.

For more fun info about bar codes & how they work - check out the following website:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/upc.htm

Celebrate World Space Week - October 4-10, 2009

Join educators and space enthusiasts around the world to celebrate World Space Week, Oct. 4-10, 2009. This international event commemorates the beginning of the Space Age with the launch of Sputnik 1 on Oct. 4, 1957.

World Space Week is the largest public space event in the world, with celebrations in more than 50 nations. To learn more about World Space Week, search for events in your area and find educational materials related to the event, visit http://www.worldspaceweek.org/index.html

Why not participate in two exciting activities occuring this week:

The Great Worldwide Star Count - This international event encourages everyone to go outside, look skywards after dark, count the stars they see in certain constellations and report what they see online. Check it out - http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/starcount/

Send Messages into Space - To celebrate the United Nations declared World Space Week, you can send your own special message into deep space. It will be transmitted from British Telecom's satellite earth station at Goonhilly in the UK and it will travel through space forever. Your message will pass the moon just 1.3 seconds after being transmitted, it will pass the Sun eight minutes later and it will pass Pluto and leave our solar system after just 15 hours. That's because your message will be traveling at the speed of light - 671,000,000 miles per hour! How Cool Is That??? http://www.sentforever.com/free_message.cfm?pid=43

And...be sure to visit http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ An incredible interactive site where you can learn firsthand about space - the planets, the solar system, the universe, missions, climate and a whole lot more.... You Gotta Check This Out!!!

Let us know how YOU will celebrate World Space Week - it's a out of this world event!!!

October Pumpkin Fun

Pumpkin E-Quilt

The O.R.E.O. Project

Join us in the 2009 O.R.E.O. Project (Our Really Exciting Online project)

Here's the rules...(And you MUST use REGULAR - NOT double stuff cookies)

•Place one cookie on the table and then add one cookie at a time to the stack. (Yes you MUST use the whole cookie as it is when you take it from the bag!)
•Do NOT adjust the cookie after you have placed it on the stack and have moved your hand away.
•Cookies need to be freestanding and NOT leaning against any kind of support.
•A tumble has occurred once 1 or more cookies have tumbled from the stack.

How many cookies are in your stack?? Can you beat our record of 35? Tell us the number of cookies in your BEST stack. What strategies/suggestions can you share to get even more cookies in the stack??

Be sure to take part in the 2 OREO surveys found at the right - your opinion counts!!

Who Will Host the 2016 Olympic Games?

The tense and tight battle to host the 2016 Olympics is taking place in the Danish capitol of Copenhagen.
The stakes are huge for all four cities — Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Madrid — and for the International Olympic Committee. It faces the choice of sending the games to uncharted territory in South America, appealing to those committee members who believe the Olympics should touch all corners of the globe, or opting in tough economic times for more familiar and perhaps more lucrative ground in Europe, the United States and Asia.
The winner gets the international prestige of staging the world's biggest sports extravaganza and billions of dollars in potential investment.
Years of preparations and lobbying by the four candidates will come down to 30 minutes of voting by the IOC's members, when they will eliminate the city with the fewest votes in successive rounds of secret balloting until one city receives a majority.
Which city is your choice for hosting the 2016 Games?? Take part in the 2016 Olympic City Choice poll found at the right! See if you are in agreement with the International Olympic Committee!

President Obama Talks to Students

On Tuesday, September 8, 2009 President Obama tallked directly to students across the country on the importance of taking responsibility for their education, challenging them to set goals and do everything they can to succeed. After watching the President's speech tell us what goal will you set for yourself in this new school year?

Moon Rock Hoax

In this photo released by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon, and a note from the then-U.S. ambassador is seen. The Dutch national museum says one of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is just a piece of petrified wood. The rock, which the museum at one point insured for more than half a million dollars, was worth no more than $70. A jagged fist-size stone with reddish tints, it was mounted and placed above a plaque that said, " ... to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts." The plaque does not specify that the rock came from the moon's surface!The museum has decided to keep the "rock" as a curiosity.

So what's your opinion - was the museum mislead? Would you keep the rock on display?? Thoughts? Comments?

You can read the entire story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090827/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_not_moon_rock

The 400th Anniversary

Galileo’s Telescope Changed the World & Today Reaches Its 400th Anniversary

Exactly 400 years ago today, on August 25, 1609, the Italian astronomer and philosopher Galilei Galileo showed Venetian merchants his new creation, a telescope – the instrument that was to bring him scientific immortality.

How would our scientific knowledge be different without the telescope?

What do you think is the most important discovery made using this instrument?

To find out more about the life & work of Galileo - you can visit:

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/galileo.html

How Was Your First Week Back?

Welcome Back to the 2009-2010 School Year!

How was your first week? Any surprises? What made your first day/week special? What are you looking forward to this year? Share your impressions of this new school year.

It's Hurricane Season

Hurricanes are large tropical storms with heavy winds. By definition, they contain winds in excess of 74 miles per hour (119 km per hour) and large areas of rainfall. In addition, they have the potential to create dangerous tornadoes. The strong winds and excessive rainfall also produce abnormal rises in sea levels and flooding.

To learn more about hurricanes (AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOW) check out this site:

http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/sevweath/swwhatare.html

WHAT NAME WILL BE GIVEN TO THE FIRST HURRICANE OF THE 2009 SEASON?

WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE ARE MORE HURRICANES THAN SELECTED NAMES?

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season officially starts on June 1 and will end on November 30. These dates correspond with formation of most tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean.

You can track hurricanes as they form this year and investigate storms of the past. Visit the Hurricance Tracking Website at http://www.wbaltv.com/hurricanetracker/index.html

Free Poverty - YOU Can Make A Difference

You can help donate water to countries in poverty. It's fun & challenging for you and an easy way to help those in need! Once at the site - you locate a country or state on a map. The closer you get to the location, the more cups of water you donate to countries in poverty. And you can play over & over again! Good luck - how many cups of water did you donate???

http://www.freepoverty.com/

Jeopardy Summer Fun

Have fun with a familar favorite while learning some Summer trivia - Let's Play Jeopardy! How well did you do? Post your score.

My Jeopardy Template

Global Warming - Facts & Our Future

Is the climate warming? Are WE the cause? These questions are at the center of today's debate about Global warming! Conflicting opinions are everywhere - but now is your chance to cut through the noise & discover the facts. Travel through the interactive website featured below. You can explore some of the latest scientific information on the topic and discover how a warmer climate could affect your life and what could be done to minimize the harmful effects of climate change. Tell us what you've learned and which activity you enjoyed most! Now get started by entering the exhibit.....

http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/index.jsp

Caption This!

This is "Boy", a 39 year-old Asian elephant at the Kiev Zoo.

Look closely - what would YOU give as the caption for this picture? Tell us your idea for a caption and then check out the real story at

http://www.wbaltv.com/tu/5HeAiNrZ0.html

New Summer Clothes?? NOT!!

Are you out shopping for the latest in summer fashions?? Well - you may want to add these creations to your list - or then again perhaps not! Are these the newest "designer duds" or an extremely creative version of a circus attraction - you be the judge & tell us about it :)

The Rare Thailand Parrot Flower

This beautiful, unique, and extremely rare flower, called the Parrot Orchid, is known to the people of Thailand as "Dork Nok Khaew". Thought to be an orchid - it is really a member of another family known as Impatiens. Regardless of the type of flower - I think that you'll agree it is magnificent! Let us know what you think!! You can find out more information on this rare flower at:

http://www.exoticrainforest.com/Rare%20Thailand%20Parrot%20Flower%20SP.html

The World's Meanest Dog Breed

Has the Pit Bull gotten a "bum rap"? Can we really trust the Bloodhound's sad eyes? Is the German Shepherd's bark worse that his bite??? Or is a floppy-eared, innocent-looking breed one of the world's most agressive pups? Cast your vote (at the right) for the world's meanest dog and see if you agree with the Journal of Veterinary Behavior. Tell us about your choice!

AND THE WINNER IS.....

The English Cocker Spaniel??

Find out more about this unusual distinction at:

World's Meanest Dog: The English Cocker Spaniel?: Discovery News

June E-quilt

What's so special about June? Well...besides the fact that it is the 6th month of the year, it's birthstone is the Pearl and it's flower the Rose there are lots of reasons that June is special. Use the information in this E-quilt to discover just a few of them! Which one is the most interesting to you?

June

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

National Spelling Bee

The word was Laodicean, it means "lukewarm or indifferent to religion or politics" The winner was Kayva Shivashankar.

Read this article and click on the video showing images from the recent National Spelling Bee. Then post your thoughts. Are you an excellent, average, or poor speller? What makes one person a better speller than another?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-05-28-spelling-bee-thursday_N.htm

Animal Arcade : Caribou Ice Jump

Help the Caribou cross from one shore to the other through the melting ice floes. Each level gets a little more challenging! Did you find success with all the levels? How many attempts did you need?

Animal Arcade : Caribou : Nature's Most Amazing : Discovery Channel

OLogy

Visit the newest addition to the Link List - "OLogy" (the study of)!

Choose an OLogy - wow you'll find LOTS of fun activties & new facts. Be sure to scroll all the way down the page! What was your favorite activity? Why?