Nerdism: Rocket Cup

My work sold cups shaped like rockets!   Of course I bought one.   My very own rocket cup!   I love it!

TV Reviews: Planet Earth

Planet Earth is a truly impressive David Attenborough documentary.  Everybody knows and loves David Attenborough, and I think this offering is definitely among the best things he's ever done.   It takes us through some of the most interesting habitats on the planet and has some really extraordinary footage.   Each episode deals with a different type of environment, such as mountains, caves and deserts, and takes us to different kinds of each across the planet.   Each episode also has a charming little section at the end which gives us an insight into how some of the filming was done.   It's fascinating!   Some highlights for me include seeing Ethiopia's amazing volcanic landscape, snow leopards, the Pantanal, the Lechuguilla Cave, the Borneo rainforest, a baby humpback whale and undersea volcanoes.   Gorgeous and all very interesting!

Film Reviews: Apollo 13

Obviously this is quite an old film, but I only saw it for the first time recently, and I loved it!   Being a nerd it obviously appealed to me in the same way that anything to do with space and NASA does.   It's about the real life Apollo 13 mission that went horribly wrong.  The astronauts barely made it back to Earth.   It's an amazing story of courage and ingenuity made all the better because it's true, though obviously the film makers did use a little dramatic license.  I really enjoyed Tom Hanks's performance as Jim Lovell, the mission commander.   He portrayed him as a really warm and charismatic person, which must be very hard to act.  Well done!   I also loved the historical context.   For most people these days it seems NASA doesn't figure much in their everyday lives, but this film really gives an idea that back then everyone was excited by it.   Apollo 11 had just been to the moon and everyone seemed to be celebrating the amazing achievement.   It looks like it was an exciting time to be alive.   If you haven't seen it, it's well-worth a watch.

   

Fossils: Trilobite and ammonite

Seeing as how I'm a massive nerd, I love fossils.   They're awesome!   Here are some cool recent fossil purchases.   This little guy is a trilobite.   Trilobites are sadly extinct, but were very succesful in their day.   They were marine arthropods, and one of the awesome things about trilobites is that their eyes had CRYSTAL LENSES!  Yes, crystal!   The lenses of their eyes were crystal prisms, not at all like the round squishy lenses we've got.   Nature is amazing.   Evolution is amazing.   And I love my trilobite fossil.   It's so well preserved and perfect!

And this is my ammonite.   They're another pretty common type of fossil.   Here's what I know about ammonites:   They were an octopus and squid relative, and looked a bit like a modern day nautilus.   They lived in the outermost compartment of their shell, and as they grew they added on an extra compartment and moved next door, with their head and tentacles protruding.   The smaller vacated chambers were then used to help control buoyancy.   They were free-swimming animals.   I love my ammonite fossil because it's so pretty.   The inside is full of nice crystals and the outside has a lovely pearly sheen.   No wonder so many people use them as mantlepiece decorations.