Aluminum Christmas Tree

For a fun holiday post I thought I would share a little about aluminum christmas trees. At my parents house we have had one of these trees for nearly 20 years and it is an original from the early 1960s that came from my grandparents. Here is a good general piece of information with a few pictures of the christmas tree. Here are a few videos of aluminum trees too, in the second video you can see the color wheel. .

Airports

It has been a while since I posted about myself so this will be about airports I have been to.

The smallest airport I have been is Chipata, Zambia. The "terminal" there was smaller than a single family house in the US. I have taken off and landed at smaller dirt landing strips but they are not airports.

The largest ariport I have been to is Denver International Airport as far as land mass goes. DIA is the third largest airport in the world by this metric. The largest airport building I have been in is not DIA even though the terminal there is very large, it is Terminal 1 at Chep Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong. This building is over 570000 sq. meters of floor space. Part of the check-in area is below. The busiest airport I have been to is Chicago O'Hare airport. though I have been to Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson airport, when I was there it was #2 in the world and O'Hare was #1. They have since swapped this ranking and Atlanta is far in the lead for busiest airport in the world.

Based on 2009 statistics, I have been to 7 of the 10 busiest airports in the world - 12 of the top 20 - 16 of the top 30.

The airport I have been to by far the most is DIA as it was my home airport for most of my life.

Based on some of my one-way flights in Africa, I have several airports that I have been to the fewest number of times.

High Speed Pics

Yesterday I found a great page showing selected - awesome - high-speed photographs. Here is one to get you interested. You need to follow the link to see the rest!
Enjoy!

Hollywood Stars

So if you thought this post would be about the actors and actresses that have gained fame in Hollywood over the years based on the title, you would be wrong.

This is about the actual stars that get placed in the sidewalk in Hollywood and how those stars get there. Anyone want to guess how much it costs an actor to get a star? Keep reading and you will find out. The piece that I read as inspiration for this post was about how Reese Witherspoon is the newest addition to the walk of fame. I was surprised to learn how many stars there are - 2425! Even though not all of those are people - Mickey Mouse, Rin Tin Tin and several other animated and furry stars have received the honor.

Apparently the chamber of commerce charges $30,000 for someone to get a star, in addition to these three criteria: professional achievement, longevity of five years in the field of entertainment, and contributions to the community.

Here is more information about the Walk of Fame.

Panda Suits

I saw these pictures first and then followed a link to the article this morning and thought it was really cool. The researchers dress up as giant pandas when they work to release panda cubs to the wild in a preserve in China. Here is a picture but you can read the article and find more pics as well.

The Awesome Ant!

Giant!

I was spending a few minutes looking around one of my new favorite websites this evening and I came across a couple of items I saw briefly on other sites a couple of years ago. Did you guess that they were over-sized novelty items, if so, you probably know me well. Here is the GIANT beer glass that holds 5 beers.

In case someone prefers wine over beer, Vat 19 has got you covered! Here is the wine glass that holds an entire bottle of wine!!!

Finally the Mondo-Margarita!

Whale Surfing

I read this article today about Orcas that were surfing in big waves in New Zealand.
You can read the article and see the other pictures but I think they are pretty neat!

Giant Gummy Worm!

So if I have a prolonged absence from one of the blogs, like I have had from No-Profundity for the last week, I try to come back with something substantial, important, life re-affirming...oh, who am I kidding, this is the world's largest gummy worm and you can buy it!!! It is available from a website called vat 19, which I had not heard of before but was shared with me today.

In case that wasn't enough here is a video about this crazy product.

AEDT-510 Course Design References

Brendel, W. (2010). Transformative Learning: A web resource for the theory and practice of transformative learning. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from: www.transformativelearning.org/

Transformative Learning - transformativelearning.org

I have chosen to share two resources, this first one is transformativelearning.org. This website has a number of resources for both gaining knowledge about transformative learning as well as how to apply it. A number of the texts that are used by Seattle University AEDT and College of Education faculty members are shown as references for transformative learning as well. I found that convenient since this is an area of interest for me and in part, this interest I have has grown from some of those texts.

In a nutshell

Transformative learning is the process by which we call into question our taken for granted frames of reference (habits of mind or mindsets) to make them more inclusive, discriminating, open, and reflective so that they may generate beliefs and opinions that will prove more true or justified to guide action. Transformative learning often involves deep, powerful emotions or beliefs and is evidenced in action.

This website also has links to the 9^th Transformative Learning Conference in held next May in Athens, Greece.

Strength – The simplicity of Transformative Learning is a primary strength of this theory. On the site, there is a great description by Patricia Cranton in which the first two paragraphs succinctly outline the theory and the third paragraph, which gets more convoluted actually looks at application and influences upon transformative learning.

Limitations – This website has a lot of potential, it has a framework that could be useful but currently it is more focused on the conference than on presenting many resources.

Here is a video of Stephen Brookfield answering a question about Transformative Learning:

Brookfield Q5: View of Transformative Learning from OLA Media Project on Vimeo.

The Freire Project (2010). The Paolo and Nita Freire international project for critical pedagogy. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from: http://freireproject.org/

Freire Project – The Paolo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy - friere project.org

Below is a couple of brief excerpts from the website and they give a very summary description of the purpose of this site.

The project promotes research in Critical Pedagogy, and brings together local and international educators. We are committed to continuing the global development of Critical Pedagogy and to highlighting its relevance with marginalized and indigenous peoples.

Critical Pedagogy is a domain of education and research that studies the social, cultural, political, economic, and cognitive dynamics of teaching and learning. Critical Pedagogy emphasizes the impact of power relationships in the educational process. Emerging in the late 1960s with the work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, Critical Pedagogy has evolved as a cross-disciplinary field.

This resource site has is itself a very great resource for critical pedagogy and literally everything Friere! They have links to blogs, a Friere bookstore, websites, forums, a wiki and videos among others.

Strengths: One of the strengths of this site is that it is powerful with the multiple methods of sharing research and information with blogs, books, websites, forums, wikis, pretty much everything I just listed above.

Weaknesses: Provides a lot of research but I will have to dig around more to find material that is more specific to course design, I didn't see anything immediately jumping out at me for applying to practice.

Here is a short video, which is actually just the introduction to a 14-minute video on the site:

Need a Harvey?

Since yesterday I had a post with dogs in Halloween costumes, I thought why not have another dog related post. Just watch the video and think about whether you need a Harvey?

Dogs Hate Halloween?

Hahahahahaha!!!

I just wanted to begin with a huge laugh!!!

Please enjoy these pictures and I think they explain themselves in regard to the title of the blog!

Fishing Race

This morning I read about a race to catch marlin off the pacific coast of Mexico. Below is a picture of the boats all leaving at the same time and shows some of the intensity of the competition. I recommend that you read the article in the link above as it is much more detailed and explains the competition as well as the giant catch that didn't count in the competition as they arrived just minutes past the deadline.

Hoover Dam Bypass

The Hoover Dam Bypass was completed last week and there were a number of articles about this accomplishment. Here is one of the articles. The real name of the bridge is the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. This is the second highest bridge in the US, only Royal Gorge Bridge is higher but Royal Gorge bridge is a pedestrian only bridge. The completion of this bridge shortens the time it takes traffic to travel between Southern Nevada and Arizona greatly as the original road was 2-lanes very winding and crossed the top of Hoover Dam. There was additional security put into place for the roadway across the dam after 9/11 and this slowed traffic as well.

100th Post - Digital Day

For today, the 100th post for No-Profundity I thought I would do a relatively abstract posting and in fact this is about something in the past so it is even less profound. I kept thinking over he weekend how cool the date was 10/10/10 and how digital that was. In fact, there was a "Digital Day" that was celebrated as a holiday that day. There are three videos about life before digital, one is about getting directions, one is about using the library and the third was about passing notes in class. All three videos on that site are hilarious, especially the one about passing notes.

One person posted on their website that 10/11/10 was also a binary day, which I thought was funny (and accurate).

100 is binary and this is the 100th post to No Profundity so there you go, it is a post about digital day!

Big Red Wagon!

I am sure there are people out there that are not familiar with the red Radio Flyer wagons but those are few and far between. I read about this couple from Wasilla Alaska earlier this week and how they have converted a 70s Mazda truck into a driveable Radio Flyer wagon. This morning I had a news article and video sent to me so it was a sign that I needed to post about this
 
If you are in Alaska and attending a parade in the summer, you may just see this big "little red wagon" driving by.

Bottle Opening Robot T-shirt

What could be better than having a robot open beer bottles for you? Having that robot with you all the time when you wear this BeerBot Bottle Opening Shirt! This is from one of my favorite websites, thinkgeek.com and I have to admit I was tempted but in the end I have a bottle opening key-chain so this robot shirt wasn't quite necessary for me.
I wavered over whether to post this on No Profundity or my newest blog, The Beer Man but in the end this was the right place for the BeerBot.

300

It is appropriate that the 300th post between all 5 of my blogs is here on No Profundity, the blog that started it all! It seems like just yesterday I made my first posting here at No Profundity but it was nearly 8 months ago.

In order of blogs, No Profundity started it all for me as a light hearted but sometimes informative place to share about some of the random things of the world that interest me.

Then followed The Mullet of Blogs, where awesomeness in all it's forms was to be shared!

In late April I came to the realization that I actually read a lot about environmental and sustainability issues so I decided to more formally share pieces of information about these topics on Enviro-Sustain.

Early in the summer I was inspired to start a new blog specifically about the human aspect of our world. This includes ridiculous, inspiring, saddening and all other sorts of human stories under the title of The Human Show.

Finally, the newest creation from Slightly Smarter than a Monkey (my silly pen name), is The Beer Man as some of the people who know me best know, this is a passion of mine and I am excited to share about the beers I have tried from all over the world over the last 10+ years.

Now that I have finished sharing the history of my 5 blogs I hope you explore them and enjoy at least some of them.

Hot Pepper!

What is a hot pepper? No really, what is a HOT pepper? Anyone who likes hot sauces or watches Man v. Food on the Travel Channel will know that peppers are rated in "hotness" by Scoville Heat Units. So what do these mean and what is a HOT pepper?
Chiliworld.com has a great list of peppers, sauces and extracts along with their corresponding scoville unit measures. The pepper pictured above is a Naga Jolokia (ghost chile) pepper found in Bangladesh and it can be rated at just over 1,000,000 scoville units. The link below has more chili links and sites!

For those spice lightweights out there, a jalapeno pepper is about 2500-5000 scoville units and a habanero pepper is 100000-350000 units and those are puny compared to the ghost chile. Here is a little intellectual rationale for avoiding criminal activity, police strength pepper spray is made at 5,000,000 scoville unit strength (for number crunchers that is over 1000 times hotter than the hottest jalapeno), that just sounds like ridiculous pain, it would almost make getting tazered sound fun! BTW, I just had a funny mental image of getting literally hit with 1000 jalapenos rather than the pepper spray, it doesn't sound fun either.

Top Hats

Top hats are head coverings that first appeared in the early 1800s. Below is a picture of Abraham Lincoln in a "stovepipe" version of the top hat. Top hats were primarily made of beaver felt until the middle of the 19th century, when silk top hats became the standard. I have had many types of hats but I have yet to own or wear a top hat, maybe someday I will find the occasion. Another famous top hat is pictured below!

Largest Islands

Last week I was reading about disappearing islands, mostly small, low-lying atolls in the Pacific and Indian oceans. This just literally popped into my head today and somehow I turned it around and decided to post abou the largest islands in the world, none of which are remotely in danger of being submerged! Don't ask me how or why that idea became what it is, it just did!

So here is the list:

#1 - Greenland (highlighted in the map above)

#2 - New Guinea

#3 - Borneo

#4 - Madagascar

#5 - Baffin Island

#6 - Sumatra

#7 - Honshu

#8 - Victoria Island

#9 - Great Britain

#10 - Ellesmere Island

I have only been to one of these islands, Great Britain, and I have been there a few times. The next largest island I have been to is Tasmania off the southern coast of Australia. Tasmania comes in as the 26th largest island.

It may be important to note that I didn't count continents, such as Australia or Antarctica, though those would both be much larger than Greenland. I chose not to include them as this dictionary definition excludes them.

Rock & Roll

This morning I read an article/review of a new Santana album that he covered the guitar work of classic rock guitar songs. Although that isn't what I am posting about now, it is what sparked the idea. This post is about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio (pictured above). The museum opened in 1995. Though I have driven through Cleveland, I have not had the opportunity to stop and visit. I did enjoy briefly paging through the inductees by year on the HOF website. Here are a few interesting tidbits - 1987 seems to be the year with the most inductees, Eric Clapton has been inducted 3 times, once solo and twice as part of bands and there are 15 other people who have been inducted twice, most of them as part of a band and then solo but a few were part of two bands that have been inducted.

Rio Futaleufu

To end rafting week I am going to conclude with a South American river, the Rio Futaleufu. This river begins in Argentina and its glacially fed waters eventally flow to the Pacific Ocean after entering Yelcho Lake and becoming Yelcho river.

A description that I found on a website described rafting the Rio Futaleufu:
"The Rio Futaleufu is no ordinary river. Born in the Los Alerces National Park in Argentina it flows west into Chile, through landscapes dominated by snow capped volcanoes and rich rain forest before arriving at the coastal town of Chaiten. Meaning 'Great River' in the local Mapuche dialect, the astonishingly clear waters of the 'Fu' flows through deep canyons and pristine wilderness to create explosive and untamed white water, unparalleled anywhere in the world. Half a world away from the cold northern winter you will find yourself sitting on the porch of your cabana, sipping on a glass of Chilean red wine and basking in the splendour of the Chilean summer with the distant rumble of your next exciting rapid just within earshot. Described by the locals as "a place so lovely it must have been painted by God"
A kayaker transits a rapid along the Futaleufu in the picture above.

Zambezi Rafting

Rafting the Zambezi River on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia is a great adventure that I was unable to do when I was there as the water level had risen too high for rafting.

Here is a brief description I found on a site offering rafting trips on the Zambezi:

"White Water Rafting on the Zambezi River in Victoria Falls has been classified by the British Canoe Union as Grade 5 - "extremely difficult, long and violent rapids, steep gradients, big drops and pressure areas". This is a high volume, pool-drop river with little exposed rock either in the rapids or in the pools below the rapids."

The rafting begins below the fantastic Victoria Falls and continues through Batoka Gorge, which has been formed by Victoria Falls as the falls have moved westward along weakspots in the rock. Below is the put-in for Zambezi rafting with Victoria Falls in the background!

Someday, when I return to Africa I will try to plan my trip around the low water season at Vic Falls since I have seen the high-water time and that way I can also raft the river!.

Karnali River

Today I am journeying to the Karnali River in Nepal, which was on a list of the top 10 whitewater rafting vacations that I found online.

I don't hold any real hope that I will ever be an expert rafter as I would need to be to do this on the Karnali but I would be so interested in the action, the adventure, the scenery, really pretty much everything about it.

Here is a description I found on the internet about the rafting experience:

"Rafting in Karnali river is not an ordinary trip for any rafter. The trek comes for the rafters' enjoyment with some of the most beautiful canyons in Nepal. Diversity in flora and fauna is incredible. Rapids in the river get huge after the monsoon rains. Flow of the water increases when river slices through some narrow canyons. Those who desire to experience breathtaking scenery, scintillating action and enjoyment of a long trip should go for a ride in Karnali river."

I also liked how one site described its remoteness as only being able to be reached by a 2-day hike!

Grand Canyon Rafting

Rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in Arizona is definitely one of the experiences I want to do most. I know a couple of people who did a 3-week trip on the river in the canyon and I just haven't been able to get it set or organized for me to do.

Here is a description I found on a website offering rafting trips in the Grand Canyon:

"Exploring the Grand Canyon by river is an experience unlike any other. Discover hidden waterfalls and paradisiacal side canyons - areas of Grand Canyon National Park that are accessible only by river. Listen to the sound of the mighty Colorado River as you lie down under a blanket of innumerable stars each night after your Grand Canyon rafting experience. Watch the morning sun cast its warm glow through towering canyon walls. Discover the rush of excitement from legendary Colorado River whitewater."

There are a number of rafting tours that range from day trips that you can even take helicoptors from Las Vegas to multi-week excursions where everything you pack in, you pack out with you as well.

White Nile Rafting

For Rafting Week, as I introduced it on Friday, I would like to begin with whitewater rafting on the White Nile in Uganda. This is the only place I have been rafting but I would definitely like to do it again in a number of locations around the world if I get the chance.

Here is a description I found on a website that operates rafting trips on the White Nile near Jinja, Uganda:
"Warm water, massive waves, beautiful scenery, and year round sunshine characterizes White Nile River Rafting on the White Nile. Challenge the legendary 'Overtime' (a 4.5 meter waterfall) and drop into 'The Bad Place' probably the largest commercial rafted hole in the world. Drift quietly in the calm pools between the rapids and marvel at the abundant birdlife.Raft the Source of the Nile! The legendary White Nile offers some of the best White Water rafting in the world."

The video below is relatively representative of my experience. Flipping the raft is much less common than this video might lead you to believe but our raft flipped twice and even the safety raft flipped once.

Rafting

Inspired by a conversation I had with a blog reader, I will plan to make next week Rafting Week. I will profile some prime rafting locations around the world and I will pick a couple of more local (US) less exotic locales. Here is the common 6-point scale of rapids:

Grade 1: Very small rough areas, might require slight maneuvering. (Skill Level: Very Basic)

Grade 2: Some rough water, maybe some rocks, might require some maneuvering.(Skill Level: Basic Paddling Skill)

Grade 3: Whitewater, small waves, maybe a small drop, but no considerable danger. May require significant maneuvering.(Skill Level: Experienced paddling skills)

Grade 4: Whitewater, medium waves, maybe rocks, maybe a considerable drop, sharp maneuvers may be needed. (Skill Level: Whitewater Experience)

Grade 5: Whitewater, large waves, large volume, possibility of large rocks and hazards, possibility of a large drop, requires precise maneuvering (Skill Level: Advanced Whitewater Experience)

Grade 6: Class 6 rapids are considered to be so dangerous as to be effectively unnavigable on a reliably safe basis. Rafters can expect to encounter substantial whitewater, huge waves, huge rocks and hazards, and/or substantial drops that will impart severe impacts beyond the structural capacities and impact ratings of almost all rafting equipment. Traversing a Class 6 rapid has a dramatically increased likelihood of ending in serious injury or death compared to lesser classes. (Skill Level: Successful completion of a Class 6 rapid without serious injury or death is widely considered to be a matter of great luck or extreme skill)

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge, is a canyon that you may not have heard of. It is located in the Yunnan province of China. This gorge is featured in the BBC, Wild China series, which provides phenomenal video footage. Here is a little footage I found but this isn't from the Wild China series.

The gorge, which was named after a story about a Tiger excaping from a hunter by leaping across the river is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, which is a UNESCO World Heritages Site.
The gorge was formed by the powerful Yangtze River, though the gorge is only a small portion of the 3900+ mile long river.

Grand Canyon

How could there be a Canyon Week without the Grand Canyon? The answer is, it couldn't

happen.

The Grand Canyon is one of the most celebrated natural wonders in the world. It is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles across and up to 6000 feet deep. The Colorado River formed the Grand Canyon over the course of 17 million years.

Above is a picture of the Skywalk, a tourist attraction where people walk on a bridge suspended out over the rim. I took a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas several years ago, that was quite a fun experience.

Hells Canyon & Black Canyon

Today I am spotlighting two canyons in the American West. Hells Canyon in Idaho & Oregon along with the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. These two canyons illustrate different extremes of canyons. Hells Canyon (pictured above) is the deepest canyon in North America at nearly 8000 feet deep. The canyon is also about 10 miles wide. Hells Canyon was formed by the Snake River and is a National Recreation Area.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison (above) is very different in that it is very narrow at the rim, in some places only about 1100 feet wide. The canyon is not nearly as deep though, at its deepest it is about 2700 feet. Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a National Park.

There are a number of sheer cliffs in the Black Canyon, including the Painted Wall in the picture above, which is over 2200 feet from river to rim.

Valles Marineris

Canyon Week continues today with a surprise that I bet you weren't looking for. We have left terrestrial Earth on a journey to a canyon that is so large it is very difficult to imagine. Valles Marineris on Mars is a phenomenally large canyon. It is over 4000km long, 200km wide and 7km deep. For those of you who are not friendly with the metric system that means "it is huge!" No really, that means that it is 2500 miles long, 125 miles wide and more than 4 miles deep. There is no comparison to be made with anything on Earth and as I mentioned the Grand Canyon will be a posting later this week so you can make comparisons to that later.

The canyon cuts across the picture above. Below you can see some of the depths of the canyon in false color.

Needless to say, I haven't been to this canyon. As needless as it was, I said it anyway!

Fish River Canyon

To kick off Canyon Week here, I am posting about a canyon I visited a few years ago. The Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia is a very dramatic canyon. Below is a view looking down into the canyon from the main rim viewpoint. From this vantage point it appears similar to the Grand Canyon in the US as they both have dry desert conditions and surroundings.

Fish River Canyon was created by - surprise - the Fish River as it winds from the Namibian plateau until it empties into the Orange River, which provides the southern border between Namibia and South Africa.

In the picture above you can see some of the dramatic cut from the plateau on the upper left to the river below. Parts of the canyon are up to about 1600 feet deep and the canyon is about 100 miles long. Both of the pictures here today are ones I took on my visit.

Canyon Week

It is time for another theme week on No-Profundity as it has been a few months since we have had one.

This week postings will be about canyons. The picture above is of the Grand Canyon but there will definitely be a post about this canyon later in the week.

World's Best Countries

I came across a great infographic from Newsweek today about the 100 best countries in the world. As they state, they took into consideration health, education, economy and politics. Here is the link to the infographic. In case anyone was wondering the US is #11, Finland is #1 and Burkina Faso was #100. There are more than 100 countries in the world so that means there are numerous more below this ranking. There are 192 UN Nations so this is only about half of the countries in the world. The US had its highest ranking in Economic Dynamism and that was #2, while Singapore was #1 for that category. This was a fun one to explore.

Giant Clock

I read a couple of days ago about how the world's largest clock has been installed as part of a new super tall building being built in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The building itslef reminds me of the Soviet era Seven Sisters buildings in Moscow. Getting back to the clock, it has 46 meter faces, that is like 150 feet across (WOW, that is big). Here are a couple of links about the clock and the tower:
This bottom image is how the building is to look when complete. The building will be nearly 2000 feet tall when complete.
The first link in the post has the best photos but each of them has different pictures and are fun to check out.

http://gizmodo.com/5611008/worlds-largest-clock-installed-at-mecca-has-46m+diameter-faces

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100811/lf_nm_life/us_saudi_mecca_clock_1

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/largest-clock-begins-ticking-in-mecca-3697311?ref=rss