6 Orchid's World of Nonsense?

Chinese New year

2008-01-31T16:34:00.001+08:00

Who want to visit miss ho at Chinese new year(the day which u early release)?

I will be released at 10.

VY Canis Majoris

2007-08-10T23:37:00.000+08:00

VY Canis Majoris

VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa) is a red hypergiant located in the constellation of Canis Major. This is the largest known star and one of the most luminous stars known.

Size comparison between the Sun and VY Canis Majoris. It is necessary to view the image in full size in order to see the sun.
Roberta M. Humphreys (2006) estimates the radius of VY CMa is between 1800 and 2100 solar radii. If our sun were replaced with such a star, its surface could extend to the orbit of Saturn. If we take its radius to be that higher figure of 2100 solar radii, it would take more than 8 hours for light to travel around its circumference. If it were possible for a human to walk on the surface of Canis Majoris, at 3 miles an hour for 8 hours a day, it would take him or her 650,000 years to walk the entire circumference (compared with 2 years 11 months to complete the same task on the Earth).
There are two controversial opinions of the property of VY CMa. In one opinion (such as Roberta M. Humphreys' study[1]), the star is a very large and very luminous red hypergiant. In another opinion (such as Massey, Levesque, & Plez's study[2]), the star is a normal red supergiant, with a radius around 600 solar radii. In this case, its surface would extend well past the orbit of Mars. This star is likely to undergo a hypernova stage by 3200. The distance from Earth to VY CMa is about 1.5 kiloparsecs (or 5,000 light-years).

Source : www.wikipedia.com

2007-06-04T21:15:00.000+08:00

New Loch Ness Monster Footage!

An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45-feet (15 metres) long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video this past Saturday.

He said it moved at about 6 mph (10 km/h) and kept a fairly straight course.

"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."

Loch Ness is surrounded by myth and mystery, as it is the largest and deepest inland expanse of water in Britain. About 750 feet (230 meters) to the bottom, it's even deeper than the North Sea.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake, viewed the video and hopes to properly analyze it in the coming months.

"I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen," Shine said.

He said the video is particularly useful because Holmes panned back to get the background shore into the shot. That means it was less likely to be a fake and provided geographical bearings allowing one to calculate how big the creature was and how fast it was travelling.

Source: CNN.com

Do you believe that the Loch Ness monster is for real? What other monsters do you know about?

Live Science Videos

2007-05-18T14:04:00.000+08:00

Live Science Videos

Extraordinary Birds :
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=birds_ext_quest&plugin=f

The Panda Baby :
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=panda_baby_quest&plugin=f

Under Antarctic Ice :
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=under_antarctic_quest

Pandas of The Sleeping Dragon :
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=panda_dragon_quest&plugin=f

Pale Male :
http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=pale_male_quest&plugin=f

2007-05-09T22:08:00.000+08:00

Judge Orders Shoplifters to Wear 'I Am a Thief' Signs

ATTALLA, Alabama (AP) -- Shoppers entering the Wal-Mart Supercenter here got a reminder not to try anything funny: Two shoplifters stood outside with signs reading, "I am a thief; I stole from Wal-Mart."

Attalla City Judge Kenneth Robertson Jr. ordered the two people to wear the signs for four hours each during two successive Saturdays.

"The only comments we've heard so far have been positive," said store manager Neil Hawkins. "Most of them thought it was a good thing."

One of the shoplifters, Lisa King Fithian, 46, wore the sign from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to avoid a 60-day jail sentence. Another convicted shoplifter was at the store from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Fithian maintained her innocence. She said her conviction was based on a misunderstanding: She said she was taking a $7 item to the service desk because it would not scan.

Outside the store, she said people who saw her wearing the sandwich board commented that the punishment was "cruel."

Hawkins noted how embarrassing it would be for the public to see someone who got caught shoplifting.

"Maybe they'll think twice about doing it," he said.

Source: CNN.com

Is this judge's punishment too cruel? Or is it fair, since these shoplifters could avoid having to go to jail? What do you think?

2007-05-05T22:12:00.000+08:00

Do You Want 1500kg of Bat Droppings?

An upstate New York couple didn't think a few bats in the attic were much of a problem when they were buying a house last summer.

Months later, they found out how wrong they were -- when they discovered more than a 1500kg of bat droppings up there.

Nick LaBoda and Jenna Caputo say a home inspector informed them about the bats. They called an exterminator, who told them to wait awhile before removing the bats because the babies were too young to fly.

Then they forgot about the bats -- until they smelled a foul odour in January. When they checked the attic, they found dead bats and piles of guano (bat droppings).

An exterminator says hundreds of bats had been living in the attic, leaving behind more than 1500kg of droppings.

It cost $25,000 to clean up the mess, and the couple's insurance company wouldn't cover it. They're fighting it out in court.

Source: CNN News

2007-04-27T19:05:00.000+08:00

Interesting News : Life on New Planet?

Debating whether suns other than our own have planets has always been like debating whether cats other than your own have kittens. The answer is self-evidently yes.

On Tuesday, a team of European astronomers announced that they had not only found a new planet circling a comparatively nearby star in the constellation Libra, but that that planet is unexpectedly Earth-like. Like Earth, it orbits a comfortable distance from its sun; like Earth, it maintains a surface temperature somewhere between 32 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Most importantly, like Earth, it could easily harbor surface water. In the biological arithmetic we know best, warmth and water often equal life.

For all its terrestrial feel, the new planet — unpoetically dubbed Gliese 581c — has a decidedly extraterrestrial look. It is probably more than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth and five times heavier. But unlike our world, which orbits a comfortable 92.9 million miles from the flames of the sun, 581c hovers just 7 million miles from its home star. What prevents it from being incinerated like a match head is that its star is a red dwarf, only about one one-hundredth as bright as the sun. The dim light coupled with the planet's close proximity places it in what astronomers call the habitable zone: the spot at which temperatures remain comfortable and water can remain liquid. All this has led to a fair amount of astronomical hyperventilating. "On the treasure map of the universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," said Xavier Delfosse, an astronomer with Grenoble University in France and one of the planet's co-discoverers. Dmitri Sasselov of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, went further, enthusing to The New York Times, "It's 20 light-years [away]. We can go there." (Sasselov did not make it clear just how we'd make that 120 trillion mile trip when it still takes us eight months to cover the 35 million miles to Mars.)

Even if we could visit 581c, there would be reasons to wait a bit before we light the rockets. For one thing, just because the planet could have liquid water doesn't mean it does. The body was detected like all extrasolar planets initially are, not by direct observation, but by measuring the infinitesimal gravitational wobble it causes in its home star. We won't get a clearer sense of its makeup until its orbit carries it in front of the star and the brief interference in the wavelength and intensity of the incoming light allows us to make some inferences about its composition. This will also tell us if the planet has an atmosphere and if it is thin and wispy like Mars's or suffocatingly dense like Venus's — neither of which promises good things for the kind of life we're most familiar with.

If the discovery here on Earth of tough little organisms living miles below ground, frozen in polar ice and hanging on in the broiling waters of deep-sea vents indicates anything, it's that biology emerges in very improbable places. The most remarkable thing we may come to conclude about 581c is that whatever secrets it holds may not be that remarkable at all.

Source : CNN News

2007-04-20T21:09:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Shark Witnesses at Wedding

Tokyo - Sharks were the wedding witnesses on Thursday as a Japanese couple tied the knot surrounded by water and fish, in a unique ceremony at an aquarium.

The bride, Nami Arakawa, 28, and groom Kosuke Sugiura, 29, chose to tie the knot inside a 20-metre transparent tunnel running through the aquarium.

Guests watched as sharks and rays swam around the couple as they walked down the tunnel as if it were a wedding aisle.

"The bride and groom said they liked this place because very young children were among the guests," said Akiko Tanaka, spokesperson for Tokyo's Shinagawa Prince Hotel which runs the Aqua Stadium aquarium.

"Guests seemed to have had great fun, taking photos of the bride and groom and then also of themselves in the tunnel and other parts of the aquarium," she said.

The couple were the first to have a wedding at the venue but another couple has made reservations in June, Tanaka said.

Source: News 24

Imagine getting married surrounded by ferocious man-eating sharks! Why do you think this Japanese couple decided wanted to get married at the aquarium?

2007-04-20T20:59:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Donkey Testifies in Court!

Faced with complaints that his donkey was too loud, attorney Mr Gregory Shamoun decided to bring his case directly to the court: He had the donkey testify.

Buddy the donkey appeared in court on Wednesday.

He walked to the bench and stared at the jury, the picture of a gentle, well-mannered creature and not the loud, aggressive animal he had been accused of being.

Mr Shamoun was in a dispute with Mr John Cantrell, who had complained to the city about a storage shed Shamoun was building in his backyard in Dallas.

Mr Cantrell said Mr Shamoun retaliated by bringing the donkey from his ranch and putting him in the backyard.

Cantrell complained of donkey noise and manure piles.

"They bray a lot any time day or night. You never know when they're going to cut loose," he testified.

In the end, Mr Shamoun and Mr Cantrell decided to settle the case out of court.

Source: News 24

2007-04-17T21:29:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Bank Robber Runs Errands Before Being Caught!

NORTON SHORES, Mich. (AP) - A suspected bank robber took a cab to and from an afternoon heist and rounded out his day running errands, including visiting an elementary school, before being caught, police said.

Randy Benka, 55, who has previous robbery convictions in New York City, was charged with bank robbery and faces up to life in prison if convicted. He was being held at the Muskegon County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

Police told The Muskegon Chronicle that the robbery happened in Norton Shores on Thursday afternoon. The suspect left the bank in the same cab that had delivered him, police said.

At some point, the suspect "actually told the cab driver he robbed the bank," Norton Shores Police Lt. Tim LaVigne said. "The cab driver thought he was joking."

Near Holland, police said the suspect gave the driver money and ordered him to purchase a cell phone. Police said he then went to elementary school where he claimed he daughter attended, saying he wanted to give her money.

Benka was arrested Thursday night at a mobile home park, police said.

Source: Muskegon Chronicle

Now if you were the bank robber, would you run so many errands immediately after robbing a bank? Do you think the robber was very brave to do something like that or just plain silly?

2007-04-15T19:19:00.001+08:00

Weird News: Panda Poop Perfect For Making Paper?

Would you use paper that is made from panda poop? Researchers in China say that they have found a way to use panda poop to make paper.

BEIJING, China (AP) -- There's a new Chinese saying: When life hands you panda poop, make paper.

Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process panda excrement (faeces) into high quality paper.

Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, said the idea came to them after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made from elephant dung. They thought panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper, he said.

The base is in talks with several paper mills on how to turn the droppings of Jing Jing, Ke Bi, Ya Ya and dozens of other pandas at the base into reams of office paper and rolls of wrapping paper, Liao said.

They hope to have a product line available by next year, he said.

"We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste," said Liao. "It's environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves, and also we can sell whatever is left over."

The centre's 40 bamboo-fed pandas produce about 2 tons (2000 kg) of droppings a day, but Liao said he was not sure yet how much paper would result.

What about squeamish customers who might consider the paper unsanitary?

"People won't find it gross at all," Liao said. "They probably won't even be able to tell it's from panda poop."

Source: CNN.com

2007-04-13T20:55:00.000+08:00

Can You Draw A Perfect Freehand Circle?

Have you ever tried drawing a freehand circle? Have you ever managed to draw a perfect one? How can we draw a perfect freehand circle?

See how the man in this video manages to draw a perfect freehand circle on a blackboard!

2007-04-12T23:04:00.001+08:00

How Strong is a Strand of Hair?

How much weight can a single strand of hair carry? Watch this video clip to find out and you can even try this experiment at home!

2007-04-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

Are Girls Smarter?

By Sharon Thompson

National Geographic Kids Magazine

Think girls learn faster than boys? You may be right, at least when it comes to young chimpanzees using tools.

Experts discovered that female chimps in Tanzania, East Africa, use sticks to dig up tasty termites two years earlier than males. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out why.

Young females watched their moms collect bugs, while the males turned somersaults and climbed trees.

But young male chimps may hunt and throw sooner than females. Sound familiar? Yep, human girls frequently learn to write and draw first, but boys often run and toss balls earlier than girls. Guess you'd call that "going ape"!

Source: National Geographic Kids News

And just in case you still do not believe that chimps are highly intelligent, check out this video clip of a chimp who is able to do karate!

2007-04-08T15:55:00.000+08:00

BRAND NEW: 6 ORCHID'S FORUM OF NONSENSE

Our very own class forum is now up and running! Click on the 3rd X and you will find the link to the forum.

Take part in the forum and use it to share your opinions! This is a precious opportunity for you to interact with your classmates and find out what they think about issues.

Ranks will be assigned to forum participants. The more you post on the forum, the higher your rank will be! To find out more, go to the forum now!

In order to be a member of the forum, you will need to register first using an email address.

2007-04-07T09:26:00.000+08:00

Introducing the Rodents!

Rodents are mammals and over 40% of the world's mammals are rodents. There are more than 2000 species of rodents including the squirrel, mouse, rat and chinchilla (see picture on the right).

Most rodents are tiny and have two sharp front teeth that keep growing. These two teeth are known as incisors and are used for cutting wood, biting through the skin of fruit or for defence. The incisors must be kept worn down by gnawing (biting or chewing continuously will produce friction which helps wear away the teeth). Hence, you will find that creatures such as mice, rats and even hamsters seem to love to chew at things.

Rodents reproduce rapidly and are sometimes regarded as pests. Other than rats, another type of rodent that is not very well-liked is the gopher. Gophers live underground by digging tunnels and they can be found in North America. They are treated as pests as they often feed on farmers' crops.

Here's a funny cartoon clip about the life of a gopher. Enjoy!

2007-04-07T09:01:00.000+08:00

No More Beach Holidays?

Relaxing by the beach is one of the most popular ways to relax during the holidays. However, if the effects of global warming are not slowed down, then many of the world's beaches may no longer exist! Global warming may cause the polar ice caps to melt and therefore lead to a rise in the sea levels!

Top climate scientists have warned that billions of people could go thirsty as water supplies dry up and millions more may starve as farmlands become deserts.

Add 1 deg C to the earth's average temperatures and between 400 million and 1.7 billion more people cannot get enough water.

Add another 1.8 deg C and as many as two billion people could be without water, and about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the world's species face extinction.

More people will also start dying because of malnutrition, disease, heat waves, floods and droughts. This could happen as early as 2050.

Source: Times Online

2007-04-01T22:33:00.000+08:00

Discussion: Which Secondary School do you want to go to?

This is a discussion, you can list many schools as you like. xp

For me, I would like to follow some people to their school, but if not I would choose Woodlands Ring Secondary School or Woodgrove Secondary School.

Let's start the discussion =]

2007-04-01T19:07:00.000+08:00

Animal of the Week: White Tiger

White tigers are very rarely found in the wild. In about 100 years, only 12 white tigers have been seen in the wild in India. They are almost extinct and most of the ones living are in captivity, mostly in zoos.

Facts about the White Tiger:

It is a good swimmer, but a very poor climber.
It may be a slow runner, but it is stealthy enough to catch any prey in its sight.
Because it is a solitary animal, it hunts mostly at night.

White tigers occur when inbreeding (breeding between close relatives) — usually between parents and cubs — produces offspring which have problematic DNA. Such inbreeding often lead to birth defects and early death for these tigers.

However, certain zoos and animal breeders still practise inbreeding among tigers in order to produce white tiger cubs since these animals are very popular.

The white tiger in the picture on the right has a birth defect that has made his face deformed. Hence he does not look normal.

Despite knowing that white tigers may have many health problems and die young, some people still continue to breed white tigers. They do so mainly for money since these tigers can attract crowds. What is your opinion about the breeding of white tigers? Should it continue? What should be done?

2007-04-01T17:22:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Baby With Three Arms in Shanghai, China!

Born in March 2006 at a small hospital in Anhui Province with two left arms, this baby boy's name is Jie Jie. He cries when either of his left arms is touched, but smiles and responds to other stimuli (actions)

Neither left arm is fully functional and tests have so far failed to determine which is more fully developed.

Alhough rare, doctors have reported babies born with extra extremities, such as arms, legs, fingers and toes. Doctors usually determine which one to remove depending on how well it works.

When news of Jie-Jie and his three arms was first reported in 2006, some people made comments like "wow, he will be very good at playing computer games since he has three arms". What do you think about such comments? Share your opinions right here!

2007-04-01T17:09:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Four-Legged Duckling Found in Southwest of London !

A rare mutation has left an eight-day-old duckling with two extra legs behind the two he moves around on. Stumpy, as the duckling is called, is surviving so far and is running about with the extra legs acting as stabilisers.

Nick Janaway, a duck farmer in New Forest, Hampshire, 95 miles southwest of London, shows Stumpy to the reporters.

Source: BBC News

2007-03-28T23:56:00.000+08:00

Weird News: World's Tallest Man Gets Married

Some of you may remember 54-year-old Bao Xishun, the world's tallest man. He is the one who saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards which they had swallowed.

Bao is 2.36m tall and he put his long limbs to good use in December 2006. Veterinarians approached Bao for help after the dolphins became ill as their stomachs were unable to digest the plastic.

And after searching...

HIGH

and

LOW...

he has finally found himself a bride! Bao married Xia Shujian, a 29-year-old saleswoman from his home town of Chifeng. His new bride is about half his age and no more than half his height! (see the picture below)

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Do you think it is cool to be as tall as Bao? What do you think are the benefits (advantages) and drawbacks (disadvantages) of being so tall? Share your thoughts!

2007-03-27T22:38:00.000+08:00

Remember the Great Egg Drop? How Can You Prevent an Egg From Cracking?

Do you all remember constructing an egg-holder to prevent an egg from cracking if dropped from a certain height?

Check out the video below to find out how kitchen towels will do the trick!

2007-03-27T17:59:00.000+08:00

Introducing Google Talk and Memory Game

Google Talk and Memory Game are new to our World of Nonsense!

Both can be found in the Links Section. For Google Talk to work, you will need to have a Google account. If you don't already have one, all you need to do is to sign up. It's free!

Try out the Memory Game and challenge yourself and your friends. Let's see who has a better memory!

2007-03-27T14:25:00.001+08:00

Weird News: "Monster" Toad Found in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - A huge cane toad the size of a small dog has been captured in the Australian tropical city of Darwin, startling environmentalists who are fighting to stop the poisonous reptiles from spread across the country.

"It's a monster toad," said Paul Cowdy from FrogWatch which captured the cane toad on Monday night.

"We've never seen a cane toad this big," he said on Tuesday. "It's a male and normally females are bigger."

The cane toad, regarded as a major pest in Australia, was one of 39 caught by a group from FrogWatch near Lee Point in Darwin. It measures 20.5 centimetres (8 inches) in length and weighs 840 grams (1.8 pounds) -- twice the normal weight.

Cane toads are one of Australia's worst environmental mistakes. The spread of the toads, whose skin is poisonous, has led to dramatic declines in populations of native snakes, goanna lizards and quolls, which are cat-sized marsupials.

"We capture them, put them in plastic bags, freeze them and turn them into liquid fertilizer," Cowdy said of the cane toads.

Cane toads were introduced from Hawaii in 1935 in a failed bid to control native cane beetles. There are now more than 200 million cane toads in Australia.

Source: CNN.com

Here's a riddle: What happens if you keep feeding a cane toad?

Answer: It just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Captive cane toads will allegedly eat everything from dog food to mice and they keep growing until they reach 25cm in length and over 4 kg.

Points to Ponder: Perhaps the Australians should have thought carefully about food chains before introducing the cane toads to get rid of cane beetles.

Now the population of cane toads is beyond control because all stages of the toad's life are poisonous. Therefore, the cane toad has no natural predator.

What do you think Australia can do to solve this problem? Think about it and post your comments!

2007-03-26T21:46:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Millions of Honeybees are Disappearing!

Beekeepers,researchers and farmers are all abuzz about a mysterious wave of disappearances. Millions of honeybees are vanishing, leaving no clues and no dead bodies behind. The bees fly away from their colonies in search of pollen and nectar and never return.

Experts have a name for the honeybees' disappearing act: colony collapse disorder (CCD). Two dozen states have reported CCD.

Researchers are desperately seeking an explanation. CCD could be a result of a widespread disease. Another possibility is that honeybees are reacting to a harmful pesticide that confuses them. If bees are unable to find their hives, they could starve to death or freeze in the field. Yet another theory suggests that last summer's dry, hot weather led honeybees to stop working or to become ill.

Source: Time For Kids - Bad News For Bees

This sounds like a real mystery! Why do you think the bees are vanishing without a trace? Could they have been kidnapped by aliens? ;)

2007-03-26T21:37:00.000+08:00

Tiny Rare Owl Spotted in Peru!

This long-whiskered owlet (small owl) has been seen in the wild for the first time, the American Bird Conservancy said Thursday. The long-whiskered owlet, one of the world's smallest owls, was discovered in 1976. Researchers have caught a few specimens in nets after dark but had not seen it in nature.

It was spotted in the wild in February by researchers monitoring a private conservation area in Peru's northern jungle.

Source: MSNBC

2007-03-25T21:56:00.000+08:00

Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

Warning: Only try this if you have a lot of money to spare.

Have you heard about how Mentos reacts with Diet Coke? Well, if you haven't, I won't spoil the fun for you. Check out the video below to see what happens when lots of Mentos sweets are mixed with litres and litres of Diet Coke!

2007-03-25T20:06:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Pet Fish Learns New Tricks

Albert Einstein, a calico fantail goldfish, is not your ordinary pet goldfish. He has learned to take food from his owner's hand, swim through hoops and tubes, and even put a miniature soccer ball into a goal!

Albert learned "ball handling" through training. Here he nudges a miniature soccer ball toward a goal in his tank.

(Photograph courtesy Dean Pomerleau)

It all started when Kyle Pomerleau, 9, won two goldfish at a school fair. Soon he noticed that the fish would react to his movements whenever he came near the tank. He wondered if they were smarter than he'd realised.

First Albert earned a food reward every time he swam toward the net. This training technique is called positive reinforcement. The fish likes the treat, so it learns to repeat the action to get additional treats.

Once Albert learned to go toward the net, Kyle and his dad added a new step—ball handling. Eventually Albert learned to push a ball into a goal.

The trainer learns patience and persistence, the father-son team says. It may take five or six training sessions a day for three weeks to teach a fish to swim through a hoop. Just like kids, individual fish learn at different speeds!

Source: National Geographic Kids News

Something to think about: Does this mean we can train our crayfish, Daddy and Mommy, and our terrapin, Redhwan, to do tricks? What do you all think?

2007-03-24T18:28:00.000+08:00

Weird News: Colossal Squid Caught Off the Antartic
February 22, 2007—In Antarctica's Ross Sea, a fishing boat has caught what is likely the world's biggest known colossal squid (yes, that's the species' name), New Zealand officials announced today. Heavier than even giant squid, colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) have eyes as wide as dinner plates and sharp hooks on some of their suckers. The new specimen weighs in at an estimated 990 pounds (450 kilograms).

Source: National Geographic News

*colossal = of extraordinary size and extent; gigantic; huge (e.g. If you steal that watch, you will be making a colossal mistake.)

Check out the picture above! While a giant squid is about 10m long, the colossal squid is 13m long! That's even longer than a school bus! You can have squid for lunch and dinner everyday for months!

2007-03-19T20:51:00.000+08:00

What is "Gobbledygook"? What does "Gibberish" mean?

Are you already scratching your head ? You must be wondering, "Are 'gobbledygook' and 'gibberish' even English words?"

The answer is YES.

Gobbledygook = language that is hard to understand (e.g. Sometimes no one understands the gobbledygook of scientific reports.)

Gibberish = meaningless talk or writing (e.g. Jack used words from 7 different languages to form one sentence, so everyone thought he was speaking gibberish.)

So which - "gobbledygook" or "gibberish" - has a closer meaning to the word "nonsense"? Post your answers!

Here's a clue: watch this funny music video called "Gibberish" featuring Japanese anime. The singer is singing absolute gibberish half the time! Check it out to see what I mean!

2007-03-19T20:20:00.000+08:00

What Would YOU Like This Blog to Have?

All right everyone, it is time to put your powers of imagination to good use. Think of some useful and fun stuff that we can have in our World of Nonsense.

Also think of some useless but interesting stuff you would like to be included.

What are you waiting for?

Post your bright ideas NOW!

2007-03-17T10:56:00.000+08:00

A Tree Frog in Our World of Nonsense?

Here's some "froggy" nonsense for you to play with. Go to the Games Section and scroll down.

You will see 6 Orchid's very own virtual tree frog!

Move your mouse within frog's box and see how it inquisitively follows your mouse!

2007-03-16T12:56:00.000+08:00

PacMan is HERE!

Remember this game? PacMan is one of the world's most recognised games. Almost everyone who has ever played a video game would have played PacMan before.

And now, PacMan is in our World of Nonsense! Click on the 3rd X, scroll down to the Games Section and you'll see it. Just click on it to start playing. It's that simple!

More games will be coming along your way, Meanwhile, enjoy PacMan! [By the way, has anyone progressed beyond Level 5 before?]

2007-03-16T12:00:00.000+08:00

Blog MP3 Player Up and Running!

Good news, everyone! An MP3 player has been installed in the blog. To listen to the tracks in the playlist, all you need to do is to click on the 3rd X. Once you have done so, just scroll down and you will see the player.

To get the player working, all you need to do is:

Click 'Play' and wait for the song to be downloaded. [Your downloading time depends on the speed of your Internet connection.]
It would be best to press 'Pause' and wait for the whole song to be downloaded before you listen to it.

The playlist will be updated with a couple of new songs every week, so stay tuned!

2007-03-16T00:45:00.000+08:00

Polar Bears and the Greenhouse Effect

Do you like polar bears?

Well, they may not be around for much longer. Global warming is causing the Earth's temperature to increase. As a result, the ice that the polar bears live on are melting more easily and quickly.

So what if the ice is melting?

The answer is simple: the polar bears will find it more and more difficult to hunt and survive.

Why is there global warming?

The Earth is getting hotter each year because the atmosphere is trapping more heat from the sun. This is known as the greenhouse effect. Man's activities such as the clearing of forests and burning of fuels release greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide) into the air. Greenhouse gases can trap heat from the sun. Thus, the more greenhouse gases there are, the more heat is being trapped!

To find out more about how greenhouse gases can cause global warming, check out this website: The United States Environment Protection Agency

2007-03-15T00:00:00.000+08:00

Work in Progress

Hey everyone, the blog is back up and running again! Like it's new look? I'm still experimenting with different blog skins, so do be patient.

The blog is still under construction, but meanwhile, the chat function has been enabled. All you need to do is to click on the 3rd X and you'll see the link to load the chat window!

Special thanks to Kian Boon who is helping to run the blog.

Hope you all enjoy your holidays!

2007-03-12T21:08:00.000+08:00

6 Orchid's Blog Radio is Out!

Check out the Links section!
Note: the Radio is only available sometimes.
It will show whether there is any radio broadcast going on.
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