Haluški: FIVE SECOND STORIES

More amazing critter camouflage:

Meet Uroplatus phantasticus, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko, eyelash leaf-tailed gecko or the phantastic leaf-tailed gecko, is a species of gecko indigenous to the island of Madagascar.

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In Southern folklore, a cardinal in the yard is viewed as a dead relative stopping by for a visit.

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The Great Famine in Ireland (1845-52) resulted in at least a million deaths and wholesale emigration. Even today, the population is less than it was before the famine by around 1.8 million people.

Portrait of Bridget O'Donnell and her two children from the Illustrated London News, December 22, 1849.

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I learned a new word: vexillologist-one who undertakes a scholarly investigation of flags. It's only been around since the late '50's. I came across it in an article concerning the new state flag for Minnesota.

The star represents the North Star and refers back to a star on the floor of the State Capitol building as well as the State motto: Star of The North; the dark blue refers to the state's nickname-Land of 10,000 lakes; the light blue represents the Mississippi River whose headwaters begin in the state. Two clever design features: you cannot fly it upside down (a favorite in political discourse as a symbol of dire distress); if you turn it on its side, you have the North Star hovering over the Mississippi.

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On December 11, NASA conducted an experiment. From one of their spacecraft 19 million miles from Earth, they sent a ultra-high definition streaming video. Lasting 15 seconds, it featured Taters, an orange tabby belonging to an art director at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It was a successful effort, advancing optical communications for future human missions beyond Earth's orbit. Well done Taters!

When I heard about this, I thought about it being intercepted by some aliens who think that these creatures are the only inhabitants on the planet. Flash forward to their first visit here, armed with something that projects a light beam that could be used as a communication device or a weapon.

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Meanwhile, I read that cats are banned from Svalbard Island featured in my November 13 post. It is the northernmost human settlement. The reason to protect the unique and fragile Arctic ecosystem. Cats, when introduced to environments where they are not native, can pose a significant threat to local wildlife, namely birds.

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Here's a nugget of knowledge I learned: the campfire classic Kumbaya is a African American spiritual song asking god to Come By Here. The dialect is Gullah, found along the Atlantic seaboard coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. It is a mixture of dialects from plantation owners 18th century English, Scotch and Irish from lower class servants and a variety of African tribal languages.

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Ball and Chain was written in the early '60's by Big Mama Thornton and made famous with Janis Joplin's electrifying rendition at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. In this vid from 1970, Thornton is backed by Buddy Guy's Blues Band. Mercy!

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NASA released this month new photos of Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Uranus is unique among the planets for orbiting on its side—with an axial tilt of about 98 degrees, it hosts the most extreme seasons in our solar system. When one Uranian pole is facing the sun, the other is shrouded in a cold, dark, 21-year-long winter.

Uranus and its neighborhood. The planet is looks like Saturn tipped on its side. Depending on our orbits, Uranus is 1.5-2 billion miles from Earth.

Uranus, its rings and moons.

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The curious thing about yeast is that it is yet another living thing our species uses for food.

What we see

At the microscopic level

When the yeast get warm water and some food to eat (in the form of sugar), they will become active. And as they eat the sugar and break it down for food, they release carbon dioxide-which helps rise our bread. Yeast is actually a type of fungus related to mushrooms. The type of yeast used for baking is usually Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but it is one of more than 1,000 species of yeast. Our own bodies actually have plenty of yeast species that live peacefully alongside (and inside) us.

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