Microfinance USA 2010 will be held May 20-21, 2010 in San Francisco, CA. The conference where microfinance practitioners, investors, policymakers, and enthusiasts meet to engage, explore, and expand the domestic microfinance field. This video shows highlights from Microfinance, CA 2009, which inspired the Microfinance USA conference.
Ah, two simple words that sometimes get stuck somewhere between the heart and throat. Here are a few words of wisdom from past and present. If you owe someone apology, why not make today the day you free those words.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier to eat crow while it’s still warm. ~Dan Heist
Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them. ~Author Unknown
Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Kimberly Johnson
In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. ~Margaret Laurence
True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe, Little Foxes, 1865
Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. ~Isaac Friedmann
An apology is a good way to have the last word. ~Author UnknownDell Crossword Puzzles–>
An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. ~Lynn Johnston
The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. ~Red Auerbach
Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~Paul Boese
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. ~Grace Hopper
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine
For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. ~Author Unknown
Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger. ~Chinese Proverb
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake
True friends stab you in the front. ~Oscar Wilde
Beth
Ah, two simple words that sometimes get stuck somewhere between the heart and throat. Here are a few words of wisdom from past and present. If you owe someone apology, why not make today the day you free those words.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier to eat crow while it’s still warm. ~Dan Heist
Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them. ~Author Unknown
Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Kimberly Johnson
In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. ~Margaret Laurence
True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe, Little Foxes, 1865
Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. ~Isaac Friedmann
An apology is a good way to have the last word. ~Author UnknownDell Crossword Puzzles–>
An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. ~Lynn Johnston
The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. ~Red Auerbach
Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~Paul Boese
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. ~Grace Hopper
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine
For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. ~Author Unknown
Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger. ~Chinese Proverb
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake
True friends stab you in the front. ~Oscar Wilde
Beth
Ah, two simple words that sometimes get stuck somewhere between the heart and throat. Here are a few words of wisdom from past and present. If you owe someone apology, why not make today the day you free those words.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier to eat crow while it’s still warm. ~Dan Heist
Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them. ~Author Unknown
Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Kimberly Johnson
In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. ~Margaret Laurence
True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe, Little Foxes, 1865
Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. ~Isaac Friedmann
An apology is a good way to have the last word. ~Author UnknownDell Crossword Puzzles–>
An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. ~Lynn Johnston
The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. ~Red Auerbach
Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~Paul Boese
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. ~Grace Hopper
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine
For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. ~Author Unknown
Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger. ~Chinese Proverb
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake
True friends stab you in the front. ~Oscar Wilde
Beth
Ah, two simple words that sometimes get stuck somewhere between the heart and throat. Here are a few words of wisdom from past and present. If you owe someone apology, why not make today the day you free those words.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier to eat crow while it’s still warm. ~Dan Heist
Keep your words soft and tender because tomorrow you may have to eat them. ~Author Unknown
Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Kimberly Johnson
In some families, please is described as the magic word. In our house, however, it was sorry. ~Margaret Laurence
True remorse is never just a regret over consequence; it is a regret over motive. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and for deeds left undone. ~Harriet Beecher Stowe, Little Foxes, 1865
Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. ~Isaac Friedmann
An apology is a good way to have the last word. ~Author UnknownDell Crossword Puzzles–>
An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything. ~Lynn Johnston
The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology. ~Red Auerbach
Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift. ~Margaret Lee Runbeck
Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. ~Paul Boese
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough
It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission. ~Grace Hopper
If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine
For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. ~Author Unknown
Not the fastest horse can catch a word spoken in anger. ~Chinese Proverb
It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. ~William Blake
True friends stab you in the front. ~Oscar Wilde
Beth
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series, Geography & Travel, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
In The 9 Most Extreme Places on the Planet, WebEcoist sought out the most superlative locations on the Earth in nine nifty categories. This renewed look at our exceptional planet uncovers nine more extreme locations that rate their own place in the sun… rain, wind, snow, etcetera.
(images via: Daily Mail UK and Mahjoob)
There are several candidates for the Earth’s oldest rocks located in Greenland, South Africa and Australia but the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in northern Canada seems to be the reigning age champion.
(image via: The Pirate’s Cove)
These rocks date back approximately 4.28 billion years to the Hadean Eon, a hellish time when our planet’s crust was just beginning to cool, and meteorites and comets rained from the skies. It’s estimated that the impact of a Mars-sized proto-planet called Theia occurred several hundred million years earlier, adding to the earth’s mass and forming the Moon.
(images via: PopAstro and GalaxyWire)
The “oldest rock on Earth” may actually be a moon rock! The so-called Genesis Rock, picked up off the lunar surface by astronauts during the Apollo 15 mission, is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old and may have once been part of the Moon’s original crust.
(images via: Tutunendo, Patatastraigo and Travelvista)
You might expect the rainiest place on Earth to be in a rainforest and you’d be right: the Colombian Department (province) of Chocó, bordering Panama, is widely recognized as being the wettest place in the world. How wet is Chocó? In 1974, the town of Tutunendo was drenched with an astounding 26,303 mm (86 ft, 3.5 inches) of rain! On average, Tutunendo receives 11,770 cm (463.4 inches, or 38 ft, 6 inches) of rain per year and 2/3 of the time the rain falls at night.
(images via: Plan Your Adventure and Hanaleikauai Activities)
Mount Wai-’ale’ale on the island of Kauai, Hawaii has the most rainy days per year: up to 350 rainy days annually. Keep that in mind before you book your next vacation to “sunny Hawaii”.
(images via: Wikipedia, Dgrin and WS/DOTblog)
Extremely heavy snowfalls occur in parts of the world where tall mountains divert moisture-laden air masses upward, bringing them past their condensation points. Exceptionally heavy snowfalls can occur in some surprising places: on February 14, 1927, researchers measured the depth of the annual snowpack on Japan’s Mount Ibuki at 38.8 feet (11.82 m). The Cascade Mountains of America’s Pacific Northwest are the recorded snowfall champions, however.
(image via: Stone Creek Lodge)
Snow on Washington state’s Mount Rainier was measured at a record 93.5 feet (2,850 cm) in the winter of 1971–72. Mount Ranier’s record was broken over the winter of 1998-99 when 95 feet (2,896 cm) of snow fell on the nearby Mt. Baker Ski Area. We’ll assume the snow-making machines got a rest that winter.
(images via: Dark Roasted Blend, English Russia and France24)
While snowfall in upper mountain elevations rarely inconveniences anyone except skiers, heavy snowfalls can paralyze urban centers for days, sometimes weeks. The above images of towns in Russia and the Ukraine digging out from massive snowstorms show what a visit from General Winter can be like… foreign invaders, take heed (and snowshoes).
(images via: Nunuk Photos, Up Overland and Run Further)
Chile’s Atacama Desert doesn’t get much rain at the best of times, and at the worst of times which is, actually, most of the time) it gets barely any. It’s been noted that at the town of Arica, no rain at all fell between October 1903 to January 1918 – longest recorded rainless period in the world! Some parts of the Atacama strongly resemble photos of the planet Mars, which is not really a surprise as it doesn’t rain there either.
(images via: GhostTowns, Petzlaff and Historic 66)
America’s Death Valley often makes lists of the hottest, lowest and driest places but the Mojave Desert can be just as hot and dry. Indeed, the longest recorded dry spell in the USA was at Bagdad, California (appropriate name, that) – 767 days, from October 3rd, 1912 to November 8th, 1914. I doubt they had a white Christmas then, and they won’t now: Bagdad’s been a ghost town since 1991.
(images via: 180782’s Blog, New Zealand Travel and State Library of NSW)
Commonwealth Bay is officially listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and the Eighth Edition of the National Geographic Atlas as being the windiest place on Earth – and to make matters even worse, it’s located in Antarctica. Forget about the occasional gust, the winds at Commonwealth Bay are strong, steady, and blow at 150 mph (240 km/h) – or more.
(image via: AAD)
Australian antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson established the main base of the 1912 Australasian Antarctic Expedition expedition at Cape Denison, at the mouth of Commonwealth Bay. Presumably he did this on a rare windless day; otherwise he must have been insane.
(images via: Home By The Sea and Brian A Small)
One of the windiest places on Earth’s northern hemisphere is Cape Blanco in southwestern Oregon, USA. Jutting into the Pacific Ocean near Coos Bay, Cape Blanco is both the westernmost point of Oregon and the contiguous United States. Severe winter storms often rake Cape Blanco with shrieking winds that gust up to 125 mph (200 km/h).
(images via: Rajie Manders, WikiTravel, Home of POI and Horolezec)
Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni was formed from several prehistoric lakes that converged and dried, leaving a salt pan several feet thick or more over a 4,086 sq mi (10,582 sq km) expanse. Think of Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats multiplied by 25 and you’ll get an idea of how large the Salar de Uyuni is.
(image via: Seaway Blog)
Certain rare elements are concentrated in the various salts that make up the Salar, especially the strategic metal Lithium – up to 70 percent of the world’s lithium reserves are locked in the Salar’s salts!
(images via: Gone For A Wander and Travel Bolivia)
Normally dry and virtually lifeless, the Salar de Uyuni comes alive each November when summer rains attract flocks of pink flamingos, who feed on red algae and brine shrimp. At these times, the Salar becomes even flatter – in effect, it becomes a virtual mirror orbiting satellites use to calibrate their distance measurements.
(images via: Gilyn, The Horse and Rider and Karavi)
Located in the politically ambiguous Republic of Abkhazia, the Voronya Cave (Crows’ Cave, in Russian) plunges 7,188 feet (2,191 m) into the depths of the Arabika Massif, a limestone formation dating back to the Age of Dinosaurs. Also known as the Krubera cave (after Russian geographer Alexander Kruber), the cave was discovered in 1960 and has surpassed Austria’s Lamprechtsofen as the world’s deepest cave and the only known cave deeper than 2,000 meters (6,561.5 ft).
(image via: Avibo)
Credit must be given to the the Ukrainian Speleological Association for establishing a series of depth records in the Voronya Cave and its many subsidiary caves. Beginning in the early 1980s, the Ukr.S.A. began deliberately clearing blockages and expanding squeeze points so that cave explorers could penetrate ever deeper into the interconnected caves. The current record depth of 7,188 feet (2,191 m) was set in the autumn of 2007 but as the Ukr.S.A. mounts annual expeditions to the Voronya Cave system, it’s possible those figures could change.
(images via: Stuff, Explorapoles and PolarIce)
A “pole of inaccessibility” is that point on a continent that is the greatest distance from any ocean in any direction – the North American PofA is in South Dakota. There’s a hierarchy among poles of inaccessibility, however, and the most inaccessible of all lies in the frigid wastelands of Antarctica.
(images via: N/US Traverse and Break Media)
In 1958 the Soviet Union established a base at the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility which they quickly abandoned. Before leaving the base, the Soviet team installed a golden bust (OK, it’s plastic) of Lenin to oversee the icy landscape and mark the USSR’s global reach. Lenin’s eyes gaze back wistfully in the direction of Moscow – on the bright side, he won’t be troubled by pigeons. Below the bust, nearly inundated by years of snow, is a small hut that contains a guest book for visitors to sign. I’m guessing it’s a very thin periodical.
(images via: Wikimedia, Lo Incognito, Mappery and Hotel Club)
Our previous Extreme Places on the Planet article featured the Most Remote Inhabited Island, Tristan de Cunha. Though certainly remote, another uninhabited island holds the distinction of being the most remote, period. Bouvet Island is a small island in the South Atlantic Ocean that, oddly enough, is under Norwegian sovereignty. The nearest land is Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the south. The nearest inhabited island is Tristan da Cunha, 1,404 miles (2,260 km) away and the nearest inhabited land is South Africa, which is 1,600 miles (2,580 km) to the northeast. Fun facts about Bouvet island: it served as the setting for the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator. Bouvet Island also has its own (unused) Internet country code top-level domain: bv.
(image via: Robin Muench)
Bouvet Island is 93 percent ice-covered with glaciers calving into the chill Southern Ocean. The island is only 19 square miles (49 sq km) in area and has no vegetation except for small outcrops of moss and lichen. Bouvet Island’s only claim to fame occurred in 1979 when an orbiting American spy satellite detected a double-flash of light near the island. Though never officially confirmed, the flash is believed by many to be the signature of a joint Israel-South Africa nuclear test.
(image via: Borders.com)
Extremes of weather, distance, geology and geography make our planet exceptional in many ways. Nothing interesting in your world today? Step out of your comfort zone sometime, going to extremes can have its own reward!
This article describes the hottest, wettest, driest, highest, lowest, tallest, coldest and other most extreme locations and places on earth.
18 Comments – Click Here to Read More
Conventional sunscreens used in the same experiments were essentially ineffective.
The ointment was made from extracts of three-day-old broccoli sprouts rich in protective compounds called sulphoraphanes. Unlike a normal sunscreen, it does not absorb UV light to prevent it entering the skin. Instead, it works inside the body by boosting the production of enzymes that protect cells against UV damage and the risk of skin cancer.
Protection is said to last for several days.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, first tested the ointment on genetically engineered hairless mice before carrying out tests on six human volunteers, three men and three women aged between 28 and 53.
The results were reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report’s lead author, Prof Paul Talalay, said the treatment could decrease the “long-term risk of developing cancer”.
Beth
[ By Steph in Home & Garden. ]
You’ve got a dark apartment, a busy schedule and a seeming inability to water plants with any regularity. Are you just hopelessly black-thumbed, doomed to live a plant-free existence in a home with poor air quality forever? Not if you choose super-hardy, hard-to-kill houseplants that can withstand poor lighting conditions and go for long periods without water. These 13 houseplants are tough as they get, thriving in spite of all kinds of neglect.
These adorable little succulents are the perfect plants to place in a sunny window, but other than meeting their high light requirements, ignoring your “hen and chicks” plant could be the best thing you do for it. So named for its curious growing habit, sprouting ‘babies’ around the main plant, Sempervivum only needs to be watered regularly during the spring and summer – the rest of the year, you can water it just once a month! Keep it in well-drained soil made specifically for succulents.
With its variegated leaves and long trailing vines, English Ivy is a beautiful houseplant that’s also super easy to care for. Place it in a draft-free well-lighted spot in your home and mist it with a spray bottle to keep the soil evenly moist and the leaves free of pesky spider mites, and this plant will be happy for a long time. It even thrives under fluorescent light, making it a great option for the office.
Tall and tree-like, spiky Dracaena Marginata plants come in a wide range of colors and sizes, some with dramatic striped leaves in shades of lime green or red. These air-cleaning plants, which are among those found by NASA to clear formaldehyde, only need a medium amount of light, so they can be placed near but not directly in the sunlight of a window. They’ve got low water needs, so you’d really have to neglect them to cause them harm.
The Monstera Deliciosa plant – also known as the Split-Leaf Philodendron or the Swiss Cheese Plant – is the kind of houseplant that makes a big impact with minimal work on your end. With characteristic perforations on its broad oversized glossy leaves, this houseplant will grow relatively large as long as it’s kept within eight feet of a bright, sunny window. Water it every 7-10 days and it will reward you with lush growth for years.
These plants have such long lives, they can be passed down from generation to generation – the very same plant! Despite its name, the Christmas Cactus doesn’t belong to the same family as most of the desert cacti you’re familiar with – but it does bloom around Christmastime. During the spring and summer, water the plant thoroughly and then let the top inch of soil dry out before watering it again – and water it even less frequently in the fall and winter months. For a profusion of holiday blooms, keep it in a sunny draft-free spot during the day and in total darkness in a cool room at night.
Like “Hen and chicks”, the Jade Plant is a member of the succulent family and requires very little water, but its fat little leaves protruding from thick stems make it quite an interesting plant to look at. It only needs moderate sunlight – putting it in an east or west facing window is best. You should let the soil dry out completely between waterings – overenthusiastic watering will only kill it!
Got a warm home and a tendency to forget about watering your plants? The Chinese Evergreen might be just what you need. This tropical plant does need to be kept above 55 degrees Fahrenheit at all times, but that’s not too tough if you’re among the majority who keep their homes climate-controlled year-round. Southern Living calls Chinese Evergreen the easiest houseplant of all, particularly because its low light needs mean it can go just about anywhere in your home and it only needs to be watered when the soil is dry.
Total noob at keeping houseplants alive? No problem, if you start with this super-easy, non-fussy hanging plant. The Spider Plant or Chlorophytum comosum grows fast, has attractive striped foliage and sprouts little “babies” that hang down from the basket. It’s pretty laid back about lighting, so place it where it will get a moderate amount but not in direct sun. Allow it to dry out in between waterings.
Peace Lily flowers may be simple, but they’re elegant – and easy to keep going for much of the year, as long as you give this houseplant the small amount of attention that it requires. While the Peace Lily is a heavy drinker, it prefers its waterings to be well spaced out so it’s actually a good idea to wait until the plant droops slightly before soaking its soil with water. Keep it in indirect sunlight, and make sure your kids and cats don’t get to it – it is toxic.
Zamioculcas zamiifolia – otherwise known as the ZZ plant – has pretty much everything you can ask for from a house plant. It can handle low light, needs very little water, withstands changes in indoor air conditions and will stay green and glossy even if you forget to care for it for a little while.
The African Violet’s ubiquity in homes across the world doesn’t make it any less of a beautiful plant. The key to keeping them looking picture-perfect? Leave them alone. Once you decide on a spot to keep them in, don’t move them – they get used to the light levels in that spot and have a tough time adjusting. Don’t water it until the soil feels dry to the touch, don’t get water on the leaves and don’t oversaturate the soil. The easiest way to do this is to pour some water into the plant pot’s saucer and let the roots wick it up from there.
Dust? Heat? Cold? Dim lighting? All of these are no problem for the aptly named Cast Iron Plant or ‘Aspidistra Elatior’, native to China and other countries in Asia. It’s tough, with leathery foliage that is nonetheless pleasant to look at, growing upwards to about 24 inches long. You’d literally have to try to kill this plant. But if you want it to look its very best, give it indirect sunlight, a warm room to bask in and keep its soil evenly moist.
Perhaps the most popular houseplant of all time, Pothos is a total no-brainer to grow. It’s not unusual to see trailing pothos vines stretching from a high-hung pot all the way to the floor. Once the top inch of soil is dry, thoroughly water the Pothos, drenching the entire root ball, and then pour off the extra water. Because they like the same temps we do, they’ll be comfortable in most homes. Just keep them out of direct sunlight.
Green is glorious. It’s even better when you can utilize “green” gadgets and your green thumb. Here are 20 wild and sometimes weird gadgets for the plant enthusiast.
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Michael J. Fox recently granted the wish of Gideon Strohaver, a 16-year-old from Michigan suffering from cystic fibrosis, by spending some quality time with him at the Central Park Zoo in NYC where they bonded over being “Incurable Optimists.”
Gideon caught Michael’s “The Incurable Optimist” special on television in his hospital and his teacher referred him to the Kids Wish Network in hopes Gideon could meet his hero Michael.
His wish came true and his family went on a special trip to NYC. Gideon and Michael spent a day together at the zoo and Michael and his family were given tickets to the premiere screening of Shrek Forever After at the Tribeca Film Festival!
“He [Michael J. Fox] was so nice,” Gideon’s mother Kim said. “They just talked and talked as the zoo people kept bringing in animals for them to meet and pet. The one I think Michael and Gideon enjoyed most was the hissing cockroach. They both really enjoyed petting it and listening to it hiss.”
“He [Michael J. Fox] was just so sincere and so sweet. He even told us to call him Mike. He was just Gideon’s new friend, Mike,” she added. “It was a lot more than we ever expected. My daughter Olivia put it best when she said it was an ‘over the rainbow wish.’”
Source: OK!
Beth
[ By Chris in Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
In celebration of Father’s Day, here are 20 awesome animal dads that go above and beyond their parenting duties, thus providing their children with great opportunities to survive in the wild.
Not all animals come from the mother’s womb; in the case of seahorses, pipefish and leafy sea dragons, it is the father who gets pregnant. Female seahorses deposit eggs in the brood pouches of male seahorses, which then fertilize the eggs with their own sperm and reside over three-week pregnancies. Over the course of three days, the male seahorse gives birth to 200 baby seahorses. Similarly, male pipefish carry eggs in protective pouches prior to giving birth, as do leafy sea dragons, which not only care for eggs over a nine-week period but give birth during a 24-48 hour period by shooting the babies out from their tails. For more information on male animal pregnancies, please see the following WebEcoist article: Role Reversal: 5 Strange Tales of Animal Male Pregnancies.
While male emperor penguins do not get pregnant, they spend 60 days incubating their young, specifically with a feathered flap located on the tip of their feet. While protecting the eggs from the Arctic cold (with temperatures reaching as low as 70 degrees below), the father emperor penguins do not eat a thing, causing them to lose as much as half of their total body weights. Another incubator is the male rhea, a large bird that keeps anywhere from 10-60 eggs warm during a 40-day period and then raises its young for nearly two years, solely on its own. A little fish that is quite the ladies man, the sticklefish actually shows some restraint and discipline when carrying for the eggs of its young, specifically by spending more than half of each day fanning them at 400 beats per minute, thus providing air that is oxygen rich and clean.
Once a male sea catfish fertilizes his eggs, he protects them in a unique way, by storing up to 50 fertilized eggs in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. Especially interesting, the sea catfish will keep his hatched babies in his mouth for up to 2 weeks before setting them free into the big, wide world. If you think that’s crazy, the giant African bullfrog will swallow more than 6,000 eggs, keep them inside his vocal sacs for six weeks, and then spit them out during hatching season.
Cockroaches have a disgusting effect on not only humans but their young. To ensure that his baby cockroaches are getting the necessary nutrients to grow up and be strong and equally disgusting cockroaches, the dad cockroach will consume bird droppings rich in nitrogen and then regurgitate the waste to his young. Not only do male wolves hunt as far as 20 miles away for food for their young, they also rip apart and regurgitate meat for baby wolves that are less than 3 months old and do not have strong enough teeth.
Many of our fathers worked tirelessly to put food on the table when we were young; the same goes for male red foxes, which must hunt for food every 4-6 hours when feeding their families, and the sand grouse, which flies and flies and flies to saturate its young. To their credit, male red foxes are able to maintain a “work hard, play hard” mentality. When their young foxes grow up, the fathers will often roughhouse with them and teach them how to hunt. As for the Kalahari Desert’s male sand grouse, it will fly as many as 50 miles a day to soak its feathers in water before returning to its nest to lets its babies drink from them.
Known for their ability to balance on lily pads (thus appearing to walk on water), jacanas keep close guard of their nests, often protecting their young from their cheating mothers, who not only run off with other partners but come back and smash their own eggs. As for the father lion, he has a history of careless fathering such as sleeping when the lioness and cubs attack prey and then getting first dibs on meals. However, he is a great protector when awake, willing to take on anyone when it comes to protecting his pride, which can include as many as a dozen cubs and 7 lionesses.
When many of us were young, our Dads lugged us around many places, whether it be school, sporting events, recitals or somewhere else. It turns out that male golden poison dart frogs, marmosets and giant water bugs are no different than many of our Dads. After the female golden poison dart frog lays its eggs on land, the male frog will give newly-hatched tadpoles a piggyback ride, carrying them on his back to large bodies of water so that they can evolve one day into frogs. As for male marmosets, they often lug around their young on their backs, specifically when swinging through the trees. With that said, it’s not just fun and games for the male marmosets, which actually spend more time raising their young than their female partners, which only pay attention to the babies when it’s time to nurse. When the baby marmosets are ready for solid food, their fathers will help them find it and then feed them. As for giant water bugs, they will spend up to a full week carrying 150 eggs on their back until their babies hatch. Sounds painful.
How many fathers out there were especially handy, building their daughters dollhouses and their sons new bikes? Before a male weaver bird can become a father, he must prove that he is up for the task, specifically by building a nest for the young. If the female weaver does not find the nest acceptable, she will refuse to mate with the male, which may tear down the nest and start from scratch to appease his desire to make babies.
Milk is a rich nutritional resource for the young that typically comes from the female. In the case of flamingos, it is the male who secretes milk for the young. While containing protein and fat like other mammal milk, the male flamingo milk is a bit different in that is red rather than white in color, due to a pigment that is stored in the flamingo’s liver.
With a tireless libido, the small Australian mouse known as the antechinus can spend up to 12 hours mating at a time. However, the antechinus can get so caught up in making love that it forgets to feed itself and sleep. Thus, many of these male mice die after mating. However, the sacrifice is not without reward, as the female partner often has enough sperm to last until the end of breeding season and sustain the population.
On Mother’s Day, animal moms that care greatly for their young — including cheetahs, orangutans, octopuses, frogs, alligators and more — are celebrated.
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