Tag: just for fun

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Oh what a feeling: the Toyota ad with the glass organs

I loved this Toyota ad showing glass artists making an entire person out of glass immediately. It combines two of my favourite things in the world – glass and science. The ad isn’t being played on TV anymore, which is a shame. Compared to most car company advertisements it is quiet and classy and beautiful instead of being loud and brash and blokey. The delicacy of the glass organs evokes all the frailty and beauty of the human body. A masterpiece.

Miss Vivi
ps. don’t forget there’s only a couple of weeks left to enter the t-shirt competition, so get writing and send in your top tip for a labbie.

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Anatomy of a spiderweb

If you’ve ever stood and looked at a spiderweb for any length of time you can’t help but be impressed by the work that goes into it.  We have a lot of orb spiders here and there is one in particular that builds a web across the driveway that is over a metre in diameter.  If we knock a bit of it down on our way out to the shed in the dark then it is usually repaired by the time we come back.  It’s a pretty amazing piece of architecture, even if you do have eight hands to hang on to all the strings.

The parts of the web of an orb spider

Image from brisbaneinsects.com

I’ve never thought about the ‘anatomy’ of a spider web before but, now that I’ve seen this diagram on brisbaneinsects.com via the ABC Science Facebook page, I realise that if you’re going to study something the first thing you need to do is name the parts so you can discuss it intelligently.

So, just for a bit of fun here is the Anatomy of a Spider Web.  In case you ever find yourself on my driveway with not much else to talk about!

Miss Vivi

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The Twelve Days of Vivi


On the first day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
A packet of porcine kidneys.
On the second day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the third day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the fourth day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the fifth day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the sixth day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the seventh day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Seven tongues a-wagging,
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the eighth day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Eight entire piglets,
Seven tongues a-wagging,
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the ninth day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Nine eyes a-winking,
Eight entire piglets,
Seven tongues a-wagging,
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the tenth day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Ten porcine testes,
Nine eyes a-winking,
Eight entire piglets,
Seven tongues a-wagging,
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the eleventh day of Christmas
Miss Vivi sent to me
Eleven hearts a-pumping,
Ten porcine testes,
Nine eyes a-winking,
Eight entire piglets,
Seven tongues a-wagging,
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys.

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
Miss Vivi sent to me
Twelve joints a-bending,
Eleven hearts a-pumping,
Ten porcine testes,
Nine eyes a-winking,
Eight entire piglets,
Seven tongues a-wagging,
Six lungs inflating,
Five ovaries,
Four small intestines,
Three pigs heads,
Two ovine brains,
and a packet of porcine kidneys!

Wishing you all the best for a very happy (and uneventful!) holiday.  We’ll see you in 2012.

Miss Vivi

&

Mr Vivi