Funny video for fans of the old Star Trek. Shatner battles the Gorn again!

DailyMail Online: More evidence emerges to show Voyager 1 has exited our solar system to become the first man-made object to reach deep space

This is a tremendous milestone. It’s amazing that Voyager 1 and 2 are still both functioning and able to communicate after 35+ years, especially with the technology they had in the 70’s.

Each only has 68 kilobytes of computer memory. To put that in perspective, the smallest iPod – an 8-gigabyte iPod Nano – has 100,000 more storage space. Each also has an eight-track tape recorder. Today’s spacecraft use digital memory.

NewMax.com: U.S. Wars Leave 225,000 Dead, Cost $4.4 Trillion: Study

U.S. wars launched since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have left 225,000 dead and cost up to $4.4 trillion, according to a new study by university researchers.

The study published by Brown University this week focused on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and counter-terrorism campaigns in Pakistan and Yemen, which came in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

The authors argued that governments almost always go to war underestimating the potential duration and costs of a conflict while overestimating “the political objectives that can be accomplished by the use of brute force.”

These are staggering numbers and with the results that we have gotten, it really does bring into question whether or not war is the answer to any question.

Blogotr.com: REMARK HOSPITALITY, CORE REDEVELOPMENT PROPOSE MIXED-USE PLAN FOR OLD SCPA

Highlights of RHD’s plan include:

PROJECT SPECIFICS

100-unit Hilton Garden Inn TM, Doubletree by Hilton, or a Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, yet to be determined
36 residential apartments, including 2 luxury 3,000 sq. ft. penthouses, each with their own pool
4,000 sq. ft. upscale fine dining restaurant, with adjacent banquet space, accomodating up to 200 for events
4,500 sq. ft. day spa & salon
Starbuck’s Café lobby kiosk
6,000 sq. ft. fitness center with running track, basketball courts, steam room, sauna, and whirlpools (to serve apartment residents and hotel guests, local Pendleton homeowners, with availability for public use through membership
Entertainment venue featuring stage shows/dinner theatre offering both traditional theatre-style and tabletop/booth back seating
An HGI American Grill TM coffee shop with a daily all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet, or other specified restaurants
A beautiful public-use recreational park on the existing green space, to be architecturally designed to compliment the Pendleton community.

If this happens, this is a gamechanger for Pendleton and OTR. It’s a big money project that could anchor the redevelopment of the entire area.

BuzzFeed.com: 11 Cincinnati Foods That Are Better Than Yours

I’ve lived in Cincinnati pretty much all my life and I don’t think any of the foods listed are particularly special or even good. I can understand how someone might miss one of these if they move away, but to say that an Izzy’s Reuben is better than a Reuben you can get in a great deli in NYC is pretty ridiculous. LaRosa’s pizza, really? Locally, I’d take Dewey’s pizza or a wood fired pizza from A Tavola locally before eating LaRosa’s.

Bleacherreport.com: 15 Pictures of Yao Ming Making Tall People Look Short

Some great photos of Yao Ming towering over other tall people.

Here’s an additional photo from Jeremy Lin’s Facebook timeline. Jeremy Lin looks like a little kid even though he’s 6′ 2″. Even Dikembe Mutumbo at 7′ 2″ looks small. It’s a shame that foot injuries shortened Yao’s career, but you almost have to expect it with someone so tall carrying so much weight.

Sheknows.com: Cinco de Mayo piñata cookies

I don’t eat items with refined sugar, food coloring, flour, or vegetable oil, but if I did, I’d make these cookies! I love the design and the creativity.

I wish we did cool projects like this when I was in Junior High.

Thanks to Susana for sending me this video.

My friend Chris sent me this video. There’s something about watching a little kid moving with purpose.

There is an interesting article in Slate about the white tiger and how it is described to the public by the zoos as an endangered species when it really is a manifestation of a mutant gene that is a result of massive inbreeding programs by zoos to create a popular attraction.

This story has local connections- the Cincinnati Zoo is the zoo highlighted in the article for breeding white tigers and selling them for a profit, including the white tigers used by Sigfried and Roy.

The Cincinnati Zoo, an otherwise respectable institution, labels their white tigers as a “species at risk!” Nowhere on the zoo’s website or at its tiger enclosures does it point out that this species at risk is in fact an ecologically useless hybrid of Bengal and Siberian strains, inbred at the zoo’s own facility for big money. The Cincinnati Zoo repeatedly bred closely related animals over the past few decades to produce more of the white tigers, which they sold for around $60,000 each.

One of the Cincinnati Zoo’s biggest sales was to the illusionists Siegfried and Roy. The Vegas duo bought three white tigers from the zoo in the early 1980s (along with stock from other sources) and quickly set up their own breeding program. Incorporating the white tigers into their act, Siegfried and Roy introduced the breed to millions of Americans. They referred to the cats as “royal white tigers” and, out of what was probably a good intention, gave the public the impression that this was an endangered species that they were helping to protect. Their famous Las Vegas show ended in 2003 when Roy Horn was mauled on stage in front of a horrified audience by one of his own white tigers. To date, Siegfried and Roy continue to claim on their website that their white tiger breeding program is part of a conservation effort aimed at saving “an endangered species.”