Creature From the Black Lagoon to Help BP Plug Oil Leak!

Speaking to reporters today, the Creature from the Black Lagoon confirmed rumors that he has been contacted by BP in its continuing efforts to plug the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Yeah, they contacted me. I’m glad to help. I live on this planet too” the Creature said. “I have experience in deep water that could come in very handy.”

When asked if he was worried about being injured he responded, “I swim in my own faeces. Do you think I’m worried about a little oil?

Read the rest of this funny spoof at MANHATTAN INFIDEL.....

Latest sale at Kaleidoscope Kreations - a mousepad

Just sold another mousepad on my Zazzle store, Kaleidoscope Kreations. This time it's a design called PE201 (catchy, isn't it?) in browns and tans, with a repeating pattern diagonally across the pad and is going to a customer in New York

PE 201 Mousepad by CharmaineZoe
See more mousepads with zazzle

Journey Home in the Snow Video (click to play)

I was browsing through my videos last night and came across this one of a journey from where I work in Northfield, just south of Birmingham, through the snowy streets to home. Recorded on 6th January 2010 after some heavy snow but on a beautiful sunny blue sky day when the snow covered houses and gardens look very pretty. it lasts just over 9 minutes. Just click on the centre arrow to play.

Astronauts fabulous photo of Aurora Australis taken from Space Station

Just had to show you this stunning picture of the Aurora Australis, the one that appears over the Southern hemisphere, as opposed to the Aurora Borealis, which is visible from the Northern hemisphere. It was taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and shows the aurora australis against the backdrop of Earth's horizon.

The ISS was over the Southern Indian Ocean at an altitude of 350 km, with the astronauts looking towards Antarctica and the South Pole. Dense cloud cover is dimly visible below the aurora. The curvature of the Earth’s horizon can be clearly seen as well as the faint blue line of the upper atmosphere.

The stunning sight is formed as charged particles streaming from the Sun – known as the solar wind - interact with Earth’s magnetic field, resulting in collisions with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. This striking aurora image was taken during a geomagnetic storm that was probably caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on May 24th. The atoms emit photons as a means of returning to their original energy state. The photons form the aurora that we see.

The most commonly observed colour of aurora is green, caused by photons (light) emitted by excited oxygen atoms at wavelengths centered at 0.558 micrometers, or millionths of a metre. Visible light is reflected from healthy (green) plant leaves at approximately the same wavelength. Red aurora are generated by light emitted at a longer wavelength (0.630 micrometers), and other colours such as blue and purple are also sometimes observed.

While aurora are generally only visible close to the poles, severe magnetic storms impacting the Earth’s magnetic field can sometimes shift them towards the equator.