Just for the record, while I like swimming, and waterfalls, I don’t seeing combining the two as a good idea. I will not be jumping into the Devil’s Swimming Pool at Victoria Falls. That’s just nuts.

Anybody seen the Battle of Kruger video? It’s long, eight minutes or so, but truly fascinating. A group of lions takes down a buffalo calf, almost loses it to a crocodile (or two?), then does lose it when the buffalo herd stages a rescue.

I thought the lions’ defense tactics were interesting. They stayed down on the ground and tight together. Reminds me of the Roman Legions’ square formation. Mutual defense through interlocking shields, in this case claws. The down on the ground posture of the lions may seem odd, but it keeps the buffalo from hooking and throwing a lion with it’s horns. Look for the great example this maneuver by at about six minutes in when a buffalo catches on of the big cats on it’s feet. The buffalo in the end manage to peel away one lion at a time, and the lions’ defense fails. It looks like it almost worked though.

h/t Bloggers Blog: The Battle at Kruger

On a whim, I’m participating in a meme that’s running at The Random Yak – Things I’ve Done Meme. Like the others participating in this, the ones I’ve done are bold.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree (The tree was a key element in a fairly violent dismount from a horse.)
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (in the middle of this post)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight (Perfume fight in a major retail store yes, food not. My mom started it…)
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving (Not now, or ever)
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow (Milking no, but unfortunately I have preg checked cattle. Think rubber glove to the shoulder)
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie (TV yes, movies no)
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch (Apple pie too)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest (I helped build costumes that won twice, but wasn’t wearing it either time. I’m counting it.)
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas (Only the airport… I won’t count that.)
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark (squid, octopus, moose, bear, elk, deer, rabbit, etc.)
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (trying)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived (twice, single horse accidents both times)
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears (No, and I don’t even want to think about it.)
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (All three)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Deer with a bow and arrow)
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts (Typing on it right now)
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

h/t Adam’s Blog – Been There, Done That Or Maybe Not

Althouse linked to a story about the world’s largest skateboard ramp. More than a little nuts. I’d never consider riding a board down that… Rollerblades maybe, but not a skateboard.

Champion skateboarder Bob Burnquist is taking extreme skateboarding to a new level on the Mega Ramp in his backyard. – New York Times Video

The really absurd part of this is how much money it cost. Rather than buying a good sized house, he built a skateboard ramp. It’s all about priorities I suppose.

Now this is just strange.
EepyBird.com – Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment

The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments:

What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints? It’s amazing and completely insane.

Now that’s my kind of experiment… Big, flamboyant, and messy.

When exactly does carrying an explosive gas in a child’s balloon sound like a good idea? I actually surprised by how lucky they were. The really funny part I thought though was that the police found them sitting at home as if nothing was wrong. Your car blows up and you just go home?

TheDenverChannel.com – News – Strange-Looking Car Leads To Explosives Charges

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office found a suspicious-looking car Sunday afternoon behind the old Duggan’s gas station in the 4500 block of South Santa Fe Drive frontage road. Passersby had called in to report some type of explosion or car accident.

When a deputy arrived to check it out, he found a white car that showed obvious signs of an explosion. All the windows were blown out, the vehicle doors were bent towards the outside and the roof was pushed about a foot higher than normal.

The deputy traced the license plate to a home in the 3600 block of South Grove Street in Sheridan. Sheridan officers talked to the people inside and a man and a woman admitted that they were in the car.

Deputies called in an ambulance, who took the couple to Swedish Medical Center for possible shrapnel wounds and broken eardrums.

H/T from Notes from the the Technology Underground by way of Boing Boing and Gizmodo.

Watching my children grow and learn has gotten me thinking about how we learn. Trial and error is very over-rated. I think only as a last resort should we learn from our own mistakes. Wouldn’t it be better to learn from someone else’s? Sure if you burn yourself you learn not to grab hot things, but wouldn’t it be easier if you learned not to grab hot things by watching someone else get burned. I for one have learned a lot of things for myself that I would rather have learned from someone else.

In a rare moment of generosity and in the spirit of public service, I thought I would list some of the things I’ve learned so that others might learn from my example. In the interest of clarity I’ve grouped them into several major categories.

Velocity

• The human body skips like a rock when it hits the water at high speed. My best is three skips.
• It is possible to hydroplane on a bicycle if you go fast enough. That skipping effect works on pavement too.
• Very few things feel as fast as being in control of a good horse. Not being in control of a bad horse is one of those things.
• Your vision blurs when you exceed approximately 30 mph when riding a bicycle on a washboard dirt road. A hydroplane-like effect kicks in shortly thereafter.

Newton’s First Law of Motion – Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. - link –

• A horse can go from top speed to a complete stop in a few body lengths. Riders usually take a bit longer.
• Contrary to popular notion, a horse can’t throw you so high your breath condenses. They can throw you high enough you have to take a breath in order to continue swearing on the way back down.
• A stopped BMW can bring bicycle from 40 mph to zero instantaneously… So can a Mustang… and a Jeep.
• A good horse can run through heavy trees at lightning speed without hitting anything. Not all horses are good.

Miscellaneous, or “Hey dude, watch this!”

• It is possible to ride a horse into the bed of a truck. If the truck has an enclosed top, duck.
• If while on a horse you look past your feet and see sky, it is time to define your exit strategy.
• If a trainer wants you to train one of their horses… Run away.
• Never ride a horse named Banjo. See “If a trainer wants you to train one of their horses…”
• The first time I tried walking down a steep hill while wearing spurs I discovered two things. An unknown gift for profanity and the true origins of Rollerblades.

I hope that you’ve all learned something here today. Remember, learning from your own mistakes should only be done by professionals. Everyone else should make sure you have a good view, sit back, relax, and learn from the mistakes of others.