Best Of StumbleUpon

Summer Solstice

“In the United States and the rest of the northern hemisphere, the first day of the summer season is the day of the year when the Sun is farthest north (on June 20th or 21st). This day is known as the Summer Solstice.

The declination of the Sun on the Summer Solstice is known as the tropic of cancer (23° 27′). In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged so that the Summer Solstice is the day on which the Sun is farthest south. ”

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This face melting preteen saved his and his sisters life with his mad MMO skillz! Srsly, how fantastic is that? I am guessing by the description in the article he plays a rogue, he taunted and then feigned death…so WIN! I hope he gets a guild promotion for having crazy RL skillz.

Hans Jørgen Olsen, a 12-year-old Norwegian boy, saved himself and his sister from a moose attack using skills he picked up playing the online role playing game World of Warcraft.

Hans and his sister got into trouble after they had trespassed the territory of the moose during a walk in the forest near their home. When the moose attacked them, Hans knew the first thing he had to do was ‘taunt’ and provoke the animal so that it would leave his sister alone and she could run to safety. ‘Taunting’ is a move one uses in World of Warcraft to get monsters off of the less-well-armored team members.

Once Hans was a target, he remembered another skill he had picked up at level 30 in ‘World of Warcraft’ – he feigned death. The moose lost interest in the inanimate boy and wandered off into the woods. When he was safely alone Hans ran back home to share his tale of video game-inspired survival.

For those of you that think “it isn’t that bad” or “the media is making more of this than it is” maybe this live feed will help you put it into perspective. Millions upon millions of gallons of oil are spilling into the ocean at a incomprehensible rate and it is going to affect the whole world.

Vernal Equinox or Spring Equinox

Happy Spring everyone!!

“Magical things happen once upon a blue Moon. And this Thursday we get a chance to find out just what those magical things as we watch the rare lunar event coincide with all the beautiful fireworks of New Year’s Eve.

Blue Moon is the term applied to the second full Moon in a calendar month. It’s an event that occurs roughly every two and a half years. This Thursday’s blue Moon is far rarer than that though, because it’s happening right on New Year’s Eve—a coincidence that happens only about once in every twenty years.

So, between sharing New Year’s kisses this year, take a look at the Moon, because she’ll be at her most beautiful.

PS: No, the Moon doesn’t actually turn blue. It’s just the term used to describe this lunar event.”

Oh yay!! So all those times you have said “once in a blue moon such and such happens” watch out because its all going to happy as we leave 2009!!

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“The Albino Squirrel Preservation Society (ASPS) is an international collegiate organization dedicated to “fostering compassion and goodwill” toward albino squirrels. The ASPS has approximately 700 members in eight chapters across the United States, Canada and England.”

“Founded in April 2001 by Gary Chang and Dustin Ballard at the University of Texas at Austin, the first ASPS chapter was created to celebrate a longstanding legend on campus, which states that seeing an albino squirrel before a test is good luck (although none of the white squirrels on campus were technically albino). In less than a year, the UT Austin chapter became one of the largest official student organizations in the University’s history.”

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Yea, they are DARLING, aren’t they!? I love that there is an actual Albino Squirrel Preservation Society too, that cracks me up. How awesome.

Just when you thought you bird feeder was safe…

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Breath taking…..

Disgusting!

“There’s been a spate of amazing animal discoveries recently–the giant rat-eating plants found in the Philippines, a huge woolly rat discovered in a volcanic crater–and now, yet another creature has emerged that could be right out of a sci-fi film. It’s a bizarre creature that survives by eating its hosts’ tongue and then attaching itself inside the mouth.

The sea-dwelling parasite attacks fish, burrows into it, and then devours its tongue. After eating the tongue, the parasite proceeds to live inside the fish’s mouth. There’s a horror film waiting to be made about this thing. Surprisingly, the fish doesn’t seem to suffer any severe impediment–just the loss of its tongue–and seems to have no trouble surviving with its new, far uglier tongue.”

You have to admit that is a bad ass parasite! GROSS! Wtf is up with how MASSIVE it is? He looks all happy as well! Also whats up with the teeth of that fish? They look like human teeth… Dude, just gross.

“Despite rapidly shrinking sea-ice – the bear’s summer hunting ground – the ban on hunting bears and their prey may be causing their number to increase.”

This is fantastic news! I LOVE Polar Bears! I think everyone has seen the footage of the Polar Bear that tried to swim for food and drowned because the ice melting has caused its hunting ground to be farther and farther out from its icy home and the bear was too tired to swim all the way back. I cried watching that, I know I am not alone there.. Polar bears shouldn’t drowned.. I am glad to hear they are adapting and possibly growing in numbers!! There are some incredible pictures from this series.