10 tips to avoid bear attack

1. Keep food out of reach: This is a big one. Bears love food. And for some reason they seem to love people food. First, you shouldn't store food near your campsite; that alone will cut down your chances of accidentally running into a bear. Wrap all your food together in a strong bag or sack, then try to hang it high in the air; I'd suggest at least ten feet. And don't worry about leaving a rope to one side so you can lower the food late on; a bear doesn't know what a rope is. If you can't hang up your food, then at the least the food needs to be sealed in some kind of tight container. Sorry, but those rubber containers you buy at the grocery store aren't going to cut it. You're best bet would be to purchase several bear-proof storage containers; you can usually find them at most major outdoors stores or camping-supply outlets. You're also safest to keep items with heavy scents, such as soap and toothpaste, away from where you are camping.
2. Keep yourself clean: I'm mostly taking food here, but strong human odors can also draw bears to you. Wipe off those crumbs. Wipe off your face. If you're in the woods for an extended period of time, don't wear the same clothes for several days in a row so that you start stinking. If your fellow campers can smell you, you can bet the bears can smell you.
3. Make some noise: If you're out walking through the woods, don't try to pretend your a ninja or something. If a bear doesn't hear you, then you walk right up on it ... well, you can imagine what could happen. It won't be pretty. But if a bear can hear you coming from a distance away, it will be able to detect you and most likely will try to avoid you. And be reasonable. You don't have to scream or yell or fire off a gun every few feet. Talk in a normal voice, or maybe even sing a little.
4. Pay attention to the rules: All national and state parks in the U.S. will have signs posted warning you of bears, and the signs will offer safety rules. Follow those rules. Several of them you will probably already be reading here, but if they offer different ones, follow them. Forest rangers know what they're talking about.
5. Don't feed the bears: You might have seen this sign in a park forest or zoo. It's there for a reason. Bears eat a lot, every day, and once your run out of food, the bear might become angry. And there you are, the perfect target for a bear's anger. You don't want to becomethe food.
6. Don't run: Yes, that's right. You can't outrun a bear. Even if you've won a gold medal in long-distance track in the Olympics, you're not going to outrun a bear. If you should happen upon a bear, your best chance is to make no sudden movements, to remain calm and move away slowly. Running will only draw the attention of the bear, even a non-aggressive bear.
7. Don't bother climbing a tree: This one isn't likely to work either, if you've come across a bear. Many bears can climb, and he or she will just come up after you.
8. Keep your camp clean: Definitely don't leave food laying around, but also don't leave trash scattered about. To bears, trash is also food. Keep your trash a good distance away from your campsite, preferably stored in a bear-proof container.
9. Watch for the signs: If you see trees that appear to have been clawed by a heavy animal, you're probably in bear country. I suggest you leave. Other signs to look for are sizable droppings, bear prints in the ground and dead animals that appear to have been fed upon.
10. Sorry, but leave Fido at home: Dogs and bears usually don't get along. Your dog is likely to feel protective of you. And the bear? The bear's being annoyed by all that barking. Yes, it's not impossible you're dog could run off the bear, but it's not very likely.

10 tips to avoid shark attack

1. Watch the clock: Sharks feed most often at twilight and at night. Avoid swimming in the ocean during those times.
2. Avoid bleeding in water: Yes, it's true, blood draws sharks. If you have a fresh cut that's bleeding, or if you've accidentally cut yourself on corral or something else in the water, you need to stay on the beach. Also, menstruating woman should avoid swimming.
3. Animal signs: Other sea creatures know when sharks are approaching. If you see a school of fish jumping into the air, that means you need to head to the beach because those fish are trying to avoid a shark. Other animals to watch are sea turtles and seals because they will try to flee an area when they know a shark is coming for lunch.
4. Don't wear bright colors: Sharks can't see real well, so anything bright will catch their attention, especially shiny objects. So don't wear jewelry in the water. And try to avoid wearing bright colors like yellow and orange.
5. Keep your eyes open: If you see a dorsal fin out in the water, you obviously shouldn't go swimming. Also pay attention to any beach signs posted that warn of sharks. Heed those warnings.
6. Don't swim alone: Swim with at least one person, but it's even better if you're swimming with a large group of people. Because sharks can't see very well, they are less likely to attack a group of swimmers because it may appear to be one large creature to the shark. Also, much like lions, sharks have a tendency to go after any creature that has strayed from the pack because it looks like easy pickings.
7. Scuba diving: Avoid diving near any seals. That wet suit makes you look like a seal, and possibly so do your swimming motions.
8. Remain calm: This is obviously easier said than done, but if you should spot a shark near you in the water, try to stay calm. Panic will attract the shark, especially sharp movements of kicking and swinging of the arms.
9. Listen: Keep your ears open. If you hear someone yell "shark," try not to panic and head to the shore.
10. Avoid murky water: If the water where you plan to swim looks muddy or cloudy, don't go swimming there. Remember sharks can't see real well, so in murky water they're more likely to bite into anything they sense.

Related link: 10 Bear Safety Tips

Problem with alien astronaut theories of creation

Over the years I've read a few books, and watched more than a few History Channel programs, pertaining to the often controversial theory that mankind was initially introduced to our planet Earth not by God or some other natural forces of creation, but by alien visitors long ago in our pasts.

That's the basic idea. From there, theorists' ideas have grown and expanded all over the place. Some suggest these alien astronauts planted humans here intentionally, perhaps as part of an experiment or maybe as a way to re-seed their own race which had died out on its own original home planet. Others suggest perhaps the seeding of Earth by aliens was an accident, possibly caused by an experiment gone wrong or by the crash of a spacecraft on our planet.

And the ideas grow even more and more. Did alien visitors help to build the pyramids in Egypt? Are these aliens still among us today? Are we possibly remnants of some ancient alien race? The questions could go on and on, each one more speculative than the one before.

I'll admit, I have my doubts about all of this. Sometimes it even seems a little loony. First of all, I think we far underestimate ancient mankind when we search for extraterrestrial reasons for many of our ancient wonders. People living 6,000 years ago weren't stupid, they just didn't have the levels of technology we have today. It might have taken ancient peoples a hundred years or longer to build all those statues on Easter Island, for example, but I don't see why they couldn't have had the skills and the patience to do so. The world didn't suddenly begin with the Industrial Revolution.

But there's also a big common sense reason why I don't buy into these alien astronaut theories about creation. Here it is: Even if it were possible humanity was brought to Earth by aliens, how were the aliens created? Sometime, somewhere in the past, the alien race would have had to come into existence somehow. Now whether you want to call that experience a creation of God (or some other being) or a form of scientific evolution is sort of besides the point, at least for my argument. Were the aliens founded by another race aliens? If so, where did those aliens come from?

See where I'm going here? Aliens beget aliens beget aliens, and so on and so on. It can't go back forever. At some point there would have had to have been an original alien race on some planet somewhere that came about its being by some natural process.

So why couldn't it be us? Why couldn't we be that original alien race?

What is the appeal to the human race having been descended from aliens?

I just don't get that. Not that it would actually matter to me. I mean, if science could prove tomorrow we were all originally descended from pod people of Neptune, it would be interesting and I'd want to learn more, but I don't think it would shake me to my very core. Though, admittedly, I'd be pretty skeptical of the whole idea.

A parting thought

There is one more element, a rare one, of the alien astronaut theories I'd like to touch upon. Some theorists point to the possibility that historical alien visitors to Earth might not have been alien in the sense they were another species from another planet. Perhaps these aliens were other beings from another dimension, or even another time. Perhaps these aliens were what we might consider angels of God, or messengers or servants of some sort from God.

To me, this seems a little more plausible (though only a little), but that's probably my Protestant upbringing raising its head.

Still, I believe we are underestimating the mental capacities and physical possibilities of our ancient ancestors. Sure, they built some things which we still don't understand to this day. I think that's understandable considering how much time has passed and how much knowledge has been lost over the centuries.

In other words, we're not aliens. And if we were aliens, it wouldn't make us any better or worse than we already are. We're mankind. Each and every one of us. Regardless of where we're from.

Female human-like robots are no longer science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction as a literary and cinematic genre has a history of human-like robots, called androids or gynoids (female androids). The movie Blade Runner is a common example of a science fiction movie that included female robots in a dystopian future. Ira Levin's horrorific novel The Stepford Wives takes a look at how using robots for sexual relations can go horribly wrong. Female robots are also quite common in comic books and are not unknown in video games and even in Star Wars movies.

That is the past. That is fiction. But it would seem the future is here today, and it's no longer fiction.

Meet Aiko

Project Aiko is the first functional female android created in Canada. She ... it ... went on display for the first time in 2007 at a hobby show at the Toronto International Exhibition.

Aiko simulates feeling pain and reacting to it. Aiko can also speak about 13,000 different sentences in English or Japanese. Aiko can even solve math problems and recognizes faces individually. However, Aiko can as of yet not walk.

Meet Actroid

The Kokoro Company first unveiled its humanoid robot, Actroid, in 2003 at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. Since then there have been multiple, new versions of Actroid created with plans to begin selling the Actroids possibly in 2010.

Actroid can react to being touched, and can move slightly, though cannot walk. It has a silicone layering that is supposed to feel very much like human skin. Actroid can also talk and is able to carry on limited conversations.

Meet EveR-1

Scientists at the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology created EveR-1 and first displayed this gynoid at Seoul in 2006. A newer versions of this robot, EveR-2, has since been unveiled with future models in the works.

EveR-1, and EveR-2, is able to simulate the appropriate facial features for a number of human emotions, and has limited speech capabilities. It is able to move its arms and upper body, including the head and lips, though is not yet able to walk. EveR-2 is capable of singing. Both these robots have a silicone jelly skin.

The future

The creation of human-like robots plenty of questions and concerns. Will this alienate humans from one another? Will it be safe? Will it create a lower population? These are just a few of the questions that will likely be raised over the next several years. It is possible situations and problems unthought of will arise.

10 facts about bats

1. The oldest discovered fossils of ancient bats are estimated at approximately 52 million years old.
2. Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight, basically meaning they can flap their wings to accomplish actual flight. There are other mammals who are commonly said to fly, such as flying squirrels, but they actually glide upon the air and cannot keep themselves suspended in the air.
3. Despite the old saying about "being as blind as a bat," bats are not generally blind. They do have very poor eyesight, but they can see short distances.
4. Bats have a natural radar system called echolocation. This allows bats to be fully functional in complete darkness. They send out ultrasonic pulses which bounce back from objects and give the bat a mental image of their surroundings.
5. Depending upon the species, bats generally either migrate or hibernate during cold weather.
6. While a few notorious species of bats are known for drinking blood, mainly vampire bats, most bat species subside upon fruits or insects. Some few species will eat small animals such as frogs or even fish.
7. Despite the rumors, vampire bats very rarely bite humans. In fact, vampire bats usually drink blood slowly from larger herd animals such as horses and cows.
8. Did you know bats play an important role in ecology? They do. Bats are very important to rain forests. Some scientists estimate that bats spread 95 percent of the seeds needed to keep rain forests thriving. Bats do this by eating fruit and plants and then leaving droppings which contain seeds.
9. Bats are known to fly for hundreds upon hundreds of miles for hibernation, or even just to search for food.
10. Generally speaking, most bats can live as long as 20 years.

10 facts about ants

1. Ants have six legs, each with three joints.
2. Nearly 13,000 different species of ants have been classified, and scientists estimate there are more than 20,000 species out there but we just don't know about all of them yet.
3. It is true that ants use their antennae for touching things, but their antennae also contain ants' sense of smell. The nose knows, eh? Or in this case, the antennae knows.
4. Ants typically live between 40 and 60 days.
5. Ants sometimes go to war, and on a massive scale. Whole colonies of ants have been witnessed going to battle against other colonies, sometimes leaving millions of dead ants behind.
6. The Amazon ant is sometimes called the pirate ant or the slave-taking ant. Why? Because these ants are known to attack other colonies of ants and take captives. These prisoner ants are returned to the home of the Amazon ants and put to work building and making food.
7. The largest ant colonies in the world are created by Argentine ants. Their colonies can stretch for hundreds of miles and can be made up of hundreds of different nests of ants.
8. Generally the most common ants found in houses are carpenter ants. They like damp wood, which is why they tend to migrate toward houses, especially after rain.
9. As far as science has ascertained so far, each colony of ants only has one queen. Scientists have yet to find a colony with more than one queen.
10. Some breeds of ants are actually known to herd other insects much in the way humans do cattle. Rarely are these insects killed for food. More often they are used to bring food, often sweets, back to the ants.

10 facts about starfish

1. The majority of species of starfish have five arms, though some have more. The Antarctic starfish known as Labidiaster annulatus sometimes has as many as 50 arms.
2. Science estimates there are between 1,800 and 2,000 different species of starfish in the world.
3. Starfish can regenerate a limb. That's right! If a starfish loses one of its arms, it has the natural healing ability for that arm to grow back.
4. There is not a major body of salt water in the world that does not contain starfish. These sea creatures are found in the hottest and coldest climes, in all oceans and seas.
5. Starfish are carnivores. Tiny tubes in the animal's arms are used to pry open oysters and clams and other generally stationary creatures like mussels. The mouth of a starfish is found beneath and in the center of the animal.
6. Starfish often have bright colors. This is a natural defense mechanism to warn off other animals, or to act as camouflage in some circumstances.
7. Starfish also have a bonelike, calcified exoskeleton, basically a hardened skin, that protects them from predators.
8. These marine animals are not to be found in fresh water.
9. Starfish do not have a brain. Instead, they have a central ring of nerves that branches out into their arms.
10. Larger starfish tend to live longer, especially in the wild. The longevity of starfish varies greatly depending upon the species. Some starfish will live a couple of decades while others can live as long as 50 years. There have even been rumors, though no scientific evidence as of yet, of some starfish living a century or longer.