Stranger than Fiction

So, just 5 months after the death of his wife, Simon Monjack, widower of actress Brittany Murphy, passes away due to a heart condition, which as the title of this blog suggests, is stranger than fiction. Brittany Murphy passed away on December 20 of 2009 due to a full cardiac arrest, according to paramedics who arrived at the scene of Murphy's LA home. Murphy was found unconscious in the shower in the early morning and was dead on arrival at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre. For such an important human being in so many peoples lives is hard to comprehend, and the actress received many fitting tributes, one such was from "Just Married" co-star Ashton Kutcher who commented on her death by twitter saying, "See you on the other side kid." Murphy's death was even more devastating, however, for British screenwriter and producer Simon Monjack who commented at the time of Murphy's death, calling her his, "soulmate and best friend," he was visibly emotional at the time, and the pain of his wife's death definitely showed. So just a short time after the death of her daughter, Brittany Murphy's mother found Simon Monjack, "unresponsive," in the LA home he shared with Murphy, in the early hours of the 23rd. Monjack was reported by LA coroner to have died of a heart attack, with no signs of unnatural causes. The late Brittany Murphy died at age 32, her husband at 39, it seems like so many icons have been lost in just these past years, with the deaths of many celebrities occuring in 2009, including Murphy. We can only say that we've lost two young people who made a large influence on the world through their films, they, as well as the many celebrities to fall before them will be sorely missed, it's the end of an era for many.

Richards rules out Philli-stition.

So, the Stanley Cup Playoffs come up again, making an unbelievable show this season, with both eastern conference final teams entering into the playoffs as cinderella stories. Both Philadelphia (7th seed) and Montreal (8th seed) made the playoffs by one point, the Flyers winning a shootout in their final game to make it. Now here we are, conference finals, both teams coming back as complete underdogs, the Canadiens faced top seeded team Washington, and the previous Stanley cup winners Pittsburgh, coming out of two game sevens to make it here. But the excitement doesn't stop there with the Flyers being the 6th team in the history of the Stanley sup to come back from a 3-0 game deficit to win over Boston. Here we are folks, the main event, with Philadelphia coming out on top of the first two games against Montreal, with a huge 6-0 win, and a 3-0 win in the second game, they definitely keep high hopes. Though it's not just Phillies scorers making an appearance as Playoff rookie and third string netminder Michael Leighton came in to make two huge shutout games for the Flyers, his shutout streak lasting a full 172 minutes and 55 seconds. Montreal showed up to the 3rd game however, cutting the game deficit to 2-1 in favour of the Flyers, it wasn't over yet for the Canadiens with Flyers' captain Mike Richards calling the game a good, old fashioned, "ass kicking." Another factor in the game was Jacques Martin's alterations to the lineup, and according to Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri, "For us to get where we want to go, we're going to need contribution through our lineup, not only defensively, but offensively." This strong mentality from Cammalleri certainly didn't show in games 4 and 5, however, as the Flyers came in to game 4 and 5 in Philadelphia to take the Prince of Wales trophy, before hastily retreating to the dressing room. Philadelphia's story this year is comebacks on the heels of injury, Simon Gagne showed that in the Bruins series, when with a broken toe, off of injury in the first series, the Flyers came from a 3-0 series deficit to destroy Boston in 4, Gagne contributed to the tally with goals in many of the pivotal games. Montreal most certainly must have been shaking in their boots when, once again, Ian Lapierre and Jeff Carter come off of injury in game 4 to take the Flyers to the Stanley Cup final. Leighton once again seemed unstoppable in net, taking the Flyers to a game 4 shutout, and a 5-2 series winner, surely the doubts about this young man are way past tangible. Though can we look forward to seeing Philadelphia lift Lord Stanley's Cup? We shall see, though team captain Mike Richards dispelled all fears about lifting the Prince of Wales trophy, when Monday night he skated up and snatched the cup from the deputy commissioner's hands. When asked about Richards' decision to lift the cup, he responded saying, "There was actually a little bit of a debate on the ice," Richards explained. "I thought about it a bit [Sunday] night. My first instinct was to grab it." So, will superstition get the better of the Flyers? We shall see, though let's hope that either way we get a good final show.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/stanleycup/blog/2010/05/carter-laperriere-return-to-bury-habs.html

Fish: Food for Thought

So, fish these days, always getting smarter, biologists from Stanford university recently focussed on male African cichlid fish, claiming that there's a lot more going on than we think. Researcher Julie Desjardins and biology professor Russell Fernald arranged sparring sessions for the fish, analysing the brain after each session, hoping to find a higher level of sophistication behind these tiny beings. Julie Desjardins claims that "In normal fights, they bite at each other, one after the other, and will do all kinds of movements and posturing, but it is always slightly off or even alternating in timing," so there is some thinking behind the fighting pattern of these fish, and when fighting a mirrored opponent (itself), "your opponent is perfectly in time. So the subject fish really is not seeing any sort of reciprocal response from their opponent." Now I've always been a fan of certain sports like boxing and ultimate fighting, but doesn't fish sparring seem a little... shall we say pointless? Not according to the two researchers, who after analysing the brains of two fish, one fighting an actual opponent, the other fighting a mirror reflection both showed similar amounts of aggression, though the major difference was that in the brain of the fish fighting its reflection, a substantially higher level of fear was found than in the fish fighting an actual opponent. Now apparently, these investigations show a higher level of thinking in fish than we thought, if you think about it, however, doesn't it seem like these fish don't think as much as we believe, seriously, who gets more scared of their reflection than a real opponent? Smart fish apparently.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/21/fish-fear-scared-reflection-mirro.html

Mammoth cloning proves huge 'tusk' for scientists

So, the wooly mammoth, a huge figure of this world's past and a descendant of the ice age. Now if you've ever seen the kids film ice age, then you saw the mammoth as a lonely creature, wandering the world, not a friend to rely on. Very lately, the frozen remains of a mammoth was discovered in the Northern region of Russia. The bone marrow, skin and muscle specimens found in Russia's Northern Yakutsk region were sent to Western Japan in the capable hands of scientists attempting to clone this unbelievable figure in history. The remains found are believed to be around 300,000 years old, yet the scientists plan to use elephant eggs in the cloning process of the remains preserved in "perfect condition" according to a member of the Mammoth Excavation and Exhibition Organisation Committee, Takeshi Matsuda. However the single remains found in Northern Russia only allow the scientists to clone 1 example of this mammoth, which will once again be left completely alone. Now it may just be me, but does this experiment not seem like a huge waste of resources? To clone a mammoth army, now thats the dream, to resurrect a once great (yet extinct) species, yet a single mammoth? This lonely beast will end up alone again, with no chance to restart this once great species, wandering the frozen plains of Siberia, where according the the Vladivostok news is Russia, scientists believe they can resurrect extinct animals in order to create a prehistoric safari park. Cool eh? Though can this feat be achieved, we do not know, but with the cloning of many animals, including a sheep in Scotland, maybe we'll be seeing mammoths wandering the street, well maybe not but you get the idea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3075381.stm

Full Body Scanners Show Naked Truth

So airport security has always been a problem worldwide, especially with numerous completed and attempted terrorist attacks happening over the past few years. Gordon Brown went another step with airport security, when he gave the go-ahead for full body scanners in all UK airports. Now I've always been a bit dubious about a 'strip search' here and there, but with these new scanners whoever sees these images gets a "virtual strip search" of anyone in the scanner. These new safety measures were introduced in December 2009, and as such have received various criticism for their lack of privacy to anyone inside, yet a Department of Transport spokesperson claimed that, "Existing safeguards also mean those operating scanners are separated from the device, so unable to see the person to whom the image relates, and these anonymous images are deleted immediately." These safeguards apparently aren't enough though, as some concerns were raised about the scanners breaking child porn laws, a Department of Transport spokesperson confirmed that these problems are among, "legal and operational issues" of the 80,000 pound scanners which are to be "gradually" introduced into airports across the UK, said in an announcement by Gordon Brown himself. Now whether these new full body scanners are better than previous methods of searching travelers or not I really don't know, would you rather have a 'pseudo image' of you on an airport computer, or be strip searched by some burly man in a back room? Most people would go for the picture, and with a Department of Transport spokesperson claiming that these images are deleted immediately and seen privately by single members of staff, I'm not so worried, though we can only hope that as always, this new power isn't abused by those that hold it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/03/brown-airport-security-full-body-scanners