Mokka mit Schlag » 2006 » August

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, East Pond, August 12, 2006

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Blind Pond, August 12, 2006

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, August 11, 2006

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, August 11, 2006

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden‘s Titan Arum, the Corpse Flower of Simpsons fame, just started blooming last night. This is the first one to bloom in New York City since the 1960s.

It wasn’t nearly as stinky as I (or the garden staff) expected. However I did get strangely nauseous while looking at it. The power of suggestion, perhaps? Anyway, it’s blooming now. See it (and smell it) while you can. It should continue blooming through Saturday, and maybe Sunday (but probably not). The garden’s open till 6:00 P.M. and opens tomorrow at 10:00 A.M.

Not a lot of technical details have surfaced yet about the latest alleged terrorist plot to blow up airplanes. However from what little has been revealed, it appears that the explosives were liquid and would be carried in hand luggage. I’m willing to bet that whatever they were using would not have been detected by X-ray machines and metal detectors. In fact, it very possibly could have passed a hand search if it were disguised as some similar but harmless liquid (milk, hand lotion, soda, etc.). Or maybe toothpaste or soap? According to the Guardian,
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