It’s true. Grapevines love music. At least that’s what some Italian scientists have discovered.

I remember the plant growth results on Mythbusters a while back, although I recall that they tried a wider range of music, including heavy metal, which got the best results in their experiment.

This experiment used classical music, but the effect was still quite clear. The vines grew much better with music than without. Plus the benefit of keeping animals away.

But let’s face it, if you’re talking about wine grapes, the final test is how the wine comes out. Without that, no one is going to care. But I can just see the labels now:

Grown with 24/7 Vivaldi

Technorati Tags: wine, music, plant growth

That dark matter! Just when scientists think they understand it, dark matter goes and throws a wild party.

Or something like that. Maybe that’s teenagers and parents.

But in any case, scientists have found a patch of dark matter that is not behaving the way current theory would predict.  It’s mixed in with the gases and dust, rather than being around the stars.

The nerve. Really.

Actually, I can’t help but think that misbehaving dark matter could be a good thing for figuring it out. It is so often the exceptions that really make science interesting. Exceptions can be what refine the theory and make the nature of dark matter that much clearer.

Or should I say darker?

Technorati Tags: science, dark matter, astronomy

There’s a big rock in the front of our front yard. Real, not fake. The kids love to jump off of it all the time.

But I can’t blame people who want to go for fake rocks. Real ones are expensive and very heavy, making them expensive and difficult to move. Fake rocks can at least be moved relatively easily.

Artificial Rocks Factory offers artificial rocks that they have cast from natural rocks, which helps them to look better than other artificial rocks. These rocks weigh about 50-60 pounds, rather than several hundred.

The really interesting part is the 360 degree view you can get of the rocks on the site. You can really get a feel for how the whole rock looks.

The casting looks to have been well done on the rocks on the site. While it’s hard to get a real feel for how good they would look in person, the website images are encouraging. They do look realistic in the photos. The 3 colors available look good. Not so difficult to make look realistic as some choices might be.

These are supposed to be durable. If I saw one, I think my temptation would be to put it to the kid test, along with weather and other factors. But knowing how kids love to climb rocks, knowing that an artificial rock can put up with that would matter to me.

Not to mention how much the kids would enjoy it.

In one of those odd shopping moods, so I thought I would see how much weird Star Wars Stuff I can find today.

1. Limited edition C3PO giant Pez dispenser - It talks! It plays the theme song! And yes, it even dispenses Pez! We’re doomed.
2. Darth Vader Costume - For the fan who is really, really serious about dressing the part.
3. Yoda Backpack - Kind of a tossup between this one and the Darth Vader backpack. But there’s just something so appropriate about having Yoda hanging onto your back.
4. Light sabers - Of course! What Star Wars geek could resist these beauties?
5. Darth Tater - I’ve seen him and his buddies around a few times. Horrendous puns are so much fun.
6. Star Wars TIE Fighter Pilot Cold-Cast Statue - Yes, you too can own a statue of some of the more anonymous characters from the movies.
7. Come to the dark side t-shirt - Cookies will do it, every time.
8. R2-D2 trash can - This might just be the droid you’re looking for. Especially when you need to get rid of the Death Star plans before Storm Troopers invade your home.

OK, so I could keep going on, no doubt, but there’s only so long I should be spending on this. Even if it is fun, appealing, tempting and so forth.

Technorati Tags: star wars

No, I’m not getting married, I’m already married. But my sister is getting married in just over a week and I’m one of the bridesmaids. So much to do before!

1. Get my shoes. I ordered them online (size 9-1/2 is really hard to find!), but only Amazon had the ones I wanted in my size, so shipping is running a bit tight. I may yet have to buy locally.
2. Get my dress pressed.
3. Get the undergarment issues decided upon. Yes, it matters.
4. Figure out hairstyles. One of my other sisters and I are meeting this weekend to discuss hair styling. We both have long hair and figure we can take care of each other rather than pay a stylist.
5. Settle on bridal shower foods. It’s a second wedding, so a shower isn’t a requirement but we’ve been trying to do one anyhow. Every other day fell through, so nuts as it is, the shower is the day before the wedding. At least this way the groom’s family can come. The shower ended up combined with the rehearsal lunch. This is going to be interesting.
6. Settle on bridal shower party favors. We aren’t going to do a lot of games, but a few should be fun enough, given the mixed guest list.
7. Figure out how I will style my daughter’s hair. Probably a bun or a French twist. She’s the flower girl.
8. Figure out my makeup. It’s only been about 6 years since I last wore any.
9. Call the baker two days before the wedding. They aren’t doing a traditional cake, just desserts. My job is to call the baker for them and make sure he’ll really be ready to deliver the frozen desserts the day before the wedding. He already messed up on the day he was supposed to do the tasting, so they’re understandably antsy about this.
10. I need to quit wishing that utterly, utterly perfect pair of shoes had been available in my size. Even if I do want to keep watching for them.
11. Help with decorations if time allows.
12. Bachelor/bachelorette party night before wedding. Just a Dave & Buster’s run.
13. Get some rest.

Of course, all this is while handling all the usual stuff in my life and having my daughter in school and my son starting speech therapy. Can’t say life is dull around here.

I can say I can hardly wait for it to all be done!

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Yes, it’s true. Time to start thinking about your Halloween costume.

I love that costumes are available online. Most years I resort to wearing my Renaissance Faire garb - easily available and fun to wear. But I wouldn’t mind getting a real costume too.

We’ve always had fun making costumes on our own, especially split costumes. There was the time I went to work on Halloween as a split personality: Long sleeves, high neck, long pants on one side, short skirt and low cut top on the other. Even borrowed a coworker’s nametag.

That costume taught me one thing: Just because shoes are a similar height doesn’t mean they’re the same height, and a slight difference in height causes pain after hours of wear while working in a retail environment.

Take my advice. Wear matching shoes. Read the rest of this entry »