http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2010/hyperparents/index.html

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids

I highly suggest finding this documentary if you can. Hovering parents controlling every little aspect of their child's life is unnatural, and entirely nutty.

A little while ago, scientists figured out the colours of the feathers on the tail of Sinosauropteryx (see here) by observing the microscopic shape of the feather proteins imprinted into fossils.
They discovered that it's tail was a light brown with white stripes in rings around it. That's all they could find, so the picture has an accurate tail, but the rest of it is probably rubbish.
This requires high quality fossils, and they didn't really fore-see too much happening too quickly.

Today, while stumbling, I found an article from today on the National Geographic website that gave me major goose-pimples (right before the re-run of the LOST season 6 premier. Extra pimpley!)
They've analyzed a WHOLE DINOSAUR.
CLICK HERE NOW. DO IT.

THERE IT IS!
On the NG site (where these images are from) they also had a picture of a beautiful chicken with these pictures. I'm assuming it's the connection with the Anchiornis huxleyi's way of standing and movement helps the reader visualize how this animal would have moved and behaved. It certainly brings a whole new element of realism to this whole experience.
This is definitely a breakthrough in our knowledge of ancient animals, and it excites me so much! I'm even missing the part where Jack, Kate, and Sawyer realize they're still there, it's just that exciting.

I look forward to seeing what else this will bring about in the future of dinosaur colour analysis.

Creepiest short film I've seen as of late:

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Capital Cities
$200: It joins Yokohama in a Metro area home to more than 30 million people. Tokyo
$400: The Maly & Bolshoi theaters are on its Teatralnaya Square. Moscow
$600: It fell to British troops in 1917 & to U.S. troops on April 9, 2003. Baghdad
DD$1000: Once the capital of Spain's New World empire, this South American city was founded by Pizarro in 1535. Lima
$1000: The Rideau canal separates this North American capital into upper & lower regions. Ottawa

Movie Objects
$200: In "The Wizard of Oz", the Wicked Witch of the West watches these disappear & then finds them on Dorothy. Ruby Slippers
$400: In this holiday classic, Ralphie's dad's "leg lamp" causes quite a stir. A Christmas Story
$600: At the beginning of "Close Encounters", a bunch of these, missing since 1945, are found in the Sonoran Desert. Airplanes
$800: This shiny title object from a 2007 fantasy film is actually an alethiometer, which cryptically answers questions. The Golden Compass
$1000: When Jimmy Stewart finds these items from his daughter Zuzu in his pocket in "It's a Wonderful Life", all is well. Flower petals

Food Festivals
$200: Make room for guacamole & head to Fallbrook, California for its festival of this fruit. Avocados
$400: Bridge City, Louisiana is famous for this festival where a lot of stewing goes on--seafood or chicken? Gumbo
$600: You'll find deep dish pizza & more at the "Taste of" this city, in Grant Park. Chicago
$800: The largest ethnic festival in Arkansas highlights foods from this country, like gyros & souvlaki. Greece
$1000: The Valparaiso Popcorn Festival in Indiana has a parade named for this man, America's popcorn king. Orville Redenbacher

Mammals
$200: Like mice, chipmunks belong to this order of mammals. Rodentia
$400: Down Under, a male one of these is called a buck, Boomer or jack. Kangaroo
$600: Our domesticated hogs are descended from these "wild" mammals of Europe. Wild Boars
$800: The daily diet for this toothless mammal is some 30,000 termites & the insect in its name. Ant-eater
$1000: One of 2 living water mammals, also called sea cows, that belong to the order sirenia. Manatee

Take The Fifth
$200: With the familiar 4,note opener, his Fifth Symphony has been called "the most popular orchestral work ever written". Beethoven
$400: Our fifth president, he moved into a renovated post-torching White House. Monroe
$600: This fifth book of the Bible ends with the death of Moses. Deuteronomy
$800: The first American in space, he would later become the fifth man on the Moon. Alan Shephard
$1000: You get a B if you know it's the fifth element on the periodic table. Boron

Words In February
$200: The cost to ride a bus or subway. Fare
$400: Extremely uncommon, or how I like my steak. Rare
$600: Exercise rail used by ballet dancers. Bar
$800: Grain for sandwich bread. Rye
$1000: For mercury it's only 88 days long. Year

Geometry
$400: In books 1 through 4 of his "Elements", he covered the rudiments of plane geometry. Euclid
$800: Two or more circles that have the same center point are said to be this, from the Latin for "together center". Concentric
$1200: You deserve straight as if you know that a straight angle has this many degrees. 180
$1600: Because the angle here is more than 90 degrees, both the angle & the triangle are classified as this. Obtuse
DD$2500: When carried out yo 5 decimal places, Pi equals this. 3.14159

Graphic Novels
$400: Though the show has ended, Joss Whedon still writes graphic novels about Angel & this title character. Buffy
$800: "The Photographer" Chronicles a trip to Afghanistan with this medical humanitarian organization. Doctors Without Borders
$1200: A graphic novel by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele was the basis for this Bruce Willis film about androids that live for users. Surrogates
$1600: Tim Hamilton illustrated the authorized adaptation of this dystopian classic by Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451
$2000: Art Spiegelman tackled the holocaust in this graphic novel that portrayed Germans as cats. Maus

Class "E"
$400: Elementary classroom culture & management is an offering from Stanford's school of this. Education
$800: In the name of a Penn department, Earth Studies is paired with these earth-friendly studies. Environmental Studies
$1200: Don't bug me! I'm doing my reading for this class in which we study insects. Entymology
DD$2500: At Harvard, Introduction to Game Theory is a course on this. Economics
$2000: Often paired with public health, it's the branch of medicine that deals with outbreaks of infectious diseases. Epidemiology

Presidential Alma Maters
$400: United States Military Academy (class of 1843). Ulysses Grant
$800: William & Mary College (class of 1762). Jefferson
$1200: University of Michigan (class of 1935). Ford
$1600: Yale University (class of 1948). George H.W. Bush
$2000: Whittier College (class of 1934). Nixon

Portrait Of Whom?
$400: A 17th-century holder of this holy office in a 20th-century portrait. The Pope
$800: This English king in his coronation robes, a 1760 work by Allan ramsay. George III
$1200: This person seen here by Rembrandt, not Whistler. The Artist's Mother
$1600: This super-impressionist, by fellow painter Renoir, 1875. Monet
$2000: Seen here, Giovanni, a younger member of this Tuscan family. Di Medici

I'm Feelin' Happy!
$400: This "pleased" company is known for its drawstring trash bags. Glad
$800: Rapture, or the first name of Ms. Behar of "The View"... so what? who cares? Joy
$1200: In titles, it precedes "Adventures of Robin Hood" & "Wives of Windsor". Merry
$1600: Greatly pleased, you're said to be this verb "pink" but to me, that sounds awful! Tickled
$2000: Ron Burgundy sang--but I won't--"a-uh-aa-aa-aa... afternoon" this. Delight

Olympic Venues
At above 7,000 feet, this western hemisphere city had the highest altitude ever of a Summer Olympics host city.
Mexico City