Our King “Mohan” (White Tiger) Has Passed Away: Queensland Australia

Mohan known as the “King of Tiger Island” has passed away. He was 17 years old, a very sad day for a lot of people. Mohan was part of the entertainment at a Theme Park known as Dreamworld which has rides and also a lot of wildlife as well, a fantastic place to go, a tourist destination of course, but a lot of Aussies also love going there, I myself have been there many times, it is under an hour away from where I live. Among the many attractions is a place called “Tiger Island” and there are a few tigers there that put on a show which you will see a bit of in the videos below. If you would like to know more about the Theme Park just click onto the link above.

Mohan celebrates his 17th birthday at Tiger Island. Pics: Adam Head
(via Courier Mail picture gallery)

Mohan which means “Charming” was one of the first tigers at Tiger Island, and he was originally from the United States and arrived at Dreamworld as a young cub when Tiger Island first opened in 1995, and as you can imagine has been a favourite among locals and tourists. He was born in November 1994, and when he became an adult he weighed 180 kg or 396 pounds. Of course white tigers are rare and so beautiful as well with their white fur and light coloured stripes.

Mohan celebrates his 17th birthday at Tiger Island. Pics: Adam Head
(via Courier Mail picture gallery)

The tigers are also led around the theme park among the people, you are free to pat them which you do so from behind, a fantastic experience no matter how many times you do this it really is magical in a strange way. Mohan was one of the tigers that every now and then would be taken for a walk around the Theme Park, and I myself have patted this beautiful animal many times. I did manage to find a video of the tiger walk, unfortunately not of Mohan, but it will give you an idea of how they do this.

• Mohans 17th Birthday: Courier Mail picture gallery.
• Mohan getting a root canal: Courier Mail picture gallery.

Skyaking: Skydiving With a Kayak (Video)

This is just amazing.

From You Tube:
Danger man Miles Daisher casts a bizarre image paddling across the sky – 13,000 feet up in a KAYAK. The daredevil has turned extreme sport skydiving on its head after deciding to jump out of a plane in equipment normally used only in water – giving birth to ‘skyaking’.

Safe Sold on eBay $122.93, Contained $26,000 (Video)

The headquarters of eBay in San Jose, California. Photographed on August 5, 2006 by user Coolcaesar.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A safe sold by a Tennessee man for $122.93 on eBay, when opened contained $26,000. Just amazing isn’t it what you can find on eBay.

Of course he obviously thought the safe was empty, he has since said that he felt “like the stupidest idiot in the world”,  and of course he asked for some of the money from the person that did buy the safe, and the person said “No”.

Apparently on the Tennessee’s man eBay site, he has a policy which states:
“What you see is what you get, no returns, and no money back.”

Brolga: Australian Bird (Video)

The Brolga is a very unusual bird of Australia; the bird was originally named the “Australian Crane” back in the 1800′s by an artist John Gould. I don’t know why the name was changed. The Brolga is a wetlands bird and is very common, although in the Southern States for some reason the numbers are not so good. What makes this bird so unusual is its dancing ritual which it uses for mating as well as protecting its bit of ground, which you will see in the video below.

Australian Brolga The classic 1865 brolga illustration by John Gould (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Brolga is a very pretty pearl grey or silver grey, in colour and is part of the crane family, it grows up to 1.3 meters or 4.3 feet in height, it has a wing span up to 2.4 meters or 7.9 feet, their weight is around 3.7 to 8.7 kg or 8.1 to 19.2 pounds. The male weights slightly more than the female. The Brolga has a very pretty wide red band around their neck; the young birds do not have this band it is developed later as they become adults.

English: Brolga (Grus rubicunda) at Healesville, Victoria, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another unusual aspect of this bird is its mating season. It doesn’t actually have one, mating depends solely on rainfall, so depending on which part of Australia the bird is in mating is from February to May or September to December for the Southern States. The nest is built by both male and female, and is a raised mound built with sticks, uprooted grass, mud etc. and is always located in wetlands in shallow water or occasional floating.

A Brolga (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The famous dance begins with a bird picking up some grass and tossing it into the air, catching it in its bill, and then progresses to jumping a metre into the air with outstretched wings, then stretching, bowing, walking, calling, and bobbing its head. Sometimes just one Brolga dances for its mate; often they dance in pairs; and sometimes a whole group of about a dozen dances together, lining up roughly opposite each other before starting.

I found a great article about this bird if you would like to learn more in ABC Science.

Other posts you may like from my blog:

• Giant Bird Fossils Discovered: Australia
• Cockatoo Feeds Dog Spaghetti (Fun Video)
• Kookaburra: Australian Bird (Video)
• Largest Pigeon in the World (Video)
• Southern White-Faced Owl (Funny Video)
• Eagle Owl (Fantastic Video)

Barracuda Jumps into Boat (Video)

The barracuda is well known for it’s size as well as it’s fearsome appearance. They can reach up to 1.8 m in length or just under 6 ft. and 30 cm in width or 11 inches, they are found in subtropical oceans worldwide.
Barracudas are voracious predators and rely on surprise and speed. They have been known to go as fast as 43 km/h or 27 mph. When they catch their prey they consume by tearing large chunks of flesh. Their teeth are very sharp and fang-like.

From You Tube:
While Filming a segment for our fishing show, Tails From The Outdoors Show, you must see this amazing footage of a 40 lb Barracuda jumping into our boat!

Florida Sport Fishing TV looks at one of Florida’s most impressive game fish the great barracuda in this conservation corner segment.

 

You may also like to have a look at these posts from my blog:

• 17th June 1597 Mary, Queen of Scots was Imprisoned
• Piranhas Attack: Brazil
• Barreleye: Spook Fish (Video)
• Is This the World’s Ugliest Fish? (Video)
• Fishy Foot Fetish: Let the fish clean your feet. (Video)
• Sea Serpent (Oarfish) Video

Gambling/Driver/Flowers (Weekend Jokes)

Gambling

A man spent a weekend gambling in the casinos, and he won $100,000. He didn’t want anyone to know about it, so when he came back home, he immediately went out to the backyard of his house, dug a hole and planted the money in it.

The next morning he walked outside and found only an empty hole. He noticed footsteps leading from the hole to the house next door, which was owned by a deaf-mute. On the same street lived a professor who understood sign language and was a friend of the deaf man. Grabbing his pistol, the enraged man went to awaken the professor and dragged him to the deaf man’s house. He screamed at the professor:

“You tell this guy that if he doesn’t give me back my money I’ll kill him!”

The professor conveyed the message to his friend, and his friend replied in sign language: “I hid it in my backyard, underneath the cherry tree.”

The professor turned to the man with the gun and said: “He’s not going to tell you. He said he’d rather die first.”

Taxi Driver

A passenger in a taxi tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him something. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, then the driver said, “Please, don’t ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me.”

The passenger, who was also frightened, apologized and said he didn’t realize that a tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much, to which the driver replied, “I’m sorry, it’s really not your fault at all. Today is my first day driving a cab, I have been driving a hearse for the last 25 years.”

Flowers

A new business was opening and one of the owners friends sent flowers for the occasion. but when the owner read the card with the flowers, it said, “Rest In Peace”. The owner was a little peeved,and he called the florist to complain.

After he told the florist about the obvious mistake, the florist said, “Sir I`m really sorry for the mistake,but rather than getting angry, you should imagine this: somewhere there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a note saying,
“Congratulations On Your New Location”.

Paying The Bill

 Walking up to a department store’s fabric counter, the pretty girl said, “I would like to buy this material for a new dress. How much does it cost?” “Only one kiss per yard,” replied the male clerk with a smirk.

“That’s fine,” said the girl. “I’ll take ten yards.” With expectation and anticipation written all over his face, the clerk quickly measured out the cloth, wrapped it up, then teasingly held it out.

The girl snapped up the package, pointed to the old man standing beside her, and smiled, “Grandpa will pay the bill.”

Movie: Prometheus (Video)

This is the first time I have done a post about a movie, but I was so disappointed with this movie I just had to say something. We decided to go to the movies on Wednesday night to watch this as Tuesday’s is discount day and always packed, it was a good decision, and there were only 6 of us in the cinema, to us that was perfect, no interruptions while watching the movie at all.

We don’t see a lot of movies on the big screen unless the movie has a lot of special effects. I am a Sci-Fi fan from way back, and I was really looking forward to seeing this one, and you also had the choice of watching this in 3D as well. Of course we decided on the 3D version, another reason to watch the movie on the big screen.

This movie to me was very boring, and very predictable, there was only a couple of parts in the movie that was good. For those that are fans of the “Alien” movies, well Prometheus is actually the very beginning of the “Alien” movie; it leads up to where “Alien” started.

It is definitely a prequel to “Alien” and yes you have to go back 33 years to remember this movie. I own all the “Alien” movies on DVD, but for the younger generation a lot would not be able to put the two movies together. Prometheus is a mish mash of a lot of Sci- Fi movies, it seems they have used different ideas from a whole lot of movies and just rolled them all together, and it was the worst acting I have seen in a very long time, to the point is was laughable.

This movie has had a lot of mixed reviews, for those that have never seen “Alien” it would of been different for them, for the “oldies” we have seen it all before. We knew what was on the planet before they arrived, we knew what they were going to find, and with the bad acting it just made it worse.

Rated M 15 years + in Australia
Rated R Restricted.  in the USA

This preview I feel would not be suitable for children.

Stairway To The Moon: Broome Australia

Some people call it the staircase to the moon, either way it is a natural phenomenon, that can be seen at a place called Broome in Western Australia. The best viewing spot for this is at Roebuck Bay. This beautiful illusion is only created when the tide is fully out, which exposes mudflats, and the moon is full.

Broome location map in Western Australia
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 As the moon rises over the exposed mudflats it creates the optical illusion of a staircase or stairway leading up the the full moon, simply stunning.

This phenomenon happens between March and October every year. There are a lot of tourists as well as locals that go, so expect crowds, if you are thinking of going, also some nights they have markets on or entertainment, so it can be a great night out for the whole family.

You can find the dates for this event for 2012 on the Broome Community web site. (also photo source)

It was hard to find real pictures of this event, a lot of people posting pictures that was just the moon shinning on the water, not the actually stairway to the moon, but I did find a very nice photo of the event on flickr if you would like a have a look

I found 2 videos that was fairly good, both had Embedding disabled, I feel this one got the best shot of the event. Staiway to the moon.

Other posts you may like from my blog:

• Morning Glory Clouds: Australia (Hang Gliding Video)
• Wave Rock: Australia (Video)
• Horizontal Falls: Western Australia (Video)
• Tessellated Pavement: Tasmania Australia (Video)

Octopus Squeeze (Video)

It is amazing how a large octopus can squeeze itself through such a small tube, as you will see in the National Geographic video below. This octopus is 600 pounds or just over 272 kilos yet it manages to slide through the tube without any problems. Octopus have no bones, this is what makes them so very flexible.

 

Other posts you may like from my blog:

• Dancing Squid and Frog Legs Ready to Eat (Video’s)
• The Mimic Octopus: South East Asia (Video)
• Oktapodi : Oscar 2009 Animated Short Film (Video) A lovely and fun story that goes for just over 2 minutes.

Napoleon Bonaparte Letter Sold: Paris (Video)

Napoléon Bonaparte; crop of The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries by Jacques-Louis David, 1812 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A letter written in English by Napoleon Bonaparte was sold at a French auction for 325,000 Euros. The letter was a homework exercise Napoleon sent to an English teacher, and is dated March 9, 1816. It was sold at the auction house Osenat in Fontainebleau. It was purchased by the French Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris.

The letter was written after Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, and while he was in exile at Saint Helena.