Mind Soup

As if we need further confirmation. Last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide and the fourth consecutive month that the combined global land and sea temperature records have been broken, according to the US government’s climate data centre. The figures released last night by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggest that 2010 is now on course to be the warmest year since records began in 1880. The trend to a warmer world is now incontrovertible. According to NOAA, June was the 304th consecutive month with a combined global land and surface temperature above the 20th-century average. The last month with below-average temperatures was February 1985. Each of the 10 warmest average global temperatures recorded since 1880 have occurred in the last 15 years with the previous warmest first half of a year in 1998. { via }

OH MY GOD!  Yes! That is a real bug. Appropriately named the rhino beetle, it sure is huge. Imagine if more bugs were this size. Aaghh! It sure is a nightmare for those who are scared of creepy crawlies and even for those who get nervous when they see one close. It does redefine entomophobia, the fear of creepy crawlies. Can you just imagine how one would react to a couple of them crawling within a few feet of distance? These rhino beetles are a wily pest and can destroy coconut crops in a jiffy. Wonder what kind of bird if any has the guts to feed on this giant bug. Nature can have a strange sense of humor. Wonder why she made a bug so huge or may be we should be wondering why she made the others so small. Nature has her share of weird things in the world, so can man be far behind? So many extra large weird stuff, man made are out there to bring our fantasy to another level. Ranging from a gigantic burger, to a coffin shaped like a giant duffel bag or a coffee table...

Meryl Streep  is the new queen of the Golden Globes as her win for best actress in a comedy or musical for "Julie & Julia" gives her seven statuettes to the half dozen owned by  Jack Nicholson  and  Angela Lansbury . Streep set the record for most nominations last year when her double lead actress nods for "Doubt" (drama) and "Mamma Mia!" (comedy/musical) gave her 23 in total, breaking the tie with  Jack Lemmon  who racked up 22 lead nods and 4 wins (movie drama — 0/6; movie comedy — 3/10; and TV movie/mini — 1/6) over 40 years beginning in 1960. She lost both those races -- drama to  Kate Winslet  ("Revolutionary Road") and comedy/musical to  Sally Hawkins  ("Happy-Go-Lucky"). This year, she was also a double nominee -- bringing her total tally to 25 -- competing against herself in the comedy-musical actress with a bid for "It's Complicated" as well. From her 21 movie nominations, Streep had won five Golden Globes ...

The sun is reduced to a ring of gold against the black sky as the Moon slips between it and Earth. This solar eclipse yesterday lasted for 11 minutes and eight seconds, setting a record that will not be beaten until December 23, 3043. A Chinese couple watches the solar eclipse over Zhengzhou, in the country's central Henan province The skies over Hongdao, China, where the spectacular 'ring of fire' could be seen.  The eclipse was annular, meaning the Moon blocked most of the Sun's middle This image show a total solar eclipse which passed over Europe and the Middle East, and into India.  The Moon's umbra can be clearly seen as a black disc, approximately 63 miles across Such events, which only blot out the middle of the Sun, are known as annular eclipses. They occur about 66 times a century and can only be viewed in the narrow band on the Earth’s surface below their path. Yesterday’s light show began in Africa before crossing the Indian Ocea...

The world's tallest building has been opened with a dramatic fireworks ceremony in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. The Burj Khalifa was revealed to be 828m (2,716ft) high, far taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101. Known as the Burj Dubai during construction, the tower has been renamed after the leader of Dubai's oil-rich neighbour, Abu Dhabi. Last month, Abu Dhabi gave Dubai a handout of $10bn (£6.13bn) to help it pay off its debts. Construction of the Burj Dubai began in 2004, at the height of an economic boom. Clad in 28,000 glass panels, the tower has 160 floors and more than 500,000 sq m of space for offices and flats. The tower also lays claim to the highest occupied floor, the tallest service lift, and the world's highest observation deck - on the 124th floor. The world's highest mosque and swimming pool will meanwhile be located on the 158th and 76th floors. Technical challenges The opening ceremony, held 1,325 days after excavation wo...