Moonbow

A moonbow also known as a lunar rainbow, lunar bow or white rainbow is a rainbow produced by light reflected off the surface of the moon rather than from direct sunlight. Moonbows are relatively faint, due to the smaller amount of light reflected from the surface of the moon. They are always in the opposite part of the sky from the moon.

The term Moonbow was coined by Nick Whelan who sighted one of the first documented Moonbows in Eastern Utah.

It is difficult for the human eye to discern colours in a moonbow because the light is usually too faint to excite the cone color receptors in human eyes. As a result, they often appear to be white. However, the colours in a moonbow do appear in long exposure photographs.

Moonbows are most easily viewed when the moon is near to full and when it is brightest. For other than those produced by waterfalls, the moon must be low in the sky (less than 42 degrees and preferably lower), the sky must be dark and there must be rain falling opposite the moon. This combination of requirements makes moonbows much rarer than rainbows produced by the sun.

Few places in the world frequently feature this phenomenon. Cumberland Falls, near Corbin, Kentucky, U.S.A. and Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, Durham, North Carolina and Waimea on Hawaii's Kauai Island are widely known for moonbow occurrence.

Darwin’s bark spider

Darwin’s bark spider is very small and yet constructs webs with anchor lines spanning rivers. Originally discovered in Madagascar in 2001, Darwin’s bark spider constructs webs that can span entire rivers! Its silk must be remarkably strong in order to bear the weight of its massive structures. Darwin’s bark spiders spin silk that is twice as strong as any other spider’s and ten times better than Kevlar, the substance used in bulletproof vests and bike frames.

The extra strong silk is what makes it possible for the spider to make anchor lines that are very long and can bear the weight of the central web, its contents, and the spider. Scientists counted 32 preys in a single web. These prey had not yet been wrapped up by the spider, meaning the web has a huge capacity for catching insects at any moment.

The extremely strong silk allows the Darwin’s bark spider to have a strategy no other spider can employ. It builds its webs in habitats other spiders are incapable of using, which means it can catch food without having to compete with other spiders. Their webs are built directly over streams, rivers and lakes.

The spiders were discovered in Madagascar’s Ranamofana National Park. After conducting tests and taking measurements of the spider’s silk scientists concluded it is the toughest biological material known to man. However, the scientists are not clear on how exactly the small spider constructs the anchor lines which span a stream or river and support the core web. One of the explanations given is that the spiders create a single silk strand and then swing themselves across a stream to the bank where the fix an anchor line, and then return to the other bank and do the same, sort of like Tarzan. Scientists believe that it is likely that there is even stronger silk out there that has yet to be found.

Pineberry

The new summer fruit which looks like a white strawberry... but tastes like a pineapple. The Pineberry is said to combine the shape and texture of a strawberry with a flavour and smell closer to that of a pineapple.

The pineberry is a strawberry cultivar owned by breeder Hans de Jongh and commercialized by VitalBerry BV in Made, The Netherlands, and publicized in German in April, 2009, as Ananaserdbeere, or pineapple strawberry. The fruit flesh can range from soft white to orange and is very fragrant with a slight pineapple flavor. The plant is disease resistant, but is not very profitable. Due to small-scale farming, small berry size and low yield crop, the pineberry has been marketed to European restaurants, bakeries and wholesale markets. It is also grown in Belize.

Pineberries were bred from a wild strawberry originating in South America where it grew wild, but was nearly extinct until 2003, when a group of Dutch farmers banded together to save the plant. The pineberry is said to have the same genetic makeup as the common strawberry. When ripe, it is almost completely white, but with red seeds. A pineberry is smaller than a common strawberry, measuring between 15 to 23 mm. They are grown in glasshouses, growing on coir like other strawberries. Pineberries begin life as green berries, and then become slightly white. By the time their deeply set seeds turn deep red, the white fruit is deemed ripe.

Underwater hockey or Octopush

Underwater hockey or Octopush is a global non-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals.

Players wear a diving mask, swimfins and a snorkel for play. Safety gear includes ear protection usually in the form of a water polo cap, a mouthguard, and a glove for the playing hand. The stick is relatively short not more than 350mm in length, including the handle and is coloured white or black to indicate the player's team.

The puck is approximately the size of an ice hockey puck but is made of lead or similar material and is surrounded by a plastic covering, which is usually matched to the pool bottom to facilitate good grip on the stick face while preventing excessive friction on the pool bottom. The puck's weight brings it to rest on the pool bottom, though can be lifted during passes. The goals are three metres in width and are sited at opposite ends of the playing area on the pool bottom.

Two teams of up to ten players compete, with six players on each team in play at once. The remaining four players are continually substituted into play from a substitution area, which may be on deck or in the water outside the playing area, depending on tournament rules. Games consist of two halves, typically ten to fifteen minutes in length and a short half time interval. At half time the two teams switch ends.

Before the start of play the puck is placed in the middle of the pool, and the players wait in the water, touching the wall above the goals they are defending. At the start-of-play signal (usually a buzzer or a gong), in-play members of both teams are free to swim anywhere in the play area and try to score by manoeuvring the puck into the opponents' goal. Play continues until either a goal is scored, or players return to their wall to start a new point, or a break in play is signalled by a referee.

There are a number of penalties described in the official underwater hockey rules, ranging from the use of the stick against something (or someone) other than the puck, playing or stopping the puck with something other than the stick, and "blocking" (interposing one's self between a team-mate who possesses the puck and an opponent; one is allowed to play the puck, but not merely block opponents with one's body). If the penalty is minor, referees award an advantage puck - the team that committed the foul is pushed back 3 metres from the puck, while the other team gets free possession. For major penalties, such as a dangerous pass (.e.g., at or near an opponent's head) or intentional or repeated fouls, the referees may eject players for a specified period of time or the remainder of the game. A defender committing a serious foul sufficiently close to his own goal may be penalized by the award of a penalty shot, or a penalty goal to the fouled player's team.

The sport was invented in 1954 by Alan Blake of the newly formed Southsea Sub-Aqua Club and first played at the club by him and other divers including John Ventham, Jack Willis, and Frank Lilleker in Eastney Swimming Pool, Portsmouth, England. Originally called "Octopush" the original rules called for teams of eight players (hence "octo-"), a bat reminiscent of a tiny shuffleboard stick, called a "pusher" (hence the "-push"), an uncoated lead puck called a "squid", and a goal known at first as a "cuttle" but soon thereafter a "gully". The first rules were tested in a 1954 two-on-two game, and an announcement was made in the November 1954 issue of Neptune, the official new sheet of the British Sub-Aqua Club. The object of the game was to keep members of Southsea Sub-Aqua Club #9 from abandoning the new club during the winter months in which it was too cold to dive in the sea. The first octopush competition between clubs was a three-way tournament between teams from Southsea, Bournemouth and Brighton in early 1955. Southsea won then, and they are still highly ranked at a national level today.

Underwater Hockey is not very spectator friendly. Since the action is all below the surface, one must enter the water to get the full effect of the game. Spectators may either try on fins, a snorkel, and mask and enter the pool for a view of the playing area, or take advantage of the work of underwater videographers who have recorded major tournaments.