Category: Miscellaneous babble

This year’s season is decidedly calmer than last year. This time two years ago the storms were just starting up while there were already 7 storms this time last year. Last night TD3 developed and was named TS Chris this morning.
Looks like it will be a rainy weekend for vacationers in the Bahamas.

This comes from one of the staffers at the SC Aquarium.

Please educate yourself on Cuban Tree Frogs. These are invasive frogs obviously native to Cuba and surrounding islands. They are very established in Florida as are many invasive species of reptiles and amphibians. They have recently been reported in Savannah and we have now had 3 different cases reported in Mount Pleasant. I helped a lady this morning in Mount Pleasant that found one. Anyways these frogs usually hitch a ride on plant material from nurseries and places like Lowes. If you are planning on doing any new planting be sure and check the plants carefully for these frogs. These frogs are voracious eaters and will eat a lot of our native amphibians.
These frogs look similar to our native tree frogs But can get much larger (females can reach 6 inches). They have small bumps on their backs which distinguishes them from our native tree frogs. They also have extra large toe pads. The easiest way to determine if you are dealing with a Cuban Tree Frog is to rub the skin on top of the head. Cuban Tree Frogs skin is fused to it’s skull so the skin won’t move. This is not true with our native tree frogs.I have attached a picture but you can easily look these up on the internet. Remember these frogs can change colors and be any color from dark brown to white.

Linkage:
CBS News: Cuban Tree Frog Found In Georgia
Wikipedia: Cuban tree frog
Animal Bytes: Cuban tree frog

Every now and then we’ll stumble on a really cool find while driving around. Today (well, yesterday now…) we were driving along Dorchester Road looking for this Mexican restaurant the wife heard about. Never did find the restaurant, but we did stumble upon a tiny little West Indian market chock full of stuff from the Carribean. It was fantastic! All kinds of neat seasonings, drinks, canned goods and even a few frozen things. 7 or 8 different jerk seasonings to pick and choose from, several shelves full of Carribean hot sauces and plenty of drinks from the islands. You can even pick up a warm crispy Jamaican patty to snack on while you’re browsing through the store. There’s also a good sized collection of reggae CDs to choose from. It’s a neat place to browse through and a great place to find some of those more obscure ingredients for that Carribean dish you’ve been wanting to cook.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be back.
Mini Mart West Indian Grocery
5341 Dorchester Rd
North Charleston, SC
(843) 207-0777

Just in case people had gotten a bit complacent and forgot, TS Beryl popped up this morning as TD2 and soon became the second named storm of the season. No, it’s not a slow season. It’s 6 weeks in and almost 4 months left to go. Remember, the peak of the season happens around August. This is the time to make your preparations, while it’s calm and not with a storm beating down the door.
Fortunately Beryl looks like it’s going to stay mostly out at sea without intensifying much more..

A few tidbits today’s daily perusal of Slashdot that set the geeky part of my brain all a-flutter.

• RFID viruses – apparently scanning a mere 127 bytes of data (if it’s the right data) can really mess up a database. Sounds like RFID systems need more data validation.
• HP’s wireless memory chip – Doesn’t store much yet, but it has WiFi! How cool is that?
• A Dragonlance movie! – Dragonlance has long been one of my favourites in the D&D inspired books. Now it’s being turned into an animated movie! Ooooo…
• Mercury atomic clocks – NIST’s current atomic clocks are based on cesium atoms and are pretty accurate (1 second per 70 million years). This proposed mercury clock would stretch that out to 400 million years. How’s that for accuracy?
• 3.5 TB NAS – Outgeek all of your friends with one of these and 5 750 GB drives sitting on your desk. Enough to start any geek drooling.