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Tag Archives: science!

Sandy Island

Islands that disappear have always been interesting to me.  Like Hog Island of New York.  There’s actually very little (useful) information on it.  Which makes it all the more interesting.  One day it was there.  The next day (after a category 2 hurricane made landfall) it was gone.  Mostly.  It took awhile after that to completely disappear but essentially, the whole island disappeared.  Because of a hurricane.  Interesting.

It has recently come to my attention that there has been another disappearing island.  This one is of a slightly different nature.  It’s disappearance is not so much because of a natural disaster but probably because it never existed in the first place.  Here, let me show you.

This is Sandy Island, which I have so helpfully circled, pointed to, and labeled for you.  You can see that it’s supposedly in the South Pacific, the Coral Sea actually, and located about halfway between New Caledonia and Australia (not shown).  Now then, drawn maps are all well and good, but sometimes cartographers can make mistakes.  Let me show you the satellite image of the same area.

This is the same exact area on the same scale as before.  Note where Sandy Island is supposed to be.  Note that it’s just a black blob.  I’ve even put in an inset for you to help clarify it’s black blobbiness.  Google does not have any photos of Sandy Island.  Why?  Because it doesn’t exist.  Tada!  Disappearing island!  Interesting!

Now then, I’m sure the conspiracy theorists among you can think of SO. MANY. reasons why Google and some others show a nonexistent island on their maps.  But really…rly??  Simple human error, says I.  Maps used to be made by compiling information from different sailors.  It’s not like they were the most accurate things ever.  Maps are much more accurate now since cartographers can actually get to an area and map it via plane, satellite, radar, sonar, etc, etc.  We have so much technology now that has helped cartography.  My guess is that this island had made it onto a database somewhere and the printers just propagated the error, thinking that someone surely must have checked the existence of a whole island.

Anyway, here is how I first learned of Sandy Island.  I especially like the part where the captain of the boat is nervous about sailing through an island that isn’t there because it was on his weather maps but not his navigation charts.  He was afraid they might run aground only to find out that the ocean is really deep where the island supposedly is.

Oh, and here.  I found the wikipedia article on the island.  It’s listed as a “phantom island.”  Hehehe.

What do vampires want with plasma?

I recently donated blood to the Red Cross, which is run by vampires, in case you were not already aware of that fact.  The humanitarian things that the Red Cross does is just a front to keep people from finding out that its really run by vampires.

Anyway, I recently supported vampire hibernation.  I have never done so before.  I don’t really know why.  Maybe because I always thought I was anemic, or close to it, and needed every red blood cell to keep me functional.  Or something.  I do things for very obscure reasons sometimes.

One of these obscure reasons for supporting vampire hibernation was that I have been quite curious about my blood type.  I never knew what my blood type was and apparently neither did my parents.  I guess I would have found out sooner if I needed a blood transfusion or something, but I never have needed one.  I have led a terribly blood transfunsionless life.  I suppose the vampires are happier because of it.  I’m not constantly trying to dip into their stores of blood.

ANYHOO!  My donor card arrived recently and I have found out that I am an AB+ (two links).  This probably means the Red Cross will never want my blood again.  “But why?” you ask.  Well, apparently you weren’t paying attention in high school biology, otherwise you’d know that people who have blood type AB+ do not have the anti-A or anti-B antibodies in their plasma and they have the Rhesus factor on the surface of their red blood cells.  This in turn means that they are the “universal recipient” as they can receive blood transfusions from all blood types.  That also means that only others who are AB+ can accept type AB+ blood…so, demand is rather low.  The Red Cross probably does not want any more of my blood.

Well, the vampires might want my blood, but since they’re putting up a humanitarian front, they probably won’t be accepting any more of my blood.  Otherwise how can they explain that blood disappearing when relatively few humans can accept that type of blood?  Nope.

BUT, the Red Cross might want my plasma.  Remember how I said that there are no anti-A or anti-B antibodies in my plasma?  That means all other blood types can accept plasma from an AB person (the Rh factor doesn’t really mean much in this case because there are no red blood cells).  That means that perhaps the Red Cross will ask for my plasma instead of my blood.  Which brings me to the question, what do vampires want with plasma?  I always thought vampires wanted whole blood.  Maybe dieting vampires drink only plasma.  Makes sense, right?