They always escape in the wash...

Day 170.5

A sock puppet is a puppet made from a sock (or similar garment). When the manipulator fits a hand into the closed end of the sock, the puppet can be seemingly made to "talk". The puppet's mouth is formed by the region between the sock's heel and toe, with the puppeteer's thumb forming a jaw. At a minimum the shape of the hand will instantly form the shape of a mouth, but sometimes the mouth is padded by putting in a fairly hard piece of felt (often with a tongue glued inside).

The sock is stretched out fully so that it is long enough to cover the puppeteer's wrist and part of the arm. Often, but not always, the puppeteer will hide behind a stand and raise up his or her hand above the stand so that only the puppet is visible. Many sock puppeteers, however, stand in full view along with their puppets and will hold conversations with their own sock puppets, using ventriloquism.

Sock puppets are often used for the education and entertainment of children. 

All the kings horsemen and all the kings men...

Day 170

An orthopedic cast, body cast or surgical cast, is a shell, frequently made from plaster, encasing a limb (or, in some cases, large portions of the body) to hold a broken bone (or shell) in place until healing is confirmed. It is similar in function to a splint.

Body casts, which cover the trunk of the body, and in some cases the neck up to or including the head or one or more limbs, are rarely used today, and are most commonly used in the cases of small children, who cannot be trusted to comply with a brace, or in cases of radical surgery to repair an injury or other defect. A body cast which encases the trunk (with "straps" over the shoulders) is usually referred to as a body jacket. These are often very uncomfortable.

I like the sour ones.

Day 140

Dallas: Something has attached itself to him. We have to get him to the infirmary right away.
Ripley: What kind of thing? I need a clear definition.
Dallas: An organism. Open the hatch.
Ripley: Wait a minute. If we let it in, the ship could be infected. You know the quarantine procedure. Twenty-four hours for decontamination.
Dallas: He could die in twenty-four hours. Open the hatch.
Ripley: Listen to me, if we break quarantine, we could all die.
Lambert: Look, could you open the god-damned hatch? We have to get him inside.
Ripley: No. I can't do that and if you were in my position, you'd do the same.
Dallas: Ripley, this is an order. Open that hatch right now, do you hear me?
Ripley: Yes.
Dallas: Ripley. This is an order. Do you hear me?
Ripley: Yes. I read you. The answer is negative.

Did you feel a breeze?

Day 133.5

Flashing  involves the exposure of a person's "private parts" to another person, in a nonthreatening manner, in a situation where these would not normally be exposed, such as in a social situation (in front of other people) or in a public place. The act of flashing may simply be intended to attract the non-aroused 'attention' of others for shock value.

Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen is a police scientist who has a reputation for being very slow, deliberate, and frequently late, which frustrated his fiancée, Iris West. One night, as he was preparing to leave work, a lightning bolt shattered a case full of chemicals and spilled them all over Allen. As a result, Allen found that he could run extremely fast and had matching reflexes. He donned a set of red tights sporting a lightning bolt (reminiscent of the original), dubbed himself the Flash, and became a crime fighter active in Central City. In his civilian identity, he stores the costume compressed in a special ring via the use of a special gas that could compress cloth fibers to a very small fraction of their normal size.

On rare occasion, Allen has been photographed conducing himself in a rather non-superhero manner.

Always secure your skittles!

Day 133
A Gummi bear (also spelled as gummy bear) is a small, rubbery-textured confectionery. The Gummi bear is one of many gummies, popular gelatin-based candies that come in a variety of shapes and colors.

Common characteristics of modern Gummi bears include a large body with stocky legs, a short snout, translucent body, plantigrade paws with five non-retractile claws, and a short tail. While the polar Gummi is mostly carnivorous and the giant panda Gummi feeds almost entirely on sweet tarts, the remaining six species are omnivorous, with largely varied diets including both cotton candy and animals.

Before backpackers are allowed to enter an area with Gummi bears, they may be required to watch a video that teaches how to avoid encountering or agitating gummies. Experts emphasize keeping your distance and making noise to avoid startling a Gummi bear as the best ways to avoid a Gummi attack. If a Gummi bear does become confrontational, the usual advice is to raise the arms above the head so as to appear larger, and to yell at the Gummi. Running away or climbing a tree can activate the Gummi bear's hunting instincts and lead to it perceiving the human as prey.

If a Gummi bear does charge, persons are advised to hold their ground, as most Gummi bear charges are bluffs. Finally, if a Gummi bear does attack, the usual advice is to curl into a fetal position so as to shield vital organs and appear non-threatening. If this is not effective in stopping the attack, the only option left is to fight the Gummi bear in any way you can. This advice applies to omnivores such as cherry and lime Gummi bears; the best way to avoid being attacked by the completely carnivorous polar gummi is not to enter any area where polar gummies live, or at least remain inside a hard-shell vehicle or building.

Happy 4th of July!

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Does this taste "rubbery" to you?

Day 131
Balloon modeling or balloon twisting is the shaping of special modeling balloons into almost any given shape, often a balloon animal. People who create balloon animals and other twisted balloon sculptures are called Twisters, Balloon Benders and Balloon Artists. Twisters often perform in restaurants, at birthday parties, fairs and at public and private events or functions.

A food chain is a linear sequence of links in a food web starting from a trophic species that eats no other species in the web and ends at a trophic species that is eaten by no other species in the web.
Next time you’re at a carnival or circus, stop and wonder at nature’s grand scheme as balloon twisters create dozens of animals for your enjoyment, and while your at it, hum “Circle of Life”.