Interesting Facts About Watermelon.

A square watermelon? Don't worry, I explain below.

I (not so) graciously consumed a slice of watermelon earlier. It was quite delicious and definitely satisfying. Accordingly, I figured hey... why not drop some watermelon facts on my audience? Nothing hot and heavy here for you to process this evening, just some cool facts about a cool fruit... and a vegetable?

• Yes, watermelons are both a fruit and a vegetable. They grow from a seed, making them a fruit. And yet, they are within the same family of vegetables as pumpkins, squash and cucumbers. The watermelon is a trans-food substance! How progressive!
• The wild watermelon, which looks much different than the watermelon we typical eat, originated in southern Africa.
• A watermelon is 92% water, making it a natural thirst quencher and great for your kidneys.
• Watermelons also contain high amounts of manganese, Vitamin C, Vitamins B1 and B6, Vitamin A and potassium.
• Watermelons are also packed with electrolytes, making them a much better choice for consumption over sugar-filled energy and athletic drinks.
• Most of the world's watermelons are grown in China.
• In China, the rind of the watermelon is eaten like a stir-fried vegetable.
• Japan has the strangest watermelons of all. You can purchase higher-end square watermelons, which are seen as fashionable. How do the farmers do it? They grow the watermelons in square glass containers, in which the melons gradually take on the shape. We really need these in the USA!
• The heaviest watermelon ever recorded was nearly 270 pounds.
• You can carve a watermelon just like a pumpkin at Halloween. When you light it with a candle, the red interior takes on the spooky appearance of blood! I did this as a child many times and can verify that it works.

And now, for you viewing pleasure (and just because it's my blog and I can do what I want), here is a video of an exploding watermelon!

Newly Discovered Raptor Zhenyuanlong suni Had Wings.

Say hello to the Velociraptor's nasty, feather-covered cousin.

This is the newly discovered dinosaur Zhenyuanlong suni. It was alive roughly 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. Paleontologists recently found a near-complete skeleton of it in the western province of Liaoning, China. It was perfectly preserved in rock. The magnificent wings which it bore were clearly visible surrounding the fossil. This marks the largest feather-covered dinosaur ever found.

As with other members of its family, Zhenyuanlong suni was a land-bound predator. It didn't use its wings for flight. Instead, the feathers were merely used for display -- either to scare off other predators, attract a potential mate or establish superiority in a community.

It's now commonly believed that many more dinosaurs bore feathers than previously thought. One of the chief concerns with the ever-popular Velociraptor is that it most certainly had feathers or wings as well. I recently covered this discrepancy in my review of Jurassic World. While we can't wholly fault a fantasy film for incorrectly depicting dinosaurs, I do hope the day will come where dinosaurs are more accurately envisioned when brought to the big screen.

The discovery was made by scientists from the University of Edinburgh and the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences

The Tiananmen Square Protests - 26 Years Later.

Today, June 4, marks the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, China.

1989 - Tanks from the People's Liberation Army roll into Tiananmen Square, preparing to silence the protesters. One anonymous man (now known colloquially as Tank Man) stood in defiance, at great risk to his own life and limb. His fate is not known. This historic photo was taken by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press.

Hundreds of pro-democracy student protesters were murdered by their own government, perhaps even thousands -- information about the event is not totally clear. The Chinese Government does not officially recognize the incident, nor do they allow any public recognition of it. The cloud of misinformation is still in full force. Even though the Chinese Government ignores this terrible massacre, many hundreds of thousands of citizens hold vigils annually to remember that terrible day.

Just some of the many tens of thousands of attendees to 2014's Tiananmen Square vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park.

In the time since then, China has grown to become one of the world's leading powers, both militarily and economically. Some of the political reforms sought by the Tiananmen protesters have been implemented in the decades since. The current Communist regime, led by Xi Jinping, has taken an aggressive approach to removing corrupt elements from the government. Though, the Communist Party is still the sole political group allowed in China. Independent political parties are not permitted, nor are they tolerated. Whereas students fought for personal liberty in 1989, the youth of modern China face harsh censorship and control in today's digital world. China has instituted increased internet regulation since 2012, limiting much of what the Chinese people can view online. Lu Wei, China's chief internet regulator, was quoted recently as saying that the people needed to be educated in how to be "good netizens".

The Tiananmen Square Massacre serves as a stark reminder to the residents of Earth. The good people of this planet must not suffer tyranny quietly. Oppression by any government against its People can not go unchallenged. Though the American people (and those of many other nations) enjoy more freedom than most, I believe we can all relate to the Tiananmen protesters. On this day, we remember.

The Rising Tide of E-Cigarette Use By Teenagers.

In a shocking bit of news today, the Centers for Disease Control revealed that the use of electronic cigarettes by middle and high school students tripled between 2013 and 2014. The statistics show that the percentage of students using e-cigarettes in the United States jumped from 4.5% in 2013 to a whopping 13.4% in 2014. While the number of underage tobacco users has largely remained unchanged in recent years (currently around an absurd 30%), the use of electronic cigarettes and vaporizers has moved along at warp speed. This is unheard of in other developed societies. Much less, the damage that nicotine can do to a developing mind is well documented. Nicotine has a degrading influence on the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which directly alters the decision making process. Teens who consume nicotine, in any capacity, lessen their ability to make wise decisions.

There's another downside to the consumption of electronic cigarettes, which function by vaporizing liquid nicotine. Often mixed in with the liquid nicotine are various flavors and additives. Unfortunately, we just can't be certain exactly what's in this nicotine cocktail because electronic cigarettes are completely unregulated. The various liquids, which typically originate from countries like India and China, usually do not indicate what ingredients are included. Yet, chemical analysis has shown that such harmful chemicals as DDT have been found present in the liquid nicotine that's currently available at retail. Personally, I find the use of electronic cigarettes to be just as foolish as smoking regular cigarettes -- you're trading one set of bad chemicals for another. Much less, no long term studies have been conducted on the use of electronic cigarettes or the vapor that's exhaled by users. It's a dangerous and all-around uninformed choice to be inhaling unknown chemicals from places that could give a damn about the safety of their products. This negatively affects teenage users worst of all. They'll have a lifetime to contend with any possible negative health impacts from the use of liquid nicotine. Never mind the assertions of pro-vaporizing lobby groups, which contend that the use of electronic cigarettes is completely healthy. Appallingly, medical doctors regularly prescribed the use of tobacco for their patients on into the middle part of the Twentieth Century. Advertisements for various cigarette brands even featured "expert claims" by doctors as to why their brands were completely safe. If Americans only knew then what we know now -- smoking will kill you. Should we not apply this same cautious logic to the use of electronic cigarettes?

An authentic, vintage Camel Cigarette ad from the mid twentieth century.

Talk about deceptive!

The ability of the federal government to regulate the sale and use of electronic cigarettes as soon as possible isn't just a matter of public safety -- it's about preserving the lives of youth. Modern student health programs should educate about the dangers of nicotine and tobacco use, including the consumption of liquid nicotine and e-cigarettes. Ultimately, I'd hope for the end of nicotine abuse globally, though that notion is surely far from being a reality. Yet, we have to start somewhere.