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One unique feature of bats is their modified forelimbs, which support a wing membrane (patagium). The basic elements of the mammalian limb are present in bats, although the relative sizes of most bones and muscles differ from those of nonflying mammals. The most elongated parts of the limb are those of the hand (metacarpal bones) and fingers (phalanges). The primary functions of these bones in bats is to provide support for the patagium and control its movements.

Numerous blood vessels and nerves are present throughout the wing membrane. Bats also have five unique muscles present in the patagium, and use additional muscles in the chest and back to move the wings up and down.

The most obvious difference between bird wings and those of bats is that bird wings are made of feathers, not a skin membrane. Birds have an elongated arm, but do not have elongated fingers like bats. Additionally, the muscles used in both the upstroke and downstroke are found in the chest of birds, while the upstroke muscles are on the back in bats (Fenton, 1983).

I have always talked to my cats. I say their name when I see them, when I pet them and when I feed them. They know their names and come when called. The human voice is calming to a cat. Some cats will respond when talked to, others just look at me, but at least I have their attention. I've had other cats that would answer every question with different sounds. Since I don't speak "cat" it was impossible to understand, though. Cats can remember us by our voices as well. One of our cats named "Graceful Mowser" was sold to some friends of ours and a year and a half later had kittens. They called her "Mouse". We were invited to see the kittens, but the momma kept standing over them so we couldn't see them. I talked to her, "Hi Gracie, what beautiful babies" and she stood back as if she was proud and looked at me intently. I always called her "Gracie". When other people came to see the kittens she still tried to cover them. Later, whenever we stopped by, Gracie would come to greet us as soon as she heard my voice. Otherwise she was naturally shy and would hide whenever anyone came in the house.

The history of Thanksgiving goes much further back than Plymouth and 1621. In fact, people across the world from every culture have been celebrating and giving thanks for thousands of years. In this country, long before English colonists arrived, Native People celebrated many different days of thanksgiving. “Strawberry Thanksgiving” and “Green Corn Thanksgiving” are just two of kinds of celebrations for the Wampanoag and other Native People. In 1621, the English colonists at Plymouth (some people call them “Pilgrims” today) had a three-day feast to celebrate their first harvest. More than 90 native Wampanoag People joined the 50 English colonists in the festivities. Historians don­t know for sure why the Wampanoag joined the gathering or what activities went on for those three days. Form the one short paragraph that was written about the celebration at the time, we know that they ate, drank, and played games. Back in England, English people celebrated the harvest by feasting and playing games in much the same way. The English did not call the 1621 event a “thanksgiving.” A day of “thanksgiving” was very different for the colonists. It was a day of prayer to thank God when something really good happened. The English actually had their first thanksgiving in the summer of 1623. On this day they gave thanks for the rain that ended a long drought.

As coaches, we expect our players to work in the off-season and make improvements. But what about us as coaches... what are we doing in the off-season to help our team and to improve ourselves as coaches?

Maintain balance in your personal life. Right after the season is over, step back and forget about it for a couple weeks. Take time for your family and friends, relax, enjoy life and your time away from the gym.

We already discussed re-evaluating your system, plays, players, etc. Make the necessary adjustments, if any, that you think will help next season. Think about your goals for the upcoming season. Now is the time to create a master practice plan, if you find that helpful.

Section: Festival The start of the New Year has been celebrated in China for more than 3,000 years. New Year was a time when the farmers gave thanks for the harvest and prayed to the gods for a good harvest in the coming year. This was the one period in the busy farming year when there was time to have a celebration and when the family could get together, relax, and be merry. Chinese New Year begins with a New Moon. The Lunar Year is calculated from the time it takes for the Moon to travel around the Earth, while the Western (Gregorian) calendar is based on the time it takes for the Earth to circle the Sun. The orbits of the Moon bear no relation to the time it takes for the Earth to go around the Sun, which is why the Chinese Lunar New Year is celebrated on a different date each year. In China the New Year was renamed the Spring Festival, in 1911, when the Western calendar was officially accepted in China. However, it is still commonly known around the world as the Chinese New Year. Chinese years are named after one of twelve animals. These have been used in the same order to name the years since the sixth century A.D. Each animal is said to have its own personality and emotions, which are present in people born within its year. ~~~~~~~~By Sarah Moyse This article is copyrighted. All rights reserved.Source: Chinese New Year (0-7613-0374-X)

Holidays are very important to the French. The French begin the year with a celebration of the Jour de l'An, which is New Year's Day. They greet each other by saying "Bonne Annee!" (Happy New Year). On January 6th there is la Fete des Rois (the Festival of the Three Kings), where people have a King's Cake. Whoever finds the special toy that has been baked into the cake gets to be king or queen for the day. In February, the French celebrate la Saint-Valentin or Valentine's Day by giving, valentines and chocolates. Also the French mark the start of Lent (a religious time when people fast) with Mardi Gras celebrations. On the 1st of April people play tricks on each other and say "Poisson d'avril!" which means "April fish!" People have little paper fishes that they cut out and try to stick on the backs of their friends that day. Easter is an important holiday in France. On the morning of Easter Sunday, most French people go to church. Afterwards, they carry home candles that have been blessed by priests. For Easter, which is called Le Pacques, omelettes, (an egg dish) are usually eaten for breakfast. People also give each other chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies.

Holidays are very important to the French. The French begin the year with a celebration of the Jour de l'An, which is New Year's Day. They greet each other by saying "Bonne Annee!" (Happy New Year). On January 6th there is la Fete des Rois (the Festival of the Three Kings), where people have a King's Cake. Whoever finds the special toy that has been baked into the cake gets to be king or queen for the day. In February, the French celebrate la Saint-Valentin or Valentine's Day by giving, valentines and chocolates. Also the French mark the start of Lent (a religious time when people fast) with Mardi Gras celebrations. On the 1st of April people play tricks on each other and say "Poisson d'avril!" which means "April fish!" People have little paper fishes that they cut out and try to stick on the backs of their friends that day.

end of the spectrum are the reds and oranges. These gradually shade into yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The colors have different wavelengths, frequencies, and energies. Violet has the shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum. That means it has the highest frequency and energy. Red has the longest wavelength, and lowest frequency and energy. LIGHT IN THE AIR Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits. Dust particles and water droplets are much larger than the wavelength of visible light. When light hits these large particles, it gets reflected, or bounced off, in different directions. The different colors of light are all reflected by the particle in the same way. The reflected light appears white because it still contains all of the same colors. Gas molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. If light bumps into them, it acts differently. When light hits a gas molecule, some of it may get absorbed. After awhile, the molecule radiates (releases, or gives off) the light in a different direction. The color that is radiated is the same color that was absorbed. The different colors of light are affected differently. All of the co

d after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first described it in the 1870's.) WHY IS THE SKY BLUE? The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by t

As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.

Solar energy can also be used to make electricity.

solar power plants, like the one in the picture to the right in California's Mojave Desert, use a highly curved mirror called a parabolic trough to focus the sunlight on a pipe running down a central point above the curve of the mirror.

mirror focuses the sunlight to strike the pipe

Chinese Democracy topping 1.5 million in CD sales and downloads

the American Music Industry has never been healthier.

“People don’t realize it,” said Stamphammer in a recent interview, “but we started planning for this back during the teen-pop era. In fact, remember when that N’Sync album sold 1.1 million copies in its first week? 50,000 of those were digital files.”

largest monitor lizard or goanna native to Australia

fourth largest lizard on earth

Found west of the Great Dividing Range in the arid areas of Australia

One of the keys to getting the most out of your training program is to work outside of your comfort zone.

I can't argue that you're doing something to stay in shape and work on your game. But you're not really pushing yourself, and you shouldn't really expect those types of workouts to pay huge dividends.

Change your approach. Push yourself harder than you normally do, and you'll start to see results. Instead of shooting 30 or 40 random, lazy jump shots, create a plan for yourself. Shoot from 4 or 5 spots on the floor until you've made 30 or 40 shots from each spot (or some number that you set as a goal for yourself). Get in the triple-threat position, head-fake, take a quick dribble to one side or the other, get good lift on your shot (really getting off the ground), and concentrate on your follow-through. Push yourself to move quicker than you normally do, and to jump higher than you normally do.

Back in October 2007 Costa Rican artist Guillermo 'Habacuc' Vargas "paid some children to chase and catch a stray dog, after which he chained up the poor animal in a gallery, telling the viewing public not to feed or water it". Allegedly bowls of water and food were placed near the dog but alas, both items were just out of the its reach. On the wall above the dog the phrase "Eres Lo Que Lees" (translates as "You Are What You Read") was written in dog biscuits. The outcome of the exhibition was that "the dog slowly starved to death and eventually died in the gallery in view of everyone".

The round-Snouted head and neck are usually darker than he body (glossy black in winter, dark brown in summer). The eye is of average size with a blackish brown iris.

The back, sides and tail may be buff-grey to greyish brown, buff-brown, brown or reddish dark brown

shelters in rat burrows

New York Giants running back Derrick Ward showed off his hurdling skills as he leaped to avoid a tackle by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Farrior. Ward led the Giants with 80 yards from scrimmage, and the defending Super Bowl champions scored 12 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat the Steelers, 21-14.

Nichiren (日蓮) (February 16, 1222 - October 13, 1282), born Zennichimaro, later Zesho-bo Rencho and sometimes called Nichiren Shonin or Nichiren Daishonin, was a Buddhist monk in 13th century Japan, and founder of Nichiren Buddhism, a Buddhist movement which continues today.

Nichiren believed that the teachings contained in the Lotus Sutra were given by the Buddha Shakyamuni.

One central theme in the Lotus Sutra, which was emphasized by Nichiren and is emphasized in Nichiren Buddhism today, is that enlightenment may be attained in a single lifetime.

the subject matter of human psychology is the behavior of the human being

claims that consciousness is neither a definite nor a usable concept.

belief in the existence of consciousness goes back to the ancient days of superstition and magic

Ma Ying-jeou was elected president of Taiwan in March 2008. A Harvard-educated lawyer and popular public figure, Ma won the presidency by the largest vote margin in Taiwan's electoral history. His landslide election also brought the long-ruling Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) back to power after an eight-year hiatus.

12 to 14 year old girls can pull off those remarkable stunts, then more power to them.

What worries me far more than their age is the precedence it sets for future Olympics.

Will we see further bending of these rules and practices like this continue?

ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT

In 1897 he flew in a balloon for the first time and thereafter became one of the foremost balloonists in France.

In 1905 he built an airplane consisting of three box kites connected to each other by bamboo poles, powered by a steam engine.

Ader kept working to perfect his airplane, and finally, with the financial backing of the French Army, he built Avion III, a flying machine similar in design to the Eole but with a longer wingspan and two four-blade propellers. On Oct. 14, 1897, Ader tested his Avion at Satory with a military observer team present. Ader claimed that that day he had again flown, but three witnesses disagreed with each other about whether Ader actually took off and flew the Avion before it crashed.

SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY

Langley was soon experimenting with models, the first of which were powered by rubber bands