The Dog Master: Book Report.

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about The Dog Master, a book based on the author's perceptions of how we tamed the first dog. Being a Prehistorical Fiction, it's a fun read, and for all we know it could have nuggets of truth in it. It follows separate story lines at separate times to tie up everything neatly, and uses the modern day setting to explain otherwise confusing things. It follows a archeologist who's discovered the remains of a wolf that had a red pigment stained onto the fossil, which gives evidence that it had large interactions with humans. As the stories progress both in prehistoric and modern day times, we see the paleontologists and cave-people's seprate struggles with separate consequences.

One of the story lines we find is the tale of the Kindred, a hunter/gather setup that travels in a large hoard to follow supplies. In it, we follow the story of one female as she has to deal with arranged marriages, the evilness of the council mother, and having a dis-formed child in a time where such things were classified as curses. We then begin to follow the child's storyline, from having to deal with a deformity in a time with no medicine, having to deal with the social stigma of it, and eventually having to deal with being banished from the tribe.

Another one is following the story of the Wolfen, a group who have made their entire social circle around being like the wolfs. After having his father die, we follow the tale of a heir to the group's problems as other's disagree with his right to power, him having affections for those his father's dying wishes said he couldn't marry, and the fact that a group of wolves continuously are coming to him for food and this is taken as a sign that he is the true Wolfen leader.

And finaly we have the story of a wolf and a man who work together to survive, with the man being forced out of honor and sympathy to not kill the wolf and her pups even though he doesn't know if the pups will kill him once they grow up, as well as having to find enough food to keep both him and them alive, while the wolf and cubs have to learn to deal with this strange creature who's intruded into their life but yet brings them food. At the end, it's relieved that the man was the Kindred's son and the wolf mother was the wolf that kept coming to the Wolfen. It ends after the mother cub dies and the only surviving cub stays with the man, the Wolfen let the man join them without caring about his malformation, and the Kindred get rid of the evil stigma that was protruding from the council and put in those who are for the well being of the entire group.

That's Adventure Van, reading into the past.

This Thing Exists?: The Glorified Water Gun.

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about the This Thing Exists series,  where this one's subject will be the WORX branded Hyrdoshot. It's a rechargeable power cleaner with 5 times the power of a garden hose, and brings attachments such as bottle and suck hose to keep full. While it's advertised for big jobs, such as watering huge gardens and cleaning statues, the use it stands out to me for? The perfect water gun for both the beach and just wars. Attach the bottle attachment to e on the move with this powerful thing, and in a pool or beach, just attach the hose and leave it in the water for infinite water. Of course the $120 price tag is kinda dissuasive to buying it for just a toy, but it's got plenty of uses other then being a kid's epic weapon.

That's Adventure Van, swimming awaaayyyy.

Hot Galaxy!

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about the universe's hottest thing: you. Just kidding, of course, but we've found the hottest thing ever discovered. KELT-9b is a exoplanet three times Jupiter's size, with an estimated average temperature of 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit. It's around 650 light-years from earth orbiting a bright, intense, 'new' star.  The planet only takes 2 days to travel across the entire sun, and is hotter then it by almost twice as much. And the weirdest thing about it is the fact that it doesn't rotate as earth does, meaning that one side of the planet is constantly being bombarded by heat and radiation. The combination of all of these means that the planet's life is likely short lived, as they will be stripping away the atmosphere by the second and will probably strip the planet down to a core.

That's Adventure Van, being hot.

Altamira: The Clone.

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Altamira. This is a follow up to the blog I previously did, but about a different angle on it. You see, Altamira might be a cave system made out of rocks, but that doesn't mean the paintings in it can't be effected. After the events of the last blog post, it was opened to visitors. However, several months after it being opened, a visitor noticed a splotch of green on a painting. The guide checked it out, and discovered that it was fungus that was feeding off the painting and was brought in by a guest.

It was immediately closed to the public, and the fungi was beaten back and wires were placed to stop it from coming back. However, this meant that guests couldn't come in and see the paintings. We ended up with an amazing bounty of paintings that no one could see. So, Gilles Tosello and others worked on creating a rendition of it down to the exact contours so that the public could see the same thing without damaging the originals. He worked on creating the exact details for the caverns, while drawing the paintings perfectly. It's currently open to the public, and you can find out about it here.

That's Adventure Van, recreating a blog.

Altamira: The cave system of art!

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Altamira. You might know Altamira as one of the great finds for adding in hundreds of paintings to our collection of prehistoric man. However, do you know how it was discovered? It was discovered by a hunter's dog. You see, the hunter was chasing after a fox, and the dog was following the fox. The dog got itself stuck in between a rock pile, and the hunter, in moving the rocks, uncovered the entrance to a cave system. After walking in and exploring the huge area with bone sticking out of the ground, he left and went on to inform a paleontologist friend, and owner of the land he was hunting on, who was interested in those types of things.

The name of this paleontologist was Don Marcelino de Sautuola. He went on to examine the caves, and began digging, finding a group of animal bones that were prove of humanity being there, with knifes and spear bits being scattered about. However, it wasn't until his daughter Maria went with him that the main achievement of the caves were realized. As Maria went thru the catacombs, she could reach places where her dad couldn't. and went down a small tunnel to find a sight 'of that of the fairy-tale cow'. She told her father, and he excavated the tunnel and saw over 25 painted animals in a herd, for the most part bison, as well as 50 outliers in this one cave system. He found others of the such in the other branches, and noted that the artists worked with the contours to give their creations defining features.

Because of the work of professionals, (and children and dogs), we have one of the largest (to date) complete collection of art, which never would've been found without a simple hunter's dog. And that's why we have a great understanding of human history.

That's Adventure Van, exploring over there.

(I'm planning on a second part, so a link will be here when it comes out. Here's the link: CLICK ME)

This Thing Exists?: The Survival Capsule.

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about the Survival Capsule, a machine that made it onto this list not out of sheer disbelief of the product, but out of sheer disbelief that it was only recently invented in this style. It's an aluminum pod  that's made for disaster area properties, being able to withstand hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. It can also survive up to 40,000 pounds worth of pressure, as well as having a beacon to be easily located. It's also $13,500, which makes it kinda expensive, but the advantages of having this in a disaster area means that you have some honest insurance for your life in a destructive situation.

The opened pod.

That's Adventure Van, sealing up. and misprinting whoops.

PINK: The special structure of Flamingos.

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Flamingos! Now, you might wonder, what is there to write about flamingos? Well, their interesting bone structure, for one. You might of seen how they stand. It's weird, as they stand on one leg all the time. But the reason for this? They're made for it, and it's harder for them to stand on two legs at a time. The flamingo's leg locks into position, and can even let them stand up, on one leg, even when they're dead. It was discovered that their muscles and skeleton are positioned to let gravity work on keeping them upright. However, we have yet to figure out why it is advantageous to do so, but a leading theory is that they do so to preserver heat by keeping their other leg out of the water they're in most of the time.

That's Adventure Van, pinking out.

Secrets: The secret is out.

Hey guys, it's Adventure Van here with a blog about Secrets, and the downgrades in your brain they can have. According to the Columbia Business School, holding secrets from others will lead to Stress, Sleep Loss, and other consequences. Experts asked 1,200 people online and 300 in person  about their secrets, and people admitted to holding around 13 on average, including 5 serious ones that they'd never tell anyone. However, the serious thing is not hiding it, but dwelling on it, as doing so will end up pulling energy and mental time away from events and sleep and put into caring about the secrets. So, either deal with the serious ones, or just forget about the extremely minor ones, because those ones might just be damaging you more ways then morally.

Adventure Van, being secretive.