THE LOOP
Megan

What to Do (and Not to Do) in San Francisco

Recently, I took a trip to the fabulous City by the Bay and had the time of my life! Here are a few tips and tricks for when you're exploring this hilly city.

 

Do: Ride a cable car

Don't: Ride a cable car singing The Fray's 2005 hit "Over My Head (Cable Car)" at the top of your lungs

 

Do: See the sea lions on Pier 39

Don't: Kiss the sea lions on Pier 39

 

Do: Walk around Ghirardelli Square

Don't: Print a Willy Wonka-style Golden Ticket and insist on learning the secrets of the factory and its eccentric but well-meaning owner

 

Do: Visit the Aquarium of the Bay

Don't: Try to defeat the octopus in a game of chess at the Aquarium of the Bay

 

Do: Eat soup dumplings in Chinatown

Don't: Eat so many soup dumplings, you accidentally become a soup dumpling in Chinatown

 

If you follow these insider tips, you're sure to have a memorable stay <3

 

Trevor

It's Over $140,000!!!

Hey Team,

First - Some EXCITING NEWS!!! Yesterday, our SlideBelts Animal Friendly Line appeared on Amazons DEAL OF THE DAY and generated over 140,000 dollars!!! We sold 4,200 units. Steller!

Here is a graphic to help give that number some context:

 

 

So, I guess I've been turning into an Elon Musk fan-boy lately. In my defense, every time I open up my news feed this guy is popping up making history. I'm sure many of you heard about the SpaceX rocket launch on Tuesday (a few of us had the chance to tune in and witness the event live).Overall, that launch was an extreme success even though there were thousands of things that could have gone wrong, and Elon himself giving the mission a 50/50 chance of surviving. Elon not only successfully launched his rocket into orbit, he also put his personal car on it as payload and it's now on it's way to mars.

These rockets, deemed Falcon Heavy, are the most powerful rockets to date by a factor of 2. They are also significantly cheaper then any other rocket when you consider that they are able to recycle the rockets due to their landing technology. That's right, the freaking rockets land themselves after detaching in our atmosphere! 

Some snippets I caught from one of his press conferences:

* Several launches per year

* Can launch things directly to Pluto

* He wants a new "space race" to start between private companies and governments

* SpaceX plans on shuttling hundreds of humans to the Moon or MARS!

* They can now launch even larger satellites into orbit for military and corporation-type use. 

Michelle

Fun Facts About Sloths

Hey guys!

This blog is in some serious need of Sloths (as is everything else in this world!), so I thought I’d share some things about this awesome creature that I found on Science Kids. Enjoy!

 

- Sloths are a medium-sized mammal. There are two types of sloth the two-toed sloth and the three-toed sloth, they are classified into six different species.

- Sloths are tree-dwelling animals, they are found in the jungles of Central and South America.

- A sloth's body is usually 50 to 60 cm long. Skeletons of now extinct species of sloth suggest some varieties used to be as large as elephants.

- Sloths have a four-part stomach that very slowly digests the tough leaves they eat, it can sometimes take up to a month for them to digest a meal. Digesting this diet means a sloth has very little energy left to move around making it one of the slowest moving animals in the world.

- The slow-movement and unique thick fur of the sloth make it a great habitat for other creatures such as moths, beetles , cockroaches, fungi, and algae. In fact, this green colored algae provides a camouflage so sloths can avoid predators.

- Sloths usually only leave the tree they live in to go to the toilet once a week on the ground. This is when they are most vulnerable to being attacked by their main predators such as jaguars, the harpy eagle, and snakes.

- Two-toed sloths are nocturnal, being most active at night. While three-toed sloths are diurnal which means they are most active during the day. It used to be thought sloths slept for 15 to 20 hours a day. However, its now believed they only sleep around 10 hours a day.

- In the wild, sloths live on average 10 - 16 years and in captivity over 30 years.