VirtualBox USB with Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic
After you upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, your VirtualBox USB devices will likely be all greyed out. To get VirtualBox USB support working again, you need to add yourself to the vboxusers group. To do this, use the System menu at the top of the screen, then to Administration, then to Users and Groups. Click on the keys at the bottom of the window and enter your user password to be able to make changes. Then, double-click your username and select the User Privileges tab. Scroll down to the bottom and select Use VirtualBox. Logout and log back in and you should be able to use USB devices with your guest OS.
Armillaria Ostoyae
Armillaria ostoyae is a fungus commonly known as a Honey mushroom, and sometimes called Shoestring Rot.
This is the most common variant in the western U.S., of the group of species that all used to share the name Armillaria mellea. Armillaria ostoyae is quite common on both hardwood and conifer wood in forests west of the Cascade crest. The mycelium attacks the sapwood and is able to travel great distances under the bark or between trees in the form of black rhizomorphs (“shoestrings”).
A mushroom of this type in the Malheur National Forest in the Strawberry Mountains of eastern Oregon, U.S. was found to be the largest fungal colony in the world, spanning 8.9 square kilometres (2,200 acres) of area. This organism is estimated to be 2,400 years old. The fungus was written about in the April 2003 issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. While an accurate estimate has not been made, the total mass of the colony may be as much as 605 tons. If this colony is considered a single organism, then it is the largest known organism in the world by area, and rivals the aspen grove “Pando” as the known organism with the highest living biomass.
Pando the Trembling Giant
Pando (or The Trembling Giant) is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) located in the U.S. state of Utah, all determined to be part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers and one massive underground root system, although whether it is a single tree is disputed, as it depends of one’s definition of an individual tree.
The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000 tonnes (6,615 tons), making it the heaviest known organism. The root system of Pando is claimed by some to be among the oldest known living organisms in existence at 80,000 years of age, though the method used to produce this estimate (an estimate on when climatic conditions were last suitable for seedling germination) is not supported by current evidence of germination.
Grove of Titans
The Grove of Titans is a redwood grove, including several massive redwood trees, in Northern California. The largest coastal redwood in the grove is Lost Monarch.
The Grove of Titans was discovered May 11, 1998, by Stephen Sillett, and naturalist Michael Taylor. The location of the grove has not been disclosed to the general public. The discovery implies that Sillett and Taylor are the first to realize and declare the significance of the grove, not that they are the first ones to have seen the grove. The grove’s botanical significance is near equal with Atlas Grove to the south.
General Sherman
General Sherman is the name of a Giant Sequoia with a height of 275 feet (83.8 metres). As of 2002, the volume of its trunk measured about 1487 cubic meters, making it the largest non-clonal tree by volume. The tree is located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in the United States, east of Visalia, California. The tree is believed to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old.
In 1879, it was named after American Civil War general, William Tecumseh Sherman, by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman. In 1931, following comparisons with the nearby General Grant tree, General Sherman was identified as the largest tree in the world. One upshot of this process was that wood-volume was widely accepted as the defining factor in establishing the world’s largest tree.
In January 2006 the largest branch on the tree (seen most commonly, in older photos, as an “L” or golf-club shape, protruding from about 1/4th down the trunk) broke off. There were no witnesses to the incident, but the branch—bigger around than the trunks of most trees, with a diameter of over 2 m (6 feet) and a length of over 30 m (100 feet)—smashed part of its enclosing fence and cratered the pavement of the walkway surrounding the sequoia. The breakage, however, is not believed to be indicative of any abnormalities with the tree’s health, and may even be a natural defense-mechanism against adverse weather conditions. The branch loss did not change the General Sherman’s status as the largest tree, as its size has been calculated using measurements of trunk volume, excluding branches.
via General Sherman (tree) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.