The Large Blue is a blue butterfly that is resident in Europe and some parts of Asia.Uncommon everywhere in the world. The Large Blue primarily resides in heaths,and dunes and hillsides.

Large Blue caterpillars are about half an inch in length and can live as long as 9 months before they form a chrysalis to become a butterfly . Large Blue butterflies have a wingspan of up to 2 inches, and will live for only a few weeks. The wings of the Large blue butterfly are speckled with black dots. Compared to a Large Blue caterpillar, the adult's lifespan is short.

This butterfly is wonderful......

you have to see the Blue flying one day !!!!

Phelps, who won six gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games, has spent the past four years training with Club Wolverine in Ann Arbor.

He is on the cusp of history for many reasons: his tolerance for pain, his lung capacity, his desire to win, his training, his coaching.

But where Phelps is different, where he stands alone among world-class swimmers, is how he is built, which, in turn, allows him to undulate through the water in what most swimming experts refer to as the best butterfly stroke in history.

Phelps is 6-feet-4 and 195 pounds. His torso is long and slightly concaved. His back is slightly bowed. His legs are short and hyperextended. In other words, they are ridiculously flexible.

All of this does a few things. First, the hyperextension allows for greater reach, which means he can displace more water than just about anyone else. This is especially true in his ankles, which are like flippers. Second, his huge torso acts as a hull of a boat, which allows him to ride on the water.

And lastly, his reach lets him grab more water. In fact, his arm span is longer than his height - by three inches. Most people's span is the same as their height.

As Phelps rises from the water during the fly, thrusting himself with his dolphin kick helped by those freakish, double-jointed flippers, his hands and arms casually move across the top of the water during recovery before digging back in out front. And he keeps them low. It is as fluid and gorgeous a movement as there has ever been in swimming.

 "This is the best specimen that nature has come up with in terms of swimming," Stewart said. "We've never seen anything like him."

Like a fish.

Or, more accurately, like a dolphin

By SHAWN WINDSOR • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • August 13, 2008

What is Civil Engineering?

Civil engineering is a people-serving profession, concerned with the planning, design, construction and operation of large, complex systems such as buildings and bridges, water purification and distribution systems, highways, rapid transit and rail systems, ports and harbors, airports, tunnels and underground construction, dams, power generating systems and structural components of aircraft and ships. Civil engineering also includes urban and city planning, water and land pollution and treatment problems, and disposal of hazardous wastes and chemicals. The design and construction of these systems are only part of the many challenges and opportunities faced by civil engineers. The recent revolution in computers, communications and data management has provided new resources that are widely used by the professional civil engineer in providing safe, economical and functional facilities to serve our society.