Don't Look at Me

It's Real

Little Shop of Horrors fans may see a resemblance to the bloodthirsty plant from the 1986 movie in the above electron micrograph image.

Drexel University doctoral student Jessica Schiffman won an honorable mention in photography in the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge for capturing what's actually an array of suckers found on the tentacles of a long-finned squid.

Each sucker--about 400 micrometers wide, or a little smaller than the width of a human hair--is surrounded with "fangs" of chitin, a hard organic material. (via make)

Pretty cool if you ask me.

Uh. . . No.

Necessary?

Rough Day

Brilliant Birds

Crows seem to be able to use causal reasoning to solve a problem, a feat previously undocumented in any other non-human animal, including chimps.

Alex Taylor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and his team presented six New Caledonian crows with a series of "trap-tube" tests.

A choice morsel of food was placed in a horizontal Perspex tube, which also featured two round holes in the underside, with Perspex traps below.

For most of the tests, one of the holes was sealed, so the food could be dragged across it with a stick and out of the tube to be eaten. The other hole was left open, trapping the food if the crows moved it the wrong way.

Three of the crows solved the task consistently, even after the team modified the appearance of the equipment. This suggested that these crows weren't using arbitrary features – such as the colour of the rim of a hole – to guide their behaviour. Instead they seemed to understand that if they dragged food across a hole, they would lose it. (Full Story at newscientist | via marginalrevolution)

I think that a crow would make a very cool pet. I know there would be issues with it, but I would much, much rather have a crow over a parrot (or a cat). 

Walk Yourself a Chair

Big Mac

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - Talk about a Big Mac attack! Don Gorske says he has eaten 23,000 of the burgers in 36 years.

The Fond du Lac man said he hit the 23,000 milestone last month, continuing a culinary obsession that began May 17, 1972, and is fed by his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"I enjoy them every day," said Gorske, 54. "I need two to fill me up."

Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald's track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

Despite a diet some would call unhealthy, Gorske says he keeps himself in good shape. He says he's 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds, and walks as many as 10 miles a day. (Full Story at wtop)

I think I remember them showing this guy on "Supersize Me." I can't say I would suggest this diet, but it is his choice to make. . . 

Pooh Bear

En route to a training camp in Quebec during World War I, Canadian army lieutenant Harry Colebourn bought a bear cub for $20 from a hunter in White River, Ontario.

He named her Winnipeg, after his hometown, and smuggled her to England, where "Winnie" became the mascot of his militia regiment.

Eventually he donated her to the London Zoo, where she became a great favorite of Christopher Robin Milne, the son of a local playwright.

You know the rest. (From futilitycloset)

Neat.

The American Fortune Cookie

THE instructions on the red wrapper are very explicit: (1) Open the packaging. (2) Use both hands to break open the fortune cookie. (3) Retrieve and read the fortune. (4) Eat the cookie.

In China, such details are necessary, it seems.

“Chinese people don’t know what to do with a fortune cookie,” said Nana Shi, who started an online business last October that is likely the only company currently selling fortune cookies in China. “They don’t know that you have to open it.” (Full Story at nytimes)

I can't say this is all that surprising. One thing I really wish, though, is that we had more authentic restaraunts. I realize they have them in large metro areas, but I wish we had more in general. Yes, I know there is reason they Americanize all the food. It's because that's what Americans will buy/eat. Hopefully the American palette will broaden. I suppose that's the only chance I have of experiencing some truely authentic fair.

Tanaholoic

ScienceDaily (Sep. 4, 2008) — A new study conducted at a large university finds more than 25 percent of those surveyed reported symptoms of tanning dependence, including symptoms similar to alcohol and drug-addicted individuals.

Suggestively, the study also found those with a tanning dependence tend to be more likely to be thin and smoke cigarettes than others. The study by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center is published in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Behavior. (Full Story at sd)

This is just odd to me.

Rat Prices

The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation puts other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials say.

With consumer price inflation at 37 per cent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel ($1.48).

Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel a kilogram. (Full Story at abc)

OK. I am officially not complaining about food prices anymore. . . well, at least for the rest of the day.

Friendly Competition

The boy was attempting to set fire to his farts as part of a competition against his cousin in the garden of a house in Tipton when the accident occurred.

Fire fighters were called to the address but the small blaze had already burned itself out when the crew arrived.

Officers administered first aid until an ambulance arrived.

The victim was taken to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley suffering from 18 per cent burns to the backs of his legs and his thumb.

Watch commander Paul Harpin, from Tipton station, said it was the first time he had been called out to deal with such an incident.

“The boy had been pranking around in the garden having a competition with his cousin, when they were breaking wind and lighting it. Right behind him was a petrol can and that just flashed.

“I think he must have won the competition but he will have some nasty burns now.

“It is a warning not to mess around with fire,” he added. (Full Story at telegraph)

There's not much you can add to that. . .

Making The Perfect Person?

Bike Powered Fridge

Pretty sweet. I like it.

(via make)

. . . What Happened

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A modern-day love story of a man spotting the girl of his dreams across a New York subway train and tracking her down over the Internet has failed to have a fairytale ending with the relationship over.

For Web designer Patrick Moberg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he spotted a woman on a Manhattan train last November. But he lost her in the crowd so he set up a website with a sketch to find her -- www.nygirlofmydreams.com.

Unbelievably in a city of 8 million people, it only took Moberg 48 hours to track down the woman, with his phone ringing non-stop and email box overflowing as usually cynical New Yorkers took sympathy on the subway Romeo and joined his hunt.

The mysterious brunette was named as Camille Hayton, from Melbourne, Australia, who was working as an intern at the magazine BlackBook and also lived in Brooklyn. One of her friends spotted the sketched picture on the Web site and recognized her.

But after finding each other, appearing on TV and getting international press, the couple took their romance out of the public eye, with Moberg closing down the Web site and with both refusing to making any more comments -- until now. (Full Story at rueters)

If life were like the movies. . .

There May Be a Yeti Yet

Scientists in the UK who have examined hairs claimed to belong to a yeti in India say that an initial series of tests have proved inconclusive.

Ape expert Ian Redmond says the hairs bear a "startling resemblance" to similar hairs collected by Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary.

He told the BBC the Indian hairs are "potentially very exciting".

After extensive microscope examinations, the hairs will now be sent to separate labs for DNA analysis. (Full Story at bbc)


Like I've said before, I love the idea that there are many more myths that will eventually be proven true.

Evie

Sometimes I end up at a website that is on the border of disturbingly strange and funny. This is one of them.

Can You Break The Code?

Benjamin Franklin wrote from Passy, in 1781, a letter to M. Dumas. He said:— 'I have just received a 14, 5, 3, 10, 28, 2, 76, 203, 66, 11, 12, 273, 50, 14, joining 76, 5, 42, 45, 16, 15, 424, 235, 19, 20, 69, 580, 11, 150, 27, 56, 35, 104, 652, 20, 675, 85, 79, 50, 63, 44, 22, 219, 17, 60, 29, 147, 136, 41, but this is not likely to afford 202, 55, 580, 10, 227, 613, 176, 373, 309, 4, 108, 40, 19, 97, 309, 17, 35, 90, 201, 100, 677.' This has never been deciphered. The state department at Washington has no key to it. I submit it for the consideration of the whole world.

– Elliott Sandford, New York World, cited in Henry Williams, A Book of Curious Facts, 1903

(via futilitycloset)

Who Would Win

If you had to bet on a leapard or a croc in a death match, which would it be? Well Go here to find your answer...


(thanks tom)