wraithfodder | Entries tagged with weird news

NASA finds a shrimp - in the Antarctic and 600 feet down - where no life has been found before!

http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/science/article/780076--nasa-finds-a-shrimp-deep-below-antarctic-ice-where-nothing-should-live

See the little shrimp?

Here's the video, caught near McMurdo station (oh look, a Stargate Atlantis reference!)

And if it doesn't show here, it's at The Toronto Star. I love the guy going "the shrimp like thingie" on the video. Bwahahah! And the video is neat to watch!

Yup, made a brief tweet about it, which elicited a few "icks" of sorts, so now shall post here. Anyway, was brushing dog and this dog has fur. I mean, he could be mistakened for a woolly mammoth (Sheltland Sheepdog). However, we found what grossly enough looked like a twisted toenail growing out of his *tail*. I mean, eeeeuuuuu. My brother said, oh, he broke off the other one a while ago so maybe it grew back, which seems to be the case. Anyway, after grumbling why couldn't he have grown this icky little horn thing out of his head as then it would be great for Halloween, I went off to the internet.

Today, I hit the jackpot. Sorta. It seems this is a cutaneous horn, which dogs get, cats get, etc. etc. and even people get 'em too. There are some rather er, um, fascinating photos on the web of people who have let big ones grow on them! Anyway, he'll probably have a vet visit soon so we'll deal with it then.

Anyway, this dog groomer's site - http://www.groomers.net/discusalbum/messages/89/18618.html?1158465213 - had a whole thread on them.

I'll stick the pictures of said 'mutation' under the cut for those who have a low squick tolerance to this kind of X-File-ish stuff ;)

( Ick gross )

Move over, dancing with the stars. Dancing algae can waltz and minuet!

Wow, who would have thought?

Read this article on space junk floating around the planet at Wired . Here's an excerpt:

1. Spatula
While spreading some goo as a test of heat-shield repair materials, spacewalking astronaut Piers Sellers accidentally lost a spatula he had been using. The mishap took place during the space shuttle Discovery's 2006 STS-121 flight to the International Space Station, on a mission to test new safety techniques after the 2003 Columbia disaster. "That was my favorite spatch," Sellers reportedly said. "Don’t tell the other spatulas."

Whoa... so you could be sitting there in your yard, reading a book, when suddenly, a burning spatula comes down from the heavens, and poof, you're toast! ;) No wait, that sounds like a sequel to Dead Like Me where the lead got nailed by a space station toilet seat...

Anyway, also read today that there are 18,000 pieces of clutter up there, orbiting the Earth, which was brougt up when that Russian ex-spy satellite clobbered a U.S. Iridium satellite. Guess they're both toast. More space clutter!

A Twitter recommendation: https://twitter.com/ZooBorns - all about newborn critters at zoos. It's nice to see something, well, nice! I mean, look at this little fella.

Ohmygod, it's going to kill me, it's going to make me live longer, or rots my brain or save my brain.

The latest on coffee is that it helps prevent Alzheimers, but now, the BBC article says... People who drink too much coffee could start seeing ghosts or hearing strange voices, UK research has suggested. So folks who guzzle 7 cups of the brew every day are three times more likely to see Caspar or hear the dog talking to them? But, hey, that's okay cuz "They also stress that experiencing hallucinations is not a definite sign of mental illness and that about 3% of people regularly hear voices." I wonder if they mean the people with those Bluetooth things stuck in their ears 24/7 ;)

But, ohmygosh, When under stress, the body releases a hormone called cortisol which is produced in greater quantities after consuming caffeine, the article says, and all those tv ads says cortisol puts on belly fat, so, coffee kills you when it makes you put on belly fat which then gives you a heart attack!

I love this contradictory stuff.

we all get junk email, right? The usual "You have won a gazillion dollars in Peru/the UK/Angola" etc. stuff but I got some neat holiday ones. (and my spam filters do seem to take out all those 'enlarge your member' spams, phew)

First, a boxing day sale! We don' thave that here in the States, but I know what it is, but sad to say I had to Google "Varadero" (which has, whoa, gorgeous beaches, but oh, is in Cuba) to know I should decline their great airfares ;)

Anyway, this is my fav!

"Hello, to meet the Woofiest Men..." [yes, they said woofiest, which got me thinking? do these guys howl? are they, er, uh, overly hirstute? what??] Wait, Wolverine got his own site??] then I read further and for me to meet the "best hunks" [which then got me thinking, is cheese going to be sale this week? gah, cheese prices are so darned high] I should visit certain links (which I won't repost here) but the words 'jerk' and 'lube' are in those urls and I'm like, hmm, this sounds like, oh, dear, porn! ;)

So, I'll just stick with my woofy dog, thank you ;)

It's bad enough Wall Street has ruined everyone's finances through greed and stupidity, and Stargate Atlantis got axed, but now.... NASA reports Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics. REST AT LINK ABOVE. It's a really interesting article.

But anyhoo, back to stuff we mere mortals can do something about. Yes, after eons of waiting (months?) fans can never get their grubby paws on Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long - on DVD. Yes, read TV Week.com's review of the DVD, and you can order it for the outlandish price ;) of $9.99 exclusively at Amazon. Since it's released on the 19th (this Friday), it's possibel I suppose to have it in your mitts before Xmas? And, for the local and sturdy folk, since the weather prediction is sleet, visit the Paley Center in NYC for an actual sing-a-long. Click on link for details :)

First, just read on a trade magazine that SciFi (aka Skiffy) is spinning off Ghost Hunters: The College Edition. Yes! We can now have a bunch of college students, who probably should be studying for future employment (unless of course, they're majoring in finance, and well, that market is toast). Sigh, just how many 'ghost hunting' shows do we need??

Oh, and ER may get extended to 22 episodes instead of 19 episodes for its final season.

Oh, oh, LiveJournal entry recommendation! Check out forhttp://shaddyr.livejournal.com/221377.html for a fun action figure story featuring Sheppard and McKay visiting Bridge Studios!

Gah, the cat just chewed a hole in his butt again (anal glands). This has happened a few times before and if it doesn't heal up by the weekend, it's off to the vet to get pills he hates. But 9 times out of 10, it seems to heal okay on its own. Oh wait, was that too much information? The joys of a being a cat owner.. Also had to mow part of the lawn to get rid of the leaves, and noticed, oh, Zombie Bambi's remains are still on the log pile. Thinking of perhaps using the skull for a Halloween door decoration...

And finally signed up to do the New Jersey Creation Con (Cherry Hill, NJ, Nov 7-9) Stargate convention (David Nykl, Jason Momoa, Kavan Smith and others and I could so hope they sign up someone else like Joe or David, but probably not). Anyway, big chunk of change but figure, my last hurrah con-wise as I don't see doing much next year since I must replace the aging duct-taped car...

A woman in Tokyo, who was divorced by her husband without her knowledge,got totally pissed and then went and killed her husband, and the police arrested her! I mean, really? Why? You see, she didn't kill her actual husband, in fact, she killed an avatar in an online game and they arrested her (the guy who made that avatar complained to the cops, who busted her and took her 620 miles to another jail!). Aieee, weird. They're charging her with hacking or something. Wow, those online games are *tough*.

And then there's William Shatner's YouTube video ranting on about George Takei. Aieee....

Ohmygawd, you have to watch this video. Rodney McKay would just squee and die....

Magnetic Movie from Semiconductor on Vimeo

Visit http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/10/if-magnetic-fields-were-visibl.html?DCMP=ILC-rhts&nsref=ts17_pic for more details. And as the article says... If you're worried about the still unproven health effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell phones, Magnetic Movie might not be for you.

Okay, real, imagined? Take a stab at guessing what this is and then go below the cut to find the answer :)

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Isn't this just adorable? A cowfrog, or a froggycow. Mooo-toad? Anyway, it's adorable. I could stick it in the front yard, which would annoy family to no end but if no neighbors spotted the dead deer, they won't notice a green cow-frog.

Snurched the BBC site, from cows in Costa Rica for a parade.

Wednesday's Large Hadron Collider experiment: Big Bang 2, time machine, stargate for Satan? reports "The Large Hadron Collider -- a huge particle accelerator spanning the border between Switzerland and France deep underground -- will be turned on tomorrow by CERN -- Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire, or the European Agency for Nuclear Research. View a live webcast of the event at 4 a.m. Eastern Time Sept. 10, at: http://webcast.cern.ch/."

There are many articles on this event. Some people believe that starting this device will create black holes that will suck up the planet. Well, if they have to do it, yes, let's get it done before the presidential election (two more months of their squabbling will probably drive most of us nuts) ;)

Oh yes, go further down the article to "And then there's the full-blown conspiracy theory: The Large Hadran Collider is a stargate created to blow a hole in the Van Allen radiation belt to permit the Annunaki of Niburu to return to earth to do battle with God:" with a video.

Yes, yes, now I can watch and record both Stargate Atlantis and Flashpoint on the DVR! Just read on TVweek.com that CBS is moving Flashpoint to the 10:00pm slot on Thursday nights (okay, this bumps Hopkins to the VCR, but I can live with that) starting this week! Apparently Flashpoint is pulling in 7.62 million viewers, while Swingers (being put in to the Friday slot) pulls in just 6.52 million.

I really do like Flashpoint - it's well-written, well-acted, and I am a fan of Canadian productions. I'm not into it fannishly but definitely enjoy watching it.

and....

Apparently, a year ago (July 23, 2007), the International Space Station astronauts tossed out a refrigerator-sized ammonia reservoir. The 1400-pound piece of space junk has been orbiting Earth since then, but, oops, it's coming down this year or next. Apparently the orbit has decayed so much that the "Early Ammonia Server" (or EAS) is nearly as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper. You can check spaceweather.com/flybys for flyby times, if you want to go outside and see it (apparently no telescope is required!) And CTV is airing it at the same time (and it's the #1 TV download on iTunes Canada).

Just a round-up of odd bits of news for the day (so at least you can say you learned something today ;) And yes, there's a very weird teddy bear story beneath the cut ;)

( Red Tomato Frogs here! )

Quoted from Forrest Gump...Anyway, since it's Superbowl Sunday and the teeming sports-addicted masses are prepping artery-clogging dips and pizzas in preparation for the hours long incredibly boring sports game (punctuated by what people hope will be cute ads, but they'll all be online tomorrow), I turned on the tube and trippepd over Spike's TV's "Most Dangerous Videos" or whatever. Seems animal attacks are the topic this time. I must admit I've seen the deer beating the crap out of the hunter video numerous times, and I just watch that and go 'well, self-defense!. I'd beat the crap out of someone trying to shoot me too! And then are (in my book) the idiot bullfighters. Sorry, ti's a cruel unnecessary sport that torments animals before they killed, so when a bull gores some guy in tights, it's hard to feel sorry for him. If you torment/inflict pain on any animal, even a mouse, it's gonna strike back. However, the poor woman sitting in the bar minding her business didn't expect to get attacked by a rabid fox (and they caught the fox on security cameras chasing her around inside).

And then I saw on the news yesterday, a retro video that apparently has millions of hits on YouTube. It was when a whale died and beached, and they decided unwisely to blow it up (this was decades ago). So they packed something like 20 crates or whatever of explosives on one side, figuring they'll blow it out to seas. Ooops. Kaboom! Seconds later, HUGE chunks of whale blubber are raining down - on the cars parked hundreds of yards away. After one car was CRUSHED by the blubber, it's been henceforth decided that blowing up whale carcasses is not a bright idea. or that you should leave such a job to the Department of Transporation(?!).

In fact, here's just one video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmnq5dBF7Y - in case the superbowl gets dull, or the ads just fizzle... ;)

Well, glow in the dark, courtesy of genetic engineering. So now you have glow in the dark cats, pigs (from jellyfish genones), and fish (see LJ icon).

Suppose it would be cool if you couuld keep ultraviolet light on all the time but me thinsk that would not be healthy. There are lots of news links on this article, but this one at the BBC has a video of said felines:

BBC Science

Some weird news you can talk about at work tomorrow!

Wish you had this kind of cash?...

An Italian couple paid £7,000 for a private helicopter to take their cat, Fufi, from Rome to Sardinia because it was afraid of planes and boats.They were moving home from the Italian capital to the island of Sardinia. Their black cat Fufi refused to go near any of the ferries they could have taken and was terrified of planes - but seemed happy around helicopters. "Fufi means a lot to us, and so investing so much money in one trip was worth it."

Maybe this will stop the guy from having kids when something freezes off...

Mountaineering authorities in Nepal want to ban nudity and 'obscene record' bids on Mount Everest. A Nepali climber claimed the world's highest display of nudity on the world's highest mountain last year. He disrobed for several minutes on the 29,035ft summit in temperatures about -10C, reports Metro. …

Alien' sheep bring them flocking...

A flock of 'alien' sheep has become a local attraction in a Romanian village after all 250 turned green overnight. The owner of the sheep, in the village of Arsa from Constanta county, called the vet to see what was wrong with his animals. Locals came flocking to see the unusual sight while the local vet took samples from the sheep wool and discovered they had all been treated with a solution of limestone. The shepherd said he used the solution to help a few animals get rid of a skin disease. Shepherd Cristinel Florea said: "A few of my sheep got sick one year ago, they got a sort of rash on their skin. "I tried all sorts of treatments but nothing seemed to work. So I decided to use the limestone and all my sheep look like aliens now." Vet Grigore Mertoiu said: "Everyone was puzzled at first but then the owner told us he used limestone to treat his sheep. "The poor animals turned all green during the night because it was a little chilly and they slept very close."

Australians are being urged to get rid of a plague of moths - by eating them.

The "munch a moth" campaign is being led by Jean-Paul Bruneteau, 51, a French-born chef, reports the Daily Telegraph. He first began eating the brown bogong moths 11 years ago while researching a book on bush tucker eaten by Aborigines. "They have a lovely popcorn flavour, like hazelnut," he said. Mr Bruneteau, who has run "bush tucker" restaurants in Sydney and Paris, suggests pulling off the furry wings, then popping the moths in the oven for three minutes in a splash of canola oil. Alternatively the chef, recommends putting them through a coffee blender and sprinkling them into an omelette, pancake or crepe. Martyn Robinson, a naturalist who works at the Australian Museum in Sydney, is another dedicated moth muncher, preferring to catch them on his windowsill, hold them by the wings then pop them in his mouth. But Mr Robinson's initial enthusiasm for eating the native moths waned after he discovered that they contain high levels of arsenic, the result of eating farm crops sprayed with pesticides. He also warns about their fat content: one study found that 3oz of bogong moth abdomen contains three times as much fat as a Big Mac. (from Ananova.com)

Nikon's Small World Contest: A Gallery of Beautiful Tiny Things

Check it out - http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/multimedia/2007/10/gallery_small_world

While reading up on Felix turning in a hurricane in the Caribbean, tripped over these items...

http://www.cbs46.com/news/14023650/detail.html# reports that in Acworth, GA, a kitten nearly became part of a school under construction when he got trapped beneath concrete that was being poured to secure a set of stairs. A construction worker heard the kitten meowing three days ago. He chiseled into the concrete and rescued the kitten, which had been 5-6 days without food or water. The construction worker took him home and named him ‘Stone.”

They do everything bigger in Texas, I swear ;) Check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6972062.stm for an article on the HUGE spider web which currently covers 650 feet of a park. They’ve got a photo of it up there as well, but if you’re a spiderphobe, you can ignore.

Fast food does kill. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2487251.html reports that McDonalds in Germany is developing a new type of ice cream holder after they caused the deaths of large numbers of hedgehogs. The animals reportedly met their end by climbing into the beakers used to sell the company's McFlurry soft ice cream. After licking out the remains the creatures were unable to free themselves and perished. The new beakers will have a rubber rim that prevents the hedgehogs from getting trapped. They will go into full production as soon as scientists have finished testing the product on a group of hedgehogs, according to McDonalds' spokesman Jennifer Gehrmann

* Is a quote from one of the characters in the SciFi flick MEGA SNAKE.

Snerched a few shots from Yahoo's news page, so, click on cut....

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If you thought your day was bad....

Reuters reports: A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for 2 km (1.2 miles), leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb.

The BBC reported: An Australian rancher has described how he spent seven days up a tree in remote bushland to escape crocodiles. He only had two meat sandwiches to keep him going, as crocodiles moved beneath his tree each night until his rescue. Mr George, manager of the Silver Plains cattle station near Coen in Queensland's far north, said he was stalked each night by two crocodiles that would sit at the bottom of the tree staring at him. "All I could see was two sets of red eyes below me and all night I had to listen to a big bull croc bellowing a bit further out," he said.

The Scotsman reports that Khenar, a crocodile, dove out of a 12th floor window in a block of flats in Russia after trying to escape. It was the third time the animal had used that method to flee. It lost a tooth in the latest fall but was otherwise unscathed.

And the animal news is weird today!

First, the Daily Mail reports that zookeepers in Hampshire (UK) were introducing new meerkats to their already established brood, but apparently meerkats are a cantankerous bunch and fight, so…. the vet recommended … VapoRub! Yes, smear a little on their noses to confound their sense of smell. It worked. The new meerkats were accepted and they’re getting along famously, and perhaps new little meerkats are in the future. And, just for the heck of it, a collection of five or more meerkats isa mob or a gang.

Meanwhile, the “grim reapurr: the cat that can predict death,” is all over the news today. Oscar the cat was adopted as a kitten and grew up in a dementia unit at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabiliation Centre, where people are treated for Alezheimers, dementia, etc. Anyway, Oscar makes the rounds, just like the medical staff, who soon noticed that the cat would end up sitting with people who died a few hours later. If Oscar decides to sleep with you, you’ve got less than four hours to live. You can read the full story at the Daily Mail or just Google it.

Oh yeah, when I was going through the Lansing airport after departing MediaWest*Con, the TSA official lady looked at my T-shirt (which said "I was abducted by aliens who laserphotographed my organs and dropped in a crop circle and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" or words to that effect) and just laughed, saying that's what she felt like on the job.

Meanwhile, the biggest problem with going to the con is coming home to realize that the people in the area are some of hte worst drivers ever. Rude, aggressive, and the more expensive or bigger the car, the bigger the idiots. I think a requirement to owning an Audi is to go through red lights and go 20mph over the limit, while many SUV drivers just ignore red lights and squeeze in because they have big vehicles. Sigh. Trouble is even if gas hits a horrid $4/5 a gallon, the wealthy people will still drive these vanity vehicles.

and speaking of stupid people.... hard not to spot them in the news. The architect who's working on the new embassy in Baghdad put up the blueprints/drawings on the web, where *anybody* can see 'em. Why not just 'plant bomb here?' for the bad guys? Aieeee.... and of course, you can't turn on the news without hearing about "TB Andy" (dubbed that by several papers), the 'well-educated, intelligent' lawyer who has no common sense (well, in my opinion he has none). He can say what he wants about going off on the trip, but when he found out the severity of hte situation when he was overseas, he chose to potentially endanger other passengers. He was being selfish and well, downright iresponsible. He's admitted sneaking across the border (and aiee, that border guard? let him through cuz he didn't LOOK sick??? aieee!!!). Now there are upwards toward 100 people who will probably have to undergo tests for weeks if not months. While what he didn't wasn't criminal, it wouldn't surprise me if someone decides to sue him for medical costs and emotional distress. Ah, just had to whine and vent about the situation. Whatever happened to common sense?

Worst thing about this TB thing is it points out the horrid flaws in security, and pushes the problems of Iraq and the ecomy off some front page news.

But, found this fantastic picture of a tiger swimming underwater!

I mean it sooo cool, unless of course, you're in the pool at the zoo with him....

Okay, you have to check the link for the photo...

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2344838.html

A Chinese woman says her cat has wings. Granny Feng's tom cat has sprouted two hairy 4ins long wings, reports the Huashang News. "At first, they were just two bumps, but they started to grow quickly, and after a month there were two wings," she said.

Feng, of Xianyang city, Shaanxi province, says the wings, which contain bones, make her pet look like a 'cat angel'.
Her explanation is that the cat sprouted the wings after being sexually harassed. "A month ago, many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow," she said. However, experts say the phenomenon is more likely down to a gene mutation, and say it shouldn't prevent the cat living a normal life.

Saw the SCB people on the TODAY SHOW this morning (when did this show go to 3 hours?) Anyway, at the 28 minute and 58 minute marks, when Matt Lauer was outside with the crowds, caught glimpses of at least two people there holding up a blue adn white Scottish flag, plus saw part of the banner for "Save Carson" - Beckett never made it on the air, at least not that I caught.

Meanwhile, the press had two more articles:

http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=the_scot_in_the_sky

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/etoday/story.html?id=83efae19-2a1c-42d4-8c9e-7bdfee744f15&k=83579

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Okay, there's cute Knut the polar bear cub and now there's ... TOADZILLA! I've been following the prolific cane toads in Australia for years, but now they found a BIG one.

You can read the full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6499713.stm or just google.com/news and search for 'toadzilla.' ;) I remember reading that these toads will eat anything, even cigarette butts, and they're toxic to the touch as well.

And yes, the movie is THAT bad. I'm watching REIGN OF THE GARGOYLES, which just by the title, screams BAD movie. Gargoyles in itself is fine, but Reign tend sto scream another crappy sci-fi Nazi movie. Sigh. Now, the original GARGOYLES with Cornell Wilde (CBS movie, 1974 with Cornell Wilde and Scott Glenn made before CGI was even invented and filmed in New Mexico- gorgeous). THAT was a great horror flick. This Nazi scifi gargoyles flick seems to be on par with the Corin Nemec Golem or whatever Nazi horror flick SciFi showed last year, which was a horrid ripoff of the Dirty Dozen.

So, I'm just tooling around Blogger - now they've gone with Google and new blogs get peppered with ads. Argh!!!

Anyway... searched for jellyfish and found this site - Dark Roasted Blend - which has an incredible collection of photos on different themes.

( Links and more under the cut )

Have you ever read a news story that just made you want to bash your head into the keyboard due the sheer insanity of the topic? (well, excluding anything on politics, which makes you want to do yourself in with the mouse cord)... anyway, I've been seeing photos of Knut, a little polar bear cub in Berlin, in the news now for weeks. Then I trip over this story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6470509.stm - Berlin Zoo has vowed it will not kill a baby polar bear amid a heated row over whether it is right to hand-rear the cub, who was rejected by his mother. I'm like, huh what?? I read that article, a few others, and just shook my head. First, wild animals don't lose their instincts. Sorry, doesn't matter if a human raises them or not, they're still a wild animal. I seriously doubt the zoo will turn the polar bear cub into a couch potato... heck, I've got this cute little cat here, but boy, put a chipmunk in front of him and it gets gory real fast. But anyway, I think the whole proposition is insane. Baby wild animals are saved all the time by animal rescue people. We're stewards of the planet earth and should help the animals, not destroy them due to some bizarre ideology. Sheesh.

Anyway, speaking of insanity, I visited Joe Mallozzi's blog (http://josephmallozzi.blogspot.com/), and well, read the rest under the cut.

( Insanity rules )

First, first...

Oh, very cute pictures of all sorts of cute kitties at http://www.dropline.net/cats/ - if you love cats, you must check it out!

Okay, onward to the good and bad news. http://www.michaelshanks-online.com/news/index.shtml reports that MICHAEL SHANKS has signed for a recurring role in the Fox hit 24. Bad news is that the show is opposite HEROES, but well, that's what VCRs are for. Don't think anybody knows if it's for this season or next, if anybody can keep track of when actual seasons really begin anymore...I've never seen an episode but guess I will now :)

As to bad real estate, well, it's worth a million dollars, if the guy doesn't mind traveling through a massive ditch and scaling a dirt wall to get to his front door. You gotta see this picture. Only in China... http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2237937.html - quite honestly, can't blame the guy for holding out as the land is probably worth that much!

USA Today at

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-11-suicide-squirrels_N.htm?csp=1 talks about 'suicidal squirrels,' the cute furry rodents with penchant for chewing on electrical lines, frying themselves in the process and blacking out thousands of utility customers. They're not suicidal, they're just not too smart. It's not as though they can learn from their mistakes, since, well, the wrong bit and BZAAPPP!

And Jason Momoa fans should check out David Nykl's blog at - http://lettersfrompegasus.blogspot.com/ - for a unique photo off the set ;)

Ohmygawd, this is soooooo funny - I spied this link on an LJ - http://angw.livejournal.com/14349.html for this:

http://www.blacksheep-themovie.com/BlackSheep.aspx

THe trailer's hysterical - killer sheep! - and the narrator ominously intones "Get ready for the violence of the lambs." Ha! Bad pun but funny one. BLACK SHEEP. I mean, even if you're not into killer sheep flicks, the website alone is worth visiting for the macabre style in which they created it. I like running the mouse cursor over the cute little sheep, which then of course goes psycho ;)

I gotta try to get this movie on DVD, or hope it hits the indie circuit here in the States. I think it would make a great double bill with A DOG'S BREAKFAST........ :)

And on a side note, it's not so unrealistic: a farmer in India kept losing chickens. Thought some wild animal was eating them or someone was stealing them. Turns out a calf was eating them! A calf! They even saw it do the heinous deed. Here's one link to the real story - http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=358746&ssid=68&sid=LIF

Meanwhile, been seeing ads for THE HOST, a Korean horror flick about a giant mutated rampaging tadpole or something that terrorizes and eats up people. Shades of the old B&W giant bug flicks! :) I reallywant to see this but in looking at where it's opened, it's limited release, so I suspect I'll have to wait till it hits DVD. I swear, anytime a flick like this comes along (i.e. TREMORS) it never comes to my theaters.

Just posting about interesting and bizarre news, and, yes, Stargate Atlantis stuff. I always post about Stargate stuff. I can't help myself ;)

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The brouhaha over casting credits has emerged once again in Stargate fandom, although instead of the infamous “Amanda Tapping should be the lead; Ben Browder is new – he should be second!” stuff that some of us remember from the distant past (where it should stay), it’s now over AT’s possible creditage (is that a word?) in SGA since she’s going to be in 14 episodes, so says one of the producers.

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Current Mood: contemplative

In the science news today... who needs men! Yes, Flora (a female Komodo dragon) apparently didn't require the male of the species to help her produce five fertilized eggs. Today, five little Komodo dragons (aw, so cute, till they bite you, of course) hatched at the Chester Zoo in London. Scientists announced in December in the journal Nature that Flora had fertilised the eggs herself, without any male help, in a process culminating in parthenogenesis or virgin birth. The baby dragons, all males, are being cared for in a special area of the zoo and feasting on a diet of crickets and locusts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070124/sc_nm/shark_japan_dc_2 reported that the Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo, was alerted by a fisherman who spotted an odd-looking ee-like creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth. They caught the 5 foot long creature, which they identified as a female frilled shark (sometimes called a "living fossil" because of its prehistoric appearance. Alas, the poor thing expired not long after they moved it to a seawater pool, but they were able to film it in motion. They normally live 600-1,000 meters under the water, where humans just can't go. Here are some neat photos, and check out various news sites for videos. CNN at http://www.cnn.com/ has a video of it (really weird) as does the BBC on their science page at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/default.stm. You may need to search around as it will get shuffled around, but the Beeb is good at keeping stuff online for a while. I mean, can't you just see this critter on Atlantis....

Check out http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0127_060127_puffer_video.html to watch an otter try to scarf down a Tanzania puffer fish which humorous results.

Well, 2007 is just hours away, at least here in the States. Was at Yahoo news and saw pictures from Australia where it's already 2007. Spent part of the day disposing of severed remains of one of audrey's progeny... sigh, that bush has spread far and wide in the yard. I should hack it all up and make a fence. Nothing would get in the yard then! ;)

Here's just one shot of "Audrey'...

Although it eeked out to the US press today, apparently back in July, a woman in Christchurch, New Zealand, in an effort to reduce her vehicle registration fee, changed her listing to a 'non-commercial hearse.' Never mind that she never carried a human corpse in her vehicle ever; the 'bodies' in questions were chickens she brought home from the supermarket. While she should have known that was stupid, the Post Shop employee who actually approved the registration should be sacked. I mean, really. What would a can of sardines (already dead bodies in a little metallic coffin) get me? $0 and a free lifetime pass to the carpool lane? Aieeeee.... However, authorities have warned of a $1,000 fine for anybody else attempting the same nonsense. This is like the folks who try to use the carpool lanes with dress shop dummies or claiming an unborn baby as a passenger....

Just the news...

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2006-07-31-tax-havens-usat_x.htm reports that "

Wealthy Americans avoid paying $40 billion a year in U.S. taxes through illegal offshore havens that could be tamed with mandatory financial reporting and stronger penalties, according to a Senate investigative report to be issued Tuesday." Let's not forget the tax breaks to the rich.

Don't just die, get mummified! An article found on SciFiDaily led to http://suntimes.com/output/books/cst-books-death30.html which had a review of the book REMEMBER ME: A LIVELY TOUR OF THE NEW AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH, all about how to go in style (plus take all your money with you, with these prices!).Want to hang around after death? Get turned into diamond earrings. No kidding!

Microbes ahoy! www.ctv.ca reports that ""Microbiologists have formally described 5,000 microbial species. This study shows we have barely scratched the surface," said Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. "In our new study, we discovered more than 20,000 in a single liter of seawater, having expected just 1,000 to 3,000. The number of different kinds of bacteria in the oceans could eclipse 5 to 10 million," he added.

Oops. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1936569.html - Police called out to investigate reports of a young child left home alone found a talking parrot instead. Police were called to the house in Koblenz, Germany, by an elderly lady who said she could hear a child next door constantly screaming "Mama, Mama". The woman felt the child must have been left home alone as nobody was answering the cries. But when officers broke into the house they found the cries were coming from a 25-year-old talking parrot.

And of course, hot, Hot, HOT all across the globe, except for that really neat cloud spotted in the Antarctic. Check out Yahoo pictures at http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/1750;_ylt=AufohyVrHkY3zbzZ7xAgimhpaP0E;_ylu=X3oDMTBjZmlzODllBHNlYwNzc2lncm91cA--

Just miscellaneous stuff gleamed from the web...

1) Apparently vigorous plant growth near a volcano can indicate where magma may spurt. So if you live on a volcano's slope and have three foot high dandelions, guess it's time to move...

2) Sad fact: Thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan may be risking permanent brain damage by returning to combat with relatively minor but undiagnosed concussions, often caused by bomb blasts, military researchers say. Read more at

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-06-brain-damage_x.htm?csp=34

3) A Swedish woman discovered that the slight loss of hearing in one ear wasn't from buildup of wax, but because a spider had moved in. When she heard a "scratching sound," she got something to rinse out her ear. Out came the spider. The spider had taken up its non-rent status for 27 days! Eeeuuuuu....

4) The humble sea lily, which everybody always thought was rooted to the floor, in fact was caught in video footage creeping away. Shades of Day of the Triffids! They can travel at the amazing speed of 3 to 4 centimetres a second.

5) See, see, Didn't I warn you? ;) Yes, according to a CNN report, sweltering temps across Europe have brought a plague of jellyfish to Spain's eastern seashores. The Red Cross has treated more than 10,000 jellyfish stings this summer so far in the eastern region of Catalonia, a spokesman for the organization said. Meanwhile, in a more ominous note, the http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5197846.stm reports that "A nuclear power plant in Japan was forced to lower the output of its reactors after jellyfish blocked a filter in a seawater cooling system. Power from two reactors at Chubu Electric Power Co's plant in Hamaoka had to be reduced after the water intake system shut down automatically. Workers removed the jellyfish mass and output later returned to normal. Output for the two reactors was reduced to between 60 and 70% of capacity for about three hours, the company said."

And that's it for odd but real news while I wait for the double play of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis tonight :)

First, got a watermelon for July 4th but we never got around to hacking it up so today I took the big big knife to it and cleaved it open. Yellow? It's yellow? What the??? I'm thinking...I kept it too long and it's decaying? It's genetically altered, etc. However, a quick Google showed me many sites with yellow watermelons, which are perfectly normal. However, still haven't figure out that bright yellow furry caterpillar from last year.

Killer kangaroos! Run, hide! Er, only if you lived several million years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5172292.stm reports that paleontologists discovered the fossils of this meat-eating, long-armed, fang-toothed critter. Skippy the bush kangaroo, it ain't. And they found more remains of what they believed was a meat-eating big bird they've termed the 'demon duck of doom.'

Alas, Newsday -

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyanim134815629jul13,0,3498834.story?coll=ny-nynews-print reports that a group that rescues abandoned petsfrom shelters has seen their fuel prices triple, and as a result, they're not able to rescue as many animals from certain death.

But on the intentional act of nastiness side, the LA Times at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-garrett12jul12,0,7536972.story?coll=la-opinion-center has a large article on "Terngate," which most people probably don't know about as news like this gets stuffed behind the more important news on Britany Spears (sigh). Anyway, a clip from the article... The events of last week — when the bodies of several hundred young Caspian and elegant terns were found littering the Long Beach Harbor shore, and the nesting efforts of perhaps 2,000 adult terns on two barges in the port were carelessly erased — underscore the clumsiness of our wildlife-protection efforts and the tenuous threads that sustain our remaining natural heritage … During the spring, up to 1,000 pairs of Caspian and elegant terns terns set up housekeeping on two unused, privately owned rock-hauling barges in Long Beach Harbor. These are species that nest in large, dense colonies, choosing islands or other sites isolated by water to evade land-based predators. Elegant terns are at the northern end of their range here — they nest in a couple of colonies in Orange and San Diego counties, but 90% of the world's population of 25,000 to 30,000 pairs breeds on Isla Rasa in the Gulf of California. Caspian terns are more widespread, with up to 35,000 pairs breeding at scattered localities in North America. By mid-June, the colony on the two barges was well known. Harbor tour operators delighted their patrons with colony visits but kept their distance — tern colonies are highly susceptible to disturbance by humans and predators. But on June 28, young terns, not yet capable of flight, began washing up dead on the shore near Belmont Pier. It turns out that one of the barges had been towed away, but only after all of the young had been forced overboard (the evidence suggests a high-pressure hose was used). The second barge's birds still thrived but only for a couple of days; its young were similarly removed — again, it is not known by whom — by June 30." Sigh... :(

But on the happy news side (it does exist), there's a great blog type link at the Toronto Star site at www.thestar.com. You go there, go to the bottom right the image that says "Acts of Kindness." Just nice sniffy type human kindness stories.

And, a cute picture...[credits: A mouse rides on the back of a frog in floodwaters in the northern Indian city Lucknow June 30, 2006. REUTERS/Pawan Kumar (INDIA)]

In the news today, some scientist types did samples of floors at airport, citing that they might not be clean (no, duh!) and you could get cooties (or something similar)

The lab identified a mold from McCarron Airport in Las Vegas as trichophyston, which causes ringworm and favus, a nasty disease of the scalp.

Ugh. Anyway, it's not a stretch that an air traveler wouldn't think of this. After all, you're standing in line, the guy in front of you has just been in the men's room, so you know where those shoes have been. I'm surprised that Monk can even step in an airport.

* * * * * * * *

In the weird news department, Researchers at Indiana State University in Terre Haute tried a small experiment to test the effects of having kids play with heavier toys. They found that 10 children ages 6 to 8 burned more calories and had higher heart and breathing rates when they moved 3-pound toy blocks instead of unweighted blocks.

I predict that next in the weird news department will be the lawsuits when little Billy drops the ordinary building block (which was perfectly safe to play with back in the 60s/70s) on his toe and mommy goes "I'm suing!" What they need to do is... increase the weight of the TV remote as well as the mouse for the computer! ;)

* * * * * * * *

And in a totally unsubstantiated study conducted by my cat, some people spend way too much time on LiveJournal in the first few days they start up one ;)

Current Mood: amused

I was surfing the web at lunch (since I had to work, even though nobody was calling because the rest of the world took today off) looking up some stuff for fan fiction. This is how I get into trouble. I veer off onto links that have nothing to do with the story research.

Tripped over this horrendous story of a guy who stuffed a chihuahua into a oven. 200 degrees for five minutes. YEOUCH! Fortunately the little guy survived but with burns on his paws. Poor woobie. And there was the 'leaf blower incident'. Shudder.

Burnt Chihuahua

However, the man is saying he's not fully responsible for his actions, as he has Attention Defecit Hyperactivity Disorder - check latest URL at

Burnt Chihuahua 2 - don't blame me

*****************

And on the flip side of the coin, baboons are stealing flags in merry Old England

http://www.ananova.com/

"Keepers at the park say the 120-strong troop of baboons have been known to help themselves to windscreen wipers but have now turned their attentions to the World Cup flags."

I'm hoping they graduate to stealing cellphones from drivers. I see far too many inattentive people yakking away on handheld cellphones every day in their car (and in this state, it's against the law, not that they seem to care).

And crud, now I forgot what I was researching for the fanfic...

Current Mood: weird

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Cool! A shrimp-like critter where nothing should live (Antarctic)
My Dog is Mutating
Wow, when they run out of ideas on reality TV...
The spatula is falling! The spatula is falling!
I'm so confuzled...
I got what??? Just a rundown of junk mail
The end of the world, but first a word from the Horrible people
This and that...
Cool scientific video - it would look so neat on a Stargate Atlantis
Guess the photo!
I want one!
Oh yes, by the way, the world ends tomorrow
Flashpoint on the move + Space Junk
Teddy bear drives off cliff. News at eleven!
Stupid is as Stupid Does
Flourescent Felines
I'll have a side order of cripsy bugs please...
“Don’t Spare the Squirrels!” * and other weird news of the day…
Scary photos!
What a crock: today's weird news
Meerkats on Vaporub, Oscar the Grim Reapurr....
TSA, drivers, stupid people and cool critters
Flying cats!!
Save Carson Beckett, and miscellaneous sundry stuff (jellies, knut, etc.)
Toadzilla runs riot over Australia!
Cute and Ugly Overload and wretched SciFi movies
Bears, Mallozzi, the end of BSG? and the world ;)
Michael Shanks joins 24.. cute kitties, bad real estate, suicidal squirrels & Momoa & Nykl
Beckett fans will love this: Black Sheep the movie
SGA season 4 episode titles, car viruses, Harry Potter, good shrimp & bad seahorses, and salty sheep
SGA actor credits... don't eat the squirrel.... and what NOT to do with contact lenses...
Komodo dragons and eel-like prehistoric sharks
Cute video
Imagine the discount on a can of sardines!
Just the news, folks...
Jellyfish attack nuclear power plant! (and other oddities)
Watermelons of doom, and other stories
And nobody thought of this before??
This is so wrong on many levels: Hot Dog... but on the flip side, Klepto Baboons :)

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