_Honk, Honk


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_Bald eagles are not too bright
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_Peekaboo!



So, anyone wanna guess which human body orifice this live and web-spinning spider was found in?
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_People that may be geekier than me:

Candidate one

Candidate two:
Step one: acquaint yourself with a They Might Be Giants classic
Step two: read this article
Step three: read this slashdot comment

(hey, I never said being geekier than me was worth the effort)
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_The Complete View from atop Everest
I don't see it linked from the info page, but there's an even BIGGER version of that shot hiding on the server.
Scroll, scroll, scroll--wow.
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_Back To The Floor
PBS's site drawn from a series about getting corporate bigwigs to do the grunt work of their outfits for a week is a damn good read.

The head of all of Burger King's UK operations shows up for a week of grilling and toilet swabbing in a three-piece suit. Classic.
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_You give me fever...

"The only time fever is associated with brain damage is when it's from an external source such as heat stroke from being locked in a car on a hot day," Dr. Brown said. "Intrinsic fever is not associated with brain damage."

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_Ah, the wisdom of our elders.
Tea Leoni quoting her (now ex-) husband in 1996: "Behind every beautiful woman is a man who is tired of fucking her."
(got an earlier cite?)
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_Here's a nice little picture to go with that previous piece on red-light cameras
Gotta love Texas. I guess.
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_
Quote Of The Day
"I hate blogs." -- Rick
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_USB powered fan for your laptop?!



I guess they haven't worked out the frickin' laser beam yet.
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_Getting Rear-Ended by the Law: Red-light cameras at intersections INCREASE accidents
Pay special attention to the link to another piece focusing just on red-light cameras and photo radar Washington, D.C.
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_

"Street performers ride their vehicles along the wall of a wooden structure during the Well of Death show at a fair in Calcutta on July 16. The stuntmen move from city to city, performing daredevil acts to earn a living."

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_A question, and and answer
So Fark links to the trailer for the Matrix sequel. I go and watch it, and my reaction can be neatly summed up as "AWWW YEAHHH!!!"

Fark's link carried the question "Will Jada Pinkett Smith ruin this movie?" The response in the first comment: "Even Hitler couldn't ruin this movie."
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_Reason #47 to feel old today
We are now years beyond being half as far away from 1985, the time of Back to the Future, as 1985 is from 1955, the movie's destination in time.
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_All I want is a fighter jet with a frickin' laser on it!
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_Humans have a special set of nerves for feeling pleasure at a mother's caress or a lover's embrace.

These nerves are sensitive to the soft touch of fingers gliding over a forearm or a parent's soothing hand, but not to rough touches, jabs or pinches. Scientists speculate that the nerves might be designed to guide humans toward tenderness and nurturing – a theory bolstered by the fact that the nerves are wired to the same brain areas activated by romantic love and sexual arousal.

A crucial reason nature might have endowed people with two different sets of nerves is that the slow fibers function from the earliest hours of life, perhaps even in the womb, while the fast fibers develop slowly after birth. Newborn infants might be able to feel the love in a parent's touch before they can feel the touch itself.

Referring to studies showing that babies need physical contact and nurturing, the group of scientists wrote, "The profound importance of such a system for human well-being has long been suggested, at least since the classical study of baby monkeys who show affection for a surrogate mother in response to tactile comfort."

The nerve system continues to function throughout life, underscoring the importance of such comfort. While the thicker nerve fibers that communicate contact information are more densely packed into areas such as the palm, the thinner nerves are found on hairy areas of the skin such as the forearm.

"Their functional role is below the level of consciousness and has to do with the emotional aspects of touch – like the pleasure of touch," lead scientist Hakan Olausson, a neurophysiologist at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden, said in a telephone interview. "The fast fibers indicate when we are touched and how strong the touch is. [The slow fibers] signal the fine aspects of touch."

After conducting sophisticated brain scans of volunteers, Olausson and Lamarre found that the thin nerve system was hooked into the front parts of the insular cortex, the same area that was activated, "intriguingly, during visually evoked romantic love and sexual arousal."

These nerves, the researchers concluded, "are an important component in the construction of the sense of self."

Kids, be good to each other.
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_Mr. T reality show
I recommend a certain Golden Girl as a co-star:


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_All I want is a HUMVEE with a frickin' laser on it!


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_A shining example of vegetarianism for all the world to emulate

Maggie Ellinger-Locke, 19, of the St. Louis, Mo., suburb of University City, has been a vegetarian for eight years and went vegan at 15. Since then she has not worn leather or wool products or slept under a down comforter. She has not used cups or utensils that have touched meat. "It felt like we were keeping kosher," says Maggie's mother Linda, who isn't Jewish. At high school Maggie was ridiculed, even shoved to the ground, by teen boys who apparently found her eating habits threatening. She found a happy ending, of sorts, enrolling at Antioch College, where she majors in ecofeminism.

Okay, that threw up... a few... warning flags that she was screwed up. Then we found out exactly how screwed up she is:

Maggie hit a few potholes on the road to perfection. Until recently, she smoked up to two packs of cigarettes a day (cigarettes, after all, are plants fortified with nicotine), quitting only because she didn't want to support the tobacco business. And she freely admits to an eating disorder: for the past year she has been bulimic, bingeing and vomiting sometimes as much as once a day to cope with stress. But she insists she is true to her beliefs: even when bingeing, she remains dedicated to vegan consumption.

Shine on you crazy diamond, just do it faaar away from me.
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