February 19, 2005
Who ordered room service?
"I did it for you." I wish I weren't a week late to this. Serves me right for not catching up on my Bloglines sooner.
February 18, 2005
Whale vs Shark
The first known recorded clash between a great white shark and a killer whale was recorded almost eight years ago. The whale won. Granted, it was an adult female trying to feed her calf versus a juvenile shark, but still, impressive. I wonder if a more equal contest has been filmed since then.
"You know how hard it can be to get kids to eat." Priceless.
February 17, 2005
February 16, 2005
Females flown in to convert 'gay' penguins
First off, I would like to say that the quotes around "gay" in the title are fully justified, but more on this later. Four female penguins were flown in to a German zoo to try to entice some male penguins into mating. These Humboldt penguins are endangered, and they didn't realize that the males had paired off. Why they didn't realize this, I can't imagine (shouldn't this have been obvious for professionals?), but once they figured it out, they realized that 2 male pairs were sitting on a stone instead of an egg. Seems rather gay, or at least female, to me.
But they are penguins, and I am not a penguinologist, so I don't actually know if this means that they are gay or crazy. I mean, really, who knows? It's not like they are telling us that they were "born that way" and that they should have the same rights as other penguins. Or maybe these penguins just want some company because they can't score. Happens with humans (not to suggest that it should then happen with penguins), and that's why the "gay" in quotes is appropriate.
The gay and lesbian groups protesting the introduction of the females should probably get over themselves. The species is endangered. The zoo staff is just trying to help keep these penguins from becoming extinct, and they don't actually know why the penguins aren't reproducing. Again, it seems to me that the penguins are gay, but I wouldn't stake my life on it. I'm not a penguin. Besides, how do penguin gay rights translate to human gay rights? I mean, really? If the "gay" penguins continue to snub the females, then that suggests that they are gay, and that these males aren't going to help the population. They are getting other males that hopefully aren't "gay", so "Adam and Steve" will live their gay lives in peace.
What does "gay" even mean when talking about penguins? Do they have to attempt some kind of mating, or does only the courtship matter? They don't know, yet somehow these (human) gay rights people do. I'd really like to hear exactly what these groups have to say with respect to actual penguins that matters. Some kind of scientific or at least credible evidence that the penguins are definitively gay and should be left alone. If I find anything, I'll let you know.
February 14, 2005
February 13, 2005
Come closer, young man
Perhaps I should make a "Fucking Awesome" category. Oldtimer knocks out punk trying to mug him.
February 12, 2005
Japanese sex dolls.
Holy shit this is weird. Hentai-based sex dolls, from Japan of course.
It does get worse. This is quite graphic. Scat dolls. Wow, that artistic ingenuity.
All from Fleshbot.
February 8, 2005
Tree Octopus
Squishy things = gross in my books. Squishy things in trees that can fall on your HEAD = too gross to contemplate.
This site makes me ill, but is actually kind of cool.
[Via The Republica]
ETA: I've been had. It's a hoax.
February 7, 2005
Einstein the parrot
If you haven't seen this...You gotta see this.
Einstein the parrot. See it. Needs sounds and flash.
February 6, 2005
Monkey porn
You've probably seen it here before, but here it is anyway: Monkeys pay for monkey porn. Somehow I feel validated, yet not very evolved.
February 5, 2005
The Pungent Male Sex Attractant
Have you ever heard a woman say something like, "Sure, he's cute, nice, emotionally and financially stable, but I just can't think of him as anything more than a friend" or "He's like my brother." Well, it could be because the guy smells too much like their friends or relatives.
This article describes how female mice, and possibly women (probably, in my opinion, to some degree), select their mates. It has to do with the strength of their immune systems.
Previous research had shown mice prefer to breed with mates whose immune-system genes -- which produce chemicals that help the body fight invading cells -- are different from their own. Such selective sex leads to healthier offspring.
I think that this is interesting. We often see that women that reject a perfectly good man for flimsy reasons and end up dating jerks. Maybe this helps explain it. They don't exactly know what it is, but that it is something very basic, so basic that it doesn't translate well into our higher thought processes. The Stinky T-Shirt project at the end of the article illustrates this very well.
Have you ever felt higher-than-normal aggression towards someone and you can't say why? Maybe it's because they smell a certain way. I have recently begun thinking this, actually, so it's a coincidence that I should come across this article. I am fairly sensitive to smells, maybe more sensitive than I thought. And I know that there are certain people that make me want to throttle them, and I can't explain why in any "rational" terms. They just smell funny.
Perfumes have been made with pheromones so that men can hook up with women more. Assuming they work, imagine what other things could be done. Spray an aggression pheromone over a civilian population and watch the hilarity ensue. No need to send in troops to take over an area. You just have to send them in to clean up after the crazy civilians have destroyed everything.
Maybe homosexuality is all about gay men (for example) having more of the female smell receptor capability than other men, so they get attracted to men on a deep level (although not ones that resemble their fathers or brothers).
The possibilities are endless.
February 1, 2005
Become a prostitute or we'll cut off your unemployment
Says the German government. I never knew that prostitution was legal in Germany. Apparently there is a woman in Germany that has been given the choice between becoming a prostitute (or at least trying) and seeing her EI benefits cut. Prostitution is regarded by the government as a job like any other.
Now, in Canada, they expect you to try to find a job, but they seem to understand if you don't want to work at Wendy's if you are a skilled professional, like this woman. I mean, a skilled professional IT person, or teacher, not rub-and-tugger. If you think it's degrading for you to work there (as I do), then you won't try to take that or just any old job. So it seems less than reasonable to expect someone to work as a whore when they probably wouldn't work at Burger King (she did say that she would work in a bar, if that means anything).
Maybe that's just me, though. What a crappy choice to have to make, but I think it could be worse. They could ask her to work at McDonald's.