29 May 2012

23 May 2012

A Man, A Zebra And A Parrot Walk Into A Bar...


Jerald Reiter was arrested in Dubuque, Iowa after entering a bar with a small pet zebra and a macaw parrot. Police stopped Reiter in the parking lot of the Dog House Lounge as he drove away in his truck with the zebra and the parrot riding shotgun. Reiter said that he and his girlfriend think of their pets as children and often take them for rides. They took the zebra and the macaw to the bar because it often lets people bring their animals inside. According to police, Reiter had a blood alcohol level of .14. The legal limit in Iowa is .08.

KCRG

22 May 2012

Kurt Sutter | Outlaw Empires



As a big fan of Sons of Anarchy, I'm looking forward to watching SoA creator Kurt Sutter's new documentary series, Outlaw Empires.
Each episode ... tells the complete story of an iconic American outlaw dynasty — directly from the mouths of people who were on the inside. Through their no-holds-barred accounts, the series takes an unvarnished look at moment-by-moment experiences that were not only pivotal for the organizations themselves, but life-changing for the individuals telling the stories.
The series includes episodes on American biker gangs, the Irish mob, the Crips, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Italian mafia, and Nuestra Familia.

Thanks, Dan

21 May 2012

Presidential ... Not





Maybe he just can't remember that particular instance ....

Slate

Too Much Nature | Golden Eagle Grabs Photographer's Knife

Click image to enlarge

Photographer Han Bouwmeester, hoping to attract birds of prey with cut-up chunks of meat, got a great shot when a golden eagle flew off with his knife.

Daily Mail

07 May 2012

Monkey Monday | Apes As Individuals


From James Mollison's website:
While watching a nature program on primates I was struck by their facial similarity to our own. Humans are clearly different to animals, but the great apes inhabit that grey area between man and animal. I thought it would be interesting to try to photograph gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans using the aesthetic of the passport photograph- its ubiquitous style inferring the idea of identity. I decided against photographing in zoos or using ‘animal actors’ but traveled to Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia to meet orphans of the bush meat trade and live pet trade.
View the book James and Other Apes on Amazon.

Via BoingBoing

06 May 2012

Farting On The Moon


YouTube
Commander John Young suffers from gas after drinking too much orange juice on the Apollo 16 mission. 17th - 28th Apr 1972.
I thought the astronauts all drank Tang.

For tomB

Via Neatorama

The Medical Benefits Of Drinking Coffee


Click image to enlarge

Happy to Serve You

03 May 2012

Zookeeper Helps Constipated Monkey

HLJ News
A zoo keeper leapt into action to save a constipated baby monkey - by licking its bum with his tongue.

The tiny Francois' leaf monkey ate a peanut thrown into its cage but was too small to pass it in the normal way. Zhang Bangsheng, 50, a keeper at Wuhan Zoo in China, said the monkey's life had been in danger.

First, he washed its bottom with warm water and then licked it for a full hour before it eventually defecated the peanut. Zhang said the monkey was too small for medication so his unconventional approach was the only way to save it. He "laughed with satisfaction" when the little monkey finally delivered the nut, according to the ChinaSmack news website.

Zhang had noticed that it was ill the day after putting it on public show for the first time and worked out what had happened after spotting peanut shells on the ground.
Via Quirkies (UK)

02 May 2012

Photoshop Of Awesome | Julia Bluhm Protests Retouching In Seventeen Magazine

Julia Bluhm (center)
It's easy to make an online petition. It's more challenging to gather up supporters, go out in the rain and make your point in person. But that's what Julia Bluhm, the 13-year-old behind the Change.org petition "Seventeen Magazine: Give Girls Images of Real Girls!", did this morning. Bluhm, her mother and several representatives of Spark Media gathered in front of the Hearst Tower, home to Seventeen, to protest the magazine's use of Photoshop and deliver her signatures to the magazine's executive editor.

"I've always just known how Photoshop can have a big effect on girls and their body image and how they feel about themselves," Bluhm told The Huffington Post. "You need to see something realistic -- you need to see a reflection of what truly represents a teenage girl nowadays."
Seventeen and the media in general, she said, fails to do that. So her petition, directed at Seventeen's editor-in-chief, asks that the magazine print one unaltered photo spread in each issue.

While the negative impact of Photoshop has been discussed by adults at length, it is clear that Bluhm's peers feel just as strongly. When she and a friend brought a magazine to school to show their friends, she said, it elicited the same reactions: "They agreed. A lot of them thought that the images were fake and they compared themselves to those images -- and it didn't make them feel good about their own bodies and their own skin."

The consequences extend beyond low self-esteem. Another Spark Media blogger on the scene, Crystal Ogar, explained that the negative health impacts, proven by the American Psychological Association, include "higher rates of depression, higher rates of self-harm and eating disorders."

And a skinny body, said Spark Media blogger Kaye Toal, is just one facet of the cookie-cutter image on the pages of teen magazines:"The media that we're fed says that girls are sex objects and they have to be thin, white, heterosexual and cisgender, and that's a very narrow portion of women. Even the women who do fit that, dont fit this amazing perfected ideal because it simply doesn't exist."

Or, as Julia told us, "Nobody's photoshopped in real life."
Source

Mansome | Exploring The World Of Male Grooming


YouTube

From IMdB:
In the age of manscaping, metrosexuals, and grooming products galore - what does it mean to be a man? Oscar nominee Morgan Spurlock and executive producers Ben Silverman, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman present a ... documentary featuring candid interviews from Arnett, Bateman, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, and everyday people weighing in on everything from the obsession with facial hair to body dysmorphic disorder.
Forbes

Jorge Cham | The Higgs Boson Web Comic Guide

Click image to enlarge

Jorge Cham has created a web comic explaining why particle physicists are so eager to find the Higgs Boson. Read the complete comic or watch the animated version at Piled Higher and Deeper.

Via io9

01 May 2012

Amazon Reviews | Fresh Whole Rabbits

I know what it's like to be a feral dog
August 6, 2007
By M. Rosen
Like many suburban homeowners, I like to kill and eat the wild animals that populate my backyard. To keep it sporting, I hunt naked, with my teeth and long sharpened fingernails as my only weapons. I've feasted on squirrel, raccoon, vole and numerous songbirds. But no matter how long I lay spread eagle and motionless in the hot noonday sun, I have never been able to outwit and catch any of the plump and juicy rabbits that hop just outside my reach and then bolt for the woods when I leap forward with a blood-curdling shriek. I have chased them at a dead run through the yards of the many unoccupied homes that surround mine but the pursuit always ends in frustration. But no more, thanks to Amazon. Every week, I order a fresh whole rabbit and affix it to a remote control car that is operated by one of my children. This way, I get the thrill of the hunt, and when the car's batteries are exhausted, I can leap upon it, bury my teeth into the rabbit's soft flesh and perform my ritual victory dance right there in the Walgreen's parking lot.

Whole Rabbit - NOT!
September 8, 2009
By BabbChuck
I ordered one of these Fresh "Whole" Rabbits, but when it arrived its head, fur and insides were missing. Not exactly whole, I'd say! Maybe it was just damaged during shipping, but I won't be buying another one. I mean - without the long ears, how do I know it even WAS a rabbit? It was the same size and shape as a cat...not that I've seen a cat with its head, fur and insides missing. I mean, not like really close or anything. On the plus side, it was delicious with a tall, cold glass of Tuscan Milk, so I give it three stars. That's three WHOLE stars, BTW.

A real time saver
February 9, 2007
By Alex
How many weekends have I spent, in the loincloth, knife clenched in my teeth, running through the fields trying to find a rabbit? (A bunch, trust me on this, a bunch.) All so I can have something to sacrifice on the altar once I get to the cave. Now, with this, home, fix a cocktail, go through the day's mail, finish my drink and drive over to the cave, yank this carcass out of the box and offer this at the feet of my dark lord and master, boom, done. I'm happy, my dark lord and master is happy, everybody wins. What a time saver.

Too much blood
January 25, 2012
By Mark Harris "Dog Man"
This review is from: Fresh Whole Rabbit (Misc.)
I've been a rabbit eater for most of my life, used to shoot my own but as I get older, I've been ordering online. When this arrived, I was quite excited to get my slow cooker going and have a great stew, however when I opened the package, there was at least 8 cups of blood and intestinal type matter with the carcass. I went ahead and cleaned it up and everything worked fine but I cannot recommend this product as it's a pain to clean the body up before cooking, my preference is out of the bag straight to crock pot without having to deal with blood and guts....guess this is what happens with age.


Who knew?

Link