Wilhelm makes me laugh. But I should warn you that it gets a little old after the first minute.
For your listening pleasure. Hopefully.
12.05.2008
12.01.2008
Gay Feet!
Gay penguins steal eggs from straight couples
A couple of gay penguins are attempting to steal eggs from straight birds in an effort to become "fathers", it has been reported.
Last Updated: 2:06PM GMT 27 Nov 2008
There are known to be several gay penguin couples in zoos across the world Photo: GETTY
The two penguins have started placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs, in a bid to hide their theft.
But the deception has been noticed by other penguins at the zoo, who have ostracised the gay couple from their group. Now keepers have decided to segregate the pair of three-year-old male birds to avoid disrupting the rest of the community during the hatching season.
A keeper at Polar Land in Harbin, north east China explained that the gay couple had the natural urge to become fathers, despite their sexuality.
"One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite this being a biological impossibility for this couple, the natural desire is still there," a keeper told the Austrian Times newspaper.
"It's not discrimination. We have to fence them separately, otherwise the whole group will be disturbed during hatching time," he added.
There are numerous examples of homosexuality in the animal kingdom, but gay penguins have captured the public's attention more than any other species.
A German zoo provoked outrage from gay lobby groups after attempting to mate a group of gay male penguins with Swedish female birds who were flown in especially to seduce them. But the project was abandoned after the males refused to be "turned", showing no interest in their would-be mates.
In 2002 a couple of penguins at a New York zoo who had been together for eight years were "outed" when keepers noticed that they were both males.
A couple of gay penguins are attempting to steal eggs from straight birds in an effort to become "fathers", it has been reported.
Last Updated: 2:06PM GMT 27 Nov 2008
There are known to be several gay penguin couples in zoos across the world Photo: GETTY
The two penguins have started placing stones at the feet of parents before waddling away with their eggs, in a bid to hide their theft.
But the deception has been noticed by other penguins at the zoo, who have ostracised the gay couple from their group. Now keepers have decided to segregate the pair of three-year-old male birds to avoid disrupting the rest of the community during the hatching season.
A keeper at Polar Land in Harbin, north east China explained that the gay couple had the natural urge to become fathers, despite their sexuality.
"One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite this being a biological impossibility for this couple, the natural desire is still there," a keeper told the Austrian Times newspaper.
"It's not discrimination. We have to fence them separately, otherwise the whole group will be disturbed during hatching time," he added.
There are numerous examples of homosexuality in the animal kingdom, but gay penguins have captured the public's attention more than any other species.
A German zoo provoked outrage from gay lobby groups after attempting to mate a group of gay male penguins with Swedish female birds who were flown in especially to seduce them. But the project was abandoned after the males refused to be "turned", showing no interest in their would-be mates.
In 2002 a couple of penguins at a New York zoo who had been together for eight years were "outed" when keepers noticed that they were both males.
Damn.
The two villages where mothers killed EVERY baby born a boy for ten years
By RICHARD SHEARS
Last updated at 8:30 AM on 28th November 2008
Comments (22)
Add to My Stories
The Papua New Guinea jungle has given up one of its darkest secrets - the systematic slaughter of every male baby born in two villages to prevent future tribal clashes.
By virtually wiping out the 'male stock', tribal women hope they can avoid deadly bow-and-arrow wars between the villages in the future.
'Babies grow into men and men turn into warriors,' said Rona Luke, a village wife who is attending a special 'peace and reconciliation' meeting in the mountain village of Goroka.
Slaughter: The Papua New Guinea Eastern Highlands where it has been claimed women in two villages killed all their male children for a decade to prevent tribal warfare
'It's because of the terrible fights that have brought death and destruction to our villages for the past 20 years that all the womenfolk have agreed to have all new-born male babies killed,' said Mrs Luke.
'The women have had enough of men engaging in tribal conflicts and bringing misery to them.'
The sensational claims recall the Biblical story of the Old Testament pharaoh who ordered all midwives to kill Israelite baby boys because he wanted to ensure there were never enough young men to fight in an army against the Egyptians.
Mrs Luke said that the village women agreed that if they stopped producing males, allowing only female babies to survive, their tribe's stock of boys would go down and there would be no men in future to fight.
A resident of Agibu village, Mrs Luke said she did not know how many male babies were killed by being smothered, but it had happened to all males over a 10 year period - and she suggested it was still happening.
Choking back tears she added: 'It's a terrible, unbearable crime, but the women had to do it.
'The women have really being forced into it as it's the only means available to them as women to bring an end to tribal fights.'
Confirming the shocking infanticide claims, Mrs Kipiyona Belas from the rival Amosa village, told a newspaper that getting food for their families was difficult because husbands were fighting other tribes with bows-and- arrows and spears.
Often the men did not come back, having been killed on the 'battle field', usually a clearing in the jungle.
Now, with the help of the Salvation Army and the initiative of local Pastor Michael Hemuno, the tribal women hope the slaughter of babies can end and those men who are still warriors will lay down their weapons and talk peace.
'We are trying to get them to live peacefully and end all the deaths of young and old,' said Pastor Hemuno.
Tribal fighting in the region of Gimi, in the country's Eastern Highlands, has been going on since 1986, many of the clashes arising over claims of sorcery.
Papua New Guinea tribes, who dress up in warrior paint and feathered finery for special occasions, are strong believers in sorcery and often blame their enemies for bringing about deaths through witchcraft.
By RICHARD SHEARS
Last updated at 8:30 AM on 28th November 2008
Comments (22)
Add to My Stories
The Papua New Guinea jungle has given up one of its darkest secrets - the systematic slaughter of every male baby born in two villages to prevent future tribal clashes.
By virtually wiping out the 'male stock', tribal women hope they can avoid deadly bow-and-arrow wars between the villages in the future.
'Babies grow into men and men turn into warriors,' said Rona Luke, a village wife who is attending a special 'peace and reconciliation' meeting in the mountain village of Goroka.
Slaughter: The Papua New Guinea Eastern Highlands where it has been claimed women in two villages killed all their male children for a decade to prevent tribal warfare
'It's because of the terrible fights that have brought death and destruction to our villages for the past 20 years that all the womenfolk have agreed to have all new-born male babies killed,' said Mrs Luke.
'The women have had enough of men engaging in tribal conflicts and bringing misery to them.'
The sensational claims recall the Biblical story of the Old Testament pharaoh who ordered all midwives to kill Israelite baby boys because he wanted to ensure there were never enough young men to fight in an army against the Egyptians.
Mrs Luke said that the village women agreed that if they stopped producing males, allowing only female babies to survive, their tribe's stock of boys would go down and there would be no men in future to fight.
A resident of Agibu village, Mrs Luke said she did not know how many male babies were killed by being smothered, but it had happened to all males over a 10 year period - and she suggested it was still happening.
Choking back tears she added: 'It's a terrible, unbearable crime, but the women had to do it.
'The women have really being forced into it as it's the only means available to them as women to bring an end to tribal fights.'
Confirming the shocking infanticide claims, Mrs Kipiyona Belas from the rival Amosa village, told a newspaper that getting food for their families was difficult because husbands were fighting other tribes with bows-and- arrows and spears.
Often the men did not come back, having been killed on the 'battle field', usually a clearing in the jungle.
Now, with the help of the Salvation Army and the initiative of local Pastor Michael Hemuno, the tribal women hope the slaughter of babies can end and those men who are still warriors will lay down their weapons and talk peace.
'We are trying to get them to live peacefully and end all the deaths of young and old,' said Pastor Hemuno.
Tribal fighting in the region of Gimi, in the country's Eastern Highlands, has been going on since 1986, many of the clashes arising over claims of sorcery.
Papua New Guinea tribes, who dress up in warrior paint and feathered finery for special occasions, are strong believers in sorcery and often blame their enemies for bringing about deaths through witchcraft.
11.26.2008
Spider vs. Me
I noticed recently there's been a lot of talk about spiders and how everyone wet themselves because there was a black widow in Donovan's sleeping bag in Arkansas, so I thought "Hey, I can talk about spiders too."
In Australia, where every damn thing is poisonous, I worked in a Redback spider (related to the black widow) infested greenhouse. Before fumigation and subsequent extermination of the spiders, I would frequently encounter them, and after a time, got annoyed by them enough to just flick them with my finger, thus knocking them out of their web, then step on them to kill them. That is just how awesome I am. There was also a plan to get bit by one of the spiders to get out of some annoying work that had to be done, but after some consideration it was concluded that this was a bad idea. Anyway, here's a picture of one of the redbacks I took in the greenhouse.
Also, redback is the name of a good wheat beer they brew around here.
Sign me up
Wikipedia says:
Dancing mania (or choreomania,[1] from the Greek: χορεία (khoreia = 'dance') + μανία (mania = 'madness’)) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries; it involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely, seemingly possessed by the devil. Men, women, and children would dance through the streets of towns or cities, sometimes foaming at the mouth until they collapsed from fatigue.
One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, Germany, on June 24, 1374; the populace danced wildly through the streets, screaming of visions and hallucinations, and even continued to writhe and twist after they were too exhausted to stand.[citation needed] The dancing mania quickly spread throughout Europe, said to be "propagated in epidemic fashion by sight" by Dr. Justus Hecker.[2]
Having occurred to thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not a local event, and was, therefore, well-documented in contemporary writings. More outbreaks were reported in the Netherlands, Cologne, Metz, and later Strasburg (Dancing Plague of 1518), apparently following pilgrimage routes.[3]
Paloma says:
Read the rest of the article on wikipedia. Also, listen to the radiolab episode on laughing. The link's right over there <--. I believe it says somthing like "Radiolab. Pretty much the best thing EVER."
Floridian outbreak pictured below
Dancing mania (or choreomania,[1] from the Greek: χορεία (khoreia = 'dance') + μανία (mania = 'madness’)) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries; it involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely, seemingly possessed by the devil. Men, women, and children would dance through the streets of towns or cities, sometimes foaming at the mouth until they collapsed from fatigue.
One of the first major outbreaks was in Aachen, Germany, on June 24, 1374; the populace danced wildly through the streets, screaming of visions and hallucinations, and even continued to writhe and twist after they were too exhausted to stand.[citation needed] The dancing mania quickly spread throughout Europe, said to be "propagated in epidemic fashion by sight" by Dr. Justus Hecker.[2]
Having occurred to thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not a local event, and was, therefore, well-documented in contemporary writings. More outbreaks were reported in the Netherlands, Cologne, Metz, and later Strasburg (Dancing Plague of 1518), apparently following pilgrimage routes.[3]
Paloma says:
Read the rest of the article on wikipedia. Also, listen to the radiolab episode on laughing. The link's right over there <--. I believe it says somthing like "Radiolab. Pretty much the best thing EVER."
Floridian outbreak pictured below
11.25.2008
11.24.2008
NOT another X-mas gift.
Dual System Toilets
Written by Peg Fong
Sunday, 23 November 2008
We don’t often think about how we could make our toilets more efficient. Maybe that’s because we don’t think about our toilets so much in general -= one flush and the problem is gone until the next time we sit and ponder. For some reason, in North America, we haven't caught on yet to what consumers in water-starved Asia and Australia have known for decades. Why should the water we flush with be as pristine as the water we drink out of the tap?
The people at Caroma have come up with an idea that makes a lot of sense. It has a system that routes the sink water used while washing hands into the toilet tank ready for the next flush. The Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet has a built in sink behind the cistern which is useful for when space is at a premium, although it may take some adjusting to get used to straddling the seat in order to wash your hands. Apart from the filling mechanism, the toilet operates normally. The water from the sink comes directly from the utilities water supply, completely separating the two functions.
The product was even noted last month as one of the top ten items in Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Products of 2008. Caroma, which has its headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, says it has tested to make sure that soapy water in the tank will have no adverse impact on the toilet components and has calculated water usage savings of 70 per cent per household by combining the sink and toilet.
The system is already available in Australia and the company anticipates selling in North America starting in 2009.
Via Inventor Spot and Popular Mechanics
On a personal note, I once went to this rather fancy hotel in Ireland and soon discovered that their toilet systems used recycled toilet water. It was brownish-yellowish. So this sounds like a reasonable alternative to me.
Written by Peg Fong
Sunday, 23 November 2008
We don’t often think about how we could make our toilets more efficient. Maybe that’s because we don’t think about our toilets so much in general -= one flush and the problem is gone until the next time we sit and ponder. For some reason, in North America, we haven't caught on yet to what consumers in water-starved Asia and Australia have known for decades. Why should the water we flush with be as pristine as the water we drink out of the tap?
The people at Caroma have come up with an idea that makes a lot of sense. It has a system that routes the sink water used while washing hands into the toilet tank ready for the next flush. The Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet has a built in sink behind the cistern which is useful for when space is at a premium, although it may take some adjusting to get used to straddling the seat in order to wash your hands. Apart from the filling mechanism, the toilet operates normally. The water from the sink comes directly from the utilities water supply, completely separating the two functions.
The product was even noted last month as one of the top ten items in Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Products of 2008. Caroma, which has its headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, says it has tested to make sure that soapy water in the tank will have no adverse impact on the toilet components and has calculated water usage savings of 70 per cent per household by combining the sink and toilet.
The system is already available in Australia and the company anticipates selling in North America starting in 2009.
Via Inventor Spot and Popular Mechanics
On a personal note, I once went to this rather fancy hotel in Ireland and soon discovered that their toilet systems used recycled toilet water. It was brownish-yellowish. So this sounds like a reasonable alternative to me.
Who's spider is that?
click on image for full effect please
[editor's edit: sorry the text is so small, it just turned out like that, not my fault]
11.22.2008
This ALWAYS makes me laugh!
Stephen Benigno (UWA) wrote
at 1:16am on January 8th, 2008
paloma, i didn't know your arms were so white and hairy
Kayla Keller (Texas State) wrote
at 12:17pm on January 8th, 2008
aww this night looks like fun! sad i missed it!
Donovan Escalante (Netherlands) wrote
at 11:44pm on January 16th, 2008
Kayla, I'll tell you what happened. This is right before Stephen and Mike made out and then Paloma got naked. Look at Matt in the back with his evil eyes
Stephen Benigno (UWA) wrote
at 12:03am on January 17th, 2008
kayla, i'll tell you what really happened. paloma twisted off donovan's head using her super strength, then i ripped out mike's throat. We both threw them to evil-eye matthew, who ate them whole. then paloma and i made out a little bit
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