Yes, Virginia, there really is a Spongiforma squarepantsii mushroom.

Dang, you'd think Vincent would have mentioned it to Amy...

Headline spotted at NBC's website:Half of college freshmen feel 'above average,' study finds
(Oh Thog, where art thou?)

The BBC's live feed on Japan posted this entry a little while ago:The power company, Tepco, has issued a statement today containing the following: "We would like to make our deep apologies for concern and nuisance about the incident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and the leakage of radioactive substances to the people living in the ( Read more... )

'Twas a long two weeks, sans wheels, sans car:
The local bus only runs so far;
The sidewalks are buried in feet of snow;
Carpool to work, or else not go!
Eh, I'm too tired to put the whole thing in verse. Suffice to say, following Mabel's untimely demise (yes, I know she was 14 years old, but...), it was a very stressful two weeks. Thankfully, as ( Read more... )

It's been a long time since I posted one of these, but I needed a good stress-reliever, and as usual, the Wackytown police beat did not disappoint. ;-) Offered with the usual disclaimers.

( Logs for Jan 16 - Feb 12 )

In preparation for the half-foot of snow, sleet, and freezing rain we are expected to receive tomorrow, I was reading the forecast at Weather Underground. Scanned down the page, and came to their Astronomy section, which notes,Tomorrow will be 2m 52s longer.
I think this will be my mantra in the morning. It may be snowing, sleeting, and sheeting ( Read more... )

The Daily Mail quotes WikiLeaks: Inside Assange's War on Secrecy as claiming Julian Assange, told international reporters: 'Well, they're informants so, if they get killed, they've got it coming to them. They deserve it.' The book continues: 'There was, for a moment, silence around the table.'
Silence, indeed ( Read more... )

Mabel (our '98 Ford Contour) has been slightly tempermental of late, occasionally refusing to go into gear without repeated double-clutching and much cajoling. Monday evening, as Fred drove her back from MA, she decided to take it to the next level -- she now refuses to go into any gear at all. Thankfully, Fred made it home (albeit the last mile ( Read more... )

Cautiously intrigued by a study on the possible effect of testosterone on empathy. While it's tempting to say, "well, d'uh!", the function of the human brain is much too complex to go for the easy target. Nonetheless, interesting results, and I'd like to see where the research goes from here.

Peggy Orenstein has written on an interesting tangent ( Read more... )