ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo

Frilled Shark

This female frilled shark, a tattered and battered yet still magnificent and intimidating remnant of an ancient and presumed extinct species, surfaced near Tokyo yesterday. Unfortunately it died within minutes of its capture by workers from the Awashima Marine Park. Over 1.6 meters in length and of apparently advanced age, the shark is presumed to have been driven to the surface from its normal habitat between 600 and 1000 meters down by the mystery illness that ultimately proved fatal.

More information on the frilled shark is available here and here.

del.icio.us: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
blinklist: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
furl: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
Digg it: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
ma.gnolia: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
Stumble it: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
simpy: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
newsvine: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
reddit: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
fark: ancient fossil shark filmed off Tokyo!
Technorati me!

fart-proof panties

Fartypants, yoAlso excellent for birth control, as anyone who sees that you wear these horrific remedial incontinent-Grandma pants will cut (out) like the wind.

The Under-Ease pants have an in-built multi-layered, replaceable filter made of felt, charcoal and fibreglass wool.

Having recently returned from the Valley of the Shadow of Conservatism, I must take a moment to note for posterity that, no matter what the level of fine or otherwise dining one may be enjoying there, the main course is always accompanied by a hearty serving of boiled, frozen broccoli and cauliflower. Always. I believe this to be a subtle yet effective adaptation to the climate; a clever way of ensuring that Ontarians do not freeze in their sleep, as their beds will be cosily heated for hours from the pre-heated gaseous emissions resulting from the breakdown of said side-dish cruciferousness. Cruciferocity. Whatever; it’s nothing to do with Catholicism. There is obviously no market for these pants in Ontario, regardless of the religious demographics.

I’m wondering if, after a certain point of flatulence and resultant inflatuation while wearing these pants, one achieves the ability to fly, Hindenburg-style? I can just see currently-sexagenarian Richard Branson snarfing down some quick Taco Bell and attempting to set a new record for underwear-powered flight. And, of course, if this method of transportation catches on it could revolutionize the car and aerospace industries as well as meaningfully reduce global warming and cause the entire tax system to be re-evaluated. I forsee a boom in the legume and dried turkish apricot markets very soon.

Buy low, sell high.
del.icio.us: fart-proof panties
blinklist: fart-proof panties
furl: fart-proof panties
Digg it: fart-proof panties
ma.gnolia: fart-proof panties
Stumble it: fart-proof panties
simpy: fart-proof panties
newsvine: fart-proof panties
reddit: fart-proof panties
fark: fart-proof panties
Technorati me!

custody battle from hell, 2.0

Paging Dr. Phibes...Dr Phibes...you're wanted in the Gaza StripSpeaking of things that will end badly, how about this one: this poor 20 year old soldier gets killed in action, and his morbidly monomaniacal parental units have the cold, dead corpse’s shrivelled scrota pumped for sperm, which the hospital then holds for whatever nefarious purposes hospitals need dead boys’s sperm for, but the parents sue, claiming (not without some justification there, it must be said) that those are their genes, not the hospital’s, which suit they win, and, upon gaining custody of the precious vials of spooge they then proceed to advertise them internationally in, I suppose, the personals section of Goth magazines and such, looking for a zombie-positive woman with, presumably, no real-life prospects, and who wishes to give birth to the child there is no evidence this poor kid ever wanted.

Lesson: wank before war, boys! If whatever creepy Doctor Phibes impersonator the parents hired had not found any sperm, all would have been well. You know this is gonna be one hell of a Jerry Springer show!

From the BBC. I have no idea how I got there, and if I did post the intermediary websites, no doubt they’d all deny it!

The lawyer of an Israeli couple who won the right to use their dead son’s sperm to inseminate a woman he never met says the case is a boost for family rights.

Irit Rosenblum told the BBC the landmark ruling meant family lines could continue even without the written consent of the male prior to death.

The dead man, soldier Keivin Cohen, was killed in the Gaza Strip in 2002.

You may now commence retelling your J-Date horror stories, but no way will they top this. This one’s got a lock on the Controlling Mother of the Year Award.

my god, it’s full of stars

No, really. Watch this astonishing video of a Gonatus Onyx Squid with its brood from Brad Seibel, via Pharyngula. It starts slow, but the wait is worth it. (title heartlessly stolen from Tlonista in Ph‘s comments section; what can I say? It was just lying there, glimmering temptingly)

The Science Pundit adds some useful info in Pharyngula‘s comments section:

When Brad Seibel‘s 2000 paper suggested squids brood, it was called “erroneous.” Years later when Seibel had the opportunity to direct a submersible he captured this footage confirming his hypothesis. Take that, cephalopod traditionalists!

how to build a vulva

A nice piece of jewelryHere’s another useful how-to which should be of great interest to a lot of people who spend too much time on the internet and not enough in the presence of vulvas. This one shows you how to make multiples, too, at no additional cost. Have as many as you like!

Don’t say I never did nuthin’ for ya! Stolen from Pharyngula just for you. Click through to the instructions and be sure to check out the many, many pictures.

The vulva is one of my favorite organs. Not only is it pretty and fun to manipulate, but how it responds tells us so much about its owner. And it is just amazing how much we’re learning about it now.

Don’t worry about clicking to read more…this article is full of pictures, but it is entirely work safe because it’s all about science.