Biomes Blog

Entry #1612

Movie Rating: Fantastic Four and the Rise of the Silver Surfer.
When I was eight years old I spent a few months bedridden with rheumatic fever. I spent most of this time pouring over comic books, especially the Marvel and Action superhero genre. So I get a bit nostalgic about these superhero movies that have come out over the past ten or so years. The Fantastic Four was one of my favorites and I was pretty disappointed with the first film, in what I fear will be a series, that came out a few years ago. So out of some demented sense of duty I put myself through the pain of watching this sequel, and it was worse than I imagined. The plot made absolutely no sense, the villians were undeveloped to the point that they didn’t even matter to the story, the jokes fell flat and the romance was juvenile.  1.3 starfish out of 5, mainly for the surfer’s cool surf board, which too was sadly undeveloped and the source of its power was left completely unanswered.

Cats on a treadmill.

More email lies are spread about Obama, this one stating that he refuses to sing the national anthem.

Burma or Myanmar. Why can’t the newspapers just pick a name and go with it?

Tree jewelery. The ultimate gift for the garden.

Entry #1611

French proverbs from 1611.

Cool Site of the Week: The peopling of the world.

These are my archives.

Lance Mannion on Indiana Jones.

I don’t know if this shark-surfing video is on the level, I’m leaning towards “no”, but if it is this guy’s little thrill ride has left a big fish with a hook, line and fishing pole attached to its mouth.

Drunkorexia. The New York Times coins a new term.

Albino Monday: Dick Cheney’s cat, Snarl Jr.

Entry #1610: Bears

Charlie Vandergaw lives with wild black and grizzly bears six months a year. I don’t think he’s doing these animals any good by acclimating them like this.

Read a short bio on Cree chief Big Bear.

Take this awareness test.

The Bear Mountain Bear cams.

The polar bears of Churchill.

Lyle Lovett sings "Bears".

Entry #1609

Sometimes I think I don’t even recognize this country any more. Reading this article about how immigration may be deporting US citizens is one of those times.

Take the Bush-McCain Challenge.

A guy in Ohio has supposedly regenerated a severed finger tip by sprinkling the wound with powdered pig bladder. Read the story and watch the video. Looks to me like he just lost some skin and a bit of flesh, not bone. I call foul since basically all he's done is heal a nasty wound.

Morford: Laura Bush, docile doormat.

Pet Corner: Dogs with cones.

Short answers to stupid questions. Who would Dr. King vote for.

Entry #1608

Under the McCain-Clinton useless, pandering gas tax holiday plan, I’d save $69 over the summer. Figure out your savings here.

Josh shows you another in a long line of evidence why republicans are bad, bad, bad for America.

"McCain wants to stay in Iraq until no more Americans are getting killed, no matter how long it takes and how many Americans get killed achieving that goal--that is, the goal of not getting any more Americans killed. And once that goal is achieved, we'll stay."

I bought my Prius in December of 2005, when gas prices were around $1.80. Mary bought hers eight months earlier than that. Today one in five cars sold is a high fuel efficiency vehicle.

Gas tax follies, by Krugman.

This is a beautiful photo gallery of Russia in the winter.

If you have inadvertently hurt someone you care about, simply fill out form A-001, provided by the Bureau of Communication, to make amends. You can print it out or forward it by email.

Entry #1607

It’s things like this that turn sane people vegetarian.

The NeoCube is composed of 216 individual high-energy sphere magnets, which can be formed into billions of shapes and patterns.

The Elitist Menace, by Tom Tomorrow.

New York at night, by Wikimedia.

Where to go to help victims of the Myanmar cyclone: Unicef, World Vision, ARC.

Sky News reports on the cyclone.

You might want to bookmark the Daily Green.

Stanford has a collection of shameless ads by big tobacco once used to try to hide the dangers of smoking from the public.

Entry #1606

Yesterday's trivia was answered by southern quebec. The spruce's roots have been carbon-dated at 9,550 years, making it the oldest living plant. The trunk lives for about 600 years, dies back and then a new trunk grows in its place.

Jesus Made Me Puke is a horrifying piece by Matt Taibbi, who goes under cover for Rolling Stone as a Christian evangelical. What he witnesses is simply unbelievable.

Stuff You Should Know: The Ministries Cases (The Nazi Judges Cases).

Check out the Fading Ad Blog, which features signs that are fading.

Yay! I passed eighth grade science!

Entry #1605

Trivia (5 Biomes points): What’s significant about this Norway spruce tree?

The LA Times has an article out about how tip-dependent workers are getting squeezed in this Bush-ravaged economy (via Waiter Rant). I don’t work for tips, but my business is definitely way down from the past few years. Nobody has spare cash to spend.

Sadly, No! gives us some straight talk about gas prices.

A food company has its annual report printed on paper that must be cooked before it can be read.

This pool in Chile is the world’s largest.

Entry #1604

I had a couple of unusual animal requests over the past few weeks. The first was from a local school whose principal promised the students he would do any dare they chose if they reached their reading goal for the week. They did and he had to dress up like a woman, kiss a horseshoe crab and get pied in the face. The school contacted me and I came in with one of my crabs and he did all three in front of the whole student body. It made the local news. Here's a photo that ran in the Providence Journal. I'm right behind the curtain waiting to be cued to go on stage with the horseshoe crab.

The other request was from a man and his aunt who wanted to borrow a sea star. His mother was dying and told him she always loved starfish but never got to hold one. He brought one of my sea stars into the hospital and she got to hold it just before she passed away.

Tom Hanks endorses Obama.

Take the Antonin Scalia quiz. I got 5 for 5. (correct answers appear in green after your guess.)

Teh Wiki on “teh”.

Albino Monday: Eel pout. Here's what a normal colored one looks like.

Entry #1603

This week's Big Thing is the world's largest pineapple, found in Queensland, Australia.

Stuff You Should Know: Pineapple fruit facts.

Obama wins Guam by seven votes.

Via D. Sidhe in comments, one of the photos I used in my coconut crab essay has been lol!led.

Bill O’Reilly is an idiot. Anybody who watches him and thinks they’re being informed is a world-class dope. And any democrat who appears on his show is only giving this clown legitimacy. That said, and I’m not a Hillary backer at all, she really held her own here.

World’s strangest vehicles, part 4.

Meet a guy who taste tests pet food for a living.