Biomes Blog

Entry #2041

Spinal Tap scene “These go to eleven”.

Geek Stuff: Ten annoying habits of a geeky spouse.

Play! Mahjongg Solitaire.

Movie Rating: Children of Men.
This film wouldn’t deserve much of a mention other than a few scenes I noticed about three-quarters of the way through. Britain is descending into anarchy and Clive Owen’s character is breaking into an illegal alien detention camp. As he enters we notice the sign over the entrance says “Homeland Security”, and as he passes a series of prison cages each one has inmates exactly replicating those first batches of photos we all saw from Abu Ghraib. The first cage had a single hooded man standing on a box with his arms outstretched and attached to wires, and it went on from there. It wasn’t even subtle, which was probably intentional. By coincidence I followed this film up with Robert Greenwald's Iraq for Sale, which was pretty dull but still a must see, especially for any wingnut you know who still thinks we went into that country for nothing less than noble reasons. 2.0 starfish out of 5 for Children and 3.0 starfish out of Five for Greenwald's doc. Here's Ebert's take on Children of Men.

iPod Shuffle:

1. Not Home Anymore (Whiskeytown)
2. It Probably Always Will (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
3. 1,000 Miles (Dwight Yoakam)
4. Stop Thinkin' 'Bout That (James Taylor)
5. On A Night Like This (Bob Dylan)

Entry #2040

Animal of the Week: The incredible glasswing butterflies.

If you’d like, you can vote for shed of the year here.

Meet the long-necked women of Padaung.

I haven’t seen a quicktime movie in quite a while. Here’s a high speed one of plant life cycles.

A while back I mentioned the straight to DVD movie that’s coming out called Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, and in case you’re worried that the science will be far-fetched, here’s a realistic clip.

Entry #2039: Moar Bacon, Part V

Get your “I heart bacon” t-shirt here.

How to make a bacon man.

Eleven ways to get more bacon into your diet.

Here’s a joke about a bacon tree.

Are you addicted to bacon? Find out here.

Entry #2038

Stuff you should know: The stories behind thirteen of the world’s most famous numbers.

The tackiest Eiffel Tower souvenirs.

Now we’re cookin’: Remember the game Candyland? Here are all the recipes for the sweets found on the board.

Istana Nurul Iman, the home of the Sultan of Brunie, is the world’s largest residence of any type. It has 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, five swimming pools and a 110-car garage.

Tuesday Coonhound Blogging: Creole and one of my sharks show their bellies. In one of these species that's submissive behavior. Click to embiggen.

Entry #2037

 You have an air conditioned what? This one cools your outdoor garden.

Today’s long read is Operation Pancake, an undercover investigation of LA vegan restaurants that found that many use non-vegan ingredients on a regular basis. I’m not vegan, but I thought this was interesting anyway.

You are what you eat is a photo project by Mark Menjivar, who traveled around the country documenting what people have inside their refrigerators.

Timewaster of the Week: Create your own Jackson Pollock original.

Albino Monday: Baby Tawney Frogmouth. These are also known as "false owls".

Entry #2036

This week’s Green Thing is decor designs based on cacti.

The Telegraph takes a look at what lurks in the depths of the ocean.

Watch a bighorn sheep beating up on a Toyota.

Morford: A troubling lack of pure evil.

Buy your own crime-fighting gear at the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

Entry #2035

Happiest People Ever is another niche blog, this one collects photographs of people not smiling for the camera.

Today’s slide show is of the winners of the 2001 “small world” microphotography contest (click on “slide show” to view).

Allerca has some genetically modified hypoallergenic pets.

Caulrophobia. Are you afraid of clowns?

When I was a kid, an adult friend had a scrapbook with photos of a rotting log in it. The log was on his family farm in Vermont and every year he’d take a photo of it, cataloging its decay over more than a decade. Here’s a similar idea, with a photo taken of the same spot each day for a year. It’s called “A year in 40 seconds”.

Entry #2034

Cool Site of the Week: Comics I don’t understand.

Geek Stuff: Finally, a quality zombie jello mold.

Movie Rating: Hidalgo
Except for the depictions of Native American genocide, buffalo slaughter, the Arabian slave trade, and most of the character’s deceptive and cruel behavior in every possible way, this is a touchy-feely, feel good movie about the love between a pony express rider (Viggo Mortensen) and his mustang Hidalgo, who cross the Atlantic to compete in a grueling 3000-mile race across the Middle Eastern deserts against 137 purebred Arabian horses. It’s based on the real life story of Frank Hopkins, who died in 1951, and is all but elevated to sainthood in this film. Having said all that, I liked it. 3.5 starfish out of 5. As usual here’s Ebert’s take. And a clip.

The 26th Carnival of the Blue is now up for July over at Southern Fried Science. Andrew starts the post with my essay on shrimp buying.

iPod Shuffle:

1. Monopoly (Shawn Colvin)
2. Sleeping Bag (ZZ Top)
3. Chattanooga Sugar Babe (Johnny Cash)
4. Sure Don't Feel Like Love (Paul Simon)
5. Country Doctor (Bruce Hornsby)

Entry #2033

Animal of the Week: The rare Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, with video. Found in northern Vietnam, it is believed there are only about 200 individuals left.

Bill Y got yesterday's trivia question right.

What day is it?

Here’s a bunch of optical illusions for you.

Meet a professional worm grunter.

Entry #2032

The art of Japanese manhole covers.

Trivia (5 Biomes points): Tell me what’s odd (to Americans, anyway) about this product line slide show.

Photography rules for idiots.

Today’s slide show is a collection of illustrations by Donald Soffritti of comic book heroes and villians in old age.

Hump Day Musical Interlude: War/No More Trouble by Playing for Change. You can visit Playing for Change’s site here.