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Beautiful photos of New Zealand.
Morford: Apocalypse Of The Honeybees.
Timewaster of the Week: Click randomly on the little Swedish kids.
Top ten surprising results of global warming.
A day in the life of a cat. This guy attaches a camera to his cat and documents where he went all day.
This news interview with an Australian official about a whale that was possibly killed by seismic testing done by an oil company is like something out of an SNL sketch, but it’s actually for real. At least I think it is. I've checked with Snopes and some other sites and I can't find anything that debunks it. Listen carefully to the answers this guy gives the interviewer. Maybe it's just me, but this was one of the funniest news clips I've ever seen.
Quote of the week, about Oscar the death-predicting cat:
YearlyKos article in the SF Chronicle. I’ll be there.
Cool Site of the Week: Old Picture of the Day.
I have overdraft protection on my checking account, so I avoid those infuriating bad check fees I used to get. I didn’t realize how much money banks make from this. $17.5 billion last year alone.
Albino Monday: Emu.
This week's water tower is found in Pittsfield, MI.
British firefighters rescue “Pearl” the goldfish as it was swimming down the street.
Republican voter caging explained by PBS.
Rolling Stone says Giuliani is worse than Bush. That could be true, but it’s still pretty hard to imagine anyone could be worse than flightsuit boy.
I wish the virgin Mary would stop appearing in foods. Now she’s infested a watermelon.
Sign up for HassleMe and you’ll get nagged via email to do whatever chore you’ve chosen to be bugged by.
My Marine Life Series on the hate site DailyKos this week is about shark finning. Take the poll. Because of the huge number of diaries posted last night it got little play, so take a look. I'll admit it is not pretty.
Movie Rating: Ordinary people live in huge six bedroom homes. Ordinary people name their kids "Buck" and "Conrad". Ordinary people call their male son "Connie". Ordinary people can't hug their kids. Ordinary people spend every Christmas in Spain or France or Italy. Ordinary people respond to a desperate plea from their spouses by hailing a taxi and leaving for Houston. Ordinary people gets 1.2 starfish out of 5.
Phrases. This pretty much sums up all you need to know about our “liberal” mainstream media.
Here’s another niche blog, this one all about ugly mailboxes.
Jim in Washington state weighs in with his backyard hummingbird feeder.
You would never guess, based on watching this piece about “Jessica”, that hippos kill more people than any other mammal in the world. Except of course for Bush and the Pope (they're both primates).
Woody Allen’s Annie Hall opening, continued.
Now we’re cookin’: These mojito cupcakes look damn good.
The Oberoi Hotel in India is ranked as the top hotel in the world. Rooms cost up to $3000 per night.
Tom Tomorrow on How the News Works.
iPod Shuffle:
The Lonesome Death of Violet the Octopus.
Yesterday's hummingbird photo prompted an email from Kathi in Colorado, who sent in some shots of Rufous Hummingbirds at her backyard feeders. I've tried to photograph these birds before and have had no luck, although I am a pretty sucky photographer to begin with. These shots are just great.
Thanks Kathi!
Animal of the Week: I have no idea who took this photo, but it’s from the Eastern U.S. Those are ruby-throated hummingbirds, our only native species. I saw my first one of the year this past weekend feeding at some hostas in the backyard. I haven't been big on the garden stuff the past few years, but I have been trying to at least plant a few of the hummingbird's favorite flowers by adding a few of the the species on this list.
One of the greatest comedies ever is “Annie Hall”. Here’s Woody’s opening in that flick.
Timewaster of the Week: Watch cheddar cheese mold at the cheesecam.
Tell your friends you’ve been hunting with Dick Cheney and prove it with these shot-up polo shirts. Hey, at least he didn’t shoot you in the face.
All typepad sites, including this one, were down for several hours yesterday. Graham figured out it was because of the blackout they had in San Francisco.
This hideous creature won best in show at the annual World Dog Show.
Ridiculous stuff from the Bible.
Thirty-five years ago Nick Ut took what is probably the iconic photograph of the Vietnam War. Today he’s peddling dreck like the second shot at that link. (Yay, my first Paris Hilton reference ever. I feel so dirty.)
Free to good homes: A spanking paddle. “None of these paddles are perfect. And neither are we!”
Cool Site of the Week: The World Monuments Fund has identified the top 100 most endangered sites in the world.
Use this animated guide to see how typhoons develop.
A reminder about those “Biomes points” you’ll see offered up here on occasion, for the new folks (and I can see from the logs there are a bunch of new regulars popping in). The first to answer the trivia-type question gets those points. I’m keeping track in my high-tech spiral bound notebook I keep next to my desk and when anyone reaches 100 points I will donate $25 to the candidate or charity of their choice. Candidates must be Democrats and charities must benefit humanity, animals or the environment (no conservative or religious causes, please). The winner starts back at zero and everyone else keeps the points they’ve accrued.
The top three as of today: Derryl with 81, Queen with 72 and DJ with 71.
Trivia (6 Biomes points): Where was this photo taken?
This week's water tower is found in Ann Arbor, MI.
Stuff You Should Know: Fifteen myths about eyesight.
Morford: Please never find a giant squid.
Which candidate most closely matches your views? Find out here and post your results in the comments. My top three matches are Kucinich, Dodd and Edwards. Of the three, I’d only vote for Edwards in the primary. I retook the quiz, answering in the most wingnutty way possible and my top three matches were Hunter, Tancredo and Brownback. Fortunately none of these three have a chance in hell at the Republican nomination.
Help. I’m getting nuked.
This week's Marine Life Series is about horseshoe crab conservation.
The countdown begins as we approach August 1st, my second airplane flight of my adult life (man, I really don’t like flying) to attend the YearlyKos convention in Chicago. I’m hoping my seat is near the back of the plane.
Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s, funded Topsy the upside-down bus to protest our government's screwed up financial priorities.
Watch the Battle at Kruger. This is unbelievable. A herd of water buffalo arrive at a watering hole, is attacked by a pride of lions who capture one of the calves at the edge of the pond. Two crocodiles show up and grab the baby and try to take it away from the lions. The lions win, drag the calf back out of the water and are then attacked by the adult buffalo, who save the calf.
Director’s Mother’s Cut is a photoshop contest about making horror film posters kid-friendly. Nice job.
Movie Rating: The Aristocrats.
Let me start off by saying I'm not a prude, and I do like the works of Penn Jillette, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Robin Williams and the other comics in this documentary. I just didn't laugh. In fact, it was rather painfully unfunny. 1.4 starfish out of 5.
I’ve mentioned some of these before, but mental-floss has put together a whole list of Wikipedia knock-offs, including the brilliant Wickerpedia.
Play! Battle Pong.
iPod Shuffle:
Stuff You Should Know: How to get rid of a double chin. (Exxon-Mobil CEO Lee Raymond)
Meet the Flern, a completely new bodily organ.
The conservative weather channel. Considering Conservapedia and Fox’s lame “comedy” show, this isn’t all that far-fetched (except for the small fact that Jerry's no longer with us).
Help save the Pacific Northwest tree octopus.
Left lane drivers, unite!
Today’s Long Read: The Whole Silly Flood Story. Ooh, this is good stuff. But this guy is taking it way too seriously. I mean, how ridiculous can mythology get. Ok, so that one comes close.
What’s the biggest cash crop in the U.S.? Some people are amazed when I say it, but not only do I not use this, I’ve never even tried it. Just not interested. But the fact that it is illegal is just moronic. The “drug war” is a farce and ruins a lot of lives by jailing people who have no business being labeled criminals.
Cool Site of the Week: Deep Space.
I pass by this osprey nest at least a few times a week and keep forgetting to post about it. Hopefully the image is clear when you watch it because the male likes to perch on top of the camera and tends to foul it with droppings.
Get your Jesus action figures here. I especially covet the riding-a-hog-with-a-crown-o’-thorns Jesus.
