Biomes Blog

Entry #3152: Inkblot

I never realized Olympic-level sailing was so physically gruelling.

Back when he was “Calpundit” nearly a decade ago, Kevin Drum was one of the first bloggers I ever read, and back then he pioneered Friday cat blogging, usually featuring Inkblot. I don’t even like cats, but I was sad to hear he died this week. I felt this weird connection to an animal living on the other side of a continent. However, Kevin’s theory that Inkblot was killed by a coyote doesn’t fly with me. I have a coyote den out back and the only signs you’d see of a former cat is a chewed collar and name tag. I could be wrong, but I don’t think you’d find a body. That said, here’s an extremely tolerant kitty.

Entry #3151: Bear and Salmon Cam

Albino Monday: While looking for a link to go with this leaucistic sugar glider image, I instead learned that their young are called "joeys", which I never would have guessed.

Check out the live bear and salmon cam, from the Katmai National Park in Alaska. I can’t tell you how long I watched, and the damn bears didn’t catch a single fish. I’m worried about their skills.

Buy your math geek clock here.

Entry #3150: Mitt Pin

I’d heard about those made-in-China pins Willard had made (in his image) for the Salt Lake City Olympics, but until now I didn’t realize how creepy they were.

The olympic gold medal is mostly silver.

Unilateral Dermatoheliosis, or why truck drivers should apply sunscreen to the left side of their faces.

Entry #3149: Tuvalu

I plan on watching zero minutes of the London Games, but when it’s all over I’d love to hear how the competitors from Tuvalu did. It’s feared they’ll be the first country in the world to become uninhabitable due to climate change.

The Bamford County no-hands-allowed tick pick contest.

Entry #3148: Roadkill

In his “roadkill experiment”, Mark Rober placed rubber animals (a turtle, a snake and a tarantula) on the side of the road, and then recorded 1000 drivers’ reactions. Most did what any normal person would do: stay in your lane and avoid the animal. But 6% of drivers purposely veered off the road to hit the target. 89% of these sadists drove SUV’s. On a personal note, the closest I’ve ever come to being killed by far was in 1993 when I pulled over and ran out into a four-lane road to save a turtle. It was a very stupid thing to do and I was only saved when I “froze” and the car whizzed by inches away. I actually felt the car's bumper brush me.

Entry #3147: No-fuss Houseplants

In my new aquarium I’ll be looking to hide wires, electric strips, filters and other distracting items, so this list of the 24 easiest houseplants you can grow should come in handy.

Stuff you should know: How to answer a hypothetical question.

This infographic gives an overview of the most influential legal cases in U.S. history. You can click it to make the words bigger.

Entry #3146: A Tale of Two Bubbles

The current congress has been the most useless one in history, sending only 54 bills to the White House (14 of them renaming post offices), showing that the only thing that matters to the Right is making sure that black Kenyan Muslim doesn’t get a second term.

Kthug contrasts the Bush housing bubble with the Clinton stock bubble, and shows why they’re just not the same thing economically.

Hump day musical interlude: The indoor centipede song.

Entry#3145: Applefied

Ford’s smart car technology uses biometric sensing to monitor your stress and distraction levels and deactivates your cell phone when it feels you don’t need any further distractions (via Hans)

Reacquaint yourself with the seven wonders of the ancient world. Before you click, see how many you can remember. I thought of only four.

Applefied Ads is this week’s niche blog, applying Apple’s minimalist advertising formula to other products.

Entry #3144: Going Solo

Albino Monday: Magpie spotted in Coulsdon.

Now we’re cookin’: Mashed potatoes and gravy, on tap.

Today’s long read is Selfishness as Virtue, by Benjamin Schwartz. It’s about adults living alone and the question about how selfish this is. And even though I’ve been one for 17 years, I was amazed to find out that 50 percent of American adults are single and one in seven live alone. I’m a guy in both categories, and I sometimes find myself happy to be on my own and free as I could be, and other times sad that I don’t have someone to share my life with completely. Mostly I’m ambivalent. Although my house isn’t huge, it’s much too big for just one man and his dog. And I think that’s where the social morality issue comes in. In early America, and in developing nations, few people could live the way I do, but today millions do. Financially, it’s a struggle. But I do it anyway. Socially I can get away with it because I date regularly and have a support system of friends and coworkers. It also doesn’t hurt that I have a business that occupies an absurd amount of my time. I suspect this won’t last forever.

Entry #3143: Angel Heart

Angel Heart is perhaps the first movie I watched at home, then rewound and watched again. I was thrilled when Mickey Rourke came back in The Wrestler after so many years. Here’s a nice interview with him on Inside the Actor’s Studio.

Entry #3142: Som Sabadell Flashmob

Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math. This Rolling Stone article is scary.

Ten reasons to thank Obamacare. And ten myths about it.

Hump day musical interlude: The Som Sabadell flashmob.

Entry #3141: How to Cut a Hot Dog

Cool site of the week: The Ancient Web explores the past civilizations of every region in the world. The site is huge and the articles are long, but if you find this kind of thing fascinating you’ll find a lot to love.

If it weren’t for the whole harming the country thing, these Tea Partiers would be kind of amusing.

Now we’re cookin’: How to spiral cut a hot dog.

Entry #3140: Bane/Bain

I’m predicting that this Bain thing is never going away, and Romney is screwed. If so, a small part of me will feel gypped that he got beat by his own incompetence rather than by being whipped outright by Obama.

Read this letter to Kurt Vonnegut.

Sci-Am has a nice little primer on Evolution.

Entry #3139: It's Mine

20,000 year old pottery found in China.

Jim Wright puts a flamethrower to the real entitlement mentality.

Hump day musical interlude: Dachshund and the sand crab.

Entry #3138: Starry, Starry Night

“Starry Night” with over 7,000 dominoes.

The aging of a rock star shows some musicians now compared to what they looked like when they first hit the scene. Stevie Nicks and Meatloaf look better now.

Charles Pierce thinks he knows what’s so awful about the things hidden in Willard’s tax returns that he won’t release: Nothing. And why then won’t he release them? Contempt.

How to make Starry Night with bacon.

Entry #3137: Bee Hotels

Albino Monday: Via Hans, my go-to guy for all things color-challenged, there’s an albino bat in Masbate, Philippines. There's a short video at the link.

The antonym of “synonym” is “antonym”, and the antonym of “antonym” is “synonym”, but “synonym” has no synonym.

Welcome to the bee hotel. Here are some plans you can use to make your own.

Entry #3135: What's At Stake

Robert Reich tells us what’s at stake in the 2012 election. Regressive vs Progressive politics.

Entry #3134: Fruited Plains

Entry #3133: Following the Queue

If someone (or the news) tells you that 83% of doctors are considering quitting over Obamacare, remember it’s just the wingers lying like they always do.

Here’s what facebook would be like if it was real life.

iPod Shuffle:

1. The Downtown Lights (Rod Stewart)
2. Send Your Love (Sting)
3. Magic (Bruce Springsteen)
4. I'm Movin' On (Johnny Cash)
5. True Love Will Never Fade (Mark Knopfler)

Entry #3132: Accidentally Artsy

Ernest Borgnine died this week at 95.

People in Republican states are most likely to be opposed to health care reform, which attempts to provide the uninsured with affordable programs. So, let’s see where the most uninsured people are. 

Today’s slide show is about what happens when scientists get accidentally artsy. It’s a series of fish X-rays that will be on exhibit at the Smithsonian.