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	Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Info Cards You know that thing you get in the mail sometimes, or at least used to get back in the day, that was a recipe card-style information product?  Like, it would be a sample of recipe cards about animals, and you could buy the whole set and just file all the cards, and when you had it all and the cabinet and everything, it would be just like your mother's recipe box, except with recipes about animal facts.  Or planets, or U.S. Presidents or the States or something like that.  I remember the first time I got one of those in the mail.  There were six cards in there for different badass animals like the Crocodile and the Scorpion.  Well, it didn't take long to convince me that I desperately needed this virtual encyclopedia of animal facts, though regrettably my parents then and consistently ever after were unpersuaded.  Despite this obstacle, I somehow managed to learn about a recipe card's worth of information about several animals, but sadly, my dream of becoming an extremely well-organized field biologist died that day. A couple weeks ago, Linus received virtually the exact same offer I did so many years ago, only with newer graphics.  Same types of animals, same card-file concept.  He was convinced he needed them and stated his case to me, but like my parents before me, I was unpersuaded.  10:46:02 PM    Say what?[]

Magic Shirt I bought these two shirts at the Unique Thrift Store that were overstock or something from Niemann-Marcus, and were marked down from $140 to $30.  I've never had a shirt even half as expensive or nice as these shirts were, so I bought them.  (I don't want to endorse the idea that just because something is expensive it is by definition nice.  But these shirts were both, in my estimation, expensive and nice.) I wondered what it would be like to wear shirts that were that nice.  I haven't had a need or means to wear many expensive clothes in my life, but as I have gotten older and paid more attention to the way really nice clothes are made, and what they are made of, I have come to suspect that people who are able to dress well are in some way large or small simply living better than I am.  More comfortable.  More functional, durable, respected.  More better.  I probably had my hopes set a little too high.  I'm not sure if I expected sparks to start shooting out of my ass or what, but when I put that shirt on I didn't feel all that different from when I'm wearing one of my other shirts.  It was a nice shirt, sure.  Comfortable, looked good, even though I had it matched with some oh-so-sophisticated Dockers.  But it was just a shirt.  I didn't get a raise, a playful glance from one of the women in the office, or even a "Nice shirt."  Nothing.  I paid $30, marked down from $140, for this?  So I can walk around in a shirt that looks nice?  The good news is, I didn't pay $140. 10:07:46 PM    Say what?[]

	Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Dramatic Recent Developments in the Baddest Animal Debate These are exciting times for followers of the Baddest Animal Debate.  (Check this oldschool Pipeline coverage of the Baddest Animal Debate to give yourself some education about the matter.)  As most people know by now, some fantastic footage was taken of a 26-foot giant squid last month near the Bonin Islands.  It was the first documentary proof of a live giant squid, so it was bound to be a major scientific discovery no matter what the squid actually did on film.  But what was most astonishing was the aggressiveness and quickness of a creature that large.  The squid struggled for hours to free itself from the line holding the bait and camera, sometimes squeezing its tentacles into a ball to slug the bait and the line to break free.  In short, if you haven't seen the footage, go make an effort to find it.  And not just the still photo; see the moving pictures.  It's creepy seeing something that big move that fast when it's that pissed off.  I'll never go 3,000 feet deep into the ocean again! This was big news everywhere, but especially in the Baddest Animal Debate community.  The giant squid has had many proponents, and frankly, seeing the footage last month made me a believer.  Of course, given that sperm whales eat giant squids for lunch, literally, I don't think we can award the Heavyweight belt to the squid just yet. Lesser weight classes have also been active, with last week's revelations about Python/Gator battles in the Florida Everglades.  Over the years a lot of pythons and other large non-native snakes purchased as pets have been released there, and they seem to be adapting relatively well to the area.  When those snakes get large enough, they become top-down predators, meaning that the Gators who typically didn't have many natural enemies now sometimes find themselves a little squeezed, so to speak.  Apparently each of the four or so documented encounters have ended in a draw, though you could say this encounter had no winners. 9:39:33 PM    Say what?[]

© Copyright 2005 DH. Last update: 10/12/05; 10:48:18 PM.