… I’ll watch Chunk the Groundhog every time.
Better scripting, better dialog, more involving storylines, more appealing characters. And, I fully expect, far less risk of plague.
Bonus: Corn Cat.
Sep 282022
Aug 242022
A 129-Foot Superyacht Worth Millions Sinks Off the Italian Coast
It’s not clear who owns My Saga, which sails under the Cayman Islands flag. It was built by Italian shipmaker Cantieri San Marco and designed by popular British superyacht designer Tim Heywood. The vessel, which had a teak deck and could accommodate up to 12 passengers, was one of only 1,068 motor yachts in the 35- to 40-meter size range, according to Boat International.
Nei giorni scorsi, la #GuardiaCostiera di #Crotone ha coordinato operazioni di salvataggio di passeggeri ed equipaggio di uno yacht di 40m, affondato a 9 miglia al largo di #CatanzaroMarina.
Avviata inchiesta amministrativa per individuarne le cause. #SAR #AlServizioDegliAltri pic.twitter.com/kezuiivqsM— Guardia Costiera (@guardiacostiera) August 22, 2022
– – –
Not even remotely related, but substantially sadder:
The dugong, a marine mammal related to the manatee, is now functionally extinct in China 🐋 https://t.co/lAMZe2Gwmr
— Times Earth (@Times__Earth) August 24, 2022
China made their dugongs extinct. Good job, ya commie bastards. And pay attention you brain-addled reprobates who think that capitalism is bad for the environment: putting things into the hands of government is *worse.*
Aug 102022
Newly-discovered Langya virus infected 35 people in China
It’s carried by shrews. We’re doooooomed!
Aug 022022
Using only skin cells, Israeli lab makes synthetic mouse embryos with beating hearts
“Synthetic embryo” is an odd turn of phrase. They got them to grow for eight days outside of a uterus, getting to the point of having brains and beating hearts.
They are similar to regular embryos, but are not viable for implantation.
He foresees a day when sick patients may give skin or blood cells for the growth of artificial embryo-like structures, which could in turn yield the cells needed to grow organs.
I saw that movie… had Boromir, Black Widow and Obi Wan.
In any event, if this line of research continues successfully, the implications could be remarkable. never mind growing organs: this will allow people to clone themselves. This also involves “incubators” that are effectively artificial wombs, allowing people to have babies without the bother of carrying babies… no need to put the mother life, health, comfort at risk. No need, in fact, for a mother at all: this sort of thing will allow a man to grow a clone of himself.
How long before the *ability* to grow clones becomes the *expectation* to grow clones? As in… when this technology is made practical, how long before “non-traditional” people start demanding that insurance companies and the government pay for this so they can have babies that nature would not otherwise allow?
Jul 292022
So this guy decided to go gambling at a Las Vegas casino. Normal enough. Parked his vehicle on top of the parking garage. Normal enough. But he left his puppy in the car on a day when it reached 113 degrees. Not normal, not good. Spent two hours inside. *And* he taped the dogs mouth shut, probably to keep the famously noisy Husky from alerting people to its plight..
Fortunately the casino security found (or was alerted to) the situation and rescued the dog through the sun roof and called the local police. Police body camera footage shows the moment the owner walked up and the cops response to him. The police officer maintained discipline and professionalism… but you can tell … just barely. The officer was PO’ed, and rightly so. You can imagine that everyone involved here might well have been hoping that the owner would do something stupid (well, additionally stupid) so as to merit a few love taps from a billyclub. The police officers tone and actions just scream “contempt.” As well they should: I imagine cops dealing with brutalized children and animals must be about the hardest parts of their jobs (after getting shot and stabbed, obviously).
WHAT NOT TO DO IN VEGAS:
On July 20, we got a call from security from a hotel & casino at 3600 S. Las Vegas Blvd. (The high temperature that day was 113)
Security spotted a puppy inside a locked vehicle on the top floor of the parking garage with its mouth taped shut around 3 pm pic.twitter.com/kmZJ9CcQyU— LVMPD (@LVMPD) July 28, 2022
Looks like the casino staff put in a good effort… there are multiple uniformed security guys, a woman caring for the pup, and a guy in a suit who looks… ummm… a bit like A Casino Guy in A Suit You Don’t Want Coming For You. Also a guy with a bicycle who might have been just a bystander, or might have been the guy who found the dog. Shrug.
Some commenters at the twitter thread note that the dogs owner was not read Miranda rights before being arrested. But… Miranda is used to make sure the suspect is aware of their rights before being interrogated. I’m not sure that that directly applies here. It will before he is questioned at the station, but “Is this your car?” doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal.
Who would do this? WHY would anyone do this? Assuming the dog pulls through, I have little doubt that the line of people wanting to adopt it will wrap around the block.
NEW: We just got an update and the 3-month-old Husky puppy is still with animal control and receiving medical treatment for this July 20 incident. https://t.co/T7PP0p7Kmd pic.twitter.com/IZzoTK1t4g
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) July 28, 2022
Feh.
Here’s some brain-bleach:
Human found puppies he thought were just protecting cat, but he found surprise… pic.twitter.com/GAoBh6se7U
— Feline Defence Force 🇺🇦 (@FDF_Ukraine) April 22, 2022
— Feline Defence Force 🇺🇦 (@FDF_Ukraine) May 4, 2022
Jul 282022
Dead spiders reanimated as creepy ‘necrobots’
Taking a dead spider’s lifeless body and reanimating it as a robot is an idea that would be the stuff of nightmares for most people. But scientists aren’t most people. Recently, a team of researchers turned the corpses of wolf spiders into arcade-style claw machines that could pick up and move a variety of objects — including other dead wolf spiders.
Because it’s creepy as hell, I moved the gifs of this scientific abomination below the break…
Jul 252022
Which I imagine was the point of the outing.
Jul 062022
The fella on the right seems to have a bright future with the Minoans.
Jun 082022
This made me laugh a lot harder than it should have (especially what with the covid playing hell with my lungs). It was the “yeeeaah” at the end that really did it:
Fun fact: Male Frogs croak to attract a mate. It is especially common to hear frogs croaking during the spring at night after it rains.🐸 💋💕 #naturalhabitatshorts #naturalhabitat #naturalhabitok pic.twitter.com/HgMH52fkir
— Natural Habitat Shorts (@Natural_habitok) April 28, 2022
Jun 072022
I believe I’ve posted videos of Messi before, a subscale puma belonging to a couple in Russia. I love cats, but I’m leery of *big* cats; to them, humans are tasty treats, and its best not to forget it. Still, Messi seems almost domesticated. Imagine if Messi’s DNA could be sequenced and understood, and a whole line of smaller, fully domesticated “house pumas” could be bred. Those critters would sell like hotcakes.