Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Aphids: the Japanese Manga Stars of the insect world

From the Boing Boing Flickr pool: link. Sort of looks like little green Domos. Per wikipedia: "Aphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea."

Thursday, January 20, 2011

OMZG LOLCATS THIS IS SO QT!

Om nom nom nom!
Rarely does Mr. Spanky indulge in sensationalism. Well, seldomly. Well, pretty much he'll do anything to drive traffic to his self serving blog. So this is just about the cutest cat you will ever see!

Not really. This is Mr. Chase No Face (disguised as an om nom nom nom) and is liked by 11,041 people on Facebook and rising. He had a small face erasing accident when he was young but is apparently quite happy. He needs eye drops frequently. Click the link to see his web gallery or scroll down to see what he really looks like.

Link


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I warned you!


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No really, go back!


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Aiyah. You are braver than my dog, Cala, who hurls herself at the patio door late at night to scare off evil possums.


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Delay tactic #1: Ok, a man, a dog, and a cat walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says "we don't serve turkeys". The man leaves.


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Delay tactic #2: Squirrel!


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Ok, ok, Mr. Chase No Face is below:

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Om nom nom nom!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Heidi the Cross Eyed Possum

I don't like possums as a rule. They look like large rats--I am aware that they are marsupials and are technically opossums. More importantly, they skulk about in our backyard at night terrorizing our dog who hurls herself against the patio door windows barking furiously. I can only imagine that they have little possumy smirks on their faces as they do the equivalent of "na na na NA na" to the impotent canine. It works best at 2am when everyone is asleep. So you can see that I have little love for those that break my rest.

However, I have to admit that Heidi is actually in the cute category. You can befriend Heidi on Facebook here.

Cross-eyed opossum Heidi sits in her enclosure at Leipzig zoo in eastern Germany. Heidi, who is not yet even on public display, has become an Internet hit, winning more than 65,000 150,000 "friends" on the social networking website Facebook.

Link

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Using Your Head

I'm sure that many of you kidz have had the opportunity to inhale helium and hear your voice go up several pitches like Alvin the chipmunk. Sulfur hexafluoride is heavier than air: what do you think will happen to your voice if you inhale it? If helium eventually leaves your lungs because it can easily be breathed out, how will you get the SH6 out? Hint: you have to use your head.

Link

Thursday, November 4, 2010

What's that soul sucking sound? Ah, it's Black Friday.

Black Friday is the shopping day of the year here in the US where companies go from "being in the red" meaning that they are losing money to "being in the black". Typically retailers discount heavily, especially on consumer electronics, in a hope that in the post-Thanksgiving haze of stuffed tummies and dulled brains, that we pour the contents of our wallets out onto their counters in exchange for goods.

As Mr. Spanky is always on the prowl for the interesting and amusing, he came across this "coupon" that celebrates Black Friday.

The talented illustrator here is poking fun at our rampant materialism and reminds us that this obsession can never be satisfied and in the end becomes your owner. The picture of the cow is in reference to the golden calf created and then worshipped by the Israelites while Moses was up on the mountain getting the ten commandments from God (Exo 32:1).

It made the Spankster snort with suppressed laughter, much to his embarrassment, while riding the train home.

Link

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Never Gonna Give You Up

The word acrostic comes from the Greek words "akros" or top and "stichos" or verse. It is comprised of a series of letters, words, or letters at the beginning of every sentence or line of text that form a hidden message. Acrostics are commonly used as mnemonics so that we can remember things. Surely you know ROYGBIV for the colors of the rainbow or the sentence All Cows Eat Grass which denote the space notes on the left hand of the piano?

An enterprising college student decided to hide the lyrics to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" in his paper on computer networking. It took him five hours. His father was quoted as saying "If only he had spent as much effort on his chores..."

Does anyone know of any other funny acrostics? If so, post a comment in the blog.

Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna around or desert you...


Link

Friday, October 15, 2010

Giga Pudding

Some things defy description. Mr. Spanky is at a total loss, mumbling "gigapuddinggigapuddinggigapuddinggigapuddinggigapudding" over and over again.

Link

Is it just me or did anyone else find the horde of gigapudding gobblers sticking their germ ridden spoons over and over into its bucket-sized jiggling mass, ignoring basic hygiene, incredibly disturbing? I need to go rinse my mouth with bleach.