Global Warming Shrinks Sheep - "They discovered that as the climate has grown milder, small lambs that would not have survived previous winters were now living to grow up and reproduce. Since size is inherited, the survival and reproduction of these smaller animals lowered the average size of the herd."

Bear knocks down man, steals sandwich "It's safe to assume, though, that his Italian hoagie, has been completely mauled by this time."

How about a poll?

Poll #1430648 Obamabot?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Is it worth going to Disney World to see the ObamaBot at the Hall of Presidents?

Yeah, yeah - still behind on the feeds - but here are some interesting things you may have missed!

1. I read this Undercover Study of Vegan Restaurants in Los Angeles with interest. I have become increasingly considered with the foods I am consuming (though not quite Orthorexic, though that may be up for debate).

The woman tested the foods from 17 vegan restaurants for traces of casein (milk protein), shellfish, and eggs. 10 of the restaurants were fine. But 7 of them showed sometimes high readings for these very non-vegan items. While 1 or 2 places were definitely dubious in their kitchens - the rest were honestly clueless. It turns out the answer is in their distributor - they were all getting the same items from Taiwan - where the regulations on food production aren't as stringent. The worst offenders were the "fake meat" items - which tended to be well...not quite so fake. A great, fascinating read.

2. England's 'Fat Duck' restaurant (it often goes head-to-head with el Bulli for world's best restaurant) - is famed for it's molecular gastronomy. The head chef is currently planning a fantastical sounding Alice-in-Wonderland Themed Menu

3. And while we weren't looking - a giant world-wide mega-colony of ants has taken over the world..

Instead of being all mean and territorial, like the would to ants from a different colony, "whenever ants from the main European and Californian super-colonies and those from the largest colony in Japan came into contact, they acted as if they were old friends". Welcome our new Formican* Over(Under)Lords!


*I never get to use that word. I LOVE that word. Ever since I learned what 'formica' means in Latin 1.

The strides over the past decade in thought-controlled medical devices is truly astounding. Here is a mind-controlled wheel chair by Toyota!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/01/mind-controlled-wheelchai_n_223810.html

And THIS is so fantastic... Developers creating subdivisions around organic farms:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/energy-environment/01farm.html?_r=3&hpw

How awesome is that?! I would love to live in a community like that! What a great use/reform of all this endless suburban sprawl! What a great way to combine previous ways of living with modernity. yay!

And for all you new parents (my friends are having a mini-baby-boom): Hungry? Burpy? Just Messing with You? The Baby Cry Analyzer
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/newborn-infant/bea5/

Please please please build this, states of Illinois and Missouri - build it right now!
Plans to build a 220mph bullet train from Chicago-St.Louis - travel time down from 5 hours to 2!!

Due to an entertaining houseguest - I'm about a week behind on my feeds. So here is some OLD NEWS!

FDA to ban Vicodin and Percocet.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/30/acetaminophen.fda.hearing/index.html

Hey - I have a better idea. Instead of banning medicines that help relieve pain - why don't you have the pharmacists tell people "Don't mix this with Tylenol".

Also, I haven't played Guild Wars in a while - but this image, from a runway fashion show just screams "RITUALIST!"

...but i'm kinda obsessed with the 'tornado potato'. I first saw it on a food blog about a year or 2 ago - they have them at street carts in South Korea - a long spirally peeled potato with cheese. it look like the ultimate in Athanata food.

And the tornado has landed state-side! It will be at the Minnesota State Fair. Am I sensing a late-summer trip?
They also have them in New Jersey - but that's not as exciting as the MN State Fair - which tends to also have large sculptures made out of butter.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/06/the-tornado-potato-fries-touches-down-in-the-us-wildwood-boardwalk-nj.html

Also, I am very happy to see that the maintainer of Tehran 24 has been released and is back home.

The Daily Show compares Americans knowledge of Iran, with Iranians knowledge of America.

The people at the end are my favorite. And the old Iranian guy who knows EVERYTHING.




Also, here are some WWIII Twitter Propaganda posters:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctabu/sets/72157620497679512/




There are so many other awesome things I could share - a monkey peeing on the President of Zambia during a press conference, a marmot wreaking havoc at a restaurant in Washington State...

Instead I will leave you with sciencey news - as researchers at MIT attempt to develop more environmentally-friendly processed concrete that will last for 16,000 years. Our legacy to future civilizations? Toxic Waste and ugly-arsed twinkie-longevitied concrete.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/17/mit-developing-concrete-that-lasts-for-16000-years/

When I was 14, I saw Sunset Boulevard in London - starring Betty Buckley and John Barrowman. I was in the absolute nosebleed seats - couldn't even see anything but some blurs on the stage - but I was absolutely captivated by the blur that was John Barrowman. I wished that he had been on the official soundtrack. Now thanks to youtube - i can see the (only slightly less blurry) stage.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/22/obama-signstobacco-bill/

I am not afraid of heights - but this natural infinity pool on top of Victoria Falls makes even me a a bit acrophobic...

http://atlasobscura.com/place/devils-swimming-pool

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Color Photos from Russian in 1909. It's always cool to see a "black+white" era in color...

http://quazen.com/arts/photography/the-incredible-century-old-color-photography-of-prokudin-gorsky/

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More breakthroughs in neural implants give hope to the paralyzed and more as the FDA approves more trials...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=braingate-neural-interface

When I first started following the Iranian election - one image really stood out in my mind - i posted the photo here last week, a girl running through the streets with a smile, flashing the V-sign, chaos around her. It was from a Iranian photoblog site called Tehran Live. I added it my RSS feed - which posted some stuff for a few days, then went silent.

Then I read this on one of my other feeds:
"Another photojournalist missing. Via reader Teni, Life magazine posts this message about the photojournalist who runs TehranLive.org: "A NOTE TO OUR READERS: We are saddened to report that the Iranian photojournalist, whose pictures appear in this gallery, is missing. He has not been in contact with us; this morning we received the following email from one of his relatives. We will update this space when we have more details. THE EMAIL: Hi im [photographer's relative], when he go out side yester day for he never came back home and also his friend and a lot of our young brave people, government arrested them [. . .] don't let them suffer in those bloody hands. With thanks."

I hope he's OK.

And now for something completely different:

Photostills from the upcoming Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=56475

I definitely sense some technical Oscars - for make-up especially - though the fact that they forgot Johnny Depp's neck is irking.