Archive for January 2010

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The Wolfman Cometh!

January 18, 2010

– – Is it here yet?- -Is it here yet?- –You gotta excuse me if I sound like Eric Cartman or perhaps Bart Simpson, but I just can’t wait for the February 12, 2010 arrival of The Wolfman. – – Can you blame me?!

The cast of the 1941 original was awesome, with Lon Chaney Jr,  Claude Rains,  and Bela Lugosi on board, but this remake will have Anthony Hopkins, Benecio Del Toro (the Wolfman), Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Art Malik.  Universal is striving to re-image their classic horror masterpiece, and from all I have read, does a great job!  Ain’t no school like the old school…

So bring on the slavering man-beast, and let’s do something dastardly and perhaps scandalous to fair maidens as they run through the moors!- –Let’s go where the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon shines at night!- –Heck, I wanna live there!

http://www.thewolfmanmovie.com

Categories: animals, anthropomorphic, cool things, furry, furry heroes, movies
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Comments: 7 Comments

Dino and Baby Puss…

January 17, 2010

– – Forget that dinosaurs didn’t live happily alongside cavemen, and that there was no genus “Snorkosaurus;”   just relax and enjoy the presence of Dino (pronounced DEE-no) the dinosaur on The Flintstones. Acting more like a labrador retriever than a reptile, Dino barks, slobbers, romps, and cavorts, especially when Fred Flintstone arrived home from a long day at the slate quarry…

The cat on The Flintstones, BTW, was called Baby Puss, and was basically a saber-toothed tiger, who was more than smart enough to lock Fred out of the house when he attempted to put Baby out for the night.   Sadly, Baby Puss was largely seen during the closing credits…

Categories: animals, television
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Comments: 6 Comments

Monster Sharks on MonsterQuest

January 15, 2010

– – I, for one, was rather disappointed when MonsterQuest chose to kick off their new season with an episode on great white sharks, hoping instead for a thought-provoker on some cryptid, even if they had to re-visit one covered previously.   Now I know that great whites are awesome predators, but they’re not quite in the same category for me as say, Bigfoot or the Jersey Devil.  I don’t want MonsterQuest to become Wild Kingdom.

The points were well-taken, however, that sharks are not just mindless eating machines, but rather show evidence of premeditated attacks which they can adapt to circumstances.  Additionally, sharks have been known to engage in practice attacks in which they kill but don’t eat their prey.  Sharks are, in short, more sophisticated beasties than we give them credit for being, and there’s much about them that we don’t yet know.

The “shark cam” was successfully attached and interesting, although the device was overbuilt and didn’t remain on for as long as hoped due to the drag factor.  The device shows much promise with a re-design and a smaller housing.

As a horrifying sidebar, a Zimbabwean tourist was recently killed off a Cape Town South African Beach by a great white shark described as being “longer than a mini-bus.”   The shark attacked the victim three times, with others bathers only about 15 meters away.  Remains are not expected to be found.   A raised black flag (pictured) reminds bathers that beaches around Cape Town remain on full alert following the attack…

Categories: animals, television
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Comments: 3 Comments

Living Green!

January 14, 2010

– – Part plant and part animal, a sea slug found living in salt marshes in New England and Canada called Elysia chlorotica is the first multicellular animal found to be able to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll.   The critters can actually survive without food if a light is shined on them for twelve hours a day.- -Now that’s walkin’ on sunshine!

The slugs appear to acquire this ability by stealing genes from algae that they’ve eaten, stealing also minute cell parts called chloroplasts which enable conversion of sunlight into energy.

The slug has been studied for about twenty years, although scientists are not yet sure how the animals appropriate the genes that they need.  This is yet another example of how invertebrates can do some pretty amazing things…well, let’s see you live without food!    😉


Categories: animals, cool things, Invertebrates, science
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Comments: 2 Comments

Getting Enough Worms?

January 12, 2010

– – In the earlier 20th century and prior to that time when dirt roads, horses, and cattle were more prevalent in life than they are now, every child and adult had worms in their gastrointestinal tract!  These worms were part of the ecosystem of the gut, and aided in controlling human immune reactions in order that they might live successfully in people. In the last 100 years or so, a more hygienic environment was created for people which led to immune disregulation, and so, one theory would have it, to an increase in certain immunological diseases.  A more sedentary lifestyle and a lack of physical activity also renders people more prone to certain illnesses and ailments to a degree not seen in the past.

Such immunological and metabolic diseases and conditions may include multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes, asthma, obesity, and even hay fever (now suffered by 1 in 4 people in the United States).  Improvements in hygiene have reduced infections, but along with that have reduced exposure of the immune system to antigens, such as compounds from viruses and bacteria.  Bodily regulation mechanisms then tend to become less effective, and certain illnesses and conditions are suffered to degrees not seen in the past.

(…but I’ll still pass on the worms, thank you!)

Categories: historical perspectives, medical, science
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Comments: 3 Comments

“Gumby” Creator Dies…

January 10, 2010

– – Gumby’s creator Art Clokey died Friday at the age of 88.  The shape-shifting little green flexible guy grew out of a student project Clokey produced at the University of Southern California in the early 1950’s called Gumbasia, which led to shorts featuring Gumby and his horse friend Pokey, who seemed to be a practical, reality-based equine.

Gumby’s swooping head was based on the cowlick hairdo of his father, and Clokey’s wife suggested that he give Gumby the body of a gingerbread man.    Gumby eventually became one of the most familiar toys of all time, although his creator didn’t allow merchandising for seven years after Gumby was on the air, not wanting parents to think they were exploiting their children.   Clokey also created the moralizing and often satirized claymation duo, “Davey and Goliath” for the Lutheran Church, using the money gained to help bring a Gumby series back to television in the 1960’s.  “Moral Orel” on Adult Swim is one such satire of the Lutheran Church contracted work, described as “Davey and Goliath meets South Park.”

Eddie Murphy brought a surge in Gumby’s popularity in the 1980’s with his send-up of the character on Saturday Night Live, who Murphy depicted as profane and cigar-smoking.  Clokey, however, said he enjoyed Eddie Murphy’s portrayal.

As Eddie Murphy’s character might have said , “My creator dead?- -Dammit!” (pardon my French…)   😉

Categories: animals, furry, furry heroes, television
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Comments: 2 Comments

Iguanas Dropping From Trees!

January 9, 2010

– – How cold is it in Florida?- -Cold enough so that iguanas are dropping off the trees!

Scientists say that when temperatures drop below 40 degrees, so do the iguanas; they essentially go into hibernation in order to survive!  This fact has spawned at least one urban legend of a guy who collected some stunned iguanas and put a bunch of them in the back seat of his car, thinking them dead.  – –Well, when he ran the heat in his car, the  iguanas came back to life, probably asked to be driven to Taco Belle, and began crawling all over things, to catastrophic effect- -or at least so the story says!

Meanwhile, more than 140 Florida sea turtles have washed up on the shores within a 48-hour period, stunned by the cold.  The turtles simply become lethargic, can’t swim anymore, and wash up on shore.  The Florida Aquarium is helping some of the turtles survive…

At least we have stunned iguanas raining from trees to talk about until the new season of MonsterQuest begins!

Categories: animal oddities, animals, scalies, strange happenings
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Comments: 5 Comments

Heroic Golden Retriever

January 6, 2010

– – Saturday night in British Columbia, Canada an 11-year-old boy was gathering firewood in his backyard when his18-month-old golden retriever ran towards him, jumping over a lawn mower and into the path of a charging cougar!

The dog, appropriately called Angel, took the brunt of the cougar’s attack and when Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived, they found the dog under the front porch with the cougar’s jaws locked around her neck.  Two rounds shot into the cougar’s rear end were unable to break the death grip, and it was subsequently necessary to fire a third shot and kill the cougar.

Angel the retriever suffered extensive injuries including a fractured skull, but underwent surgery and her vets hope for a full recovery.  Greater love hath no dog than this, right?


Categories: animals, furry, furry heroes
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Comments: 1 Comment

Elmer Does Geico!

January 4, 2010

– – Elmer Fudd has always been the perfect patsy for Bugs Bunny; although the outcome of their encounters is a given and you know Elmer couldn’t possibly hurt Bugs, you have to admire the rabbit’s artful and leisurely baiting of the incompetent, bumbling hunter.–Just sit back, relax, and watch a true master at work!

The great classics never really get old, and the woodland encounters of this duo are timeless, playing as well in the present as they did decades ago.  Besides being hopelessly inept, Elmer is cursed with a speech impediment, engineered back in the days when Porky Pig stuttered painfully and it was not politically incorrect.- -Well, Elmer still has trouble with his /r/ sound, so “rabbit season” comes out “wabbit season.”– – We wouldn’t have it any other way!  But after being coached and corrected several times on the /r/ sound, Elmer is spent, stomping off with complaints that the director is “getting on his nerves!.”

As part of Geico’s “Rhetorical Question” series, it’s good to see the mighty hunter again.  Just be “vewy, vewy quiet, he’s hunting wabbits!”- –Looney Tunes forever!!!

Categories: animals, Brilliant but twisted, cartoons, television
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Comments: 2 Comments

Santeria Animal Slayings

January 3, 2010

– – Santeria is a religious tradition that originated in West Africa and the Caribbean whose practitioners have been known to practice animal sacrifice as a form of devotion.   Its practitioners can’t be prosecuted in the United States for sacrificing animals such as chickens or goats; however, the discovery of the remains of hundreds of animals such as birds, dogs, cats, and monkeys in a North Philadelphia home is another matter, and if it is proven that dogs or cats were killed in the home, those responsible could face charges.

In 1993, the Supreme Court struck down a law against animal sacrifice, but the decision does not mean that animal sacrifice is necessarily legal; it’s an ambiguous, rather gray area.   Animal sacrifice can still be prosecuted under other, more general laws, such as those against cruelty to animals, but interpretation of such depends on where you live.  In addition to cruelty laws, there are sanitary laws and even zoning ordinances which may apply.   Look for animal rights activists to continue to clash with religions outside of the mainstream on this issue.

Two living but emaciated dogs were also rescued from the Philadelphia property for which those responsible will face summary offense charges of lack of veterinary care and unsanitary confinement, according to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals…

Categories: animals, deplorable practices
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Comments: 5 Comments

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