Archive for October 2013

Bear in your Buick?

October 28, 2013

05_Flatbed_WEB - JULY– – As do a number of animals, bears continue to acquire skill sets, to learn, and to adapt to human-engineered objects and environments.  For this reason, bears have acquired a degree of know-how and finesse, and are able to do things with greater skill and agility than once was the case.  There once was a time when a a bear would have smashed a jar of peanut butter to get at its contents; now, bears having exposure to the item and a degree of experience with it can actually unscrew the lid!  Bears in some locations have also acquired the ability to get into cars by manipulating door latches.  In the past two weeks, three bears have been trapped in cars in Truckee, California.  The trouble is that once inside a car, the door may close in on the bear, rendering it trapped within the vehicle.  The bear after acquiring the desired food items that prompted its entry into the vehicle then endeavors to get out, with results that aren’t pretty for vehicle interiors, as bears claws are deadly weapons more than capable of trashing a car from within.

When observing a car rocking and bouncing about due to powerful and destructive interior forces, the owner of said vehicle would understandably want to extricate the ursine occupant promptly.  In some cases, police have been summoned to remove unwanted ursines from cars; at times, it’s necessary to smash the car windows to do so.  In other cases, people have allowed bears to escape simply by opening car doors, and remaining out of the way.

As prevention is obviously desirable, the best way to keep bears out of cars is not to keep fragrant foods within them.  Locking the doors is another common-sense precaution…

Oarfish, the “Sea Serpent”

October 22, 2013

oarfish– – Want a real life sea serpent?  Try the giant oarfish, a rarely-seen deep sea dweller of freakish size and appearance, and the world’s largest bony fish.  The oarfish is known to reach a length of up to 27 feet with unverified reports of specimens reaching 50 or more feet.  Although they rarely wash up due to usually staying in deep, open ocean habitats, two oarfish have recently been found along the San Diego coast in California, the most recent measuring nearly 14 feet and an earlier one discovered the same week measuring 18 feet.  The specimens were felt to have died of natural causes, and their weight was estimated at about 200 pounds.

As oarfish can dive more than 3,000 feet deep, sightings of them are rare and they are largely unstudied.  Tissue samples and video footage were sent to be studied by biologists at the University of California in Santa Barbera.    The serpentine creatures are largely thought to be responsible for sea serpent legends and sightings throughout the world…

The Yeti-Bear?

October 18, 2013

Yeti– – I’m thankful for hairy hominids, without which this blog might soon expire from starvation.  And so, good readers, if you can suffer one more yeti theory, we offer yet another explanation being advanced:  the yeti is a type of previously-unknown, hybrid bear.

British researcher Bryan Sykes, a human geneticist at Oxford, has analyzed hairs from two alleged yetis, sequenced their DNA, and found a 100% match with a DNA sample from the jaw of an ancient polar bear.  Now Sykes is not saying that there are ancient polar bears wandering around in the Himalayas, but only that there could be a subspecies of brown bear in the High Himalayas descended from the bear that was the ancestor to the polar bear.  The Yeti accordingly may be a hybrid descended from two species of bear, an extinct polar bear and a closely related brown bear.

Such a species of bear might behave differently from other known bears, possibly being more dangerous, aggressive, or bipedal…and this Abominable Snowman apparently has a unique ability to cause any video recording device to go out of focus…

The Starburst “Juicy Dragon…”

October 8, 2013

starburst– – I hate to see mythological creatures exploited, and one usually doesn’t want to mess with dragons.  But the Starburst “giggly juicy dragon” is not your typical dragon, even among a race of extraordinary creatures.  The dragon in question also seems to dearly love his videos, and apparently is easily entertained by them.  The dragon must live under a rock not to already be familiar with the “keyboard cat” video, but then again, dragons are reputed to at times live under rocks, or at least in caves.  For that reason, the giggly juicy dragon is probably starved for entertainment, or at the very least doesn’t get out much.  The “keyboard cat” apparently can really tickle the dragon’s funnybone, or whatever he may have that passes for one.

In this short video, one candy-chomping man is wondering how they get Starburst candies to be so juicy; lord knows, many poor devils lay awake at night pondering that very point.  Now thanks to this commercial, you need wonder no longer! – – They show the giggly juicy dragon funny videos such as the keyboard cat, he laughs so hard that he weeps tears of joy, and such tears as they flow are collected and put into the Starbursts.  I guess that this isn’t quite exploitative as the dragon gets his jollies that way, although PETA might see the matter differently…

Another Controversial Sasquatch Study…

October 4, 2013

sasquatch siesta– – A Texas-based research group led by veterinarian Dr. Melba Ketchum, The Sasquatch Genome Project, is claiming that Bigfoot is real, and that they have tissue samples and video evidence to support their claim.  A report by the group claims that Sasquatch is a relatively new species arising from a female Homo sapiens and an unknown male primate that linked up about 15,000 years ago.

Blood and hair samples have been released by the group which claims that they are unlike any known creature.  A 19-second video also released by the team reportedly shows a sleeping juvenile Bigfoot in Kentucky filmed in 2005.  (Pictured:  a supposed Sasquatch siesta)

Mainstream science, however, has greeted the report skeptically.  Todd Disotell, a professor at the Department of Anthropology at NYU, has termed the research nonsense that is unscientifically reported and has not been subjected to peer review.  Previous arguments against Ketchum’s findings include allegations of possible contamination of her samples by the collectors, either accidental or intentional.

And so, the dispute and contention are likely to rage on… 

What Does The Fox Say?

October 2, 2013

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– – There are few things that I both love and hate at the same time, and a video by two Norwegian brothers of the comedy group Ylvis named What Does The Fox Say is one of them.  The video begins with a gathering of fursuited people at a home, and many different species are represented; there is a rather good dalmatian, an elephant, and some birds, among others.  Although these scenes are thought to be a reference to the furry fandom, the brothers denied even knowing about furries when this footage was made.  You then have a few awful moments when you think that you are viewing a video intended for a preschool audience; animals are introduced by the sounds that they make, e.g., “A cat goes meow,” etc.  After several such painful introductions, however, the question is raised, “What does a fox say?,” and we are off to the races, or rather, the forest…

…the forest is wonderful, a tree-bordered area shrouded in the night and rich ground fog; I could party there all night!  We are shown the brothers, wearing mediocre fursuits with facial fox paint. Then there are the dancers ringing the brothers, fox-like but not attired as such, more like the Blues Brothers with white shirts and dark ties…they do, however, have some awesome moves!  I didn’t know a pelvis could move like that. .. anyhow, as the brothers launch into their vocals, we hear as part of the lyrics sounds supposedly representative of those that foxes make, with the camera occasionally cutting to a grandfatherly-type reading a storybook to a child and making those same sounds.  It then becomes a matter of interpretation as to whether you think that the sounds made are intended as a parody of the excesses of electronic house music, or are actually intended as imitative of the variety of sounds that foxes make.  We do make over forty sounds for different purposes, including warning alerts and, ahem, calls to lure a mate…(blushes)

The later stage of the video that I love becomes mystical and spacey, with the vocals continuing to refer to the language of foxes as an ancient mystery.  The performing fox-clad brothers are surrounded by spikes of blue laser light, and arise into the air to be suspended there comfortably.   Is there an alien connection? – – I’ll never tell!  The final stage of the video shows a breath-taking CGI fox who enters at the periphery of the scene then takes center stage, arising to stand on his hind legs and singing scat in a beautiful baritone/bass voice, with subtle supportive choreography!   This jazz-oriented fox is alone worth viewing the video for, and could easily become a break-out star.- – I’d buy his albums, this dude has some major pipes!

You’ll either love it or hate it, but whether for the comedic elements, the furry overtones, or the electronic music, What Does The Fox Say is worth a look and a listen, and can accessed on YouTube.  Just don’t ask me about the ancient mystery thing, please.  These are secrets entrusted to only a few, and I’m bound not to tell…wink, wink!   http://youtu.be/jofNR_WkoCE

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