Give Me A Good Book!

Posted August 21, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: psychology, research, science
Tags: ,

– – A new study presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association  suggests that personality may be more than just a psychological construct, but rather reflect underlying neural differences in the brain.

Study researcher Inna Fishman of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences found that more extroverted test subjects showed a higher change in a particular brain electrical activity known as P300 when they were exposed to images of human faces as opposed to pictures of flowers.  Those scoring lower on a test of extroversion had very similar P300 responses to both human faces and flowers.

The findings might partly explain why extroverts are more motivated to seek the company of others than are introverts,  who might not place a larger weight on social stimuli than on other stimuli…


Comments: 1 Comment

Raystown Ray…

Posted August 19, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, cryptozoology, furry, television, unexplained, unidentified
Tags: ,

– – Pennsylvania’s Raystown Lake in Huntingdon County boasts its own unidentified aquatic creature, with boaters describing sudden water turbulence and old photos showing large shadowy figures just below the surface…

Now Raystown Lake spans about 30 miles and reaches depths of over 185 feet, so there’s plenty of room for a potential cryptid to hide.   Fact or Faked:  Paranormal Files recently did a segment on the creature that included eyewitness accounts, experiments, a sonar run, and a diving search.   Something was seen in the water of considerable size, while visibility was poor and the investigation was inconclusive;  investigators felt that there was something in the water, but that it remained unexplained.- -What could more true, or safer to say?  We’ve heard this kinda thing many times before…

The creature if it exists is felt to be vegetarian, and to display behaviors and feeding habits similar to a manatee.  I personally have been on Raystown Lake, and unfortunately saw nothing…


Comments: 3 Comments

Suspicious Minds…

Posted August 18, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: aliens, strange happenings, weird

– – Gee, we’ve had Shark Week and now we’re into Elvis Week, and we pause to remember that the King of Rock ‘n Roll would have been 75 had he lived!   The author of Alien Rock:  The Rock ‘N’ Roll Extraterrestrial Connection also shares with us that a strange, unidentified blue light reportedly hovered in the night skies above Tupelo, Mississippi the night that Elvis was born on January 8, 1935.  This light was seen by the doctor who delivered Elvis and also was seen by his father, who later told the King all about it.

Elvis was a  bit spacey himself, amassing a personal collection of about 350 books on New Age subjects, including a few specifically about UFO’s.  Other major musicians such  as Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, and Michael Jackson were famous UFO believers, too.–What’s the connection?–They’re all “naturally open and creative individuals,” according to Michael Luckman, author of Alien Rock…

Comments: 2 Comments

Polar Bear Attack…

Posted August 16, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animal occurrences, animals, furry
Tags:

– – How, you may ask, do you thwart a polar bear attack?–After all, it is well-known that the readers of Foxsylvania want to be prepared for every possible contingency, including a zombie apocalypse.   It is best not to tase the polar bear, or to tempt him with a picnic basket…so what do you do when the bear is standing on your gun?!

When you absolutely, positively must do something and prefer not to become bear kibble, consider making a loud, threatening noise and punching the offending bear in the nose.  This tactic apparently worked rather well for a 67-year-old wilderness guide in the far Canadian north.  Polar bears, you see, have a very sensitive nose.  This was advice passed on to the wilderness guide by an Inuit elder, and it did work in this specific instance.

Failing in that, the wilderness guide might have had to resort to bad Terrance and Phillip impersonations, being that it was in Canada and all…

Comments: 2 Comments

…And A Little Pig Shall Lead Them!

Posted August 15, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, cool things, furry, imaginary animals, television
Tags: ,

– – Yes, that’s right…another post on the same topic, something without precedent in the annals of Foxsylvania!   Some say that he’s cuter than the Geico gecko, but you can’t compare apples and oranges, and appearance is subjective, anyways!  At any rate, Maxwell the Pig has taken on a life of his own, and appears at home both everywhere and nowhere, a surreal porker for the 21st century.   Both lovable and annoying, he’s just being himself!  With a literary tradition going back to the 1728 nursery rhyme (“The Nurse’s Song”), this little piggy is as old as the 18th century but as fresh as tomorrow!

Maxwell knows that life is too important a matter to be taken seriously.  He has a childlike quality and exuberance that would brighten the psyches of the worst “namby pamby jackwagons.” The endless squealing is meaningless,  yet somehow manages to say it all…that embracing life with a pinwheel in each hand while leaning out of the window and shrieking with delight is perhaps the best of all ways to handle it!

The name “Maxwell” is of English/Scottish/Welsh origins, and means “major well.”  This well is one we all could benefit from drinking from…




Comments: 1 Comment

Geico’s Little “Piggy!”

Posted August 13, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, animal occurrences, animal oddities, animals, anthropomorphic, Brilliant but twisted, furry, humor, television
Tags: ,

– – It’s a twisted world after all, and Geico has the perfect commercial to commemorate this fact; called “Piggy,” it puts a twist on the old nursery rhyme about the little piggy who cried “Wee!  Wee!  Wee!  all the way home.”

Leaning out of a back window of an SUV,  this little piggy does just that, much to the chagrin of an annoyed and weary mother and her son.  He even holds two pinwheels out of the window as he does it!  Not to worry, though…the piggy’s wearing his seatbelt! When this ultimate annoying rider makes it home, he declares “Oh, cool!,” and thanks his ride. Viewable on YouTube and many other sites, and well worth a look…

By the way, the pig’s name is “Maxwell,” and the long-suffering driver is “Mrs. A”…

Comments: 6 Comments

Not Lazy, Just Evolved…

Posted August 12, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: animals, environmental, evolution, furry, science
Tags: ,

– – Orangutans aren’t exactly balls of fire but rather simian slackers; they can sleep for twelve hours a day, and then nap for several hours more!  In fact, orangutans use less energy, pound-for-pound, than any animal except for the tree sloth.   This is not necessarily a bad thing…

It turns out that orangutans are not lazy, but simply energy-efficient.  In the wild, orangutans live mainly off fruit, which can be hard to come by in their forest habitat for several months of the year.  Those who can survive on the least food for the longest therefore have the best chance of surviving and reproducing.  Although a large male orangutan can weigh in at over 250 pounds, a new study in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that such an animal consumes less than 2,000 calories a day, which is 20% less than a typical human male.

This can be considered an evolutionary adaptation to deal with their habitat, with sleep being a low-energy state…

Comments: 5 Comments

Chicken Hat Man…

Posted August 11, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, Brilliant but twisted, strange happenings, weird
Tags:

– – Seen at the Great British Beer Festival was chicken hat man, who does not appear to be enjoying himself.  We can only speculate why this gentleman appears grumpy; is it because he thought he was going to a costume party?- -Did someone diss his hat?- -Is it part of the English tradition of keeping a stiff upper lip?- -Is he an undercover agent for PETA offering a visual commentary on the sad fate of poultry?- -Is he disaffected because all of the fox costumes were rented?

Who are we to judge?- – And some things, no doubt, we are better off not knowing…

Comments: 3 Comments

Celebrating 150,000 Hits!

Posted August 9, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: Off-topic
Tags:

– – Most excellent readers!–Your loyalty has allowed this blog to reach the 150,000 hits mark!–Thank ‘ya, thank ‘ya very much!  In the days ahead, we will try to expand our frontiers a bit, and otherwise improve the blog.   Lord knows, anything would be an improvement!- – So give yourselves a standing ovation, and drinks will be complementary for the next fifteen minutes at the poolside bar!

Comments: 1 Comment

Don’t Tase the Bruins, Bro!

Posted August 7, 2010 by vulpesffb
Categories: absurdities, animal occurrences, animals, furry
Tags:

– – Humans who seek to neutralize bears with a stun gun may wish to consider that it doesn’t work terribly well on them, and may leave them seriously annoyed, possibly resulted in you being mauled and eaten!

This is what happened in Anchorage, Alaska on July 22nd after a man caught a bear by his fish fryer and proceeded to shoot it with a stun gun; the bear “went inverted, with feet in the air, growling and crying at the same time, flailing with his feet.  He actually rolled off the porch.”

Now while the gentleman in question escaped being mauled and eaten, Fish and Game officials in Alaska warn that after the initial shock, the bear might go into a rage and ruin your whole day.  Even Sarah Palin understands this, which is why bear hunters carry a .45 pistol on their belt when they go hunting to back up their shotgun.  Using a stun gun on a bear is like using a peashooter on a bomber.

So don’t tase bears, which outweigh you by 800 pounds and are pointy on five of their six ends.  Should you, however, run across a picnic-basket stealing bear named Yogi, use whatever weapon you may have at hand…

Comments: 4 Comments

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