Eating a lot of fresh beets will make your urine turn vaguely pink.

This is something you should be told before you eat a lot of fresh beets and then use the bathroom.

I like the ebook I'm reading. I really do.

But why, dear author, do you make such a huge deal about the characters in it being vulnerable to iron and then have one shrug off being cut with a steel knife? Do you know what steel is? IT'S ABOUT 98 to 99.8 PERCENT IRON.

Research is your friend.

ARGH!

The World of Chemistry

If chemistry actually involved two guys making out, I think I would have paid a lot more attention in class. XD

Cell size and scale.

Science is awesome.

I laughed so hard during this video. This is why actors say that they always hate working with animals.

You're being shagged by a rare parrot

I am kind of glad that my love is not like a Brontosaurus.

I don't know what annoyed me more about the "A Woman’s History of Vaginal Orgasm is Discernible from Her Walk" article: 1) that their sample size was 16 and all college students, 2) that the authors assert that women who have regular vaginal intercourse have less psychological issues than women who don't, or 3) that women who are heterosexual relationships are the only ones that can have vaginal intercourse (because obviously, dildos don't exist in their world). Those were the big three that jumped out at me although there were dozens of other smaller details that just made me shake my head.

I have to say I am not impressed with the research.

I think I may have found a winner for the Ig Nobel award.

A woman's history of vaginal orgasm is discernible from her walk.

Anyone go to a University that can get access to this? Because I seriously want to read this one.

EDIT: Never mind. My university obviously allows me to access this. I downloaded it and am emailing it to myself. I have got to read this when I get home.

It hurts because it's true.

How science reporting works

From the BBC story about swimming deer. Emphasis is mine.

"All belong to the ancient ruminant family Tragulidae, which split some 50 years ago from other ruminants, the group that went on to evolve into cattle, goats, sheep, deer and antelope."

That's supposed to be 50 million years ago unless evolution decided to hit the gas and speed up while I wasn't looking. They'll probably fix it soon, but before they do, have a good laugh.

Edit: The BBC fixed the typo. Ah well. It lives on in infamy in my LJ.

Here's a concept I wish more people would understand.

Weather is like me flipping a coin and saying whether it's heads or tails.

Climate is like 20,000 people all over the world each flipping one coin 40,000 times and recording the general trend of number of heads versus number of tails.

I swear if I hear one more idiot make the statement "Well, last spring/summer/fall/winter has been cooler than normal so global warming is false" or "This spring/summer/fall/winter was the warmest/driest/wettest on record. Global warming is at fault!" I am not going to be responsible for my actions. This is like me flipping a coin 10 times, it coming up heads 7 times, and saying "The odds of me flipping this coin and it coming up heads are 7 out of 10." Sorry, no. It doesn't work that way no matter how much you may want it to.

This is the #1 reason I refuse to debate climate change in people.

Giant Sperm Is Ancient Evolutionary Tool, Study Finds

Can you imagine a sperm that's 10 times the size of the animal that makes it? The average height of a human male is around 5ft 9in (175.8cm). Multiply that sucker by 10 and you get a 57ft 8in (17.58m) sperm.

Try to sleep at night with that mental image. ^_^

Dear self,

The correct term is "magna cum laude" not "magma cum laude." Yes, even if you did get your degree in Geology.

Thanks for the laughs though.

Hugs and kisses,
Tsaiko

This... I have no words. It's a fish with a transparent head. It's eyes are inside the transparent head (they look like two green half-domes). What I originally thought was its eyes are actually its nostrils.

I can't stop looking at it. It's kind of fascinating and horrifying at the same time.

Researchers solve mystery of deep-sea fish with tubular eyes and transparent head

I actually got to see the poster presentation for these maps at the national meeting and talk with the presenters. It's an awesome (and quirky) idea.

Here's an article about how the researchers did this for both Nevada and the whole US. Here are copies of the US maps.

This is the only appropriate place to use the term "meat lance." Ever.

SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE WITH THIS PROPOSAL.

All octopuses are venomous.

I have to admit, having an entire order (and going even further than that because the article said it includes some squid, which bumps it up to the class cephalopoda) descended from a common venomous ancestor seems almost like science-fiction to me. Then again, mother nature is strange.

Every time I look at my new LJ layout, I have to wonder how many people think that it's picturing the northern lights.

Then I have to wonder how many people realize that penguins are only found south of the equator.

This is why my LJ is now named what it is.


Also, learning InDesign through the crash course method is not recommended. Before I have to have this poster done, I will figure out how to put borders around text boxes.