I never really drank seltzer, or as we would say in NY, seltzah. The one morning I found myself waking up in a house full of sleeping people and we had all been partying heavily the night before, and I had some kind of extra-special hangover, the kind you only get if you’ve been ….
Continue reading How the Tongue Tastes Carbonation →

Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “the world’s toughest bacterium,” Deinococcus radiodurans can withstand extreme temperatures and drought conditions, lack of nutrients and a thousand times more radiation than a human being.

A new study by Cornell researchers reveals that nitric oxide — a gas molecule used in many metabolic processes in animals and a pollutant in the atmosphere that leads to smog — plays a key role in D. radiodurans’ recovery when exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UV).

Continue reading Study reveals how ‘world’s toughest bacterium’ survives lethal radiation →

I’ve been checking in on people’s happiness quotients, and I have many things to report. Mostly good, so if you are looking for trouble or just feeling misanthropic, don’t go below the fold.

Continue reading Many mixed emotions →

Dogs:

Cats:

Bonus Cat (below the fold because it also involves mean humans):

Continue reading Which is meaner, cats or dogs? →

There are several methods.

1) The lower the social security number, the older the bird, but this does not work on most migratory species;

2) You ask for its birth certificate, but they often fake these.

3) Go here and read this post on how to do it using Science.

The Giant’s Shoulders Blog Carnival is now up and running at Quiche Moraine. This is an outstanding carnival pointing to some blog posts you will not want to miss.

Seriously. Click here.

The One Hundred and Elevendieth I and the Bird Web Carnival … which is all about birds … is posted here, at one of my favorite blogs: The Twin Cities Naturalist. Please go check it out. Click on all the links. Digg and stuble upon, fark and reddit, and maybe even read each of the excellent entries into this, the longest running blog carnival of nature topics ever.

Down below the fold where it says “CLICK HERE” …. don’t click there! First, make sure the following things are true:

1) You are alone.
2) Your computer’s sound is turned up.
2) Nobody can hear you.

OK, go…

CLICK HERE

How to find out the official US time:

Click here for the US Gummit Official Time Web site.

I just listened to this and it was good. He seems to have been living in a cave. Full of stick figures.

So, Des, you’ll tell me about this tattoo later right?

And now, for an eg:
Continue reading Randall Munroe Interview →