Biomes Blog

Entry #2161: Monkey Slang

2009-11-14T06:33:00-05:00

Pet Corner: Pet monkeys don’t seem like such a good idea, but here’s some information on captive bred lion tamarins.

Newfoundland slang.

You can watch the entire documentary “Rethinking Afghanistan” by Robert Greenwald online.

Today’s slide show is Behind the Scenes: Still Wounded, about life on the Lakota Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

And today’s niche blog is Damned if God Exists, a site for atheists, agnostics, skeptics and anyone else who would face hellfire if there actually is a god.

I've been trying to compare search engine hits for my post titles with phrases verses just entry numbers, and it seems there's a big difference. I'll stick with the numbered posts (one number equals one day) but I'll be adding some relevant text, even if it seems a bit silly. Like this one. You'd be amazed at how many hits I'll get from people looking for "monkey slang".

Entry #2160: It Don't

2009-11-13T01:28:49-05:00

I traded one of my octopuses for this semi-blue lobster. It's odd for its cream-colored body, which I've never seen before. The right claw is regenerating, and both claws are shredders (fine-toothed). That's a first as well.

Cool Site of the Week: There are 88 counties in Ohio, and 88 keys on a piano. So use this map to play Ohio.

This guy is going to recite all 50 states in alphabetical order, as fast as he can while being slapped in the face with two wooden spoons.

iPod Shuffle:

It Don't Hurt (Sheryl Crow)
It Don't Matter Now (Allison Krauss)
You Were Always There (Lyle Lovett)
I Need to Know (Tom Petty)
All That You Dream (Little Feat)

Entry #2159: Bonsai

2009-11-12T06:39:30-05:00

Cool Site of the Week: The art of bonsai project. It's an effort by bonsai enthusiasts to inspire others through these photo galleries to take up bonsaiing as a hobby.

Movie Rating: Love and Death.
This is about as silly as a Woody Allen film gets, but the whole thing is infused with philosophical conversations. There isn’t anything like it that I can think of. You can really see the influence of Groucho Marx in this one. Here’s Ebert’s take. 3 starfish out of 5.

Geek Stuff: The guy who invented the internet apologizes for putting in those two unnecessary forward slashes at the beginning of every web address.

The answer to yesterday's trivia is a mushroom-shaped vegetable brush.

Learn how to grow and care for bonsai trees.

Entry #2158

2009-11-11T08:23:02-05:00

Trivia (6 Biomes points): What’s this?

Via Derryl, here’s the latest Red List of Threatened Species.

Shatner reads Levi Johnston tweets.

How to throw playing cards.

Hump Day musical interlude: Follow this flow chart as you listen to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

Entry #2157

2009-11-10T06:31:04-05:00

Tuesday Coonhound Blogging: Crossing the bridge after a long afternoon of chasing squirrels up trees. Out of the blue, Creole now has nearly perfect recall with voice commands. Click to embiggen.

Welcome to The Seahorse Trust, working to protect species worldwide.

Stuff You Should Know: 146 reasons why sugar is ruining your health.

Now we’re cookin’: a 6,643 foot long sausage.

If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas (I haven’t), you’ll probably barely recognize it in this 1950 photograph.

Entry #2156: Offensive Play

2009-11-09T07:55:31-05:00

Orphaned by a forest fire, a fawn and a bobcat kitten buddy up.

Timewaster of the Week: Peruse 886 palindromes.

Today’s long read is “Offensive Play”, which examines the similarities between dogfighting and football.

You can get your maple-bacon lollypops from Lollyphile. They have some other pretty awesome flavors as well.

Albino Monday: Rare white lion cubs.

Entry #2155

2009-11-08T08:52:26-05:00

This week’s Green Thing is a Flickr/Google mashup site called the Earth Album. Click anywhere on the Google map and it will take you to a cataloge of Flickr images from that location.

The ten worst countries to be blogger.

Unusual bus stops.

Buy your pet emergency evacuation jackets here.

Morford: Ready to eat your face and scream.

Entry #2154: Furtwangler

2009-11-07T08:03:52-05:00

This picture isn’t photoshopped. It’s a shot of a retreating glacier taken in Norway.

You are in a forest...

Ten people who gave their name to food.

Today’s slide show is a collection of dumb inventions.

Not sure about the source, but I’ve read in several places that the true number of swine flu cases is much less than the government is reporting. An epidemic means big money for pharmaceutical firms, and you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to know that you can never underestimate what the powers that be are capable of when big money is at stake. (Thanks Brenda.)

Entry #2153: Amelia

2009-11-06T07:43:21-05:00

The Big Picture celebrates Autumn.

Movie Rating: Amelia.
Hilary Swank creates Earhart pretty much exactly as I would have imagined her in real life. I learned from Ebert that the first song ever heard on television was "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight”, by Red River Dave. Hear it here. 3 starfish out of 5 (the biopic, not the song)

Geek Stuff: Get your DNA t-shirt here.

Cool Site of the Week: The Most Interesting Academy is a lot of fun to play around with. And it will make you a most interesting person. Be sure to check out their interactive courses.

iPod Shuffle:

Strays (Hem)
Don't Stop (Rolling Stones)
I'll Wear it Proudly (Elvis Costello)
It Ain't Me, Babe (Bob Dylan)
The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar (Bob Dylan)

Entry #2152

2009-11-05T07:32:18-05:00

The Daily Mail has a photo of Mount Everest taken by hand from a balloon a mile above the mountain’s peak.

Watch the quick brown fox jump over the lazy dog.

A pictorial field guide to beef cuts.

Turns out a pair of lions accused of eating up to 135 railroad workers in 1898 actually only ate 35 people. What’s really incredible about this story is how scientists figured out the true number.

I sometimes say I’m not religious, I’m spiritual. Apparently that’s not so cool anymore. (If you don't follow this strip, the middle guy is Moses.)