Riley ,'Sleeper'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Happy Birthday libkitty!
How did they decribe the results? The numbers Kadima, the Likud, and Liberman ("Israel beytenoo", "Israel is our home") got?
Mostly, I've seen headlines that were something like "Olmert claims victory," and then the numbers of seats listed somewhere in the article.
Happy Birthday Libkitty.
Hippo birdies, libkitty!
Happy birthday libkitty!
Seekrit Message for Frankenbuddha:
Here's the beer store in Beverly I was talking about: [link] also, thanks for the heads up about the brewing place!
That was nice news to wake up to. Did you know that the Monitor set up a fund for the family of Allan Enwiyah, her translator who was killed? There was a really lovely piece about him a few weeks ago. Other reporters for the Monitor have made asides about how people react when they learn the reporter is working for the same publication.
I heard the news about Jill Carroll this morning at about 6:30, and the NPR crowd was practically jumping up and down about it, while details were still unconfirmed. The apprehension and joy in their voices was palpable: it was their tone got me awake out of morning stupor before the words did.
I've had some really great happy jolts from news radio, probably more than TV news. (TV news is where most of my bad news flashbulb memories come from.)
good news is, well, good.
That Joseph Gordon-Levitt thing is awesome. More celebrities should totally do that.
sara, insent.
Yay! Chicago has its first ever Komodo dragon!
As a representative of the Komodos, which have been known to eat the occasional human, Faust is the star of a temporary lizard exhibit that will open April 8 at the Shedd. It features more than 25 species of lizards from around the world, ranging in bulk from the sleek, muscular, lime-green beauty of Faust down to tiny geckos the size of a pinky finger.
In between lies an impressive array of green tree monitors, caiman lizards, Gila monsters and the world's longest lizard, the crocodile monitor, which can be as long as 15 feet.
Crocodile monitors may grow longer than Komodos, but they are no match for them in bulk or strength. A full-grown Komodo lizard, with its rancid, razor-sharp teeth, can pull down a 1,000-pound water buffalo and kill it.
The Komodo is also one of nature's great gluttons, able to eat up to 80 percent of its body weight in a single sitting, so that a mature, 200-pound male might balloon out to 360 pounds in a matter of hours.
...
In the wild, it is a fierce killer, patiently hiding along forest trails for passing prey, especially deer. It waits until the animal passes, then rushes out in a 12 m.p.h. burst, its powerful jaws snapping at the prey's rear legs.
It then will go for the stomach, using its teeth to open the animal up and let it bleed to death. If the animal's skin was broken by the Komodo's bite, it usually dies even if it manages to escape.
"There is always a lot of lot of rotting flesh stuck in their teeth from their last meal, so their bite is full of deadly bacteria," said Owczarzak, "and anything it bites usually dies from infection."
The Komodo eats every part of its prey--hooves, fur, teeth, everything except for the contents of the prey's stomach and intestines. But it vigorously shakes those organs until they are emptied so that it can eat the organ tissue.
yesterday I got three bunches of tulips for ten bucks. Bright sunny yellow, a gorgeous almsot fuschia pink, and this bright orange-red. Broke them up into two vases, one in the kitchen, one in my bedroom/living room. That and the orchids from Kat and lori have made my apartment so cheery and spring-like that it's just hard to leave and go to the institutional walls of work.