Murk: But you're a God! The Sacred Glorificus! Glory: I'm a God in exile. Far from the Hellfires of Home and sharing my body with an enemy that stabs my boys in their fleshy little stomachs!

'Dirty Girls'


Natter 66: Get Your Kicks.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, pandas, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


tommyrot - Jun 04, 2010 1:46:38 pm PDT #4128 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

I think we've talked about toxoplasmosis makes rats more likely to be eaten by cats by causing rats to lose their fear of cats. But this is cool and funny:

Once in the rat, Toxo's goal is to then be eaten by a cat so it can be fruitful and multiply, but as I mentioned, this can only take place in the cat's gut. Toxo's goal is to get the rat eaten by a cat. Toxo could get the desired effect through a whole sort of seemingly obvious ways; e.g., Make the rat hard to run so it is easier for a cat to catch it. Instead it takes a far more interesting approach: Toxo generates cysts in the brain of the rat. These cysts take over the fear center of the brain, but specifically the fear of predators. Common fear sources for rodents (e.g., bright lights, open spaces, etc.) still operate perfectly well in an infected rat, but now they are no longer afraid of cat piss. That alone would be cool enough, but Toxo takes it one step further. When Toxo is going about futzing with the fear center of the brain it also goes into the sexual excitement part of the brain. It hijacks the incoming Fear of Cat Piss™ and instead diverts the signal to the Barry White™ center of the brain.

"Somehow, this damn parasite knows how to make cat urine smell sexually arousing to rodents, and they go and check it out. Totally amazing." - Dr. Sapolsky

The rat is now sexually attracted to cat piss! (This is a fetish that gets you eaten by your predator and rats clearly do not have any safe words with cats.)

...

This is all good fun for fucking with the behavior of rat brains, but is there anything that crosses over into the human realm? This is the question that Dr. Sapolsky’s team has been working on.

...

“A small literature is coming out now reporting neuropsychological testing on men who are Toxo-infected, showing that they get a little bit impulsive. … And then the truly astonishing thing: two different groups independently have reported that people who are Toxo-infected have three to four times the likelihood of being killed in car accidents involving reckless speeding.” – Dr. Sapolsky

Guided by Parasites: Toxoplasma Modified Humans


Jesse - Jun 04, 2010 1:53:14 pm PDT #4129 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Are any of these people any of you people??? Librarians Do Gaga


Polter-Cow - Jun 04, 2010 1:55:39 pm PDT #4130 of 30001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

One of them is a friend of a friend.


Strix - Jun 04, 2010 1:57:17 pm PDT #4131 of 30001
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

health-ma for your Dad, Matt. I hope all is well.

I can haz pain relief? I can, I can. Yay.

and I am DONE with grading, and done with all the silly on-line courses I have to take as a new adjunct.

Relief. A week with no work obligations. YAY.

msbelle, I hope the weekend goes smoothly. Yay, Mac, for learning from his actions. Good kid. It's hard, applying logic to emotions. You are doing a good job in a touch sitch, and he is lucky to have you as a mom.


Jesse - Jun 04, 2010 2:03:59 pm PDT #4132 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

One of them is a friend of a friend.

I knew there had to be some kind of a connection.


smonster - Jun 04, 2010 2:04:51 pm PDT #4133 of 30001
We won’t stop until everyone is gay.

Lots of ~ma, Matt.


Kathy A - Jun 04, 2010 2:20:46 pm PDT #4134 of 30001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

Hah, Jesse! I'm going to show that to my reference prof at next week's class.


Lee - Jun 04, 2010 2:21:22 pm PDT #4135 of 30001
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.

I read all of the posts today, I swear I did.

I can tell, because now I want cowboy boots, and I'm proud of myself for wearing a maxi dress today.


Toddson - Jun 04, 2010 2:23:41 pm PDT #4136 of 30001
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

I noticed Nancy Pearl in there! the librarian with her own action figure!


Beverly - Jun 04, 2010 2:29:37 pm PDT #4137 of 30001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.

All good thoughts for your dad, Matt.