Scottish Nous

622 Music Vids

At Gran Faro.  Sorted alphabetically and linked.  Nice.

Psuedo-Copulatory Lizards and Digenetic Trematodes

The sheep liver fluke, a digenetic trematode, is a parasite whose life-cycle takes it through three - count three! - hosts.  This particular fluke, Fasciola hepatica, reaches sexual maturity in the liver of sheep, laying eggs which are passed in the fecal matter to snails.  Asexual reproduction occurs in the snail, accompanied by irritation of the snail's salivary glands, and the asexually produced offspring (cercariae) are secreted in salivic slime-balls which ants apparently find very tasty.  Upon ingestion by an ant, most, but not all, of the cercariae migrate into the blood-filled hemocoel of the ant where they remain in temporary hibernation.  Those cercariae not capable of reaching sexual maturity, however, migrate into the esophageal region of the ant.  A temperature based ant behavior-modification mechanism takes over, resulting in evening lock-jaw.  If all goes well, this evening lock-jaw occurs while the ant is happily feasting upon a blade of grass.  The ant remains stuck until the morning sun warms him up, making him easy prey for grazing sheep.  The remaining cercariae in the ingested ant turn into little worms which travel through the intenstine, into the liver, and finally to their home in the sheep's bile ducts where they reach sexual maturity and repeat the process.  This fascinating scientific excursion was prompted by the pseusdo-copulatory behavior of Cnemidophorus uniparens, an all-female species of lizard that has no (obvious) need for bumping genitalia, as recounted in The Golem: What You Should Know about Science by Collins and Pinch.  (The relation?  One benefit of sexual reproduction is parasite resistance.)

Turkish Philosopher?

From The Best Andecdotes of Nasreddin Hoca, I bring you some of the most bizarre fables ever.  This was written (translated?) in(to) English by Kemal Yorenc and published by Askrit press:

The Pan Delivered

One day Hoca borrows a pan from his neighbor.  When he returns it, he puts a second pan in it, to make a joke.
"What is this?" asks the neighbor when he sees the second pan.
"Your pan delivered." replies Hoca.
His neighbor becomes very happy and accepts both pans.  After a few days Hoca borrows the same pan again but he never returns it back.  One day his neighbor comes and asks what happened to his pan.
"I'm sorry but your pan is dead." says Hoca.
"Are you kidding me? How can a pan die?"
"Are you telling me you believed me when it gave birth but you don't believe in its death?" replies Hoca.

And a demonstration of Hoca's modal cluelessness:

What If I Can

One day Hoca goes to Lake Aksehir with a bowl of yogurt. He empties the bowl to the lake and begins to mix it with his scoop.  Someone sees him and asks
"What are you doing, Hoca?"
"I am adding starter to the lake to make yogurt."
The other man laughs:
"Hoca, do you really believe that you can turn the lake to yogurt?"
"I know I can't" replies Hoca "But what if I can?!"

The introduction to the book states that Nasreddin Hoca (1208 - 1284), born in Sivrihisar, Turkey, "makes fun with people's silliness in a fine humorous way."

Agnosticism (but not over Nazi Pope) Supremely Rational for Most

I feel like admitting some modicum of concern apropos my epistemic state.  After all, the notion that a bunch of senile men dressed in cultish garb, all of whom possess highly questionable moral commitments, can, by voting, elect the divinely appointed Vicar of Christ, just sounds preposterous.  If the Holy Spirit is indeed speaking through the cardinals (as He is allegedly speaking through the Italian newspapers), shouldn't the fact that some of the cardinals did not (at least) initially vote for the former member of die Hitlerjugend be taken as a sign of their depravity and inability to receive divine communications in the penetralium of their rotting consciousness?  Or instead, are we to assume that God is (merely?) concurring with the actions of wicked humans (original sin aside, at least some of the cardinals are immensely wicked child molesting freaks of nature) in the election of the Holy Father?  Or perhaps just that the Virgin Mary retains a loyal following of the spiritually sensitive sufficiently numerous to achieve Her aims?

In light of papal history, none of this seems plausible.  Do we remember The Great Schism?  Just how many Popenfuhrers do the Catholics need at once?  And since when does the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles (Pope Stephen VI) exhume a previous Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church (Pope Formosus), insult him at a mock trial, and dispense with his corpse in the Tiber river?  Was the Holy Spirit operating amongst the cardinals when they elected a Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church at swordpoint?  It once took three years for the Holy Spirit to speak to the cardinals in one historical conclave, and He only did so after they had been placed on a diet of bread and water, as well as exposed to the elements for some duration.  And the lemmings continue to congregate at Bernini's collonade to hail their divinely appointed leader!

Ten Percent

The 100-mile long iceberg B15A creates its own weather patterns and contains enough water to keep the Nile river running for 80 years.  You can get video here.  Remember, ninety percent of this ice-continent is under water.  The original iceberg, B15, which calved from the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000, was 170 miles long.  Now the poor little penguin chicks, isolated by the massive berg, will go free!  Earthdive has a good report, and you can find amazing high-res pictures here.

Link Blogging

I hate surfing blogs.  The worst blog ever is only three links deep (one in a comment) from a blog I regularly read. I now feel like dry wretching: Dating Nightmare. For your daily dose of gallows humor, one of my friendly compatriots recommends Girls Are Pretty, further confirming my hypothesis that philosophers are mentally unstable.  If you haven't yet encountered Foamy, your life isn't worth living.  Finally, you must worship The Gord.

In Memoriam: Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Dworkin passed away yesterday.  See here.  Here's one  link in her memory.

I Once Was Blind...

A professor at John Hopkins has designed a bionic eye.  The BBC has the story.

Photoshopped

Ok, so the second entry in this series does not belong.

Why, you ask?  Look below the fold for the answer.

NNNNGNNGGH

Terri Schavio no longer in PVS.  See her blog, where she posts daily.  You must view the comments.  [Via NoodleFood]