If Looks Could Kill - Graphic Art & Design

Article on the similarities between rats and humans. Interesting bits:

• They laugh when tickled, especially when they’re young
• Rats dream as we dream, in epic narratives of navigation and thwarted efforts at escape
• Look forward to good sex, “They wiggle and paw at their ears, hop and dart, stop and flash a come-hither look backward.”
• One study showed that rats accustomed to good times tend to be optimists, while those reared in unstable conditions become pessimists.

(Source) - NYTimes free signup required

Brings this documentary, on animal emotion, to mind.

This describes how men adjust their vocal pitch, lower it when they perceive themselves as superior to another male they are speaking to.

I remember being little, hearing my father address strangers in this bizarre lowered voice that was out of line with his general speaking. I never knew it was a pissing contest, calculated or not.

On a similar primal note, this describes why gentlemen prefer blondes: “blonde hair is a marker of youth as it normally turns to brown as a woman ages.”

Bits of randomness as my mind has already left for vacation.

Diana Graves (aka Phoenix) & I have been taking in local comic & horror conventions & loving it. Further evidence of me nerding out can be seen in my MySpace “Shitting Twinkies” photo album. ;)

Feel free to friend me if you wanna see, I’m not incredibly elitist. However, if you are racist or homophobic, don’t bother - low tolerance for intolerance here. Life’s too short, go find something productive to do.

Unrelated Items of Interest:
» Shadow Illusions (un-fucking-real shadows cast by crap & scrap)
» Mindfulness hits brakes on emotional responses
» Video Game Addiction
» Egon Schiele: Bio|Art: Inspiration for Peter Chung (Aeon Flux)

Whoever wrote this article hated his ass. However, they mention some things I’d not heard about him:

• He “suggested that the deepest way to demonstrate one’s love for another is to eat their excrement”
• Congratulated the dictator (Francisco Franco) on political tortures and assassinations
• Enjoyed hearing of transport disasters

It goes on to describe numerous other ways he was a pompous ass. Unsure of the validity behind the claims of the writer, but I love Salvador Dali’s work, especially his surreal, sultry portrait of Mae West.

(Source)

Gender Gaps in High School Graduates (2003-2004):
Male: 66%
Female: 74%
(Source)

Also:
Men in their 30’s are not doing as well as their fathers at the same age, even with their wives’ paychecks added in. (Source)

WTF happened? I would LOVE to read some more studies on this, as I am convinced that this is generational, age-specific, these unmotivated men.

“I has 26 toes!”

I ♥ that the owners didn’t amputate the extras, since they cause him no problems, nor is he declawed from the sound of the article.

FYI: For those that don’t know, declawing is equivalent to severing your finger up to the first knuckle - not nice!

Apparently extra-toed cats are common in an area of Wales.