ELSEWHERE AND OVERHEARD
Overheard
“It’s not as if we were asking (the chimps) to give blood or write cheques to tsunami victims.”
Joan Silk of the University of California, Los Angeles, part of a team that looked for evidence that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) will help other members of their group. The study revealed that apes don’t seem to give a monkey’s ass about their pals. (Nature)
“Sword swallowing thus raises at least two uncertainties. What is the incidence of complications, and how often do they stomach it?”
Brian Witcombe, radiologist consultant, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, UK on the incidence of esophageal perforations and other complications of sword swallowing. (BMJ, UK)
“Start making children soon. Don’t let me down.”
Chinese Consul Peng Ren Dong during the traditional Chinese wedding ceremony held for 5-year-old male Chuang Chuang and 4-year-old female Lin Hui, at a Thai zoo. (MSNBC)
Elsewhere
Serbs line up for testicle shocks.
Six degrees of separation at sea: Even dolphins are linked to Kevin Bacon.
Angela Genusa is a writer, poet and artist whose work has been published online at McSweeneys, Yankee Pot Roast, Opium Magazine, The Black Table, and many places in print. Her father is a physicist and her mother, a chemistry major. She thinks Steve Martin solved all of the mysteries of the universe when he wrote about "Schrödinger's Cat," "Wittgenstein's Banana," "Apollo's Non-Apple Non-Strudel," and "Chef Boyardee's Bungee Cord" (which begins, "A bungee cord is hooked at one end to a neutrino, while the other end is hooked to a vibraphone...").
