9286 - Tuesday

[scottobear]

Know what I like, dear journal? Quiet, that's what I like.

So many ambient sounds in my life... traffic, coworkers, key-clicks.

Of course there's good stuff, too, like my wife's voice and Newt/Pye Purrs.

It seems like some sounds are just deafening, and unending. The roar and rattle of air conditioners, people talking up the road or down the hall, my own breathing.

I sometimes like it to be so quiet that I can hear my heart beating in my body.. or the tendons of my neck stetching like rubber bands when I turn my head.... the odd pop of a joint when I stand up, or just hold my arms out at my sides. The roar of the ocean when I get ready to yawn.

But I'd rather hear the annoying rabble noise and not miss my family and comforting sounds, than have perfect quiet.

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Archaeologists studying a 385-year-old Spanish shipwreck off the Florida keys have found a gold combination toothpick and earwax spoon. The item was carved with a 16th-century Spanish inscription that translates roughly as "For the man who has everything."

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Unless you're willing to risk being stranded with 14 other passengers several stories underground in a cattle car elevator on a hot summer day, or plunging at extreme speeds down an escalator with a broken chain, you might want to steer clear of NYC's subway system lifts. The New York Times has published the results of an extensive investigation that includes tales of daily breakdowns, comically undertrained mechanics, and about $1 billion spent over the past decade.

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The heck? -

Cecil says:

... something called canine transmissible venereal tumor, a very rare example of what's known as a parasitic cancer. Unlike most other contagious cancers such as cervical cancer in humans, CTVT isn't spread by a virus but (as recently proved) by cancerous cells themselves. Genetic analysis suggests the tumor originated in an individual wolf or domesticated dog, probably in east Asia, between 200 and 2,500 years ago. This long-dead canid's much-mutated cells are still alive and being passed along during coitus (or sometimes through casual contact) centuries later, making it the longest-lived mammalian cell line known. The disease is now found throughout the world, especially where there are large populations of strays. It can be treated with surgery, radiation, and chemo, but most otherwise healthy dogs recover spontaneously after several months.

Luckily for us, there are no known parasitic cancers in humans, and only two additional ones affect animals. One arose spontaneously in a laboratory hamster around 1960: it's a reticulum-cell sarcoma that can be spread by casual contact, cannibalism (hamsters' souls are a lot darker than you might think), and mosquito bites; the tumor grows in the larynx and eventually leads to suffocation. The other is a condition threatening Tasmanian devils with extinction in the wild, called devil facial-tumor disease. First noted in the 90s, it's spread by bites; the tumors grow around the mouth and eventually cause death by starvation.

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best quote heard today. "she is wound like an angry watch" Wish I'd said it.

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1 year ago - BHK and I hit solomon's island, new video games, pictures of cats and family, trekkies, fake monkey entry from bhk, memes, bradbury, bionic woman series coming

2 years ago - cleaning up, ray ig, robby rotten, vista, windows registry, 10 things/commandments, mc birthday, stinky tuber at fairchild

3 years ago - Star Wars With Kev & Bheesham, Apophenia, vega, posting distro, newt and Orangeade pic

4 years ago - friendly gator banished, bro moving, spymac, ephemerist, oddtodd's gig

5 years ago - monkey-shakespeare, 5-things meme, military waste, ad shield

6 years ago - good walkies, missv goodies (need to reupload pic of newt in his cloth), piggy database

7 years ago - fun tv, lambaste, 9-to-5, Hawaiian love, tv part poll, astley issues, cool orange cats, clutch, gun quote

Comments

[kat78731.livejournal.com]

hamsters' souls are a lot darker than you might think

now that sets me to pondering.

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

I thought about getting my "brother" Adam a hamster once----I even went to the store to look at them. I asked the nice pet store clerk if I could hold one and the clerk decided to wake a sleeping one. It just about took off her hand I and decided hamsters were NOT the pet for anyone and needed to be put in the "cute but evil" category.

Ducks and llamas make much better pets----just in case you and Ray are thinking of diversifying. :D

[kat78731.livejournal.com]

I was attacked by an irate gerbil when I was a child. So maybe rodents in general are darker souled and less fun than one might think.

[kat78731.livejournal.com]

Although my brother kept a quite benign little white mouse living in his saxophone case without any troubles.

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Yeah Rats, mice and gerbils aren't so scary to me---those hamsters are the ones that seem evil---so fuzzy yet so grouchy!

I had a perfectly sweet hairless rat and a potload of gerbils growing up---so I'm quite fond of those varieties.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Where was his sax?? (rather... how did he keep mouse fewments out of it?)

[kat78731.livejournal.com]

ah, the sax and mouse were cohabitants, the mouse had a boxed off 'apartment' area, with that red velvet wall to wall, floor to ceiling 'carpet' -- where the reeds/mouth piece/neck strap/cleaning clothes/etc were supposed to go. Actually I'm not sure how long it was in there before it was discovered. Peter Mollenberg's futile attempts to get his own mouse with the but-he-has-one justification put the mom squad onto 'em.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

very keen. Just keep his toilet away from the reeds!

Very swank little mouse pad!

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

I love the phrase "irate gerbil".

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I, too am a fan of the term "irate gerbil".

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

poor Adam... no wonder he mocks the state department so callously... early rodent trauma!

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there is a "why I want a duck" or "Why I want a llama" video floating around?

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

If not just substitute "duck" and/or "llama" for "sugar glider"!

Re: I wonder if there is a "why I want a duck" or "Why I want a llama" video floating around?

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I think the reason is... there is no good reason to have one... except that to have one is awesome. :D