Category: goo brain

S'more Bears

As the Earth’s staggering climate slowly broils us to death in our own juices, some interesting side-effects are taking place.

Species that were once held apart by weather differences are now able to mingle – in some areas that means a new lunch menu, but, as is the way with nature, it also means a fresh dating pool for lonely four-leggers.

That’s how we get beasties like this:

Grolar BearThe Sun article that I stole this picture from calls it a Grolar Bear, personally though, I’ll stick with Wikipedia’s “grizzly-polar bear hybrid“.

Martell had been hunting for polar bears with an official license and a guide, at a cost of $45,450, and killed the animal believing it to be a normal polar bear. Officials took interest in the creature after noticing that it had thick, creamy white fur, typical of polar bears, as well as long claws; a humped back; a shallow face; and brown patches around its eyes, nose, and back, and having patches on one foot, which are all traits of grizzly bears. If the bear had been adjudicated to be a grizzly, he would have faced a possible CAN$1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. – Wikipedia

Meanwhile, Back At Old Joe's Barroom

So, I was bopping along with my headphones on, and I got a concept stuck in my craw:

When I die, want you to dress me in straight laced shoes
A box back coat and a Stetson hat;
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain
So the boys know I died standin’ pat.

– Louis Armstrong’s version of St. James Infirmary

Which struck me, as I’d just finished listening to:

“Stagger Lee,” said Billy,
“I can’t let you go with that.
“You have won all my money,
“And my brand-new Stetson hat.”

– Lloyd Prices’ Stagger Lee

While I’ve a long familiarity with Stetsons, I hadn’t realized they were once considered a status symbol.

Stetson produced a very expensive hat. The Cowboy riding the range wearing that “Boss of the Plains” hat showed the world that he was doing well. “Within a decade the name John B. Stetson became synonymous with the word “hat,” in every corner and culture of the West.” – wikipedia

An easy enough concept, even for a city dweller. In my youth it was high-end sneakers, and, in my adulthood, I know plenty of folks who drive cars as a mark of status, and not as a device that transports them from location to location.

The thing is, Stetsons were obviously originally marketed to cowboys – who exactly were they attempting to impress, out on the range?

An interesting side-note:

According to Win Blevins’ Dictionary of the American West (p388), the term “ten-gallon” has nothing to do with the hat’s liquid capacity, but derives from the Spanish word galón (braid), ten indicating the number of braids used as a hat band. – wikipedia

A Story With Legs

Pretty busy day today, but I wanted to point out this quick story I noticed on Boing Boing, although what caught my eye wasn’t the reason for its originally being posted:

“I first went to the health clinic, but it was closed. So I rang the medical help line and they told me that it shouldn’t be closed, so I went to emergency and sat there,” the man named only as Jonas told the newspaper.

After an hour-long wait in a treatment room, he lost patience and proceeded to sew up his own wound.

“They had set out a needle and thread and so I decided to take the matter into my hands,” he said.

But hospital staff were not as impressed by his initiative and have reported the man on suspicion of criminal dispossession (egenmäktigt förfarande) for having used hospital equipment without authorization. – The Local

The original post used a slightly different term to describe what the hospital had reported him for, although I think “criminal dispossession” sounds just as odd on the tongue.

I hate to see such motivation be knocked down: this guy is busy doing his own renovations, his own medical work – he’s a real go-getter, the kind of man who’ll go far in this company – and I think calling in the police is just a bit of jealousy on the hospital staff’s part, jealousy that Jonas was moving in on their territory. Either that, or they’re trying to cover for the fact that they were supposed to be open, but were instead busy in the back trading Pokemon cards*.

My point though, is that Criminal Dispossession sounds like a disturbingly vague kind of thing to be charged with – is he being accused of stealing the needle and thread?

*I can only assume it was Pokemon, and not getting into the high-end anesthetics

Assault On Batteries

Baghdad BatteryI was having a discussion with Opopanax the other day – while I was busy swapping out the batteries from a remote – largely centered around the fact that there must be one battery to rule them all: one battery brand that is empirically better than all other AA-providers.

Quickly setting aside my first idea, (to buy a large sample of each type of battery and a dollar-store hand fan,) I sat down to google it.

From a 2007 article by CBS news affiliate, KDKA:

The first is a low-drain or more sustained use, which is needed for clocks, toys, and most television remotes. The second test simulated short bursts of power, or the kind you need for something like a digital camera flash.

For those short bursts of power, Consumer Reports rated the Energizer e2 Lithium battery at the top of the list. At $2.25 per battery it costs more, but tests show it is less expensive in the long-run.

For sustained use devices, testers say the alkaline batteries are the way to go.

The best of the bunch is the Kirkland AA batteries from Costco. They are .21 cents a battery and will keep your toys and other things running for a lot less than other alkaline batteries.

Fine, but what if that isn’t a deep enough discussion? What if I need more battery data?

Then I might need to head to Battery University.

Battery University is an on-line resource that provides practical battery knowledge for engineers, educators, students and battery users alike. The papers address battery chemistries, best battery choices and ways to make your battery last longer.

It’s a neat idea, and obviously a labour of love by battery geek, and President of Cadex Electronics, Isidor Buchmann. Visit to learn things like:

  Testing deep cycle lead acid batteries

  • What is the difference between Capacity and CCA?
  • Battery rapid-test methods
  • What are typical battery problems

Personally, I’ll probably just forget about this topic until my remote stops working again.

Hulk Not Like Easy Joke

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kat8I5UM_Vs]

I don’t have a huge amount to say, relating to this video, beyond: “I’ll take two” – but I did want to note that if you google “Incredible HULC”, you get over 2,500 hits.

Some of those people were even paid for that laziness.

However, this does give me an opportunity to bring up another of my favourite internet people, Feminist Hulk:

HULK HEART IRIGARAY. HULK SMASH WITH THE UNCONTAINABLE FLUIDITY AND DYNAMISM OF FEMININE JOUISSANCE! (LACAN LOOK SCARED)Thu Jul 15 16:23:05 via webFEMINIST HULK
feministhulk