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Watching nature shows as a kid, one of the things I found most interesting is that apparently every form of life in Australia is dangerous. Sharks, snakes, spiders…even koalas, with their deceptively cute looks and long claws…everything moving can kill you. (Well, except for Michael “Aussie” Southam from ESPN’s Madden Nation. Then again, he could just be lulling his prey into a false sense of security.) My Australian doctor has a poster of the alphabet made up of her native land’s animals; I like to think of it as My First Deadly Alphabet. ...

When making tough decisions in life, sometimes it seems like you should ask yourself “What Would Chuck Norris Do?” This is a mistake, because you are not capable of doing what Chuck Norris would do. So, anyone who was thinking of endorsing Mike Huckabee for President? Don’t. He’s got all the endorsement he’ll need. Oh, and by the way, Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos? Best five-episode animated series framed by live-action Chuck Norris segments from what appeared to be his basement ever. :) ...

It are these people’s birthday too: Sir Christopher Wren, English architect John Dewey, American philosopher Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor Jelly Roll Morton, American composer Grandpa Jones, American banjo player and singer Tom Petty, American musician Scott Hall, American professional wrestler Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda leader Snoop Dogg, American rapper As well as these two who are exactly as old as me: Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American professional wrestler Michelle Malkin, American political commentator and author On this day, by the BBC and The New York Times. ...

more funny pictures

I just saw a sign at Burger King that carried the normal verbiage about shirts and shoes, but also had one interesting addition: Only medically necessary animals allowed inside. I’m assuming they mean helper animals, but I can’t get the image out of my head of an older person walking in with an IV tube attached to a monkey. :)

Last Sunday’s games weren’t great for anyone in our league, but no one was able to accomplish what mine did: 51 points. Still in seventh place, oddly enough. QB Ben Roethlisberger: One touchdown, which put him in the top spot for points scored. Yay for ball control. WR Wes Welker: 19 yards against the surprising Browns defense. WR Calvin Johnson: 3 yards against the surprising Redskins defense. It’s a theme! ...

Interesting test for whether you use more of your right brain or your left. If you see the dancer spinning clockwise, you’re using the right brain; counter-clockwise, the left. Not sure how accurate it is, but it’s a weird effect. When I load the page, I can’t help but see her going clockwise. If I just watch the picture move, it stays clockwise. However, about the moment I noticed that the dancer appeared to be…ah…more anatomically correct than you would expect a computer-generated silhouette to be, she flipped counter-clockwise. It takes a bit, but for me looking directly at any detail in the image flips the motion to counter-clockwise. That might actually make sense, given the descriptions of right vs. left brain they use. ...

I just upgraded to release 2.3 for WordPress, named “Dexter.” Seems to have run pretty smoothly, and the new release has a plugin checker that lets you know about the latest versions of your plugins. (Also, integrated tagging! Which I might use at some point, maybe.) However, just in case you run into the same error I did, mentioning the non-existence of the “post2cat” table, upgrade your Google Sitemap plugin. The plugin checker doesn’t recognize there is a new version yet, and the older one isn’t entirely compatible with Dexter. ...

The team did better last Sunday, but stayed stuck in 7th place in the league. Unexpectedly good games from some players, however. QB Ben Roethlisberger: Two TDs, two INTs. Too bad about the INTs, but that’s about the production I would expect from a Steelers QB. Drew Brees, on the other hand, had a much better week than usual. He had a bye. WR Wes Welker: Wish Tom Brady wasn’t in love with Randy Moss. ...

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever! has seen some changes down through the years, as seen in this Flickr gallery. The best part is that they added more girls, but did so by adding bows to heads and flowers to clothes. And let’s not forget nearsighted cats. :) Did they really have to change the caption “He comes promptly when he is called to breakfast” to “He goes to the kitchen to eat his breakfast”? Perhaps children in 1963 could count on being called for breakfast, while children in 1991 were counted on to make their own. ...