'Blog' actually came from the word, 'blarg'

"Contrary to what many of you know about internet lore, blogs did not actually get their name from a condensation of the phrase, "web blog." No, my friends, the truth is that the word, "blog" actually came from the word, "blarg" – that sound that people make when they are retching, and it only morphed into the word "blog" as the result of a typographical error. An apt name when you think about it, since blogs generally qualify as written retching. So this one typographical error was dutifully copied, pasted and repeated by dozens, then hundreds and now, by millions of people."
read more
Welcome to my new blarg | GrrlScientist | Science | guardian.co.uk

Will it Blend? That is the Question

8 Ways to Destroy an iPad | TechXilla

Yeah, it’s big

Loldogs

Cy&H: Two master's degrees

Cyanide & Happiness #2156 - Explosm.net

Dancing Merengue Dog

iStethoscope

 "Peter Bentley invented the iStethoscope application which monitors heartbeat through sensors in the phone as just a bit of fun.
But it took off and now 500 apps are being downloaded everyday after a free version was introduced last week.Everybody is very excited about the potential of the adoption of mobile phone technology into the medical workplace, and rightly so," said Bentley.
"Smartphones are incredibly powerful devices packed full of sensors, cameras, high-quality microphones with amazing displays," he said
In the furture it could be possible for people to conduct their own ultrasounds or monitor blood pressure through smartphones."
iPhone app to replace the stethoscope - Telegraph

Treat Your Fingers to the Best of Both Worlds With a Modded USB Typewriter

 "With one foot in the present and another firmly in the past, these DIY instructions will turn that beautiful vintage typewriter in the attic into an awesome part of your digital routine. And give you some serious literary street cred."
via Gizmodo read more

These funny animals (39 pics)

more here Izismile - Pictures, videos, games and more

Baby Porcupine Eats A Banana and Has Hiccups!

via Pharyngula

A World Without Blockbuster Is a World Filled With Sadness

 "Blockbuster's likely bankruptcy filing will mean lots of their stores will close. That's sad! The loss of Blockbuster stores is a loss for everybody."
via Gizmodo read more

All together now... where's our tea?

"These baby swallows have much to chirp about.

Their nest, built in a barn that was about to be demolished, was saved in an elaborate removal operation by the building’s owners. Colin and Susy Varndell covered it in a tea towel, cut away the beam to which it was attached, and then reattached the beam to a part of the barn in Netherbury, Dorset, that was being left.

The parents soon found their chicks, which leaves the youngsters nothing to worry about – other than lining up and shouting for supper."
The baby swallows who's nest was saved from demolition | Mail Online

It's claws the psycho squirrel

"If anyone still thinks grey squirrels are cuddly little critters, here's an image to prove them wrong."
Not so cuddly now

2010 Men's European Water Polo Championship

The 2010 Men's European Water Polo Championship will be the 29th edition of the bi-annual event, organised by the Europe's governing body in aquatics, the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The event will take place from 29 August – 11 September at the Sports park Mladost in Zagreb, Croatia.

Still not good enough

via

Jeremy Rifkin on "the empathic civilization" | Video on TED.com

Jeremy Rifkin on "the empathic civilization" | Video on TED.com

Mum matters most in the eyes of their children

 "Mothers are said to hold a special lifelong place in their children's hearts, but it also appears they have a unique significance in their brains too.
Scientists have discovered that when adults look at their mothers' faces, it triggers a stronger response in the brain than when they look at pictures of strangers - or even of their fathers."
via Telegraph read more

Adorable handmade space alien sculptures "for the conspiracy theorist in us all"

 "Roger Phillips of Close Encounters Studios in Mahopac, NY designs hand-crafted and hand-painted sculptures of endearing space aliens in funny little scenarios."
via - Boing Boing read more

via

Mouse

"A mouse was setting in a bar having a drink when a beautiful giraffe came in and sat down at the end of the bar.

The mouse looked over at her and ordered her a drink.

Soon he had moved down beside her and ordered her another drink.

After a third round, the bartender looked up and they were leaving the bar together.

The next day the mouse limped into the bar, barely crawled up on the barstool and sat there gasping for air.

His whiskers were bent and broken, tail was crooked and patches of hair were falling out.

The bartender took one look and said, 'How did it go last night?'

The mouse said, 'Man, that was the best sex I ever had.'

The bartender asked, 'Why do you look so bad?'

The mouse replied, 'Hey between the kissing and the screwing I must have run 10 miles!'"

The life story of the mosquito.

 "Biology professors like to ask what animal kills the most people. Their poor students humiliate themselves by calling out grizzly bear, tiger, cobra, even hippo. The right answer, of course, is the female mosquito—no fur, no fangs, just a hypodermic needle on the wing. She's less than a quarter-inch long, has six legs, and is the most efficient transmitter of disease in the animal kingdom. She uses scent to find us, attracted by the lactic acid and other ingredients in perspiration. She also senses the carbon dioxide in our exhalations and follows the slipstream back to our faces. The more you sweat and pant as you shoo her away, the more attractive you become.
She's not revolting to look at, but elegant, small, sleek, long-legged, and fragile. We might be willing to give her a milliliter of blood, even with the itchy welt, if we didn't worry about what she might give back. The worst of the many pathogens a mosquito may carry is malaria, which kills more than 1 million people a year, two-thirds of those in sub-Saharan Africa and most being children under 5."

- By Constance Casey - Slate Magazine read more

The Proto-Internet of 1704

 "Before Wikipedia, before blogs, before comment areas or message boards, before the Internet—hell, before the mass adoption of indoor plumbing—readers were generating valuable content."
The small ways in which Colonial newspapers anticipated the Web. - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine

Tory Island dog swimming with dolphin

Short-eared owl poses for the cameras

Mail Online

Tranquilised tiger cub found in suitcase of stuffed toys

"A tiger cub was found hidden in a suitcase amongst stuffed toys at Bangkok airport."

A cat in a wheelie bin can help us ponder how the universe works

"Yes, it was an unfortunate and stupid incident, but there's a positive side to feline persecution: it lets people like me bang on about quantum physics. Physics doesn't get the front-page splashes it deserves, unless a sandwich is dropped into a particle accelerator, or someone invents a new bomb, so we interested parties will seize on anything we can that allows us to dwell on sub-atomic particles or dark matter.
According to this principle, the cat-in-a-bin incident was the perfect springboard to start a discussion about the most famous feline in science, Schrdinger's cat. This cat was placed in a sealed box, with a hammer, some hydrocyanic acid and a piece of radioactive substance. If one atom decayed, the hammer would hit the bottle of acid, the bottle would smash and the cat would die. However, until the box was opened, the cat was both alive and dead – or, according to Professor Brian Cox, my partner-in-crime on Radio 4's science series The Infinite Monkey Cage, 'in a linear superposition of alive and dead'."
via  Telegraph read more

Iran issues fatwa against pets

 "Iranian authorities have banned all advertisements for pets, pet food and other pet products."

The decision by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance comes after the fatwa was issued by powerful cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi.
While keeping dogs as pets has become increasingly fashionable in Iran in recent years, the fatwa cited Islamic tradition, which dictates that dogs are unclean.
In June, Ayatollah Shirazi declared dogs unclean, saying that dog owners were “blindly imitating the West” and that their devotion to the animals would result in “evil outcomes”.
“Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children,” he said.
The ban on pet advertising is the latest attempt by Iran’s culture ministry to undermine “decadent” Western culture.
Iran issues fatwa against pets - Telegraph

When dogs improvise

Phils Phun

Nasa discoveries: the US space agency's most thrilling headlines and pictures

 "Nasa have made some thrilling, awe-inspiring and terrifying discoveries in recent years.

   Here is a selection of the US space agency's remarkable announcements."