Mind controlling parasites

You don't want to mess with these creatures. (via Robotwisdom)

A parasitic worm that makes the grasshopper it invades jump into water and commit suicide does so by chemically influencing its brain, a study of the insects’ proteins reveal.

The parasitic Nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. Somehow mature hairworms brainwash their hosts into behaving in way they never usually would – causing them to seek out and plunge into water.

A river tour

Photoessay of the L.A. River. (via LA Observed)

Rebuilding

It doesn't take long for good ideas to spread I suppose. (via Robotwisdom)

A popular reality show on Iraqi TV , the brainchild of a well-known newspaper publisher, could be called “This Bombed House.”

Producers of the show, which is actually called “Materials and Labor,” provide money and expertise to Iraqi home-owners whose homes have been destroyed in the war. Some of the homeowners lost family members in the explosion.

Their's was a forbidden love

The adventures of cat and bunny, part one and two. (via Metafilter)

MOMRA

At The Museum of Modern Robocop Art you can see the process creating masterworks. (via Metafilter)

Vampire finches

I don't normally watch Be the Creature but they had a show about the animals of the Galapagos that was pretty good. There were some wild animals but the wildest was the vampire finch.

But perhaps their most important source of food during the extended droughts is blood. The finches begin by landing on the tail of a seabird. They peck at the base of it's wing feathers breaking the skin and causing it to bleed. As the blood oozes out the finches sip it every few seconds. Other finches line up behind the booby like a queue at a blood bank and as soon as one leaves it's blood-sucking perch another takes its place. It looks gruesome but doesn't appear to do any long term harm to the boobies.

Google Maps++

It's Google maps with a flash interface. (via Robotwisdom)

Nutritainment

I don't know how I only just noticed it but Good Eats has instantly become my favorite show on television.

Negative on Able Danger

This story is turning out to contain more fraud than truth.

Watch this

This site was described on Slashdot as flickr for videos.

Gospel mimes

Get ready to be inspired, enlightened and challenged and through the unification of the unlimited powers of God and the awesome power of mime. (via Metafilter)

Hiphop propaganda

This amusing, seemingly homemade, and NSFW extremist video has a cameo by The Count from Sesame Street and has a nice beat.

Able Danger: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

This new Able Danger story opens up a can of worms all over the place. What was the program and how did it work? Why did the 9/11 commission ignore it? Why is all of this surfacing now? What other revelations are there? Are we really supposed to believe Pentagon JAGs stopped info from being shared? It's hard to separate the fact from fiction in this article. Hopefully some real journalists will dig deeper.

Three kinds of creature

Here's a neat little sea animal generator. (via Robotwisdom)

The heat of war

This new series on FX about the war in Iraq sounds like compelling television, at least according to this review in the New Yorker.

The show isn’t front-loaded with too many easy explanations for why the characters have enlisted, but it does make it clear that none of them really get what they bargained for. Bo Rider (Josh Henderson), the young man in the T-shirt, has a football scholarship, but it doesn’t cover everything; he’s counting on serving out his stint and then going to college on the G.I. Bill. Sergeant Scream, a career soldier, is nevertheless furious that his tour of duty has just been extended for ninety days—his replacement got sick—and that he has to train, and be endangered by, green recruits. Smoke, one of two black soldiers, is a stoner who hates white people; we don’t have any clue why he joined up. One of the women, nicknamed Mrs. B (all the characters are known by nicknames except for Bo, a Texan, who is told that everyone already thinks that Bo is his nickname), is only eighteen, and appears never to have thought through the consequences of joining the Army: you can end up in a war.

Terror trip

A guide to sneaking into Iraq was posted on a a Jihadi website and translated and reviewed here.

Only after the soon-to-be-terrorist is in possession of the name and address of a contact person should the journey begin. And the document is clear about where to start: Syria. "Enter the country through Turkey," the recruits are advised -- the need for medical treatment is a possible excuse. A disguise as a tradesman also works. The author imparts important advice to ease the border crossing: "bring jeans and a Walkman ... playing whatever music." In other words, pop instead of prayers -- jazz before jihad jingles.

Clarification please

When did uber-scumbag RIAA pres Hilary Rosen turn into a radical left lesbian?

But he really wants to get into directing

An interview with the PBF guy. (via Horkulated)

Splore

i like this new Flickr feature that shows off some of the best recent photos.

The other new feature is called interestingness and it's huge! A long time in the making, interestingness is a ranking algorithm based on user behavior around the photos taking into account some obvious things like how many users add the photo to their favorites and some subtle things like the relationship between the person who uploaded the photo and the people who are commenting (plus a whole bunch of secret sauce).

More bounce to the ounce

Pictures of a river of superballs in action.



There is also a QT video of the event which was apparently for a commercial.

Flush this

Episode 3 of Leave It To Bush is out. They also have Steven Seagal cartoons.