The Placebo effect is getting stronger. The effect of sugar pills is estimated to have doubled (in some instances) in 2 decades, the effect varies in strength from country to country and even the colour of the pills is being shown to have an impact. Fascinating stuff (and my first exposure to the term nocebo too). more inside

A Decade of New Species Discoveries in the Himalayas.

Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture? [Via]

There once was a Curious George... Does anyone know any good bawdy (but not filthy) limericks or poems? more inside

Female Power.

YES!! Oh yes oh yes. Clippy messes with the wrong .doc

リワインド [SLYT] [via]

Erupting Volcanoes on Earth as Seen From Space.

Revolutionize Your Butt! I'll see your Monkey Western and raise you a Winker. more inside

Gigantic Lightning Jets Shoot from Clouds to Space. [Via]

An All Monkey Western more inside

The Rorschach Paintings. "In creating her new series, Pareidolia, artist and chemist Vesna Jovanovic detected biomorphic and medical forms in blots of ink." [Via]

The Robin Williams Rollercoaster
(the whole chart, readable-sized, here) more inside

All Hail Homunculus Over on the gray, our and MeFi's own Homunculus is being justly honoured on the occasion of his 1000th ! post! Here on MoFi, he's made nearly 500 first-rate posts and innumerable thoughtful contributions to others' posts. Way to go, you little devil!

The Longest Poem in the World is composed by aggregating real-time public twitter updates and selecting pairs that rhyme. more inside

Golden Power. (Approx 10min youtube vid). Two very strong acrobats compete in the 6th International Circus Festival of Budapest, 2006.

Reader's Digest goes bankrupt. That which is digested: either vomit or shit.

BBC: The zombies would win. Using infectious disease modelling techniques, the University of Ottawa has conducted a study [pdf] detailing the spread of a zombie attack. Conclusion: "It's imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly or else... we are all in a great deal of trouble."

Got an abyss? You need a ficus.

26 Monkeys, also the abyss. A whimsical SF short story nominated for both the Nebula and the Hugo this year. A story with real monkeys! Ten minute read. I loved it.