Animal Wierdness du jour starts with an ancient mystery about Pygmy Elephants now solved (they're their own subspecies). On a smaller scale, Sri Lankan eggheads found dozens of new tree frog species, but realise many known species are either extinct or on the verge. Even smaller: male and female fire ants have independent gene pools, almost as if each gender is its own species. more inside

How To Meditate

Biggest Catfish EVAR - Fish catching blokes in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish evar - a 646-pound (293-kg) monster as big as a small boat. Then they ate it. Hush puppies.

Peter Jackson's King Kong trailer - giant monkey, etc. Quicktime.

Bee Bid Record Fails - I tried to make that headline parse as beedly as possible in order to create a buzz. Irish beekeeper Phil 'Mad Bastard' McCabe has failed to take the world record for attracting the most bees onto his body after only managing a mere 200,000-strong bee bodystocking. With pix.

Flying Snakes are a small group of species of tree snakes that live in South and Southeast Asia. They fly by flinging themselves off a high thing, and flattening their whole bodies like some kind of biological streamer. They glide. They can turn in mid-air. They do not have wings. They bite. They can fly up your arse. Ok, I made that last part up, but if you were worried about bats getting in your hair, this is worse. more inside

A trail of weird footprints found next to a creek, south of Broome (Australia), have folks wondering what beastie made them. Is it a cat, a Yowie (the Australian Yeti) a Bunyip (the Australian, er.. swamp thing), a bird-like thingie or just a fucking big dog? In other Oz Crypto news, misplaced big cats & Tasmanian Tigers are apparently 'out there'. more inside

Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is a 3,700-page compendium of 19th century classical scholarship. The Dictionary covers an amazing array of historical characters, authors, gods and heroes in great detail and depth, and now it is online. Stick it up yer bookmarks.

Mommy, the Eldersburg weather man is scaring me. FLASH

The Nolan Sisters & Telephone Telepathy - by Rupert Sheldrake, Hugo Godwin and Simon Rockell. The Nolan Sisters?

James McIntyre - The Cheese Poet. Was he the worst poet to have lived, evar? Or was it the noble William Topaz McGonagall, much beloved of goons. more inside

Turns out.. you don't know everything - BAD WOLF. Dr Who fans.. have you noticed the clues? What or who is Bad Wolf? What is coming for The Doctor?

Photos of an unknown family from many years ago, who probably owned a liquor store which might or might not have been El Gaucho liquor in Huntington Beach, California. Just feast your eyes, people.

Richard Brautigan True Stories

Why Coffee Works - Including a charming picture of a rat and a lead on the cause of insomnia (god I hope they fix that).

On the Lucidity of Yoda, this post is. From robot wisdom, I took this.

Curious George: Whatever happened to Manis? He was the Orangutan who played Clyde in Every Which Way But Loose, the Clint Westplastic movie. I'm aware that his replacement for the sequel (Manis had grown too large) died not long after it was made, but I can't find out what happened to the first 'Clyde'. Anyone know?

Your Age on Other Worlds - Java thingie.

Das Keyboard - It's the wild colour scheme that freaks me. Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls that are labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. snarfled from Cynical-C

Revenge of the Weird Animal News - A Red Panda in a Tokyo zoo has learned to stand up when "it sees something interesting" and then.. continues to stand. As you do. Yes, that really is a panda and not a guy in a suit. In other news, a goddam Rhino and a freaking goat have become fast friends at a South African game park. Gosh. Finally, Whale Sharks are shrinking.