Everyone knows that the Giant Panda population has been playing a high stakes game of Hide-and-Go-Seek with the world for years now. (Unfortunately, the “hide” part of that phrase has meant something completely different for the bears ever since the Emperor Taizong started giving away pelts to his friends back in the 640’s.) Still, the heavily endangered pandas have done a pretty good job of hiding themselves from environmentalist paparazzi and census takers. Until now, that is. A team of scientists from Britain’s Cardiff University, apparently guided by the age-old philosophical question “Does a bear go in the woods?” combed a reserve for panda droppings, then analyzed the DNA to determine that there were double the number of pandas on the reserve than previously estimated. The study is good news since it means not only that some of the environmental measures instated to help preserve the species over the last two decades are working, but also that there could be close to 3,000 pandas gallivanting about! Click here to read (via CNN).

I thought it a good time to introduce one of my favorite Italian animators/cartoonists, Bruno Bozzetto. If you don’t already know him, it’s high time you did!

Here’s one of my all time favorites, timely, with all of Europe wide-eyed over the World Cup, and perfect for late-afternoon-fridays! Have a great weekend everyone, and let’s go Italy!

The 330 lb giant tortoise whom experts believe Charles Darwin studied while on the Galapagos Islands, died at Australia Zoo this week.

Two quick facts from the article: 

Hangar said Harriet, who had made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest living animal, had been credited with helping Darwin pioneer his theory of evolution.

Harriet was originally named Harry, as she was mistakenly identified as male, an error which was not rectified for more than a century.

Just had to post this odd picture from Across-the-board (which we found via Neatorama). So, Weird ceiling art -> Sistine Chapel ceiling art -> Michelangelo -> Interesting fact about Michelangelo: Michelangelo was actually a well-respected poet in his day and a few hundred of his poems survive. I bet you knew that fact was coming based on the picture.

Lifehacker had some fantastic footage a couple of days ago of a Windows desktop that lets you play with your documents as if they were actual pieces of paper. Combined with the new multi-touch-screen technology that lets you manipulate several different things on your screen at once with just your hands, this could be the key to finally making your virtual desktop look just like your real one — messy, cluttered, and constantly in flux. Er, I’m sure it’s still a good idea.

Talk about a buzzkill — my boss just waltzed into the office wearing a fabulous new top from a local vintage store, and instead of oohing-and-ahhing as was clearly expected, my co-worker said, “oh, you got that at the Garment District? I bought a shirt there once and it gave me ringworm.”

This prompted a lively discussion in which I learned the following not-very-fun facts: (1) you really can get ringworm from sharing clothes, (2) ringworm is not a worm, but a skin-infecting fungus, (3) “jock itch” and athlete’s foot are types of ringworm, (4) actual photos of ringworm are far too disgusting to show on this blog, and (5) cleanliness is next to godliness.

First a Green Day album cover saves a little girl from exploding, now this:

British popster James Blunt’s song You’re Beautiful has taken a beating of late, with even the singer himself referring to it as “overplayed”. But Britain’s Daily Mail has revealed that the song might have miracle powers. Five-year-old Claudia De’Alwis, had been a coma for 10 days following a head-first plunge from a five-metre balcony. She began to awake after her favourite song came over the hospital radio - it was [James] Blunt’s You’re Beautiful. … Claudia’s father, Paul D’Alwis, 40 told the newspaper he was convinced it was the song that brought her around.

Maybe Blue Cross Blue Shield should start covering Rhapsody subscriptions?

So I’m combing through The Spy Store’s website (don’t ask), and come across the device pictured to the left (a parabolic microphone, for those who don’t know one when they see one).Then I get to the part in the description where the copy reads:

WARNING: This device is not intended for use in receiving audio through windows, doors, or any other solid substance, or for the surreptitious interception of audio and should not be used as such as to do so would be unlawful.

And I’m like, well then why sell it on a website called The Spy Store? Geez! Talk about a bait and switch. Anyway, pricing in at “only $499,” I could think of other reasons not to act unlawfully, so I quickly clicked away from the Spy Store, and over to some other sites, to get some quick, hopefully acurate facts on the origins of espionage:

The ancient writings of the Chinese military strategist Sun-Tzu, 6th Century BC best-selling author of The Art of War, contain detailed information on deception and subversion. Here now are some highlights in translation, provided by the folks at HowStuffWorks:

6. Knowledge of the enemy’s dispositions can only
be obtained from other men.7. Hence the use of spies, of whom there are five classes:
(1) Local spies; (2) inward spies; (3) converted spies;
(4) doomed spies; (5) surviving spies.

8. When these five kinds of spy are all at work,
none can discover the secret system. This is called “divine
manipulation of the threads.” It is the sovereign’s
most precious faculty.

 (more…)


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I have no real reason for posting this link to the movie trailer, except that a) I heart Borat, b) I’m thrilled that they’ve announced a release date for the movie (November 3rd in the US), and c) he’s wearing the most amazing bathing suit I’ve ever seen. If only Cargo magazine was still around to let people know they should be wearing it this season.

Sick of people peeking over at your laptop screen on airplanes? Worried that your frat brothers will laugh at you because you religiously visit the Better Homes and Gardens’ knitting blog? Well, for people that have nothing to hide (but clearly still choose to), Joe Malia’s Computer Hood is for you. The masters student at the Royal College of Art has designed interactive clothing to fit over almost any gadget from Blackberries to PS2’s. And while the scarf might leave you struggling for air, and looking a bit like Q-Bert, isn’t your peace of mind worth it?
Link (via OhGizmo)