I think the world would be a better place if we were more like this Pacific barreleye. A hefty dose of transparency would do us some good.

Since I missed Thankful Thursday, I am going slap it onto this post.

I am thankful my brother is stateside with his wife, daughter and new son. I am further grateful that he did not create this picture in his youth. (I think.)

GI Joe embarrasses US with harsh treatment of prisoners.

I am thankful that all of my kids are healthy. And asleep.  And one of them made it into PJs!

I am thankful I work from home and not here:

Coworkers are assholes. For MoFM

I am more thankful this is not my job:

No matter what you do for a living, you always end up catching shit for it.

And, I am thankful that you are reading this.  And hopefully not like this:

We all love animals, whether we accept it or not. So, here is a collection of the cutest and weirdest animals of the world.  And I thought that I had seen them all, until I started scouring the internet. Believe me, you’ll be amazed.

The Cutest

The decision was tough, but pretty straightforward compared to the next section’s. The other cute animals which I shortlisted are at the end of this post. And the cutest is definitely the panda. Here are some videos:-

The Weirdest

There are a lot of weird animals in this world which we haven’t even heard of. And when we see them for the first time, they always strike us as weird. In the gallery at the end of this post, you can see them all. And because of so many worthy candidates, I *diplomatically* decided that they all won. (Some of them looked really creepy and threatening to me, I had to declare all of them as winners or fear the wrath of creepy animals)

Tarsiers

Aye Aye

Axolotl

And here’s the gallery of the cutest and the weirdest:

[Click for enlarged pictures and a slideshow]

Conclusion:

The animal world is full of surprises, weird animals just waiting to be found. But it turns out looks don’t really matter in the animal world, skill does. Though some animals are really cute and cuddly, most of them aren’t.

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose” -The Wonder Years

I haven’t visited the San Diego Zoo since I was seven years old. Before that, I would go constantly with my grandparents… constantly. I have several little tidbits of goodness stashed in the back of my cranium from my earlier years oh. oh OHHH how i missed it!

I went to the Zoo today with my mommy and our new family.. it was so splendid (my battery did die within the first hour we were there so. that pissed me off… but besides that…) hippos, chimpanzees, meerkats, sea otters, rhinos, random peacocks flying above our heads, scary looking animals in which i have NO clue what they’re called.

ok so weirdest thing ever.  vampire/chinchilla.

dude i swear. look.

ok. that animal officially won my “ugliest and creepiest creature on planet earth”

seriously…. JUST LOOK AT THAT THING.  it makes my eyes twitch slightly upon a simple gaze…

so I’m moving my cellphone service from verizon to alltel.  i know they re owned by the same people, but I’m getting a better deal Now to find out which phone i want. My mom has the Samsung Delve and I thought about just getting that. BUT alas, I would then NO LONGER have my wonderful querty keyboard, which i do love more than life itself. so, my others choices will consist of maybe the HTC touch diamond, LG glimmer, or maybe just the LG Scoop since its so similar to the phone I’ve been using…

just having a phone at this point would be nice. I’m going through with drawls. its officially been about 24 hours since it was RIPPED away from my soul    *whimper*

oh how i miss hearing my broken English beauty and sending random texts to my twitter….

It’s so crazy how dependant I have become on my phone, I remember when I didn’t even need one. for years in fact, i didn’t have a cellphone because they annoyed me and it was just a bother for me to carry one around. the first time I got my own phone was only a little over a year ago.

hi my  name is heather. and I’m a text message addict.

it just feels wrong not to be able to pick up my phone and KNOW i can use it. not even having to use it, but just…knowing. i like that kind of comfort. with everything in fact.

its a trust thing. 

alas, its time for me to retire. well…. retire from my blogging. I usually don’t  ramble on this long anyway, but I’m forced to be in the house tonight.

I’m all super lazy in my robe, hair strewn about from letting it air dry.

yea. I’m Au naturale.  so what.

peace, my loves.

I ran across this pic on the web site for The Record newspaper in Ontario Canada over the weekend.

What’s going on with my legion up there in the Great White North?

“But it’s a squirrel that’s turning heads these days. A black and white squirrel that looks as though it tangled with a skunk. Or a Holstein. Or Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians.”

It seems there’s a natural explanation for the color scheme.

According to the story, it’s piebald – a phenomenon that is more common in horses.

“Piebald applies to any animal displaying depigmented white fur.”

I prefer to think of it like Seinfeld’s black-and-white cookie.

We should all look to the cookie.

Squirrel Queen’s editorial note: I wrote this post on Monday but never hit the publish button so it was stuck in my drafts. So technically, this is my nablopomo post for 11/10/08.

One of two cows which fled an abattoir in northern France was found ‘hiding’ in a drain. It was rescued – from the drain, at least, if not the abattoir.

[Article Source]

July 16, 2008—A previously unknown species of meat-eating slug that sucks up earthworms like spaghetti has been discovered in Wales, scientists announced.

The so-called ghost slug—pictured above—first appeared in South Wales gardens in 2006, possibly after arriving as a stowaway in imported potted plants, said biologist Ben Rowson of National Museum Cardiff.

The nocturnal predator is armed with blade-like teeth (see inset) for slicing through animal flesh and can measure up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) long when stalking its prey, Rowson said.

“They engulf the worms piece by piece,” the biologist noted. “One end of the worm will still be alive while the other is being gradually ratcheted into the slug by the teeth.”

Rowson was part of the team that recently named the white carnivore Selenochlamys ysbryda—”ysbryd” being Welsh for “ghost.” Its pale color and lack of eyes suggests the animal evolved underground, Rowson said.

The slug’s origins remain a mystery, but the study team speculates that it may be native to deep caves found in Georgia, Armenia, or Turkey.

No one knows whether the spooky creature presents a serious threat to Britain’s earthworms or other native animals.

—James Owen

Source

Wellington, New Zealand (AHN) — Marine biologists in New Zealand are thawing out a 1,000 pound squid from a huge ice block in order to study it. The analysis of the 1,089-pound, 26-foot long colossal squid, set to begin Wednesday, will help determine how the creatures live and breed.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa will broadcast the thawing and examination live on the Internet.

Researchers will study the contents of the squid’s stomach to see exactly what it ate. The scientists will also try to determine the creature’s gender.

Steve O’Shea, a squid expert at Auckland’s University of Technology told BBC news, “If we get ourselves a male it will be the first reported (scientific) description of the male of the species.” O’Shea is among the scientific team of 10.

Not much is known about colossal squid as only about 10 specimens have ever been caught and brought to shore.

The squid was removed from the freezer on Monday after scientists figured out the best way to thaw the creature without damaging it. The corpse of the squid will be studied for a few days before putting it on display in a tank of propylene glycol preservative.

The Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni specimen was caught in February 2007 in the Ross Sea off Antarctica.

http://www.ncbuy.com/news/2008-04-29/1016304.html