Late for the Sky

My Brain is Empty

So I'll rip off some stuff from Chuck Shepherd's Weird News:

"Several dozen (maybe many more) automobile keyless-entry systems failed in the Las Vegas area on Feb. 20, allowing conspiracists to remind everyone that the city is only 150 miles from "Area 51," supposedly the government's extraterrestrial research center."
It would have been weirder if this happened somewhere 51 miles from Area 51.

"Cuts from "White Album" by the band Sonic Youth were being listed for downloading on Apple's iTunes online store, and included was "Silence," a 63-second cut consisting of no sound at all, for which fans were nonetheless expected to pay the regular iTunes price of 99 cents. (In a subsequent clarification, a Sonic Youth spokesman said "Silence" would only be sold to purchasers who bought all of the album's cuts.) [New York Times, 2-9-04, 2-16-04]"
Do you think they have the same deal for "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel?

"Case Western Reserve University researchers revealed in a December journal article that cockroaches do not age gracefully, that after about 60 weeks of adulthood, they get stiff joints (which inhibits climbing) and hardened foot pads (which prevents sticking to vertical surfaces). One of the researchers, noticing that aged roaches seem to have lost their ability to escape from predators, hypothesized that the loss was brain-based; he tested the hypothesis by removing the roach's head (and, thus, brain), and sure enough, the roach once again was able to flee like a youngster. [Case Western Reserve University News, reporting on a Journal of Experimental Biology article, 1-15-04] "
I hope they got large federal research grants for this important study and for the following:
"A team of researchers that included Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) reported in November that herring communicate with each other via a high-pitched, "raspberry"-like sound emitted from their anuses. (Since the sounds were frequent, whether the herring had eaten or not, the researchers concluded that the noise was not produced by digestive gases.) [New Scientist, 11-5-03]"
So if you hear anything raspberry-like after I eat large quantities of herring in sour cream, it's just those little buggers trying to communicate with you.

Speaking of federal deficits, regardless of political party, affiliation or bias, I think this is funny:

Complaints can be directed to gbush@whitehouse.gov