A Cow and the Mysterious Production of Egg
To begin, this seems a bit unlikely, as the felicitous timing of this China Daily news came the day immediately following Easter Sunday, plus there doesn't seem to be much mention of the item anywhere else.

A cow mysteriously delivered an "egg" recently in China.

The one-year-old cow was found to have delivered what seemed to be a black egg early one morning last week. Although the same shape of a real egg, the cow's was "a bit larger." Since delivering, the cow has eaten much more, says the owner.

Animal experts are curious and have begun researching it.

(pic via AAZK)

Chewy Used 'Em…So Can Techies
Guys, so when you leave the house, often you take the following tech gadgets: cell phone, Blackberry, MP3 player, maybe a digital camera and some other tiny tech toys. But in what do you carry them?

A backpack? Satchel? Briefcase? Belt clips? Fanny pack (Dear God, No!!)? Surely not a purse. Well, Lore Sjöberg over at Wired News has proposed the perfect carryall: Bandoliers.

Bandoliers are comfortable, have very masculine overtones, and Chewbacca wore one. I could totally see dropping my miniature bleeping possessions into the pouches of a bandolier, cheerfully strapping it on, heading out into the world, and getting shot down by a paranoid security guard.

But to become a culture-wide fashion move, says Sjöberg — and this is vital — geeks can't use them. "It pains me to say this, but we are not fashion trend-setters, my brethren. We need to get Jude Law or Will Smith into one of these pups," at which point the rest of Hollywood and thus the rest of the world will catch on.

Absolutely brilliant.

Almond-Shaped Cluster Proves Obvious: Men and Women Are Emotionally Different
Scientists now have the first strong evidence that the emotional wiring of the sexes is fundamentally different. An almond-shaped cluster of neurons that processes experiences such as fear and aggression hooks up to contrasting brain functions in men and women at rest, new research shows:

For men, the cluster "talks with" brain regions that help them respond to sensors for what's going on outside the body, such as the visual cortex and an area that coordinates motor actions.

For women, the cluster communicates with brain regions that help them respond to sensors inside the body, such as the insular cortex and hypothalamus. These areas tune in to and regulate women's hormones, heart rate, respiration and digestion.

So if a guy accidentally picks up a knife by its blade, his brain'll tell him to immediately toss the bloody thing in a direction away from him — despite any person standing near him. If a woman does it, she'll become hormonal, breathe heavily and burp…

(via Live Science)

Speaking of the sexes and breathing heavily...

Researchers Confirm Obvious: Men Irrational When Influenced with 'Sex Cues'
Researchers have found that the "glimpse of an alluring woman is all it takes to ruin a man's decision-making skills and the more testosterone coursing through his veins, the worse the problem gets."

The finding, reports UK's The Guardian, is unwelcome confirmation that those most likely to be in a position of power are most susceptible to the subtle influences of the opposite sex.

The results from researchers Bram van den Bergh and Siegfried Dewitte, of the University of Leuven in Belgium, confirmed that…whoa, where'd that pop-up ad come from?...and WHO is that lingerie model in it…

Uh, where was I going with this?

Speaking of mostly-true male stereotypes…

How 'Bout Asking for Driving Directions? Before GPS, MapQuest or Google Maps…
So I've finally caught up with the past month and a half's issues of The New Yorker, and I found a particularly interesting and relevant bit in the latest issue.

Apparently, the first in-car navigation system was invented in 1909.

According to The New Yorker piece, an engineer named J. W. Jones invented a device in 1909 called the Jones Live-Map, which connected to a car's odometer. It consisted of a glass-enclosed dial, on which a driver could place a disk representing a particular trip. The disk had mileage numbers around the perimeter and driving directions printed like spokes on the face. As the driver progressed along the road, the disk would rotate, telling him where he was and what to do.

Says the publication:

A promotional booklet for the Jones Live-Map read, "You are always sure of your road. . . . You fly past sign boards at speed without a thought. You never stop to inquire your way. Right or wrong, all chance information is useless to you. You are as easy about your road as though you were 'running on rails.'"

Holding Your Breath or Breathing Into Paper Bag Not Likely to Cure These Hiccups
Got the hiccups? They won't go away, huh? Well, we don't mean to cause a panic, but you may have cancer.

An Irish researcher this week said that hiccups could be a warning sign of cancer of the esophagus.

Hiccups are caused by the involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, causing the vocal cords to close very briefly. Eating too quickly or too much, coughing, laughing and too much alcohol are thought to cause hiccups.

"Up to now, hiccups have not been recognized as a possible harbinger of cancer," Professor Tom Walsh, of the James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Dublin, told Reuters.

But in a study of 99 patients with the disease, 27 percent complained of persistent hiccups.

Swallowing and breathing into a paper bag may not help to remedy this.

(pic via Review Journal)

Speaking of killer diseases…

Antibiotics Cure Woman of Disease that Killed 25 Million Europeans. No Worries.
OK, so this is neither funny nor "light," and we mean no ill-wishes, but since when did bubonic plague become "no cause for alarm"?!?!

An unidentified woman in Los Angeles was hospitalized last week and is now in stable condition after a slight case of bubonic plague.

Yes, the same bubonic plague, aka "Black Death," that wiped out 25 million mid-14th-century Europeans.

But it isn't contagious. So that's good. Health officials say the woman likely was exposed by fleas in her home and that there was NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. The woman was given antibiotics.

Apparently, 10-20 Americans contract plague each year, mostly in rural communities. Well, I'm not leaving NYC any time soon…

…Except maybe for Cyprus (See next item.)…

Define: "Organization Innovation"
Women on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus hope to form the world's longest chain of bras.

Why, you ask? (Does it matter?) There are two goals here: 1) heightening awareness of breast cancer and 2) winning a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

The Cypriot, British and Dutch organizers hope to string together as many as 100,000 bras on April 30, beating the current record of 79,000 bras held by Singapore, and forming a 56-mile chain.

Grrrl power!

(pic and news via Reuters)

eBay Find of the Week
A Kansas cabin that once belonged to American writer William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) is now for sale on eBay.

Usually associated with the beat generation, Burroughs was the author of such drug-induced classics as Naked Lunch and Junky/Junkie. He accidentally killed his common-law wife while playing "William Tell."

The 568-square-foot cabin located outside Lawrence, KS, has been put on eBay by its owner, Carol Dengel.

The cabin is only large enough to comfortably sleep four people max, and it has narrow concrete stairs, an outdoor shower and an incinerating toilet (a toilet that burns excrement rather than flushing it away with water, usually installed in places where septic system access is limited) in the bedroom. The lakefront cabin also comes with a small aluminum fishing boat (with new motor) and a paddle boat.

According to a county appraiser, its current value is $66,000. Dengel is asking for $159,950.

The cabin will be kept up for bid on eBay until May 1st. Happy bidding, literary enthusiasts!


Cheers.