Chikken!
This young feller, Daniele Barresi, is making a name for himself doing quick food sculptures. Though this particular one is a soap sculpture. BUT IT’S A CHICKEN. A friend of mine in art school used to do soap carving, so I have a warm spot. More soap.
Here’s some of the better food ones, on Bored Panda. Yes, despite the name “Daniele” it’s a he. And he bites his fingernails.
Unrelated note: I have just put into the oven the greatest meatloaf ever made — I suspect — and no-one will ever know. But me. AHAHAHAHA!
June 13, 2017 — 10:35 pm
Comments: 17
I want this!
But I can’t have it. It’s from one of those American clearance places. You probably can, though. My Facebook has a hard time targeting advertising to me (heh heh).
Did I ever tell you about my moon dream? I was very little, but I still remember. I looked up, and the moon was in my livingroom, looking (as it does) about the size of a half dollar. I reached up and plucked it out of the air and immediately realized that was a Very Bad Thing to have done and I was Going to Get In Trouble.
Sure enough, I flipped the moon over, and there was a dial on the back. It’s said, “You will go to…” and “Hell” was on the left, “Heaven” was on the right. As I watched, the needle flipped over to HELL!
I woke up terrified. I thought about waking my parents. And then I thought, “pff! Hang on! I can’t even read yet.”
June 12, 2017 — 10:52 pm
Comments: 12
Night visitor
Did I tell you I got a four-camera surveillance system for my b’day? It’s essentially to replace the wildlife camera, which broke. I’ve had a high old time watching…moths, mostly. Oh, I’ve had fun, but this is the first really cool thing I’ve caught.
Hedgehog!
Last night. Only the second one in almost ten years. They’re getting rare, sadly. This one stuck his nose under a sack of coal and decided he was completely hidden and safe. I left him a tribute of cat food and came back to find him tucking in (pictured).
p.s. just went out and nearly stepped on him. Or another one. Hard to say, but this one might have been smaller.
Yes, we’ll probably stay up until the election returns start trickling in. Not with much enthusiasm. This is a choice between bad and really fucking awful.
June 8, 2017 — 11:01 pm
Comments: 11
POOP. Also BUTT.
This cartoon is from a serious article on fecal transplants, part of my course on gut bacteria. Also, it says POOP and BUTT a lot, hee hee!
As horrifying as the very idea of fecal transplants might be, it’s one of the most promising treatments to come along in ages, particularly for dealing with Clostridium difficile. C. diff, as I devoutly hope none of us knows from experience, is a truly nasty bacterial infection of the gut and highly resistant to antibiotics, even the stupid expensive new ones. From the article:
A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in January of this year [2013] found that 13 out of 16 people treated with fecal transplants were cured of C. diff. Two of the remaining three were cured with a second transplant. The results were so impressive that the researchers found it unethical to continue the other study group on antibiotics, and they received transplants as well.
When it works, it works overnight. Word.
So why aren’t fecal transplants the first line of defense against C. diff? Simple: money, honey. Drug companies can do little to capitalize on or patent human feces. It’s highly unlikely that, without an opportunity to make money, transplants will get the research funding they deserve. Without more research, they remain controversial — a lot of doctors won’t perform them, and some C. diff sufferers resort to at-home transplants [ack! – Weasel]. To further complicate things, the FDA tried earlier this year to regulate transplants by classifying human stool as a biologic drug. That means doctors would have to get an IND (Investigational New Drug) application before performing a transplant, slowing down the process and delaying life-saving treatment. Thankfully the FDA backed off, but it’s possible they’ll attempt regulation again in the future.
This lady was completely cured of her C. diff after a single transplant from her (horribly embarrassed) nine-year-old niece. I should add, though, she still has a nasty, lifelong dose of inflammatory bowel disease, so it ain’t everything. Still.
I used to think blaming drug companies for not following up unprofitable treatments was a bit unfair. Well, actually, I still think it’s unfair — it costs bzillions to research a new drug and carry it through to approval, so of course they don’t follow up on things they can’t patent. It would be a dereliction of duty to their shareholders to do otherwise. Now I blame medical research for not stepping up just a little better. And the regulatory state for getting in the way, of course.
So that’s Week 4 of 6 – two weeks of POOP and BUTT studies yet to come!
June 7, 2017 — 8:47 pm
Comments: 20
If only it were true…
A giant scaffold bearing the image of British Prime Minister Theresa May appeared on the cliffs of Dover on Monday, complete with a Union Flag skirt and a rude hand gesture indicating to the rest of Europe that it should go away.
This thing appeared cliffside in Dover Monday. It was whisked away almost immediately and…that’s about all I can find out about it.
Which is weird. A thing that big — requiring specialist construction, scaffolding and a crane — should leave all kinds of paper trail. I couldn’t find much about it online. One article said they were filming it with a drone, which may have been the point. That’s public land, so I’m not sure why it was taken down — wind hazard? I have so many questions.
We no longer have a fifth estate, we have minders.
June 6, 2017 — 8:34 pm
Comments: 15
Dead Pool Round 97: Zsa Zsa Gabor Still Dead
I’m a very, very deep sleeper. When I was younger, I tried all sorts of strategies to wake me up of a morning. For a while, I used my bedroom television on a timer tuned to a news station.
One night, I had the most intensely vivid dream that Maggie Thatcher and I were sitting together in a rowboat watching Panama City burn.
I can still see the firelight flickering across the locks of her wooden hair.
It was the invasion of Panama, of course, and I was mixing news reports with dreams.
And now the commenter Formerly known as Skeptic takes the dick with Manuel Noriega.
Let that be a lesson to us all.
Ready?
0. Rule Zero (AKA Steve’s Rule): your pick has to be living when picked. Also, nobody whose execution date is circled on the calendar. Also, please don’t kill anybody. Plus (Pupster’s Rule) no picking someone who’s only famous for being the oldest person alive.
1. Pick a celebrity. Any celebrity — though I reserve the right to nix picks I never heard of (I don’t generally follow the Dead Pool threads carefully, so if you’re unsure of your pick, call it to my attention).
2. We start from scratch every time. No matter who you had last time, or who you may have called between rounds, you have to turn up on this very thread and stake your claim.
3. Poaching and other dirty tricks positively encouraged.
4. Your first choice sticks. Don’t just blurt something out, m’kay? Also, make sure you have a correct spelling of your choice somewhere in your comment. These threads get longish and I use search to figure out if we have a winner.
5. It’s up to you to search the thread and make sure your choice is unique. I’m waayyyy too lazy to catch the dupes. Popular picks go fast.
6. The pool stays open until somebody on the list dies. Feel free to jump in any time. Noobs, strangers, drive-bys and one-comment-wonders — all are welcome.
7. If you want your fabulous prize, you have to entrust me with a mailing address. If you’ve won before, send me your address again. I don’t keep good records.
8. The new DeadPool will begin 6pm WBT (Weasel’s Blog Time) the Friday after the last round is concluded.
The winner, if the winner chooses to entrust me with a mailing address, will receive an Official Certificate of Dick Winning and a small original drawing on paper suffused with elephant shit particles. Because I’m fresh out of fairy shit particles.
June 2, 2017 — 6:00 pm
Comments: 76
Plaster badger
Out drinkin’ with the neighbors tonight. The plaster badger is from last week’s show — actually, being the perpetual designated driver, Onkle B has been very abstemious tonight.
Not me. Goodnight!
See you back here tomorrow, 6 WBT for Dead Pool Round 97.
June 1, 2017 — 9:23 pm
Comments: 10
Instant karma
About twenty minutes from idea to post — I’m seriously behind today — but I couldn’t let this one go without giving it a, errrr…stab. Where would we be without the obvious ones?
May 31, 2017 — 9:55 pm
Comments: 12
Good News – Barbie is clinically depressed!
Another stupid clickbait non-story from the Metro (note: browse their sidebar links at your own risk). Not even be worth a mention.
Except…I had only two seconds earlier shut down the kitchen radio in the middle of a feature about how it’s finally okay to talk to the straights about your mental illnesses.
Where do they coordinate these things? Starbucks? Journolist? Down grubby back alleys in urban London? It’s hard to escape the feeling you’re constantly being played by dumb people with a broad agenda.
eh.
Manuel Noriega, he dead. And with that, the commenter Formerly known as Skeptic wins dick in Dead Pool 96! And we know what that means — Dead Pool Round 97 comes on little cat feet Friday, June 2, 6pm WBT!
Be here or don’t be here. I’m not the boss of you.
May 30, 2017 — 9:28 pm
Comments: 7
Homeboy
This from the country show on Saturday. Whenever it’s on offer, I always pay a couple quid to hold a raptor (that’s me on the left). Homeboy settled down eventually and let Uncle B snap some better pics.
Hope you had a nice long weekend, full of all the red-tailed hawks you could possibly desire.
May 29, 2017 — 8:38 pm
Comments: 20