Zenkey foal a hybrid star - smh.com.au

That's what you get when you keep your donkeys in your zebra pen.

Zenkey foal a hybrid star - smh.com.au
August 29, 2003


A Japanese safari park says it will put a zebra-donkey hybrid, believed to be the world's only living 'zenkey', on public view next week.
'As we keep herbivorous animals without separating them, the unbelievable can happen,' said Osamu Ishikawa, deputy head of Nasu Safari Park, 150 kilometres north of Tokyo.
'A donkey was pregnant and everybody was expecting a donkey foal,' he said, adding that keepers had been surprised to see a striped animal born on August 8.
The male foal, now weighing about 25 kilograms, has ears like a donkey and looks as if it is wearing striped leggings. It also has a black cross mark on its withers characteristic of donkey foals.
Although it is extremely rare, donkeys and zebras can produce offspring because they belong to the same horse family.
Nasu Safari Park has had a naturally-bred zenkey twice before, but they did not live long.
'One, born more than a decade ago, survived only for a few days and the second one died after less than two months,' Mr Ishikawa said. "

Scroll down on this page to "Book & Author Luncheon" and fast forward if you want to watch AL Franken tear poor Bill O'Reilly apart. Its cute.

Book TV.org: "Interviews & Call-Ins
LIVE 2:30-3pm ET/11:30-12pm PT

Book & Author Luncheon
Watch 1 hr. 29 mins.
Al Franken, 'Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right'
Molly Ivins, 'Bushwhacked'
Bill O'Reilly, 'Who's Looking Out for You?'
Pat Schroeder, Assn. of American Publishers, President & CEO - Moderator"

More miraculous Red Wine News. Is there anything it can't do?

Yahoo! News - Study: Red Wine Molecule Shown to Extend Life: "Study: Red Wine Molecule Shown to Extend Life
Sun Aug 24, 4:17 PM


By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - Researchers have known for years that cutting calories can prolong life in everything from yeast cells to mammals. But an easier way to live longer may be as simple as turning a corkscrew.

Molecules found in red wine, peanuts and other products of the plant world have for the first time been shown to mimic the life-extending effects of calorie restriction, a finding that could help researchers develop drugs that lengthen life and prevent or treat aging-related diseases. "

How cool is this. Can't quite place where that person is from? Maybe you can after you've heard their countrymen saying:

"Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station."

speech accent archive: "speech accent archive

This site examines the accented speech of speakers from many different language backgrounds reading the same sample paragraph. Currently, we have obtained 264 speech samples. To explore the features of this site, use the pull-down menu below. "

These are getting harder. I figured out the puzzle 2 weeks ago, but not sure I'm up to this one... any ideas:

The first person who can tell us what the numbers and letters below refer to, represent, or have in common with each other will receive two McSweeney's books.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: McSweeney's Brain Exploder: Pittsburgh Puzzle Parry-In-A-Pen Match: "Let's Git it On!": "JG43, RH46, ET56, LC58, SD59, DM97, AJ98, JL03"

Those wacky Chinese scientists. Forget about making a taller child for yourself with growth hormone, go straight for the Flop-Eared variety!!!!!

Cloning Yields Human-Rabbit Hybrid Embryo (washingtonpost.com): "Cloning Yields Human-Rabbit Hybrid Embryo

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 14, 2003; Page A04
Scientists in China have, for the first time, used cloning techniques to create hybrid embryos that contain a mix of DNA from both humans and rabbits, according to a report in a scientific journal that has reignited the smoldering ethics debate over cloning research.



More than 100 of the hybrids, made by fusing human skin cells with rabbit eggs, were allowed to develop in laboratory dishes for several days before the scientists destroyed them to retrieve so-called embryonic stem cells from their interiors. Although scientists in Massachusetts had previously mixed human cells and cow eggs in a similar attempt to make hybrid embryos as a source of stem cells, those experiments were not successful. "

Getting enough sleep these days? I was reminded by this story that I stayed up until 5am on Saturday. Its a wonder I slept at all.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: I Enjoy Taunting Insomniacs

Who says crows are stupid? not me. Legend has it this captive crow first performed the bendy trick spontaneously.

See the video here!

about time! Collect them all...

Axis of Weasels: "Axis of Weasels Art Cards
Hand printed lino-cut prints by John Steins
click on image/name for description"