Circus of the Spineless #6

Circus of the Spineless #6 is now up at Science and Politics.

Headvertising - Homer's Best Idea Yet

Okay, maybe Homer Simpson wasn't the first to come up with this idea in the real world, but in the cartoon world it is all his. In tonight's new episode, he unleashed his new idea to "headvertise" for big blue pants so that the company who made them would restart production. Here, here and here are the earliest references to headvertising that I could find. And of course we are all waiting for something new from Headvertise.com.

Friday Backyard Bird Blogging: Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata

This Blue Jay (click the pic for a larger view) was photographed on my back deck after last week's snow and ice came through. Blue Jays are notoriously aggressive as was this one, so with the exception of poor lighting on this overcast day, I didn't have any trouble getting its picture. Who cares about blue jays? Well, the Blue Jay is the mascot of Johns Hopkins University (where did they get that darn blue jay?) and of course Creighton University has Billy Blue Jay. One guy likes them enough to teach them how to move a stick to get peanuts.
This blue jay can be seen permanently at the Webiocosm Zoo.

Also, don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark.

Common Rodent Friday: Eastern Gray Squirrel

This is an eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis. Probably the most exciting thing about this scene is that it came on the heels of a good snow, which doesn't happen too often around here. It seemed like a good time for bird watching so I dumped the birdseed on the rail of my deck. The squirrel was one of the few animals bold enough to stick around when I opened my back door for the pic. You can visit this squirrel anytime at my zoo.

Don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark!

Friday Ant Blogging: Ants, Pupae and Larvae

(click the pics to enlarge)

Here are some pictures of ants that I photographed last July. I am not sure of the specific identification. There was a long trail of ants from the ground up to the deck and into this pot on the railing of the deck. In the top picture I have a close-up of the center of the pot where the drain hole is and the inset was taken further back for orientation. The same goes for the bottom pics, which are close-ups of the inset. You can see small adults along with pupae and larvae of the smaller adults. I guess the larger immature forms are a different caste or maybe just a different sex or both.

Don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark.

Super Bowl XL Predictions Recap

-the Bus will rush for 4 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Wrong-He had 43 yards and no TD's. He was on track to have one but Roethlisberger took the one yard run in instead.

-Hines Ward will have 100 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Correct- he had 123 receiving and 1 TD reception from A. Randle El along with an 18 yard rush.

-Alexander will top 130 total yards despite the Steelers excellent rush defense.
Nope. He had 95 rushing and 2 receiving for a total of 97 yards. He is still a stud.

-the first touchdown will be scored by a defense.
It just didn't happen. I truly expected to see T. Polamalu run an interception back on the first series.

-the Steelers will win by a field goal.
From a betting standpoint, yes they beat that margin, but I was really thinking it would come down to a field goal, so I was wrong again.

-I will be so excited that it is Super Bowl Sunday that I will get too busy "socializing" forget that their is even a game on.
I had an excellent day, beginning at about 1:00 with some backyard football, I was able to keep a reasonable pace with the adult beverages, and watched nearly every play of the game. I also had some superb turkey chili.

Even though my predictions were mostly wrong, Super Bowl XL will go down in the win column for me.

Super Bowl XL Predictions

The only thing I don't like about the Super Bowl is that it means I will have to live without football for 8 more months. I really enjoyed this season even though I didn't win either of my fantasy leagues. Here are my predictions for Super Bowl XL:

-the Bus will rush for 4 yards and 2 touchdowns.
-Hines Ward will have 100 receiving yards and a touchdown.
-Alexander will top 130 total yards despite the Steelers excellent rush defense.
-the first touchdown will be scored by a defense.
-the Steelers will win by a field goal.
-I will be so excited that it is Super Bowl Sunday that I will get too busy "socializing" forget that their is even a game on.

Conspiracy

In order to remind myself that I shouldn't take myself so seriously, I present this drawing. I made it a few years ago in preparation for a painting I made for a friend.

Friday Rodent Blogging: Hoary Marmot

These are some old photos I took back in the summer of 1987. My family and I took a 2 week family van tour of the western United States. We visited Mt. Rainier, which is where I took these pictures. I believe this is a hoary marmot. I say that, not so much because of my ability to distinguish it from other marmots, but because my dad said they were, and he really got a kick out of calling them Hoary. The woman in the picture? I'm not so sure about her, but I don't think she was with us.
Here is more information on Hoary Marmots from Wikipedia.

I have also placed this Hoary Marmot in my new collection of animal pics at the Webiocosm Zoo.

As always, don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark.