bookofjoe

Python mule betrayed by tarantula

True.

Long story short, from The Scotsman: "Customs officials searched him on Sunday after finding a tarantula in one of his bags."

Here's the article.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

Norwegian tries to smuggle 14 pythons

A man has been arrested in Norway trying to smuggle two dozen snakes and geckos into the country by taping them to his body.

Customs agents said the Norwegian citizen, 22, was arrested in Kristiansand after getting off a ferry from Denmark. He had 14 royal pythons and ten albino leopard geckos hidden under his clothes.

The non-venomous snakes were stowed in stockings duct-taped to the man's abdomen [top], and the geckos were in boxes taped to his thighs [below].

Customs officials searched him on Sunday after finding a tarantula in one of his bags.

Below,

the royal pythons the man tried to smuggle.

Below,

the albino leopard geckos.

•••••••••••••••••••••••

[via Milena]

Preschooler Digital Camera

Rejoice, TechnoDolts™.

From the website:

••••••••••••••••••••••••

Preschooler's Digital Camera

This digital camera is sized for small hands and tough enough to withstand exuberant play.

Housed in a thick plastic case with solid rubber handholds that provide a sure grip for an entire hand (vs. just using the fingers), the camera has a 0.3 MP image sensor that takes both 640 x 480 resolution pictures and 320 x 240 resolution videos.

It has a fixed-focus lens, so children simply line up a shot and press the button; images are shown on its 1" color display.

Stores up to 150 JPEG pictures and 3-1/2 minutes of AVI video on its 16 MB memory, which can be downloaded to a computer running Windows via the included USB cable.

Includes software for editing pictures and four AA batteries.

 5-1/2"L x 2-3/4"W x 3-3/4"D.

Ages 3 and up.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

$59.95.

Shiloh Pepin, 'the little mermaid,' dies at 10

Along with countless others, I was captured by Shiloh's indomitable spirit when I watched a documentary about her this past June on The Learning Channel (above, an excerpt).

From a June 23 post: "Shiloh, from Portland, Maine, now nine years old, met the world's oldest known person with sirenomyelia, 21-year-old Tiffany Yorks of Tampa, Florida, early last year."

A 2005 post on the subject focused on two children (Tiffany Yorks being one) with Mermaid syndrome  who underwent corrective surgery in early infancy in an attempt to unfuse their congenitally fused-together legs.

Shiloh, a fifth-grader at Kennebunkport Consolidated School, contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized at Maine Medical Center on October 10, where she died last Friday.

Tokyo Manga Library opens Saturday

From the New York Times: "Meiji University in Tokyo has announced plans to open a library devoted to the art of manga.... Plans for the Tokyo International Manga Library include storage for two million comic books, animation drawings, video games and other artifacts. The library's first phase, to be named after the critic and author Yoshihiro Yonezawa, will house his collection of 140,000 comic books and is scheduled to open this month.... The rest of the library is scheduled to be completed by 2015. The private university plans to offer international researchers, as well as students and fans, access to its collections."

Wall Street Journal ad inadvertently trashes BlackBerry in favor of iPhone

I guarantee Steve Jobs smiled and Jim Balsillie grimaced when they saw the ad above, in last week's Wall Street Journal touting the paper's developing mobile presence.

Look at the displays: which would you rather have when you only have a minute?

What are they?

Answer here this time tomorrow.

What do you think happens when you die? — by Stephan Pastis

Above, one of his "Pearls Before Swine" strips.

Throwback Digital Microphone

From the website:

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

USB Spherical Microphone

Evoking the microphones used by broadcasters in radio's golden age, this spherical USB condenser microphone transforms your home office into a recording studio.

It captures clean digital sound comparable to microphones used in professional studios, making it ideal for podcasts, voice or musical instrument recording, video conferencing, or voice-over-IP telephony.

It has two selectable polar patterns: cardioid, allowing it to pick up sounds directly in front at full volume (and sounds behind it at diminished volume) or omnidirectional, allowing it to pick up sounds at equal volumes over 360º.

A pivot mount on the bottom of the microphone allows you to position it 45º forward or backward and a removable shock ring mount isolates the microphone from structural noise that can muddy sound.

The aluminum tripod stand extends to 6-3/4" at full height.

15-3/4"H with microphone and mount attached.

For Windows XP/Vista or Mac.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

$189.95.