Photos courtesy of Mark the Cobrasnake.
Sorry I've been so lame lately. I just haven't had the energy to sit down and do a legitimate post because so much shit has been going on with me that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around anything right now. I just bought a fish and decided to name him Jose Cuervo, yes like the title of the post, and the tequila. My friend Rachelle inspired me, and I have to say buying this fish is one of the best decisions I have made in the past few weeks, as weird as that sounds. For the past hour I have just sat and stared at him, making faces and giggling like a little school girl. Anyway, Rachelle has been trying to convince me that fish have feelings, which I just can't seem to agree with. I mean, fish have the attention span of like 5 seconds, so how cant they feel happy, sad, pissed off or tired? I decided to do some research about the topic and here is what I came up with . . .
"To many, the notion that we should care about the suffering of fish seems absurd. For most, fish amount to little more than swimming protein, a healthy food to be plucked from rivers and seas.
But, as a disturbing new book shows, scientists are now confident that fish, once symbolic of dumb, primitive stupidity, do not only feel pain, but have a complex emotional life, too. Indeed, there is 'no logical reason why we should not extend to fish the same welfare considerations that we currently extend to birds and mammals'. Their expressionless 'faces', their lack of limbs and their alien aquatic environment make it ambiguous whether fish should be regarded on the same level as birds, reptiles and mammals, or lumped in with the worms, insects and lobsters.
Either way, convincing people that fish can suffer was never going to be easy. The first question is whether fish are equipped with the senses that would enable them to feel pain? Using two chemicals - bee venom and vinegar - it has been shown that fish which have been injected with these 'painful' stimulants around the mouth react very differently to those that have not - rubbing the affected area and losing interest in their food until the poison had worn off.
But the question of whether fish actually suffer had still not been answered. Even the most primitive microbes will flinch or try to escape if attacked with a blade, electricity or fire. This, however, is not the same as 'suffering'. An amoeba cannot be said to suffer simply because it lacks the necessary organ - a brain - with which to do so. CAN fish suffer? Well, recent experiments certainly showed that a fully developed pain 'pathway' is present in goldfish, linking receptors in the skin, via the spinal cord, to the brain. The question is whether they are aware, or conscious, of pain in the same way we are. Only then could they be said to suffer.
Well, scientists in Madrid have discovered that goldfish, previously the very byword for stupidity, have the ability to learn and remember their way around mazes. Male cichlids, aggressive freshwater tropical fish, have been found to be able to gauge the fighting abilities of potential rivals simply by watching earlier bouts. This ability - to create a mental ranking - is called transitive inference, and humans cannot do it until they are four years old. Perhaps the most convincing evidence that fish have 'minds' comes from studies of two reef species: the grouper and the moray eel. Swiss scientists have found that these predators cooperate in catching prey. The fat grouper is adept at chasing smaller fish around the reef. But sometimes its dinner escapes into the cracks and crevices, and so they cleverly hunt with a partner. If the prey flits into a tight hole, the grouper signals to its eel 'friend' which, being narrow and lithe, is able to finish the hunt.
What is extraordinary about this is that, aside from humans, who hunt with dogs, this is just about the only example of two separate species cooperating in a hunt. And it requires intelligence, memory and planning.
So, more and more scientists - there are still sceptics - believe fish can feel pain. Furthermore, they demonstrate intelligence and self-awareness."
Wow, you go in thinking one thing and come out thinking another! I, who was originally a skeptic that fish have no feelings, am beginning to change my mind! I guess I should try to be kind to Jose Cuervo for fear that he may end up hating me.
Information courtesy of Daily Mail.
*Sigh*. What a fucking idiot. While introducing Barack Obama at the health care reform meeting televised live, yes live, for the entire world to see, vice president Joe Biden decides to whisper in Obama's ear, "This is a big fucking deal." Yes. We understand this, and I'm sure Obama did too. No need to go on LIVE TELEVISION and make the left wing look even worse than some news channels do already. Ugh.
Here's another video from Primary 1, this one's called Mess Detective. I just can't get over them.
Thank you BLEACHBLACK for this video of Primary 1 singing Sometime Wannabe.
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The second picture is a modified crop circle version of a message that was sent out into deep space in 1974 from the Arecibo satellite dish in Puerto Rico, broadcast in the direction of the globular cluster M13. The Arecibo message was a simple graphic consisting of 73 rows of 23 "bits" per row. This number of rows and columns was chosen because each is a prime number. Prime numbers could be easily guessed by any recipients, and that would help them to decode the graphic. The message was sent by simple shifting of the signal between two frequencies in the 2,380 MHz band. It took three minutes to send the message. So basically, this message was just sent randomly into outer space and it gave the kind of information that any culture would want to learn about us: where we are located (at least within our solar system), what we look like (a crude stick figure), a simple drawing of the telescope used to send the message, and something about our biological construction (DNA and some of the building blocks of our biochemistry.)
I have been obsessed with Daria for the past week. This show depicts high school for me so perfectly. Though I don't really see myself as Daria, I find that everyone who she deals with is similar to the idiots, skanks, bitches, adults and acquaintances who I am forced to be around. You have that dumb bitch who takes forever to get a sentence out because she has trouble putting words together; that girl who you know would stab you in the face to be the top of the class but pretends like she wants the best for you; that dad who wants to know what's going on, but doesn't; and teachers who are so fucking annoying. Here's where you can watch every single episode of Daria and bask in her monotoned greatness.
I actually just spent two hours at the mall wandering around looking at new shit in music/movie stores, and watching old, fat men getting massages. I also got this mango and banana smoothie from a cart near Bath and Body Works, and as I was walking towards the parking lot, I saw a display in Macy's of a bunch of strange looking blocks, all colored differently. I walked over because their smell lured me in from such a far distance. It turns out that what I was looking at was a display by the cosmetic and body care company Lush. They sell everything from body butters, to shampoo bars, to scrubbing soaps filled with vanilla seeds and star anise. Lush also sells these insane balls of soothing oils and soap that explode when you put them in a bath, sending foam and sparkles flying all over your bath water and you. I couldn't stop myself and bought a body butter filled with oatmeal and seeds called the Bufffy and another called the Glitterbug Sparkle Bar. They made my skin feel so soft after one use and they smell so good that words could not even describe it. Everything is fairly cheap and I bought the two bars for about $20, which will last me for quite some time. Everything is au naturale, and way better for your skin than the chemicals and concocitons in the lotions you can buy at drugstores. I command you to go on the website and get yoself some soapz.
