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Professor Quippy: The Hibernation Diet

By on August 28, 2007 in Odd Science

Professor QuippyHere’s a wacky idea — why don’t we lose weight by turning loose the power of hibernation? When animals hibernate, their body switches modes from glucose burning to fat burning.

That’s the invention of Cheng Chi Lee, a molecular biologist at the University of Texas Houston Medical School. He’s found a way to chemically induce a state of hibernation, and he wants it to be the next big diet craze.

There’s only one down side: the torpor. [Sound of Professor Quippy splashing water over his mostly nude noggin.] The torpor. The torpor.

Hibernating animals really don’t do anything — not even check their email or write the occasional blog post. So I suppose it could work if you don’t mind living in your cave for a few months, lights out, slowly going mad as you dream of a thinner, socially maladapted you…

New Scientist Story here

Not too sure about God? Neither is Opus

By on August 27, 2007 in But is it art?, Monkeys!

Opus in blueThe penguin, not Opus Dei.

I loved Bloom County back in the day, and was quite tickled to find a collection of Opus comics at Salon.

Apparently, Opus has been back in the comics since 2003, but I only occasionally read the London Free Mess, and clearly, this kind of comic would not be their cup of tea. (I’m one of those evil bastards that reads newspapers online.) Opus is a Sunday-only strip, which sounds like a nice gig when you read Breathed’s description of a seven-day-a-week cartoonist:

They all look like Keith Richards at 5 a.m. I’ve said that cartooning, like education and sex, is wasted on the young … but I understand why it’s that way. It’s wearing, corrosive, killing work. Consider Charles Schulz. Look where he is today.

You can find a link to the Opus archive here.

And you can find Berkeley Breathed’s website here.

The Carnival of Satire (#81)

By on August 23, 2007 in Carnival of Satire

The Carnival of Satire (#81), with giant red robotThis week’s Carnival of Satire covers a lot of territory, and most of the important issues of our day, really: politics, beards, global warming, squirrels, issues of finance, and robots of course. You always have to be worried about what the robots are up to. We had a lot of submissions for the 81st edition, so we’ll have an extra COS next week:

Gavin R. Putland has John W. Howard’s Flowchart for Political Success. Gavin rightly points out that while this isn’t satire, it accurately demonstrates how sometimes life is more absurd than satire.

Then again… Rickey Henderson reminds us all of adventurers such as Ernest “Almost” Shackleton and Robert “Frozen on the Spot” Scott in his Beard Watch 2007 Update.

Aloysius is rightly concerned about the Black squirrel cult invasion of Minneapolis. As anyone who has read John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise will recognize, this means the return of the hoboes. But are the squirrels black enough?

Ahem. Alexei finally reveals the identity of Obama’s Nemesis. (Not squirrels, but he should be concerned about them.)

Then there’s the nemesis of Bush II, as provided by Xco (not a robot), as he answers a question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

We note with interest that Blue Skelton has a sent an open letter to Mr. Apocalypse. Clearly, he has been watching for the Forty-Seven Signs.

We’re glad the Yid with a Lid isn’t a terrorist, because his post: If I Was a Terrorist this is what I’d do is terrifying.

Xco (not a robot, we’re pretty sure) has an excellent explanation of a variety of forms of Capitalism in cows Continue Reading →