Damn, I already used the "Jellyfish" song

Aw, hell, I'll use it again anyway:

Jellyfish, along you came,
and right away I'm stung.
Sweet words I long to whisper,
But you've paralyzed my tounge.

There are a number of things that I will openly admit to being afraid of (various types of dolls and puppets, heights, shellfish). Now it's time to add Jellyfish to that list.

Growing up in the midwest, the major body of water I've been exposed to is Lake Michigan. Sure, it gets extra seaweed-y in the summer and sometimes there's a smell coming off of it that forces me to shut all my windows, but for the most part is free of terrifying water life. There may be lampreys. Scary, bloodsucking lampreys. But no jellyfish and as such, I never developed a proper fear of them.

Those days are over thanks to a recent post at WTF_Nature. Giant refrigerator-sized jellyfish. If those four words don't terrify you, perhaps the notion of huge colonies of regular-sized jellyfish will do it.

I'm all for letting jellyfish live their squishy stingy invertebrate lives, but this is just... ick.

I highly recommend checking out the giant jellyfish pictures linked in the comments section, and for even more terrifying jellyfish action check out the National Science Foundation's "Jellyfish Gone Wild" page.

Bwah ha ha haha!

Hee hee hee.

Someone on the makeup talkin' message board I read just posted a link to this. It just made my day.

Mostly Martha

I've long admired Martha Stewart. For years, I watched her make cranberry centerpieces, bake with Jacques Torres, put together wedding invitations, and do a whole bunch of other crap that I would never want to spend time doing.

Then Martha went to jail and, with no new shows being produced, I lost track of her. Sure, once she got out she had a brand new show where she'd cook or do crafts with celebrities, but it wasn't the same. I didn't want to watch Martha engaging in awkward banter with some media whore out to pimp their new book/movie/album. Or did I?

One of the things that has always endeared Martha to me is her willingness to go on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She somehow managed to maintain her inherent Martha-ness while completely going along with the insanity. If I recall correctly, her first appearance had her eating Taco Bell and sipping a 40oz. malt liquor.

When she returned the favour, and had Conan on her old show, the results were no less hillarious:



Still, I never believed that would translate over to other (non-food/craft/domestic bullshit-related) guests. Until the internets led me to this segment from her current show:



Martha and Snoop: Together at last.

Awkward? Of course, but it's still funny enough for me to spend my afternoon checking out other clips from her show.

Clips can also be found on Martha's Blog.

Remember Sammy Jankis

If you ever take a class that covers memory and forms of amnesia, you will learn about H.M. At age 27 he underwent a resectioning of the medial temporal lobes of his brain as a treatment for epilepsy, which left him an anterograde amnesiac. He has since been the subject of much study, and has provided us with tremendous insight into the inner workings of the brain.

H.M., actual name, Henry Molaison, passed on yesterday. For all that he gave us, I hope the 70-odd years following his injury were happy ones.

If you haven't heard about this fascinating case, take some time to read up on it and give Memento a rewatch.

Found via Metafilter.