Scribal Terror

A lot of trouble for a meal

Slideshow of a king snake eating a copperhead. Photos by Dwayne Vinson at Field and Stream. H/t Warren

How can ghosts walk through walls?

They can't, says physicist and movie-debunker Costas Efthimiou. In fact, they've more likely to sink through the floor.

The door is open . . .

Come on in and talk.  Or drop off one of your random bursts of verbal energy -- poem, limerick, story, top ten list, clerihew, essay, alliterative poem, rant, Surrealist or Dadaist poem, parody, cento, dirty joke, amusing syllepsis, dirty syllepsis, haiku, dirty haiku . . . to share.

The Night Owl Is Curious

About pranks and hijinks, musings and mutterings. And the door is open all night.

Oh, for heaven's sake

What kind of science is this?

"America is becoming known as a nation of gluttony and obesity, and churches are a feeding ground for this problem," says Ken Ferraro, a professor of sociology who has studied religion and body weight since the early 1990s. "If religious leaders and organizations neglect this issue, they will contribute to an epidemic that will cost the health-care system millions of dollars and reduce the quality of life for many parishioners."

He analyzed the religious practices and body mass index, often referred to as BMI, of more than 2,500 people during an eight-year period from 1986 to 1994. He found that the use of religious media resources, such as television, books or radio, was a strong predictor of obesity among women. The incidence of obesity increased by 14 percent for this group. At the same time, the more often women attended religious services, the less likely they were to be obese.

Did it ever freaking occur to this guy that fat people just tend to sit around on the couch and watch television more than thin people do? If they're religious, I guess they watch religious programming, but what if they're into game shows or soaps? Precisely how does watching the Hour of Power make people any fatter than watching Jeopardy?

Academic twaddle makes me very cross.

No wonder they don't play baseball in England

Samizdata reports:

Artur Boruc, a Polish goalkeeper playing for . . .  Celtic, has received a police caution for "a breach of the peace" after he made the sign of the cross during a game.

Good news for Greenland

It's turning green.

Gack

How can native English speakers do this sort of violence to their unoffending mother tongue?

Mum's moving tribute to

hotel death plunge son

Dogs and Cats -- Living Together!

Mice giving birth to rats!!  Put that on your sandwich sign.

At least some things never change

In a world of uncertainty, we can always feel secure in the knowledge that the Ramsey prosecutors still have their heads up their butts, as the Guardian reports:

Colorado prosecutors tonight dropped their case against John Mark Karr over the 1996 murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.

Prosecutors threw out the case after DNA tests failed to put Karr at the crime scene despite reports that he had confessed to killing the six-year-old girl.

At least there's one less pedophile in Thailand FWIW.