Looks like we are giving one to Mother Nature to soften her up a bit. They sunk an aircraft carrier off the coast of Florida to form an artificial reef. It’s an amazing set of pictures, that’s one huge ship going down.

Saw this on Metafilter.

Some of Mother Nature’s creations need a little more love than others. You really have to try hard to love this little guy, for instance. Creatively called an aye-aye because it has two of them, I suppose, this little guy is one of the less fortunate creatures on our planet. I mean come on, this thing is pretty freaky looking. It uses those ears to listen for grubs under the bark of trees, which it digs out with those crazy long fingers. Anyway, true to most creatures I guess, the babies are much cuter than the adults, which is part of Mother Nature’s plan to keep the adults from being disgusted with their offspring, I would imagine.

Stole the links from Metafilter.

If this doesn’t give you a huge case of the willies, then I say you are dead inside. The Asian Giant Hornet is big big big, scary big. Movie big. Man. From the link:

“this gigantic, voracious predator has a quarter-inch stinger (6.35mm)! People are usually not the Japanese giant hornet’s prey, but those who have felt its sting describe the pain as excruciating and very painful”

Ya think? Jayyysus. Crap on a stick. I don’t like it, nossir. Brrrrhoooahh.

A robotics company is showing off it’s prototype of a military dog that will accompany soldiers into the field, carrying gear and trotting alongside the soldiers. It’s an incredible thing, really. The article includes a link to a video of the thing that is cool, but borders on creepy (the file is also huge, so be warned). For one, they give the thing a hard kick sideways and it quickly recovers and keeps on moving, which is really cool and a mean feat of engineering. The problem I have with it is the gait with which it moves. It’s stiff and mechanical, of course, but there’s a certain quality about it trotting around with those black socks on that really gives me the chills. They look like an old man’s legs….

Remember how I mentioned that huge chunks of ice were raining down on the earth?

Well, it’s still happening. A chunk the size of “a microwave oven” crashed into a rec centre. It’s getting a little hard to ignore, wouldn’t you say? You can now laugh and squirm nervously.

Sea Lions are showing the US Army Corps of Engineers who’s boss by outsmarting them again and again. A good story on CNN, showing how sea lions, and one in particular, are exasperating the Army boys by finding new ways to eat more than their fair share of salmon. Evolution will surely soon grant these little guys thumbs, if only so that they can use them to go “Nyah nyah” to silly bipeds.

I enjoy this sort of thing because it’s good to remember to be humbled by nature. You may remember the idiots who were trying the capture otters and release them, only to have them find their way home again?

Anyway, there you go.