Icelandic Cryptid

A video of an Icelandic water cryptid has appeared online and caused some controversy. Those of us who love stories about the Loch Ness Monster and Big Foot want these videos to be real. We want the creature to be seen in all its glory, or at least glimpsed while dashing out of sight. All we want is that little nudge to keep the hope and interest going. Every little bit of proof is vital to finding living cryptids.

This video may qualify if it turns out to be real. The Lagarfljotsormurinn, as it is called, appears in the video as a large, snakey creature, wending its way through an Icelandic river. The image is not crystal clear and is shot from different angles, so a complete picture of whatever it is will be difficult to grasp. There are dozens, if not hundreds of eel and snake species living in freshwater throughout the world, not to mention the types of elongated fish and other animals that live in or travel through the water. If the animal in the video is real, it will probably turn out to be one of these.

If the animal has been faked, it's still a pretty creepy sight. Either way, I won't be disappointed because it's the discussion that keeps interest alive. People have been seeing the Lagarfljotsormurinn for hundreds of years, which means there is probably something to this story, even if the video is a hoax. What starts out as a "big fish" story may turn into a monstrous legend if it goes on long enough.

An article about the video's veracity and a link to the video itself can be found here.

Wow

Foreclosure company mocks the homeless.

Pointless and addictive

Urban Legends quiz. It seems to go on forever, but you won't want to stop clicking. I guess it's kind of educational...

Flash flood

Yesterday an intense storm swept over my house and for the first time since living here, I saw the little creek rise up to its banks. My power went out for almost an hour and I had to set up the emergency air pump in my largest fish tank.

It was the middle of the afternoon, but so dark I had to light all my candles just to see. I ended up sitting at the table, reading and stress-eating a loaf of bread, waiting for the water to wash my house away. I think if the storm had lasted another 15 minutes, water would have started reaching my foundation.

Really?

Frustration: Is it just me or is it bad form to play with your iPhone during church? Church is supposed to be a quiet time between you and God. Most of us still have that itch to text or surf or knit or do whatever we do with our hands the rest of our waking hours. But that's exactly why you have to put those things down for at least an hour a week and just be still.

Self-cloning Lizards

A new species of self-cloning lizards was discovered recently in Vietnam. They were being served in a restaurant and apparently taste awful...identically awful.

I'm London bound in a few days. Prepare yourself for pictures of me in front of the house Herman Melville stayed in while he was there.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Click on the book for my favorite short story.

Finally

It's comforting to know that scientists have such good taste. A giant prehistoric sperm whale has been identified and named for Herman Melville. Leviathan melvillei grew to about 60 feet and ate other whales. Yum.



Thanks to Will for alerting me to this.

Monkey Man of India

Click on the Monkey Man pictures for the story of his attacks on New Delhi residents in 2001.

Why is it people who work in some stores (bookstore supporting charity in this case) can't be civil to their customers? Fine with me if they don't get my $.

A cell phone is not a replacement for a brain

Survival of the Fittest, folks. Survival of the Fittest.

The fireflies are out and about. So are the baby gooses. Time to enjoy summer before it gets too ungodly hot outside.

I realized that the body lotion I've been using for two weeks is actually volumizing conditioner. No wonder it lathered a little when I rubbed it on my legs.

Quite a Year

The past year has been a pretty big one for me. In the last twelve months I have:

• Moved into my very first house
• Traveled by plane for the first time
• Left the country for the first time
• Attended weddings of two of my friends
• Started my blog
• Cooked new things for the first time: tacos, egg salad, clam sauce
  
• Taken a self-defense class
• Had the first out of my group of close friends become engaged
• Started a book club
• Joined the world of text messaging
  

I hope that every year will be so full of new things.

Gloucester

One of my new favorite websites for the study of all things nautical is about Gloucester, Massachusetts. The picture above shows a fishing boat called the Evelyn G. Sears sitting in Gloucester Harbor.

Yummy

Click on the delicious glob of chicken ova and mayonnaise for my favorite egg salad recipe.

Le tired

The ferrets and I are le tired.

I had one of those nights of sleep that just sucks all the life out of you and makes you want a nap after you've only been awake an hour.

I entered the ferret room to find most of them sprawled in various sleeping positions. It's warming up these days and they can't sleep under layers of blankets the way they like to. Instead they lie out in the open in their cages looking like they wish they had some cold linoleum to sleep on.

I guess we've all had a tiring week. I've been enjoying my last few days of having a 25 hour work week before going full time and I broke a nail at my self-defense class. That must mean I'm either doing something really right or really wrong. And the ferrets have had the heat to contend with...which is a pretty big deal when you're a ferret.

zzzzzz...

Happy Easter!

Life is pretty good right now.

I can eat meat again, now that Lent is over. For lunch today, my mom cooked chicken with bacon on top and dried beef under it. Mmm.

The weather's getting warmer and I can open my windows for a nice breeze.

Scully, our elderly ferret had a hormone injection about a month ago to control the symptoms of her Adrenal Disease and now her hair is starting to grow back. This means that the injection is going to allow her to live with the Adrenal Disease by making her more comfortable.

Yep, things are going well.

It's amazing how putting meat back in my diet makes everything seem great.

Why?

Today I heard a waitress respond to the question "What fish do you have?" with "Well, we have salmon...if you consider that a fish..."

She wasn't being facetious. She wasn't disparaging salmon. She was seriously doubtful as to whether or not it was a fish.

She also pronounced the L in the word.

Why does such idiocy exist?