Barcelona is advancing!!!

I can't believe it. They were down 1-0 to Chelsea since the 8th minute of the game. They were down a man due to a red card. Then suddenly they go and score in the third minute of stoppage time. Final score 1-1 and Barcelona advances due to the visitor's advantage. (Chelsea was at home)

Barcelona fans must be delirious right now and Chelsea supporters are crushed.

Spiders are zombies!!!

Image from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Arctosa_cinerea_fg01.jpg

Seriously I'm not kidding. Some scientists at the University of Rennes in France collected three different species of spiders, two from salt marshes and one from the forest, to see if the marsh dwelling spiders were more resistant to drowning than the forest spiders.

It took 24 hours for the forest spiders to apparently drown and 28 hours for one of the marsh species and 36 hours for the other. Apparently this is what the scientists had expected though I am already very impressed that any kind of spider can survive for 24 hours underwater.

Anyhow, the scientists drowned the spiders then took them out to dry in hopes of weighing them. But within several hours the supposedly dead spiders started moving again and were soon up and walking around. The species of marsh spider that took 36 hours to 'drown' requires roughly two hours to recover.

My thoughts:
1. poor spiders. Even if you are a zombie drowning can't be fun.
2. it takes 24 hours for a spider to drown?! Count me impressed.
3. spiders are zombies!!! Arg!!!!! No wonder so many people are terrified of them.

Disclaimer: this experiment was conducted with three species of Wolf spider. Big, hardy fellows. Do not go and attempt to drown your innocent house spiders just to see if they are zombies.

Good question (refering to the title of the blog)

Lots of things. Two inch pine tree was found in a guy's lung. An artist implanted his own DNA into Petunias. The Minnesota Wild fired their GM. The Obama administration unveiled memos from the Bush era that give instructions sounding awfully close to torture. Gay marriage was legalized in Iowa. And I'm going to Ireland. Yes, lots of things going on, but I'm rather short on time.

It's over! Well, actually not yet.

Image from: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/13/minnesota-court-declares-franken-leading-vote-getter-senate-race/

State judges officially declared Al Franken the winner of the highly contested/way too long senate race. However, Norm Colman can appeal the ruling and he says he is going to. So Minnesota probably won't have a second senator in place for a while yet. I'm getting rather tired of the whole thing, it has been a very long, very bitter campaign. I'd think that they would finally decide it has gone on long enough and call it quits. But then again, both Franken and Colman have spent a large amount of money, time, and effort on this seat. If either of them gives up and they are giving up on a senator's salary, cameras and press people, and the chance to help decide in which direction the nation will move. Perhaps those things are too appealing and alluring to give up, and so the battle will continue as long as there is the slightest chance that Colman can win back the seat.

. . .

That last post was one of the most boring anybody could've possibly thought up.

On a happier note, Columbus Crew is playing Real Salt Lake tonight in the MLS. Columbus won the championship last year.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Tobacco could help fight HIV???

(image from: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/03/31/tobacco-hiv-drug.html)

Possibly. According to a Discovery News article, some scientists have modified some tobacco places to produce a large amount of a drug that helps prevent the HIV virus from colonizing the vaginal lining. The problem with the drug is that it's insanely expensive. However, growing the drug in the tobacco plants would make it way cheaper. It's a interesting idea. Hope it works. Though the article was very sparse on details.