Van Gogh’s ear is alive, whiskey may be no more: Don’t judge this week’s wacky news by its cover

My legs are hurting immensely today. I decided to do pilates before I ran on the treadmill. One could almost say I was punishing my legs for some transgression they engaged in. Although, I have no clue what that would be. Generally speaking my legs do what I tell them to do. Anyway, it’s been another wacky week. In the US the jobs report came out with some optimistic numbers. Apparently, however, there is still a jobs problem.

Sexy pipes. Next time you walk by a set of city pipes don’t just disregard them as trash or as a blight.  Pipes are more than what the eye can see. Male mientien tree frogs use these pipes to amplify their voices (or is that croaks) to attract a mate.   Patton Oswalt is quoted as saying “I had a romance novel inside me, but I paid three sailors to beat it out if me with steel pipes.”  Well, seems that the tree frogs have turned that image around using the pipes to belt out a romance ditty.

Taxonomists rule the world.  Just because we are discovering tons of new animals does not mean it is all that it seems. The discovery of new animals does not stop just because there are not that many taxonomists in the world.   When a new animal is discovered you need to understand its biological characteristics and then give it a name.  However, if we don’t start graduating more taxonomists soon, many animals will be walking about with no name.  What will they ever do with themselves?  How will we know what and who they are about if they have no name? How will we judge them?

Stinky breath will get you killed.  I love catfish. It is one of my favorite meals to eat in New Orleans. My mouth waters just thinking about some blackened catfish with hush puppies along with a mint julep. However, those catfish are quite sneaky. They can catch and eat their prey by detecting changes in the acid level of the water around them. Apparently that is an indicator of breathing prey. Nice set of skills they have. Wonder if the acid detection skill gets transferred to us when we eat of plate of catfish. I think it would be handy for the workplace.

Check your pilot’s stomach.  A United Airlines pilot swallowed many many bags of cocaine and then called the cops. He was taken to the hospital and he passed cocaine pellets out of his body. Luckily for the public, a judge has banned him from flying anytime soon.

An ear, you say?  Did you ever feel that Van Gogh’s story was just not vivid enough for you to understand what he had gone through? Did you ever think that if only you could see a live replica of his ear you could have closure on his story?  If you answered yes, then you are in luck.  In Germany at a new exhibit at The Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, the curators have recreated Van Gogh’s ear which floats in a nutrient solution to keep it alive.  Yum? Ick? Eew? Huh?

Cesar Chavez on the ballot.   Running for an elected office takes a lot of perseverance, cash and name recognition. Ask any Bush, Clinton or Rockerfeller.  Well, Scott Fistler was running for a seat in Arizona. Apparently, his name just wasn’t doing it for the voters.  He then did was any other candidate, particularly in Arizona, would do. He changed his name to that of the well-known Hispanic Cesar Chavez.  Does it seem sometimes like there is something in the waters of Arizona?

Smack that catfish. So, catfish can detect their prey by noting changes in the surrounding levels of acid.  If you find your sister-in-law to be acidic or bitter, well then take a catfish to her face. Or so that is the tactic used by a Texas woman.  Ah, Texas.

The weather is cutthroat. We all have noted that mother-nature has been on a bit of a fury lately.  During her last broadcast, meteorologist Julie Watkins went on a bit of a goodbye rant. And I say more power to her.

Say it ain’t so.  I am not a big whiskey drinker. I always worry, however, whenever any liquor shortage is looming. First it’s whiskey. What will be next? Rum?  No, no no.

 At the end of the day we have some sexy pipes, stinky breath, an ear and meteorology to throw us all off