Coffee and Provocation

The "Secret" to Successful Weight Loss?
It turns out that smaller dinners and no snacks after dinner is a critical component of successful weight loss.

State Department Abusing Dogs
The US State Department continues to send anti-terrorism dogs to Jordan where they are abused, neglected, and die.

A Narwhal - Beluga Hybrid?
It turns out narwhals and beluga whales can interbreed and occasionally produce offspring.

Birth Control That Works and Works
A contraceptive computer chip that can be controlled by remote control has been developed in Massachusetts with the backing of Bill Gates. The chip is implanted under a woman's skin, and releases a small dose of the hormone levonorgestrel, every day for 16 years. It can be stopped at any time by using a wireless remote control, and is in pre-clinical trials.

Just Don't
Don't put wasps in your vagina.

Sea Hedgehogs?
Sea urchins are called “sea urchins” because hedgehogs were called “urchins” until about the 15th century. Therefore, sea urchins are ocean hedgehogs.

Not Extinct?
Is Schomburgk's deer (Rucervus schomburgki) extincy. It was added to the extinction list in 1938, but apparently it was alive in Laos as late as 1991.

A Freaky Truth
Your skeleton is always floating at least 5 millimeters above the ground.

Altering Human Genes
Doctors altered a person's genes with CRISPR for the first time in the U.S. in order to cure sickle cell anemia.

Heaven's Next Band?
Watching the now-dead Merle Haggard on TV as part of Ken Burn's paean to country music reminds me that Loretta Lyn is 87, Willie Nelson is 86, Charley Pride is 85, George Jones is 81, and Mavis Staples is 80. Bob Dylan is 78 years old and Chet Atkins, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Carole King and Brian Wilson are 77.  Mick Jagger is 76 and Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell, Roger Daltrey, Jimmy Page, Roger Waters, and Ray Davies are 75. Debbie Harry, Eric Clapton, and Rod Stewart are 74, and Neil Young and Dolly Parton are 73, as is Van Morrison.