stolen from xiombarg (and he probably knew I would do it, too)

Fossilised crustacean boasts oldest penis

A newly discovered 425 million-year-old fossil boasts a lurid claim to fame - it has the oldest penis on record.

The five millimetre long crustacean, discovered by UK and US researchers, has been named Colymbosathon ecplecticos - derived from the Greek for "astounding swimmer with a large penis".

The well-endowed creature is surprisingly similar to modern relatives, despite being entombed nearly half a billion years ago, says the team.
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[...] "It's very exciting to get an animal that looks so modern but dates back 425 million years, and never at this age have you got the preservation of the soft parts as well," says David Briggs, a paleontologist at Yale University and member of the team.

(no subject)

Please answer both questions if either at all.

1. Have you overcome your fear of death?
2. Do you believe in God, as you understand the concept of God?

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"Thus the love of God inspires a fear, which, if one does not flee from it, becomes a rapture enabling the mind to perceive it as light and splendour. But if this fear becomes panic, if one runs from it, the same radiance becomes the fire which is never quenched and the worm that dieth not, so that the damned who writhe in Hell are burned by the same fire which delights the angels in heaven."

-- Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity, pp. 34-5.

(no subject)

Make it nouus.

those crazy Italians

Ban on Kids in TV Spots Riles Advertisers

How can you advertise a brand of diapers without showing a baby, or vaunt a new toy without a happy child playing with it?

Italian advertisers face these tough challenges after parliament approved a new media law that bans the use of children under 14 years old in television advertising.

"What are we supposed to do? Use little dolls, or teenagers dressed up as children? Animation? This is a big problem," said Federica Ariagno, creative director at advertising firm McCann-Erickson in Milan.

The ban slipped into a controversial media law that parliament approved Tuesday. It was one of more than 3,000 amendments presented by the opposition to slow the bill's passage through parliament, but by a fluke it was adopted.

The thought of Christmas without miles of footage of cute kids trying out their new toys has horrified both advertisers and producers, who are mounting a fierce campaign to have the rule scrapped.

"We will do everything we possibly can to get rid of this strange and ridiculous measure, which seeks to create a world without children," said Felice Lioy, head of UPA, the main Italian association of firms that advertise.