Category Archives: amusements

amusements, science

Oddity of the Week: Tully Monster

Oh, now, come on Evolution! You can’t really create something that looks like this …


Oh, you did!? … Hmmm …
Yes, indeed Evolution did create this beast which looks like an obese foot-long earthworm with a trunk and a spade-shaped tail? And, yes, eyes on the end of it’s handlebars!
It lived 300 million years ago and its fossil was discovered in 1995 by Francis Tully; hence it is known as the Tully Monster or Tullimonstrum gregarium.
However it is only now that scientists are beginning to get to grips with what it really is — a lamprey.
Read more on The Atlantic.

amusements, natural history, science

Oddity of the Week: Wombat Shit

The wombat is a large, solitary and nocturnal relative of the koala, native to Australia. It has poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell, which is its main navigation aid.


It also has a very strange ability under its belt: its shit comes out in cubes. Yep, unlike other animals which produce cylinders (eg. dogs), pleets (eg. rabbits) or splats (eg. cows) the wombat’s turds really are cube-shaped.

Why? Well it seems it is all down to the physiology and motility of their large intestines. But it turns out it is also a useful attribute to have.
Find the full story over on The Conversation.

amusements, food+drink

Oddity of the Week: Edible Spoons

Anatoliy Omelchenko of Triangle Tree has designed the Edible Spoon Maker.
It works on the toasted sandwich maker principle and allows you to bake your own edible spoons from either home-made or ready prepared dough in only a few minutes.
In this video Omelchenko demonstrates the device using ready-made biscuit dough:

Find out more over one Triangle Tree.

amusements, personal, ramblings

Ten Things

This month Ten Things returns to being more personal with 10 Places I Have No Desire To Go:

  1. South Africa (in fact anywhere in Africa except possibly Madagascar)
  2. Saudi Arabia
  3. Pakistan
  4. Mexico
  5. Argentina
  6. Australia
  7. Philippines
  8. Indonesia
  9. Israel
  10. Texas