This week’s selection of links to items spotted recently which you may have missed. And you really didn’t want to miss this juicy selection …

First up here are some awesome illuminated manuscript cookies. Just where does one get edible ink and paper for an inkjet printer?

How is it that we see dark, even when we close our eyes, because apparently the eye gives off more “black body radiation” than there is daylight? It’s all down to Quantum Mechanics. Interesting for you scientists; awesome for the rest of you that someone even investigated this!

Apparently the government may be about to (re)introduce obscenece laws allowing the persecution of buzzards. The birds are allegedly stealing too many pheasants from the idle rich who now want to shoot the buzzards as well as the pheasants.

Why are tomatoes so tasteless these days? Well the scientists think they’ve found out what adds the taste (and it wasn’t obvious!) so they can now breed better commercial varieties. In the meantime the advice seems to be to grow your own.

So just why are harps harp-shaped? It’s physics again.

A Drink to Help You Orgasm? Fantastic idea; shame about the marketing hype.

OK so extended breastfeeding is the norm in most human and primate societies. So why are all you western girlies weirdly not doing it? Ah, I see, not enough Neurogasm. 😉

What? An American designer who hopes his better vibrator can rejuvenate the American sex life? Only if it comes in a plain brown wrapper.

So apparently the urge to sext naked self-portraits is primal. Yeah right; so our distant ancestors had mobile phones!? But seriously, where’s the f***ing problem? Nudity is neither unnatural nor unwholesome — actually just the opposite. If people want to show themselves off, well fine, isn’t that their privilege?

Besides it seems Rihanna (“a nubile chanteuse, m’lud”) is spending a lot of time and energy sharing round what’s between her legs. Again, where’s the problem? Isn’t it her prerogative. Good for her for knowing what she wants and not being afraid to go for it. It’s a pity more of us aren’t so unbuttoned.

A further selection of items recently spotted which you may have missed.

This week it seems to be mostly about sexuality, in the broadest sense. But first a couple of miscellaneous items.

The first is a report of a venomous snake which can kill, but even if it doesn’t it can seriously mess with your hormonal system and (partly) reverse puberty.

For the aficionados of history and things touristy, as well as bookshops, there is now a small bookshop in the Wellington Arch at London’s Hyde Park Corner. The Arch itself is also open and well worth a visit, if only for the views. IanVisits reported recently and I mentioned it a couple of times a few days ago.

And now for all the “sex stuff” …

… although the first is also historic. Here’s a report of vulva shaped Medieval pilgrim badges.

In further revelations, researchers claim to have worked out a woman’s ‘sexiest time’. 11pm on Saturday since you ask!

And yet more researchers claim to have shown that, for men, red is not a proxy signal for female genitalia. Think I could have told them that!

Here’s an interesting article on society’s attitudes towards childless women. Why is it that everyone is supposed to have children? Why can’t we accept that some don’t want to, and some can’t. And many who can’t accept that’s the way life is. And then there’s society’s attitude to men who aren’t fathers: we get just as much incomprehension, although not as much cattiness. In my view the childless are legally discriminated against in the workplace with the law requiring that parents have the right to special/extra leave which isn’t available to the childless, who have to mop up the extra work. Besides not having children is possibly the most eco-friendly thing one can do — rapidly followed by not having a car and not flying.

Finally a piece by Kate Takes 5 on book clubs and Brazilians. Why do women (and some men too!) feel the need to remove all their pubic hair? Sure beats me!

Links to a few recently discovered (by me) items you may have missed.

First off scientists think it likely that redheads feel more pain than people with dark hair. Contrary to the implication of the headline this is not yet proven.

From which there is a logical progression to marriage — well sort of logical anyway. Betty Herbert rails against the arguments over same-sex marriage.

And in turn that brings us nicely to several catty articles. Yes, there seem to have been a little burst of cat-related items in the last week …

We thought we knew how cats survive falls from heights, but it seems they’re even more resilient than we thought.

In another piece of research it has been found that most animals don’t like our music. So what music do pets prefer? For cats it seems to be high pitched with a fast tempo, just like they are.

And if that isn’t bad enough, there is the suggestion that your cat is sending you mad, well crazy anyway. It sounds far-fetched, but it may not be, and it could explain a whole lot.

Lastly for this week here’s an absolutely stunning photo of Aoga-shima, a tiny volcanic island in the Japanese Izu Islands, south of Tokyo. There’s some information here and the inevitable short Wikipedia page. But it’s that aerial photo which is really stunning — you need to see it as large as possible!

Links to a few recent and interesting or curious items you may have missed.

Here’s a series of three posts about the bacteria in your belly.
Part 1 — Babies
Part 2 — Adults
Part 3 — Disrupting the Balance

Scientists clone cashmere goats in bid to increase wool production. What you mean they haven’t managed to make it 5% nylon yet?

An ancient Greek warrior’s helmet has been dredged up off the coast of Israel.

Still on the ancient, palaeontologists reckon to have discovered a previously unknown species of hominin, nicknamed the Red Deer Cave People, who liked venison and lived around 14,500 to 11,500 years ago in China.

And finally to another strange species of hominin … Apparently an Italian perfumier has created a special perfume just for Pope Benedict XVI. So much for clerical vows of poverty and chastity. It’s all a load of old goats!

OK, so here are a few amusements I’ve come across recently which you may have missed.

First, one for all you book lovers: the 20 most beautiful bookshops in the world. And only two are in North America!

While on words, you can test your vocabulary online. It takes about 5 minutes and you’re on your honour not to cheat!

After that you’ll need your 8 hours sleep. Except that apparently needing 8 hours is a myth.

So guys, you lie awake at night. You’re not really worrying about the size of your dangly bits, are you?!

And as if that weren’t worrying enough it has now been found that there at least five kinds of fungus which farm animals — and we’re one of them!

Finally we return to books. Books with leather bindings are generally rather nice. But human leather? Yep! Here’s a short history behind anthropodermic bibliopegy. And there’s another here.

Sweet dreams!