Two Fangs and a Little Bat

Vampires fascinate millions of people, terrify probably a billion and still, the fangs and the blood lust have a basis in the animal world. Scientists found a fish that has Dracula-like fangs.

The 17 mm fish is found only in one stream in Burma. Danionella dracula has bony fangs. They are not really teeth, nor are they used for sucking blood. Take a look here.

I've wanted fangs for a while. I don't know why, exactly. I'm not really a goth kind of guy, but I asked some of my friends in the know and they recommend this site, if you want your set of Dracula dentures. http://www.vampfangs.com/Dental-Fit-Fangs-s/3.htm When I get some cash, I am buying myself a pair. I'll let you know how that works out.

The prankster in me wishes for a time machine to go back with a bunch of Halloween costumes to scare the hell out of our ancestors. Apparently, they took this vampire stuff really serious. A grave in Venice yielded a historic vampire--they put a brick in the mouth to keep them from chewing after death. I wonder if that cost extra in the burial fee, or was just a public service. For more on the vampire grave: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126985.200-vampire-discovered-in-mass-grave.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Space vampires could be a problem, I read in a comic book in the "30 Days of Night" series. And what is a vampire? Sometimes a bat. Last week, a bat was seen trying to hitch a ride into space on the fuel tank of Space Shuttle Discovery.

No shit.

Read the details here.

According to ABC news, "Discovery docked to the International Space Station and later this week will install the final truss and solar arrays to give the orbiting lab more power, which will allow the crew to expand from three to six."

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Charmkins--75 Million Years Later

T. rex next to his offspring. Art by Caleb Schaber

I have a strange fascination with chickens. Perhaps it was the sad story of Charmkins, a good friend we all lost at Burning Man in 2001. Now, Charmkins, a dead, festering chicken we burned at the event, is "flying 747s in the sky."

I read this week that paleontologists have discovered fossil remains of carnivorous chicken sized dinosaurs that resemble velociraptors from "Jurassic Park" fame.

That would be a cool pet to have I think. Chickens are T Rex's closest living relative, believe it or not.

My fascination with chickens lead me to acquire a rubber chicken that I carry with me pretty much everywhere I go. Charmkins, jr. was very popular in Iraq. Here is a video of him flying over Mosul. We were doing dives, trying to get him to fly with those little wings.

Even more terrifying than a T. Rex, or a chicken sized T. Rex, is the "Predator X," a creature with teeth a foot in length and ten times the jaw power than the T. rex. The 50 foot leviathan had a ten foot skull that would make jaws look like a minnow.

Sadly, as much as I like chickens and idealize the carnivorous world of dinosaurs past, I recently heard that they have the same problems as humans do, teenagers. Like today's Darwin Award winners, dinosaurs that died before reproduction sometimes left fossils. A find in Mongolia's Gobi desert reveals that young dinosaurs hung out together, and in places they shouldn't have. And they died through youthful carelessness.

When you take a bite of chicken, don't forget the history behind that tasty meal!

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