According to recent research (Prof. Adnan Qureshi, University of Minnesota) owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than a third. Prof. Qureshi said he was "surprised by the strength of the effect that owning a cat appeared to have".

Neat! The perfect validation to get another kitty.


Snipped from CNN ..

Even in death Arthur C. Clarke would not compromise his vision.
The famed science fiction writer, who once denigrated religion as "a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species," left written instructions that his funeral be completely secular, according to his aides.
"Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral," he wrote.



Just for the record, should I drop down dead tomorrow, please do the same for me. And if someone could scatter me atop Craigendarroch that would do nicely.


Also from CNN

BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- Using tiny brushes and chisels, workers picking at a big greenish-black rock in the basement of North Dakota's state museum are meticulously uncovering something amazing: a nearly complete dinosaur, skin and all.

Unlike almost every other dinosaur fossil ever found, the Edmontosaurus named Dakota, a duckbilled dinosaur unearthed in southwestern North Dakota in 2004, is covered by fossilized skin that is hard as iron. It's among just a few mummified dinosaurs in the world, say the researchers who are slowly freeing it from a 65-million-year-old rock tomb.

This is the dream of paleoanthropologists. Can you imagine seeing not just the fossilized bones of our ancestors but the skin and even facial features too? It takes extraordinary conditions but it can happen!