Jason Kottke found a neat time-lapse video of yesterday's freaky solar eclipse (by photographer Cory Poole) that he's calling "the coolest" online, in case you missed it, and CNN has many more great photos in a slideshow. No. 5 being the most jarring. No. 11, too.

Originally, Czar intended to serve vodka chilled with liquid nitrogen. This plan changed, however, after an incident last weekend with the liquid-nitrogen chilled beverages — an incident which sent one guest to the hospital. The restaurant group’s Director of Marketing, Simmy Ahluwalia, confirmed the incident but could provide no details except that the gentleman has recovered and that Czar has decided to scrap liquid nitrogen in favor of serving vodka in blocks of ice.

Finally! Sorry, anonymous person with a top secret injury, but someone had to pay for society allowing this wart-killer to go from "handle only with these special gloves and store in a Stanley thermos — actually, [...]

Remember that guy? Here's more of his story, courtesy Adam Leache, the curator of herpetology and genetic resources at Seattle's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, via Hairpin pal Alaina.

Here's a photo of an actual "long-finger" frog that I found in Nigeria. Notice the super long finger!

We think that it has to do with sex. They wrap the long finger around the female when they mate. This is called amplexus. The male hops on the back of the female (she's usually bigger than him), and he wraps the fingers around to hold on. He can actually hold on while she hops around through the [...]

Dogs like sweets. Cats couldn't care less, but like, if that's all there is then fine, they guess, whatever.

You are known as quite reclusive. Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

You are welcome, dear. Why don’t you join me here on the window seat? Tea will be ready in just a minute. I admit, I do not receive visitors very often and prefer my own company, but I still enjoy a good chat now and then. You may not realize it, but I used to turn quite a few heads when I was younger, and was considered a brilliant conversationalist.

What's your opinion on the name Arsène and its meaning: ‘male, strong, virile’?

I am flattered if parents name their children after me, I am sure [...]

Rachel Winard makes a line of natural beauty products called Soapwalla, and one of those products is a natural deodorant that changed my life. Is there a way to say that without sounding like a crazy person? I don't know, but it's true. Apply directly to the armpit, apply directly to the armpit.

I'd wanted to avoid the aluminum in traditional deodorants/antiperspirants (even though it's not scientifically proven to be harmful), and because I am a sweaty, smelly person, I'd been looking for a good, actually functional natural deodorant for years. (I found one that was all right, and have chronicled my obsession on this [...]

So a human finally flew like a bird this past weekend… sort of. Jarno Smeets' flapping arms only provided 5% of the power the wings needed — the rest came from motors. But the question remains: Ever heard of an airplane or a helicopter? Yeah, uh, lot less work, lot more drinks. [via]

"A graduate student of famed neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran has found a group of men and women who report that their sexual identity can switch involuntarily to that of the opposite sex and back again."

First off, AL-ew-MIN-ee-əm or ə-LOO-mi-nəm ?

Honestly, I have no preference. I am Aluminium to the English, Americans seem to prefer the old-fashioned Aluminum. In any case, many consider me Australian at heart. You can call me Al!

Al, are metals defined or refined?

You can’t take the valence electrons out of it, because you start off with a certain electron configuration, so in a sense it is definition. But you can learn a lot from other metals’ successes and mistakes, and I think you need a combination of both. Let’s be clear: I am proud of my humble origins. I, for one, do not want membership in the elitist club of transition metals. Who else [...]

"The study was conducted by researchers at Harvard University, which undoubtedly added to its credibility factor. But it’s important to note that this was not a controlled experiment that established a causal link between red meat and specific causes of death." —Deborah Blum of M.I.T.'s Knight Science Journalism Tracker blog deconstructs that Red Meat Will Kill You study, and glazes it with a nice red wine jus.