Many thanks for Chris Totten for helping me revamp the blog. The visuals are still in process, but I really like where it is going.
As many of you know, I am something of an animal buff. My wife and I have a running joke about me as Marty Stouffer, the bearded host of PBS's long-time show Wild America. I spend road-trips watching for wildlife as well as the road. Most animals, particularly in their native environments, I find endlessly fascinating.
Not so, however, for rats. I absolutely despise and loathe rats. Every time I see one, I experience a form of revulsion that nothing else evokes. My stomach churns. I feel goosebumps on my back. My hands itch for some sort of blunt weapon. I usually shout something like "There's a &#@* RAT!" Some primordial instinct tells me to destroy the little bastard.
Well, according to the Seatttle Weekly cover story this week, my beloved city is crawling with 'em. And, to my horror, there were something like 65 rats-in-the-toilet reported in King County last year. Apparently the demon spawn can, as unbelievable as it sounds, scurry their way up thru the plumbing in their attempts to spread disease and pestilence.
Couple that with this gem of a fact, reported in the article: "When does 1 + 1 = 29,560? That is the number of descendants a pair of rats and their issue can produce in a year's time."
Lovely.
Got the whole Winston Smith thing going on, eh?
Posted by: ryan at August 15, 2006 08:11 AMsorta. It's a collaborative effort between me, Capria and Chris.
I'm rather fond of the moon phase feature--it's a reminder to the cyberworld that the material real is out there, doing it's thing.
Posted by: paul at August 15, 2006 08:37 AM