Almost Worth knowing: Female Praying Mantises Do Not Eat Their Mates After Sex

I'm pretty sure the opening tag line of the blog pretty much says it all. However, I'll copy and paste the main points of this student paper I read. It's vaguely interesting and rather short, so you can read it in its entirety yourself if you want: here.

Although the praying mantis is known for its cannibalistic mating process in actuality it only occurs 5-31% of the time. Especially in laboratory conditions of bright lights and confinement, the female is more likely to eat the male as means of survival. "In nature, mating usually takes place under cover, so rather than leaning over the tank studying their every move, we left them alone and videotaped what happened. We were amazed at what we saw. Out of thirty matings, we didn't record one instance of cannibalism, and instead we saw an elaborate courtship display, with both sexes performing a ritual dance, stroking each other with their antennae before finally mating. It really was a lovely display". (7) There is one species, however, the Mantis religiosa, in which it is necessary that the head be removed for the mating to take effect properly. (5) Sexual cannibalism occurs most often if the female is hungry. But eating the head does causes the body to ejaculate faster.

Challenge: Praying Mantis also happens to be a form of Kung Fu. Can you name any other forms of animal Kung Fu, without the use of the internets?

Almost Worth Knowing: Calling All Guidos and Guidettes

Yep, you read it right... I just happened to get this email from a general casting agency and thought I would pass it on to all my readers, so we can all look forward to this together:

Almost Worth Knowing: YouTube Pron!!11@#$

Take notes ladies...

Almost Worth Knowing: A Great Name for a Band...

So today, my car was vandalized by Boreas himself...

Check out the pics:

Yup - broken windshield, dented hood, and messed up plastic trimming around the windshield wipers.

Challenge: In Greek Mythology, who is Boreas? No internets, please.

Almost Worth Knowing: Yes, I'm Still Writing About Asians

Here's a quick challenge for you all; which of the following girls are actually same: Girls #1 and #7, #2 and #4, #5 and #6, or #6 and #9?

Answer? If you haven't figured it out yet, it's a trick question... They are all different.

If you had trouble with the question, don't worry. I actually had to look up the group in order to clarify that they were, in fact, all different girls; these nine females comprise Korean pop sensation Girls' Generation.

Girls' Generation is probably most well-known for their latest hit, Gee. Gee has a very distinct bubble gum pop sound, which is actually quite catchy, if not great... If you have time, you should check the song out. There are two different videos: the first is the dance version, which all teenage Korean girls probably have to learn as part of their school curriculum, and the latter is the official video if you're really interested.

Kinda interesting, I think...

Almost Worth Knowing: This video disturbs me

A while back, my sister informed me that I was very fortunate, because my sisters and I were all blessed with the genetic fortune of having double eyelids. Many asians, on the other hand, have monolids, or eyelids lacking the fold that is common to most Caucasians. This causes the typical Asian eye to appear small, flat, or slanty. In order to address this short-coming, many Asian undergo Double Eyelid Surgery.

While surfing the web today, I came across a new phenomenon to address this Asian Genetic Failure. Watch this video to see what I mean. You don't need to see the whole thing, just the first part, before she starts applying make-up.

Did you notice how weird her unfinished eye looked when she had one eye done and one eye natural? Moreover, her eyes totally look way better after she was finished. Ugh, I thought that was totally bizarre. In retrospect, I remember seeing a lot of Asian girls with eyes that look very similar to the girl in the video. I can't help but wonder how many of them do this to themselves everyday.

Do my eyes look like that? I really hope not.

Almost Worth Knowing: Well, It Depends on your Definition of Cool, but You Won't Catch White People Doing This...

While considering your next haircut, keep this sentiment in mind: these haircuts would look really cool if you were in a video game...

Oh... and in case you were wondering... here are some girls' haircuts and their respective names: