Animal sex, anyone?

These thirty stories about animal sex are stranger than fiction. I had heard of many of these stories before, but hadn't known about all of these stories featured at "Neatorama." I found this site looking for a video of porcupines having sex--I heard porcupine sex described by psychologist John Gottman tonight and I wanted to see it for myself. If anyone locates a video of porcupines having sex, do share! I've seen videos of some of these thirty stories featured on David Attenborough's nature documentaries. And I had previously seen a spectacular video of two flatworms mating on the video "The Shape of Life." In fact, I found a another video of flatworms mating in the video below (as well as the mating of other invertebrates including sponges (sponges are animals!), jellies and horseshoe crabs--you'll see the hermaphroditic flatworms double-penis-fencing at the 4:30 mark--the one who loses this battle has to be pregnant): But back to the site featuring the 30 most unusual animal sex stories . . . I had never before seen the video of the moonwalking manakin, which made me chuckle. The clownfish story was ironic in light of Disney's Nemo. The detachable penis of the nautilus probably wins the day. But there are so many worthy contenders for most bizarre animal sex . . . I'm glad that this website includes links to the sources of most of the stories because some of them are quite difficult to believe. But then again those other species would probably think it bizarre the way we humans display our sexuality and mate. It's probably a matter of perspective. Truly, all of these stories are stranger than fiction. Amazing.

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Guantanamo guard converts to Islam

Put on your psychologist hat and figure this one out. Terry Holdbrooks, one of the Guantanamo guards converted to Islam six months after being assigned to guard duty there. While working at Guantanamo, he was ostracized by the other guards because he was too nice to the prisoners. He didn't have a very good impression of them either, claiming that they often "indulged in alcohol, porn and sports":

"I didn't have a very high impression of my colleagues," he says. Many of them were "ridiculous Budweiser-drinking, cornbread-fed, tobacco-chewing drunks, racists and bigots" who blindly followed orders, and within months he had stopped talking to them altogether.
Holdbrooks was discharged from the military, still practices Islam, but seems to be struggling with life. This article presents an interesting personality profile.

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The many ways the right wing has become dysfunctional

Not all right-wingers have completely lost it. Not yet. Now before you assume that I'm a knee-jerk liberal, keep in mind that I once voted for a Republican, Ronald Reagan, and I am still attracted to many traditional positions of conservatives. And I fully admit that there are still many thoughtful conservatives out there. That said, check out the current crop of the salient qualities of prominent Republican spokespersons. As David Brin sums it up so very well, this hasn't been Barry Goldwater's party for many years. Not in the least. What are the most bizarre changes we've seen? Here are a few from Brin's long list: * prudence to recklessness * accountability to secrecy * fiscal discretion to spendthrift profligacy * consistency to hypocrisy * civility to nastiness * international restraint to recklessness * efficiency to no-tomorrow wastrelness * personal rectitude to flagrant licentiousness I would differ with Brin on one issue. I wouldn't attribute these dysfunctions to "stupidity." Rather, I interpret them as the results of a combination of fearfulness, groupishness, over-reliance on disgust as a form of morality, and deep compulsion to constantly display badges of group membership.

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