Sometimes I’m just readin’ along on MetaFilter when I see a headline that makes my jaw drop. Today it was the fact that the incidence of the most common form of breast cancer dropped 15% over the course of one year. Holy crap! What was the reason? Scientists are attributing it to the fact that millions of menopausal women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy. It’s so weird to think that we can send people to the moon and clone sheep, but we’re still pretty clueless about the way our own bodies work.

Where’s Sam Jackson when you need him?
Y’all will probably chuckle at this story of a seven-foot python being pulled out of some Australian’s lady’s toilet. It’s your basic quirky “Believe it or not” type of fluff journalism. EXCEPT THIS STUFF REALLY HAPPENS. I remember not long after we moved out here, Ma Snook brought down some photos she’d taken at the Snook family residence. (It’s about five hours up the coast from Sydney.) There’s the garden, there’s the garage… and there are two seven-foot pythons MATING IN THE FRONT YARD. I nearly fainted. (For the curious, they were literally standing up on their tails and twisting around each other. It was so weird.) Oh, and then there’s also the time that little Kurt, Rodd’s nephew, went out to the rabbit pen and then reported to his incredulous grandmother that “there was a snake in there.” Nobody believed him until they went out to investigate. A massive python had squeezed through the chicken wire and proceeded to eat all the baby bunnies. They could clearly see the lumps along his body. Of course, he was then too fat to squeeze out again so he was just hanging out in there, digesting. I would just like to reiterate that these events happened at the same house where my beloved Snookums grew up, and were I personally have spent the night on several occasions. Sometimes I forget that once you get outside Sydney, AUSTRALIA IS FREAKING SCARY.

“Knitting for Adults Only.” Bah. Like San Francisco knitters are somehow more cool and edgy than the rest of us? Knitty did their Sex & the Knitty issue two years ago!

Even though I find the concept horrifying, I’m pretty sure my Dad would feel like the Hunter of the Millennium if he shot a seven-legged hermaphroditic deer. *shudder* More pictures here. I always knew Wisconsin was weird.

…with club sauce
Historically I’ve not been one to wear lots of buttons, but I just might have to make an exception.

A-ha! I just met the mysterious Rose Red in the shop at last. Meeting someone whose blog you’ve been reading is always a surreal experience.

I’ve just finished reading Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser. I picked it up on impulse at Kinokuniya a few weeks ago with the idea of reading it before the movie comes out later this month. It was fascinating! I discovered that I really knew very little about this period in history. As an American, you learn in school about the French who helped us win the Revolutionary War, and you think of all those guys are noble and heroic. But man, some of them were also horrifyingly bloodthirsty. (Poor Princess de Lamballe!) I also thought that once they’d cut the king’s head off, that was pretty much it for the monarchy. Not so; France went back and forth for a good seventy-some years. The book isn’t just dry history though. Fraser’s writing really has you sympathising with Antoinette from the very beginning, which makes some of the later parts of the book (like the flight to Varennes) feel very thrilling and cinematic. I also liked all the illustrations and paintings that were included. (I’m really looking forward to the costumes in the movie.) Coincidentally, just this week the French government announced that the heart of the dauphin (Marie Antoinette’s murdered son) would finally be put to rest in the family’s crypt. I think I may have to find some more books on the Revolution…

“Is the Wii overrated?” Not according to Miss Jane and Fiona, who came over for a session on Wednesday night. Neither of these girls are “video gamers” at all, yet they were both squealing “I HAVE TO GET ONE OF THESE!” by the end of the night.

Well, that’s depressing. According to this UN report on aging (found via this Ask MeFi question), the median age of the human population right now is 26. This means I’m older than the majority of people alive in the world. AND SO ARE MOST OF YOU, PROBABLY!

The Real World
I’ve had so much stuff to blog about this week, but I just haven’t been sitting in front of a computer much. (The Sale has been kicking my butt.) But this info is just too good to wait any longer. A certain designer friend of mine mentioned this week that she turned down an upcoming gig in Sydney to “design a house for some show called The Real World.” UM, EXCUSE ME? I quickly learned that yes, it really is the MTV proto-reality show, and their next season is going to take place Down Under. In Darling Harbour. About ten minutes’ walk from my house. (They’re going to convert the old bowling alley, apparently.) I also discovered that most Australians have never heard of this show. It just somehow missed their radar entirely. As you can imagine, I gave this designer person an earful. “But the Real World house is iconic! It’s always super-cool, and you’d be the one to design it!” Nah, she’s not interested. Whatever. I’m already planning to rejig all my jogging routes to go by the house. Watch for me next year!