Random trivia: The last veteran of WWI died over the weekend. She was 110.

Kind of surprised that the last one wasn't already long dead at this point. Of course, if WWI couldn't do the trick, one would have to assume that mother nature would have a rough go of it too, i suppose.

Also, going into world war one @ 12-16 years old is for sure, my idea of a fantastic adolescence.

The last three all kicked it within the last year. All at age 110. The last, she served for a few months in the RAF at the end of the war. She would have been 111 on... My birthday, actually, a few days from now. (It's Tony Iommi's birthday, too. ) The last man to have fought in the trenches died at 111 in 2008. The oldest I'm aware of was an airman who was 113 in 2009.

EDIT: no, there was a guy from Puerto Rico who made it to 115, but he never saw combat in WWI.

Speaking of old things, if only this did not seem so beary fishy:

Women's Nazi Hockey Team? That is like something out of a '50s B movie. Glorious.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_shape_shifting_dinosaurs.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Horner2

Growth and bone structure of dinosaurs. Geeky.

Gosh I love dinosaurs. It's interesting how many more species there are since when I loved them as a child (and love them a lot I did, compiling my own handwritten encyclopaedia of dinos). Seems there's a few less newer species than I thought...

Seems ol' Jack- I remember seeing him on TV when I was a kid- is gonna rain all over our parade. But it's neat research, the growth cycle stuff. And I like the way he delivers the material, too; I'mma see if I can't find more of his stuff kicking around. He is sort of a relevant figure in paleontology. Kind of a big deal.

And on the subject of cloning mammoths- which has been tossed about for some years now; my money's on the Russians rather than the Japanese getting to it first- appropriate material is there; sorting out the technology's the problem... Run-on sentence much? Anyhow, someone suggested it might be a poor idea as they might escape and become an invasive species. I think that's ridiculous. These are elephants. They're the size of a moving van, give birth to one offspring at a time (a litter of elephants? Not bloody likely.) with a very long gestation period and require enormous amounts of fodder to keep going.

That being said, I'm very much for the idea of large invasive species, especially in urban areas. Herds of Street Antelope, the occasional Dumpster Bear, etc.

Woolly Mammoths would indeed make these urban confrontations much more interesting:

That deer gif is amazing

Dashing through the store, a deer got in my way, through the isles it goes, running the hell away.

I remember when I was much younger a deer running across the hood of the school bus in traffic. It got away, too. One got into the high school once as well.

Cape buffalo would be a nice choice as well. They're ornery and come in large groups. And baboons.

Bast pencil sharpener evarr.

I've not watched this one yet, but I'm posting the link for amusement- seems Dr. Horner and one Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) sat down for a nice long chat about dinosaurs. Specifically, whether T. Rex was a scavenger or not.

http://dinogoss.blogspot.com/2012/01/debate-newt-gingrich-vs-jack-horner.html

Is this real? I hope it's real