The Week That Was

Jeanna and I headed north by northwest this weekend for a quick trip to Dayton, OH for her cousin’s wedding. Her mother is one of eight children – most of which still live in the Dayton area – and gatherings with family are always a large affair. This weekend was no exception. Both my family and Jeanna’s have been incredibly supportive of us during this (and all) endeavors. This weekend, though, the questions centered around what cool (and gross) stuff I was learning. As it turns out, for the last few weeks we’ve been learning about parasites, and they are both fascinating and gross.

I thought the best way to show what I’ve learned – both in terms of volume and “grossness” would be to give you a list of all the parasites that we studied. Some are worms, some are not. Take some time to peruse the links below – it really is fascinating stuff. Or, you could search YouTube for just about any of the keywords below and find a video or two on the subject – like this one for Dracunculus.

Also, while I have time to post videos, the one below is one of my favorites of all time. It’s from a group called Improv Everywhere in New York City. It’s a troupe of “ordinary” folks who plan and implement incredible pranks in public places. None of the pranks hurt anyone. In fact, most of them entertain everyone who’s nearby when they happen. In the video below, 207 people synchronized their watches, walked into Grand Central Station, and froze – for five minutes. Brilliant! (If you’re having trouble with the video below, watch it here.)