Friday, January 25, 2008

What a Week: Tiny Frogs, Mysterious Blobs, and a Rat-Eating Plant!





(Above: A Chinese giant salamander, one of the bizarre amphibians at risk of extinction.)

It's been a banner week for the bizarre!

A teenager used a camera to snap a picture of a group of friends and captured a ghostly face peeking out at him.

A British famer built a castle on his land and hid it from authorities for four years.

A mysterious "doughy" blob has clogged a sewer in Maine.

A rat-eating plant was discovered in Australia.

A Brooklyn mom found a tiny, live frog tucked inside a head of lettuce that she'd kept in the refrigerator for days.

36 comments:

Nellie said...

**first comment I hope** Cool frog. The picture thing freaks me out... stuff like that always does.

Spring said...

I liked the frog in lettuce the best! SOOO cute!

Elizabeth said...

Very cool salamander. Did you hear about the giant penguins that lived in Peru 42 million years ago (I think that was how long ago it was)? There's a small article about them in National Geographic. I think it says that they were five feet tall. Here's some links with info:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070625-giant-penguins.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3313264
http://www.amnh.org/science/papers/penguins.php
http://www.amnh.org/science/papers/penguins.php

Elizabeth said...

Oh, here's something else that is kind of strange (or interesting or scary, depending on who you are). http://www.livescience.com/technology/destroy_earth_mp.html

Jin Ai said...

the frog is so cute!
Haha.

For the rest....
Wow. A little scary, but as always, really cool!

International Mastermind said...

Yikes...the ghost pic is freaky!

Raph said...

Wow~ ^^ I love the ghost and the rat-eating Aussie plant best. But poor Shadow City rats...

Happy Australia Day everyone! :)

Cupcakedoll said...

Oooh, it's cute! (if by 'cute' you mean 'weird.')

I know about Japanese giant salamanders from a show called "Almighty Amphibians" that they play every so often on the animal channel. The Japanese ones are dark brown colored and shaped differently from that Chinese one. People in Japan thought their giants might have been created by radiation, but i guess that's not so if there's a similar species in China. *grin* it's so cute on the show, these Japanese guys saying they think their salamanders are "kawaii."

ananka said...

YES! Happy Australia Day!

KuroSignal said...

Cute lil' frog!!! HE'S SO CUTE! And, rat-eating pitcher plants eh? Well, the plants are having their first major evolution...called...carnivoring-es-s....thing.

Raph said...

Just wondering about a couple of things, Kirsten:
(Although they are unrelated. *sigh*)

When is the next Kiki Strike coming out? ^^ And will there be any more male characters in it?

xD Sorry - just a wee bit of an obsession.

International Mastermind said...

Yesterday was free-hugs day at my school. 60s, much?

Anonymous said...

hey annaka
i'm almost done the Secret on Shadow Street
sequel to Haunting of Holliday house
i hope to get them to you by febuary
mk*

hobbes said...

the salamander is so CUTE! and so it Curios the frog :) but that would be slightly disturbing to find a frog in your lettuce....

Patsee said...

I want the frog, but my parents probably wouldn't let me keep it.

Are they claiming that the face in the picure is any deceased, famous, or religious figure? You know, like the lady who said she saw the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich?

Hazel said...

Why didn't they just go in there with shovels and scoop the blob out?

Spring said...

I don't know Hazel, they're just really stupid! LOL.

Hey, I made a new blog at http://salamidragons.blogspot.com
Check it out, and find out what the Salami Dragons are!

Anonymous said...

The Frog is super cute, at my old house we used to find ones clinging to the windos that were even smaller. The ghost face is really creepy, espcially with the little girl crying. Isnt it said that the younger you are the more perceptive to things like that you are (if the pictures real and not photoshopped. And the Slamander is just.....eeeurgh.

Kitty said...

Now.... Cats are no longer needed in homes to get rid of mice... XD lol

International Mastermind said...

I have an explanation for that grilled cheese lady:

She loved church and eating grilled cheese so much, that she saw the Virgin mary in her sandwich.

Elizabeth: You should totally gat a blog to put all of that cool stuff on!

Elizabeth said...

International Mastermind said...
Elizabeth: You should totally gat a blog to put all of that cool stuff on!

Thanks, but I don't know how.

creativeartist said...

blogs are freking awesome

ananka said...

Elizabeth: Perhaps you would you like to be an Intrepid Girl Reporter for this blog?

ananka said...

Raph: Not sure EXACTLY when the next one will be out, but I'll make sure you're one of the first to see it. And yes, I there will even more boys than in #2!

IM: How exactly does "free hugs" work. Do you have to hug people you don't like?

Spring: How on earth did you come up with a name like "Salami Dragons?" And did you draw the pic on the blog? It's great!

MK: I can't wait!

Spring said...

No, I didn't draw the picture. My friend Tyler drew it (it IS great, isn't it?) and I don't think he knows yet that I put it up on the web... I don't think he cares though. Theres NO WAY I could draw like that anyway! (Tyler wants to be a art teacher when he grows up.)

Elizabeth said...

Really? An Intrepid Girl Reporter? Cool!


What is it?

Hazel said...

What's an Intrepid Girl Reporter?
And I just realized something: isn't Kiki short for Kirsten? Did you name her after yourself?

Hazel said...

And Elizabeth, if you go up to the top of any blog, there's a little button called Make A Blog or something like that.

International Mastermind said...

Actually, you hug anyone you want! I didn't hug too many people. But one crazy girl went and hugged every single person in the grade. Including boys. I only hugged 2 boys. ;)

dangerous said...

I WANT ONE OF THOSE PLANTS!! my friend has a pet rat. i should give him one for christmas...

ananka said...

Elizabeth: If you found weird things that you wanted to tell people about, you could write something up and we could post them here under your name (or alias).

"Intrepid Girl Reporter" was the nickname of Nellie Bly--look her up. She was pretty interesting.

Lara said...

oooooooh.....i like the blob in the sewers.

Elizabeth said...

ananka said...
Elizabeth: If you found weird things that you wanted to tell people about, you could write something up and we could post them here under your name (or alias).

Oh cool! How long is it suppose to be? And Nellie Bly was really cool (I've read a bit about her)

annemarie said...

Where do you find all of this trivia, Kisten?

Anonymous said...

The lettuce one is so cute! I thought the salamander was freaky though.

Raph said...

In regard to Kirsten's Kiki3 info...

That's fantastic! Good luck with completion. xD