Biggest Elephant Shrew

No, that's not analogous to jumbo shrimp. Scientists recently (if you call 3 years ago "recently") discovered what is now known to be the world's largest elephant shrew. They found it in Tanzania. (That's in Africa, for the geographically challenged.) It took a year to positively identify it properly, but that still seems like a long time to wait to make the formal announcement.

Even though the little critter is about the size of a squirrel, scientists claim that it's more closely related to the elephant that to true shrews. Don't look for them to be cross-bred anytime soon though.

The Lyrebird

The lyrebird can apparently imitate almost any sound it hears -- including chain saws.

eBay vs the Other Guys

eBay is lowering its listing fees apparently to compete with the likes of Amazon.com which doesn't charge a listing fee at all. Listing (or insertion) fees are going down anywhere from $.05 to $.80 per auction. However, final value fees are going up basically 3.5% across the board from 5.25% to 8.75%. It's a little more complex than that, so go to their fees page for details. (As of this writing, that page hadn't been updated yet. The lower fees were only listed in an announcement.)

Happy anniversary, LEGO!

Today is the 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick. Too bad they don't have more special sales to celebrate. I'm trying to make a large map of the United States (similar to a mosaic in some ways) and could use a break on the cost. I especially need standard old green bricks. Got any?

FileZilla

FileZilla is a free FTP client that can be used to upload and download files to and from a Web site that you manage. Unfortunately, I can't get it to work with a Website Tonight account at GoDaddy.com -- even after following all the directions in their help area. Sigh.I can't tell where the problem is for sure, but it feels like something isn't activated at GoDaddy.

Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian

This is going to seem like I'm promoting Blogger, but I'm not. Not that it's an awful system or anything...after all, I'm using it. It's just that what I learned today was that Blogger can now handle 3 right-to-left languages - Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. I think that's pretty cool.

Zarf

A holder, usually of ornamental metal, for a coffee cup without a handle.

Though it sounds more like something from a Douglas Adams book, the zarf comes from the Levant (a word I happened to see in a news headline today as well). These are the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Zarf was the answer to a crossword puzzle clue my son was working in the newspaper today.