And in other weird animal news, a two-headed tortoise was found living and in good health in Cuba.

You may recall something similar last year which led to a new cast member of the Ninja Turtles...

[From People's Daily Online Via Boing Boing]

Japanese scientists revealed this week that they have captured photos and videos of a living giant squid for the first time ever.  They used a baited fishing line to attract the squid and reportedly captured more than 500 images.

It's pretty amazing to think that it's taken until now to have someone be able to film a living giant squid given that they've been known about for centuries (due to corpses that sometimes wind up on beaches) and that there are enough to be a major food source for the sperm whale.  The Discover Channel even did a special a few years ago focused on the search for the giant squid where they were unable to find one.

Mmm.  Giant calamari...

[From National Geographic (click to see the full article) via Boing Boing]

At 3 am last night, Kim woke me up saying that there was someone knocking at the door.  Waking up and hearing the erratic knocking, I went to the front window, finding no car besides our own parked in the driveway or in front of the house.  Looking to the side by the door, I couldn't see who was knocking, so I went to the door and asked "Who is it?"  No answer.

The knocking continued, and as there are some shady people living across the street from Kim, I wasn't willing to open the door to just anyone that late at night, so I asked again:  "Who is it?!"  "Open the door," came a scratchy reply.  The person then tried turning the doorknob, but the door was locked and deadbolted.

"Open the door," followed by more erratic knocking.  "Open the door!"  "Who's there?" I asked again, but with no answer beyond knocking and more attempts to open the door. 

Kim called 911 and told them that there was someone at the door who wouldn't identify themselves.  A few minutes later, two police cars pulled up and questioned our visitor. 

It turned out she was an old woman with alzheimer's who thought she was living in Chariton and at her son's house.  They asked if she was from the nursing home down the street, to which she said no, but upon taking her over there she said she recognized the place.

So there you have it - a pretty creepy occurrence which made me glad that the front door was locked (imagine waking up to find some old woman standing over your bed) and really got the adrenaline flowing.

Found this one on Joystiq...

A new interpretation of the Super Mario Brothers has popped up on the Internet—and it's a weird one. Does anyone have any insight into this bizarre project? Re-imagining this famous duo as muscle-bound super freaks makes us uncomfortable. But for some reason, we can't look away…

The comic itself can be found here, with an almost-as-incomprehensible Google Translator translation here.

If anyone can translate (hint Kristin hint), I'd appreciate it!

After months of waiting, the "big deal" about the new Nintendo console - codenamed Revolution - was finally revealed this week.  Making a drastic shift from the conventional video game controller, the revolution uses a small one-handed controller that's reminiscent of a remote control, which the system can sense the position of in three dimensions, as well as its own tilt.

What this means is that with the Revolution, how you move the controller through the air - the speed, direction, even the controller's incline - can all be carried through into gameplay.

Imagine a tennis game where how you handle and swing the "racquet" actually carries through into gameplay.  Or a Zelda game where you control the swing of the sword, or a stick-poking game where you poke things with a virtual stick (ok that last one doesn't sound so much fun).

While I doubt that such a system will make Nintendo the top-game console in this first generation, it certainly sounds like an opportunity to play some fun, unique games.  They've also announced some controller add-ons, one of which is a thumbstick (used for movement in one hand while the other moves the main controller - think using the thumbstick in a Zelda game to move Link while the main controller is the sword or shield) and a controller that looks more like a standard game controller which the main unit plugs into the back of to make it wireless and still sense positioning.  This would allow more traditional games coming out on the other systems to still be ported to the Rev.

The teaser video shown by Nintendo featuring the Revolution controller. It doesn't show any actual games, but it gives a good idea of the possibilities. It looks like the grandfather is teaching the kid how to shoot a phaser in the photo, though...

IGN's Nintendo Revolution FAQ