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And speaking of Daft Punk

Before the hands video, this was my favorite from them. Spike Jonze directing.

Death Dogs of Moscow

Fear them.

Moscow's Stray Dogs Evolving Greater Intelligence, Including a Mastery of the Subway

For every 300 Muscovites, there's a stray dog wandering the streets of Russia's capital. And according to Andrei Poyarkov, a researcher at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, the fierce pressure of urban living has driven the dogs to evolve wolf-like traits, increased intelligence, and even the ability to navigate the subway.

Poyarkov has studied the dogs, which number about 35,000, for the last 30 years. Over that time, he observed the stray dog population lose the spotted coats, wagging tails, and friendliness that separate dogs from wolves, while at the same time evolving social structures and behaviors optimized to four ecological niches occupied by what Poyarkov calls guard dogs, scavengers, wild dogs, and beggars.

The guard dogs follow around, and receive food from, the security personnel at Moscow's many fenced in sites. They think the guards are their masters, and serve as semi-feral assistants. The scavengers roam the city eating garbage. The wild dogs are the most wolf-like, hunting mice, rats, and cats under the cover of night.

But beggar dogs have evolved the most specialized behavior. Relying on scraps of food from commuters, the beggar dogs can not only recognize which humans are most likely to give them something to eat, but have evolved to ride the subway. Using scents, and the ability to recognize the train conductor's names for different stops, they incorporate many stations into their territories.

Additionally, Poyarkov says the pack structure of the beggars reflects a reliance on brain over brawn for survival. In the beggar packs, the smartest dog, not the most physically dominant, occupies the alpha male position.

The evolution of Moscow's stray dogs has been going on since at least the mid-1800s, when Russian writers first mentioned the stray dog problem in the city. And that evolution has been propelled by deadly selective pressure. Most of the strays arrive on the streets as rejected house pets. Of those dogs kicked out of their homes, Poyarkov estimates fewer than 3 percent live long enough to breed. To survive those odds, a dog really does have to be the fittest.

Cat Shit One AKA Apocalypse Meow

A trailer for a proposed animated version of the manga.

Final Crisis reviewed by a dog

sort of.

Transcribed at last

Rick Moranis drops some spiritual wisdom in Ghostbusters:

Advice Puppy

Subliminal speed:

Readable (but less fun) speed:

Snoop goes country?

He does.

It's sorta catchy.

He even dedicates it to Johnny Cash.

Embedding's disabled, so click here.

Creepy-ass medieval art! Not safe for work. Unless you work in a church, ironically enough.

Having trouble naming your imp or familiar? Help is on the way, devil-spawn, courtesy of this handy woodcut of notorious witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins busting up the Westminster Kennel Club, circa 1645. Conveniently, the witches all blabbed their pets' names before he burned them.

Medieval Chupacabra:

The Devil whips his junk out, as was the style at the time:

Guess what the Devil's got on his butt? Did you guess "a face"? You win!

Speaking of which, it was believed that witches would seal pacts with the Devil with a literal kiss to the ass. No, no sexual repression going on in medieval Europe, why do you ask?

The demon of "smoking". No kiddin', this is from an anti-smoking pamphlet of the era:

A skeleton jug band lays down some phat beats:

Rare female demon:

Satan himself. Crudely drawn, but effectively disturbing. Having his own face on his crotch is pretty freakishly inspired.

The coolest demon design I found:

Genuinely disturbing werewolf print. I got no jokes. Click on it for biggie-size:

Many more woodcuts here.

And still more here, in color no less!

Still the champ

The imagination, the level of agony, and that mellow Sam Cooke song spinning in the background...

Some slightly dated f/x be damned, these elements still make the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London the absolute best of its kind:

Black Kill-You Hell Hounds of England

I mentioned these dogs to Dave the other day, and he had never heard of them.
Here's one page about them.

(here are some of the other names they are known by, and the region):
Bogey Beast, Lancashire
Bargheust, Yorkshire and the North
Black Shuck, East Anglia
Capelthwaite, Westmorland (Cumbria)
Cu Sith, Highlands (Dark Green)
Gallytrot, Suffolk
Guytrash
Gurt Dog, Somerset
Hairy Jack, Lincolnshire
Mauthe Dog, (Mauthe Doog) Scotland
Old Shock or Shuck (Black Shuck), Suffolk
Padfoot, Yorkshire
Pooka, Ireland
Skriker, Lancashire, Yorkshire

Comments

War Dogs!