You haven’t seen that headline yet.

And with a little luck, you won’t.

But I won’t be blogging much this week, if at all.

There’s plenty to play with in the links on your left.  See you next week.

Reader Richard sends this along from Barbados, a photo of a mystery beast:

Is it a kind of deer?  A bunny?  Some kind of kangaroo?

None of the above, it turns out.

This is actually the endangered Hutia Conga, native to Cuba.

Developed as an attempt to fill the notorious Cuteness Gap during the Cold War, the Hutia was a key part of the island’s defenses.  It is said that Fidel Castro personally oversaw the breeding of the Hutia in secret underground labs.  In case of a second U.S. invasion, massive numbers of Hutia would be released on the shores.  Incoming troops would theoretically be stopped in their tracks.

Wallaby?  Giant hare?  Pudu with giant flat trotters?  The invaders would be stopped cold by wonder.

Unfortunately, now that the Cold War is over, the Hutia’s numbers have fallen.

The Hutia Conga, in fact, is a large variety of rodent.  A giant Cuban rodent. 

A giant Cuban bunnyroo pudurodent that likes cigars.

Now it can be told.

How will Bush help America prepare for a possible deadly outbreak of Avian Flu?
Letting everyone get sick, trusting the free market to cure us all
423   39.6%
Using the morgue as a photo op after his vacation is over
319   29.8%
Filling the CDC with political hacks and fixers
215   20.1%
Transfering medical research money into the Iraq war
112   10.5%

OK, but what if Bush — who was DUI at age 30 and caught on video drinking at a wedding six years after he claims he stopped cold turkey — is actually drinking again?  (Not that the Enquirer is any less riddled with inaccuracies than CNN or Fox News, or vice versa.)

If Bush is drinking, what’s the possible upside?

New poll at upper left.

Nice summary by Kos.

Serenity.

I tagged along with best friend Jane to the premiere up at Universal
last night.

You laugh, you cry, you get scared.  The whole deal.  Eat popcorn and enjoy.  It’s Joss Whedon, people.  The guy can write in three-emotion layers in the middle of chase scenes.  If he felt like it, he could make you feel ennui, schadenfreude, and hyggelig, all while something enormous blows up.

The writing is the Joss level of brilliant you’d figure,
and his direction is eye-popping and full of surprises.  There’s even some stuff I think readers of this site will particularly dig.

It’s a world.  And the world is very cool.  Most fun I’ve had at a movie this year.

With all the bad news and grumbling on this site, for once here’s a bit of good fun.