bcl05

If that's real and recent, its nauseating.

Mainly because the distances are actually so huge. There is way more "space" between any actual celestial objects than we can really wrap our heads around. Check this out: http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html For those who don't want to click, its basically an exercise for science classes. Short version: If the sun was a typical bowling ball, the earth would be approximately the size of a pepper corn 26 yards away. Amazing. Pluto would be ~1/2 a mile away. The nearest star to our sun would, in this model, be 4000 miles away. Space is really, really big.

I've seen a few patients with it. Its called "Caudal Regression." It is often fatal if there is also major involvement of bladder/bowel function, but if those are intact, people with it are surprisingly normal, just don't have legs/pelvis. Don't know what causes it in most cases, but appears to be related to maternal diabetes in some.

Spelling is impotent

Cyanide&Happiness is just about the first website I check every morning. Their recent "depressing comic week" was sheer brilliance.