I left my home to disappear is all

Two new polymers have been discovered by IBM researchers, apparently completely by accident. They haven't been officially named yet, but are going by the code names of "Titan", a super-strong, light chained polymer, and "Hydro", a polymer that dissolves back into a goo state when exposed to acidic water (making it ideal for recyclable plastic applications).

In the meantime, astronomers observing Jupiter have noted that the Great Red Spot--in reality a giant storm thousands of miles wide--seems to be shrinking. No one's sure why yet, but it's the smallest it's been in over one hundred years.

This will shred your heart, but it's so worth the listen: redhandmedia's spoken-word film of Ryan Red Corn's poem, Bad Indians:

i am armed to the teeth with words from the ivory tower
and those good indians told me its borrowed power if...
if i talk loud enough
if i talk clear enough
that i would be heard
that for some talking is singing
that for some singing is praying
but i guess that depends on who is doing the talking
and i guess that depends on who is doing the listening

Moving from reality to myth, archeologists in Suffolk believe they might have found Black Shuck, buried under Leiston Abbey in England. They're going to carbon-date the bones, which may or may not prove anything, but even if it was some abbot's hunting dog, the bones equate to an animal that would have seven feet tall on its hind legs, and weighed over two hundred pounds.

Whether it's the legendary Hell Hound or not, it's an impressive--and old--animal.

In the meantime, UKIP--or the UK Independence Party--is coming under fire on two fronts. Firstly, a Facebook comment left by politician John Lyndon Sullivan that directly attacks gay citizens for, essentially, being gay--with the pointed line of wondering how quickly they'd drop the purported act of being gay if one of them was shot (and presumed slain). Which is bizarre enough, but then Nigel Farage, leader of the party, goes on a radio interview to defend the inherent stupidity of the things being said (and done) with the traditional "I don't know this guy" defense.

This from the party who--infamously--has an intense prejudice against immigrants, and yet hired a firm with exclusively Eastern European immigrants to pass out election leaflets for them. Why? Because that firm was willing to work for far less than anyone else.

I'm fine with cost effectiveness, but it does seem intensely hypocritical to decry immigrants on one hand and hire them on the other. One endorses, one pushes aside. Can one effectively hold both positions at once?

Finally, have the Twitter joke that was five years in the making. Beautifully played, indeed.