Recently by E. A. Blair

As animal weaponry improves, its lethality declines. Seems a bit paradoxical.

Be sure to check out the NY Times up close slide show of beetle weaponry.

Dr. Emlen noticed a tendency for weapons to start out small, like mere bumps of bone, and then to evolve to more ornate form. The small weapons are actually quite destructive since their only role is to attack other males. But the more baroque weapons, even though they look more fearsome, seem to cause lesser loss of life.

The reason is that the more menacing weapons have often acquired a signaling role. Instead of risking their lives in mortal combat, males can assess each other's strengths by sizing up a rival's weapons, and decline combat if they seem outclassed. The ornate weapons also lend themselves to ritualized combat in which males may lock horns and assess each other's strength without wounding each other.

As mentioned on Friday, the Kentucky high school basketball championships included little Elliott County (32-2) trying to pull off a modern day Hoosier-esque run through the state tournament. Their run came up short after falling to the eventual champ Covington Holmes (36-2) in the semifinals on Saturday.

Teddy Atlas breaks down, what has become a strange and underwhelming boxing heavy weight division. I guess that's what happens when the top two contendors in the division just so happen to be brothers who have vowed to never face each other. It doesn't help that the American amateur farm system is depleted. My guess is that MMA has something to do with that.

Down in Kentucky Elliot County (31-2) plays today in the second round of the Kentucky State Basketball Championships against Shelby Valley (31-4). Why is this a bid deal? Because Kentucky basketball championships are run the same way the old Indiana tournament was held. Every school, regardless of size plays in one tournament. And Elliot County only has 325 students in the entire school, placing them 211th out of 279 schools in the state.

It was 1954 when the Milan Miracle took place, Bobby Plump making the last-second shot that beat Muncie Central, and became the signature small-school triumph in Indiana high school basketball history. Three decades later, they filmed "Hoosiers," and the legend went nationwide.

Indiana has since forfeited any chance to replicate the Milan Miracle, shamefully scrapping its single-class state tournament in favor of four champions from four classifications. That leaves Kentucky and Delaware as the only remaining states to play an all-comers tournament that crowns a single champion -- and Delaware doesn't do it like Kentucky, which every March brings 16 regional winners to the state's cathedral of basketball, Rupp Arena in Lexington.

Possibly more importantly:

And in a state notorious for illegal recruiting, this is an organic power. The nucleus of this team grew up playing together and turning down whispered offers to leave for more attention at bigger schools. They've been nurtured for years by a taciturn old coach until they're now poised to defy the long odds against how far a small school can go.

So this weekend, while you are following along with March Madness be sure to check in with the March Madness taking place down in Kentucky. You just might witness history.

Via McSweeney's: Be A Nose.

Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus, creator of Wacky Packs and the Garbage Pail Kids, and father of the modern graphic novel (though hes still demanding a blood test), presents this warts-and-all reproduction of his private sketchbooks -- and the results are as candid, sharp, and funny as the relentlessly innovative man behind them. BE A NOSE! is a rare glimpse into the secret scribblings of an American original.

It has been 4 years since the last Doves album release. Kingdom of Rust, their fourth studio album is due out April 6th. The title track, 'Kingdom of Rust' is the first single and will be released March 30th. You can find the video for it on the Doves youtube page (or just look below). If this track is indicative of what we can expect on the new album then I think it's safe to say we are in for another treat from one of the best English bands that America barely knows about. Arguably one of the best period. If you can catch them live during their upcoming tour, spend the $25 and go, you will not regret it.

This is quite possibly the strangest thing I've ever seen online. On par with salad fingers. Isabella Rossellini explaining the mating process of insects and small creatures through reenactments. Start watching here. (thx simpson)

This is a bit old but count me among those that had no idea that the Phoenix Mars Lander detected snow falling from Martian clouds.

And in other NASA news, a wounded bat hitched a ride on Discovery during its most recent blast off.

As the title of the below video suggests professional bike messengers are a bit crazy.

I have a fixed gear myself and never had the courage, let alone the skill to ride through the city so carelessly and two doorings over 10 years (one not my fault and one regrettably so) have done wonders to affect any potentially detrimental courage I may have been cultivating. Minus the ability to stop quickly (as is the case on a fixed gear) these riders are relying solely on the ability to maneuver at high speeds and in tight confines to avoid accidents.

Just yesterday I was riding up Walnut Street on the right side of a moving car in the center lane as a messenger was on the left side of the same car. That car, without using any turn single, abruptly pulled left into a parking garage entrance and ran the messenger off the road. Fortunately he didn't crash and no one was hurt. But as you can see below, accidents still occur. In this case, it appears to be the fault of a reckless cyclist who attempts to cut across the front right bumper of a moving van. Though it is admittedly hard to tell.

Timothy Egan from the NY Times lays out the case for Hoopsteria during these troubled times.

Which lead me to discover that March Madness is also Vasectomy season.