Many have been shaken by the threat that Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ poses to certain religious ideologies but, evidently, none so shaken as Darwin himself.  Read the article.

A recent game of ‘would you rather’ with Carrie triggered an internet voyage through the abyss of bad (awesome?) tattoos. And with what bountiful booty have I returned to share.

Speaking of bountiful booty, I chose the easiest point of departure for the onset of my journey: the tramp stamp. I found this to be disorienting territory with each vestige more puzzling than the last. But I persevered on to fairer blue
waters (blue as this guy’s tattooed blue eyeball) where I happened upon a fascinating ( <– ok, seriously, if you only look at one of these look at this one) people who have developed innovative ways to interact with their physical terrain. I was taken by the extreme conditions that these tribal people face every day of their lives.

Ok, so this is where my expedition took a change of course as I got WAY too into mugshots (apparently thesmokinggun.com will keep me ‘busy’ for hours.)

As for ink, I came across a lot of these (seriously, who gets those?) There were also a few masterpieces I left out for the sake of our pre-adolescent bruceblog regulars. But if you’re interested and can figure out how to disable your netnanny, google image ‘homer simpson tattoo’ and ‘zen pretzel dragon tattoo.’ (You’re google filter should also be off.)

And finally, were there a Bruce Blog ‘Eternal Regrets 2009’ prom, well… may I present your King and Queen.

Cultural etiquette can be a tricky thing.   Gestural greetings are no exception and can differ greatly from culture to culture.  People in Thailand greet with the Wai, placing palms together, fingers pointing up, with the head slightly bowed.  The Chinese use a slight nod and bow of the head while Egyptians greet with a handshake followed by a touch on the elbow.  Botching any one of these can be embarrassing and even inadvertently insulting.  Which is why I always try to offer patience and assistance to those with a desire to adapt to the social norms of my culture.  Sometimes barriers of communication can be as simple as technique.  This leads me to the topic for todays post – my favorite platonic physical communication: the high five.

    

While personal style is a key element of an impressive mitt-hit, all too often is the attempt made to do the strut before the crawl.  Such a mistake can often sacrifice valuable thenar (palm muscle) contact, which is no good for anyone.   

So at this point you may be wondering, “How DO I deliver a righteous fiver every time?”   

The answer is simple really. Scope the ‘bow.  That’s right.  For consistent sonic booms that will make you wish you had a reason to keep on walking, keep your eye on the approaching elbow.  Never again will you suffer from disappointing babypats when you’re 178 gigaton up-highs are leaving cool-dust debris on the palms of their beneficiaries.  And when you’ve got enough cool that it exfoliates, you’re cryogenic.  So practice a few times on you’re little brother and when I see you, you know what I want.  Let’s do ‘dis like Brutus.   

On a related note, look out for Gimme Five: History of a Handshake, “an independently produced video documentary examining the history and origin of the handshake a.k.a. daps, pounds, grips and soul shakes.”