PSoTD

And cut in half.

Scientists have dredged up the oldest known living creature and have called it Ming.

According to reports, the 405-year-old clam (for it is that kind of mollusc) has not been named for the ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats, but for the Ming Dynasty which ruled China when it was young. The clam is so old that during its youth Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was penning his famous works.

The ocean quahog clam was dredged up off the coast of Iceland, and researchers calculated its age by counting the rings on its shell.

...

Sadly, since being discovered by science, Ming has popped its clogs. We can conclude from this that to live a long and healthy life, it would be advisable for a person to avoid being sliced in two by someone intent on counting one's rings.

I think there's a Clams Casino joke in here somewhere but out of respect for Ming, I'm clamming up.

Every year I see stories like this:

BigPumpkins.com congratulates Joe Jutras on his 1689 pound pumpkin weighed at the Topsfield Fair GPC weigh-off in Topsfield, MA on September 29, 2007.

I have questions about growing such a pumpkin.

1 - What is the pumpkin used for, afterwards?
2 - What is the cost to grow such a pumpkin, per pound?
3 - Does USDA provide financial support to grow gigantic pumpkins?

Heading north, due to global warming.

Bluetongue, an insect-borne virus that affects goats, sheep and cattle, is spreading fast through Europe and may become endemic in many European Union countries, the bloc's top public health official said Tuesday.

Once present only in southern Europe, the disease has recently been detected in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Britain, and the spread shows no signs of stopping, EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said. Some 14,000 outbreaks have been registered in this region this year alone, he said.

Bluetongue is not harmful to humans, but can be fatal for ruminant animals, especially sheep. It is transmitted by certain species of midges — small flies — once common only in Mediterranean climes. Experts say the insect has moved further north due to global warming. Various new forms of the virus have been detected in the EU.

'Tis the season.