Sort-of memes that are cracking you up at the moment

It could be argued that extreme feelings of empathy towards amimals of a different species are a recent evolutionary quirk, misplaced and unnatural.

If it were recent, it would be cultural rather than evolutionary, since humans have barely evolved in 200,000 years. In neither case would it be unnatural. It might be pointless, in either case, but that's another matter.

Really, though, our empathy for some kinds of animal over others is not recent but it is evolved. Babies are not much like adult humans, but if we are not instinctively inclined to look after them, our species is fucked. The more an animal looks like a human baby, the more likely we are to feel empathy for it. Monkeys do very well from this, but so do puppies and Manga characters, because they share aspects of facial topology which cue the response, even if the overall shape doesn't look very human.

You make a good point about facial topology. The big round eyes and the baby like proportions cause that knee jerk "awww its so cute" reaction, 'misplaced' in the sense that it's function is to urge us to nurture children. Until fairly recently in our history, nearly all domesticated animals performed the function of food, transport or labour and would not have elicited this reaction.

Don't really know where this belongs but...

i posted that ages ago, on the Wyley Valley

Shall we get them all out of the way at once?
http://www.i-r-genius.com/rudeplaces.html
http://www.anglotopia.net/ultimate-list-of-funny-british-place-names/

Ornate.

It's an ambition of mine to compile knob drawings in a book

Cock and balls graffiti is a world wide common denominator. I have C&B photo's I've taken from at least 20 different countries.

That didn't sound as weird in my head as it looks written down.

Is that Dammit on the right?

nah, imagine how heavy that is

That is artistic.

I love the wooly main, looks like a ram's back

mane...

Cock and balls as done by Molly Crabapple.

The women is pulling a face like once of those arquard zoo pictures you have taken with an animal on your shoulder.

Would totally frame that.

Can't really crapcrop it any closer.

You can make it much more obvious with dodge and burn.

You can make it much more obvious with dog and bum.

.

Cock and balls graffiti is a world wide common denominator. I have C&B photo's I've taken from at least 20 different countries.

That didn't sound as weird in my head as it looks written down.

Here is a friends website devoted to the cause... www.dicktime.tumblr.com