To the mailbag!

One of the joys of freakblogging is that, after a while, you no longer have to go looking for stories. They just show up in your inbox.

Squick Factor 11: iWorm!

Doctors at a clinic in Kragujevac, central Serbia, have removed an 11 centimetre-long intestinal worm from a woman's eye socket. According to preliminary results, the worm taken from the 37-year-old patient's eye belongs to the Ascaris family, a common intestinal parasite in pigs that is also found in humans. [...] The parasite had probably travelled through the patient's blood from the digestive tract into the eye socket, doctors at the clinic believe. (h/t: Gaijin Biker)

In America, "eat a bowl of dicks" is an insult. In China, it's the waiter's recommendation.

For beginners, Miss Zhu recommended the hotpot, which offers a sampling of what the restaurant has to offer - six types of penis, and four of testicle, boiled in chicken stock by the waitress, Liu Yunyang, 22. The Russian dog was first. It was julienned, and rather gamey. The ox was, of all six, the most recognisable for what it was, even though it had been diced. In texture seemed identical to gristle. The deer and the Mongolian goat were surprisingly similar: a little stringy, they had the appearance and feel of overcooked squid tentacles. The Xinjiang horse and the donkey, on the other hand, were quite different. Though both came sliced lengthwise, and looked like bacon, the horse was light and fatty, while the donkey had a firm colour and taste. The testicles were slightly crumbly, and tasted better with lashings of the sesame, soy and chilli dips thoughtfully provided. One speciality, Canadian seal penis, costs a hefty £220, and requires ordering in advance. [Bonus: the article has pictures! -'r] (h/t: Matt Harvey)

Hats of Meat!

The expression “I’ll eat my hat” traces back as far as the 19th century, usually credited to Abraham Lincoln in reference to one of his trademark stovepipe hats, which were often made of tenderloin. The popularity of meat hats began to fade in the twentieth century, especially during the depression of the 1930’s. Indeed, few people had the luxury of wearing meat on their heads, needing instead to feed their families with it. Hats of meat remained ostensibly out of favor with Americans during the forties and fifties as well, despite its popularity among certain sects of the well-to-do. (h/t: KJ)

Less threatening than The Matrix, I suppose.

A bright yellow slime mould that can grow to several metres in diameter has been put in charge of a scrabbling, six-legged robot. The Physarum polycephalum slime, which naturally shies away from light, controls the robot's movement so that it too keeps out of light and seeks out dark places in which to hide itself. [...] They grew slime in a six-pointed star shape on top of a circuit and connected it remotely, via a computer, to the hexapod bot. Any light shone on sensors mounted on top of the robot were used to control light shone onto one of the six points of the circuit-mounted mould – each corresponding to a leg of the bot. As the slime tried to get away from the light its movement was sensed by the circuit and used to control one of the robot's six legs. The robot then scrabbled away from bright lights as a mechanical embodiment of the mould. (h/t: cw)

By the way, I've been just terrible about answering email recently because I've been swamped with work and receiving an unholy amount of mail. Despite how it might seem, I still love you all. And to prove it, I give you Dick Cheney playing Folsom County Prison.

Update: Cheney's Got a Gun, via the inimitable BitchPhD.