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	<title>Comments on: Big Ears</title>
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	<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/</link>
	<description>Random samplings from a universe of ideas.</description>
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		<title>By: Katie</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16647</link>
		<dc:creator>Katie</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jun 2006 19:15:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16647</guid>
		<description>Well i would just like to point out that the rural were-rabbit is indeed a real rabbit. I live in Alnwick, about 6 miles from felton and I know Rael who ran over it.
We are not crazy at the very north east of England. This is true.
=]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well i would just like to point out that the rural were-rabbit is indeed a real rabbit. I live in Alnwick, about 6 miles from felton and I know Rael who ran over it.<br />
We are not crazy at the very north east of England. This is true.<br />
=]</p>
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		<title>By: chloe</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16662</link>
		<dc:creator>chloe</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:45:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16662</guid>
		<description>i think he&#039;s beautiful! i wanted one until i read how much he eats (omg) and thought of how expensive it would be to keep one, i think i&#039;ll stick with the rabbits i have now, a chinchilla and a lop</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>i think he&#8217;s beautiful! i wanted one until i read how much he eats (omg) and thought of how expensive it would be to keep one, i think i&#8217;ll stick with the rabbits i have now, a chinchilla and a lop</p>
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		<title>By: Jeff Nuttall</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16661</link>
		<dc:creator>Jeff Nuttall</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Jun 2006 04:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16661</guid>
		<description>&lt;I&gt;THem! Not giant ants, but giant rabbits.&lt;/I&gt;

You mean like &lt;a HREF=&quot;http://www.agonybooth.com/lepus/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;this&lt;/A&gt;?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><i>THem! Not giant ants, but giant rabbits.</i></p>
<p>You mean like <a HREF="http://www.agonybooth.com/lepus/" rel="nofollow">this</a>?</p>
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		<title>By: peter</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16660</link>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jun 2006 23:19:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16660</guid>
		<description>The Guardian: originally a northern English newspaper (Manchester) before going all metrosexual and moving to London

Wallace and Grommit: northern.

The were-rabbit (real): terrorising northern recreational vegetable growers.  Up north we take our vegetable growing seriously, and have competitions in which brother falls out with brother over who has grown the best onion/leek/green thing. People have been shot, and worse yet not spoken to or bought  a pint for some weeks.  Exotic excrement, blood, petrochemicals, radioactive waste, things bought on the black market have all been sprinkled on veg patches (often under cover of darkness) to produce a bigger/glossier/better tasting vegetable.  I am not making this up.  Except maybe the radioactive waste.  I used to work in a Yorkshire pub where a nearby old gaffer would sit at his open bedroom window with a loaded shotgun and regularly fire across the village main street at birds of rabbits that looks lustfully at his prize onions.

When no such armed guard exists you get fat, well-fed rabbits up here and the fact that such a mongo Bugs Bunny was found makes me think maybe I was right about the radioactive waste.  THem!  Not giant ants, but giant rabbits.  That&#039;s all folks.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Guardian: originally a northern English newspaper (Manchester) before going all metrosexual and moving to London</p>
<p>Wallace and Grommit: northern.</p>
<p>The were-rabbit (real): terrorising northern recreational vegetable growers.  Up north we take our vegetable growing seriously, and have competitions in which brother falls out with brother over who has grown the best onion/leek/green thing. People have been shot, and worse yet not spoken to or bought  a pint for some weeks.  Exotic excrement, blood, petrochemicals, radioactive waste, things bought on the black market have all been sprinkled on veg patches (often under cover of darkness) to produce a bigger/glossier/better tasting vegetable.  I am not making this up.  Except maybe the radioactive waste.  I used to work in a Yorkshire pub where a nearby old gaffer would sit at his open bedroom window with a loaded shotgun and regularly fire across the village main street at birds of rabbits that looks lustfully at his prize onions.</p>
<p>When no such armed guard exists you get fat, well-fed rabbits up here and the fact that such a mongo Bugs Bunny was found makes me think maybe I was right about the radioactive waste.  THem!  Not giant ants, but giant rabbits.  That&#8217;s all folks.</p>
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		<title>By: Jeff Nuttall</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16650</link>
		<dc:creator>Jeff Nuttall</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 May 2006 00:59:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16650</guid>
		<description>&lt;I&gt;That rabbit is massive and 7.7kg isn&#039;t that much really.&lt;/I&gt;

Actually, that weight seems about right to me.  The rabbit&#039;s about three feet tall on its hind legs.  A fair weight for a six-foot-tall human is about 160 lb.  If the rabbit&#039;s half the &quot;height&quot;, then--assuming equal proportions (for the sake of simplicity)--it&#039;s about one eighth the weight, or about twenty pounds.  That&#039;s a little more than the weight given, but not much.  (Keep in mind the rabbit is probably nowhere near as bulky as it looks in the photo--most of that is (relatively light) fur.)  Of course, the assumption of equal proportions definitely introduces some inaccuracy, since a rabbit certainly isn&#039;t just a scaled-down human, but it&#039;s not clear to me which way the inaccuracy is--is a rabbit built more or less lightly than a human?  (Being smaller in size, it can get away with proportionately thinner bones, for one thing...)

&lt;I&gt;The image of the newspaper report says he is 40kg, but snopes go on to say he is 18lbs.&lt;/I&gt;

That&#039;s an interesting discrepancy I didn&#039;t notice, but note that the image does &lt;I&gt;not&lt;/I&gt; necessarily come from a &quot;newspaper report&quot;--it&#039;s not attributed, and the text on the image may not be from a reliable source.  On the other hand, the &quot;18 lbs.&quot; figure &lt;I&gt;is&lt;/I&gt; quoted from a newspaper report (assuming Snopes quoted it correctly).  Frankly, the 18 lbs. figure makes much more sense--keeping in mind, again, that weight scales as the cube of the linear dimensions, 40 kg would be &lt;I&gt;way&lt;/I&gt; too much for a rabbit that size to weigh!  (I&#039;m guessing the discrepancy probably came about through an erroneous English-metric conversion...after all, 18 kg is about equal to 40 lb., so that&#039;s what the numbers would come out to if the conversion was done the wrong way around.)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><i>That rabbit is massive and 7.7kg isn&#8217;t that much really.</i></p>
<p>Actually, that weight seems about right to me.  The rabbit&#8217;s about three feet tall on its hind legs.  A fair weight for a six-foot-tall human is about 160 lb.  If the rabbit&#8217;s half the &#8220;height&#8221;, then&#8211;assuming equal proportions (for the sake of simplicity)&#8211;it&#8217;s about one eighth the weight, or about twenty pounds.  That&#8217;s a little more than the weight given, but not much.  (Keep in mind the rabbit is probably nowhere near as bulky as it looks in the photo&#8211;most of that is (relatively light) fur.)  Of course, the assumption of equal proportions definitely introduces some inaccuracy, since a rabbit certainly isn&#8217;t just a scaled-down human, but it&#8217;s not clear to me which way the inaccuracy is&#8211;is a rabbit built more or less lightly than a human?  (Being smaller in size, it can get away with proportionately thinner bones, for one thing&#8230;)</p>
<p><i>The image of the newspaper report says he is 40kg, but snopes go on to say he is 18lbs.</i></p>
<p>That&#8217;s an interesting discrepancy I didn&#8217;t notice, but note that the image does <i>not</i> necessarily come from a &#8220;newspaper report&#8221;&#8211;it&#8217;s not attributed, and the text on the image may not be from a reliable source.  On the other hand, the &#8220;18 lbs.&#8221; figure <i>is</i> quoted from a newspaper report (assuming Snopes quoted it correctly).  Frankly, the 18 lbs. figure makes much more sense&#8211;keeping in mind, again, that weight scales as the cube of the linear dimensions, 40 kg would be <i>way</i> too much for a rabbit that size to weigh!  (I&#8217;m guessing the discrepancy probably came about through an erroneous English-metric conversion&#8230;after all, 18 kg is about equal to 40 lb., so that&#8217;s what the numbers would come out to if the conversion was done the wrong way around.)</p>
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		<title>By: Brad</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16651</link>
		<dc:creator>Brad</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 May 2006 00:45:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16651</guid>
		<description>You might even call it a Shaq-rabbit...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You might even call it a Shaq-rabbit&#8230;</p>
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		<title>By: andy.s</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16652</link>
		<dc:creator>andy.s</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 May 2006 23:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16652</guid>
		<description>Guys, neither of those are were-rabbits.

Were-rabbit doesn&#039;t mean &quot;A really big honkin&#039; rabbit&quot;.  It means a man who turns into a rabbit, like were-wolf means a man who becomes a wolf.

See the answers.com page for &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.answers.com/werewolf&amp;r=67&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;werewolf&lt;/a&gt; for a derivation.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Guys, neither of those are were-rabbits.</p>
<p>Were-rabbit doesn&#8217;t mean &#8220;A really big honkin&#8217; rabbit&#8221;.  It means a man who turns into a rabbit, like were-wolf means a man who becomes a wolf.</p>
<p>See the answers.com page for <a href="http://www.answers.com/werewolf&amp;r=67" rel="nofollow">werewolf</a> for a derivation.</p>
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		<title>By: Supernova</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16648</link>
		<dc:creator>Supernova</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 May 2006 23:09:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16648</guid>
		<description>hee hee, spyder...  this is no ordinary rabbit!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>hee hee, spyder&#8230;  this is no ordinary rabbit!</p>
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		<title>By: spyder</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16649</link>
		<dc:creator>spyder</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 May 2006 20:06:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16649</guid>
		<description>i really can&#039;t help it now can i???
but there is something huge and possibly very nasty about that rabbit--sharp teeth??

BROTHER MAYNARD

Armaments Chapter Two Verses Nine to Twenty One.

 ANOTHER MONK

 And St.  Attila raised his hand grenade up on high saying
&quot;O Lord bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow
 thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy. &quot;and the Lord did grin and
 people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies
 and orang-utans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and...

BROTHER MAYNARD

Skip a bit brother ...

 ANOTHER MONK

... Er ... oh, yes ... and the Lord spake, saying, &quot;First shalt thou
 take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more,
 no less.  Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the
 number of the counting shalt be three.
Four shalt thou not count,  neither count thou two,
excepting that thou then proceed to three.
 Five is right out.
Once the number three, being the third number,
be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
 towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>i really can&#8217;t help it now can i???<br />
but there is something huge and possibly very nasty about that rabbit&#8211;sharp teeth??</p>
<p>BROTHER MAYNARD</p>
<p>Armaments Chapter Two Verses Nine to Twenty One.</p>
<p> ANOTHER MONK</p>
<p> And St.  Attila raised his hand grenade up on high saying<br />
&#8220;O Lord bless this thy hand grenade that with it thou mayest blow<br />
 thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy. &#8220;and the Lord did grin and<br />
 people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies<br />
 and orang-utans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and&#8230;</p>
<p>BROTHER MAYNARD</p>
<p>Skip a bit brother &#8230;</p>
<p> ANOTHER MONK</p>
<p>&#8230; Er &#8230; oh, yes &#8230; and the Lord spake, saying, &#8220;First shalt thou<br />
 take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more,<br />
 no less.  Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the<br />
 number of the counting shalt be three.<br />
Four shalt thou not count,  neither count thou two,<br />
excepting that thou then proceed to three.<br />
 Five is right out.<br />
Once the number three, being the third number,<br />
be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch<br />
 towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.</p>
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		<title>By: Samantha</title>
		<link>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/comment-page-1/#comment-16659</link>
		<dc:creator>Samantha</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 May 2006 15:46:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/05/26/big-ears/#comment-16659</guid>
		<description>No no no - think what has been possible when breeding dogs - the Germans were just being practical: they bred a big rabbit because it made them better for eating.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No no no &#8211; think what has been possible when breeding dogs &#8211; the Germans were just being practical: they bred a big rabbit because it made them better for eating.</p>
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