[b]Mary Roach
Human remains dogs are distinct from the dogs that search for escaped felons and the dogs that search for whole cadavers. They are trained to alert their owners when they detect the specific scents of decomposed human tissue. They can pinpoint the location of a corpse at the bottom of a lake by sniffing the water’s surface for the gases and fats that float up from the rotting remains. They can detect the lingering scent molecules of a decomposing body up to fourteen months after the killer lugged it away.[/b]
Imagine this from the dog’s point of view.
Any discussion of the sexuality of the digestive tract must inevitably touch on the anus. Anal tissue is among the most densely innervated on the human body. It has to be. It requires a lot of information to do its job. The anus has to be able to tell what’s knocking at its door: Is it solid, liquid, or gas? And then selectively release either all of it or one part of it. The consequences of a misread are dire. As Mike Jones put it, You don’t want to choose poorly. People who understand anatomy are often cowed by the feats of the lowly anus. Think of it, said Robert Rosenbluth, a physician whose acquaintance I made at the start of this book. No engineer could design something as multifunctional and fine-tuned as an anus. To call someone an asshole is really bragging him up.
Not counting the assholes here of course.
No one goes out to play anymore. Simulation is becoming reality.
You either understand this [really understand it] or you don’t.
Penguins can shut down digestion by lowering the temperature inside their stomach to the point where the gastric juices are no longer active. The stomach becomes a kind of cooler to carry home the fish they’ve caught for their young. Penguins’ hunting grounds may be several days’ journey from the nest. Without this handy refrigerated mode, the swallowed fish would be completely digested by the time the adults get back.
Nature: Nothing short of astounding.
Women who routinely have orgasm in intercourse without explicit clitoral stimulation all say that it makes little difference what the guy does, as long as he doesn’t come too soon.
He thought: Let’s not go there.
Every now and then in life, a compliment is tucked so seamlessly into a insult that it’s impossible to know how to react.
And trust me: Practice makes perfect.