Forgiving is Forgetting

Just came across this on the recent vote in the UN General Assembly denouncing the US embargo on Cuba. The vote was unanimous184-4, the four being the US, Israel, Palau, and Marshall Islands and Micronesia abstained.

We're currently watching a video in class on the Cuban missile crisis and the more I've learned about the whole affair (namely CIA involvement to overthrow Castro) the less my sympathy has been on the side of the US, so for me I just don't understand why we still have an embargo...

Plenty of youtube videos available on the web if you're interested.

I think I remember this one being a decent one

Bay of Pigs:
Part 1, Part 2

Changing Our Perspective Towards Africa

Over the course of history the continent of Africa and its inhabitants have taken on numerous images and meanings in the eyes of the Western world. It has been the “Dark Continent” a rugged land of exoticism and savagery, which caused a mass of European explorers and expeditions, adventurers and thrill seekers to migrate to the mysterious continent, who then wrote books and letters home which fueled the African trope of barbarism and primitiveness amongst the ‘civilized’ citizens of Europe. It has been a helpless continent, ravaged by war, raped by poverty, and pillaged by disease and hunger, undeveloped and salvageable only by the advanced wealthy civilizations who are capable of fixing and rescuing it, which inspired a call to aid and assistance, propagandized by the media and popularized by celebrities such as Bono and Angelina Jolie. But in more recent years Africa has taken on yet another image, a new meaning, particularly in the eyes of the United States, it has become a national security risk.

“Africa Emerges as a Strategic Battleground” is the headline of the article by Wall Street Journalist Frederick Kempe, who suggests that the true motivation behind the US administration’s recent significant increase of aid to Africa is to combat the spread of terrorism by eliminating potential regions or environments out of which terrorism tends to emerge and take root. This notion of an increasingly volatile national threat emerging in Africa stems from the characterization that “great swaths of Africa are lawless, corrupt and bitterly poor”, a characterization which produces the conclusion that Africa is, therefore, “an ideal breeding ground for extremists.” But the domino reaction does not stop there since this very conclusion inspires a solution offered by the US in the form of engagement and intervention. Thus aid and assistance by organizations such as the U.N., IMF, and World Bank are increased and the U.S. now has a comforting justification for meddling in the affairs of African politics, economics, and society (and the beat goes on).

In his article Kempe provides an acute quote, which sums up the new role Africa plays in US foreign policy, when he quotes U.S. Gen. James Jones saying “Africa plays an increased strategic role militarily, economically and politically…We have to become more agile in terms of being able to compete in this environment.” This mindset is clearly a binary, black and white one, since it implies that a failure to be ‘king of the mountain’ in Africa politically, economically, and militarily, would be a national security disaster for the U.S.—whose safety is now directly linked to Africa’s stability. And as US involvement in Africa increases, so, too, do its interests. “In the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa -- through which 15% of U.S. oil imports flow, a figure expected to rise to some 25% in the next decade -- Gen. Jones sees a more lasting maritime presence to protect against piracy and bunkering, or the widespread siphoning of oil from pipelines.”

In order to maintain its pursuit and protection of its regional interests the US must emphasize the popular characterization or meme of Africa being a victim of underdevelopment, a place that is ridden by poverty, lawlessness, disease and starvation, in order to justify its involvement within the continent. This is comparable to the priest who teaches his parish that they are all abhorrent sinners destined for eternal punishment, unless they accept God and Jesus as their saviors—only then are they saved. Or better yet, a person who walks around cutting people with a razor blade in order to sell them a bandage. The point is that the US offers a solution to a problem of its own-making!

Journalists such as Kempe and many others (if you don’t believe me just scan the news coming out of Africa and see if you notice a theme) assist and even promulgate this sentiment of the need to assist Africa, making it our obligation, because we are wealthy and advanced and they are poor and primitive. I will agree that equality is something to be strived for and we, members raised in Western culture, are obviously indoctrinated with these Lockean values, and as a result have a missionary zeal and sense of duty to go out and eradicate inequality and injustice in other countries, but we must be careful that these enthusiasms and zestful aspirations are not solely serving the interests of our state. For it seems true that in the 20th century the inherent values of individual equal rights, political representation, and social justice have all been merely side affects of the United States protecting and increasing its material interests.

If we continue to view Africa through the popularized view in the media and amongst the general public as being our sickly patient, who is helpless without us, then we will continue to feel justified in the political prescriptions we give and the economic remedies we offer. Africa will continue to be dependent on our aid and assistance and it will most likely never develop into a healthy, stable, and sustainable independent continent—it will, to carry the metaphor further, never get better. But if we change the way we see Africa, denude ourselves of the mischaracterizations and misconceptions that have plagued our policy decisions and attitude towards Africa, then perhaps, just maybe, we will start seeing Africa get its color back, its elan vital, and it will finally become the healthy, sustainable, and stable continent—which we so often forget—that it wants to be and not the Africa—supported by the mass media, journalists like Kempe, and the US administration, whose importance is solely constituted by its strategic significance--that we want it to be.



Article link found here

Japanese Television: The Paragon of Entertainment

Enjoy!

Japanese Spa Prank


Here's one of my personal favorites. It combines learning English with aerobics, a ridiculous looking mugger who wields what appears to be the blunt end of a teaspoon, and a cameraman who apparently has an obsession with armpits...


Here's a sequel if you want some more laughs. = )


And lastly this gem of a game show, where participants have to take the shapes of the cutouts in the large pink foam squares that come at them or be knocked into the pool of water behind them.

There's A Reason 'Panache' Is A French Word

La Blogotheque is a fabulous place to find some your favorite artists or bands--Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens, etc.--playing live & unplugged in various settings (in the streets, on rooftops, in cafes and elevators) and in various towns and cities.

Here are a few of my favorite videos that are posted on the website:

Sufjan Stevens - The Lakes of Canada

#50.2 - Sufjan Stevens (MusicNow) - The lakes of Canada
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible and Wake Up

#41 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible & Wake Up
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Beirut - Nantes

#64.1 - Beirut - Nantes
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Andrew Bird - Spare-Oh

#45.3 - Andrew Bird - Spare-Oh
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Cali - La Fin Du Monde

#30.3 - CALI - La fin du monde
Uploaded by lablogotheque

A Question Mark In The Desert Sands of Syria (so big you can see it from Space!)

The mysteries surrounding the Israeli strike on a Syrian "structure" seem to be blossoming exponentially as more information concerning the incident is slowly being leaked.

There's myriad theories and speculations that are bouncing around on the web, but here are two trust-worthy sources that I recommend you consult if you're interested in the matter:

Jeffery Lewis, Director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative at the New America Foundation, has been dedicating a lot of his posts lately to this topic, over at Arms Control Wonk, and his most recent post is particularly intersting (as are the comments to the post).

Also the China Matters blog has a number of posts found here, here, and here, that you should check out if you're interested in sifting through the sediment of rumors and hypothesis' in the pursuit of a golden nugget of truth. ; - )

Why Do Leaves Blush Red In The Fall?

I was going to write an entire post, with charming narrative backed by informative science, on this seasonal phenomenon, but after first seeing Moran's very informative post on Sandwalk, I was a bit hesitant, but decided I could keep my narrative and link to Sandwalk for the informative science part, but then I noticed that even Carl Zimmer was jumping on the leaf-changing bandwagon by adding his two cents (in video format!) on ABC news, and so I felt like a post on the matter would merely be a voice amongst the choir.

Check out the links, in the meantime Ill be preparing my post for next year's fall season, since by that time you will most likely have forgotten why leaves turn red and I will happily remind you by reposting.

It certainly seems like leaf-changing stories appear every Fall and I can only suspect that it is because we secretly believe that if we don't explain why leaves, every Fall, change to the colors that they do, well, one day the leaves just might decide not to change colors and fall. One can never be too sure what leaves are scheming.

So the next time your walking down the sidewalk underneath the cover of tree branches and you happen to gaze upwards towards those rustling leaves, ask yourself "I wonder what those leaves are scheming?" But be aware that the guy walking behind you will most likely be thinking to himself "what the heck is this guy in front of me gawking at?" Which is your cue to scuttle off down the sidewalk like a leaf sailing on a strong autumn wind. ; - )


**Update: Zimmer made a post today, Oct 31st, with extra links to past posts and a NYtimes article he wrote, click here to view)

A Voyage Through The Mind and To Its Center

Neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran and author of Phantoms in the Brain, gave a recent talk in March at the TED conference, which has just recently been posted on their website.

By exploring the intriguing mental changes that can occur as a result of either anatomical amputations, such as phantom limb pain, or because of brain-damage, such as the Capgras delusion (the conviction that friends and family, when seen visually, are imposters) or synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), Ramachandran uncovers and exploits innovative theories which make a palliative effort to not only cure, but uncover how, exactly, the mindbrain works.

Recent Study Finds Obesity Linked To Headlessness

Posting breadth will be relatively light this week, since I have a few school-related projects that I need to focus on, but I will certainly continue to post the more short and sweet posts, such as this shocking new study (which is accompanied by numerous photos of evidence)...


(reminded me of the ice-cream-sales:murder-rate-increase causal link, which overlooks summertime weather being a factor)

Enjoy!

Unbelievable College Football Play

This has got to be one of the most redonkulous plays Ive seen in college football...I think I counted at least 15 laterals.

Trinity vs. Millsaps:


(P.S. I recommend muting the two obnoxious announcers' voices)

Iran...the next Iraq in the on going War on Error?

As the California wildfires slowly burned out into cold embers the world's attention has, once again, been redirected to the United States' apparent desire to respond to a long perceived threat, Iran, for their continuous pursuit of enriching uranium and meddling with our affairs in Iraq, like training and funding militias who are (according to intelligence reports and military personnel) killing our troops, despite the potential risk involved in an aerial attack or, less likely, ground invasion, which could ignite a larger regional conflagration in the Middle East.

The war drums have been a slow and steady, but persistent beat, which isn't surprising to me, since it seems the entire Iraq invasion was premised on eventually taking out the Iranian regime--a long sought after but apparently unattainable goal of the US administration. The strategy behind the overthrow of Hussein was part of the project of a New Middle East, which would be based on the shining economically and politically successful, and US assisted, example of Iraq. The plan, however, was slightly derailed when, following the invasion and takeover of Baghdad, the Iraqi army was disbanded, Hussein's regime and statue was toppled, (a beautifully staged media extravaganza), and chaos, insecurity, and instability gradually and then exponentially ensued. Iran was thus temporarily out of military toppling sight and the burdens of occupation, a historically unsuccessful endeavor, began to emerge and grow like a cancerous tumor on the US' foreign policy strategy.

But the US administration never removed regime change in Iran from its rhetorical arsenal, as was shown when Iran was lumped in with Iraq and North Korea in the "Axis of Evil." And I would just like to point out, since it seems obvious to me, the blatant lesson Iran learned when we invaded Iraq (a country without nuclear ambitions), but proceeded in peaceful negotiations and diplomacy with North Korea, who was pursuing and had even tested its nuclear capabilities. So to me of course Iran is going to want to continue to pursue, what it sees as, nuclear protection/insurance from a US invasion.

Another question...Did we not expect Iran, who we declared to be a part of the axis of evil, to meddle in our affairs in Iraq, a country right next to its own borders...? I mean the US literally has Iran geographically surrounded. Imagine if Iran or Russia invaded Mexico or Canada, and imagine the US was a weaker state, a state like current day Iran, would you not expect the US to still get involved and meddle with the invaders affairs in a neighboring country?

How can we threaten a country with punishment for behavior, or a particular reaction, that is a predictable state reflex?

I mean its almost like a doctor saying "If you jolt your leg, it means you slept with my wife, and I am therefore going to punch you in the groin" and then proceeding to whack you, helpless patient, on the knee with that cruel triangle-shaped hammer, causing a reflex, which justifies the doctor's claim and his belief in the right to enforce his threat of punishment. This is how absurd I think the current US stance towards Iranian behavior is, but maybe I just don't understand international politics and US foreign policy...perhaps solutions, which take into account predictable state reflexes, are not, de facto, the main focus of attention and resources...(certainly not for the US at least).

The US needs to realize that it currently has its military right hand tied behind its back in Iraq and Afghanistan, but its left hand of diplomacy is still free and certainly worth playing. I can only hope that the US exploits and plays its free hand with Iran, because if we do decide to strike, not only will it be a limited and all-together unsuccessful strike on Iran's capabilities in the long term, it would be (to carry this analogy further) a self-inflicted amputation of the aforementioned free left hand of diplomacy, which would leave us, obviously, with no hands of use at all.

Washington can point its finger at Iran all it wants, but if it does point the finger of blame at Iran, then I would just like to remind Washington that "he who points a finger at another, will have three fingers pointing back at himself."

Here's a recent debate between Neocon Norman Podhoretz, Rudy Giuliani's foreign policy adviser and Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria on The Newshour: (courtesy of TPM)



And Farideh Farhi has a post up on Informed Comment that's certainly worth reading. Found here

And lastly, Gary Samore, vice president, director of studies, and the Maurice R. Greenberg chair at the Council on Foreign Relations, gave an interesting nuclear presentation on Iran, though it seemed to have pretty strong pro-tactical-strike against Iran undertones, last month at the New America Foundation, but I thought the presentation accurately showed how little of a case we have against a tactical strike on Iran and moreover the limited setbacks to Iran an invasion by the US would ultimately have.

Splendidly Humorous Misheard Lyrics

The first is Yellow Ledbetter, by Pearl Jam, a song which I used to enjoy playing on guitar because of its sweet riff and solo, but moreover because I could merely mumble the lryics in a deep tone of voice and most people wouldn't notice/were drunk enough not to notice the difference.


The other is a fabulously entertaining Indian music video, that can only be described as ineffably funny. After watching it, I sorta wanted to change my name to Benny Lava...you'll soon see why.

Enjoy.

European Anthropology: From The Armchair of Explanatory Conjectures to the Village of Exploratory Participation.

Whenever I am at a party and asked which academic major or program I belong to and I reply--with perhaps a trace of reverence--‘Anthropology’, I have found that two responses usually ensue: 1) “Oh so you like dinosaurs” or 2) a facial contortion which may as well be in the shape of a giant question mark. It saddens me how little the general public knows about Anthropology and even the occasional person aware of the discipline is usually under the impression that it is a field of study which investigates the lives of “savages”. I think we Anthropologists are perhaps partly to blame for this severed bridge of information/awareness/knowledge between the anthropologists' mined data of rigorous research and participation and the general publics--the mere layman’s (pretentious sarcasm alert)--common understanding of the immense stock pile of cultural ore anthropologists have accumulated through this rigorous field work and data mining. Anthropologists are unfortunately in the habit of only publishing their research and findings in esteemed academic journals, which you of course have to pay to subscribe to, and as a result there seems to be a castle of isolationism that anthropologists have erected that keeps their work and approaches within the limited confinements of their own discipline. The Internet, however, seems to be tearing down these erected walls of idea-isolationism and anthropology blogs, videos, and informational links, are popping up all over the place--providing wonderfully free information on the subject of anthropology. But I digress, this post is meant to introduce a well known, enigmatic character and individual in Anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski, and explain why I think he can be thought of as one of the most significant axles of change on the European theoretical approaches to Anthropology. By reading this post you will be able to both impress students within the discipline of anthropology and fellow friends, sparing you the embarrassment of be being the token Kallikak at the next party you attend. ; - )

Born in Krakow, on April 7, 1884, Bronislaw Malinowski is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of, contributors to, and perhaps even propagandist of a method of study in Anthropology known as ethnology—the idea that in order to know a people, you actually have to spend time, living, sleeping, eating, learning the language of and participating with, the people. Prior to this radically new, systematic approach of studying a people by spending time with them and taking the time to learn their language was a more laid back, and hence aptly termed ‘armchair’ approach to the study of Anthropology. These armchair anthropologists included prominent figures such as Sir James Frazer, author of the highly influential and popular book The Golden Bowl, and Edward Burnett Tylor who made a palliative effort to dress the discipline of Anthropology up in the revered and at that time highly fashionable gown of science. Frazer popularized ideas of the mysterious 'savage' and customs of other cultures, emphasizing the romantic differences, while Tylor argued that there was a progressive upward linear evolutionary development amongst the civilizations of man from ‘savage’ to ‘civilized’ (Europeans of course being the acme of the latter category). He thought of people in the same fashion that museums organize tools, an arrow head for instance, which began as crude and blunt, but continually evolved new shapes and complexities, until it reached its most ideal state of perfection, and efficiency (Tylor obviously would have been a huge fan of the video game Civilization). The theories these anthropologists developed largely stemmed from the books that provided information collected by other individuals on other cultures, and hence was incredibly inaccurate and inconsistent, but what is important to note is that this armchair approach had a particular emphasis on explanatory theories, a piecing together of man’s evolutionary history and a mythic popularization of the ‘savage’, greatly neglecting the richness of data that existed within the actual people’s culture, not found in a book, but rather within the person and his cultural context. This change is largely due to the advent of new modes of transportation and opportunities to travel abroad and see these‘savages’ with your own eyes, which became increasingly available to European citizens around the turn of the 20th century.

One citizen in particular--who idolized the British way of life and culture and aspired to one day be amongst the respected ranks of the upper class--a student at the London School of Economics, seized upon this opportunity to travel abroad, after he had been reading many texts on, what was then a hot-spot of study for Anthropology, Australian Aborigines (such as Gillen&Spencer), and thus had the urge to, as the old adage goes, see it in order to believe it. Bronislaw Malinowski’s fame however does not stem from this particular trip, but rather his long, for historical reasons (WWI breaking out), stay with the Trobrianders on their Islands, and the valuable information that he was able to attain (most notably the Kula Ring), shattering numerous previously held theories and approaches, as a direct result of his effort to, as he put it, “grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world.”

Malinowski accomplished this aim by separating himself from the amenities he was accustomed to within his own culture by taking up residency--setting up his tent-poles--right smack dab in the middle of the Trobriander’s village.

This would seem like a very subtle change, but it turned out to have significant and revolutionary implications. There’s a good paragraph in the introduction to Malinowski’s book on the Trobrianders entitled The Argonauts of the Western Pacific which clearly outlines the personal change that occurs by taking up residence within the village of the people who you are trying to know.

As I went on my morning walk through the village, I could see intimate details of family life, of toilet, cooking, taking of meals; I could see the arrangements for the day’s work, people starting on their errands, or groups of men and women busy at some manufacturing tasks. Quarrels, jokes, family scenes, events usually trivial, sometimes dramatic, but always significant, formed the atmosphere of my daily life, as well as of theirs.

the paragraph continues and ends with a sentence which I found to be rather amusing:

It must be remembered that as the natives saw me constantly every day, they ceased to be interested or alarmed, or made self-conscious of my presence, and I ceased to be a disturbing element in the tribal life which I was to study, altering it by my very approach, as always happens with a new-corner to every savage community. In fact, as they knew that I would thrust my nose into everything, even where a well-mannered native would not dream of intruding, they finished by regarding me as part and parcel of their life, a necessary evil or nuisance, mitigated by donations of tobacco.

By embedding himself within a culture and spending a number of years taking part in the daily occurrences of that culture, Malinowski created a new way to collect information and build a better understanding of the particularities of that individual culture. But it is clear that Malinowski had personal reasons and ambitions towards a certain tier of social status and perhaps explains how, being the neurotic and intensely hypochondriac man that he was, he was able to endure the numerous years he spent in the isolation of another culture. He truly was a stranger in a strange land.
His personal diary clearly expresses his lamentations and the titles of the books he published clearly show his desire to be a celebrity of British culture by playing off of its moral reservations, with such books as Sex and Repression in Savage Societies and The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia.

After he returned from the Trobraind Islands he took up a professorship at the London School of Economics and reared an entire generation of students, who would later become the disciples of ethnology. Anthropologists such as Audrey Richards, who wrote Hunger and Work in a Savage Tribe, Monica Hunter, author of Reaction to Conquest, Bateson’s Naven, Firth’s We, the Tikopia, and finally the shining star of Malinowski’s embedded approach inherent in ethnology, Edward Evans-Pritchard, who wrote Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Azande. From here on out it was undeniable that if one wished to study and understand a particular culture one must go spend time living and interacting with that culture. New theories arose and were hotly debated and practiced—mainly variations of functionalism between Malinowski’s biological/psychological primary and secondary needs functionalism and the Durkheimien/Radcliffe-Brown structural functionalism—but all anthropologists agreed that fieldwork through participant observation was now an undeniable necessity.

Raymond Firth, a good friend of Malinowski’s, wrote these words in a posthumous evaluation of Malinowski’s work:

To his pupils, Malinowski’s stimulus lay in a combination of many qualities: his subtle power of analysis, his sincerity in facing problems, his sense of reality, his scholarly command of the literature, his capacity for integrating detail into general ideas, his brilliance and wit in handling discussions. But it was due to something more, to his liberal interpretation of the role of teacher…He and his students did no always see eye to eye. But one felt that he had a great store of wise advice, which he expressed in his own inimitably shrewd fashion. Whether he gave it soberly or flippantly, one knew that he was sympathetic, that he felt the trouble as his own. And if a crisis arose—because one could argue fiercely with him at times—he had a most disarming way of suddenly putting aside all emotion, and spreading the whole thing out on the table, as it were, for analysis of his own motives as well as those of the other person. It was this capacity for friendship and sympathy, going beyond the relations of a teacher to pupil, that helped to strengthen his attraction.(Barth, p.29 in One Discipline Four Ways)

Malinowski clearly inspired and popularized the field of anthropology, amongst his students, and amongst the larger public, but a critique often associated with Malinowski is that despite all his enthusiasms, his contributions, theoretically, were largely ad hoc. Malinowski has a more personal approach, which he tries to distance himself from in his works, but when compared to say Meyers Fortes or A.R. Radcliffe Brown, one easily recognizes the differences in approaches. The former sought to give the native’s identity and perspective back to him, by studying the native in his own environment, but largely focused on issues popular to British pop-culture, whereas the latter established concrete and consistent systems and approaches to participant observation, that took culture, analyzed it, and attempted to understand it in all its diverse richness, colors, and manifestations, with a particular emphasis on its structural implications and functions.

To this day anthropologists doing field work and participant observation are deeply indebted to and significantly benefited by both of these approaches to studying cultures and are persistently trying to capture the native’s reality, not through preconceived theoretical impositions of explanations, but, rather, through exploratory observations.


***By the way, I just came across this BBC documentary on Bronislaw Malinowski posted on youtube and thought it was worth sharing. The pictures in the film are stunning, the music and reenactment a little over dramatic, and the final clip which takes a look at a modern application of anthropology with some lady, unknown to me, who studies the 'tribe' of horse racing, seemed to me to be a, excuse my Latin, reductio ad absurdum of what Anthropology is all about, but nevertheless the rest of the film is pretty informative, though it does mostly focus on the character of Malinowski as opposed to the contributions of Malinowski, but perhaps I should stop complaining for fear you might not be intrigued enough to click below.

Enjoy.

Tales From The Jungle: Malinowski
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6

Support Democracy: Donate Your Panties

I don't really understand the logic behind this movement, but I'm certainly not opposed to freedom loving ladies freeing themselves from the shackles of their panties and donating them to a good cause...that said I don't think our main focus of democratic promotion in Burma should be on breaking the taboo Burmese citizens have towards their panties...

Snip-bits from the link:
A campaign is underway to chastise Burma's military regime, not through dialogue or sanctions, but by flooding the country's foreign embassies with women's underwear, an activist said...

"The Burma military regime is not only brutal but very superstitious. They believe that contact with a woman's panties or sarong can rob them of their power," the Lanna Action for Burma group said on its website.

An activist in the Party Power campaign (clearly one of the aforementioned freedom-loving females), had this to say about the purposes of their efforts:

"We are sending [the generals] panties as a symbol of putting their power down"

Science Saturday Edition: The Sex Lives of Animals

The vastly varying ways in which animals copulate is always extremely fascinating. Male damselflies, for instance, have little microscopic spines on their phalluses which they use to scrub out pre-existing ejaculations of former mates of a particular female, to ensure their own sperms (DNA's) success. Then there is also the strange cork-screw shaped male duck phallus that was written about in a NyTimes article a few months back, found here.

But just today an even stranger animal, the spiny anteater, has had its reproductive methods and in particular phallic structure exposed by the intrusive eyes of scientific inquiry for the greater good of the public's mirth. Courtesy of NewScientist:

By filming this animal, the researchers have been able to describe the unique spiny anteater erection and ejaculation behaviour for the first time.

The spiny anteater's four-headed phallus had been puzzling scientists. "When we tried to collect semen by [electrically-stimulated ejaculation] before, not only did we not get a single drop, but the whole penis swelled up to a four-headed monster that wouldn't fit the female reproductive tract, which has only two branches," says Johnston.

“Now we know that during a normal erection, two heads get shut down and the other two fit," he told New Scientist. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal has sex.