Animals Behaving Badly

Our own Linda Lombardi, known to us as simply Wombat, has written a book, and you must read it. She has long been a contributor to Ugly Overload, in addition to running her own blog, Animals Behaving Badly. That is the title of her newest book.

I've read this book, and I can unreservedly recommend it to all Ugly Overload readers. It is fantastic, and that's me giving an honest opinion, not just me sidling up to a published author to ride her coat tails. It's full of articles, facts, and statistics, all of which are organized and designed to give us a grim, but humorous look at the dark underbelly of the animal world. You'll walk away from this book (which could almost be a bathroom reader) thinking very differently about dolphins, chimpanzees, and hummingbirds. I guarantee laughs and cringes.

Buy it on Amazon and spread the word.

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Russian Mystery Animal ID Needed

We need a biologist, maybe even a bonafide cryptologist to weigh in on this one.

Olesja encountered this on a meadow path near a pond in Bashkiria, Russia. It was about 5 cm long, and had no discernible eyes, legs, or head. It moved in a jerky, almost caterpillar-like motion. She thought it might be a severed lizard tail, but it stopped moving when she touched it, and it resumed moving in the same direction about a minute later. The underside is smoother and darker than the topside.

Any clue as to what this might be? How afraid does Olesja need to be? How about the rest of us? Have we witnessed ground zero of an alien invasion? That tail, if larger, would make for good grappling, and all it would need then is a decent ovipositor, and viola, you've got human hosts.

Going to Give It a Go

I've received quite a bit of interest from readers in keeping Ugly Overload going by assembling a team of bloggers. I've grown to like the idea. I'm going to give it a shot.

So, watch for new posts rolling out in the next few days as I get invites out to the new team members and get us all on the same page. I'm really looking forward to this new era of UgO. I expect a few rough patches, but that's okay. I'm just glad it doesn't have to end. It's likely that the blog will improve with fresh minds and fresh content. I'm really looking forward to it.

Also, thank you all for the kind comments. It's been great to read them.

Stay tuned...

A Possibility...

I've had a few folks express interest in joining the Ugly Overload team to keep the blog rolling with fresh new content. I'm strongly considering the idea. I'm thinking of a group of bloggers who write whenever the fit takes them, nothing formal, no official commitment, just a few basic guidelines.

If you're interested, please email me at ragingwombat at gmail dot com, and let's see if we can put something together. Worst comes to worst, I'll just leave the blog in place as is.

Thanks for all of your kind and thoughtful comments. I've actually gotten verklempt (please don't tell the neighborhood bully).

Thank You

It's with a conflicted heart that I write this post. I've been dreading it for some time (hence the lack of activity for the past week or so). After four and a half years, I've decided to close down Ugly Overload.

This blog has brought me a lot of fulfillment. In the end, though, I need to let it go to pursue my true passion. Daily blogging takes its toll, and I've found that my novel writing has suffered for it. If I'm to become a full time novelist, then I need to set this blog aside. It hurts, and it isn't a pleasant decision, but it's the right one.

Ugly Overload has accomplished far more than I ever thought it would. It's been featured on CNN, Southwest Airline's in-flight magazine, BoingBoing, Mental Floss, I Am Bored, and national radio. I've been a guest blogger for PBS Nature, and I've made a lot of contacts in the nature blogging world. So many of you have featured UgO on your own blogs and sites, and I'm honored. Most of all, it's been you readers that have made this blog so much fun. Ugly animals and infotainment only get you so far if you don't have people showing up to read and comment. It's you readers that I'll miss the most.

I plan on doing a few more posts to clear out some of my inbox. I've got hundreds of photos set aside for use and oodles of unsifted submissions. I can't possible get to them all, but I'll get to some.

I've had big plans for this blog, including complete site overhauls, calendars, merchandising, and all that. In the end, I just don't have enough time to do it all justice, not and become the novelist I want to be.

So what will happen to Ugly Overload? What about all this free content, with more than 1,600 posts? I've debated that for some time. I've thought of passing the reins on to someone else--all you readers who submit are already co-producers. In the end I imagine I'll just leave it in place as a repository of ugly animals. It's actually quite a resource and a collaborative creation that I'm very proud of.

Thanks for all the great memories. I'll miss posting here, but I've already had a taste of what it's like to be able to focus on my writing, and it's wonderful.

Casting Call

This one is for all you ugly dog owners. Well, I mean, you don't have to be ugly. Your dog does.

Animal Planet is putting out a casting call for videos of your ugly dogs. Bring them your snarling, drooling, toothless, and mangy masses. You just might get some real air time...

UgO on Nature Blog Network

This just in from the good folks over at Nature Blog Network, of which I am a proud member. They've featured Ugly Overload in their weekly spotlight. They interviewed me in preparation for the feature, so you'll find some of my so-called wisdom and inspiration for Ugly Overload there. Also, while on Nature Blog Network, poke around and see what other sites are part of the network. Lots of good sites. Lots of good people.

Lack of Posts

I apologize for the lack of posts. My wife just gave birth a couple of days ago to our son (the clan keeps growing!), and life has gotten crazy. I was going to keep up on the posts, but we came home from the hospital only to find that my wireless router was dead. I've hijacked my in-laws' computer for a few minutes to send out this quick update.

More uglies will be rolling out here shortly. I need something to counter balance all of the cuteness at home.

New Layout (Kinda)

I've bitten the bullet and made a few changes to the blog that I've been wanting to do. Namely, I've finally switched over to the new Blogger layout. That's right, I was kicking it old school for quite some time.

What does this mean for you? You'll be able to navigate and search the archives and categories with greater ease (more than a thousand posts, now!). Beyond that not too much. But all this digital housekeeping is making me wonder if I should make more changes. Maybe a new header (one with an amalgum of some of the critters I've posted--maybe not), maybe some new features. I don't know. If you have any suggestions, or even the artistic talent to conjure up a new header, I'm open to new ideas. This blog is for you, afterall.

Please let me know if you come across any dead links or broken areas of the site.

Oh, and feel free to become one of my 'followers' (that sounds so...so...demeaning?). But, I'm stuck with the wording that Blogger uses, so there it is.

Thanks a bunch for visiting. I look forward to many more posts.

Ugly Overload Holiday Song Fest

Sherry has recommended that I sponsor an Ugly Overload Holiday Song Fest, wherein you, the readers, send in your mock-ups of holiday song classics, with the lyrics modified to reflect the focus of this blog: ugly animals, creepy crawlies, heeby-jeebies, etc.

To get us started, Sherry offers us her own creation:

Silver Fish (to the tune of Silver Bells)

City cellars
Moldy cellars
We have just ventured down
To the basement to get things for Christmas
Lots of boxes, stacks of boxes
I think this one's the tree
As we move them we're likely to see...

Silver fish, Silver fish
Its Christmas time in the cellar
Centipedes, race with ease
Soon it will be Christmas Day

Strings of webbing
Spider webbing
We're disturbing their lairs
As we track down our holiday treasures
Its disgusting
These need dusting
'fore we take them upstairs
And along for the ride there will be

Silver fish, Silver fish
Its Christmas time in the cellar
Centipedes, race with ease
Soon it will be Christmas Day

I love the idea. Please feel free to offer your submissions.

Ugly Photo Competition

PBS Nature is hosting a competition on Flickr. They are searching for the ugliest animal photo. Click on this link for more details. There's still quite a bit of room for submissions (which must be received by 11/22). Join the group and submit your photos, people!

The Beauty of Ugly

This Sunday evening (11/18), PBS is airing the next installment of its Nature series: The Beauty of Ugly. The good folks at PBS have asked me to participate in their Remotely Connected program, and have invited me to be their guest blogger for next week.

I suggest you all tune in to the show. I've watched the review screening, and it is amazing. If you like what you see here, you absolutely love this show. I sat with my mouth agape for most of it. Also, feel free to read my post on it, at PBS.org/nights/blog, following the airing. It's bound to entertain.

Shameless Plug

Our frequent photo-donor and infamous invert expert, Jade, has begun a video blog of his own. I recommend you all support the good man and see what he has to offer.

Click this link for some Unique Vids.

The blogging world just got a bit more action.

CNN Love

I began receiving thousands of extra hits on Friday and Saturday, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why. All I could see was that people from all over the country were doing searches for 'ugly overload.' It wasn't until some of my beloved readers told me that Ugly Overload had been mentioned on the much prettier Cute Overload that I got my first clue.

It turns out that my blog was part of a CNN report on 'the science of cute'! Below is a screenshot from the report, and here is a link to the video. (You'll see CNN reporter Jeanne Moos doing a man-on-the-street interview to see who is cuter: a baby panda or Shiloh Jolie-Pitt).

Thanks to all of you, even Brad and Angelina (I'm sure they're huge fans of mine). I feel vindicated for devoting a site to giving ugly animals their due, for giving them some air time.

Cute animals get all the love. But not any more.

Well, at least until my traffic plummets.