Aquaman v. the Internet

Boing Boing and Beyond the Beyond are both reporting the story of the mysterious severance of four undersea telecom cables carrying Internet and voice traffic. Barring photographic evidence that the Sub-Mariner is cranky again, I am inclined to look to sabotage by other friends of Poseidon.

As John Jeremiah Sullivan brilliantly outlines in the February issue of GQ, our former friends in the animal kingdom have had enough and are starting to fight back in earnest. Not only cutting off our routers. As recapped in the Washington Post (unfortunately, GQ does not have the article available online):

'The animals are coming after us and they're out for blood!

'The birds of the air and the beasts of the field are sick and tired of being hunted, caged, neutered, beaten and eaten. They're mad as hell and they've begun to fight back. It's not just grizzlies and sharks who are ripping people to shreds these days. Elephants, stingrays, dolphins, beavers, chimps, even chickens and hermit crabs are on the attack!

'The whole horrific story is laid out in "Violence of the Lambs," John Jeremiah Sullivan's article in the February issue of GQ magazine about "the coming battle between man and beast."

'Sullivan interviewed Marcus Livengood, a zoologist who blows the whistle on the alarming worldwide increase in animals attacking humans: In India, leopards invaded Mumbai, killing 22 people! In Albania, a pack of 200 wild dogs rampaged through the town of Mamurras, attacking humans! In Sonoma County, Calif., chickens turned on local children! In North Carolina, hermit crabs besieged a jogger on a beachside boardwalk!

'The animals are fighting back against human encroachment, says Livengood: "We are a threat to the animals. They're just doing what nature designed them to do." '

The best thing about this story: it boldly mixes fact and fiction, in a manner only revealed at the end. Bold genius in this reader's view, managing to construct a beautiful if rickety three-legged stool straddling Nova, Fortean Times, and Leonard Nimoy's In Search Of. Check it out.