In 1972, the book Mind Games - The Guide to Inner Space, inspired^* a song by John Lennon. This was during the heyday of the human potential movement, which offered the heretical and possibly dangerous idea that people can achieve heretofore unimagined potentials. Inevitably this movement led to military applications and even a movie about men staring at goats.
posted by twoleftfeet on Nov 19, 2009 - 11 comments

Towns everywhere are looking for ways to cut costs during the current economic downturn. Andover, Mass has come up with one interesting solution, goats. Andover is not the only place goats are being used in the place of weed wackers and lawn mowers. Google is also going with goats, citing the reduction in pollution and the cuteness factor. Possibly they may also attempt to lighten the mood in the office, by mixing in some fainting goats.
posted by meta87 on Nov 2, 2009 - 34 comments

In 2000, the Spanish Pyrenean Ibex (a type of mountain goat) went extinct. In early 2009 it was brought back to life, the first time an extinct species has been "successfully" cloned. The newborn bucardo died of respiratory failure minutes after birth, setting a second extinction record.
posted by stbalbach on Feb 15, 2009 - 34 comments

Beware of Dog. Nepali artists paint signs on metal. Before and After. The story behind Danger Dogs. Click on the names of the different artists at the top of the page for various styles. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Sep 25, 2008 - 24 comments

Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle. John Darnielle (of the Mountain Goats) and Kaki King perform a song, sung from the point of view of Toad from the Super Mario Brothers video game franchise.
posted by PM on Sep 11, 2008 - 59 comments

How many goats are you worth? You've always wondered. Take the quiz and find out.
posted by blue_beetle on Aug 7, 2008 - 155 comments

The Fallacy of Examples, and the problems of extrapolating from media. [Via RConversation]
posted by homunculus on Jul 7, 2008 - 5 comments

Dramatic footage of golden eagles hunting mountain goats. (alerts: rather gruesome; voiceover in Spanish)
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 16, 2008 - 46 comments

Were you psychologically damaged at a petting zoo?. The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation was created in 1982 by a small group that originally came together as an informal support group for problems that were the result of traumatic experiences at petting zoos as children. This group realized that there were many others out there who were afraid to come forward with their horrific stories and wanted to find some way to help as many people as they could. The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation is the result of their dream.
posted by amyms on Jul 30, 2007 - 130 comments

Moroccan Argan Trees threatened by climbing goats.
More pictures of goats in trees.
posted by Partial Law on Jan 5, 2007 - 50 comments

Read Goats. Now in Color! (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) See also: Republicans for Voldemort.
posted by anotherpanacea on Dec 13, 2006 - 12 comments

The Last Days of the Ark: "We found that in 90 to 95 percent of turkeys produced worldwide, the genetic stock comes from one of three breeding stocks" but there are heritage breeds being preserved throughout the world. American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. Heritage Breeds Conservancy. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Rare Breeds Canada. Rare Breeds Australia, with by far the best Breed Profile pages. New Zealand Rare Breeds. Desert Heritage Breeds. Rare Steeds. "Eating these breeds may be the best way to save them", so, for shopping. [more inside]
posted by OmieWise on Mar 8, 2006 - 14 comments

Tennessee Fainting (or Myotonic) Goats.
posted by mudpuppie on Feb 1, 2005 - 31 comments

The Childhood Goat Truama Foundation. All your childhood carpinae-based nightmares are belong to them. (just a brief reprieve from election coverage - via the ultimate insult)
posted by Ufez Jones on Nov 2, 2004 - 12 comments

They're farther along than I thought... You may have heard about Nexia Biotechnology, who have put spider genes into goats to get milk with spider silk protein in it. I thought it was still in the research phase, but Nexia have apparently gone to market with the stuff. They've signed agreements with several manufacturers to produce spider silk protein-based products such as lightweight ballistic armor (like Kevlar, only lighter and non-toxic to produce) for the armed forces and super-strong sutures and prosthetic ligaments for medical supply companies.
posted by RylandDotNet on Jul 21, 2002 - 7 comments

Dale Earnhardt Appears In Goat's Birthmark ... sort of.
posted by Dirjy on Jul 5, 2002 - 28 comments

Got Silk. ''Oh, it's not that weird,'' Nexia's president and C.E.O., Jeffrey D. Turner, says as we walk around the pens, being nibbled constantly by aroused goats. ''What we're doing here is ingeniously simple,'' he says. ''We take a single gene from a golden orb-weaving spider and put it into a goat egg. The idea is to make the goat secrete spider silk into its milk.''
posted by srboisvert on Jun 16, 2002 - 18 comments

Valentine's Day may be a remant of the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, in which "young men who were naked except for the skins of goats that had been sacrificed this day, ran from the Lupercal around the bounds of the Palatine . . . striking the women they met with strips of goat skin, to promote fertility."

This factoid resists my every attempt to add further comment.
posted by jbushnell on Feb 14, 2001 - 3 comments

Okay, this is just plain wrong.
posted by veruca on May 18, 2000 - 15 comments