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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

This is not exactly related to science, but on the other hand, not entirely sure which other blogger here would handle it, so:

Yearning for a pedicure but tired of the usual emery boards and flensing razors? Why not let tiny fish devour your toe flesh instead?

Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the Washington D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.

“This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet,” Ho said.

Apparently you put your tootsies in the water and the fish come up and start snacking on your dead skin. They leave your live skin alone because they don’t have teeth, and therefore cannot strip your feet to the bone like they want to.

<Simpson Reference> Because, make no mistake, Timmy. If given half a chance, these tiny fish would kill you and everyone you know. </Simpson Reference>

There’s a picture of the fish in action at the article if you want to squick yourself out.

I’ve never had the urge for a pedicure (living the soft, easy life of a writer I have no feet calluses to speak of, which means I win), but if I did, I don’t think allowing vertebrates to consume portions of my body while I am still alive is the way I would want to go about it. Call me an atavist.

The article mentions that the fish treatment has been so successful that the spa owner wants to offer a full body treatment using the fish. Hey, you first, pal.

(Picture above by Terry Goss, used under CC license. Knicked from here)

 

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John Scalzi

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Some people call me the space cowboy. Some people call me the gangster of love. Some people call me Maurice. And I'm all "What? Maurice? What?"
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