Apparently the more sophisticated among us are clamoring for chocolate with spices such as cumin, curry, black pepper or coriander. At the New York Chocolate Show, other enhancements included balsamic vinegar, green tea, lime, and lavender.

I’ll have a block of the plain milk chocolate, thanks. Some days I don’t even want crispy rice bits, peanuts, or caramel in there. Especially on soul-trying work days as this one turned out to be.

However, if there are free samples . . .

From Blade Runner, Rachel’s song.

On the Pacific side of the Hokkaido, Kanto and Tohoku areas. A tsunami warning has been posted.

Also known as the Mexican Walking Fish, the axolotl is a salamander with unusual characteristics. It keeps its larval appearance as it becomes an adult. Three stalk-like growths on either side of its head are gills.

It has the ability to regenerate limbs and parts of its brain and spine.

It is known as ‘the monster’ by the men who fish the Caspian Sea. The little jelly eats prodigious amounts of the plankton that feeds kilka sprats. In turn, the sprats are the meat and potatoes of the beluga sturgeon, which produces caviar.

Researchers report that as sturgeon have less and less food, they become smaller. There are fears that the caviar industry will be wiped out.

As Russian researchers prepare to drill into the Antarctic lake buried under two miles of ice, scientists elsewhere are voicing their disapproval. Their primary concern is that the process of drilling will pollute Lake Vostok’s waters.

Lake Vostok is considered by many to be the most important of Antarctic lakes, similar to the ice-covered waters of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. There is a strong possibility that life exists beneath Vostok, and researchers are anxious to study what might be there.

Agricultural damage in New York was estimated at about $50 million in 2003. In parts of NY and Pennsylvania, there are up to 35 deer per square mile.

Forests are being heavily damaged, and experts say that deer are directly affecting which species of trees survive.

Vehicle accidents involving deer have increased (1.5 million in 2003).

Some states are responding by extending the hunting season, and allowing the killing of does. But most hunters can only use two or three each year.

I really should get some corn holders or else learn to eat it unbuttered. The steam fogs up my glasses. But otherwise it is a tasty lunch.

What do they have in common? All are names given to hydrothermal vent fields by scientists.

On the other hand, there are forms of life that do quite well in boiling water.

NASA is funding the work of Daniel Shain, who works with Mesenchytraeus solifugus, a slender black worm that is lively at 0°C. It is found cavorting on glacier surfaces in Alaska.

His research might shed light on the possibility that life exists on cold planets.

The mini-car runs on either gasoline or ethanol, and features a computer on the dash that runs Windows XP, which allows downloading of music while you drive.

More time-munching distractions in the form of old series such as The Fugitive. Free with two minutes of advertising per half-hour episode.

To grace the desk for the week.