As a respite from the nonstop flu blogging, I decided it was time to have a little fun and show the lighter side of science.

First up is a story from the Wall Street Journal about the residents of Tuscarora, Nevada, driving off a swarm of insects by blasting Led Zeppelin.

Back in 1946, Mechanix Illustrated writer "Uncle" Tom McCahill began measuring cars' performance by how quickly he could launch them from a standing start to 60 miles per hour. That measure, evocative in its simplicity, quickly became the standard for judging a passenger car's performance, and a perfect proxy for advertisers to capture the excitement of driving in a single phrase. Zero to 60 in a scorching 5.5 seconds!

Your TV just came another step closer to your computer. TiVo has partnered with YouTube to bring its content to broadband-connected subscribers with the Series 3 and HD set-top boxes. This means youll no longer have to drag the laptop downstairs or force everybody to huddle around the tiny screen of your iPhone at parties to show your guests the latest pratfalls. Just flick on your TV and youre set.

You likely don't know Roger Hanlon by name, but you may very well have been forwarded the video clip above in the past year--which means you know his research. Dr. Hanlon studies cephalopod camouflage. In addition to controlled experiments in his lab, he has been on thousands of dives following cuttlefish, squid and octopuses through their natural habitats. Using underwater digital video cameras, he and his team are able to capture the intricate physical patterns these animals display across their bodies when they want to go unseen.

All across the globe yesterday, users tried and failed to get their daily dose of yawning kittens and manic explosions. The problem? Pakistan accidentally hijacked YouTube. It started when the government of Pakistan tried to limit access to a video critical of Islam. In order to keep its citizens from playing the clip, reportedly a portion of an inflammatory film by the Danish Dutch politician Geert Wilders, Pakistan Telecom had local Internet service providers block the site by rerouting users—instead of getting the video site, they'd hit a blank page.

YouTube, the online video giant, announced plans yesterday to expand its advertising program to a number of amateur movie-makers. Ads will be spliced into the videos, and the creators will get the chance to share the revenue with Google, YouTube's corporate parent.

The ad program itself isn't brand new. YouTube picked a small group of established content producers to test its pilot program. But now the site will let users apply to be part of the revenue-generating machine. The favorites will be those who post frequently, have a loyal following, and stick to YouTube's rules. Currently, it's available in the US and Canada, but will probably expand soon, if the community's demands have anything to do with it. The very first comment to YouTube's blog post on the subject: When are you going to expand this to Slovenia? It's the big question on all of our minds.—Gregory Mone

Via CNN