Give These Manatees A Hand

Earlier this month, I received an email sometime past midnight on a weeknight from a friend -- whom I commonly refer to as The Machine because nobody, including his wife, has ever seen him sleep -- and he was asking whether I was still up and watching Conan O'Brien. The word "manatee" came up several times in the email.

The next day, my friend Peaches, who knows a little something herself about people who don't require sleep, sent me a similar email along with a link to a new website hornymantee.com.

Now, we here at The Cup of Joe are pleased to report that the New York Times is reporting today on the horny manatee phenomenon, which came about after a Conan O'Brien ad-lib and worries from NBC Legal that you can't just mention a website that doesn't exist for fear of future, er, "exposure." More than 3 million people have now visited the above website, which the good folks at Late Night With Conan O'Brien created because an attorney got nervous.

Real-life manatees, by the way, are very much unlike my friend The Machine in that they spend half their days sleeping, according to a wikipedia entry, their beds being warm and shallow coastal waters.

Also according to wikipedia: "Manatees are slow moving, non-aggressive, and generally curious creatures."

I guess this includes being bi-curious.