Monday, March 30, 2009

Hermit Crabs at a Nude Beach

Hermit Crab in Skull by ~hwango

Hermit crabs are decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea [1]. They are not closely related to true crabs. Hermit crabs are quite commonly seen in the intertidal zone, for example in tide pools.
Most
species of hermit crabs have long soft abdomens which are protected from predators by the adaptation of carrying around a salvaged empty seashell, into which the whole crab's body can retract. Most frequently hermit crabs utilize the shells of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. As the hermit crab grows in size, it has to find a larger shell and abandon the previous one.
This habit of living in a
second hand shell is what gave rise to the popular name "hermit crab", which is a reference to the idea of a hermit living alone in a small cave.

Shell theme inspired by Flowing Heat.



Shell competition
Hermit crabs fighting over a shell in a Central California tidepool
As hermit crabs grow they require larger shells. Since suitable intact
gastropod shells are a limited resource, there is frequently strong competition among hermit crabs for the best available shells. The availability of empty snail shells at any given place depends primarily on the relative abundance of gastropods in the right range of sizes, compared to the demographics of the population of hermit crabs.
An equally important issue is the frequency of organisms which prey upon gastropods but leave the shells intact
[2]

. A hermit crab with a shell that is too small cannot grow as fast as hermit crabs with well fitting shells, and is more likely to be eaten as it cannot withdraw completely into the shell [3].
For some larger
marine hermit crab species, having one or more sea anemones growing on the shell can be very useful, because the anemones tend to scare away fish and other marine predators that might otherwise attack the crab. The sea anemone also benefits because it is well positioned to consume loose fragments of the hermit crab's meals. Furthering this mutualism, sea anemones can be transferred to a new shell when the hermit crab changes shells.

Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

Saturday, March 28, 2009

David Lynch is Fishing!



Battle of the Natsu-yasumi - Fumio Nabata



While I do believe in meditation, I take issue with Lynch on this push towards the Maharishi guru thing. There are many routes and I prefer focusing on fish, compost piles, shit, farts and pig ears - with an occasional tea ceremony.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Happy Weird Fishnet Friday!

You Must Be Weird Or You Wouldn't Be Here!

After seeing this Like...Dreamsville post tumbling about on Tumblr lately, I was reminded that I had intended to post it somewhere, but must have been distracted by all of the fishnets.

[MP3] City Center - Open/House


More NSFW Hot Ass in Fishies can be found here.

John Nefastis - A scientist obsessed with perpetual motion. He has tried to invent a type of Maxwell's demon, in an attempt to create a perpetual motion machine. Oedipa visits him to see the machine after learning about him from Stanley Koteks.
Stanley Koteks - An employee of
Yoyodyne Corporation, Oedipa meets him when she wanders into his office while touring the plant. He knows something about the Trystero, but he refuses to say what he knows.
Randolph Driblette - The director of the production of Wharfinger's The Courier's Tragedy seen by Oedipa and Metzger. Driblette is a leading Wharfinger scholar, but he commits suicide before Oedipa can extract any useful information from him about Wharfinger's mention of the Tristero. Oedipa's meeting with Randolph after the play, however, sparks her to go on a quest to find the meaning behind Trystero.
Mike Fallopian - Oedipa and Metzger meet Mike Fallopian in The Scope, a bar frequented by Yoyodyne employees. He tells them about The
Peter Pinguid Society. Oedipa searches him out again later.
Genghis Cohen - The most eminent
philatelist in the LA area, Cohen was hired to inventory and appraise the deceased's stamp collection. Oedipa and he discuss stamps and forgeries.
Professor Bortz - Formerly of Berkeley, now teaching at San Narciso, Bortz wrote the editor's preface in a version of Wharfinger's works. Oedipa tracks him down to learn more about Trystero.
...
After being defeated by Thurn und Taxis in the 1700s, the Tristero organization goes underground and continues to exist, with its mailboxes in the least suspected places, often appearing under their slogan W.A.S.T.E., an acronym for We Await Silent Tristero's Empire, and also a smart way of hiding their post-boxes disguised as regular waste-bins. In the plot of the novel, the existence and plans of the shadowy organization are revealed bit by bit, or, then again, it is possible that the Tristero does not exist at all. The novel's main character, Oedipa Maas, is buffeted back and forth between believing and not believing in them, without ever finding firm proof either way. The Tristero may be a conspiracy, it may be a practical joke, or it may simply be that Oedipa is hallucinating all the arcane references to the underground network, that she seems to be discovering on bus windows, toilet walls, et cetera.

Monday, March 23, 2009

On a lighter note: BIG NEWS: Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport


Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport

If you do have an overnight delay, beware the nearby Dostoyevsky hotel, in which people check in and end up murdering other guests.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE!
All in all, those Iranians who can access any alternative media have been very happy about Obama's speech, but nothing is ever simple.
As one news forum commenter lamented: "I presume Mr. Obama is not very familiar with the fact that our officials have a master's degree in incinerating the opportunities."
A user - perhaps a younger one - used more colloquial language commenting under the video's link in Balatarin.com: "I wish Obama were our president."


Struck and Lost

Another harp seal pup slaughter begins again.
Over 338,000 harp, hooded and grey seals will be slaughtered this year per Canada's quota.
harp seal 7 by ~xXxWTFxXx
BREAKING NEW UPDATE!
The first harp seal has been killed:

In the same week that Russia annouced an end to the hunting of seals under a year old, the Canadian goverment released today that they will allow for the slaughter of 280,000 harp seal pups this year.

This is outrageous. This quota is completely indefensible. It’s not supported by markets, it’s not supported by the DFO’s own management plan, and it’s certainly not going to be supported by the majority of Canadians.

For the past two years we’ve seen saturated markets for seal fur, and pelt prices are now the lowest in recent memory. If this is a market-based hunt, as the government claims, the quota for this year should be zero.

The federal government’s determination to ignore reality on this issue is totally irrational. There are no markets for seal products, and with a potential European-wide ban on the horizon, no signs that the economic outlook is going to improve anytime soon. While our politicians trip over themselves to support commercial sealing, our taxes are being wasted on bailing out an anachronistic, dangerous, dead-end industry.

How ironic that two days after Russia announced an end to its commercial harp seal hunt, Canada is condemning one-third of the pups born here to a cruel and unnecessary death. Our government is insistent on keeping Canada stuck in the dark ages. Canadians would be much better served by a government that will stop playing politics, stop wasting our taxes, and start investing in alternative, economically viable employment opportunities.
Canada’s commercial seal hunt will be under intense scrutiny this year, as the European Union considers banning the trade in seal products.
You can help keep the pressure on the Canadian government by taking action now on
www.stopthesealhunt.org


The 280K quota only includes harp seals and does not include many that are struck and lost like this one from last year's seal slaughter.


Animal-welfare group unable to observe start of Canadian seal hunt
Fink explained that the sealers are very competitive, and basically race against each other. “This is one of the biggest problems with the hunt,” she said. “What we see is seals being stunned with a hakapick—bang bang bang. The first seal will start to regain consciousness because it wasn’t properly killed. It wasn’t properly checked for unconsciousness. It wasn’t properly bled out to make sure that it wasn’t going to come back to life.”


Here's the video:



TORONTO — Canada's annual seal hunt started Monday, under pressure from a possible European Union ban on imported seal products.

The world's largest marine mammal hunt was called "inherently inhumane" earlier this month by a European Parliament committee that endorsed the bill to ban the import of seal products to the 27-member union.
...

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Cat's in the Cradle Video

via Kuato AKA Edgar AKA Buzzsaw.



The hot Safeway delivery guy who was another only child Californicated product of the free-for-all 70's said this song described his dad perfectly.
I remember my dad playing that song on an 8-Track in a pea green VW van and thought he must have felt that way about his dad too.
But my dad died "unexpectedly" during the first month of the 3rd grade. Since then, I spent a lot of time missing him and feeling sorry for myself, but at least I don’t have anything to hate about him (other than his last wife). It must be far worse to have a living parent who neglects or ignores you. Only children are generally far more sensitive than others IMHO.





MP3 of Sámi soga lávlla

Thursday, March 19, 2009

At the Shore

My cousin took this photo of Akubi at the beach.
While Akubi looks a bit like a hedgehog, I thought the Flowy Factor™ would appreciate the flowing lines of the shore.

Breaking News UPDATE! Is Catherine Deneuve wearing fishnet stockings? Concerned citizens in fishnets want to know.
Eat Shit AssHoles!


And the crazy bat in space?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Electricity

La Princesse Endormie via The Original Flowy


When I was a kid on crappy cereal and T.V. I always felt sorry for Bill, but felt better when Electricity came on.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


Pom Pom
Paddy Partee!
Woohoo!
Akubi and Tanuki wish you a
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
St. Patrick's Day
jdr3k

Aaah, my boys were such cute puppies too.
I miss that puppy smell.




Another game: Find the Key!