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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.