Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Beetles.

DUNG BEETLE!...or triceratops?
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Me and Patrick went hiking once and saw one of these crossing the trail. He had with him a turd. It was cute. I had it on video..but...vista "updated" (aka crashed my computer) and I lost everything. BUT that dung beetle didn't look like this one..because this one LOOKS LIKE A TRICERATOPS!!!!

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I don't think this one is the same kind of beetle as the top two.. but he looks like a triceratops too..so... yeah, here he is. :) I think he might be a type of stag beetle.
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hehe.
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So, I think he might be my favorite beetle... even though there are about 9340958203948039485 trillion species of beetles. Fun fact: they have the largest number of known species. ...and I don't know all of the beetles out there.. but I mean... this one looks like a dinosaur.

and I found out something else that's pretty interesting:

In the ancient Egypt the "dung beetles", such as this one, used to be adored by the people because they have the "power of creating life from dung and mud". The old Egyptians saw how the dung beetle buried the dung in the soil and few weeks after small beetles were born in the same place, giving the illusion of creating life from dung and mud.

Giraffe Weevil!


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They are sexual dimorphic. I just learned that that means that there is a visual difference in form-shape-size-color-presence or absence of parts...etc. between male and female.

yay humans are sexual dimorphic!

but more importantly....so is the giraffe weevil.

The neck of the male weevil is longer than that of the female. hmm.
the neck is an ADAPTATION for nest building.
hmmm i find it interesting that its an adaptation.

That's like what I read about whales.
I had this book once that said that whales came from furry land creatures who ate out of the ocean and eventually they'd venture further and further in..and ..then you get whales.

anyway. when the female weevil is "pregnant" the male will roll up a leaf for the female to lay a SINGLE egg in it. That's sweet. Some human males should probably learn from the giraffe weevil.

BEETLE HUG!

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

la tea dah

Yerba Mate. mmmmmmm

It's like tea...and coffee... but has NO caffiiene... but has another natural non addictive-crash proof stimulant...and its HEALTHYYYYYY.

YUM

It's grown and harvested in the jungles of some South American countries (same place as the wandering banana spider....eh)
It comes from a tree that grows about 15 meters tall..the tree is in the holly family. Made from the leaves of this tree (like tea).

(i'm trying to remember everything I read, I'm to lazy to go back and look it up again)

Anyway. It's pronounced Yer-bah-ma-tey

And its REALLY popular in S. America (as much as coffee) and is traditionally drank from a mate.
Which, from my understanding, is some kind of (wooden) cup like thing with a metal strainer like straw...you put the loose yerba mate in it...do some stuff.. add hot water. drink (although you only get like 2 sips) then put more water.. etc.

It's done as a ritual also. Groups of people..friends family.. will participate in yerba mate drinking. all passing the mate etc etc etc. it shows trust and unity and community within a group of people. spiritual if you will...

I found out about it from the 12 Tribes...(nicademis.....) a group of people that live here in Savannah.
But I don't drink it "traditionally." I buy it in ..tea bags. and ..use Mr. Coffee to heat water.. Why am I talking about this?

Anyway. If you like tea. You should definitely try it.

http://www.guayaki.com/index.php?p=mate

thats the brand I drink.

and you can check out this video. This guy tells you what I just told you..but in a better-more informed way.





I mentioned this because I wanted to post these pictures of yerba mate. Its SO GREEN!!!!

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Kent's cup of "new" yerba mate... and Jamie's cup of mate that has been sitting there all afternoon. (it still tastes good though) (shut up, its not gross. go away) (and my cup is tea stained..its not dirty)

Okay now this one might be a little gross (to you, not to me)

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I think its beautiful. I tend to keep my tea bag in the cup until the next morning...and clean it out before I start a new days worth of tea drinking. because I'm lazy I guess. This morning I found this... the tea bag and string stuck to the cup and when i pulled it off it made this beautiful spikey pattern. and that green is just gorgeous!
ahhhhh

I also made Mr. Awesome (Gbrilla's hard drive) a home this week. :D
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P.S. anti gravity - incubus ---makes me happy

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Spiders.............and afros.

I hate banana spiders.
Well, I'm no fan of any spider actually, but there is just something about those big black, white, and yellow long legged arthropods that dwell ...I'd insert where they dwell, but that doesn't matter, its just the fact that they do..live.
okay okay okay, every creature has a right to live.
but. i mean.
seriously.....

Okay, back to my point. Over the past year or so I have developed this...thing to where I, for some unknown reason, get on google and image search spiders of all kind, and freak out over them. I torture myself and freak out when I see a really devastating spider... and oh... I've seen some.
I'd post those pictures, but that would mean that every time I come to my blog I'd see them..and that's just not cool.
wolf spiders....................... ah ah.
jumper spiders are cute though :)

I'm off subject again.
I had to make a post card in photoshop for my computer art class.
I wanted to do something that represented me....So after I got passed all of the typical ideas of landscapes and portraits and objects... I magically came up with this one as I was falling asleep.

BANANA SPIDER FRO JAMIES!

I'm not COMPLETELY happy with my end product. I had to finish it by the end of class which did not allow me enough time to sit and stare at it. I feel like it should either be more concentrated in the bottom left (as its leaning towards left now) or not as much, because right now the composition is a little awkward. it needs something..Maybe I'll fix it later.
ANYWAY.
I have a back also, and want to get them printed to actually send them out.


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word.
You just don't understand how many banana spiders I had to look through.
Some people are BRAVE.
even though I did learn that, like all spiders, banana spiders may bite and do have venom, but the North American banana spiders are not deadly. Their venom is similar to that of a black widdow but less potent.

BUT, there is a South American banana spider that is VERY aggressive (in most pictures of him he is facing the camera with his front 4 feet reared up. It's scary..unless you look at it as he's trying to give you high 4..or he's doing the arm sway to "hey, hooo".....
But he's DEADLY.
So don't get distracted by that if you see him in real life..because maybe that's his distracting mechanism...and...just as you thinking "well maybe he's...." he POUNCES and.. your gone.. I'm sorry. You should have just run, run far away.. like Simba from the Lion King.

He's also called the wandering spider bc he meanders around the jungle floor and in logs and BANANA plants and other dark damp places..instead of occupying a web.


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Okay..so the North American banana spider is categorized as a Golden Silk Orb Weaver (bc they weave pretty silk webs) But they don't all look like the above initial..scary piece of poo.. they can look like this too:

which also isn't very nice looking....


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Okay, enough with the spider lesson.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

omg

oh my god

effin banana spiders.ngkyjfgkjglkuhj

bastards












since we're on the subject of birds getting eaten by.... things that shouldn't eat birds..::


Monday, April 13, 2009

pretend land.

Okay

If you could be a dinosaur of your own making... you can choose every one of your characteristics and attributes. For example, what you look like, where/how you live, what you eat, any special abilities, etc. etc. etc. It can be related to an existing dinosaur or doesn't have to. It can be as imaginative and unrealistic as possible or not...It can be ANYTHING. What would you be?

EVERYONE please answer in a comment.

From my experience, I bet pretty much everyone who reads this wont do it.

Thank you.

and

:D



and

The beach was gorgeous this weekend.
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and

This bush looks like a chicken.
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Monday, April 6, 2009

“ I never fall apart because I never fall together ” Andy Warhol

I decided that I should post a new blog. I decided that a good way to find something to say was by using the stumble tool on firefox...since it usually gives me pretty interesting results. First I got a website that was just a compilation of facts... like:

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.
...i guess everything, every object, anything in existence, has some sort of hate club. Somebody hates it. like toothbrushes, or fingernails, or lint, or dust mops. I mean, who could be afraid of fuzzy bunnies or giggling babies?

It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary.

The warriors tribes of Ethiopia used to hang the testicles of those they killed in battle on the ends of their spears.
...ouch

It is a criminal offence to drive around in a dirty car in Russia.
...I would have a life sentence.

Urine was once used to wash clothes.

Then I found myself on a quote/picture site which then got me thinking... Most profound thought or deep meaningful ideas come from people who fail and are depressed, or are reflecting on their depression. I think even if it's not completely evident in the quote itself, it is true. Who really stops to reflect and think about their life when they are happy-when they have no worries-when life is perfect... You really begin to learn and realize things when you bubble is burst and you are slammed back to earth. Then again, some quotes are not like this at all...

"because sometimes it’s easier to say, “i hate you,” than “i miss you, i wish we didn’t fight; i wish you would call me sometimes.” because sometimes, it’s easier to think, screw life, screw school, screw everything, than admit that you’re overwhelmed and feel like you’re drowning. because sometimes, it’s easier to admit the simple things than say the hard things and realise how much you’ve been struggling, and how much you feel as if life has gone out of your control" -crazybeautiful

“ We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly… spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order. ” — Susan Taylor

"You don’t necessarily have to write to be a poet. Some people work in gas stations and they’re poets. I don’t call myself a poet because I don’t like the word. I’m a trapeze artist."
— Bob Dylan


This talk about quotes then made me think of what I found while researching the ouroboros (what Amber and I plan to get a tattoo of)

"Time and change are integral to who we are...The passing of time has death and loss woven into it; each new moment kills the one before it and its own death is implied by the moment that comes after...There is no way to exist in the world of change without accepting loss.. all things that give life joy and meaning are based on time passing, on change, and on the loss of an infinitude of moments passing through us and then behind us. Without loss and death we don't get to have existence...[without it] the alternate would be frozen, a single frame of film, with nothing to precede it and nohting to come after it..." Greta Christina

oh life.
My attempt to drink real coffee this morning was ambushed by the surprising taste of peroxide. :(

I'm procrastinating.