| Warty Frogfish. |
[25 Jul 2008|02:41pm] |
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Hey everyone,
My wall calendar features a different fish every month & all July I've been looking at this photo:
This, friends, is Antennarius Maculatus; commonly known as the Warty Frogfish or Clown Frogfish.
At first I was repulsed by the picture & cringed every time I saw it, then I became intrigued, and after some research, I really like the little things.
( Wanna know a WHOLE LOT more? )
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[25 Jul 2008|10:08pm] |
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music |
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Faith Hill - Breathe |
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I had a relatively uneventful day today. I had ordered a cd from Musica by Faith Hill (Breathe) as I wanted the song "Breathe". Well, for R170.00 there are only three songs that I like on the entire CD! LOL. What a waste. So I have loaded those onto my iPod Nano, and the cd will now sit in my cupboard and gather dust. Such is life.
So I have a busy day tomorrow. After the usual 4x4 walk with Maximus, I will be taking my car to have the brakes replaced. And have a few other things attended to. The man I asked to do it is so useless and can never find the time, so stuff him. He can sort out his own car & his son's only it seems. Men are retards. And I mean that in the nicest sense of the word! *grin*
Well as always I have spent far too much time playing around online & getting lost in one website after another - there is just so much stuff to see! There are some fabulous communities here on lj which i've been discovering, just wish I could make some friends more friends on lj. Oh well!
 I thought this butterfly was way cool - found it on facebook somewhere.
Anyway, better go and get some shut-eye before my busy day tomorrow....
A thought for today:
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. - Kahlil Gibran
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| The Invincible Army |
[25 Jul 2008|09:05am] |
It was about time I gave Napoleon his own comic that actually has to do with things he did.
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| Mystery Hummingbird Likely Solved |
[18 Jul 2008|03:54pm] |
I thought I would update this, since several folks have asked. Not exactly wtf, just an update.
A while back I posted this mislabeled hummingbird mount that I own, one of two of the same thing.
s,
Out of the blue someone came in and, as you can see in the last comments, figured it out. They seem to be aberrant specimens of Chrysolampis mosquitus, the Ruby Topaz hummingbird (not to be confused with the Crimson or Fiery Topaz).
( Pictures Below the cut )
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| Okay 2 WTF's |
[20 Jul 2008|11:50am] |
But only because I have no clue what either are.
My boyfriend said that someone posted
in one of his car forums, saying he saw it in his front yard (in CT). He has no clue what it is but so far the best idea we've gotten is a fox that is either hairless or has mange.
ALSO... BUG PEOPLE! I was sitting outside work and there were these strange cocoon looking bugs things snacking on the leaves. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone so sorry about the poor quality and giving pretty much NOTHING to go on. I can tell you that it moved around like it was hanging from the branch and it was almost as if it wasn't eating the leave but just using them to cover itself up? The brown parts that you see are the bottom of the "cocoon" that are dried up and the two green leaves directly on top of the brown leaves are newer additions to it's abode, if you will.
WTF?
[sorry ahead of time if i absolutely screw up these cuts]
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| Demodex folliculorum |
[18 Jul 2008|01:57pm] |
Because I hate you all and never want you to sleep again, I would like to introduce you to the Demodex folliculorum, or the friendly eyelash mite.
You know that old story about little spiders that live on your eyelashes? It's not quite right. They're more like metroids with long wormy bodies.
( Read more... )
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| Humans linked to talking fish. |
[19 Jul 2008|07:49pm] |
From Don Knotts' portrayle of "Mr. Limpet" to the children's favorite "Nemo" and the tuna-pitching character in the "Sorry, Charlie" commercials, we all have seen fish that can talk. But that's just fiction, right?
Well ...
Researchers say real fish can communicate with sound, too. And they say (the researchers, that is) that your speech skills and, in fact, all sound production in vertebrates can be traced back to this ability in fish. (You got your ears from fish, too.)
The new study was led by Andrew Bass (we did not make this up) of Cornell University.
The scientists mapped developing brain cells in newly hatched midshipman fish larvae and compared them to those of other species. They found that the chirp of a bird, the bark of a dog and all the other sounds that come out of animals' mouths are the products of the neural circuitry likely laid down hundreds of millions of years ago with the hums and grunts of fish.
"Fish have all the same parts of the brain that you do," Bass explained.
His team traced the development of the connection from the midshipman fish's vocal muscles to a cluster of neurons located in a compartment between the back of its brain and the front of its spinal cord. The same part of the brain in more complex vertebrates, such as humans, has a similar function, indicating that it was highly selected for during the course of evolution.
The finding is published in the July 18 issue of the journal Science.
The fish that Bass studied are interesting in their own right.
After building a nest for his potential partner, the male midshipman fish calls to nearby females by contracting his swim bladder, the air-filled sac fish use to maintain buoyancy. The sound is a hum, something like a long-winded foghorn. Female midshipman dig it, and they only approach a male's nest if he makes this call.
During midsipman mating season, houseboat owners in San Francisco Bay have complained that their homes vibrate from the humming, which sound like a high-speed motor running underwater.
By better understanding how these fish hear, the study offers new avenues to explore the causes of human deafness, the researchers say.
SOURCE:YAHOO.COM
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| Dead Baby Penguins Found in Brazil |
[20 Jul 2008|11:21pm] |
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I've been lurking here for a really long time, waiting for that perfect article or such to come out with ... AND HERE IT IS.
Really sad, actually, cos these guys are one of my favorite animals.
( Article )
sauce
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| Relactation or lactation without having babies |
[21 Jul 2008|04:12pm] |
Usually, lactation follows having a baby. However, in some cases it happens without ever having a baby, or many years after having a baby, in which case it is called a relactation. Wikipedia has some stuff on relactation - rule 34 applies, but it's safe for work. Humans probably lactate without relation to recently giving birth more often than other animals, because they do it on purpose and they have various ways of promoting lactation, including some drugs. "Wet nurses" used to just keep their lactation for years. Aunts or sometimes grandmothers used to relactate to suckle an orphaned baby. These days, adoptive mothers sometimes either lactate without ever giving birth, or relactate to provide breastfeeding for their adopted kids.
Even human males occasionally lactate, sometimes spontaneously. However, there is a mammal, called The Dayak Fruit Bat, who, besides having an awesome Star Wars-like species name, sports male lactation as a species norm. This Scientific American article provides more details on male lactation in humans, though.
And now I am going to post a cute picture of a cat nursing lots of kittens. Because it's much nicer looking than some of the human pictures I found researching this topic ^_^
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| WTF?! |
[21 Jul 2008|10:18pm] |
Oddball Sea Otter to Get Life
As the Bay Flushes
By Neil Farrell
An oddball, adult male sea otter could be sentenced to life in captivity after he bit and scratched a woman at Morro Rock last week, while apparently protecting a dead paramour.
According to state Fish and Game biologist Mike Harris, the otter — named “Repo” — had been seen in and around the bay for more than a week.
On Tuesday, July 8 a 21-year-old woman saw the otter on a small beach near the North Jetty lying with a dead sea lion. Both animals were about the same size, and Harris said the woman thought Repo was harming the sea lion. She got too close and the otter turned on her.
“She thought she was doing good to get the otter off the sea lion,” said Harris. When she approached, Repo got mad. “He got real protective and tried to defend the animal he’d been carrying around a few days. She got bit and scratched.”
One report said she was bitten in the throat, leg and arm and suffered several scratches, resulting in what was described as minor injuries.
Sea otters and other marine mammals are not a concern for rabies, said Harris, who stressed the point that people should stay away from wild animals.
“The public should not be approaching a wild animal period,” said Harris. Instead call authorities who will contact someone who knows how to handle the animals.
Repo’s had a tough life and has a long rap sheet with authorities.
Harris explained that about five years ago, the otter was found as a pup abandoned by his mother in the Monterey Bay area. The Marine Mammal Center took him in and soon transferred him to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has a special program that teaches orphaned otter pups to forage in hopes they can be released into the wild.
Harris said Repo was eventually tagged and released, but unfortunately, has become acclimated to humans. He’s had an eventful existence to say the least.
He was once bitten by a shark and survived. Shelbi Stoudt, the Marine Mammal Center’s stranding manager, said they nursed Repo back to health and he was released again.
Harris said a couple of years ago he stranded in poor health in the Monterey-Moss Landing area. Again, he was rehabilitated and released. A traveler, Repo has been spotted from Moss Landing to Pismo Beach.
Over the past year or so, Harris said Repo began exhibiting some rather peculiar behavior.
He’s stranded several times on beaches from See Odball Otter, page 5
Odball Otter, continued
Pismo to Moss Landing, including a few times in the Morro Bay area. What’s unusual is he appeared to be healthy each time.
Repo once hauled out next to the Pismo Pier on a crowded weekend. People were able to approach quite close, but he didn’t attack anyone.
And this isn’t the first time the 65pound sea weasel has been spotted carting around dead things.
About a week before his Morro Bay incident, Harris said Repo was in Moss Landing carrying around a dead sea lion. Sea otters sometimes exhibit this strange attachment to the nonliving. To paraphrase Alice Cooper, some otters “…love the dead.”
Females have been seen carrying around dead pups; males carry around dead females; and Harris said he’s gotten reports of sea otters trying to mate with baby harbor seals, killing them and then carting around the carcasses. Sea otters have even been seen swimming around with dead birds, which Harris said they sometimes prey upon.
About 1-1/2 weeks ago, Harris explained, Repo started hauling out inside the Morro Bay Harbor where he was attracting crowds. Last Tuesday came the fateful call — Repo was laying with a dead sea lion at Morro Rock and someone finally got too close.
Harris said when he came out to check on the big guy, Repo was acting different than the past. “I could tell he wasn’t going to let me get close to him while he was next to that sea lion,” said Harris, who had to get out the nets to bring him in.
Repo now awaits his fate — jealousy his apparent final undoing.
He was taken to a familiar place — the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Harris said they are now waiting for a consultation with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service on the otter’s future. It’s likely he won’t swim wild and free again. “We’ll probably put this animal in captivity for the rest of its life,” said Harris. “We just can’t take that chance. We’ll have to find a home for him and that’s not going to be easy.” Adult male otters don’t adjust well to captivity, he explained, sometimes becoming more aggressive. Harris said Fish and Game has a research facility in Santa Cruz with five other sea otters that can’t be released because they too have become accustomed to people.
So, Repo will likely be towed off to the Fish and Game research facility where he’ll help biologists develop methods of treating his wild brethren that get caught in oil spills.
Lest anyone think Repo is some kind of perverted critter, Harris said they had no reports that he had actually tried to mate any of his no-pulse paramours. “Sometimes you just get these demented animals,” he said.
Repo now awaits his fate — jealousy his apparent final undoing.
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Copyright © 2008 Bay News 07/17/2008
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| Monster Mondays: Ebu Gogo |
[22 Jul 2008|12:46pm] |
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| DJ Wanderinggothiceventphotographer |
[25 Jul 2008|10:24am] |
With more and more people dabbling in DJing, we are fast running out of original DJ names. To check this, try making up vaguely plausible DJ names and googling (in quotes, of course) to see whether they exist. I got through DJ Spooky, DJ Womble, DJ Nimrod, DJ Blah, DJ Spanky, DJ Horse, DJ Nonsense, DJ Excession, DJ Abomination, DJ Flaccid, DJ Turgid and DJ Pants. There may or may not be a DJ Bibble. There doesn't seem to be a DJ Ludicrous, but there is a DJ Ludicrous Speed. There's no DJ Cheese Puff or DJ Teletubby. Yet.
There are several ways to deal with the global shortage of DJ names. One is the hotmail username approach: tack on numbers at the end for names such as DJ Plausible_419 or DJ LonelyGoat15. Another is to accept increasing duplication, as we do with real world first names. ("I've booked DJ Psycho for next week." "Oh crap! You mean DJ Psycho Smith?" "No, of course not. DJ Psycho Anderson.") Finally there's the portmanteau option where the names just get longer: DJ Surprising Anachronism; DJ SatanIsTheMasterOfMyMilitantTendency; DJ Lostiniambictranslation; etc.
Someone called Simon has taken the latter approach, adopting "DJ Dancefloorlandmine" as his moniker. I have no idea who he is, except for the fact that he took a rather fine photo of Iza and Agata when we pretended to be goths at Vagabonds last month. ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) short_mort spotted the picture online and kindly popped a link in the comments on my previous post. In case you didn't see it:
Click on the photo to see it larger in his gallery. From there you can see other examples of his work - he's good.
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| learn russian/come to Russia |
[25 Jul 2008|12:00pm] |
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Hello, if you look for person for practice russian language you may write me, I learn english, it may be useful for both:) I am from Moscow. I also may tell about Russia for people who want to visit Russia. My icq 443-737-633
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| Greetings and Help? |
[24 Jul 2008|10:31pm] |
Hello ... I just joined this community. I'm also pretty early on in my Russian studies and wondering if you all could help me with a translation.
I want to post this in Russian on my profiles on a couple social networking-type sites:
"If you are from Russia or speak Russian, say hello to me because I don't have much chance to speak the language and would like the opportunity."
Can anyone translate that into Russian for me? Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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| And exhale. |
[24 Jul 2008|10:45pm] |
Life just hasn't stopped since last entry in March, and has now ground to a mere gallop, enabling my slightly grazed self to sit down and write an entry.
We have moved. All of you know this; most of you were at our extremely cool house party. There are still boxes in my room and I have so many stuffs that I'm playing Sokoban moving them all around my room. I still don't have a clue what it's going to look like yet.
Incidentally, something we already knew: BT are fuckheads. Three weeks and completely unable to get internet up and running. Virgin: 4 days, and success! Though it seems that the technicians on the helplines are universally stupid, no matter what service provider they are with. Ask crackityg.
And now I go to continue to obsess over the interior decoration of my room. I'm sure I'll come up with a more interesting post soon.
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