Monday, September 1, 2008

whip it


whip scorpion.
from a photograph by igor siwanowicz.

"Tailless whip scorpions (often called whip spiders), are scientifically referred to as amblypigids because they belong to the order Amblypigi. They have been given the name tailless whip scorpions because of
their lack of a tail (telson). In fact, “amblypigid” means “blunt rump”.


Amblypygids are arachnids. Spiders, scorpions, mites, daddy longlegs and other less well-known groups are their closest living relatives."

9 comments:

Your driver said...

Yummy scorpions!
Hey Ib. I was thinking that I ought to post some stuff to my neglected blog, I mean, what with my place of honor at your blog and all. Trouble is in the course of the Firefox meltdown I lost all trace of my imeem account. Can't find the password, the user name, nothin'.

So, I thought, simple enough I'll ditch that clunky imeem format and try the player that Ib uses.

Slight problem, I can't make any sense of it. As near as I can figure it allows me to link to the location of a song file that is floating above the earth in internet cloud cuckoo land. I know how to create a link, albeit without the little player console, how do I send songs out to float around waiting for linkage? I'm certainly not going to provide a pubic internet link to my hard drive, which seems to be what they want me to do, so presumably I am supposed to find some public place to stash my file, which is what iMeem is, so why waste time with an intermediate step to iMeem?

I don't think internet Jesus wants me to have a blog. Perhaps internet Ganesha is placing character building obstacles in my way. Either way, they can show me how to straighten it out, or go fuck themselves.

Given the obstinacy and wrongheadedness of the godz, I am forced to turn to mere human aid, unless, my good brother, you are not human. Even if that is the case and you are the world's coolest talking dog- HELP!

Peewit said...

Now I thought the stag beetle was amazing origami... Wait It's a photograph. How disappointing.

Sorry for the lack of comments over the weekend. Nothing you've posted has prompted me to say anything until now, perhaps I'm getting lazy. I've certainly neglected my blog!

ib said...

Jon: I'll e-mail you, regarding the conundrum! It's not hugely complicated, but requires a good bit of description.

Your driver said...

Thanks bro' there's a yummy doggie treat in it for you.

ib said...

Hey! no problem, peewit.

I checked in on your blog a few times recently to see if you'd updated it; I'm assuming you're still in the process of recovering from your holiday!

Yeah, I was originally looking for origami arachnids - of which there ARE several - but I saw the photograph of the whip scorpion and was intrigued. It would serve as a nice template for a bit of silversmithing and jewelry design, I think.

Löst Jimmy said...

daddy longlegs eh!?
Now's there a beastie I haven't seen in the house for a while

ib said...

When we were all near Tyndrum recently, the woods were full of them. I think they're very elegant, but Rosa's daughter is not convinced.
Both boys were unperturbed.

I was elected to dispose of many in a humane fashion, steering them away from the light and letting them fly out into the dark.

Midges are pure evil by comparison.

Löst Jimmy said...

Midges hunt in plague sized swarms and unequaled in their ferocity.

ib said...

They are lethal. I was looking at a hugely magnified photograph of one, and compared to the much bigger mosquito which has a needle shaped proboscis designed to cause the minimum of pain to its victim (so they remain unalerted to its presence), the midge's own proboscis is like a huge barbed shovel causing maximum irritation.