Go here, then here, then to the source here.
Martin Klimas hails from Germany and takes fantastic “still life” photos. He drops clay figurines from the same height in complete darkness with the camera lens open. When the figurine hits the ground, the sound of the impact triggers the lights to go on for a fraction of a second.
I'm look over at What's That Bug? to find out what kind of caterpillar this is:
Big spike on his tail:
C called in a bit of a huff. Montana (the cat) brought a snake in the house! What if it bites him and it's poisonous? I said she should put a garbage can over snake (probably not poisonous, here where we are). I'll be home.
Snake in can:
More below
A little closer:
He looks like what the USGS says is a California red-sided garter snake. He traveled north, apparently. On vacation, maybe. He was a bit roughed up, but he's alright.
Caught in a spider web, she was. I saved her.
She says thank you.
And her closeup:
Homempage:
Boutique (1976):
Giuseppe Tampieri was born in Lugo di Ravenna on March 9th, 1918 and began practicing painting and drawing in early childhood in Faenza.
He attended the Fine Arts Academy in Florence where he graduated in 1941.
His first exhibition took place in Ravenna in 1936. Since then he has been participating the most important Italian artistic events including the Biennale in Venice and the Quadriennale in Rome.
He realized many illustrations for books and also published articles and reviews on newspapers and magazines.
He lived and worked in Genoa from 1950 to 1981 where many of his monumental sculptures are hosted on various city buildings, corporate centres and the central cemetery.
Since 1981 he has been living and working in Faenza (Ravenna).
Via Metafilter: FalconCam:
Two peregrine falcon chicks hatched today (almost) live on downtown Indianapolis' FalconCam. Yay! They're very cute, but the parent sits on them a lot.
For my non-blog-savvy family and friends: hit the comments buttom below and leave an anonymous comment - then sign it in the body.
Excellent photos at this blog from the Northern Beaches.
I don't know if he has it on his blog (or on his other one - link to come), but this is a great video that he took of two lorikeets on his deck - with a mirror.
I posted photos of Montana the cat's leavings before (for those of you not blog-savvy, click the mouse arrow on the word "before" to go to the old photos), so it's now officially an ongoing series.
This one he left outside on the trail to the front door, rather than in the house. Thoughtful kitty. You have to admit - it's very beautiful.
Just downloaded the long-undowloaded camera. Some nice shots over the last few months, from here and in Western New York. Next several posts will be these photos.
This is a small section of a painting done a few years ago.
After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian gouvernment destroyed 125,000 weapons across the country. In this time British artist Sasha Constable saw an opportunity, and decided to create The Peace Art Project Cambodia (PAPC) in November 2003. The Peace Art Project Cambodia was a sculpture project turning weapons into art as expressions of peace.In Cambodia this is the most beautiful way to get rid of weapons - transform them in furniture. From these pictures this furniture doesn’t look to comfortable, but for a good cause they are excellent.
When his chickens started disappearing a few weeks ago, a farmer in eastern India figured dogs or jackals were to blame — until he discovered his calf making a meal of his poultry.
THIS is one side of Bambi the Disney corporation never wanted you to see. Red deer on a Scottish island are supplementing their normally vegetarian diet by snacking on live seabird chicks.
For the folks at home - in the U.S. and Australia - a look at my world. My office at the UJ Corporation.
Also from Metafilter (see post below for link) a Web site where you can read old books. I mean like flip through the pages and all. Books like T.S. Arthur's Great Temperance Stories: Six Nights with the Washingtonians.
I saw this very cool story somewhere on the intertubes today but I can't remember where. I'll update with a link if I remember. (For now, via.)
A series of holes, usually about 24 inches across and in neat rows of from nine to twelve, stretched for almost a mile in Peru. It starts at the base of a mountain and then climbs up the side and meanders up and down, over some of the roughest terrain.
Very, very strange:
Photo from StockInterview
A GERMAN man obtained enriched uranium and buried it in his garden, raising concerns about the security of Germany's nuclear reactors.
“How do (uranium) pellets get out of a nuclear reactor? That's not supposed to happen,” said ministry spokeswoman Jutte Kremer-Heye.
She said it was unclear when the man, a resident of the northwestern German town of Lauenfoerder, got hold of and buried the 14 low-enriched uranium pellets, which he had sealed in a steel container wrapped in a plastic bag.
I've written about these two before. Nice to see updates.
Reuters | Friday, 2 March 2007
NEW YORK: A giant tortoise and an orphaned baby hippo who forged an unusual friendship after the 2004 tsunami in southeast Asia are the stars of a new website so fans can follow their progress.
Mzee, a 130-year-old Aldabran tortoise, became a surrogate parent and inseparable friend to hippo Owen who was washed out to sea off the coast of Kenya, rescued by villagers and taken to a wildlife park where the tortoise lived.
You think I'm kidding? Read. Weep.
Receptionist Irina Legova said that Mr McCarney had told her that the donkey was a breed of “super rabbit” which he was bringing to a pet fair in the city. The court was told that the donkey went berserk in the middle of the night and ran amok in the hotel corridor, forcing hotel staff to call the gardai.
McCarney was found in the room wearing a latex suit and handcuffs, the key to which the donkey is believed to have swallowed.
With a few friends at Carnegie Hall. And I get to put up one of my favorite Annie Liebovitz portrait photos of all time.
From Nature:
Tadpoles can achieve something that humans may only dream of: pull off a tadpole's thick tail or a tiny developing leg, and it'll grow right back — spinal cord, muscles, blood vessels and all. Now researchers have discovered the key regulator of the electrical signal that convinces Xenopus pollywogs to regenerate amputated tails. The results, reported this week in Development, give some researchers hope for new approaches to stimulating tissue regeneration in humans.
Researchers have known for decades that an electrical current is created at the site of regenerating limbs. Furthermore, applying an external current speeds up the regeneration process, and drugs that block the current prevent regeneration. The electrical signals help to tell cells what type to grow into, how fast to grow, and where to position themselves in the new limb.
...
But the complex networks needed to construct a complicated organ or appendage are already genetically encoded in all of our cells — we needed them to develop those organs in the first place. "The question is: how do you turn them back on?" Levin says. "When you know the language that these cells use to tell each other what to do, you're a short step away from getting them to do that after an injury."
The was the very first post on this blog. The photo was taken by yours truly in Canberra, New South Wlaes, Australia (of course) in October, 2006.
Ask a Biologist, a UK site for schoolchildren. I asked "Where do marsupials come from?" (Ans: They come from what is now North America, say the 'perts.) I'll update when I get their answer.
Montana the Wild Cat of the house, that is. Montana catches mouses, and then hires a surgeon to remove, carefully and with great precision, their entrails. And then leaves them on the carpet somewhere where we're sure to step on them.
Exhibit A:
Unbelievable. And what the heck IS that?
Still hard to believe little ol' me took this shot. 
And there wasn't a lot of magnification either, though I did crop it some.
Taken on the South Alligator River, Kakadoo National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia, October, 2006.
Yes, it's Wallaby scat. Very possibly from a Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby (they even have a photo of some scat). I was in Kuringai Chase National Park north of Sydney at the time. And I tell you what, I was very excited to see this scat.
I grew up calling them "Ladybugs," but Christine says the Aussies call them "Ladybirds." I like the name better.
They've lived in this old house for years, sometimes showing up by the hundreds. This one was on a teapot.
Here's some info on Ladybirds.
Hans just emailed a photo he took of a bug he found in his home in Dee Why. Anbody got any guesses what it is? Christine says it could be an immature cicada, come out of the ground earlier than it should have.
Whatever it is, she's a beaut, I reckon. Here's a closer look.
