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#148803 10/09/05 11:16 PM
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Which is nothing compared to the fact that your Great Old One looks distinctly more pachydermish than cephalopodic, thanks to the avatar being squished.

It's 65 x 65 pixels, kept its ratio, and it's not squashed. You can find it online in many places: e.g., Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cthulu.png


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
#148804 10/09/05 11:18 PM
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Quote:

Which is nothing compared to the fact that your Great Old One looks distinctly more pachydermish than cephalopodic, thanks to the avatar being squished.

It's 65 x 65 pixels, kept its ratio, and it's not squashed. You can find it online in many places: e.g., Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cthulu.png




OK, so it's my eyes, then.

Last edited by sjmaxq; 10/09/05 11:18 PM.
#148805 10/09/05 11:38 PM
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"The Nephila male has interesting mating manoeuvres. He presents the female with a fly wrapped in silk and while the female is feeding, he will copulate with his preoccupied mate."

http://www.museums.org.za/bio/spiderweb/tetragna.htm

#148806 10/10/05 06:26 AM
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Interesting. It also says that "there are usually one or two amorous males in the female's web as well" which explains something I didn't understand. When I went back with my camera to photograph her, there was another, smaller spider of the same colouration in her web, but this intruder didn't appear to be bothering her. Must have been her visiting fun boy.

See MY photo of the Nephila Clavata with spouse (?) here:

http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/927/dsc049516nm.jpg

I also read that the Nephila Clavata has the strongest thread of all spider species, sometimes entangling small birds and bats.

Last edited by Homo Loquens; 10/10/05 06:36 AM.
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"BTW, 'nephila" is likely the f. sing. for nephilim -- on the model of 'yeledim' (children) 'yeled' (boy) and 'yelda' (girl)" he typed into the wind.

#148808 10/10/05 01:11 PM
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... 'nephila" is likely the f. sing. for nephilim -- on the model of 'yeledim' (children) 'yeled' (boy) and 'yelda' (girl)

...not to mention the more mainstream examples of seraph/seraphim and cherub/cherubim.

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I looked up niphilim (which only occurs in the plural in the OT) in Klein's etymology dictionary of Hebrew, and it's basically origin unknown. It has been suggested that it is related to a root that means 'to fall' which is probably a folk etymology.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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In The Book of J, Harold Bloom suggests that the "giants" were gods like those of Greek myth who wandered the Earth in search of sport with woman folk. If the vertical axis of Heaven and Earth applied at the time, then "fallen" would be corroborative. In fact, it is likely the ground of his surmisal; although, I don't remember him saying. (He seems to a textual oscurity that mimicks the author of J's; I haven't read enough of him to know if this is habitual, or a stylistic choice for that work). Of course, he may more likely have been working off "gibborim," or "the mighty ones."

Last edited by inselpeter; 10/10/05 02:03 PM.
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This is all very informative, but I am still left wondering how this spider got its name. Usually Latin faunal names are descriptive of the animal they designate. Aren't they?

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It's a giant spider, ain't it? You said so yourself. And, while the word's not Latin, it is Greeked Hebrew, and was probably carried over from the Septuagint into the Latin scriptures, although it appears as a plural. A stab, admittedly, but not entirely in the dark. Lucky daddy spider, by the way, to bring a meal, and not be one. Or is that just wishful thinking?

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