|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
"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
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203
enthusiast
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203 |
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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
"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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,593 Likes: 1 |
... '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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
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.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203
enthusiast
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203 |
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?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
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?
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,423
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
793
guests, and
3
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|