Talk about your mighty mites!

Mite Paratarsotomus macropalpis is World’s Fastest Terrestrial Animal, Study Says

Apr 28, 2014 by Sci-News.com

The Southern California erythracarid mite species, Paratarsotomus macropalpis, which is smaller than sesame seed, can run up to 322 body lengths per second, according to a study led by biologist Samuel Rubin of Pitzer College, Claremont. The previous record-holder, the Australian tiger beetle, can run at 171 body lengths per second. By comparison, a cheetah running at 100 km per hour attains only 16 body lengths per second.

Paratarsotomus macropalpis. Image credit: Grace C. Wu et al. 2010. The Journal of Experimental Biology; doi: 10.1242/jeb.024463.

“It’s so cool to discover something that’s faster than anything else, and just to imagine, as a human, going that fast compared to your body length is really amazing,” said Mr Rubin, who is the first author of a paper published in the FASEB Journal.

Paratarsotomus macropalpis is a large (up to 0.7 mm long) mite belonging to the family Anystidae. It has long legs and a body nearly twice as long as broad.

This species is an endemic to California, the United States, and often found running along rocks or sidewalks.

Mr Rubin, his advisor Prof Jonathan Wright of Pomona College, and their colleagues used high frame-rate video cameras to record the mites’ sprints in the lab and in their natural environment.
They were very surprised to find that the Paratarsotomus macropalpis’ speed is equivalent to a human running roughly 2,100 km per hour. [That's just over 1300 miles per hour.]

They were also surprised to find the mites running on concrete up to 60 degrees Celsius, a temperature significantly higher than the upper lethal temperature of most animals. [Yeah, like 140 Fahrenheit!]

“They’re operating at temperatures that seem to preclude activities of any other animal group. We’ve seen them running where there were no other animals visibly active,” Prof Wright said.

The mites also are adept at stopping and changing directions extremely quickly, attributes the researchers are investigating further for potential insights that may be relevant to bioengineering applications.

One could see this coming ...

 
For years I have been telling Daniel that eventually a gay-friendly church like the United Church of Christ would sue a state over same-sex marriage bans on the grounds that such bans violated the church members' religious freedom. And now ...

In 2012, the people of North Carolina voted to write discrimination directly into their constitution by banning same-sex marriage. Today in federal court, one Christian denomination is suing the state for violating its First Amendment rights to religious liberty as a result of implementing that ban.
Amendment One, which was pushed onto the people of North Carolina in an ugly and lie-filled battle fueled by the National Organization For Marriage, makes it illegal for ministers or pastors or any faith leader to even perform a same-sex commitment ceremony, even though it would have no legal meaning. Rev. Emily C. Heath of the United Church of Christ, the group suing the state, quoting the law writes that “any member of the clergy who officiates at a same-sex marriage in the state may be sentenced to ’120 days in jail and/or probation and community service.’”

In other words, the state of North Carolina is telling clergy that it is illegal to pray in the manner in which they see fit.
For those of us who are people of faith, marriage is more than just a civil ceremony. It is also a religious one. And under the current law, even if a member of the clergy is only intending to perform a religious ritual, and not to legally marry a same-sex couple, they could be arrested.

In other words, North Carolina state law is making it a crime for some Christians to freely exercise their religion.

We often hear that religious liberty is under attack in our country. Often the fact that same-sex couples are allowed to marry is cited as evidence of this attack. But, as this law makes clear, the religious liberty of same-sex couples and their officiating clergy is being attacked.

The long list of plaintiffs includes Betty Mack and Carol Taylor, a couple int their 70s who have been together more than 40 years.

The United Church of Christ has also launched a campaign surrounding their lawsuit, called, I Do Support Religious Freedom.

It would seem that the main lesson from this is that claims to religious freedom can be a very slippery slope that slides in many directions.

Is today (April 28) the feast of St. Aphrodisiac? Not quite

Saint Aphrodisius associated with the diocese of Béziers, in Languedoc, southern France.
According to Gregory of Tours, Aphrodisius was an Egyptian who was martyred in Languedoc along with his followers^.
 
A Christian tradition states that he was a prefect or high priest of Heliopolis who sheltered the Holy Family at Hermopolis when they fled into Egypt. Aphrodisius learned of the miracles of Jesus from Alexandrian Jews returning from a pilgrimage in Jerusalem. According to Christian legend, Aphrodisius went to Palestine to meet Jesus and became one of his disciples. After the Resurrection, Aphrodisius received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He accompanied Sergius Paulus to Provence. They evangelized Narbonensis: Sergius settled in Narbonne. The legend continues that Aphrodisius arrived at Béziers mounted on a camel [Damien's note: Remember the camel!] and became a hermit in a cave near the city. He lived in it a long time before becoming a bishop.

Local traditions assign Aphrodisius as the first Bishop of Béziers and state that he was decapitated by a group of pagans. The head was kicked into a well, but the water gushed out and the decapitated Aphrodisius picked up his own head, and carried it through the city. He left his head at the cave that he had previously occupied. This was a spot on which later stood a chapel dedicated to Saint Peter, later a basilica named after Aphrodisius (Saint-Aphrodise). This martyrdom is supposed to have occurred on April 28, 65 AD, during the reign of Nero.

According to the story, after the death of his master, the camel was taken care of by a compassionate family of potters. When Aphrodisius was recognized as a saint, the city's leaders considered as an honor to take charge of all the expenses associated with the animal’s maintenance. They offered it a house at the beginning of a street and this road, after the camel’s death, took the name of "rue du Chameau" ("Camel Street"), afterwards rue Malbec. This is considered the origin of the local "fêtes de Caritach" (feasts of charity).

Historicity

According to the Bréviaire de Béziers, during the 14th and 15th centuries, he was presented as bishop and confessor who died of natural causes. It is only during the 16th century that new legends of his beheading were created. At the same time, the legend of the camel was also devised. Aphrodisius was probably a figure of the 3rd century.



There are several saints with the name of Aphrodisius. The old martyrologies bear five saints with this name: the bishop of Béziers; a martyr of Tarsus in Cilicia celebrated on June 21; another martyr killed in Cilicia with 170 companions on April 28 c. 86 AD; another killed at Scythopolis, honored on May 4; and a martyr of Alexandria killed with several companions, honored on May 13. There is also a bishop of Hellespont with this name who at the beginning of the 4th century defended the Resurrection against a sect led by a man named Hierax.

The first literary account of the life of Saint Aphrodisius of Béziers is probably that of Ado, the Carolingian author, who introduces the mission of Aphrodisius into the acts of Saint Paul de Narbonne. Gregory of Tours, in his History of Franks, mentions Aphrodisius. The first mention of the sanctuary dedicated to Aphrodisius is made by Usuard, who undertook a voyage in 858 to bring back from Spain relics for his abbey. In his relation of the voyage, he says to us that after "having left Cordoba, he returned by Girona, Narbonne and Béziers, a city famed for its relics of blessed Aphrodisius".

Veneration

There was a custom of leading a camel in the procession at Béziers on the feast of the saint.

The "camel" was actually a mechanical camel of wood with a moving head and jaws, covered with a painted fabric on which the armorial bearings of the city and two inscriptions were inscribed: the Latin ex antiquitate renascor ("I'm reborn from Antiquity") and the local Occitan sen fosso ("we are numerous"). This machine, which did not really resemble a camel, concealed in its sides a few operators who made its head and jaws and teeth move. This camel was utilized during all local, religious, and political festivals.


This mechanical camel was led during the processions by a costumed figure named Papari, who was escorted by other men disguised as wild men of the woods, whose heads were decorated with leaves. They danced to the sound of a bagpipe. Around the camel, herdsmen fought a mock battle. The camel was burned during the Wars of Religion and again during the French Revolution. The custom was revived in 1803 only to be discontinued during the Revolution of 1830, when it was considered a symbol of feudalism and religious fanaticism. Today, it continues to run through the city's streets during local holidays. The current head dates from the eighteenth century. In the 1970s, it was proposed that the camel be remade to give it a real camel's appearance. However, the townspeople protested and the camel retained its traditional appearance.

The roots of this particular tradition are possibly to be found in the pre-Christian festivities dedicated to Bacchus, imported by the Phocaeans to southern France; Bacchus was sometimes depicted riding a camel.

Walk a mile in my shoes?

I recently happened upon Gwen Murphy's art online. It certainly fits into my interest in the queer world.

Gwen Murphy is a brilliant artist who breathes new life into old shoes, by transforming them from fashion accessories into intriguing works of art.

Ever since she was a little girl, Gwen liked to look at shoes and found that they were staring back at her, each pair with its own character and personality. Depending on model and how worn out they were, some shoes sometimes looked sleepy, other times grouchy or fierce, some even looked like they were singing. Young Gwen perceived them as a species of beings made entirely from pairs of identical twins, and the fascination with shoes stayed with her all the way through adulthood.

Now, she collects pairs of worn out shoes and tries to bring out their personality, by literally giving them a face. She makes use of ash clay and acrylic paint to create bugged-out eyes, long faces and pouting lips, and gives each pair a unique face that expresses its unique character. Indian slippers have an exotic look, wooden shoes look blissful and primitive, while high heel shoes have somewhat of an arrogant look.

Gwen named her collection of shoe artworks “Foot Fetish” because she actually perceives shoes as fetishes (objects believed to have magical powers to protect or aid its owner). To her, they have the power to protect our feet and transport us from place to place.

If you enjoy the shoes, be sure to check out her other art by clicking on this link.

April is fast slipping away ...

but there may still be time for you to take note of the following "Month of" designations:

• African American Women's Fitness Month
• Alcohol Awareness Month
• Amateur Radio Month
• American Cancer Society Month
• Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
• Celebrate Diversity Month
• Community Service Month
• Fresh Florida Tomato Month
• Jewish-American Heritage Month
• National Autism Awareness Month
• National Better Hearing and Speech Month
• National Food Month
• National Garden Month
• National Mental Health Month
• National Multiple Birth Awareness Month
• National Occupational Therapy Month
• National Older Americans Month
• National Parkinson's Awareness Month
• National Pecan Month
• National Soft Pretzel Month
• National Soy Foods Month
• National STDs Education and Awareness Month
• Pets are Wonderful Month
• Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month
• Stress Awareness Month
• Thai Heritage Month
• Women's Health Care Month

Career concerns ...

I suppose Republicans will be happy to see that the first three concerns have to do with the free market! On the other hand, that affordable health care in number four is going to be a buzz kill for them.

Happy birthday, America!

What's that, you say? April 25?

Well, in a way. It's not the beginning of the United States, which is, as I think some of us forget, NOT all there is to America. Nor is it the discovery of America by Europeans -- whether you want to give that nod to Vikings or whomever. Nor is it the migration of humans across what is now the Bering Strait into North America. 

But it is the beginning of the term.

The earliest known use of the name America dates to April 25, 1507, where it was applied to what is now known as South America. It appears on a small globe map with twelve time zones, together with the largest wall map made to date (above), both created by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in France.

So a German, working in France, named America for an Italian.

Who ya gonna believe?

 

Yet according to the folks over at LiveStrong, "The plain milk chocolate variety of M&M’s has far fewer calories than its filled counterparts. You’ll get just three calories from a lone milk chocolate M&M's. If you have one of the other types though, you’ll wind up with three to four times as many calories. A single peanut, crispy or peanut butter-filled M&M's each provide between 10 and 12 calories per piece." 

According to some calculations, you need to walk only 66 yards to burn off the calories for one plain milk chocolate M&M.

At any rate, no one eats only one M&M.

And the full length of a football field is not a long walk.

How many Damiens does it take to screw in a light bulb?

So a recent poll shows that 51% of Americans don't believe in the Big Bang theory. Not sure how they disbelieve in in. It's right there on Thursday night on CBS. And in reruns on a gazillion other stations.

That reminds me of an exchange between Sheldon and Penny when she said, in frustration, "He's impossible."

Sheldon's respsonse: "I can't be impossible. I'm here. I think what you meant to say is I'm improbable."

I don't think I will get too worried about that Big Bang theory doubt. After all, I imagine only a small percentage of Americans can fathom what the theory means, beyond there was, you know, nothing and then something exploded and now there's everything. And, oh yeah, everything is moving away from everything else really, really fast.

But you say there was nothing?
Yeah.
Then something exploded.
Yeah.
So where did the something come from?
Nothing.
So nothing exploded?
Well, sort of.
But if nothing exploded ... then nothing exploded. So where's the explosion?

You see why people get confused.

More problematic is a recent poll that says that 20% don't believe the sun is the center of the universe.

Because, as everyone knows, I am.
--------------
Answer to question in title: One. He holds the light bulb over his head and everything revolves around him

Type casting

A friend recently commented about the guys he does and does not find attractive. Which got me to thinking about an article I had read about a theory that (straight) people tend to mate with partners who have many of the same physical characteristics that they have. What this has to say to the cliché about opposites attracting, I am not sure. Weirdly enough, one of the statistically significant similarities has to do with the length of the middle finger …

When I look around at the gay couples I know who are married or in long-term monogamous relationships, I don’t see any pattern of like-loves-like. But I am also aware that many of those couples will tell you that their husband/partner is not physically the “type” that they are generally attracted to. And when they describe their ideal type, very often that type has many similarities to themselves rather than to their husband/partner. In my case, I am not Daniel’s type, nor is he mine. And my type is an (extremely) idealized and (younger) version of myself, as his is an idealized version of himself.

Whatever.

Here is an article from SFGate about look-alike boyfriends.

You’ve all seen them: those gay couples that are uncannily, sometimes even eerily alike in appearance. A new Tumblr, Boyfriend Twin, is chronicling the male side of this phenomenon, which thankfully, has a name at last!

Think twice! They’re boyfriend twins! They walk alike, groom alike, dress alike and look twintastically alike!

The blog’s creator says the Tumblr “grew out of an ongoing conversation a friend and I had about boyfriend twins we knew or would see on social media.” After sending each other boyfriend twin photos and having an ongoing conversation about resemblances and attraction the friends decided “we have to start a Tumblr about this.”

His curiosity initially began when he dated a man who had similar facial features and the pair were asked, sometimes at uncomfortable moments, if they were brothers. The overwhelming majority of photos on the blog have been submitted by boyfriend twins that are happy to share their resemblances and relationship.

“Some of the photo submissions have been so twincestuous that I’ve had to email back just to verify that the people in the photo are not actually related,” he says when asked how he separates the boyfriend twins from the actual twins.

When asked about any possible, uncomfortable implications of dating your deadringer the blogger responded:

“I’m happy that the Tumblr page has begun a conversation about attraction, narcissism and exhibitionism and personally, I enjoy seeing all the proud and handsome gay couples willing to share their relationship with the world.”

Cue Nico singing “I’ll Be Your Mirror.”

Think the fun ended when you ate the last Easter egg?

Dyngus Day, sometimes spelled Dingus Day, is a holiday that is celebrated in Poland as well as in some Polish communities in the United States. This holiday always takes place on Easter Monday and it's meant to be a fun, light-hearted holiday. It is also called Wet Monday as the tradition of Dyngus Day is for males to soak females with water from buckets, hoses and the like. Traditionally, the females are supposed to get their revenge on Tuesday by throwing dishes, but now most females just soak the men back with water on the same day. Red water balloons seem perfect for this, being more portable than heavy buckets and less restrictive than hoses attached to faucets.

The history of Dyngus Day dates back to 966 and the Easter Monday baptism of the Polish prince Mieszko I. This was a significant baptism because it was taken by the Polish people to mean that all of Poland was Christian. Since baptism is thought to relate to purification, cleansing and fertility, the idea somehow adapted into Dyngus Day and boys soaking girls with water. Dyngus Day water traditions also relate to the mass Lithuanian baptisms that took place after the Lithuanian Duke, Jagiello, and the Polish Queen, Jadwiga, were married.

Gettting wet makes some sense, Easter being connected with baptism. On the other hand, not all spring cleaning customs are so much fun  ...

In Czechoslovakia during Easter week it’s good luck to beat your wife or the girl you fancy with a pomlázka, or a braided whip. While this may sound strange It’s not meant in a demeaning way or as an insult, in fact pomlázka, means “make young.” The idea behind the tradition is that anyone hit with the whip will be healthy and happy during the upcoming year.

The tradition is believed to have originated with the spring blessing of the house which is common among all Orthodox Christians. This translated in using a whip or a single branch in order to lightly hit livestock or family members. Now the tradition is wide spread and you can even buy premade whips or special wooden spoons that can be used to hit your loved ones.

Hmmm. Now where did Daniel put those wooden spoons?

So what's with the rabbit and the eggs?

The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is depicted as a Leporid bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide. The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, the creature carries colored eggs in his basket, candy and sometimes also toys to the homes of children, and as such shows similarities to Santa Claus or the Christkind (Christ child), as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holiday. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus in 1682 referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs for the children.

So goes one Christian explanation. Who knows?

I like the pagan (or neo-pagan) Ostara story, too.


Ostara, the Goddess of Dawn (Saxon), who was responsible for bringing spring each year, was feeling guilty about arriving so late. [Must have been a year like we have been having in the Midwest!] To make matters worse, she arrived to find a pitiful little bird who lay dying, his wings frozen by the snow. Lovingly, Ostara cradled the shivering creature and saved his life. 

Legend has it that she then made him her pet. Filled with compassion for him since he could no longer fly because of his frost-damaged wings, the goddess Ostara turned him into a rabbit, a snow hare, and gave him the name Lepus. To honor his earlier form as a bird, she also gave him the ability to lay eggs (in all the colors of the rainbow, no less), but he was only allowed to lay eggs on one day out of each year. 

Eventually Ostara flung him into the skies where he would remain as the constellation Lepus (The Hare).

Ostara allowed the hare to return to earth once each year, but only to give away his eggs to the children attending the Ostara festivals that were held each spring.

Why spelling matters

Stamps

I am pleased to read that the United States will issue a stamp honoring Harvey Milk next month. Prepare for the wingnuts to call for a boycott of the postal service.

Once they stop throwing their inevitable and boring tantrum, perhaps they will take a moment (like Brian Brown after his experience in Canada) to realize that they may consider themselves lucky to live in this country. After all, the Harvey Milk stamp merely presents a respectable portrait of a smiling man.

Look what Finland is up to! Now this is a forever stamp, IMHO!

They're not puttin' out for Putin

Mighty Taco, a fast food chain based in Buffalo, N.Y., has banned Vladimir Putin from its 23 restaurants for the Russian president’s decision to seize Crimea from Ukraine. Putin might be ordering around Crimea, but he’s not ordering a Super Mighty. 

And he’s not getting cherry empanadas or chicken roas­titos or nacho buffitos. Do you think he knows? The Mighty Taco ad appeared in just one print publication in upstate New York but it went viral on Facebook — and was translated into Polish, Rus­sian and Ukrainian.