Of the life that's teeming in the dirt
Today on Working on it: Things That Have Only Occurred to Me Recently!
It occurred to me recently that, though it's trivially easy to make a Vampire Squid from Hell in Dungeons and Dragons, the resulting creature does not at all resemble the real world animal of the same name.
Have I mentioned that cephalopods are totally rad? And that I am utterly fascinated with the intelligence of octopuses? Well I am, but these are not things that only occurred to me recently. What has is the fact that I've been shamefully animal-centric in my reading about both extant and extinct creatures. On some level, one can hardly blame me. Dinosaurs have obvious appeal, as anyone who has ever met a toddler can attest, and we have some truly bizarre cousins on the invertebrate side of our family. Seriously, look these guys up for starters and fill yourself with wonder:
It was mere days ago when meaning of "Nova Scotia" dawned on me. I looked it up last night to confirm my suspicions. It seems so obvious now! I mean, how did I manage to miss that for my whole life?
Finally (and... if you're good at reading between the lines, relatedly), this comic by Kate Beaton is the best thing on the Internet. Unfortunately, this places my blog squarely at number seven in the standings, and my chances at re-entering the top five look slim.
Not helping my efforts is the fact that the subject lines of my last three entries will appear, in the archives, as lyrics from a five-year-old Mates of State song. And that I planned this weeks ago.
It occurred to me recently that, though it's trivially easy to make a Vampire Squid from Hell in Dungeons and Dragons, the resulting creature does not at all resemble the real world animal of the same name.
Have I mentioned that cephalopods are totally rad? And that I am utterly fascinated with the intelligence of octopuses? Well I am, but these are not things that only occurred to me recently. What has is the fact that I've been shamefully animal-centric in my reading about both extant and extinct creatures. On some level, one can hardly blame me. Dinosaurs have obvious appeal, as anyone who has ever met a toddler can attest, and we have some truly bizarre cousins on the invertebrate side of our family. Seriously, look these guys up for starters and fill yourself with wonder:
- Anomlaocaris
- Hallucigenia (!?!)
- Opabina
- Wiwaxia
It was mere days ago when meaning of "Nova Scotia" dawned on me. I looked it up last night to confirm my suspicions. It seems so obvious now! I mean, how did I manage to miss that for my whole life?
Finally (and... if you're good at reading between the lines, relatedly), this comic by Kate Beaton is the best thing on the Internet. Unfortunately, this places my blog squarely at number seven in the standings, and my chances at re-entering the top five look slim.
Not helping my efforts is the fact that the subject lines of my last three entries will appear, in the archives, as lyrics from a five-year-old Mates of State song. And that I planned this weeks ago.