Memek Ciut: The Hyacinth House

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alexgreyvisionary: Alex Grey - Entheon Kickstarter Party by...

alexgreyvisionary:

Alex Grey - Entheon Kickstarter Party by kaleynelson on Flickr.

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slubcoda: Director Nobuhiko Obayashi discussing the origins of...

slubcoda:

Director Nobuhiko Obayashi discussing the origins of the concepts of his 1977 fantasy film House (ハウス)

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secret-world-of-invertebrates: ✌THE HUNTSMAN SPIDER- Spiders in...

secret-world-of-invertebrates:

✌THE HUNTSMAN SPIDER- Spiders in the Sparassidae family

For the average person, huntsman spiders are possibly one of the scariest spiders. They have long hairy legs, they have enormous fangs and they appear in your bathroom shower when you least expect it!!! They have been immortalized in the film Arachnophobia (1990), but not in Spiderman like the Wikipedia article says. Spiderman used Steatoda spiders, which don't look like huntsman spiders at all, and they are not black widows (Latrodectus) either as some people may think… anyways, back to huntsman spiders:

Huntsman spiders are part of the Sparassidae family. These spiders are widely distributed worldwide, and they are particularly common in Australia. They tend to be found in crevices on rocks and in logs, under loose bark on trees, on foliage and even in your bathroom! Don't squish them, they will eat pests like cockroaches!

Probably the most terrifying characteristic is their size. Females tend to be larger than males, with body sizes of around 2cm, and their leg span can be up to 15cm! Like all true spiders, huntsmen have 8 legs and 2 large fangs which inject venom to their prey. They eat insects and other invertebrates by injecting venom to immobilise and digest their prey. They are not aggressive to humans, their bite may be painful, but the venom is not toxic to humans.

Delena cancerides, the spider which appears in the film Arachnophobia, is the only known huntsman spider with social behaviour. It is also one of the two spiders worldwide which have social behaviour but do not construct a web snare. Delena cancerides has one of the most interesting spider social behaviours, with some social characteristics similar to those of eusocial insects. For example, most social spiders are not aggressive towards introduced spiders of the same species in a colony, however, Delena cancerides is capable of differentiating closely related family members with intruders (Also known as kin selection).

Biological classification: Animalia- Arthropoda- Arachnida- Araneae- Sparassidae- Not sure about the big one in the first picture, but the little guy on my lamp and speakers is a Holconia sp.

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commovente: Caged by Oscar Ciutat: a photographic project that...

commovente:

Caged by Oscar Ciutat: a photographic project that portraits the eyes of captive animals.

"I saw deep in the eyes of the animals the human soul look out upon me." -Henry David Thoreau

archatlas: Yemen Anthony Pappone

archatlas:

Yemen Anthony Pappone

thedailywhat: Beautiful Pipe Dream of the Day: Playing the...

thedailywhat:

Beautiful Pipe Dream of the Day: Playing the Eiffel Tower as a Percussive Instrument

New York-based composer Joseph Bertolozzi is working on a public art project with a mission to find the voice of the Eiffel Tower. Equipped with various mallets, shakers and drumsticks, Bertolozzi and his team of sound engineers have been harvesting sounds from the tower to create an hour-long composition called "Tower Music" in homage to the iconic structure. And Bertolozzi is no stranger to experimenting with strange instruments; in 2009, he gave New York City's Hudson Bridge a similar treatment for the sound-art installation Bridge Music.