Lords of the Lily Pad

Since my pond doesn't have any frogs, the spiders rule the lily pads. Today, I sat down and watched a spider building its web. From what I could tell, it was an octagon circumscribed in a triangle, though I'm not sure if that's possible. As I watched, I thought, Spider, how do you know what to do? Sometimes it goes back and forth, fixing lines it had recently passed over. If only I could watch them do it in a better setting, examine their actions. Maybe there's a way to tell a smarter spider from a dumber one.

As the spider was finishing its web, another spider popped out. The weaving spider stopped and faced the approaching spider. The approaching spider stopped, too, but then scurried down one of the peripheral threads to the lily pad below. I later saw that spider do something really interesting. It bolted across the water; I reckon it wanted to find some solid footing. But then as it started sinking, it saved itself with a lifeline it left on the lily pad.

I did get to see the spider catch a gnat, which it ate immediately. I counted total 5 of these spiders living in less than 3 sq ft. Close neighbors!

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Update!
My Recent Google Search:
Search Query 1: "Afghanistan Withdrawal Date"
1st Result: "Petraeus backs July 2011 Afghan withdrawal date - CNN" (Jun 2010)
Search Query 2: "Troops in Afghanistan"
1st News Result: "U.S. official: Killed forces were reinforcing troops in Afghanistan - CNN" (Aug 2011)
They weren't supposed to be there, right? Those soldiers went AWOL? I mean, c'mon, who refuses an order from the President to withdraw, right?

OH my god: Youtube Poop!

I cracked up watching this twice! So ridiculous. Everything up to 1:30 is golden, but everything after is DaRevengeofHentaiBoi =P

C-Span archives Gary Johnson at the National Press Club

Finally Gary Johnson gets his soapbox! And it's all captured on the super crappy C-Span server. This was worth watching just to see the video skip around wildly while the audio kept going. You get to really clearly see the facial expressions on Gov. Johnson's face. From what I remember from my psychology class, I would say he genuinely feels passionate about his solutions to what he sees as the U.S.'s problems. Overall, though, I would say that he got a chance to present ALL of his views on the major topics, mainly due to a nice MC who asked all the right questions.

I love his comment on global warming during the Q&A period. He basically says, the long term view on global warming is that the Sun will grow to encompass the Earth, so global warming is in our future.... LOL He must also be for funding fusion power for makin space engines, so we can GTFO of the solar system.

Gary Johnson Debates the Debate... the sequel!

He explains how state independence will help pull the federal government into solvency, how military force should be used and respected, and also how he'll confront all the issues, without fear of how unapproachable those issues are.