View allAll Photos Tagged Sensitive
Bobobie Espree
owned by Chloe
The owner asked for a neutral palette with a dark smokey eye. This character can read thoughts and easily hide her own.
.....some camellia's are prone to browning in frosty or wet conditions.
Camellia Silver Anniversary from my garden on a rather wet spring day.
Sensitive teeth can be very annoying. Imagine when you’re enjoying your food when suddenly a jolt of pain rushes through. Millions of people experience this and it can affect your social life in a very bad way. But it’s not all negative, you can do something to alleviate your situation and, the f...
www.knownhomeremedies.com/7-lesser-known-home-remedies-se...
www.dove.co.za/en/Products/Body-Care/default.aspx | Do you ever find yourself criticising various parts of your body? Did you know that your little girl will pick up on your habits? Instead of bringing yourself down, rather shower yourself with unconditional love. Give your body some TLC with skin care products that nourish your body, from head to toe. If you’re suffering from dry and sensitive skin after the winter months, be sure to use body care products that are rich in Vitamin E. If your skin feels better, the chances are high that you’ll be kind to yourself.
Svema Blue 35mm BW comes to you on a snazzy lavender base with an ISO of 6. Svema Blue Sensitive has a creamy glow and pleasing results.
It's hand-rolled by The Film Photography Project and in their on-line store
Quack, quack, quack....
With apologies to the sensitives, I wanted a photo of our Pekins before they moved to Camp Freezer, as my husband likes to say. It is hard work raising one's own food, but at least we know where it comes from, and that it was all raised with love, freedom, good food, green pasture and lots of sunshine. This is far better than the plastic-wrapped birds found in the grocery stores, and the educated can shutter when thinking of how the plastic-wrapped ducks were raised.
Behind the fence are corn and sunflower crops.
BRONZE Medalist Round 17 - "OUR WORLD" SERIES: PEOPLE Perpetual Contest - 2010
Color Photo Award - PREMIER.
Little yellow-tipped lavender explosions of life in the flatwoods at Frenchman's Forest Natural Area. The tiniest little bees were busily pollinating them. The Fabaceae are fabulous!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g_c-iD_htc&feature=related
When i heard about the coming day
wish i could wake up from this dream
in it i see a family photographed
and there you are, tucked in the scene
and theres a jealous net inside my chest
theres a hurt and sadness there
maybe i'd tell you all about it
if i thought you'd care
heavy heart gets lighter by your side
but there are thoughts i'd wish i'd heard
if they ask you how i'm holding up
say i'm holding out for the words
whats the sense in being so sensitive?
can i trade this thin skin for a shell?
there are somethings i've got no feeling about
but there are some things i can tell
heavy heart get lighter by yourself
it's been so long since you capsized
and you've been lying out there in the sun
has it begun? has it begun?
heavy heart, have you heard?
that i could use the words
Sarah Harmer
Hair: Neva: Sensitive Black; By Fri.day
Eyes: Sunburst by Shapes by Zada
Skin: Grace: First Romance-Tan: by Chaisuki
Vest, Stole, and Shirt, by Argrace.
Eyelashes: by Chandra Meehan
>> Name: Adagio
>> Age: 20 Physical
>> Species: Human
>> Blood type: B+
>> Height: 6'7"
>> Weight: 250 lbs
>> Gender: Female
>>Eyes: Blue
>>Enhancements: Shorter synapses and enhanced neurotransmitters, Triple dense Muscular system, Datajack. Combined Oragic/Cybernetic Brain, Metabolizes Platinum
>>Memory Implants: Language ( English ), Intermediate Medical Skills, Job Skills ( Classified ), Dance ( Multiple Styles )
................................................................................................................................................
>>Dossier: Adagio is a genetic construct using the base DNA of Taellinu Aichi. While Taellinu is the main genetic base, others strains of genes have been used to alter her overall appearance to look different from the genetic samples. While Adagio is technically unrelated to Taellinu, enough genetic match would be present that one could find a close enough link to perhaps claim Taellinu as either a sister or mother. Philosophically this is the case, however if known by Adagio this would, in all likelihood be adamantly denied. Adagio would view herself as a unique person, but in several ways she is only as unique as any other purpose built human being, and this would indeed be true for her.
>>Adagio was created to be security personnel for Ashagi Corporation, under the watchful eyes of Doctors Aylin Daviau, and Temp Parkin. The project was also overseen and approved along the way by Sauscony Selei, whom Adagio is a replacement for due to Adagio’s ‘inherently unstable’ nature. It is due to the input of Miss. Selei that Adagio bears no or little physical resemblance to her genetic forebears. Due to the insights and visions of her creators the problems inherent in Sauscony have been corrected, such as an overly brittle bone structure, weak muscles, and inability to fight.
>>Adagio herself is a cold un-emotive woman that on the surface takes pleasure from nothing. She has the same drawn look on her face on duty and off, part of the image she keeps up as an ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ as she sees herself anyway. This mindset leads her to try to be as efficient, quick, and as lethally effective as possible. She views her work for Ashagi as the reason for her entire existence, which in fact, it is. Adagio, unlike most beings like her, does not possess any memories of their previous forms, the reasoning for this is that Sauscony viewed Adagio as a sort of child, a sort of culmination of her being. A chance to undo what had been done to her, too doom her to a life imposed upon her by someone else, for the explicit purpose of prolonging her own life, it was deemed that adagio should be ‘given’ a life part of the reason as to why she contains none of her memories, personality, or beign.
>>As for the ‘improvements’ to Adagio over a regular human a triple dense musculature, increased response times, reflexes etc, this works by an increase in efficiency of synapse transmitters. However Adagio is no faster than the average human because of the added weight do to the dense muscles. The added muscle density of course means a high strength per pound ratio than a normal human, and due to quicker synapses Adagio ‘could’ become faster than normal if the right parts are given the proper degree of exercise. That is to say any further improvement over her ‘normal’ body must be done ‘the old fashioned way’ through hard work and exercise.
>>The fact that Adagio has more efficient neurotransmitters and quicker synapses than normal may seem a blessing, leading to faster reflexes and perhaps to faster memory recall. However a side effect of this is Adagio’s always rigid way of carrying herself. She is affected to such a degree that ‘wound up’ and ‘tense’ would fail to do her justice. Instead of the normal reactions to such things her brain would seem to have compensated for this by negating the usage of nearly all receptors involved with emotional response.
>>The knowledge that Adagio was implanted with was a fairly customized data set chosen by her creators, including normal language skills Adagio has knowledge required for her job including, hand to hand combat skills, skills with hand guns and blades to a limited degree, and as a personal touch by Sauscony Adagio should have some skill with dance. While this knowledge set is not expected to get adagio through her entire life, it is merely meant as the ground work for more improvement.
The First Measure
On The First Day
Well My first day was, Unique. I awoke to one of my creators Doctor Daviau. While I cannot say for sure everything about her, she seems efficient.
I later encountered a young girl, nellie. She seems to be a friend of one of the researchers here. She displayed what seems to be a keen intelligence, She could benefit the company eventually, I presented this to Doctor Daviau and she Agrees.
I Later met Doctor Parkin, My Other creator, She is an interesting one, i'll have to find out more. Later in the day i helped he rin a rescue operation of one of our employeees. we were successful in our attempts.
Barline
The Second Measure
The Second Flight
Well i have succeeded in furnishing my apartment to my specifications. It is more efficient now. I think that my coworkers are starting to like me more, despite my icy manner. If I had a logical explanation i'd give one.
Barline
The Third measure
Aurora in 4 voices
Well today started out just lovely. Someone set off a bomb downtown. When I went out side I could see the smoke and dust from it. I have no idea who set it or what purpose it could have been. I'm fairly certain it wasn't a warning from the mayor though. But even if it wasn't, I know this I won't be bothering his staff anymore. Even though that little stunt worked to some degree it didn't work when the cops came in.
Last night with Nellie seems to have been productive, she may be even more intelligent than I had assumed. She may be of great benefit eventually.
Along the lines of work I filled out my contract this morning. Apparently I'm being paid quite well, I'm quite pleased to be earning 250K a year, and I wonder what the paychecks of others are like.
The haulers fell through on my shipments. Thankfully I was able to get the business card for a Hideo Inaka, hopefully he'll be able to provide me with the items I need. I could probably get what I need through Ashagi, but I don't think that Ashagi deals in weaponry, at least of the type I'm needing.
The Yakuza fell through Also. Fortunately Black Star came through on the Beretta, and Aylin is covering the armor. I'll speak with doctor Parkin about the blades.
On another note I've been placed in charge of Shoya, it should be interesting to see what happens with her. Her morale is in the shitter and she badly needs someone to support her. I just hope that I can provide that need.
Barline
The Fourth measure
The wings of hope
Today has been interesting, I was able to obtain some blades from Doctor Parkin, who tried me out in a sparring match, and I will admit I have along way to go, but at least I have some minor skills. My strength is my greatest weapon and my greatest weakness it seems, I need to learn to be more Fluid in combat.
Fortunately my Skill or lack there of didn't matter in an encounter I had shortly after Obtaining the blades.
On the bright side the Haulers came through on the body armor at least. The bodysuit is an Impact resistant style, it would seem to be made of a form of cloth with pockets of High density gel perhaps silicone inside. It should provide adequate protection against blades and impact damage, if I'm right it should have some minor ballistics protection capabilities as well. They did however also obtain a thin armored vest for me, while it is quite thin and flexible, mobility matters to me more than weight.
BlackStar would seem to be coming through on the firearms side of things, I'll be happy to see if they deliver as promised.
Barline
_________________
I Feel that I should record my lessons with doctor Parkin so that i should learn from them in the Future, this is the first one.
Adagio: would nod slowly. “I apologize for my misunderstanding. I hope to earn these blades then, she’d remove the tanto from her self and draw the Katana. “You gave me the knowledge doctor I should be skillful enough to not kill you, and I shall make every effort to not, and yes I trust you Doctor.” With that she’d fall silent and coldly enter a ready position and make a fairly standard downward strike towards the doctor using all her strength and speed behind the blow, obviously a novice but the Doctor said she wanted to test her strength so she’d start by putting it on display, as he’d bring her arms down with the strike the doctor could perhaps notice adagio’s shoulders tensing hard showing a good deal of the enhanced striations and structure beneath her soft skin.
tempestual Parkin eyes the strike carefully, her sword licking out to parry it aside....she wouldn’t even try blocking a strike with that kind of power behind it. Even so, her arm would be jarred, a heavy tremor running up to her shoulder. Stepping to the left, she would suddenly dive into a roll, her blade seemingly a mere extension of her arm as it flicks forward. Unless blocked, it would slice a cut in Adagio's jeans, the very tip of it cutting the material. An amused smirk would be directed at Adagio "don’t use the standard forms......you are going to fight, not duel......." she will have ended up, by the beige chair, on her back, seemingly relaxed, and completely at ease....for some reason choosing this position.
Adagio: would coldly cast her eyes in the direction of temps as she hears the lades clang together for the first time. Barely noticing temps motions she would try to bring her blade down to protect her legs but she’d respond too slow, a limitation of both her skills and her slower reflexes. She’d look coldly down and see her pants hanging a little more limply in one area and she’d remain silent at the Doctors wisdom she’d just flick her blade downward as she’d rush quickly forward her powerful legs driving her forward on the balls of her feet, once she was within range of the Doctor she’d try an upward sweeping move with the tip of the blade facing down towards the ground possibly gouging her hardwood flooring.
tempestual Parkin eyes widen slightly, but the smile on her face indicates her contentment at the move chosen. Smooth leg muscles ripple, combining with defined abdominals to contort her body, her feet flying backwards over her head to raise herself to a crouch. A wide smile is directed at adagio “good good......you dint go for the down-swing as i expected". Without a pause, she would suddenly attack, her form in no way rigid, but free-flowing....she seemed to follow no set discipline, mixing styles and attacks. Her left leg rises, foot stamping harshly into the seat of the chair to drive her light form off the ground, hopefully avoiding any swipe made at her by adagio in the process. She would contort her body, spinning in the air, her sword lancing out three times before she lands, each time, it the blade would be turned. The first would be directed at Adagio's elbow, the next at her wrist, the last at her hand, hoping to dislodge the blade from her grip. Regardless, she would land in a feral crouch on the chaise, waiting
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow at the motion thinking it nearly impossible for a moment and she’d attribute it to years of training and the Doctor being a neko. She’d try o make a could slices at the Doctor as she would launch into the air she’d make the smallest of winces feeling the blade bite successfully into her three time in all the targeted spaces, and her grip loses significantly, only holding the katana in a two handed death grip had kept it in her hands. She’d frown little bit keeping her heavy handed double grip on the blade and she’d spin h r body towards the Doctors right side apparently aiming for a leg when she’d suddenly reverse the course taken as quickly as her muscles would allow and try an upward jab from the left. For Adagio it would probably be a more risky maneuver than it was worth, in all likelihood better left up to the Doctor to try and execute.
tempestual Parkin scoffs slightly, to her own eyes, the move seeming slow, clumsy almost. Dropping to the floor, her back arching, the blade would still catch her, slicing through her top, drawing a clean line of blood across the smooth skin of her stomach. It was ironic, she was about to beat Adagio with the same move she used on Soz. Falling to the floor, her left hand presents a balance point, her right leg straight, strong, as it swings round. In likelihood, it would knock Adagio from her feet, and if this happened as expected, temp would turn her spin into a smooth leap forward. Her sword, seemingly just a blur in its movement would stop, resting upon Adagio's throat, assuming of course it all went as planned. She would then whisper softly "you may keep the swords....but you have a long way to go.....if this was a true fight, i could have killed you any number of times. You cannot just rely on your impressive strength."
_________________
I had a bit of an encounter today I feel deserves a specil entry in my journal, the file is as follows...
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow at the man and secure her pants after finishing with her wound. She'd raise a well shaped eyebrow to the man and speak in her normal icy tone towards the man. "Can I help you?"
Bull Hendrassen would approach he slowy crossing through the curtain seperating them and silently he would get a closer look at her eyes and tilt his head to one side in a manner of confusion and then he would rub the side of his head hard, obviously distraught.
Adagio: would keep her eyebrows raised and her hands would cross in front of her below the oversized belt buckle just a few inches from the hilt of her Tanto. "Is there something I can do for you sir? Do you have a question about me or something?"
Bull Hendrassen lifts a shaky hand up and extends his finger pointing to her face. "you.....cant have those...not right....not right....I dont know....you....must be marked....yes must be....somethings unusual, special maybe? wonder, if it taste good?" he ocassionaly smacks himself in the head with his other hand as if trying to convince himself of something in a rather forceful manner and its obvious this guy is crazy.
] Adagio: would frown a little bit and keep her posture and gaze icy, her blue and orange eyes giving the man an icy look." If you're referring to my eyes you'd be right, I'm created, you could view me as a living sculpture of sorts." Even though her features would remain emotionless the man could perhaps pick up a hint of pride.
Bull Hendrassen would walk slowly around the medical table, his body language not particularly frightening at the moment as he is not being agressive...but he is closing the distance between them...he is after something. he extends buth hands up towards her face like he is trying to grab her head.
Adagio: would back up quickly and her hands would drop to her pants, her right would clasp onto her Tanto, and the left would hit her pocket sending an emergency message from the phone. She'd speak icily at the man her eyes giving the man a look of
Bull Hendrassen continues towards her slowly, he is driven, his psyhcosis not letting him back off, he has to know...."have to see....have to....must know...." his movements are still unagressive, but imposing.
Adagio: would draw her Tanto quickly from its sheath and she’d hold the blade steadily between herself and the man the edge parallel with the ground. She’d gaze coldly at the man with her emotionless eyes hoping that the body language of the drawn blade would be more than enough. If need be she could easily lunge forward to attack the man.
Bull Hendrassen would continue even as she drew the blade he is so absorbed in his driveness to see her eyes that he igrores the blade and walks right on top of it the blade sinking into his abdomen, and he keeps driving himself onto it, it stabbing into him further and further as he walks, the psychosis in his mind telling him that the pain is non-existant, he is above that, ascended from the mortal condition.
Adagio: would just coldly raise an eyebrow as she coldly keeps the blade steady putting all of her enhanced strength behind her one handed grip to keep the man where he is even as his blood would begin to cover her hand and run down her arm and mingle with the black silk of her shirt. She'd keep her emotionless icy gaze locked on the man unflinchingly staring at his mask while she tried keeping the man where he was.
Bull Hendrassen would have a pleading look in his eyes as he reached ever forward to her face. "please...i MUST SEE!" and he goes to grab her face....
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow and she’d flinch a little bit as the man grabs her face, she’d frown a little bit her gaze unflinching leaving her fist tightly gripping the blade still inside of the man. She’d speak coldly to the man as she would stare into those deep dark slits in his mask, her voice as cold as the frozen north, each syllable an icicle hanging in midair. “ Let me go or I spill your guts on the floor”
Bull Hendrassen ignores her request for a moment more and uses his thumb and index finger to spread open her eyelid so he can fully examine one of her eyes. he brings the mask in very closely to her face for few moments and tilts his head this way and that while he looks into her eye, his breathing slow and rythmic inside the mask. finally he slowly lets his head go back and he begins to back off the blade.
Adagio: would just remain crouched frozen by what just happened, and she would raise an eyebrow seeing the man back off of her blade silently. Once he’s clear of the blade she just watches the blood drip off the tip of her gleaming blade unsure of what exactly just happened before she reverts her icy gaze back to the man.
Bull Hendrassen seems not to even notice the stab wound in his midsection. "thank you." he says slowly and pauses for a moment. "i do hope that I have not offended you. you seem a bit tense..." that should be a bit of an obvious statement but he seems completly genuine with his words.
Adagio: would rise slowly at the man's now polite actions and she'd just look at her blood covered arm and blade before she'd hit her phone in he rpocket again and just nod silently at the man still chilingly cold and icy, but more confused than anything.
Bull Hendrassen nods back slowly. "you must be chosen, you said created, yes you are among us most special people indeed. you have something that sets you apart, yes indeed, apart from others..."
Adagio: would raise an eyebrow and she'd frown little bit still holding her blade in her hand she'd wipe the blood from her arm and blade with a medical towel she'd grab with her left hand. "I suppose that's a good thing then?"
Bull Hendrassen "yes, very good....you are the only person i have seen in the city that has you eyes, it must be a mark of greatness."
Adagio would raise an eyebrow hearing the bit about mark of greatness, she’d frown a little bit and it’d click that it was probably time to get away from this man while he was still polite. “Very well if that’s your opinion anyway.” She’d move to head for the curtain and head to the back door, she would speak icily to the man once more as she walked out. “I’ll see you later then I guess.”
_________________
Movement II
The Mysterious Sonata
The last few days have been quite unique; hell the word unique doesn’t describe them, special momentous, amazing, those are the words that describe them better, along with tormented, anguished, and painful.
I had to deal with the death of a good a good friend, Shoya. I feel awful at her death, I barely controlled myself when Lithia killed, her, but It my duty to solve problems, not to start them. I think that’s the whole reason why I held myself back. I actually cried when I carried her dead, headless body into the church, I don’t know if Sister D can forgive me for what I’ve done to her emotionally, I hope that she can forgive me. And I’ve gotten it cleared with the doctors at the MC, I had to lie and say that Serp was the cause of her death; I had to explain the same thing to a catwalker. Doctor Parkin and I are planning her funeral.
Speaking of Doctor Parkin, she has begun instructing me in the fields of genetics, she had me study a basic text on the matter and recite what I’d learned. Now she’s having me write a paper on how I’d improve the synapses in a nervous system, I must say the topic is fairly interesting. Overall I’m quite honored to be under the Doctors tutelage.
I had to deal with one of my boss’s mind games the other day; I won’t make more mention of it other than it caused me to discharge my weapon in anger. I just hope my emotions don’t all flood me at once, I am unsure if that is something that I can handle, while I like being able to feel, I’d rather not become like Aylin, her emotions are severely stunted it seems.
A man named Markko has become an acquaintance with me it seems. I don’t know what to say about him, he’s Intelligent, polite, and is quite complimentary of me. While I enjoy receiving compliments, Doctor Parkin did excellent work on me; I have to wonder if he gives all attractive women compliments such as the ones he gave me. He said that my beauty could make the Blue Lady, the ocean, jealous. I must say while quite the compliment, it seems a little too over the top to be simple politeness.
And finally Doctor Daviau has placed me in charge of Soz’s AI daughter, I am unsure of what to say about that. I guess I’ll learn what it’s like to be a parent or caretaker of some sort.
Barline
_________________
Movement IV
Adagio in Reprise
D.S al Coda
I have died, I have risen, and I have been reborn anew.
Perhaps that sounds a bit to full of myself but that is the case, apparently I have suffered a death, and when I awkoe from the tank i found that my employent with Ashagi has been terminated. though I owe them a thank you for what they have givn me. Per my instructions for memory implantation into a new body should teh need have ever arisen, Half of my brain ha sbeen replaced witha CPU operating in sync with my organic brain. Sadly something seems to be wrong with it. The Cio-cybernetic neurons that were suppose dto ahve been added in to allow this were not installed it semms. So I effectivly function with two largely independent brains. This will be a problem that I need to solve.
I came back and thought that Amara, my lover, would be pleased to see me again. Sadly I wa smistaken the woman was in hysterics and almost killed me in the TZ. I don't know what she went through emotionally, but I feel sorry for what she had to endure from me.
I kept sending he rmessages at least two short texts a day to let he rknow that i stillloved her, nthing mor ethen that. Finally the otehrnight she agreed to meet me again at the sushi bar. At first she was quite quiet with me, and thinsg starte dto get worse when chi showed up. With what he has done to Amara I can only understand why she ran off. I followed her of course to the Quinntukhat bridge, trying to comfort her. if there is one thing I never want to see again its my darling in tears the way she was teh othernight. We wound up in each others arms though, and i think the groundwork is there for us now.
With my termination at Ashagi I am now free to choose my own career path and I have, as the representative of the Bio-Mechs. I think the position shows my talents well. debate, political speech, understanding of business, all of my personal skills will ocme into play here. I Have also begun crossing over my genetics knowledge into the realm of the cybernetic. That can only be invaluable. So far i've drafted a contract with DuPlotte industries for various raw materials an dparts, and anotehr contract with the League of Engineers, for a 96GB connection for the HQ.
In other news I've begun Modeling for Artika at the gallery, and well it's more fun than I thought it would be, and well with teh fact im not skin and bones I never thought I could be a model, not after those mainland agencies said I had too much muscle tone.
Barline
_________________
Movement V
Pachelbels Canon in A
She said yes!
A few days ago at the Freetown days ball, my darling,my beautiful Amara finally said yes! I forget the exact words we used, I think it was something sappy along the lines of "Let me be yours forever darling." "I can't do that Adagio, but I can say yes." Sappy I know but it works. Anyway our next hurdle is showing the Father that we desrve to be wed in holy Matrimony. Nothing could have made me happier, I almost feel sorry for the workouts I've been putting Amara through.
After that we went to teh church to pray, it was quite the personal journey I think. WIth what Amara wants us to do, join teh Parish watch, I do not know if I should. I know that politically it might look good. But How will that conflict with my duties with the Bio-Mechs. I mean hell, with Serp and Mirage in the organization, I don't think I'm compatible. But if Amara wants it I'll try to join. I guess I should see exactly where this all ends up then hmm?
Whole Rest
_________________
Movement VI
The Light Aria
things have begun to change since the onset of my project. I began this work with the intent in increasing my intellect to something worthy of my creator. But things have taken some interesting turns. I've altered my metabolism for starters, I now metabolize platinum. I thought that I could alter my metabolism in such a way that only my braincells would be affected by this, to allow for faster synapses and quicker times for the electrical impulses thatrace through my brain, that race through everybody's brain. I also kickstarted the growth of my brin to produce more braincells and to develop the areas o fmy brain with little use, trying to make my thought process more efficient.
This technology if applied right could save people from Alzheimers or parkinsons. Hell virtually any degnerative neural condition.
But I was wrong.
The platinum has bonded with my skin as well a smy entire nervous stem. While it may look pretty, developing that was the single most painful experience of my life. I have no idea how I survived. I know i would be dead now had it not been for Amiya's Internevtion. Though even though my metabolism has stabilized, my brain still continues to grow.
i did this with the hopes of boosting my overall intelligence by 100 points, and combining my organic and cybernetic brains. the most recent scans from last friday show that I was right about that much at least. With the accelerated growth my intelligence quotient rests somewhere around the 400 mark plus or minus 75 either way. But it has come at a cost.
My brains have grown to become one, but I now posess at least three times the normal amount of bran cells, and the amount of gyri and sulci are at a level of concentration ten times higher than the average human. This is my saving grace that my brain is still growing denser and not physocally larger. It's amiya's help that has saved my life thusfar, but with my need for that treatment reaching astronomically expensive proportions, I need help from my creators.....Ashagi.
barline
No-name 9x12 folder; X-ray film; some light leaks; X-tol tray development.
Please take a look at my most interesting photos Or take a look at my entire portfolio
Sensitive fern is a large, somewhat coarse, deciduous fern which occurs in wet woods and thickets and in moist soils along streams and springs. Grows up to 4' tall. Features long-stalked, deeply pinnatifid, bright green, vegetative (sterile) fronds (2-4' long) with leathery, triangular leaflets (pinnae) which have distinctively netted veins. Shorter, erect, woody-like fertile fronds (to 12" tall), whose ultimate divisions are bead-like segments, typically brown up in late summer and persist throughout the remaining season and winter. Commonly called sensitive fern because the green vegetative fronds are sensitive to and suffer almost immediate damage from the first fall frost. Also sensitive to drought.
I have to use lens hoods for 95% of my enlarging lenses to cut down glare. Most of these lenses are super sensitive to any stray light. Here is an example (not a great one) how lens hoods effect the performance. This was shot (both pictures +.7 over exposed to show the point) with just low indoor lighting conditions. The lens glare effect on these lenses is very bad when in outdoor light conditions. This particular Voss 75 lens does not glare too bad here inside, but I find using the lens hoods greatly increases clarity.
I make my lens hoods the quick and cheap way with flat black card stock or thick flat black cardboard paper (scrap booking paper). I make the hood just long enough so there is no vignetting but as long as possible. Roll the paper tight around the lens then tape it together using scotch tape. It should fit tight around the lens so it will not fall off. Using a permanent marker color the tape black and wallah! Lens hood! :) Very effective and cheap! Nobody will know the difference unless they are looking for it :)
Pic shot with NEX-7 and Samyang 35mm F1.4
DadaKamikazeKnitting
Guerrilla knitting attack
in intuitive
sensitive
highspeed mode
tunic
dress
pseudo-poncho
wrap
multimedia
multitechnique
freeform & pattern crochet/knitting
Navajo 3-ply
& some more nonsense I cant´t remember
multi versatile
like most of my creations
endless wearing options
for fearless ladies with attitude
& urban drag queens
This plant's leaves close when touched
For information about this Plant:
www.business.qld.gov.au/industry/agriculture/species/inva...
Toujours des murs, toujours des couloirs, toujours des portes, et de l'autre côté encore d'autres murs. Avant d'arriver jusqu'à vous, avant de vous rejoindre, vous ne savez pas tout ce qu'il a fallu traverser. Et maintenant vous êtes là où je vous aie mené, et vous vous dérobez encore. Mais vous êtes là dans ce jardin, à porté de ma main, à porté de ma voix, à porté de regard, à porté de ma main.
----Is it so hard to forgive the way
that we've been made to live?
How much is required to set things right?
Have you confused your power with mine?----
21/52
I'm at such an odd point in my life.
My whole life I have always had such a good handle on where I am, and where I'm going.
But now I'm looking out on this huge abyss.
I don't know anything anymore.
asymmetric
pseudo poncho
tunica dress top
hard to top
radical kamikaze knitting
sensitive Dada knitting
intuitive guerilla knitting
whimsical nonsense knitting
a supermodel´s nightmare
due to
infinite wearing options
a tribute to divas
who are not afraid
to self- express
...caught myself in the mirror, while photographing a bunch of paper boat garlands at the recreation/relaxation room I've created for some friends...
...and suddenly this hit me, that in fact, I'm a sensitive decorator...who might be very firm when discussing styling and quality options, who though gets in real touch with her clients and cares a great deal about leaving them inhabiting not only a totally awesome and beautified space {often surpassing their expectations} but moslty living happily in their new space.
After having photographed two such different spaces yesterday and seen how content the people are {after some time that the work is completed} I have to say, I'm happy as any working girl could be!
Looking forward to new projects : ) ...and remember:
Visit and join me here! ~ blog ~ shop ~ facebook ~ twitter ~ pinterest ~
"❝ I am more sensitive than other people.
Things that other people would not notice awaken
a distinct echo in me, and in such moments of lucidity,
when I look at myself, I see that I am alone, all alone, all alone."
Henri Barbusse, Hell
| jocelynmeadows.tumblr.com | | Prints | Facebook
PS. I recommend hitting L!
* * * *
Okay, flickrites, I think you deserve a little of an explanation? The 31 days of July, I am writing a 50,000 word novel (as part of my happiness project), and that is why I have not been taking or editing any pictures since forever ago. Today, I have writer's block, and that is why this portrait has occurred. It is first in a series I started a long while ago, and just now am being able to finish editing. Expect more, when I have another highly sensitive case of writer's jam. ;) More info on fb.
Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other orders of organisms. Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every habitat with the exceptions of air and sea colonization. As of November 2015, at least 45,700 spider species, and 114 families have been recorded by taxonomists. However, there has been dissension within the scientific community as to how all these families should be classified, as evidenced by the over 20 different classifications that have been proposed since 1900.
Anatomically, spiders differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. In all except the most primitive group, the Mesothelae, spiders have the most centralized nervous systems of all arthropods, as all their ganglia are fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs and instead extend them by hydraulic pressure.
Their abdomens bear appendages that have been modified into spinnerets that extrude silk from up to six types of glands. Spider webs vary widely in size, shape and the amount of sticky thread used. It now appears that the spiral orb web may be one of the earliest forms, and spiders that produce tangled cobwebs are more abundant and diverse than orb-web spiders. Spider-like arachnids with silk-producing spigots appeared in the Devonian period about 386 million years ago, but these animals apparently lacked spinnerets. True spiders have been found in Carboniferous rocks from 318 to 299 million years ago, and are very similar to the most primitive surviving suborder, the Mesothelae. The main groups of modern spiders, Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae, first appeared in the Triassic period, before 200 million years ago.
A herbivorous species, Bagheera kiplingi, was described in 2008,[5] but all other known species are predators, mostly preying on insects and on other spiders, although a few large species also take birds and lizards. Spiders use a wide range of strategies to capture prey: trapping it in sticky webs, lassoing it with sticky bolas, mimicking the prey to avoid detection, or running it down. Most detect prey mainly by sensing vibrations, but the active hunters have acute vision, and hunters of the genus Portia show signs of intelligence in their choice of tactics and ability to develop new ones. Spiders' guts are too narrow to take solids, and they liquefy their food by flooding it with digestive enzymes and grinding it with the bases of their pedipalps, as they do not have true jaws.
Male spiders identify themselves by a variety of complex courtship rituals to avoid being eaten by the females. Males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Females weave silk egg-cases, each of which may contain hundreds of eggs. Females of many species care for their young, for example by carrying them around or by sharing food with them. A minority of species are social, building communal webs that may house anywhere from a few to 50,000 individuals. Social behavior ranges from precarious toleration, as in the widow spiders, to co-operative hunting and food-sharing. Although most spiders live for at most two years, tarantulas and other mygalomorph spiders can live up to 25 years in captivity.
While the venom of a few species is dangerous to humans, scientists are now researching the use of spider venom in medicine and as non-polluting pesticides. Spider silk provides a combination of lightness, strength and elasticity that is superior to that of synthetic materials, and spider silk genes have been inserted into mammals and plants to see if these can be used as silk factories. As a result of their wide range of behaviors, spiders have become common symbols in art and mythology symbolizing various combinations of patience, cruelty and creative powers. An abnormal fear of spiders is called arachnophobia.
BODY PLAN
Spiders are chelicerates and therefore arthropods.[6] As arthropods they have: segmented bodies with jointed limbs, all covered in a cuticle made of chitin and proteins; heads that are composed of several segments that fuse during the development of the embryo. Being chelicerates, their bodies consist of two tagmata, sets of segments that serve similar functions: the foremost one, called the cephalothorax or prosoma, is a complete fusion of the segments that in an insect would form two separate tagmata, the head and thorax; the rear tagma is called the abdomen or opisthosoma. In spiders, the cephalothorax and abdomen are connected by a small cylindrical section, the pedicel. The pattern of segment fusion that forms chelicerates' heads is unique among arthropods, and what would normally be the first head segment disappears at an early stage of development, so that chelicerates lack the antennae typical of most arthropods. In fact, chelicerates' only appendages ahead of the mouth are a pair of chelicerae, and they lack anything that would function directly as "jaws". The first appendages behind the mouth are called pedipalps, and serve different functions within different groups of chelicerates.
Spiders and scorpions are members of one chelicerate group, the arachnids. Scorpions' chelicerae have three sections and are used in feeding. Spiders' chelicerae have two sections and terminate in fangs that are generally venomous, and fold away behind the upper sections while not in use. The upper sections generally have thick "beards" that filter solid lumps out of their food, as spiders can take only liquid food.[8] Scorpions' pedipalps generally form large claws for capturing prey, while those of spiders are fairly small appendages whose bases also act as an extension of the mouth; in addition, those of male spiders have enlarged last sections used for sperm transfer.
In spiders, the cephalothorax and abdomen are joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel, which enables the abdomen to move independently when producing silk. The upper surface of the cephalothorax is covered by a single, convex carapace, while the underside is covered by two rather flat plates. The abdomen is soft and egg-shaped. It shows no sign of segmentation, except that the primitive Mesothelae, whose living members are the Liphistiidae, have segmented plates on the upper surface.
CIRCULATION AND RESPIRATION
Like other arthropods, spiders are coelomates in which the coelom is reduced to small areas round the reproductive and excretory systems. Its place is largely taken by a hemocoel, a cavity that runs most of the length of the body and through which blood flows. The heart is a tube in the upper part of the body, with a few ostia that act as non-return valves allowing blood to enter the heart from the hemocoel but prevent it from leaving before it reaches the front end. However, in spiders, it occupies only the upper part of the abdomen, and blood is discharged into the hemocoel by one artery that opens at the rear end of the abdomen and by branching arteries that pass through the pedicle and open into several parts of the cephalothorax. Hence spiders have open circulatory systems. The blood of many spiders that have book lungs contains the respiratory pigment hemocyanin to make oxygen transport more efficient.
Spiders have developed several different respiratory anatomies, based on book lungs, a tracheal system, or both. Mygalomorph and Mesothelae spiders have two pairs of book lungs filled with haemolymph, where openings on the ventral surface of the abdomen allow air to enter and diffuse oxygen. This is also the case for some basal araneomorph spiders, like the family Hypochilidae, but the remaining members of this group have just the anterior pair of book lungs intact while the posterior pair of breathing organs are partly or fully modified into tracheae, through which oxygen is diffused into the haemolymph or directly to the tissue and organs. The trachea system has most likely evolved in small ancestors to help resist desiccation. The trachea were originally connected to the surroundings through a pair of openings called spiracles, but in the majority of spiders this pair of spiracles has fused into a single one in the middle, and moved backwards close to the spinnerets. Spiders that have tracheae generally have higher metabolic rates and better water conservation. Spiders are ectotherms, so environmental temperatures affect their activity.
FEEDING, DIGESTION AND EXCRETION
Uniquely among chelicerates, the final sections of spiders' chelicerae are fangs, and the great majority of spiders can use them to inject venom into prey from venom glands in the roots of the chelicerae. The family Uloboridae has lost its venom glands, and kills its prey with silk instead. Like most arachnids, including scorpions, spiders have a narrow gut that can only cope with liquid food and spiders have two sets of filters to keep solids out. They use one of two different systems of external digestion. Some pump digestive enzymes from the midgut into the prey and then suck the liquified tissues of the prey into the gut, eventually leaving behind the empty husk of the prey. Others grind the prey to pulp using the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps, while flooding it with enzymes; in these species, the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps form a preoral cavity that holds the food they are processing.
The stomach in the cephalothorax acts as a pump that sends the food deeper into the digestive system. The mid gut bears many digestive ceca, compartments with no other exit, that extract nutrients from the food; most are in the abdomen, which is dominated by the digestive system, but a few are found in the cephalothorax.
Most spiders convert nitrogenous waste products into uric acid, which can be excreted as a dry material. Malphigian tubules ("little tubes") extract these wastes from the blood in the hemocoel and dump them into the cloacal chamber, from which they are expelled through the anus. Production of uric acid and its removal via Malphigian tubules are a water-conserving feature that has evolved independently in several arthropod lineages that can live far away from water, for example the tubules of insects and arachnids develop from completely different parts of the embryo. However, a few primitive spiders, the sub-order Mesothelae and infra-order Mygalomorphae, retain the ancestral arthropod nephridia ("little kidneys"), which use large amounts of water to excrete nitrogenous waste products as ammonia.
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
The basic arthropod central nervous system consists of a pair of nerve cords running below the gut, with paired ganglia as local control centers in all segments; a brain formed by fusion of the ganglia for the head segments ahead of and behind the mouth, so that the esophagus is encircled by this conglomeration of ganglia. Except for the primitive Mesothelae, of which the Liphistiidae are the sole surviving family, spiders have the much more centralized nervous system that is typical of arachnids: all the ganglia of all segments behind the esophagus are fused, so that the cephalothorax is largely filled with nervous tissue and there are no ganglia in the abdomen; in the Mesothelae, the ganglia of the abdomen and the rear part of the cephalothorax remain unfused.
Despite the relatively small central nervous system, some spiders (like Portia) exhibit complex behaviour, including the ability to use a trial-and-error approach.
Sense organs
EYES
Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the cephalothorax, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another. The pair at the front are of the type called pigment-cup ocelli ("little eyes"), which in most arthropods are only capable of detecting the direction from which light is coming, using the shadow cast by the walls of the cup. However, the main eyes at the front of spiders' heads are pigment-cup ocelli that are capable of forming images. The other eyes are thought to be derived from the compound eyes of the ancestral chelicerates, but no longer have the separate facets typical of compound eyes. Unlike the main eyes, in many spiders these secondary eyes detect light reflected from a reflective tapetum lucidum, and wolf spiders can be spotted by torch light reflected from the tapeta. On the other hand, jumping spiders' secondary eyes have no tapeta. Some jumping spiders' visual acuity exceeds by a factor of ten that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects; in fact the human eye is only about five times sharper than a jumping spider's. They achieve this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layer retina and the ability to swivel their eyes and integrate images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.
There are spiders with a reduced number of eyes, of these those with six-eyes are the most numerous and are missing a pair of eyes on the anterior median line, others species have four-eyes and some just two. Cave dwelling species have no eyes, or possess vestigial eyes incapable of sight.
OTHER SENSES
As with other arthropods, spiders' cuticles would block out information about the outside world, except that they are penetrated by many sensors or connections from sensors to the nervous system. In fact, spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various touch sensors, mostly bristles called setae, respond to different levels of force, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell, often by means of setae. Pedipalps carry a large number of such setae sensitive to contact chemicals and air-borne smells, such as female pheromones. Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs slit sensillae that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders, all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes, while the eyes are most important to spiders that hunt actively.
Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance and acceleration sensors and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up. Arthropods' proprioceptors, sensors that report the force exerted by muscles and the degree of bending in the body and joints, are well understood. On the other hand, little is known about what other internal sensors spiders or other arthropods may have.
LOCMOTION
Each of the eight legs of a spider consists of seven distinct parts. The part closest to and attaching the leg to the cephalothorax is the coxa; the next segment is the short trochanter that works as a hinge for the following long segment, the femur; next is the spider's knee, the patella, which acts as the hinge for the tibia; the metatarsus is next, and it connects the tibia to the tarsus (which may be thought of as a foot of sorts); the tarsus ends in a claw made up of either two or three points, depending on the family to which the spider belongs. Although all arthropods use muscles attached to the inside of the exoskeleton to flex their limbs, spiders and a few other groups still use hydraulic pressure to extend them, a system inherited from their pre-arthropod ancestors. The only extensor muscles in spider legs are located in the three hip joints (bordering the coxa and the trochanter). As a result, a spider with a punctured cephalothorax cannot extend its legs, and the legs of dead spiders curl up. Spiders can generate pressures up to eight times their resting level to extend their legs, and jumping spiders can jump up to 50 times their own length by suddenly increasing the blood pressure in the third or fourth pair of legs. Although larger spiders use hydraulics to straighten their legs, unlike smaller jumping spiders they depend on their flexor muscles to generate the propulsive force for their jumps.
Most spiders that hunt actively, rather than relying on webs, have dense tufts of fine hairs between the paired claws at the tips of their legs. These tufts, known as scopulae, consist of bristles whose ends are split into as many as 1,000 branches, and enable spiders with scopulae to walk up vertical glass and upside down on ceilings. It appears that scopulae get their grip from contact with extremely thin layers of water on surfaces.[8] Spiders, like most other arachnids, keep at least four legs on the surface while walking or running.
SILK PRODUCTION
The abdomen has no appendages except those that have been modified to form one to four (usually three) pairs of short, movable spinnerets, which emit silk. Each spinneret has many spigots, each of which is connected to one silk gland. There are at least six types of silk gland, each producing a different type of silk.
Silk is mainly composed of a protein very similar to that used in insect silk. It is initially a liquid, and hardens not by exposure to air but as a result of being drawn out, which changes the internal structure of the protein. It is similar in tensile strength to nylon and biological materials such as chitin, collagen and cellulose, but is much more elastic. In other words, it can stretch much further before breaking or losing shape.
Some spiders have a cribellum, a modified spinneret with up to 40,000 spigots, each of which produces a single very fine fiber. The fibers are pulled out by the calamistrum, a comb-like set of bristles on the jointed tip of the cribellum, and combined into a composite woolly thread that is very effective in snagging the bristles of insects. The earliest spiders had cribella, which produced the first silk capable of capturing insects, before spiders developed silk coated with sticky droplets. However, most modern groups of spiders have lost the cribellum.
Tarantulas also have silk glands in their feet.
Even species that do not build webs to catch prey use silk in several ways: as wrappers for sperm and for fertilized eggs; as a "safety rope"; for nest-building; and as "parachutes" by the young of some species.
REPRODUCTION AND LIFE CYCLE
Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect, in other words the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods, male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm), but spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to special syringe-like structures, palpal bulbs or palpal organs, borne on the tips of the pedipalps of mature males. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or "safety ropes", the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by "smell".
Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In web-weaving species, precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may "hypnotize" the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the palpal bulbs into the female's genital opening, known as the epigyne, on the underside of her abdomen. Female's reproductive tracts vary from simple tubes to systems that include seminal receptacles in which females store sperm and release it when they are ready.
Males of the genus Tidarren amputate one of their palps before maturation and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's epigynum for about four hours and apparently continues to function independently. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male. In over 60% of cases, the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact, the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the "lucky" ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed. However, males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs.
Females lay up to 3,000 eggs in one or more silk egg sacs, which maintain a fairly constant humidity level. In some species, the females die afterwards, but females of other species protect the sacs by attaching them to their webs, hiding them in nests, carrying them in the chelicerae or attaching them to the spinnerets and dragging them along.
Baby spiders pass all their larval stages inside the egg and hatch as spiderlings, very small and sexually immature but similar in shape to adults. Some spiders care for their young, for example a wolf spider's brood cling to rough bristles on the mother's back, and females of some species respond to the "begging" behaviour of their young by giving them their prey, provided it is no longer struggling, or even regurgitate food.
Like other arthropods, spiders have to molt to grow as their cuticle ("skin") cannot stretch. In some species males mate with newly molted females, which are too weak to be dangerous to the males. Most spiders live for only one to two years, although some tarantulas can live in captivity for over 20 years.
SIZE
Spiders occur in a large range of sizes. The smallest, Patu digua from Colombia, are less than 0.37 mm in body length. The largest and heaviest spiders occur among tarantulas, which can have body lengths up to 90 mm and leg spans up to 250 mm.
COLORATION
Only three classes of pigment (ommochromes, bilins and guanine) have been identified in spiders, although other pigments have been detected but not yet characterized. Melanins, carotenoids and pterins, very common in other animals, are apparently absent. In some species, the exocuticle of the legs and prosoma is modified by a tanning process, resulting in brown coloration. Bilins are found, for example, in Micrommata virescens, resulting in its green color. Guanine is responsible for the white markings of the European garden spider Araneus diadematus. It is in many species accumulated in specialized cells called guanocytes. In genera such as Tetragnatha, Leucauge, Argyrodes or Theridiosoma, guanine creates their silvery appearance. While guanine is originally an end-product of protein metabolism, its excretion can be blocked in spiders, leading to an increase in its storage. Structural colors occur in some species, which are the result of the diffraction, scattering or interference of light, for example by modified setae or scales. The white prosoma of Argiope results from hairs reflecting the light, Lycosa and Josa both have areas of modified cuticle that act as light reflectors.
ECOGOGY AND BEHAVIOR
NON-PREDATORY FEEDING
Although spiders are generally regarded as predatory, the jumping spider Bagheera kiplingi gets over 90% of its food from fairly solid plant material produced by acacias as part of a mutually beneficial relationship with a species of ant.
Juveniles of some spiders in the families Anyphaenidae, Corinnidae, Clubionidae, Thomisidae and Salticidae feed on plant nectar. Laboratory studies show that they do so deliberately and over extended periods, and periodically clean themselves while feeding. These spiders also prefer sugar solutions to plain water, which indicates that they are seeking nutrients. Since many spiders are nocturnal, the extent of nectar consumption by spiders may have been underestimated. Nectar contains amino acids, lipids, vitamins and minerals in addition to sugars, and studies have shown that other spider species live longer when nectar is available. Feeding on nectar avoids the risks of struggles with prey, and the costs of producing venom and digestive enzymes.
Various species are known to feed on dead arthropods (scavenging), web silk, and their own shed exoskeletons. Pollen caught in webs may also be eaten, and studies have shown that young spiders have a better chance of survival if they have the opportunity to eat pollen. In captivity, several spider species are also known to feed on bananas, marmalade, milk, egg yolk and sausages.
METHODS OF CAPTURING PREY
The best-known method of prey capture is by means of sticky webs. Varying placement of webs allows different species of spider to trap different insects in the same area, for example flat horizontal webs trap insects that fly up from vegetation underneath while flat vertical webs trap insects in horizontal flight. Web-building spiders have poor vision, but are extremely sensitive to vibrations.
Females of the water spider Argyroneta aquatica build underwater "diving bell" webs that they fill with air and use for digesting prey, molting, mating and raising offspring. They live almost entirely within the bells, darting out to catch prey animals that touch the bell or the threads that anchor it. A few spiders use the surfaces of lakes and ponds as "webs", detecting trapped insects by the vibrations that these cause while struggling.
Net-casting spiders weave only small webs, but then manipulate them to trap prey. Those of the genus Hyptiotes and the family Theridiosomatidae stretch their webs and then release them when prey strike them, but do not actively move their webs. Those of the family Deinopidae weave even smaller webs, hold them outstretched between their first two pairs of legs, and lunge and push the webs as much as twice their own body length to trap prey, and this move may increase the webs' area by a factor of up to ten. Experiments have shown that Deinopis spinosus has two different techniques for trapping prey: backwards strikes to catch flying insects, whose vibrations it detects; and forward strikes to catch ground-walking prey that it sees. These two techniques have also been observed in other deinopids. Walking insects form most of the prey of most deinopids, but one population of Deinopis subrufa appears to live mainly on tipulid flies that they catch with the backwards strike.
Mature female bolas spiders of the genus Mastophora build "webs" that consist of only a single "trapeze line", which they patrol. They also construct a bolas made of a single thread, tipped with a large ball of very wet sticky silk. They emit chemicals that resemble the pheromones of moths, and then swing the bolas at the moths. Although they miss on about 50% of strikes, they catch about the same weight of insects per night as web-weaving spiders of similar size. The spiders eat the bolas if they have not made a kill in about 30 minutes, rest for a while, and then make new bolas. Juveniles and adult males are much smaller and do not make bolas. Instead they release different pheromones that attract moth flies, and catch them with their front pairs of legs.
The primitive Liphistiidae, the "trapdoor spiders" of the family Ctenizidae and many tarantulas are ambush predators that lurk in burrows, often closed by trapdoors and often surrounded by networks of silk threads that alert these spiders to the presence of prey. Other ambush predators do without such aids, including many crab spiders, and a few species that prey on bees, which see ultraviolet, can adjust their ultraviolet reflectance to match the flowers in which they are lurking. Wolf spiders, jumping spiders, fishing spiders and some crab spiders capture prey by chasing it, and rely mainly on vision to locate prey.Some jumping spiders of the genus Portia hunt other spiders in ways that seem intelligent, outflanking their victims or luring them from their webs. Laboratory studies show that Portia's instinctive tactics are only starting points for a trial-and-error approach from which these spiders learn very quickly how to overcome new prey species. However, they seem to be relatively slow "thinkers", which is not surprising, as their brains are vastly smaller than those of mammalian predators.Ant-mimicking spiders face several challenges: they generally develop slimmer abdomens and false "waists" in the cephalothorax to mimic the three distinct regions (tagmata) of an ant's body; they wave the first pair of legs in front of their heads to mimic antennae, which spiders lack, and to conceal the fact that they have eight legs rather than six; they develop large color patches round one pair of eyes to disguise the fact that they generally have eight simple eyes, while ants have two compound eyes; they cover their bodies with reflective hairs to resemble the shiny bodies of ants. In some spider species, males and females mimic different ant species, as female spiders are usually much larger than males. Ant-mimicking spiders also modify their behavior to resemble that of the target species of ant; for example, many adopt a zig-zag pattern of movement, ant-mimicking jumping spiders avoid jumping, and spiders of the genus Synemosyna walk on the outer edges of leaves in the same way as Pseudomyrmex. Ant-mimicry in many spiders and other arthropods may be for protection from predators that hunt by sight, including birds, lizards and spiders. However, several ant-mimicking spiders prey either on ants or on the ants' "livestock", such as aphids. When at rest, the ant-mimicking crab spider Amyciaea does not closely resemble Oecophylla, but while hunting it imitates the behavior of a dying ant to attract worker ants. After a kill, some ant-mimicking spiders hold their victims between themselves and large groups of ants to avoid being attacked.
DEFENSE
There is strong evidence that spiders' coloration is camouflage that helps them to evade their major predators, birds and parasitic wasps, both of which have good color vision. Many spider species are colored so as to merge with their most common backgrounds, and some have disruptive coloration, stripes and blotches that break up their outlines. In a few species, such as the Hawaiian happy-face spider, Theridion grallator, several coloration schemes are present in a ratio that appears to remain constant, and this may make it more difficult for predators to recognize the species. Most spiders are insufficiently dangerous or unpleasant-tasting for warning coloration to offer much benefit. However, a few species with powerful venoms, large jaws or irritant hairs have patches of warning colors, and some actively display these colors when threatened.
Many of the family Theraphosidae, which includes tarantulas and baboon spiders, have urticating hairs on their abdomens and use their legs to flick them at attackers. These hairs are fine setae (bristles) with fragile bases and a row of barbs on the tip. The barbs cause intense irritation but there is no evidence that they carry any kind of venom. A few defend themselves against wasps by including networks of very robust threads in their webs, giving the spider time to flee while the wasps are struggling with the obstacles. The golden wheeling spider, Carparachne aureoflava, of the Namibian desert escapes parasitic wasps by flipping onto its side and cartwheeling down sand dunes.
SOCIAL SPIDERS
A few spider species that build webs live together in large colonies and show social behavior, although not as complex as in social insects. Anelosimus eximius (in the family Theridiidae) can form colonies of up to 50,000 individuals. The genus Anelosimus has a strong tendency towards sociality: all known American species are social, and species in Madagascar are at least somewhat social. Members of other species in the same family but several different genera have independently developed social behavior. For example, although Theridion nigroannulatum belongs to a genus with no other social species, T. nigroannulatum build colonies that may contain several thousand individuals that co-operate in prey capture and share food. Other communal spiders include several Philoponella species (family Uloboridae), Agelena consociata (family Agelenidae) and Mallos gregalis (family Dictynidae). Social predatory spiders need to defend their prey against kleptoparasites ("thieves"), and larger colonies are more successful in this. The herbivorous spider Bagheera kiplingi lives in small colonies which help to protect eggs and spiderlings. Even widow spiders (genus Latrodectus), which are notoriously cannibalistic, have formed small colonies in captivity, sharing webs and feeding together.
WEB TYPES
There is no consistent relationship between the classification of spiders and the types of web they build: species in the same genus may build very similar or significantly different webs. Nor is there much correspondence between spiders' classification and the chemical composition of their silks. Convergent evolution in web construction, in other words use of similar techniques by remotely related species, is rampant. Orb web designs and the spinning behaviors that produce them are the best understood. The basic radial-then-spiral sequence visible in orb webs and the sense of direction required to build them may have been inherited from the common ancestors of most spider groups. However, the majority of spiders build non-orb webs. It used to be thought that the sticky orb web was an evolutionary innovation resulting in the diversification of the Orbiculariae. Now, however, it appears that non-orb spiders are a sub-group that evolved from orb-web spiders, and non-orb spiders have over 40% more species and are four times as abundant as orb-web spiders. Their greater success may be because sphecid wasps, which are often the dominant predators of spiders, much prefer to attack spiders that have flat webs.
ORB WEBS
About half the potential prey that hit orb webs escape. A web has to perform three functions: intercepting the prey (intersection), absorbing its momentum without breaking (stopping), and trapping the prey by entangling it or sticking to it (retention). No single design is best for all prey. For example: wider spacing of lines will increase the web's area and hence its ability to intercept prey, but reduce its stopping power and retention; closer spacing, larger sticky droplets and thicker lines would improve retention, but would make it easier for potential prey to see and avoid the web, at least during the day. However, there are no consistent differences between orb webs built for use during the day and those built for use at night. In fact, there is no simple relationship between orb web design features and the prey they capture, as each orb-weaving species takes a wide range of prey.
The hubs of orb webs, where the spiders lurk, are usually above the center, as the spiders can move downwards faster than upwards. If there is an obvious direction in which the spider can retreat to avoid its own predators, the hub is usually offset towards that direction.
Horizontal orb webs are fairly common, despite being less effective at intercepting and retaining prey and more vulnerable to damage by rain and falling debris. Various researchers have suggested that horizontal webs offer compensating advantages, such as reduced vulnerability to wind damage; reduced visibility to prey flying upwards, because of the back-lighting from the sky; enabling oscillations to catch insects in slow horizontal flight. However, there is no single explanation for the common use of horizontal orb webs.
Spiders often attach highly visible silk bands, called decorations or stabilimenta, to their webs. Field research suggests that webs with more decorative bands captured more prey per hour. However, a laboratory study showed that spiders reduce the building of these decorations if they sense the presence of predators.
There are several unusual variants of orb web, many of them convergently evolved, including: attachment of lines to the surface of water, possibly to trap insects in or on the surface; webs with twigs through their centers, possibly to hide the spiders from predators; "ladder-like" webs that appear most effective in catching moths. However, the significance of many variations is unclear.
In 1973, Skylab 3 took two orb-web spiders into space to test their web-spinning capabilities in zero gravity. At first, both produced rather sloppy webs, but they adapted quickly.
TANGLEWEB SPIDERS (COBWEB SPIDERS)
Members of the family Theridiidae weave irregular, tangled, three-dimensional webs, popularly known as cobwebs. There seems to be an evolutionary trend towards a reduction in the amount of sticky silk used, leading to its total absence in some species. The construction of cobwebs is less stereotyped than that of orb-webs, and may take several days.
OTHER TYPES OF WEBS
The Linyphiidae generally make horizontal but uneven sheets, with tangles of stopping threads above. Insects that hit the stopping threads fall onto the sheet or are shaken onto it by the spider, and are held by sticky threads on the sheet until the spider can attack from below.
EVOLUTION
FOSSIL RECORD
Although the fossil record of spiders is considered poor, almost 1000 species have been described from fossils. Because spiders' bodies are quite soft, the vast majority of fossil spiders have been found preserved in amber. The oldest known amber that contains fossil arthropods dates from 130 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous period. In addition to preserving spiders' anatomy in very fine detail, pieces of amber show spiders mating, killing prey, producing silk and possibly caring for their young. In a few cases, amber has preserved spiders' egg sacs and webs, occasionally with prey attached; the oldest fossil web found so far is 100 million years old. Earlier spider fossils come from a few lagerstätten, places where conditions were exceptionally suited to preserving fairly soft tissues.
The oldest known exclusively terrestrial arachnid is the trigonotarbid Palaeotarbus jerami, from about 420 million years ago in the Silurian period, and had a triangular cephalothorax and segmented abdomen, as well as eight legs and a pair of pedipalps. Attercopus fimbriunguis, from 386 million years ago in the Devonian period, bears the earliest known silk-producing spigots, and was therefore hailed as a spider at the time of its discovery. However, these spigots may have been mounted on the underside of the abdomen rather than on spinnerets, which are modified appendages and whose mobility is important in the building of webs. Hence Attercopus and the similar Permian arachnid Permarachne may not have been true spiders, and probably used silk for lining nests or producing egg-cases rather than for building webs. The largest known fossil spider as of 2011 is the araneid Nephila jurassica, from about 165 million years ago, recorded from Daohuogo, Inner Mongolia in China. Its body length is almost 25 mm.
Several Carboniferous spiders were members of the Mesothelae, a primitive group now represented only by the Liphistiidae. The mesothelid Paleothele montceauensis, from the Late Carboniferous over 299 million years ago, had five spinnerets. Although the Permian period 299 to 251 million years ago saw rapid diversification of flying insects, there are very few fossil spiders from this period.
The main groups of modern spiders, Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae, first appear in the Triassic well before 200 million years ago. Some Triassic mygalomorphs appear to be members of the family Hexathelidae, whose modern members include the notorious Sydney funnel-web spider, and their spinnerets appear adapted for building funnel-shaped webs to catch jumping insects. Araneomorphae account for the great majority of modern spiders, including those that weave the familiar orb-shaped webs. The Jurassic and Cretaceous periods provide a large number of fossil spiders, including representatives of many modern families.
WIKIPEDIA