Crabs in the Time of Swine Flu - II

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First, a correction:

An astute reader observed that this enticing crab actually appeared to be supra sol last week. We apologize for the error and present the crab in all its depicted splendor, sub sol and sunny side up.

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All the elements of a great crab though the eye placement is a little clammy.

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What can one say when approached with the absolute genius of the crab. Genuflect, please.

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Mother's always want to get into the act. It takes a strong hand to keep them on the sidelines. This one has potential to be a future "Sikorsky" mom.

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I Don't know where Alexis got this but it shows an excellent appreciation for the articulated appendages of Mr. Crab. Note also the double smiles. I don't care what people say, kids are inherently happy.

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It is Halloween, after all.

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People and balloons, if you will.

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Absolutely refused to draw a crab. Insisted on a turtle. So, there you go. Not sure what is on the shell. But then, I am not a herpetologist.

A Surfeit of Irony

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Why is it when the nabobs in Washington start slugging it out, hot and heavy, irony seems to rear its chuckling head?

From here:

HEALTH CARE -- FIFTY-FIVE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE 'STEADFASTLY OPPOSED' TO A PUBLIC OPTION ARE CURRENTLY ON MEDICARE: Yesterday, the office of Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) released an internal study showing that 151 members of Congress "currently receive government-funded; government-administered single-payer health care -- Medicare." Of those 151 members, 55 are Republicans who also happen to be "steadfastly opposed [to] other Americans getting the public option, like the one they have chosen."

Crabs in the Time of Swine Flu

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First we have a guest Crab. Not quite the same as a crab à l'état sauvage (you can tell by its nice cooked color) but we are always ready for crabs of any stripe (now there's an interesting phrase to look up; see below), particularly if they look like they just ralphed.

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I think this is an excellent effort by a three year old

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This was Carlie's second effort, after her mother showed her what a crab looked like.

I like her first effort much, much better. It is a little like Casper the ghost.

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While not technically a crab, this drawing certainly employs the joie de vivre inherent in the mere concept of crabs. I know that seems contradictory, but, trust me (said Fozzie Bear.)

"of any stripe"
from here:

Just as textile fabrics can be made with a great variety of patterns characterized by different stripes, so men can be sorted into different types, or metaphorically, stripes.

Of course some of us have access to the OED online and could tell us when the earliest use was. It seems (from the source just referenced) to be an American political term.

I did find a reference in Don Quixote, but it was referring to the results of bantamweight flagellation. (note in particular that Google Search translates as "s" the old use of "f").

No Crabs Friday

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We are simply inundated with 2009 H1N1 flu patients. Some of them are quite sick. The vaccine is now becoming available, however, the supply is limited. This causes hardship on parents who are worried about their child contracting this particular flu and frustration on our part trying to schedule patients. It is a potential bloody boondoggle of humongous proportions (like that medical terminology?). The biggest worry is that the virus will mutate and turn into a killer like the 1918 pandemic.

So far 2009 H1N1 (previously known as Prince Swine) has spared us old geezers. It is the classic Sci Fi thriller where all the young people are wiped out and the old people are left to wonder.

Hope not.

Friday Crab Blogging

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Sardonyx

An inquisitive reader directs us toward an interesting play on sardonic (see "grin" in Friday Crab Blogging here). Sardonyx is a type of Onx from Sardis, an ancient Lydian city in Turkey. While tempting, it does not appear to be related to Sardinia, the island west of Italy, given the difference in times of ascendancy. But, who knows? The Phoenicians were shuttling between Ionia and the western Mediterranean at that time. (Did you know that Phoenicians traded on the high seas? I didn't.)

I found this onyx cameo carving, the Gemma Agustea from the early part of the first century CE (contemporary with Jesus Christ) to be fascinating. Firstly, the effect of transparency on the robes is a deft stroke. But the bottom collection of figures is quite curious. Not only is there a man in a fedora pulling someone's hair, but there are clearly soldiers raising a Roman Standard (Aquila) as echoed in this iconic sculpture depicting events on Iwo Jima.

This should morph into a discussion of the three symbols below, the presence of an eagle and their use in political cajolary:

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Roman Standrd

Nazi Standard

American Standard

But I'm way to weary this morning. Maybe another time.

Absolute Scary and not even Halloween

Sometimes browsing can lead to things you know should not exist, like the paramilitary organization called "American Police Force" recently investigated in Montana.

Click through the screens and be scared, very scared. Just ask W. Smith.

Of course, it is a parody, right? Right?

Friday Crab Blogging

Guest Crabs from across the Sea

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Now the following purports to be a crab, but I have my doubts

Does it not look like my favorite vector chowing down and feeding its own parasites?

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I really like this crab by Dharti. It has sort of a sardonic grin. But, wait, do I really know what sardonic means? Somewhere I read that if one was great, or aspired to greatness, being sardonic was a necessity to avoid hubris. There, two ten cent words: sardonic and hubris:

From here:

an ancient belief that ingesting the sardonion plant from Sardinia (Greek: Sardō) would result in convulsions resembling laughter and, ultimately, death.

Maybe Sir Author Conan Doyle said it better:

His muscles were set as hard as a board in the most exaggerated rigor mortis, while the contraction of the fibres had drawn his mouth into a hard sardonic grin.

Hubris has some interesting sides:

The word was also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist's downfall.

These things resonate now with my reading of "Dune." I see connections to Star Wars stuff. The "spice" of Dune morphs into "Nostrilia" with its "huge, diseased sheep" producing stroon.