When we were kids, my brother and I used to catch spiders during the spring and summer.  We usually kept them in jars and I would like to say that there was some sort of scientific value in our efforts, but we really just liked to watch them fight and eat bugs.  About 7 or 8 years ago, I thought it would be interesting to catch a whole bunch of spiders and keep them in a more complex environment where I could watch their development over a long period of time.  My idea was for a "spider collective" of sorts.  Let’s call it "The Spider House."

The view from the front click on the picture to view a larger image

So years ago, I built a small spider habitat in a 1½ gallon aquarium.  I filled it with about 10 spiders or so and it was pretty cool for a while.  But at that point in time, I really had a lot of competing interests and my interest in the project faded.  I held on to the aquarium, though, and with the arrival of spring this year, my interest in building a spider commune has returned.  I recently got the old habitat down from a shelf in the garage, dusted it off, and added some new nooks and crannies for the forthcoming occupants of The Spider House.  

Included inside the tank are some rocks, a Gargoyles action figure (without any wings), some bits and pieces from around the garage, and a broken head from a statue that I found smashed in the street near our house.  The lid of the tank is plywood with a few holes drilled in the top.  The "domes" are the tops of bubbles from a toy vending machine.  These cover the two large air holes.  The air holes were originally covered by some plastic screen pieces when I had first built the habitat, but when I had dumped some feeder crickets in the tank for the spiders and one night the crickets chewed right through the mesh and they all escaped.  At that time, I was keeping the tank in my office at my old job and the crickets were all over the office for weeks.  

The view from the top click on the picture to view a larger image

Most of the spiders that I catch are small run-of-the mill orb weavers, although from time to time, I might be adventurous and try to nab one of those gigantic garden spiders or some funnel weavers here and there. I prefer female spiders, partially  for their longevity and also because it is really cool when their babies hatch.  I have already welcomed 6 or 7 spiders into the new and improved Spider House and I have tossed in a few flying insects to make sure that the spiders don’t turn on each other right away.  

I was going to take pictures of the spiders as I catch them and offer readers of this page a chance to give the spiders names, but I decided there must be some kind of limit to my geekiness.

For a few years now, I have enjoyed listening to and viewing recorded courses from The Teaching Company’s "The Great Courses" series. I think I first discovered Teaching Company materials through their website and I purchased a few inexpensive courses after my initial discovery. Some time later, my local library began purchasing these courses and rather than spend my money on purchasing tapes, CDs, and videos, I decided to limit myself to what the library had to offer. A few weeks ago, I was browsing through the library’s A/V collection and I found some selections from The Teaching Company’s "Great Ideas of Philosophy" series (2nd Edition). I borrowed two of the five volumes from this course in hopes of hearing more of the informative and enjoyable presentations that I had come to expect from The Teaching Company. The packaging of the course materials indicated that this particular course was taught by Professor Daniel N. Robinson of Georgetown University, so my expectations were somewhat high.   more »

click on the picture to view a larger image

I have yet another addition to the growing collection of “Socialist Realism” art that graces the walls and shelves of my home library room.  A few months ago, I landed another vintage Soviet-era propaganda poster from eBay.  This poster depicts a group of Soviet-era Young Pioneers standing before the memorial statue of Soviet heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya which stands in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad).   The Russian caption reads “Let's be worthy of the heroes' glory!”  According to the seller of the item, the poster was printed in 1969 and it was obtained legally from Archives of the Pribaltic Military District at the time of the collapse of the USSR.  The poster itself is in great shape with some minor wear on the edges.  I had the item framed by the good people at Hobby Lobby.

I am now officially out of wall space (for big stuff, anyway...)

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Further Reading
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya biography from marxists.org
Zoya’s Story from greeklish.org

Our friend “K” has provided a firsthand report on International Women’s Day in Iran, written especially for our site.  His article is presented below in its entirety, starting with his translation of a hymn that was sung at the March 8 demonstration in Tehran.


We again extend our sincere gratitude to “K.” for his assistance in helping us to understand and appreciate the difficult conditions in Iran. 

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Further Reading
Iran: Police Attack Women's Day Celebration  Reuters  09 Mar 2006
Simin Behbahani  Biography and poetry from the Iranian Chamber Society

I know that most of you folks aren’t too interested in comics and the like, but it is some consolation to me that at least a few regular readers of our site have some degree of interest in my frequent articles on my adventures in comic book collecting.  Just recently, my pal Pete told me that one day he spent close to four hours reading comics-related links off of one of our recent blog posts.  So here's another tale...

A recent trip to my new favorite comic shop inspired me to rethink the way I have been displaying some of my favorite comics in my home library room.  For many years, I have been narrow using "shelves" made of baseboard or chair rail to display my favorites.  But during my visit to the comic shop, I noticed that they were using some fancy wire shelving to present their more pricey and/or noteworthy issues.  Another store that I frequent has some fancy acrylic “j-shelving” that they use for the same purpose.  The general idea is to stand books up so that most of the cover artwork is visible.  My baseboard shelves have accomplished this to some extent over the years, but some kind of extra adhesive (like tape or putty) was often necessary on the back of the book, as a strong breeze might easily knock my comics of the wall (and damage them on the way down to the floor).  The advantage of the wire racks and j-shelving is that a "lip" comes up in front of the book to allow it to rest at an incline and the book is basically "cradled" in the shelf.

J-channel mounted over inverted baseboard click on the picture to view a larger image

After giving the wire racks a once-over, I did a little searching on the Internet and I found that retail displays aren’t cheap.  The acrylic j-shelving and the wire racks were way out of my price range, but I figured that I should still be able to find something that would allow me to improve on my home display without expending too much money or labor.

The answer came to me while I was browsing through a local home improvement mega-store.  The night before my visit, I had thought a bit on the shape and durability of vinyl siding and I had a glimmer of hope that there might be some value in having a firsthand look at this type of material to further expand on my idea.  At the store, I found something called "J channel" that looked like it would meet my needs perfectly.  The ¾ inch J-channel appeared to be ideal for my needs, as the width allowed for a comic book to be properly "cradled" while standing at an incline that was enough to stabilize the book while still making it easy to view.  A 12 foot section was under $5.00, so I purchased two sections.

A partial view of the finished display click on the picture to view a larger image

I mounted the J-channel on the wall using wood screws every 12 inches or so.  I also mounted the new "shelving" directly over the pieces of baseboard that I had previously used for display purposes.  This will likely provide some extra support for the J-channel, although I don’t think this is altogether necessary as the J-channel is fairly sturdy and the screws sunken are sunken in ½ to ¾ inch deep sections of wood panels.

The end result is a cost-effective display that is much more pleasing to the eye than my old baseboard/tape and mounting putty method. 

As luck would have it, I brought our digital camera along when we stepped out to run some errands today.  While we were out, I spotted a truck that I had seen around town many times in the recent past.  I hopped out of the car and snapped the photo below and shortly thereafter, in a second stoke of luck, we happened upon the owner of the vehicle.  We shared with her that we appreciated her message and that we admired her courage and she replied, "Pass it on!"  If she has the courage to drive around town with this bold statement emblazoned on her personal vehicle, then the least we can do is share the message through our website.  Right on, sister. Right on!

The 2006 Gem City Comic Con was held today and it was quite an impressive show.  The event was held at our alma mater, Wright State University and Thomai and the girls joined me in attending.  I packed our digital camera in hopes of snapping some photos,  but upon our arrival, I learned that I had forgotten to pack the camera battery — D'oh!!  (As it turned out, the best picture of the day would have been the guys dressed up in Ghostbusters costumes.  Say what you will about these guys, but their "proton packs" were pretty cool!)

Flash #147 (1964)

I had been saving up a little cash to spend at the comic con and I happy to find an outstanding selection of comics from all eras and publishing outfits.  I had a relatively short "wish list" this time around, but even still, I usually get sensory overload at these events and I quickly forget just what it is that I am looking to buy.  This time around, I at least had the presence of mind to remember that I was hunting for Golden Age Airboy comics as well as Silver Age Charlton comics and vintage Flash issues.  I had hoped to find some affordable Whiz Comics issues and Captain Marvel issues as well.

I was able to net a few vintage issues of Flash with no problem, including one issue featuring a tale from the classic "Green Arrow/Green Lantern" team-up era.  I also snagged a copy of Flash #147, which is an issue I had been looking to pick up for some time.  As luck would have it, the seller was running a 50% discount on most of his stock, including this issue.

Blue Beetle v2 #1 (1964)

I grabbed a couple of early issues from the original run of DC’s Firestom and then I set out looking to score some issues of Airboy from the 1940's.  I found a dealer that had a handful of them, but the books weren't in the best of shape and they were a tad overpriced.  I haggled with the guy for a bit until he and I were sufficiently annoyed with each other and I left his booth empty-handed.  I then remembered a booth with some vintage Charlton comics and once I made my way there, I quickly found a reasonably-priced Captain Atom issue for my collection.  As an afterthought, I looked at their selection of Blue Beetle issues and I was thrilled to find an affordable copy of Blue Beetle v2 #1.  (The title of the main story is "The Giant Mummy who was not DEAD."  I haven't read it yet, but it looks extra kitschy!)  This was my "big find" of the day.  The booth belonged to the good folks at Fearless Reader Comics and they were even kind enough to knock a few bucks off my purchase.  

After I reached my spending limit, we left the show and walked around the WSU campus for a bit.  Thomai and I shared stories with our girls about how we met and where we spent our time during our college years.  As cool as the comic con was, this was the real highlight of the day.