June 2009 Archives

We become too accustomed, it sometimes seems, to creatures of our own size.  They are the norm to us.  I gaze up at the larger creatures of this world with a sense of awe regarding their bizarre and grotesque forms and behaviors.  They are like lumbering alien monsters.  Yet today I have learned that we are surrounded by both the large and the small, in terms of grotesqueness.

I had change to observe with my compound eyes some disturbing images of my cohabitants.  A swab of algae, magnified many times over, revealed that I share this tank with myriads of microscopic creatures.  They swim to and fro, eat, defecate, and reproduce in the very water that I breathe!

A wise reader would find a secure seat before perusing these next images.  The first shows a squirming worm-like critter lashing and writhing around.  Further inspection showed scores of these primitive critters, squirming through blobs of algae.  The other images show organisms with which I am unfamiliar.  I pray that they inflict no poison upon me!

Ah, the curse of the microscope, and the world of horrors it reveals to us.  D*#@ you, Leeuwenhoek!
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When confronting a grave injustice, it often benefits one to make tactical use of the communication media available to humans.  The prior entry was successful in drawing due attention to my unacceptable living conditions.  Now that my tank has been polished to a fine sparkle, my water replenished, and my appetite quenched, I am free to resume my musings.

Over the past six months, I have made painstakingly detailed observations of the homo sapiens species--truly a privilege to have this unique experience.  When one begins to come accustomed to the patterns and behaviors--to understand the language, so to speak, of the hominids--one observes in these beasts nearly all of the commonplace and fundamental behaviors that we are familiar with in our own species.  By way of example, I quite often observe certain specimens to hoard food for later devouring, or to curl up in nooks and sit virtually motionless for hours at a time.

One could fill an entire volume with descriptions of human behavior--perhaps two entire volumes, if one were verbose.  Truly and categorically a fascinating beast.  Yet communicating the complexity of these behaviors is not always simple.  Over the past few weeks, I've worked out a systematic diagramming language that I believe can succinctly, intuitively, and accurately describe all of the behaviors that I observe.  I have included one such diagram as a test case (figure 1, below).  I will await reader feedback, and if necessary, hone the diagrams as appropriate.