MYSTERY OBJECTS

[Wendyf]

He must have missed that!

[Stanley]

She was!!! So sorry Wendy I missed that post, eyes again I'm afraid. You hit it right away. Never mind, we got to here direct from Steve....



What's this called, who carved the original and why did Samuel Butler have an interest?

[Big Kev]

Discobolus by Myron, never heard of Samuel Butler though...

[Whyperion]

Today I give an image of Colonial transport. Steve showed it to me years ago and told me it had been edited and altered. My question is, what was changed? Not easy and I won't let it run too long...

If that chap without shorts is doing what I think he is doing he runs the risk of those little fish and parasites going back into the bladder to breed -they can cause problems. Overall gives rise to thoughts of how Japanese treated British ( the dutch did the same to brits if they captured them in east asia in the C17th ).

[Stanley]

Well done Kev. Exactly right. See THIS for the Butler connection.
Next one?

[Stanley]

Where is it and what's special about it.

[PanBiker]

I would say that it is a new island created from volcanic activity, possibly a sea bottom fissure expelling magma and building into the island.

[Tripps]

is it possible the word Guano is connected somehow?

[Stanley]

Ian is closer. Nail it down Ian!

[PanBiker]

Is it this on in the kingdom of Tonga, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai? If not it should be, I like the name.

[Big Kev]

I'm with Ian, early 1960s newly created island off the coast of Iceland.

[Tizer]

Surtsey, Iceland. Formed by volcanic eruption on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on 14 November 1963.

If I can be cheeky and assume I'm correct about the above island, I'll ask you what's shown in this photo?

[Gloria]

The face of a snake?

[Big Kev]

Caterpillar?

[chinatyke]

Orchid.

[Stanley]

You were right Tiz, Surtsey.
I'm with Gloria, the head of a snake. But then, looking at it again, the eyes are too big so I'm changing my mind and going for a caterpillar. So I've abandoned Gloria and fallen into step with Kev.

[Cathy]

A snake flower ?

[Tizer]

Oh well, you're getting too clever! Kev got it first - it's the rear end of a caterpillar that frightens off predators by showing its bum.

Perhaps I can get revenge with this object. What can you tell me about it?

[PanBiker]

Crocobird Tie.

[plaques]

A Crocoduck. An evolution hybrid that never happened. Apparently it never took off.

[Stanley]

Is it something to do with the fact that the crocodile, genetically, is the closest living relative to birds?

[Tizer]

Panbiker got the general idea and Plaques got the specific identity with crocoduck (you guys need to get out more!). Stanley is correct that `it is something to do with the factthe crocodile is the closest living relative to birds' although there is more to it than that. You can buy one of these crocoduck ties but who was it originally designed for and what's the story behind it?

[chinatyke]

Richard Dawkins was in there somewhere!

[Tizer]

Yes, China, the original tie was made for Richard Dawkins by one of his friends. The crocoduck has its own Wikipedia page here: LINK
`The concept of a crocoduck was used by young-Earth creationists and certain other creationists to claim that the absence of any half-crocodile, half-duck creature disproves evolution, an argument that quickly became a meme used to ridicule a common misrepresentation of the theory of evolution, namely, that the theory predicts forms intermediate between any two currently living organisms.'...`This claim was widely publicized and ridiculed as an example of creationist misconceptions. In The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, the evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins included a section titled 'Show me your crocoduck!' in which he compared this to the question put by another creationist as to why there was no transitional fossil "fronkey" between frogs and monkeys, and described it as a warped misunderstanding of evolution. Modern species share a common ancestor, but are neither descended from each other nor from some crude composite chimera, and ducks are not descended from crocodiles.'

[Marilyn]

Ugly tie though...