#wishbone spiders

[ljsbugblog]

I've saved the best creature for last (from this particular trip anyway). this gorgeous man is some kind of Wishbone spider, a family of Mygalomorphs found exclusively in Australia, distinguished by their particularly large fangs and 'Y' shaped burrow.

For context, his body length was about 2-3cm (I really need to carry a ruler with me so I can be more accurate).

His silvery-black colouring was stunning, as were the large 'spurs' on his forelegs (somewhat visible in the top photo).

We found this male under our tent as we were packing it away, he would have been travelling in search of a female's burrow the night before.

Unknown Wishbone spider, male (genus Aname).

[mindblowingscience]

Setting out with a goal to describe over 100 new species of Australian Wishbone spiders, Dr. Jeremy Wilson, alongside Queensland Museum Network arachnologist, Dr. Michael Rix have traveled thousands of kilometers in eastern Australia to collect 136 specimens over the last six months. The pair are preparing to describe up to 40 new species of spider from Queensland as part of a year-long project to revise Australian wishbone spiders. "I think Queensland has been a huge surprise for us in terms of total diversity, we already knew that there were lots of species in the west, but it turns out eastern Australia is almost as diverse," Dr. Wilson said.

Continue Reading.

[skydarcyedwards]

A beautiful and slightly alarming Wishbone Spider, Aname sp. The mites on its mouthparts are Laelapidae, and apparently are not parasitising it; rather, they probably live in the spider's burrow and hunt microinvertebrates or eat some of the spider's food.

The first big Mygalomorph I've seen in the wild, which was very exciting.

Sky Edwards

2024

Canon R7

Canon EF 100mm USM macro

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

Suzuki Cappuccino :) or other baby roadsters

Oh, I had a post in the chamber about exactly that! :D

So, Japan is pretty densely populated. Let's put it this way: one reason the Tokyo metro area couldn't do a huge and extremely weird cultural exchange where every citizen trades place with someone from Australia, Belgium or Slovenia, is there aren't enough Australians, Belgians and Slovenians combined to do that. So you can imagine it would be pretty advantageous to public life for people to drive small cars - hence the popularity of kei cars, a car class with huge tax benefits and tiny engine and dimensions limits. Those limits, positively minuscule when they were introduced to push bike makers to use their parts to make small cars, eventually increased to a 0.66L engine size and the dimensions below...

...and in the late 80s there was a "gentleman's agreement" whereby no one would make a kei car more powerful than 64hp, similar to the other gentleman's agreement whereby they agreed not to make cars with more than 276hp - which they cleverly addressed by equipping more powerful cars, like the Skyline GT-Rs, with unusual little devices called lies.

But now it's the 1990s -contrary to popular misconceptions- and Japanese businesses and customers have a problem: what the fuck do we do with all this money?

To truly convey the desperation with which cash was being thrown around like primate feces, Mazda created FIVE sub-brands (Amati, Autozam, ɛ̃fini, Xedos, and Eunos, brand under which they sold the Miata as Eunos Roadster) AND gave the SIXTH sub-brand M2 separate headquarters - these headquarters. In Tokyo.

M2 only ever made parts and some fringe prototypes, the most it produced were three Eunos Roadster-based limited versions - they cost twice as much as the original (and for good reason - one of them used leather deemed too expensive by the only other automaker to ever use it, Rolls Royce), but because economic bubble, they were so sought after they had to set up a lottery, Andrea was telling us, and as he got to the uber-limited production numbers (a combined 780), he explained that, since of course they were only sold in Japan, there were only five in the whole of Europe. He then raised his finger and, in one of the greatest flexes I have ever witnessed, pointed it around his huge, Miata-packed shed, counting "one, two, three, four, five".

S'yah, it turns out the world's biggest Miata collection is just owned by Some Guy in the middle of Italy, and if your kid ever gets dumped it is a wonderful place to take him to cheer him back up. Thanks, dad.

So clearly, this was a point in time where even people with no need nor wish nor space for a large second car, or a large car at all, could still be interested in a sportscar, thus spawning some briefly-lived but oh-so-brightly-burning kei sportscars, nicknamed ABC.

One of them being, indeed, the Suzuki Cappuccino.

Please remember, this car is positively lilliputian. It's 3.30m long. For the yankees in the audience, that's just 0.03 football fields. Here are some fun size comparisons.

The engine was front-mid and turbocharged...

...the roof was a fun puzzle that allowed you to have a T-Top coupe (with just the sides off), a targa (with the top part of the roof removed but the rear pillar of the roof still in place) or a spider (by folding the rear pillar and window down)...

...and it was NOT exclusive to Japan, with 12% of units being sold in the UK!

But since this was clearly asked by someone quite familiar with its generalities, some less-known quirks for the geeks:

It was the first kei car ever with double wishbones all around

The indicators changed between JDM and UK versions so if you've got the latter finding spares is 10 times harder

The hood release is in the glovebox and the fuel release is in the center console storage - the latter locks with a different key than the ignition uses, so if you hand just the latter to the valet you can keep them from siphoning your gas, but I'm yet to hear whether that also goes for the glovebox, so stay tuned for updates on whether you can also keep them from siphoning your washer fluid

Air gets to the engine (well, to the turbo) through the frame. Like, it gets into the frame, it travels inside the frame, and then gets out and is filtered. Now, you may ask yourself why they would do that.

While most cars had front disc brakes at the time, the less effective but cheaper drum brakes were usually used on the rear, which was fine since when a car brakes weight transfers to the front so the front wheels are the ones that get more grip and can thus brake harder anyway - so not only do you not need the rear wheels to have the same stopping power, you don't even want them to, because then the rear wheels would lock up before the front ones even got to their full braking potential. So when the Cappuccino got four wheel disc brakes, like every other car with four wheel disc brakes, it didn't put four discs of the same size all around. Unlike every other car with four wheel disc brakes, however, they put the bigger ones at the rear. A friend who owns one called the brakes "not amazing".

Then again, let's cut them some slack, it was the second kei car ever with four wheel disc brakes! Second, yes, because the Cappuccino was not the first kei-sized sportscar.

So, remember how with Ferrari, the last car to be signed off by its founder was a mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, manual, record-setting, no frills two-seater sportscar? Well, the Japanese being famous overachievers, that goes for Soichiro Honda's last two.

Supposedly, Honda decided that its F1 engines hadn't kicked Ferrari's ass enough, so they set out to build a car as approachable, reliable and daily-life-friendly as a Honda yet faster through both straights and corners than a Ferrari. Or a Lamborghini. Or a Porsche- you get the idea. Thus, the NSX, seen here next to it is its test driver, tuning consultant and enthusiastic owner Ayrton Senna, best known for driving the car on the left into three championship wins, a bunch of "Greatest Of All Time" debates, and a wall that killed him.

But if your second-to-last car is a two seat, mid-engined, rear wheel drive sportscar with Pininfarina design, a 40mm short-throw manual, and a redline past 8000RPM, what do you do for your last one? Easy! Another!

This little bowl of pint-sized cuteness is the Honda Beat, and yes, that interior is not just factory, but was the only pattern available. Still, if you think the interior is the most outlandish part of this car, you haven't heard it.

Again, this engine was outsized by two Coke cans and the car it's in is no bigger than the Cappuccino, and you already know how... ah, screw it, let's show you a size comparison anyway.

Some geek facts:

It was the first mid-engine monocoque (as in not body-on-frame, not un-shark-like, you pervs) spider ever made! There were some targas before, but never a full-on spider

The stereo was custom to fit in the super-narrow center console between the two asymmetrical cabin spaces so the cassette slot has the same cute little Beat logo as the "Open Air Motoring!" branded floormats!

Gathers celebrated its 20th anniversary with a new touchscreen radio for it that is now uber-rare and uber-expensive

It had two trunks, which is lovely, except that the rear one had the battery and optional CD changer conspiring against you and the front was literally inside the spare tire, so it's good that you could also get a rear rack!

The rear rims are bigger than the front!

With how much cooler this is than the Cappuccino (sorry, friend who owns one) it's quite the shame Suzuki decided not to go forward with the mid-engine layout their kei sportscar development started with. At least, Mazda sure thought as much, asking Suzuki to please keep working on that idea and make a mid-engined kei sportscar for them to sell under their brand for the youth, Autozam. And thus we have the ABC - C for Cappuccino, B for Beat...

...and A for AZ-1. Think of how cool life was in Japan back in the day that this was a car for the youth.

Fun facts:

IT HAS GULLWING FUCKING DOORS

The spare tire was mounted in the front compartment but crashing made it jam the steering wheel in your chest so they sent owners a little bag and asked them to please put that tire behind the seats

GULLWING FUCKING DOORS

Suzuki sold a few of them themselves as the Cara

G U L L W I N G D O O R S

Sadly, it joined the party (JapaneseEconomicBoomfest, that is) just when it was ending. Hell, the Beat was sold for six years ('91 through '96) and two thirds of Beats sold are 1991s. That's how hard recession hit Japan right when the AZ-1 came out, which indeed sold a fraction of the other two.

But fear not: after decades, Honda blew the dust off the kei sportscar idea in 2015 with the gloriously sexy S660.

It did cease production last year, but at least it left the Japanese used market a kei sportscar with the modern amenities we (and by we I mean you spoiled pussies) cannot do without, like steering wheel controls and *squints* HDMI.

Oh by the way, remember how I said I was going to post about the Cappuccino? Well, it was because someone posted a picture of one with aftermarket taillights.

Guess what car was next to it when this picture was taken. Guess.

WRONG.

"What? Where was this?" At a Fiat 500 meeting, of course. And then people wonder why I love Japan so much.

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[lemonsharks]

Reading Rainbow and Wishbone means that the trickster figure I (a very white girl) grew up with was Anansi the Spider.

Adolescence spent in fandom means I just had the thought train,

"Spiders Georg but make it sexy"

"Anansi/Spiders Georg"

"is it really giving head if the recipient has a cephalothorax most of the time?"

"thank god for shapeshifters amirite?"

[diabolus1exmachina]

Ferrari 400 Superamerica Aerodinamico (1 of 17). 

The earlier 410 Superamerica vehicles had been powered by the prodigious Lampredi-designed Ferrari V12 engine, essentially a big block alternative to the smaller and more compact Colombo V12 which was used extensively by Ferrari in many of their cars, including the 250 GT series.

A 4.0 liter version of the Colombo V12 was used for the 400 Superamerica, it’s where the “400” in the model name came from, breaking with Ferrari tradition that typically used the displacement of a single cylinder in cubic centimeters.hough the engine was smaller than the 5.0 liter Lampredi V12 it produced no less power, with both turning out 335 bhp though the Colombo did achieve peak power a little later in the rev range at 7,000 rpm versus the Lampredi’s 6,000 rpm.Power was sent back through a 4-speed manual transmission and all cars had a Laycock de Normanville overdrive unit for more relaxed highway cruising. Suspension was independent up front and a live axle in the rear, and disc brakes were installed at all four corners.When ordering your 400 Superamerica you could choose from a number of body styles including coupe, spider, cabriolet, and aerodynamic coupé versions. Almost all were designed at Pinin Farina (which became Pininfarina later in 1962).

The 400 Superamerica Aerodinamico is arguably the most special of the 400 Superamerica series. It has its origins in the show car that had been built at Pinin Farina and displayed on their stand at the Turin Salon in November of 1960.This show car had so enamored Battista “Pinin” Farina that he used it as his own personal car for a time in the early 1960s. The car was given a handbuilt body characterized by its elegant flowing lines and fastback rear – all designed to make it as aerodynamic as possible.

It was based on the SWB (short wheelbase) chassis which resulted in a strict two seat layout, rather than a 2+2, though there was ample luggage space in the rear for touring the Continent. Much like its siblings in the 400 Superamerica series the Aerodinamico was built on a chassis consisting on a pair of cross-braced longitudinal steel tubes with the body fitted atop.

Suspension is independent up front with double wishbones, coil springs, and hydraulic shock absorbers. The rear end has a live axle on semi-elliptical leaf springs with hydraulic shock absorbers, and disc brakes are used on all four corners – not a common feature in the early 1960s.Due to the fact that just 17 examples of the Ferrari 400 Superamerica Aerodinamico were made the cars are now among the most desirable Ferraris from the period, with values stretching well into the seven figures.

[timeofjuly]

No idea if this is something anyone would vibe with, but here’s a snippet of the reader/SF!Papyrus, reader/SF!sans enemies to lovers reluctant soulmate fic I’ve been chipping away at over the past few weeks. It’s called Wishbone.

You hold out your hand for him to shake. His eyelights laze down towards it for a heartbeat and for a moment, you think he’s not going to take it – the honesty would actually be a little refreshing - but then his spider-like hand raises from his side and takes yours.

The bare bone is cool and pleasantly rough to the touch. You’re struck by the sheer absurdity of touching real, living bone for only a moment, though, because the tactile sensation is almost immediately swept away by an overwhelming tidal wave of ecstasy.

You have no other word to describe it. You feel amazing, warm and safe and so overjoyed that your eyes prickle with hot, happy tears.

You haven’t felt this good since Marlo died. Before that, even.

Or maybe you’ve never felt this good at all.

The feeling ripples out from your point of contact and floods into your chest, crashing against your heart and filling it with sunshine. You’re struck dumb. Your PR-perfected poised expression falls, leaving behind a slackened mouth and wide-open eyes.

It’s like you’re only the joy, so overwhelmed by it that it’s scooped you clean out of your own body.

There’s a sharp, ragged inhale of breath from the monster in front of you and, through the glorious, summer’s day haze of your delight, you wonder foggily how a skeleton can gasp without lungs.

The brief, rational scrap of thought flings your brain back into your body. You rip your hand from the monster’s grip and the happiness falls away with it. Conscious thought rushes in to replace the ecstasy and, acting on three years of honed, blade-sharp instincts, you call upon your magic.

[itsevanffs]

love you’re slowly fic! 😭 I’ll wait forever for updates if I have to; it’s so good already. I love how realistic it is! do you know any other flowerfang fics wit that same type of realism? ty for reading!

hi!! thank you so much <3 i don't actually know if there are any other fics like slowly in flowerfang, even though i read every explicit one i can, and some of the other ratings lol. i think i'm the first person to really lean into the realism aspect of the grooming part in this bit of the fandom? correct me if i'm wrong obv...

but uh here are some other fics that i think are very realistic & human that deal with similar subjects!

Wishbone Months by FatherBroken deals with miguel's completely unexpected pregnancy (twins, so double the fun) and him taking efforts to hide the fact that the father (miles) is still underage from the rest of spider society. honestly has me by the throat tbh <3

sweetened breath (tongue, so mean) by 520134 is an exploration of trans & underage miles being blackmailed into "consensual" sex by miguel. it starts pretty much in the middle of it & leans heavily into transphobia and also just overall lack of respect for bodily autonomy so tread carefully, but super super well done in my humble opinion!

i think that's it... (got distracted reading lol) but thank you again! if i remember any others i'll probably reblog with the additions.

[beautyindiversity]

5 comfort characters and 5 victims mutuals 💕

I was tagged by my wonderful friend @mrsdulac 🥰💚🥰💚

1. Mon fils Louis de Pointe du Lac 😂🥺

2. Carmy 🥺

3. Khadija James 🥰🥰🥰🥰

4. All of them 😂

5. My best friend Mr.Nancy aka Anansi The Spider. I love him so much. He means so much to me 😂 from the time I was a child learning about Anansi from an episode of Wishbone to seeing him in American Gods I have LOVED Anansi. So much so that every class of kids I've had since I started teaching has learned about Anansi. Like I have a whole lesson plan with activities and everything based on Anansi🥺

I'm tagging @ericbogosbian @machonnes @gayvampiredivorce @brightfelon @lestatslestits and whoever else would like to participate 😊🫶🏾

[lookwhatilost]

is anyone here old and online enough to remember the final fantasy vii house? if you don’t, rewind to the turn of the century, 20 odd years back. i haven’t brushed up on the details, but i’ll give you a general synopsis.

so, this 19 y/o with a troubled home life – i think they were trans, which i only bring up to give some context as to how someone might stuck end up in a situation like this, because they need support wherever they can find it – ends up meeting some people at a con who are really into cosplay and really into final fantasy vii, jrpgs, anime, amongst other 90s turn of the millennium stuff, and ends up living with this deeply troubled lesbian couple, and some orbiters that come and go. “kinnies” wasn’t really a term around at the time, but that’s probably the closest description to what they were. “there’s this parallel universe, not one that’s just alternate potentialities of our world, but anything you can think of or imagine or conceptualize is spawning into a reality in and of itself. therefore, you can have these spiritual soul bonds with fictional characters. you are them, and they are you, and you have a dimensional link to this character from a video game that was written by a japanese guy who worked 80 hours a week” they all engage in this to varying degrees, but the person at the center of this did so the most strongly. they really sincerely believed this and it was this nightmare situation of this one central individual doing weird torture rituals to people. like putting them into ice water baths and stuff to try and bring forth their connections to these characters... but at the same time, making everyone else pay the bills and do the housework and everything. a proto cult. the initial kid who moved in with them gets out of this situation eventually and issues a warning to the ffvii fandom.

if you google final fantasy vii house, you’ll find videos and summaries. the original callout page is still up and down the rabbit hole did an episode about it.

that basic idea that “all the movies you love exist in a parallel universe that exists unto itself and can interact with ours” is something i’ve seen fiction that touches on it. wishbone goes into the book and becomes one of the characters. anybody remember wishbone? or the never-ending story. those were most of my imaginary kid scenarios when i was a kid playing in my back yard. some iteration of me interacting with all my favorite characters. it’s kind of... a stunted, juvenile mindset. but there are some people who don’t grow up and who are so, well, mentally ill that the intersection of these things makes their filter for reality so busted. they’re so emotionally connected to whatever fictions they escape into that they turn this into a cosmology that they really, sincerely believe in. and as the internet coalesces and comes into being, scattered individuals that have taken the ball and run with it on these fictional contrivances interact with each other and reenforce one another’s delusions. the story of tumblr dot com.

chris-chan is another huge example of this. if you look at the early chris-chan lore, like making billy mays the mayor of cwcville, which is something she was really upset about initially. that limitless capacity to make yourself believe whatever you want to believe, regardless of the external world. pure solipsism. the world is what i make it and i live entirely in my delusion. the same cosmology: all the fiction i love is real, and i can really meet those characters. ezra miller’s cult thing seems like it’s also hitting the same beats

as more and more people get online and grow up in a media-saturated environment, and as corporations embrace the multiverse concept as a way to have, like, 8 different versions of spider-man for every demographic and have them meet, i think this is going to become more a cosmology or ideology that gets built into new-age cults, etc. not to be super doom & gloom, because this is going to be an insane crank belief in the same way that if you went back 50 years, there were plenty of other insane crank beliefs. but i think this is going to be the new dominant one because, absent anything else to get invested in, absent a world of class consciousness or meaningful political movements, but post the atomic bomb, it’s kind of hard to have conventional religious beliefs.

even the people i know who are converting to catholicism, there’s a kind of post-modern self-awareness that is different from the sincere un self-reflective faith that would have constituted most people’s engagement with religion, like, 500 years ago. it has the same pieces of all the other new age stuff that gained prominence in the decades post wwii. it’s a search for something that fills a spiritual and social void, but can square with a reality where personal religious belief no longer seems tenable.

“what am i emotionally connected with?” i don’t know, sonic the hedgehog. or the flash . or kylo ren. or whoever. it’s so desperate to satisfy that emotional connection with those characters and their worlds, you convince yourself there’s some way to actually spiritually, mentally, even physically connect with them. that they are more than just fiction.

we’re gonna keep seeing more and more of this kinda shit. this is just the beginning.

and the core person behind the final fantasy house is still out there to this day.

[gabbie-hanna-outfits]

masterlist of jewelry depicted across all social media’s

Wishbone Necklace

Star Necklace

Other Star Necklace

St. Michael Pendant

Skull Necklace

Cross Necklace

Barbed Wire Necklace

Die Necklace

Vial Necklace

Dagger Earrings

Ring Shaped Like Hand\

Cluster Skull Ring

Crown Of Thorns Ring

Octopus Ring

Black Diamond Spider Ring

Black Diamond Ring

Butterfly Ring

Lokai Bracelet

Elephant Charm Bracelet

[ljsbugblog]

spiders are art! a closer look at some of my favourite spider macros <3

[shunderdome]

My new longterm goal is to read every piece of literature that was the basis for an episode of Wishbone.

The guide is as follows. 

Strike Through: I have read this and remember it well.

Italics: I have read this but do not feel like I remember it well enough answer the interrogative, “What’s the story, Wishbone?” 

Bold: I have read this since beginning this ill-advised endeavor.

.

.

Episode 1 and 2: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Episode 3: Oliver Twist

Episode 4:  Romeo and Juliet

Episode 5: The Odyssey

Episode 6: African American Folk Tales (Anansi the Spider; The People Could Fly)

Episode 7: Cyrano de Bergerac

Episode 8: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Episode 9: Rip Van Winkle   (Jan 2023)

Episode 10: Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

Episode 11: Don Quixote

Episode 12: Faust

Episode 13: Ivanhoe

Episode 14: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Episode 15: Silas Marner

Episode 16: A Tale of Two Cities

Episode 17: Frankenstein

Episode 18: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Episode 19: One Thousand and One Nights

Episode 20: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Episode 21: The Imaginary Invalid

Episode 22: The Purloined Letter    (Jan 2023)

Episode 23: The Time Machine

Episode 24: The Adventures of Robin Hood

Episode 25: Pride and Prejudice

Episode 26: The Prince and the Pauper

Episode 27: The Count of Monte Cristo

Episode 28: Treasure Island

Episode 29: David and Goliath

Episode 30: A Scandal in Bohemia   (Jan 2023)

Episode 31: The Red Badge of Courage

Episode 32: The Tempest

Episode 33: The Three Musketeers

Episode 34: Hercules and the Golden Apples

Episode 35: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Episode 36: Metamorphoses

Episode 37: Phantom of the Opera

Episode 38: The Story of the Deathless Voice

Episode 39: The Inspector General

Episode 40: Recap Episode

Episode 41 and 42: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Episode 43: Henry IV, Part 1

Episode 44: The Courtship of Miles Standish

Episode 45: Great Expectations

Episode 46: The Black Arrow

Episode 47: The Moonstone

Episode 48: Monkey (Journey to the West)

Episode 49: Northanger Abbey

Episode 50: The Aeneid

TV Movie: Heart of the West

[bi-het-guilty-pleasures]

Alright --- we each have our own opinions about everything that there be opinions about, and in the case of My Not being attracted to trannies aside, I do have the following to add to the acceptance that 'it takes all kinds', and, it will most-likely piss you off (or, gross you out), but, I'm gonna write it down here ANYway.

Ready?

Hold onto your balls......

Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Richard Simmons .... and yours truly, and YOU (if you're a fella), are transsexuals ..... 'naturally'.

If you agree that you've got to build a wall before you can paint it, then you'll understand the biological equivalent, that: when conceived, there is either a male or a female chromostone (yes, I watched All In The Family, so I know all about Hermones and Hismones) involved, but it is useless until either the 3rd or 6th week ... after that, it goes to work on the blank (or wall). If it's female, it simply moves things forward. But, if it's male, well, all hell breaks loose. ** this is where you might want to look away:

The 'blank' is female.

The ovaries descend to become testicles

The clitoris and connected-to-form-a-wishbone-shape erectile tissue on either side of the vulva transforms into a penis

The vulva itself (or lips) fuse together to make the scrotum --- ever wonder where that long (long long / long long long / NO FAIR HOW FUCKING KINGKONG LONG) scar/line from your pisshole to your butthole came from?

All baby boys are NATURALLY transgendered.

Puberty seals it with a second transformation - until then, both sexes have their center of gravity/balance in our hips, but for us males-of-the-species, it then leaves, passes GO, and lands in our shoulders, whereas for girls maturing into women, it remains where it is.

I think, the above is why females are referred to as 'the weaker sex', as us males go to the moon and back, where females do nuthin' -- they just sit at home all day eating chocolates (which, sounds pretty good to Me).

Trannies may still freak Me out, but it isn't that they've nipped-and-tucked themselves — it's because I am ME. There are film genres I don't like. There are some types gay men out there that I either can't stand or they freak Me out. I've also been afraid of heights, and freaked out about seeing a doctor, and spiders used to terrify Me. Oh, and I used to be squeamish about hurting others guys' nuts --- thankfully, I grew out of that phase.

It's perfectly normal and acceptable that you have an opinion -- the problem, is when you force those opinions' barriers on others. I gave you the choice to sign-off from the first, and I've simply stated a biological fact that most of us already knew, even if most of us never put the 2'&'2 of that knowledge together before. Hopefully this rant doesn't come across as self-righteous.

End Of Line (Tron)

[sign-seeker]

I think this might actually be reasonable, because, for the characters, Osborne's bullshit is probably still in their daily news cycle. The big confrontation between Green Goblin, Spider-Man, Luke Cage & Jessica Jones that occurred in The Pulse which resulted in Osborne being irrefutably revealed to the public as being the Green Goblin would have been, like, the previous month judging by the Marvel sliding timescale. And one of the big revelations about that? Spider-Man had known his identity the whole time. He went on the record as Ben Urich's source confirming it had always been Osborne under the mask during their previous conflicts, which confirmed that Spider-Man had been sitting on this testimony when Urich tried to break that story years previously, and Osborne had sued him into oblivion. Which I imagine must have been a serious blow to the families of the hundreds of people that Osborne had melted with a DNA bomb during the Final Chapter event, for the sole purpose of making Peter feel bad.

It's still nuts because she's Maria fucking Hill, Director of SHIELD, and if she wants supervillains dead without recourse to due process she can damn well do it herself. But it doesn't seem that unreasonable that other people in universe would have uncomfortable feelings about Spider-Man not just snapping the Green Goblin's neck like a wishbone every time he crawls out of the grave.

So, Road to Civil War is one of my favorite one-shot comics, with the exception of this sequence. Because, you know, when the hulk kills 26 people and a dog in a rampage the broader point is worth bringing up, but if you're gonna do a sequence like this, right, the old "how many people did Batman kill by letting the Joker Live" routine, you really, really need to pick a hero/villain duo where the villain didn't very famously die and stay dead for like 20 years as a direct result of one of those murderous rampages. It's not Pete's fault that that turned out to be a clone or whatever! And even then my impression is that after he came back Norman didn't actually operate under the Green Goblin ID very often-a quick scan of the wiki indicates he only got publicly outed a couple years before this was published. Altogether quite odd

[diabolus1exmachina]

Alfa Romeo 8C Spider (1 0f 500). 

Alfa Romeo stunned the crowd at Frankfurt’s 2003 Motor Show with the 8C Competizione coupe concept, following it up with an open-top concept at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Far more than beautiful, limited-edition playthings, these cars boldly announced Alfa Romeo’s intention to again produce compelling sports cars after a stretch of relatively pedestrian offerings. The 8C duo also paid homage to the great Alfa Romeos of the past, including, as the Competizione’s name suggested, the glorious competition cars of the Mille Miglia. Perhaps most important, these models heralded Alfa Romeo’s return to the United States after an absence of more than a decade.

Wolfgang Egger of the Alfa Romeo Style Center penned the 8C with absolute beauty and power in mind. The distinctive design offered a glimpse into the marque’s future design language while paying homage to vaunted Alfa Romeos of the past. With classic proportions, inspiration clearly derived from such post-war greats as the 33 Stradale and Giulia TZ. The 8C’s unmistakable grille and badge, accentuated by a cluster of bi-xenon headlights, finish off one of the most gorgeous Alfa Romeos ever produced.

Complementing the stunning design is exceptional performance. The 8C is powered by a Ferrari/Maserati F136 all-aluminum, naturally aspirated, 4.7-liter V-8 engine producing 444 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 354 pounds-feet of torque at 4,750 rpm. The engine is mated to the “Superfast” computer-controlled, paddle shifted, six-speed automated manual transaxle with a twin-disc clutch. The transmission is placed in the rear for better weight distribution and handling, which is further improved by the front and rear dual-wishbone suspension setup.

Although demand for the 8C was strong, supply was limited to just 1,000 units worldwide: 500 examples of the Competizione coupe, and a further 500 of the 8C Spider. A mere 35 8C Spiders were allotted to the United States, and each example quickly found a home.