Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils turned 3 today!

Or so my email tells me.

News: The Zarkster is getting his surgery at the end of the month, and we're still raising funds for that. Lot 1 went unclaimed so I'll be re-drawing that this weekend. Lots 2 and 3 will be posted in the coming week/s.

Posting should be back to its regular daily schedule after Memorial Day (May 26), but I have some half-finished posts that I'll finish up before then.

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Here are some much more interesting May 15 anniversaries than this blog's birthday:

Photos:

"National Sanitary Cake". 1865.

Birthday cake for Warren G. Harding's dog, "Laddie Boy". 1922.

Army Sergent's buddy's baked him a cake with the "tools of the trade". 1942.

Biomedical Ephemera's Cat Surgery and Wedding Celebration Giveaway!

ALRIGHT! Let's do this. I've been meaning to do a giveaway for a really long time, so I've accumulated WAY too much stuff. Why now? Because I'm getting married in, like, three weeks, and I want to share some of the celebration with you guys! Yay!

**Save Zarkoth, Destroyer of Carpets!**

Much more importantly, though, I'm also doing this because my kitty needs his tooth removed, and all of our upcoming expenses mean that we can't get this done on our own. The full story is at the donation website, and I want to get the word out that an awesome kitty could use a buck or two if you have it.

You do not have to donate to be entered into the giveaway. I really just want to get the word out so that those who can help know about it.

With that out of the way, this is the first of three lots - the other two will be posted at the end of the month, after this is concluded.

Lot 1:

Giveaway Rules:

Again, you do not have to donate OR follow me to be entered, but if you like any of this stuff, you'll probably like my blog! Check it out!

Danse Macabre - Danza de la Muerte - Totentanz "The Dance of Death"

What's up, chickadees? I got distracted from my schoolwork today and spent thoroughly too much time editing and posting Danse Macabre illustrations on the Flickr Photostream. Check them out, use them, re-post them, whatever you want. And you two guys who requested more "Dance of Death" stuff had better appreciate the heck out of this (and disregard that I was already preparing it when you asked :P)!

Images:

Top: "The Dangers of the Ocean o'er/Death wrecks the Sailors on the Shore" - "The Shipwreck" - 1815 Center Left: "The Bones of All Mankind" - 1753 Center Right: "The Monk" - 1753 Bottom Left: "The Child" - 1423 (re-print from 1903) Bottom Center: Frontispiece to "Magnus in Ortu; Maximus in Meridie; Major in Occasu", depicting death and life [infant angel] painting the heavens and earth. - 1727 Bottom Right: "The Infant" - 1753

Pieds d'Oiseaux - The Feet of Birds

You can clearly see the wide range of foot structures found in the Neornithes, and the intended usage of some of them is pretty obvious. When it comes to classifying the foot structure of birds, there are several characteristics that are noted, but the defining factor is the orientation of the digits (toes). Birds generally have four toes.

One term you might not know that's important is the hallux - this is the innermost ("first") digit of the foot, homologous to the big toe in humans. In birds, it often points backwards. It's sometimes very well-developed (such as in perching birds), and sometimes so small it's almost absent.

Anisodactyly ("unequal digit") - This configuration is basically the standard. The three toes face forward, with the hallux facing backwards, so as to let the bird perch. This is present in songbirds and perching birds. Hawks, eagles, and falcons also have this configuration.

Syndactyly ("same digit") - The third and fourth toes (outer and middle) are united for much of their length, and have a broad sole in common. You can see this in the kingfisher and the bee-eaters.

Zygodactyl ("yoke digit") - The toes are arranged with digits 2 and 3 facing forwards, and digits 1 and 4 facing backwards. You can see this in parrots, woodpeckers, and roadrunners.

Heterodactyl ("different digit") - Toes 1 and 2 are facing back, with 3 and 4 facing forward. This is only found in trogons.

Pamprodactyl ("Every digit") - All four digits face forward, only found in swifts - this is a somewhat contested classification, as it's believed that no birds use this as a primary configuration, even if swifts have been observed using it during their rare landings.

There are other useful terms when classifying birds by their foot structure, that have more to do with the type of bird itself, rather than the configuration of its bones. These classifications can include birds with more than one dactylous configuration.

Raptorial - Feet like the raptors and owls. These are strong, deeply cleft, with sturdy talons, meant for grasping and ripping.

Semipalmate - "Half-webbed" feet, where the anterior toes are only partially webbed. The Semipalmated Plover is a bird with these feet.

Totipalmate - "Fully webbed" feet, with all four toes united by one web - these are found on birds like cormorants.

Palmate - "Webbed" feet. These are your "basic" webbed feet - the three front toes are united, like in gulls and ducks. The fourth digit is not connected to the web.

Lobate - A swimming foot with a series of lobes along the toes. Found in birds like grebes.

Tableau Elementaire de l'Histoire Naturelle des Animaux par Georges Cuvier. 1798.

Birds! 

Whether food, hunting partner, deity, or impending death, humans and birds have been intertwined since long before recorded history. We share mutualistic, commensal, and parasitic relationships with them, and have raised the Red Jungle Fowl and its descendents for at least 7500 years. Pigeons delivered our messages as early as 1 CE, parakeets have been kept as pets since at least 200 BCE, and the caged finches and songbirds of royalty go back even farther.

Let's learn about birds!

I'm no ornithologist, but I love birds. There's gonna be lots about the 29 orders of Neornithes (modern birds) coming up today, so...I hope you don't have orthinophobia?

Center Image: "Kunstformen der Natur von Ernst Haeckel", 1904.

One of many questionable devices on the photostream.

Right out of a mad scientist's laboratory.

1. Posted a bunch of advertisements/medical devices/medical-related stuff on the Flickr stream. It's stuff I really like but will likely not use here, but I went through the effort to find it and make it usable with minimal editing (if one were so inclined), so I don't want to let it go to waste. All is listed in Creative Commons. Feel free to use and abuse.

2. Queue Functionality with Multiple Posts Listed: 33% (3/9 times) It's only this blog, too. My other blogs work fine. It's persisted through multiple themes so that takes away the theory that tech support gave me. Oh well.