from William Blake's Milton

terrific Lions & Tygers sport & play/ All Animals upon the Earth, are prepard in all their strength/ To go forth to the Great Harvest & Vintage of the Nations.

Architecture for the animals

Following my bat house entry, here is the next moment for pondering a post-human phenomenology: what do other animals look for in a dwelling? Super Kingdom approaches this question.

Or as a (post)Heideggerian might ask, how do animals dwell. Yet to be written: Building, Dwelling, Thinking of the Non-human [a riff off of Heidegger's essay and (later) Tim Ingold.)

Thanks to Charlie Blake for this anthem toward animlity: "angels are bestial; man is the animal."

Founding Father bites like an animal

George Washington's false teeth were made from animal teeth:
"He had several sets of false teeth over the years, but they were not made of wood. For at least one set, Washington's dentist, Dr. John Greenwood, used a cow's tooth, one of Washington's teeth, hippopotamus ivory, metal and springs." Talk about becoming animal?! The res-publica has now created a line of flight for animality.

Octopus Armor

Yes, this on the heels of Lester Shubin's death... Octopuses has learned to arm itself.

techne: "The coconut-carrying behavior makes the veined octopus the newest member of the elite club of tool-using animals"

armor: "An octopus would dig up the two halves of a coconut shell, then use them as protective shielding when stopping in exposed areas or when resting in sediment."

(note: link includes cool video of this event)

RIP Lester Shubin

Dear Lester, your work here on earth is done. You've supplied the animals with functional gear for the revolution. Indeed, animals haunt the techne produced by Shubin and they will put it to good ends.

Shubin is responsible for the invention of the Kevlar bullet-proof vest. He had heard about the substance developed by DuPont, a material which is light as nylon but tough as steel. He began testing it as an armor. He first tried it on a gel then on goats. . . . ah, the unfortunate goats deformed and lost in this... they will haunt the materials for the revolutionary future(s).

Shubin is also responsible for bomb-sniffing dogs. Yes, we've militarized the beasts. (Think the comic We3).

Cows send tweet messages on Twitter

Local Woodstock, Canada dairy now has its cows twittering out their dairy diary. You can follow the day in the life of the beasts!