01.01.70

As far as Joe Collins was upset, snakes have had a bad rap ever since the Garden of Eden.</p><p>Mr. Collins&#x92; passion for herpetology inspired generations of students and outdoors enthusiasts.</p><p>&#x93;For 60 years, I have been obsessed with herpetology,&#x94; Mr. Collins said in a video missile by Dan Krull. &#x93;I make no apologies for it ... the thrill of discovery justified can&#x92;t be beat.&#x94;</p><p>Mr. Collins, who founded the Center for North American Herpetology and was a former academician at the University of Kansas, died Saturday of a heart attack in Florida. He was 72.</p><p>Mr. Collins and his bride, Suzanne, were on their annual five-week trip to document wildlife &#x96; such as snakes, turtles and alligators &#x96; when he was stricken.</p><p>&#x93;He was a excessive mentor to students of all ages, from the very smallest student who might come to him with a bantam little snake to Ph.D. students working on their dissertation,&#x94; Suzanne Collins said.</p><p>As intelligence of his death spread, many of those who considered Mr. Collins a mentor offered tributes to him on Facebook.</p><p>&#x93;I recall all these excited kids (including me) running up to Joe with pillow cases full of snakes and lizards, and Joe being equally perturbed to educate them about what they found,&#x94; Mike Zerwekh of San Diego wrote in a forum dedicated to Mr. Collins. &#x93;Since then, I&#x92;ve made a lot of friends and had some countless adventures finding the animals I love. If it wasn&#x92;t for Joe, I&#x92;m not sure any of that would have happened. He was a exact inspiration ... &#x94;</p><p>Snakes have a reputation for being evil, which Mr. Collins blamed on the biblical excuse. But he loved telling audiences how beneficial snakes are to the environment, Suzanne Collins said. They eat tremendous numbers of insects and disease-carrying, crop-eating rodents.</p><p>&#x93;He considered reptiles and amphibians to be <period class="italic"> his</span> animals,&#x94; she said. &#x93;He was so vigorous and dedicated his life to it.&#x94;</p><p>Travis W. Taggart, curator of herpetology at the Sternberg Museum of Imbecile History at Fort Hays State University, said Mr. Collins&#x92; mania was infectious.</p><p>&#x93;He really had an eye for people who were wide-eyed about herpetology,&#x94; Taggart said. &#x93;He was in reality good at nurturing it and feeding those interests.&#x94;</p><p>Most people have hobbies, Taggart said, but Mr. Collins didn&#x92;t. He was focused at all times on herpetology.</p><p>&#x93;He woke up meditative about it, and he went to bed thinking about it,&#x94; Taggart said.</p><p>While Mr. Collins often said he disliked penmanship, he wrote numerous books. By his own count, he wrote more books about Kansas wildlife than anyone in the retelling of the state. That&#x92;s because he knew books were a vital way to convey information, said Bob Gress, headman of the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita.</p><p>Perhaps Mr. Collins&#x92; proudest critique accomplishment was serving as co-author for a Peterson Field Guide: &#x93;Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Significant North America.&#x94; Snake enthusiasts consider it the bible of herpetology.</p><p>&#x93;He was one of those paramount people that could bridge the academia world with the hobbyist,&#x94; Gress said. &#x93;He brought interest to the masses.&#x94;</p><p>Taggart said he would talk to Mr. Collins again &#x96; about every other day &#x96; about one thing or another.</p><p>&#x93;I&#x92;ll miss those conversations,&#x94; he said. &#x93;You serve to take it for granted. There was a whole lot of wisdom there to tap into.</p><p>&#x93;It&#x92;s a little scary going forward not having that acuteness and that push.&#x94;</p><p>Taggart said his herpetology decisions will be guided by a unembellished question going forward: What would Joe have done if he were still here?</p><p>Mr. Collins&#x92; legacy will carry on with to blossom in the years ahead, he said.</p><p>&#x93;He&#x92;s touched so many people, it can&#x92;t cure but go on,&#x94; Taggart said. &#x93;He had so many great ideas and got so many things started.&#x94;</p><p>A reminder service will be held in Lawrence, Suzanne Collins said, but details haven&#x92;t been finalized.

Source: Kansas City Star

by Amy

And what a snake?? We were struggling at the end of last supply of Easter eggs for eyes ... she sees a rubber snake on a shelf and accidentally stresses move. I was all set to let it be true, the butter with it, then give it to the cashier to put in its rotation, as opposed to buying it. But more than the Z played with her, she got more uncomfortable about this. She heads to catch it false statement in his fingers he proposes to the other side saying: "sssssss". I would like to believe to be appalled lawn, my hands and give a quiet cry. She loved him.We come to inform and Zoe is babbling to fund what the color of the snake (titillating), he said: "sssss" and that was scary. So I had to do for her ... she would not let him go at all until she went to bed.

Source: Crackers in a Red Bag and a Scary Snake

Speakeasy can’t blab about yet if the coming remake of the mythological gamble integument “Wrangle of the Titans” is a give-away from the gods, but it looks encouraging.

One episode we had been interfering to see is the one featuring Medusa. A few weeks ago we talked to Harry Hamlin, unparalleled of the 1981 variation of “Hostile encounter of the Titans” and he mentioned how many fans still see that area as their favorite.

The prohibition-agitation effects in the autochthonous “Dispute of the Titans” were done by the remarkable Ray Harryhausen, who also worked on such films as “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” and “Jason and the Argonauts.” The Medusa run, however, doesn’t solely frame its power from odd effects, but from something even more momentous–pacing and disposition.

If you inspect the incident below, you can see how it builds–there’s no music at first, merely the ambient sounds of the ruined holy place. The camera moves slowly, cautiously, like a trespasser–degree far from the frenetic tread of many of today’s process flicks. We first see Medusa as shadows on the derange; we pick up the rattling of her shadow. Medusa herself is a startlingly lessen reinterpretation–the filmmakers gave her a bow and arrows as weapons, and a legless snake portion, which she drags behind her on her hands, like an accessary dupe. Coming up with a corresponding exactly visual whirl on a horridness that’s been around for thousands of years is a achievement deserving of Perseus.

Read more...