Rest in Peace, little Space Bat dude

My Mister and I have been following the news about the now-famous free tail bat who accompanied space shuttle Discovery on its most recent launch. Tragically, NASA reports that Space Bat "likely perished quickly during Discovery’s climb into orbit."

You'll find more details and photos at NASA.gov, and a touching tribute to Space Bat on the Space Bat Memorial page.

In the words of an unknown forum poster at space-bat.com, "Damnit, I promised I wouldn't cry".

Look into my eyes

Phidippus audax at ~7:1-8:1 Full Frame
Originally uploaded by Opo Terser

Beauty in the unexpected. Beauty in the bizarre. Beauty can be found in the bits of nature most people overlook, or intentionally look away from.

As an example, Opo Terser's flickr photostream is chock full of some of the most truly awesome macros I've seen in ages. They're not safe viewing for true arachnophobes. Though, if you were going to face your fear of spiders, these images could be the place to start.

I especially love all of the stories Opo Terser includes with his photos; describing his interactions with his tiny living models.

Dose of cute

Lilys Yawn
Originally uploaded by bivoir

Getting ready to head out for work... I needed a dose of cute, so I popped over to the photo pool of one of my flickr contacts, bivoir.

Need cute? Bivoir's got cute. Bivoir's got eleventymillion mind bogglingly cute photos.

Yawning guinea piggies. Kissing piggies. Smiling, eating, posing, and even reading piggies. Not to mention funny piggies, safety piggies, baby piggies, mixed species cuteness, frogs, kittens, birds, and doggies.