What's the difference between a parable and a fable?

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Why: The Bible is filled with parables; kindergarten is filled with fables. None of them are true. They both end in -able.

Answer: A fable has animals! or plants or anthropomorphized forces of nature. Each character represents a particular human virtue or fault, and what happens in the story is directly related to his personality. The word "fable" comes from the Latin root fari, "to speak."





A parable is set in the real world with human characters. It features realistic problems and results handled with spiritual fortitude if not sanctimony. The word is related to parabola, from from para, "alongside," + bole, "a throwing, casting, beam, ray."





Both fables and parables teach moral or ethical lessons.

Source: Wild Fables,

The More You Know: The word fable is also related to the word fabulous, i.e. "rich in myths; legendary." Speaking of fabulous, I just found out that Season 4 of "RuPaul's Drag Race" started January 30th.



May the best woman win!

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What's the origin of the word javelina?

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Search: javelina name origin

Why: I was admiring some art from Draw Something (are you playing? I can't get enough. We literally lie in bed drawing and laughing and cornholing except Buster) when I spotted this:



which made me think of this:



Pagoda! Where's my javelina?

and subsequently this:



There you are.
Answer: It's a topic of debate! But here is a pretty good theory:

• It comes from the Spanish word jabali, "wild boar." A jabalina is a "wild sow."
• That term comes from the Arabic term khinzÄ«r jabalÄ«y, "mountain pig." A jabal is a mountain.
  

Another option: What it may come from (but probably not) is the word javelin. Javelinas have sharp teeth, don't it.



Source: Some person's page about javelinas

The More You Know: Other beautiful names for the javelina include peccary and skunk pig.

Bonus screenshot: Wherein James and I discuss "RuPaul's Drag Race" and his experiences with peccaries in Guatemala:


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Are there any pets in the Bible?

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Search: pets in the bible

Why: I made this list of the Best Fictional Pets the other day at my place of business, and I was looking at it again just now. I included Argos, the loyal puppy from The Odyssey, and then I thought "O wait! Maybe it's rude to call The Odyssey 'fiction'?" I don't know why I thought that, but then my brain obviously leapt straight to the Bible.

Answer: No! Not named ones, anyway. There are animals about, but they don't seem to be domesticated enough where you could have them live in your house and take naps on your tummy.


Interestingly (? you be the judge), there are exactly 40 references to dogs in "the Bible or citations in Scripture." The fellow who wrote this article believes that means that dogs are messengers of God, though it looks like he had to do quite a bit of finessing to come up with that nice round sacred number. After all, several of the verses are identical, and one time, he counts the verb "to dog," which I don't think translates the same way in Aramaic. (PS: One of the only words I remember from a billion years of Hebrew school is kelev, "dog.")

Also, most of the times they're mentioned, dogs are described as wild ominous beasts who eat people, get treated poorly, and/or are disgusting. For example:

• 1 Kings 14:11
  Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'

• Psalm 22:16
  Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.

They're coming.

• Proverbs 26:11
  As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

• Philippians 3:2
  Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

• Revelation 22:15
  Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Dogs also did some shepherding, hunting, and companioning, and it looks like they were occasionally not dangerous:

• Mark 7:27
  "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

•  Luke 16:21
  ...and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

• Proverbs 12:10
  Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

I don't know. Some of the other animals mentioned in the Bible were ones from the Middle East: cattle, camels, ostriches, locusts, fish, lizards... Not tigers or penguins or Galapagos turtles or velociraptors or anything, but they were all probably just lumped under categories like "birds" and "beasts" and then, obviously, on the Arc.

But anyway: no, there weren't any pets in the Bible. And I'll tell you something else that was for sure never said:


Source: Yahoo! Voices, Wikipedia, All About the Bible, answers2prayer

The More You Know: There are no cats in the Bible as we know it... But have you heard of the Book of Baruch? Most of the text of it has been lost, but it allegedly had a line or two about kitties. Nobody knows what they called them or anything, but I'm sure whatever the name was, it was adorable.

How big is a whale's blowhole?

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Search: how big is a whale's blowhole; blowhole size

Why: You guys, guess where I finally went Sunday for the first time ever? I'll give you 3 hints:


 

That's right: Comic-Con!

Answer: Well, what kind of whale we talking here? 

• Blue? According to this documentary about bleu whales, their blowholes are big enough for a toddler to fit inside.
• The humpback whale blowhole is 8-10 inches long.
• The sperm whale blowhole is about 20 inches long. It is also S-shaped.

• I can't find any information about killer whale blowholes, but based on this photo (which must have been taken before this happened), I am going to estimate that it's something like... 4 inches in diameter? I have no idea. You could definitely fit your whole fist in it, if that's what you're wondering.

The blowhole leads to the whale's trachea, which then goes to its lungs, bypassing the mouth. The spray from a humpback whale's blow hole goes 10-13 feet in the air. The spray from a blue whale's blowhole can go up to 30 feet!

It takes a dolphin only a fraction of a second to empty its blowhole. Baby dolphins are too dumb to understand breathing, so they raise their heads out way above the water until they get the hang of it.


Source: Enchanted Learning, Neatorama, National Geographic, this site, Understand Dolphins, Panda's Thumb (which also has part of an interesting essay about the evolution of whale nipples)

The More You Know: The blowhole is covered by a muscular flap that the whale contracts to open. When closed, the seal is water-tight. If water gets in there, the whale could drown.

Also, baleen whales (humpbacks, blue whales, gray whales) each have 2 blowholes! TWO!!


The other kind of whale (Odontoceti - sperm, killer, beluga, dolphin) is called "toothed."

One of the nostrils (air-passages) of toothed whales evolved into their echolocation system (the sensing system in which they make and receive high-pitched sounds in order to orient themselves, catch prey, and communicate), leaving them with only one blowhole.

Put that in your hole and smoke it.

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I want to watch a video of a platypus hatching

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Search: platypus hatching; echidna hatching

Why: The other morning, Chandler said, "I sleep standing up! and-" and then - in unison - we both said, "I only eat at night!" He was very "How do you know that??" and "What is that even from???" and it was from this Wildlife Treasury commercial, which we both watched probably on Nickelodeon in the 1980s.



The duck-billed platypus has feet like a duck, but it's furry. Now it's all I can think about.

Answer: Well, I can't find a video of a platypus hatching, BUT! I did find this. Watch it, and then we'll talk about what we've learned:



Source: YouTube

The More You Know: Facts about echidnas and platypodes!

1. Mammals that lay eggs are called monotremes. There are 5 extant species of monotremes (4 of which are echidnas - there is only one species of platypus [duck-billed]).
2. Echidnas have pouches. Most animals that have pouches are marsupials (literally "having a pouch"), but echidnas are not marsupials. Platypodes do not have pouches.
3. Echidnas lay one egg at a time. They keep their little baby blobs in their pouches for 7 weeks until they grow spin. Then the moms drop the babies off in burrows, which they visit every few days. They care for and nurse their little baby blobs for 5-6 months.
4. Monotreme egg shells are leathery, kind of like reptile eggs. An embryo grows an egg tooth that it uses to break out of the shell, kind of like a bird or I guess a reptile.
5. BABY ECHIDNAS ARE CALLED PUGGLES OMG. There is no official name for a baby platypus, but you could probably get away with calling it a puggle.
6. For a little while, right after hatching, echidna puggles breathe through their skin. They also kind of look like tardigrades.
7. Monotremes don't have nipples, but adapted pores that excrete milk on their tummies.
8. Platypodes are born with teeth, but they drop off over time. Echidnas never have teeth (except the egg teeth).
9. The male echidna has a four-headed penis. During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the girl's hoo-ha. The heads used swap each time it bangs. Click here to see the four-headed echidna penis because you are a pervert. (Here too.)

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Forever 21 Pressed Filigree Bracelet

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Date: June 30, 2012
Item: Bracelet
From: Forever 21
Price: $3.80 plus tax each

I am going through a bangle phase right now. I used to hate them because they always clashed on my desk when I was working, and don't get me started on how hard it is to wear them and keep them clean while in the ladies room. But, now I've learned the habit of taking them off when I'm at my desk or before I go powder my nose, I just get fondly irritated by my bangles from time to time.

When I saw these bangles at Forever 21, I just had to have them. Although I'm not normally partial to yellow gold jewelry, the pastel colors softened the gold color enough that I didn't mind the gold rims and gold filigree on these bangles. The filigree was intricate and exquisite, and reminded me of vintage Art Nouveau jewelry when detail work was prized and appreciated.

It just so happened that these bangles came in blue, pink and cream. Perfect shades to match the Talbots Voile Crystal Pleat skirts I just got earlier in the morning. Or to match the pastel interior of the frozen yogurt parlor near my home, where I am planning to spend a lot of the upcoming triple degree summer days.

Here are more detailed pictures of the bangles.

And here is more information from the Forever 21 website.

Forever 21 First Day of Spring Necklace

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Date: June 30, 2012
Item: Bracelet
From: Forever 21
Price: $1.50 plus tax

At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, there are some aspects of this necklace that kind of reminds me of Louis Vuitton accessories.

Forever 21	Louis Vuitton

First, the colors of the charms on the Forever 21 necklace look like they come from the same color palette as some of the pastel Louis Vuitton charms. In fact, look at the comparison above of the Louis Vuitton charms and the Forever 21 First Day of Spring Necklace charms. Don’t they seem like they could have belonged together?

Second, even the shape of the dangling butterfly and flower charms look somewhat like something from Louis Vuitton too. Yes, yes, I know, the flowers of the Louis Vuitton charms have 4 petals, where as the Forever 21 flower charm has 5 petals. But the shape is still kind reminiscent, in my opinion. And the butterfly charm, if you kind of squint at it, doesn’t it look a bit like the 4-petal Louis Vuitton flower? Kinda? Sorta? Maybe? Am I the only one seeing it?

Here is more information about the necklace from the Forever 21 website.