It’s one of those days when everything comes together in an almost lyric perfection of coherence. And today’s message is: Survival of the fittest!

In reading John Crowley’s The Translator (subtle, beautiful, humane — look for a full review later in the week), I ran across this gem, the marching song of the Nietzsche Study Group.

Nietzsche loves me, this I know.
Zarathustra told me so.
Little ones to US belong.
They are weak but WE ARE STRONG. – John Crowley

This made me laugh so much I tweeted it.

abostick59 responded: Are you sure that was JOHN Crowley?

And that comment led me to check with my local Thelemite expert, who confirmed that Aleister Crowley admired Nietzsche sufficiently to include him in the list of Gnostic saints, which also includes Pan, Siddhartha*, Charlemagne, Richard Wagner, and Roderic Borgia, AKA Pope Alexander the Sixth. (Check the link for the whole list.)

But where are the women on that list? Where are Cleopatra, Messalina, Theodosia, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Margaret of Anjou, Diane de Poitiers, Catherine the Great?

Meanwhile, gramina shared a link with me about mantis shrimp, which have astonishingly sensitive eyes which can see ten times as many colors as humans, but otherwise seem like God’s justification for hating all shrimp.

“They’re enchantingly violent,” he said in an affectionate, almost paternal tone. “They catch other animals by either spearing it through the heart or smashing it to pieces. Unlike most predators that grab prey, these pummel it and destroy it. When they interact with each other over a burrow, they use their armored front appendages and smash each other on the face. Whenever they get into any type of situation, they smash things. You can’t pick these up. They’re really great animals to have around.”

I learned from Wikipedia (and confirmed elsewhere) that these foot-long lobster-like creatures pack a punch so powerful that they occasionally smash aquarium glass. They strike at the same speed and with about the same force as a .22 caliber bullet. The videos have to be slowed down so you can see the creature moving.

Also, they sometimes do somersaults to get back into the ocean if they’re stranded on the shore. For as far as 2 meters. Imagine a creature looking like a deranged lobster, a foot-long half-armored thing with multiple mouths hanging out on stalks, doing somersaults on the beach. You’d swear off alcohol forever.

Happily, they have their own web site, where you can watch videos and read up on their behavior, assuming you can read white letters on pale blue ground. Maybe it’s only for mantis shrimp with their superior eyesight.

*Sorry, but this made me think of the line from A Fish Called Wanda: “The central tenet of Zen Buddhism is not ‘Every man for himself’.”

ETA And then serrana mentioned the Nazi super-cows, which turn out to be attempts to breed back to the aurochs. This site is named for the aurochs and includes cow solitaire.