#75 - ... TO THE POWER OF THREE

Does anyone remember the band "3"? Didn't think so ... How many fellow prog rockers are in my readership? I'm not sure if 3 would even qualify as prog since it was very poppy and, in retrospect, lame. I grew up on early 70s British progressive or art rock and early 70s to 80s metal. Today these influences combine in my preference for "prog metal" from Opeth to Katatonia to Between the Buried and Me to Dream Theater and all points between. But, back in the day (as we geezers say), I was all about bands like ELP, Yes, early Genesis (Gabriel-era, before Phil Collins ruined them) and such. In 1988 there was a short-lived project called 3. It was an attempt-to-ressurect spin-off of prog rock trio titans Emerson, Lake & Palmer. However, instead of Greg Lake on vocals, bass and guitar, keyboardist Keith Emerson and drummer Carl Palmer were joined by an American named Robert Berry. Their only album was titled the same as this blog entry, "... To the Power of Three".

Christians believe in something called "the trinity". Three or the power of three is a recurring theme in life. Instead of the holy father, son and the holy ghost others believe in mind, body and soul. I'm not much for believing, especially faith-based supernatural belief ignorance. In the words of Human League (another obscure musical reference for y'all): "I believe what the old man says though I know that there's no Lord above. I believe in me, I believe in you ... And you know I believe in love". Actually the jury is out on the latter ...

But maybe I believe in the "power of three". As I fade from arachnoculture and herpetoculture, there are only three projects that will keep my shadow in view. These are the British Tarantula Society, my Tarantula Bibliography and this blog. So, I thought I'd briefly comment on each and finally post a new blog entry after the longest quiet spell yet.

The British Tarantula Society

As most of you should know, I am the North American Coordinator of the BTS. I serve on the BTS committee in this role and try to attend both the Lectures and the Exhibition each year. My function as N.A. Coordinator is to liaise with other tarantula organizations in North America (primarily the ATS as long as it survives) and to promote membership throughout Mexico, Canada and the USA. I am happy to report more new American members and if you're not I hope you'll join. Moving forward with the BTS I am taking on a much greater role. It will soon be announced that I am taking over the reins of the BTS Journal. I will replace Peter Kirk as Editor of what is the premier English language arachnocultural publication in the world. I also am the primary copy editor and very likely will be responsible for the layout of the Journal. Guiding the Journal into the future is a great responsibility and will be my primary focus in the world of arachnoculture and arachnology. Everything else is secondary. The current issue of the Journal has two articles penned by me, and I also intend to publish more of my own material as I take over publication.

The Tarantula Bibliography

Hopefully you all have my species database and bibliographic reference bookmarked and consult it regularly. The Tarantula Bibliography (TTB) is in its TENTH YEAR! I created it to provide citations that were arachnoculture-oriented rather than arachnology-focused and to catalog the world's tarantula species in a user-friendly format that The World Spider Catalog (WSC) did not offer. The WSC now has a new home and editorial staff and is much better, but what I sought to provide was an attractive, modern MONTHLY UPDATED database to improve on the quarterly updated WSC of the past, plus provide bibliographic citations of both scientific (especially species descriptions) and hobby-related. I will continue to update TTB as often as possible and instantly add new species as they are described.

Kiss My Big Hairy Spider

The past couple of weeks have seen the fewest posts since I resurrected KMBHS back in early June. I have been working six day weeks and have been busy selling off most of my spider collection. I also expect that topics won't be as easy to come by as we rapidly approach 100 posts. But I am determined to keep it going, although admittedly it is listed third here for a reason. Of my "power of three" projects, the other two will certainly take precedence. 

So why not a fourth? What would it be? The only other thing that I have noticeably excluded is breeding. My collection is dwindling and I am sure most of you have noticed that I just added some "keepers" to my For Sale lists. I really am trying to get my involvement in the keeping of animals down to a minimum and, eventually, that minimum will number ZERO. Right now, I have only excluded my Harpactira, Monocentropus, Idiothele and Poecilotheria subfusca (both "forms") from sale. Additionally, I am raising up some sparassids: Heteropoda (davidbowie & lunula) and Barylestis scutatus and, this week when Frank Somma ships to me, I'll have Heteropoda boiei and H. javana, plus the ctenids Africactenus poecilus, Ctenus sp. "red fangs" and Ctenidae sp. "Nigerian gold-banded" as well. Whether these true spiders will "make the cut" is undecided. I'm very likely to sell the ctenids right away, keeping only a small group of the beautiful A. poecilus. I am not a fan of raising fruit flies and dealing with hundreds of tiny babies so I am going to guess the true spiders will all be listed before long (maybe even very soon) and my "spider room" will just be an office with a rack of African tarantulas and my favorite Pokie. The last thing I need is 300 baby "red fangs" to feed and, worse still, try to sell. Soon most will be gone. Then I can wander off into the sunset...

There is another musical 3 called 3G put on by two favorite guitarists, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. And my "other three" are 3 "G's": guns, guitars and golf (disc, not old man style chase the little white ball). It's healthy to have hobbies and new challenges. Out with the old, in with the new.

MJ