Another Reason to Love the Blogosphere

Thanks to this week's Friday Ark, I just found The Backyard Arthropod Project. Here's a tidbit about that blog.

This started out as a typical ranting blog over on Livejournal, but it turns out that, overall, I’m a happy sort of guy and don’t really have that many things to rant about. As of February 2007, it has instead turned into a project to document every arthropod that I can find on our property (about 9 acres on the north slope of Old Mill Hill in the Keeweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan). This includes insects, spiders, other arachnids, crustaceans, and pretty much anything I find with an exoskeleton. There should be at least one new arthropod every week, for as long as the variety holds out (which could be years).

The knowledge shared with the rest of us is pretty amazing. There are posts about the bugs, of course, but there are also tremendous posts about techniques and equipment that are nothing short of brilliant. Here's my favorite one and a photo (borrowed with permission).

I think you can see right away the basics of how this was done, but the post linked above has the full details along with lighting suggestions and ways to photograph subjects that insist on squirming.

To borrow from the bible, this is the blogosphere the Lord hath made possible, let us rejoice and be glad in it.