![Araneus diadematus in web [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]](https://www.polypompholyx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Araneus_diadematus_web-198x300.jpg)
I’d never noticed that a garden spider’s third pair of legs is much shorter than the others before.
September 2013 archive
Sep 02
Youth of today
![Earth [public domain, NASA]](https://www.polypompholyx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/earth-300x300.jpg)
One consequence of being an evolutionary dead-end is that I do not get exposed to new cultural touchstones through watching crap children’s telly with offspring I haven’t produced. As an alternative, monitoring the dwindling intersection of history I share with my incoming undergraduates serves the same salutary purpose of reminding me how out-of-touch I am. The …