The revenge for the rape of Dinah (Genesis 34) might work, especially if the abuse is sexual or the revenge involves deception.

The story of Balaam's ass (Numbers 22) tells of a divine confrontation after a misguided set of beatings, though that's a bit of a stretch.

Oh, right! Exodus 2:11-12. Moses and the taskmaster. Probably just what you're looking for.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 1:49 PM on December 21, 2004

First thing that came to mind was Georgics, but I seem to think of it's being more about bees than about Rome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 7:49 AM on December 9, 2004

Eek! "its."
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 7:52 AM on December 9, 2004

I'm no expert, but it looks to me like a clavate tortoise beetle. Another image (scroll down), and another.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 7:21 AM on September 28, 2004

I couldn't find any other images online -- sorry.

However if you have the image in a book, wouldn't that give you the provenance? You probably already know this, but there are usually photo credits in books that tell you what museum the piece comes from. You can then contact the museum and they'll usually send you a slide/photo for a fee. (Sometimes you'll even be able to get a digital image.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 4:58 PM on September 13, 2004

Get off the Robitussin and any other over-the-counter medications you might be taking. They're not controlling your cough, they're just drying out your mucus membranes, making you cough more in this case.

Bullshit. Dextromethorphan has the exact same action as codeine; it's just not as potent.

I'd avoid getting over-the-counter advice if I were you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 1:52 PM on December 31, 2003

A good portion of Jewish Merkabah mysticism had to do with angelology that goes well beyond the biblical ones. (If I recall correctly, only Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel are mentioned by name, but I could be wrong.) Check out the Book of Enoch for a good listing -- it's a pseudepigraphal work, so it' might be hard to find in print.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 3:48 PM on December 28, 2003

Use any very weak organic solvent. Vegetable oil will do just fine... and then you can get the oil off with soap and water.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 2:57 PM on December 25, 2003

Another escape-from-dystopia, and possibly the original one: We by Evgeni Zamyatin (sp?).
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 11:17 AM on December 16, 2003

It's quite consistent to think of a line as a circle with an infinite radius of curvature, and mathematicians often do consider them as such.

Example: There are a set of functions on the complex plane known as Mobius functions (also known as linear fractional transformations.) These are functions of the form (az + b)/(cz +d) where a, b, c, d are complex numbers. Ask any mathematician what these things do and they'll say that they map circles to circles, with the implicit... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 5:51 PM on December 14, 2003

I for one am completely confused. So the answer depends on whose terms of art you're using?

Yes. In mathematics, there are lots of sets of different axioms (underlying assumptions) that you can work from. So long as you're consistent about which ones you're using, you're just fine.

Euclidean geometry uses one set of axioms. But there have already been references to some alternative geometries which have different assumptions... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 7:15 AM on December 15, 2003

Soyjoy: Whatever you do, don't give the child half-digested information from an internet forum. People tend to have a way of stating wrong things with great confidence. (Casts a hairy eyeball at nthdegx.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 12:18 PM on December 11, 2003

Ugh. To provide some redeeming value to my snark, I guess I should provide an explanation now.

An electric circuit is somewhat analogous to flowing water. Water "wants" to flow from a high point (at the top of a waterfall, say) to a low point (at the bottom of a waterfall.) You can use this tendency to do work... turning a waterwheel by intercepting the flowing water, for instance. Electricity "wants" to flow from a high potential (higher voltage) to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 12:42 PM on December 11, 2003

(Clarification... by futzing with electrical outlets, I mean that he shouldn't play around with anything that's plugged into an outlet. Stick to batteries as the power source.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by ptermit at 12:44 PM on December 11, 2003