Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends". Polyphemus first appeared as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of the Odyssey; the satyr play of Euripides is dependent on this episode apart from one detail. Classical writers presented him in their poems as heterosexual and linked his name with the nymph Galatea, he was portrayed as unsuccessful in these, as unaware of his disproportionate size and musical failings. In the work of later authors, however, he is presented as both a successful lover and skilled musician. From the Renaissance on, art and literature reflect all of these interpretations of the giant. In Homer's epic, Odysseus lands on the island of the Cyclopes during his journey home from the Trojan War and, together with some of his men, enters a cave filled with provisions; when the giant Polyphemus returns home with his flocks, he blocks the entrance with a great stone and, scoffing at the usual custom of hospitality, eats two of the men.

Next morning, the giant leaves the cave to graze his sheep. After the giant returns in the evening and eats two more of the men, Odysseus offers Polyphemus some strong and undiluted wine given to him earlier on his journey. Drunk and unwary Odysseus his name, promising him a guest-gift if he answers. Odysseus tells him "Οὖτις", which means "nobody" and Polyphemus promises to eat this "Nobody" last of all. With that, he falls into a drunken sleep. Odysseus had meanwhile drives it into Polyphemus' eye; when Polyphemus shouts for help from his fellow giants, saying that "Nobody" has hurt him, they think Polyphemus is being afflicted by divine power and recommend prayer as the answer. In the morning, the blind Cyclops lets the sheep out to graze, feeling their backs to ensure that the men are not escaping; however and his men have tied themselves to the undersides of the animals and so get away. As he sails off with his men, Odysseus boastfully reveals his real name, an act of hubris, to cause problems for him later.

Polyphemus prays to his father, for revenge and casts huge rocks towards the ship, which Odysseus escapes. The story reappears in Classical literature. In Cyclops, the 5th-century BC play by Euripides, a chorus of satyrs offers comic relief from the grisly story of how Polyphemus is punished for his impious behaviour in not respecting the rites of hospitality. In his Latin epic, Virgil describes how Aeneas observes blind Polyphemus as he leads his flocks down to the sea, they have encountered Achaemenides, who re-tells the story of how Odysseus and his men escaped, leaving him behind. The giant is described as using a "lopped pine tree" as a walking staff. Once Polyphemus reaches the sea, he groans painfully. Achaemenides is taken aboard Aeneas’ vessel and they cast off with Polyphemus in chase, his great roar of frustration brings the rest of the Cyclopes down to the shore as Aeneas draws away in fear. The vivid nature of the Polyphemus episode made it a favorite theme of ancient Greek painted pottery, on which the scenes most illustrated are the blinding of the Cyclops and the ruse by which Odysseus and his men escape.

One such episode, on a vase featuring the hero carried beneath a sheep, was used on a 27 drachma Greek postage stamp in 1983. The blinding was depicted in life-size sculpture, including a giant Polyphemus, in the Sperlonga sculptures made for the Emperor Tiberius; this may be an interpretation of an existing composition, was repeated in variations in Imperial palaces by Claudius, Nero and at Hadrian's Villa. Of the European painters of the subject, the Flemish Jacob Jordaens depicted Odysseus escaping from the cave of Polyphemus in 1635 and others chose the dramatic scene of the giant casting boulders at the escaping ship. In Guido Reni's painting of 1639/40, the furious giant is tugging a boulder from the cliff as Odysseus and his men row out to the ship far below. Polyphemus is portrayed, as it happens, with two empty eye sockets and his damaged eye located in the middle on his forehead; this convention goes back to Greek statuary and painting and is reproduced in Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein's 1802 head and shoulders portrait of the giant.

Arnold Bocklin pictures the giant as standing on rocks onshore and swinging one of them back as the men row over a surging wave, while Polyphemus is standing at the top of a cliff in Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting of 1902. He stands poised, having thrown one stone, which misses the ship; the reason for his rage is depicted in Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus. Here the ship sails forward; the giant himself is an indistinct shape distinguished from the woods and smoky atmosphere high above. Folktales similar to that of Homer's Polyphemus are a widespread phenomenon throughout the ancient world. In 1857, Wilhelm Grimm collected versions in Serbian, Estonian, Russian and others. More than two hundred different versions have been identified, from around twenty five nations, covering a geographic region extending from Iceland, England and Africa to Arabia, Turkey and Korea; the consensus of current modern scholarship is that these "Polyphemus legends" preserve traditions predating Homer. An examp

The northern cricket frog is a species of small hylid frog native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. Despite being members of the tree frog family, they are not arboreal, it has two recognized subspecies. The northern cricket frog is one of North America's three smallest vertebrates, ranging from 19–38 mm long, its dorsal coloration varies and includes greys and browns in irregular blotching patterns. One New York biologist has identified six distinct color morphs and four pattern morphs, several intergrades between these. There is dark banding on the legs and a white bar from the eye to the base of the foreleg; the skin has a bumpy texture. It is similar to the southern cricket frog, Acris gryllus, found in the US Southeastern Coastal Plain, but with some overlap along the Fall Line; the southern cricket frog has longer legs, with less webbing on the hind feet, a more pointed snout. The line on the back of its thigh is more defined than that of the northern cricket frog. Biologists have recorded northern cricket frogs in the northern fringes of their range with sharp posterior leg stripes.

Northern cricket frogs are diurnal and active much of the year, except in midwinter in northern areas when the water is frozen. Their primary diet is small insects, including mosquitos, they are, in turn, preyed upon by a number of species, including birds and other frogs. To escape predators, they are capable of leaping up to 3 feet in a single jump and are excellent swimmers. Breeding occurs from May through July; the males call from emergent vegetation with a high-pitched, pebble-like call, repeated at an increasing rate. The sound suggests pebbles being clicked together, much like a cricket, hence the name. One egg is laid at a time attached to a piece of vegetation; the 14 millimetres tadpoles hatch in only a few days, undergo metamorphosis in early fall. Maturity is reached in less than a year. Cricket frogs prefer the edges of permanent bodies of water. Large groups of them can be found together along the muddy banks of shallow streams during premigratory clustering; the northern cricket frog has been observed to hibernate upland at considerable distances from water.

Eastern cricket frog, A. c. crepitans Coastal cricket frog, A. c. paludicola A. c. crepitans is found from New York, south to Florida, west along the Gulf Coast states to Texas. A. c. paludicola occurs in southwestern Louisiana to East Texas. Frogs such as A. crepitans are important as an indicator of wetland health and general environmental quality in the areas they inhabit. Animal Diversity Web: Acris crepitans USGS: Northern Cricket Frog Frogs & Toads of Georgia: Acris crepitans crepitans Conant et al.. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-90452-8. Martof et al.. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4252-4

Señorita Aruba is the national Beauty pageant in Aruba. The two brands. Aruba are registered and are under management of Miss Aruba Foundation A TV Personality and Producer, Isaï Labadie introduced the Miss Aruba Foundation which held the Srta. Aruba and Miss Teen Aruba; the foundation in unrelated to Star Promotion Foundation The main purpose of Miss Aruba Foundation is to prepare all the candidates, regardless of social standards, on the same level. The foundation is the only pageant on the island that tries to minimize the costs of participating in a pageant by helping the candidate as much as possible, thanks to your generous help; the winner will represent Aruba in the Miss International Pageant in Japan while the first runner-up will represent the island in Philippines at the Miss Earth competition. MISS ARUBA FOUNDATION The pageant will choose the delegates for Miss International and Miss Earth pageants. Before 2011, traditionally the 2nd Runner-up of Star Promotion Foundation Miss Aruba will represent her country at the Miss International pageant.

In 2011, Aruba made a debut at Miss Earth. The Star Promotion Foundation sends a delegate to represent Aruba at Miss Earth. In 2011, Mellisa Lacle was appointed to compete at the pageant, she was Miss Aruba 2005 who competed at Miss Universe 2006 in Nevada, USA. Color key Color key Srta-Aruba