Simon’s Cat: Fly Guy

I love, love, love these cartoons. And here’s one that has Entomology in it!  (sort of.)

Weekly World News…online!

Google Books has given me a late present–many past issues of WWN are now online! Readers of WWN (via the grocery checkout isle, anyway) will remember that they often feature amazingly badly pasted together stories about giant insects!

As a trip down memory lane, I give you–the 23lb. grasshopper (from New Zealand. In theory).

The stories are usually hilarious, and can serve as great classroom discussion points.  For example–why isn’t it likely that a 48 inch long grasshopper would exist?  I’ve included a shot of the story below (click to enbiggen).

Have fun searching the archives–and let me know if you get any other good insect stories!

OMG Lego Insects!

WOW. That’s all I’ve got.

Not only is the insect built of LEGOs, so is the display box!!

Check out pupipupi’s photostream for additional insects–there is a wonderful longhorn beetle, as well as a dragonfly.

Via pupipupi, I found a bunch of other LEGO insects–probably my favorites were the dung beetles, complete with a little lego ball of poo.

There was also an entomological LEGO still life with bee, as well as a pretty credible firefly.

Enjoy!

A Holiday Garden Story

I really thought this was a cool story from Michigan, and wanted to share.  I don’t really get into the whole Holiday thing, but I’m all about heartwarming stories

“Question: What do area farmers and students have in common with more than a dozen prisoners at Camp Pugsley?

Answer: They produced food for others through Michigan State University Extension’s Master Gardener Program.

Michigan State University Extension in January started its first Master Gardener Program at Pugsley Correctional Facility, a secure Level One state prison near Fife Lake….Pugsley had nine gardens inside the razor wire with a total of 60,000 square feet, and two outside the perimeter for an additional 20,000 square feet. They produced and donated more than 19,000 pounds of food.”

I firmly believe in the healing power of gardening–I thought this was a great way to take a negative and turn it into a positive.  I hope this program will continue!

There is a book on starting prison gardens: Doing Time in the Garden.

Guest Blogger: David Gracer

Hey Everyone! I invited David over to announce some exciting entomophagy news–a way to get all the past issues of the Food Insects Newsletter!   Here’s what David has to say:

“It’s a great day for those of us laboring in the salt mines of entomophagy: after many months of planning, a bound reprint of The Food Insects Newsletter is finally available to the public!

While some of it has been online for years, this volume includes a great deal of additional material, including editorial introductions and an afterward; nutritional tables; images; and four comprehensive indices catering to a wide range of interests.  And hey, just in time for the gifting season!  This volume represents a vital part of the available literature on the subject.  Do the world a favor: order yours today!

But Wait! There’s more!
This reprint is meant to be the prelude to a renewal of The Newsletter, meaning that new content will be forthcoming in 2010.

The editors – Dr. Florence Dunkel and I – are currently pondering various ways of making this happen.  While we have some articles and other material ready to be shared with the world, we are very interested in receiving almost anything that people would like to contribute.  This means from entomologists of course, but other folks too — including non-academics.  I’m talking about: technical papers, observations, essays, anecdotes, images, and other formats.

Similarly, we remain committed to exploring our subject from a wide range of perspectives: through the lens of entomology, anthropology, sociology, engineering, nutrition science, chemistry, marketing, history, ecology, etc.    Please email us if you are interested in contributing!

You can view instructions for getting your copy here: BookFlyer.pdf

Back from the ESA meeting!

I’m back from the ESA conference, and will be parceling out reports on the cool research I saw over the next couple of weeks.  I also will have a special guest post tomorrow about a Resource/Cookbook I know we will all need for our Holiday Entertaining!!

A highlight from the meeting:

Immediately preceding the ESA meeting, there was a cheerleader conference in the same building the Entomologists used.

It was in fact the Greater Midwest Cheer Expo, and I am not linking that site, because there hasn’t been a website that made such horrible use of clip art and blinking GIFs since….um…1992. When it would have been state of the art.

And not just any cheerleaders were competing…JUNIOR cheerleaders. 
As in, kids from age 5 to 10.  I  cannot express to you just how horrible it was to see small children dressed in midriff-baring, lowcut cheer uniforms, stroking their stuff and pelvic thrusting as they tried to be Beyonce on a videophone.  Each of them had enough make-up on to cover at least 3 Tammy-Faye Bakers.

One of the folks at the meeting coined the term “prostitots”, which was appallingly accurate.  I could not find an online photo, and I was afraid to take any photos, but the uniforms were about this revealing.

On an adult woman–ROWR. On a kid–EWWWW.

There was a short period during which the two meetings overlapped. Entomologists in Suits. Kids in Thongs covered in glitter.

The end result: SPARKLY ENTOMOLOGISTS.

That part, at least, was awesome.

Tuesday ESA Bug Blogger Meetup!

Tuesday Night! Indianapolis! Marriott! Entomological Society of America! Groupies!

(Ok, maybe not groupies.)

Still, see you there at 8:30pm, in the Circle City Bar/Grille in the Mariott. I will probably be a lone broad working on my Mac and drinking heavily.

Alas, I will be bolting out of Indy first thing tomorrow morning–there has been some additional unpleasantness at work and I feel I should be there.  Sigh.

I need a new life

Yeah, so here is what I found on my doorstep Saturday morning.  We also received the liver and heart. In fact, they put the heart on top of Mr. Bug’s car.

Definitely a threat, and it is related to my RL job. I have a pretty good idea who my Redneck Don Corleone is, but will be busy dealing with this and other items this week.

I hope to be back with some posts from the Entomological Society National Meeting in Indy after the 12th!

There will be a special symposium on native bees and honeybees, which I am quite excited about.

Vintage Entomology film!

I  love this little animated film from 1912. So much embedded in this:  The chauffeur is a weevil! The club is named The Gay Dragonfly! The cock-blocking grasshopper! The lovely music!

Ok, well, the ending is pretty unpleasant.

Found at the blog Anthropomorphe, who has a bio of the animator Ladislaw Starewicz (1882-1965)

Party in Indianapolis

Yes. It will TOTALLY be like this

It’s time for the Entomological Society Annual Meeting–who wants to party with Bug Girl in Indy? I’ll be there from Dec. 13th to the 15th, and return on the 16th.

I promise, I will wear pants this time.

I’d love to have a NatureBlogger meet up, or chat to local skeptics. Leave me a comment if you’re interested!