Submit! To Hexapod Haikus

Once again, it’s time for the Hexapod Haiku Challenge from the North Carolina State University Insect Museum!

They usually have entries from all around the world–will you be participating?

“Haiku is a fun medium, traditionally focusing on seasonal changes and nature (including insects and other terrestrial and freshwater arthropods!), and with a relatively standard format that makes judging (perhaps) less difficult. We will definitely accept minor departures from traditional haiku “rules” (i.e., the 5-7-5 onji composition). We’d also love to see more haiga (a haiku that is accompanied by an image) and senryu (short poem about human and/or, in this case, insect foibles) though they will be judged as haiku equivalents.

For you we offer three awards with (small) prizes: 1) best in show, 2) runner-up, 3) best entry from poet under the age of 13. We also have honorable mention categories that change every year depending on the submissions we get (most traditional, funniest, best IPM-themed poem, etc.)”

Traveling…

Traveling, so please talk amongst yourselves.  So far it’s been a fairly eventful trip–12 inches of snow and a flaming de-icer canceled all flights.   Oddly enough, in a part of Michigan known for lake effect snow, there was only one de-icer for the airport. It had mostly stopped smoking by the time I arrived, but the damage had been done.

Also, my suitcase sent off all sorts of alarms, so every TSA employee at the airport has now fondled my underpants and bras.

Eventually, they put us all on a bus to Chicago, where I finally got on a plane 12 hours after I arrived at the airport.

I really liked this sign–sort of fits my surreal travel experience. Check out the blog of strange signs: Oddly Specific.

The Bug Chicks: Insect Strength

I am on the road again, so how about another visit from the Bug Chicks? In this video they discuss some astounding insect feats of strength.  And…DONUTS!!

Thank you Mr. Zinn

I wanted to have a brief moment of blog silence for the passing of Howard Zinn. He was a really amazing and fascinating man, and changed the way we teach and look at history.  And, given the upsets recently about UAH, and other personal tragedies, I thought revisiting this quote would be nice.  It keeps me going many days when I wonder what I’m doing with my life.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

–Howard Zinn

Would you like to see my Engravings?

I feature the BiblioOdessy blog here semi-regularly, since he seems to find lovely old insect artwork everywhere.

This week: Charming hand-coloured 18th century moth illustrations found in EJC Esper’s ‘Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur’ [vol. 4] from 1786, sourced from the University of Heidelberg.  Definitely click over and look at the full size images–lovely!

And possibly useful for inviting potential dates to your lair?

Safe sex (for beetles?)

An amusing new campaign is out to promote both safe sex and endangered species conservation:

“The Center for Biological Diversity announced its participation in the second annual Global Population Speak Out, a month-long effort to publicize the crisis of unsustainable human population growth. The Center is speaking out as part of its overpopulation campaign, which addresses the devastating impacts of overpopulation on endangered species.

As part of its actions for GPSO, the Center for Biological Diversity will distribute 100,000 free Endangered Species Condoms beginning on Valentine’s Day and has launched an educational Web site chronicling the devastating impact of human overpopulation on endangered species.”

I am a little puzzled by the “win a lifetime supply of endangered species condoms” contest.  Lifetime of ….me, the human? The species on the condom?
And how do they calculate what a lifetime supply is, anyway?  Is there an average daily condom usage statistic that you plug into (heh!) a formula of some sort?  It probably uses your age as an adjusting denominator for the total amount.  I’m just sayin’…..

Despite the painful Seuss-ian rhyme, I am very entertained by this.  I would totally sign up to distribute the condoms if they could promise me they would all be beetle skins. So to speak.

Please suggest alternate slogans for other insectile prophylactics in the comments!

Pretty Picture Monday

Arg. Still fighting a sinus infection, and just not ready for Monday. How about some Shiny?

This is from the Encyclopedia of Life Flickr pool.

Poo Cake

And now for something completely different: A dung beetle cake. Happy Birthday Cuckoo Wasp!

Tragedy at UAH

Once again, I find myself writing about Academia, and things gone horribly wrong.  Almost half of the biology department was killed or injured yesterday in what seems to have been a tenure meeting.  One faculty member has been charged with the murders.

How in the world will they finish the semester? What happened? Is this more evidence of the toxicity of Academia?

I do not have answers to these questions.  Re-reading this post, where the process of tenure selection is discussed, brought back my memories of the tenure process.   It is painful and stressful.  Even when it ends well, it leaves scars.

My thoughts are with the students, staff, and faculty as they try to put their lives back together.

Predictably, someone asks “What if the faculty had had a gun?“  Why this is a stupid ass idea has already been addressed elsewhere.  And how despicable do you have to be to try to score political points in this situation?  One of the faculty did have a gun. That’s why this happened.

Classes are canceled for the next week at UAH.

Spiders and Fear (and the Bug Chicks!)

I was very entertained by this–hopefully it’s a series that will continue!  This video addresses some common fears about spiders, and addresses why they aren’t that scary!