In the News...

A few weeks ago I did a post about alternative fuels, particularly biodiesel. Last night there was a segment about it on the local evening news. Click here to read the story online. There is also a link to a list of East Tennessee stations that sell it. David is thrilled about this because his work van runs on diesel as well as his Ford F350 dually and the tractor.

I'm working on a post about the sad state of health care in Tennessee. Here's a link to an interesting story to get the ball rolling. I have no problem at all with the state giving money to faith-based clinics to provide care to people without insurance. As long as the clinics remain ethical and prudent in their practices (medical and financial) I think this is a good alternative to state provided health insurance. I can see that some groups might object to the faith-based aspect, but people need to look beyond that to see that this is a way for people to get health care they wouldn't otherwise get.

Bugs in the news: "The longest-lasting copulation, according to University of Arizona biologist John Alcock (interviewed for an August Knight Ridder story), is that of the lowly “stick insect” (of the phasmida family), which goes on for several months at a time, even though, he said, it is “not clear this is welcome to the female.” The male attaches himself to the female’s back, which allows her to continue with her daily routine during the mating, while also discouraging competitor males. According to other biologists, some ticks spend up to eight hours on what resembles foreplay, and butterflies, snakes and houseflies can also go on for hours." (from the Metropulse News of the Weird) I've personally witnessed the long copulation time of butterflies. I've seen them connected for an entire afternoon. Another great reason to love butterflies! And there was a stick bug on my back deck the other day. Perhaps he was looking for a little action, but he didn't find it, at least not that I ever saw. You can't tell from the picture but the stick bug was about 5 inches long, not including its antennae.





Spell-check fun: it recommended replacing 'copulation' with 'splitting' (is that related to lickety splitting?) and 'foreplay' with 'fireball' (that makes a lot of sense! LOL)