Thursday, October 06, 2005

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)

11 comments:

ghartstein said...

Based on a conversation my wife and I had the other day, that bug looks about 13 or 14 inches...but maybe that's just me...

Rae Ann said...

mr g, lol, I'm not sure what you're saying there. Are you saying that 5 inches looks like 13 or 14 to you or your wife?

SierraBella said...

Stick Insect?
Perhaps that's where we got the term a woody!

ghartstein said...

he he he....

Rae Ann said...

sierrabella, good one! LOL

mr g, I'm still confused. lol

Kat said...

Bugs have short life spans, and now it sounds like the spend most of it having sex or trying to have sex.

Rae Ann said...

kat, what better way to spend their short lives? I like to study bugs.

Assorted Babble by Suzie said...

I read all your links and on biodiesel, that is very interesting. Left a long comment on prior post (link inside this one).

Bugs, creatures, etc, I have had enough of them lately as you know without thinking of more. OMG (LOL) I have seen these before though.

Mr.G is hilarious...and you too! Good laugh for the day! (LOL)

Anonymous said...

Rae,

Does your government impose an excise on Bio-diesel?

We make it here......for export.....:(

Rae Ann said...

Anonymous Nor?,
I'm not sure about that. I could try to find out, but I think part of the biodiesel movement is to decrease dependence on foreign fuel sources. But I'd rather we bought it from you than from the middle east and Venezuela. :-)

Anonymous said...

OOppps,

Yes

Nor..:)