I'll have to introduce you to the joys of my little hood.

That would be awesome, and I can't wait.

It's actually happening. Finally. I will be only fifteen minutes away from work again, which will be nice. The commute's been fine, really, but I won't miss it much. So looking forward to getting to know the city, too.

I'm not sure, Perkins. I used to, but I don't anymore.

The female wasp paralyzes a cockroach and disables its escape response, leads it into a burrow, and traps it inside with an egg. When the larva hatches, it feeds on the roach for days and then chews its way inside and feeds on its internal organs for days.

The parasitism is quite common among wasps; roaches, tarantulas, caterpillars, beetle grubs, all manner of creatures get slowly eaten alive by wasp larvae. This one is pretty awesome in that it steers rather than drags the roach back to its lair, though.

There's a pretty cool link from that page to another wasp that parasitises caterpillars. [link] The wasp lays eggs in the caterpillar, where the young feed on said caterpillar and then emerge to pupate (up to 80 of them). The caterpillar is still alive, and now its behaviour modifies. It will stand guard over the pupating wasps. If a predator turns up it'll thrash its head around to knock the predator off. It thus reduces significantly the predation rate on the pupae, compared to ones which are unguarded. It's been found that one or two of the wasp larvae remain in the caterpillar; the current hypothesis is that they're responsible for the behaviour modification, thus forgoing their chance to pupate in order to protect their siblings.

Is this cockroach-rodeoing wasp one of the ones that harms people or houses? Because I'm seriously tempted by turning them loose on the local roach population.

I'm not sure, Perkins. I used to, but I don't anymore.

Exactly. I might be enjoying the show more because of it, but not so much with the liking him.

It will stand guard over the pupating wasps. If a predator turns up it'll thrash its head around to knock the predator off. It thus reduces significantly the predation rate on the pupae, compared to ones which are unguarded.

That is SO COOL.

Is this cockroach-rodeoing wasp one of the ones that harms people or houses? Because I'm seriously tempted by turning them loose on the local roach population.

Yeah, but then you'll have a wasp infestation, and you'll have to get the hawks to kill the wasps, and the monkeys to kill the hawks, and the sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads to kill the monkeys...

Oh my god. Enver Gjokaj is brilliant.

I've always been afraid I was the only one who read the encylopedia for fun.

Oh, you're not, Kathy. I love reading the encyclopedia.

My mom had no idea what I read, and never asked. She knew I was reading way above my age level, and that was all she cared about. She'd drop me off at our little local library, and let the librarians know if I could read it, I was allowed to. At first they tried to steer me towards the children's section, but I set them straight with my withering scorn. Nobody knew what the hell to do with me, so they left me alone. I think mom was just glad she never had to give me the "sex talk" because by puberty I already knew more than she did.

Oh, criminy, my self-evaluation was due today, and I totally forgot. Doesn't everyone hate doing those? Why don't they just stop making us? "Here's my honest evaluation of my job performance. I am excellent. That is all."

I may have been too young when I read Clan of the Cave Bear. I was deffinately too impressionable. I reread it recently and and realized to my horror that about 90% of my kinks come directly from that book.

I must reread that book to look inside Trudy's head. I think most of my kinks came from Rocky Horror and wacky Kirk/Spock slash.

Dang, I need a haircut.

Organovo Has Its First Commercial 3D Bioprinter

I've been waiting for that since I was 30! I'll take care of my brain and my skin, everything else I expect them to be able to replace by the time I'm 60.

Sophia, good luck. Extreme paranoia is not inappropriate in the workplace.

I want a mojito.

The wasp parasitism is creepy as all hell.

I must reread that book to look inside Trudy's head. I think most of my kinks came from Rocky Horror and wacky Kirk/Spock slash.

Heh. Tim Curry in fishnets contributed to me as well.

I just spent some money at etsy, but it has resulted in getting almost all of my xmas shopping done. It includes one of the amazing Gneiss Spice Sets for my brother and SiL, a print and pendant for K, kick ass glasses for my mom and dad (plus an ice cream maker which means my diabetic dad can make frozen treats that work for him). I also got some soaps for stocking stuffers. The rest of the stocking will be lotions, wooden spoons (which we desperately need), a pie server, a pizza cutter.

I WILL FINISH without going to the mall (though I need to go to Hanna Andersson to get underpants for N. Because while they are pricey, they are small enough that they fit and they are better than the super tiny ones that fit well but are $8/pair or the Little Beetle Trainers which are $20/pair).