Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Cicada Killer Wasps!!!

I walked outside today to check the mail (even though I had already taken it in myself), and get the trash cans back in. Right as I stepped out I heard a very strange, attempt at cicada buzz, sounding much like it was running out of batteries. At the same time something plopped onto the ground. I was to discover, that indeed, the sound I heard was the dying gasps (or clicks) of a massive cicada.

......thundering applause and a standing ovation.......


But, Hark!!! Here is the picture that I took of this heroic monstrosity.





Here is Wikipedia's version. I think I saw a female. I also saw it FLY OFF carrying the dead cicada THROUGH THE AIR!



This is not the first time I have been successful in my extremely adept bugicide investigations. I have also discovered Bee killers as well. Look at the Wikipedia article.... wait.... I can't find the wikipedia article!!! 2,468,249 articles as of this writing and there isn't one on bee killers!!!! sick out. Well never mind. I did more research. It's actually a Robber Fly. Look that up.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Stop Spamming Me, LDS LinkUp!

So, twice this week I've gotten random, and, very importantly, unsolicited email messages from LDS LinkUp! They both have said "You have received a message from..." and then fill in with generic email ID like Juliet78... Juliet 78 windows on my soul? Juliet born in 1978? Juliet 78 donuts a day (hopefully humanly impossible)? I certainly never knew a Juliet.... Never. Except the one from my least favorite Shakespeare play. Nevertheless, I click on the link to this message, because it is LDS Linkup, and it could be something interesting, like I did know a Julie back in the day. She was my cave woman when I played the part of a cave man for a ward movie. She broke up with her cave man (probably because I konked her on the head), or maybe you flee from a cave man, but anyway, she got married. Maybe she wanted to send me a picture of her kid, or a link to her blog. But no! The link is broke. The one before from janelov51* was already deleted from the system. I don't think I checked it that much later. Sinister, I tell you, Sinister!! This is worse than spam, it's spam in sheep's clothing**!

But then, I can be more discerning. I don't even have a picture to alure random solicitations from females. Maybe it's my stunning credentials. Just checked.... not much there. All you'd know is that I'm a research assistant who went to Belgium on his mission. Probably several dozen of those, surely.



*I hope this name is not Jane lov 51, but a much more obscure, Russian sounding name... which would sound like Janilov...KGB...since 1951. Except that I'm pretty sure that names that end in "ov" are male. Maybe the KGB still wants... me of all people.

**Hmmmm.... Spam made from lamb... sounds like an abomination.

***Okay, my use of asterisks is a conscious rip off from a good friend's blogging style (who was also copying someone else). I usually write asterisk stuff in parentheses. I think parentheses are only supposed to have 1 sentence between them. Three is enough to offend people who don't even know better. I can't see a better way.