Showing posts with label bug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bug. Show all posts

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Link roundup

1. Nightmare fuel.

2. Apparently Google's new signup form for Google accounts now requires users to join Google+ and use Gmail, as well as provide name and gender.

3. Sean Hartter has a new coloring book for sale.

4. Chris Dodd explains American politics:
"Those who count on quote 'Hollywood' for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake," Dodd said on Fox News on Thursday.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Painting ants; killer hornets




How to paint an ant to mark it for scientific study. (I can't believe they survive the process.) Via.



Watch 30 Japanese Giant Hornets kill 30,000 European Honey Bees. It's the most lethal animal (to humans) in Japan. Wikipedia says:
In Japan, beekeepers often prefer European honey bees because they are more productive than the endemic Japanese honey bees. However, it is quite difficult to maintain a captive hive of European honey bees, as the hornets will often prey on the bees.
Once a Japanese giant hornet has located a hive of European honey bees it leaves pheromone markers around it, that within a short time attract nest mates that quickly converge on the hive. A single hornet can kill forty European honey bees in a minute and a group of 30 hornets can finish off an entire hive containing 30,000 bees in a little more than three hours. The hornets not only kill the bees, but also dismember them, leaving heads and limbs behind, to finally return to their nest with the bee thoraxes which they feed to their larvae. The hornets also gorge themselves on the bees' honey.
The Japanese honey bee, on the other hand, has a defense against attacks of this manner. When a hornet approaches the hive to release pheromones, the bee workers emerge from their hive in an angry cloud-formation with some 500 individuals. As they form a tight ball around the hornet, the ball increases in heat to 47 °C (117 °F) from their vibrating wings, forming a convection oven as the heat released by the bees' bodies is spread over the hornets. Because bees can survive higher temperatures (48 to 50 °C (118 to 122 °F)) than the hornet (44 to 46 °C (111 to 115 °F)), the latter dies.
Via these sites.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Link roundup

1. How to create a snow globe that looks like your own home. Via.

2. How to fix Android's GPS.

3. "Parasitic flies turn bees into zombies before wiping them out completely."

*Buy snowglobes at eBay.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Link roundup

1. New holiday-themed Sword and Sworcery desktop wallpaper. (I don't think I ever reviewed this game. I love the art and music, but the gameplay gets very tedious after the first delightful 30 minutes or so).

2. Can you guess why death rates rise in good economic times?

3. A look at how an acrylic storefront sign is made. Via.

4. Penelope Trunk's advice on achieving New Year's resolutions.

5. Nightmare fuel - - the wolf spider and its babies.

6. Madeline Flores remembers cassette tapes.

7. Koren Shadmi on the prices freelance illustrators should expect for their work.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Friday, October 28, 2011

Link roundup

1. Some people take Jurassic Park very seriously.

2. Provocative theory about the cause of early onset of puberty.

3. Jetpackage Project:
Back at the beginning of Summer, I started a project called 'jetpackage'. I was sat in my office one day and I was severely lacking in inspiration, so I looked around me at all the objects I have collected over the years and it got me thinking about how I am inspired. My office is full of collectable items that I have gleaned from car boot sales, flea markets and charity shops, whenever I am feeling uninspired I look at them and it spurs me on.

So I thought "What if a package came through the post, containing these things?" - what would they inspire me to create.

I have got a LONG list of designers, illustrators, artists, creatives that I would like to work with, and who inspire me with my work, so I decided to see how they would react to one of these packages.
4. "Parasite Turns Wasps Into Outsider Zombie Queens."

*Buy Mondo's Jurassic Park posters at eBay.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Link roundup

1. Beer bottles are irresistibly sexy to Australian beetles. Yes, there's a picture.

2. What to order at a bad restaurant. (Although I disagree that ribs are a good bet.)

3. Carving pumpkins with cookie cutters and a mallet. Via.