Wasp zombifies Cockroach
It is dead week. There have been no posts here since Feb... Does anyone read this anymore?
http://loom.corante.com/archives/2006/02/02/the_wisdom_of_parasites.php
As an adult, Ampulex compressa seems like your normal wasp, buzzing about and mating. But things get weird when it's time for a female to lay an egg. She finds a cockroach to make her egg's host, and proceeds to deliver two precise stings. The first she delivers to the roach's mid-section, causing its front legs buckle. The brief paralysis caused by the first sting gives the wasp the luxury of time to deliver a more precise sting to the head.
The wasp slips her stinger through the roach's exoskeleton and directly into its brain. She apparently use sensors along the sides of the stinger to guide it through the brain, a bit like a surgeon snaking his way to an appendix with a laparoscope. She continues to probe the roach's brain until she reaches one particular spot that appears to control the escape reflex. She injects a second venom that influences these neurons in such a way that the escape reflex disappears.
From the outside, the effect is surreal. The wasp does not paralyze the cockroach. In fact, the roach is able to lift up its front legs again and walk. But now it cannot move of its own accord. The wasp takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it like a dog on a leash.
Heart Pizza
Addicting Game... Grid!
http://files.deviantart.com/f/2004/188/8/7/gridgame.swfAs of 7:53 pm, my high score is
947... As of 12:53 am, my high score is
2069As of 9:30 am, my high score is 2501 :-D
The Stanford Fund
Akshay's away message on Jan 19, 2006:
The Stanford Fund supports many extracurricular activities. One such activity is the Writing of The Stanford Fund Letters. By writing TSF letters, we work on our penmanship. It also provides us an opportunity to bitch about how niggardly the TSF office is. In addition, we get to generate mountains of waste paper. But it's not all rosy, TSF letters also require postage, and with the mismanaged Post Office raising rates, it is only a matter of time before this University becomes bankrupt. So thank you for your continued support of activities that keep us away from the two headed monster of studying and learning. Without your generous donation, we might be in danger of learning something rather than doing good for the community and other such projects
Top 10 College Pranks ever
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/newsletter/nov2002.html#1: The Great Rose Bowl Hoax (Caltech) "one of those classic moments when a prank comes together instantly, perfectly, and dramatically"
#2: Veterans of Future Wars (Princeton) "turning the guns of ridicule on the goose-stepping, gun-toting generation which splashed through the biggest blood-bath in history"
#3: The McDonald's Affair (Caltech) "today you will hardly ever find free contests inviting you to enter 'as often as you wish.'"
#4: Lady Liberty on Lake Mendota (U Wisconsin-Madison) "Lady Liberty poked her head above the icy waters of Lake Mendota"
#5: Theft of the Sacred Cod (Harvard) "They decided that they had to possess that cod"
#6:The Olympic Underwear Relay (Sydney University) "The identity of the rogue runner was only revealed years later."
#7: Arm the Homeless (Ohio State) "collecting donations to provide firearms for the homeless of Columbus"
#8: Hugo N. Frye (Cornell) "It is a pleasure to testify to the career of that sturdy patriot who first planted the ideals of our party in this region of the country"
#9: The Ultimate Lie (Edinburgh College of Art) "one can only say that the Donside Paper Company should have known better"
#10: Bonsai Kittens (MIT) "You no longer need be satisfied with a house pet having the same mundane shape as all other members of its species"
Just Letters - A Multi-User Flash Game
http://web.okaygo.co.uk/apps/letters/flashcom/Someone keep stealing my letters off the virtual refrigerator door....
It tells you how many people are playing - currently, there are 32.
We should put something like that here. Then we can leave fridge notes and messages :)
Finally - a wiki blog!
This one may be worst than chenli's xanga in terms of things to procrastinate with.
It might have to be banned for the sake of academics....
