The Humble Potato Blooming

The humble potato does have pretty flowery, albeit a little small.

Only after I downloaded the picture into my PC have I noticed the hiding Colorado potato beetle. Damn. I have thought I nabbed them all. Time to go out with a jar with a few drops of acetone again. Unfortunately I doubt the beetles will listen to reason, it is either them or me.

Oh and btw, if you ever heard or read that in former Soviet bloc the propaganda was saying that the CIA was intentionally dropping the beetles from airplanes on crops in order to starve us, it is true.  It was taught in schools until the end of the cold war. We were told this as late as in 1980’s. Until today when someone says the colloqual term “americký brouk” (american beetle),  most people will know what the talk is about.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

The Beautiful Town Idstein – Part 10 – Various Ornaments

One house had these three reliefs in plaster. The first one  and the third one are depictions of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. I do not know why, I have found no association between him and Idstein.

Some houses had some sort of coat of arms (more like coat of tools) carved into the woodwork. And one house had a cat climbing the wall which was unfortunately too high up for my puny phone camera to take a good look at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last atypical ornament was this faun, looking mournfully over a garden fence. I have no idea whether it is a modern addition or genuine antique, but it fitted the town nicely and did not stand out as inappropriate. Which does not prove anything.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Jack’s Walk

The proper name for this path is the Millennial Trail, but I generally refer to it as the Drunken Forest because of all the tipsy trees growing at odd angles. They’re not all leaning in the same direction and some of them lean over so far they seem to be defying gravity. They all seem healthy and happy, though. It’s a very curious sort of place.

Lean to my right

 

Lean to my left

 

Tipsy trees        ©voyager, all rights reserved

Anatomy Atlas Part 12 – Liver, Spleen, Stomach

Given how all these organs are important and vital, it really makes one wonder why they are only protected by a soft abdominal wall. From these only liver has meaningful ability to repair itself.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Liver is, as you surely know, the main chemical factory of the body. Any chemical that gets absorbed into the bloodstream in your gut will go through it – thus the huge Vena cava inferior in which this nutrient rich but oxygen depleted blood is subsequently drained via hepatic veins. These veins are allegedly the reason for abdominal pain when exercising right after a big meal – there is a competition between blood flow through the liver and through the muscles and that leads to the veins having spasms. It is also the reason why I am sleepy about half an hour after a big meal – the liver stops most of the blood by expanding its veins, the blood pressure drops, I gets dizzzzzz…..

However that means not only food, but also every toxin you ingest, has an effect on your liver. That is the reason why liver has such an ability to recuperate or even regrow. It is an organ under huge pressure and essential for life.

We were told during our courses on toxicology that it was selective pressure that is possibly responsible for people of european descent having higher tolerance of alcohol than people of oriental descent – ever since the alcohol was discovered in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions, people of those and neighbouring regions were indulging in drinking a lot of wine and beer. Those who did not have the right types and ammounts of alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes in their liver to deal with it with least adverse effects died sooner, thus exerting selective pressure on the population.

I do not know whether it is true, but there is similar correlation in lactose intolerance. It does sound plausible.

No hot dogs

No Hot dogs!

Just a reminder from Jack and I that it is never safe to leave a dog in a car in hot weather. Even if you are parked in the shade and the windows are cracked. Even if you leave them water. Even if it is just for a minute. It only takes a few minutes on a hot day for the inside of a car to reach 48 – 50° c (120° f.)

Dogs are unable to sweat and their panting can lead to dehydration. Because of this it’s especially hard for dogs to cool themselves, making them quickly prone to heatstroke which is a life-threatening emergency.

If you see a dog alone in a hot car call 911. If you think the animal cannot wait for emergency assistance and you intend to break into the car please advise emergency services about what you intend to do before doing it.

Be smart. Leave Rover at home and pass the word. No Hot Dogs!

 

Spider Catching a Beetle in its Web

During a lunch break at work I was taking a walk along a huge water cooling unit when I have seen a beetle caught in a spider web. Since I of course did not have my camera on me, I have done my best with my phone.

At first I thought the spider is nowhere near, but it only took a while to crawl out of its hiding under one of the metal covers. The spider did not approach the beetle at first, and when it did it only felt it with its front legs and then backed off because the beetle was thrashing around and it was about as big as the spider itself.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Then a few moments later the spider has tried to drag the beetle upward, but it did not work. The beetle was evidently too big and too strong for that and it fought back valiantly.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

After that the spider crawled away from the beetle and I thought it gave up. After all the beetle was tearing the net apart. But then the spider has surprised me. It has merely changed its tactic. It crawled along the edge of the web and coordinated its collapse so as the beetle was tearing the silk threads, instead of freeing itself it got more and more constrained in movement. I did not know that spiders can do that.

When the beetle was constrained enough – destroying about 50% of the web in the process – the spider approached it again and has done its spin wrap of the prey into a cocoon.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

All that was left after that was the final blow – the spider has sunk its chelicerae into the side of the beetle, presumably between the plates of its chitinous armour. That took a few minutes and the poor beetle was still trying to move.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

I checked up on the place before I went home. At first I did see neither the spider nor the beetle. I found the spider hidden under the metal cover again, with only its front legs protruding outward, holding the packed beetle and waiting for the digestive juices do their thing.

I have observed spiders hunt before, but the tactic of collapsing the web around bigger prey was new for me.