Zombie Caterpillar

February 12, 2015

Okay, it might have been a few days since my last post, but...

I did learn something rather interesting today.  There are zombie caterpillars.  What? Yeah, I know, that was my response, too.  It seems that one type of voodoo wasp, parasitoid wasps, lay their eggs inside the caterpillar's body.  The eggs hatch, and the larvae live inside their host until they are grown.  Once grown, eat their way out of the host's body and cocoon themselves near by.  At this time the caterpillar--without eating or moving--stands guard over the cocoons until the adult wasps emerge.  Then it dies.  How it stays alive is a mystery.  How the larvae control the caterpillar is a mystery.  It's like something out a science fiction movie.  In fact, if I were a Sci-Fi writer, I would be incorporating this into my plot.

Proof, once again, that life is often stranger than fiction.

The Ford GM Chevrolet Crysler White House

I saw a blurb on a local news program last week that reported the value of the White House is something like 25% (78 million dollars) less than it was just three years ago. I was getting ready for work and wasn't sure that I heard the reporter correctly, so I looked it up, and sure enough, my ears did not deceive me.

Don't worry, the White House isn't for sale, and it is still worth a hefty chunk of change, but it did get me to thinking. Everything else in America has been auctioned off to corporate sponsers, and in light of the recent auto industry bailouts, we could be looking at a new more 21st century label for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  The Ford GM Chevrolet Crysler White House.

Anyway, here is the link to the LA Times article if you want to check it out for yourself.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/02/business/la-fi-lew-20110102