News you want to know: insects produce less gas

There is nothing like cyber-surfing to find interesting stories and getting educated about stuff one would otherwise never know. Things like edible insects produce smaller quantities of greenhouse gasses than cattle AND pigs. I mean - go figure! Teeny-weeny insects some of which are barely visible to the human eye, to put it bluntly, fart less than people.

Be that as it may, this fact came to light in the Science Daily with scientists of Wageningen University who recently joined together with government and industry to look into whether the rearing of insects could contribute to more sustainable production. Moreover, insect meat could therefore be an alternative to your regular type meat products. Cattle farming worldwide is a major producer of greenhouse gases.

Far be it to criticize the scientific community but speaking as your "average" human, the idea of eating insects somehow has little appeal. In fact, most of us averages find insects worthy of elimination. Let's just leave it at that.

Why they did this is anybody's guess but the research team for the first time quantified the greenhouse gases produced per kilogram of insect product. This leads one - me - to ponder how they accomplished this. Take your ordinary house fly - please - and try to catch it, never mind assessing the amount of gas it produces. Never even occurred to me that insects - well - fart. The gases involved were methane and nitrous oxide (isn't the latter the laughing gas that dentists use for nervous patients?). The results demonstrated that insects produced much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases than conventional livestock. Duh!

An additional advantage of insects over mammals is that they convert their food into meat quicker. Is this information we need to know? There is, however, some interesting facts one rarely thinks about like did you know that a pig produces between eight and twelve times as much ammonia per kilogram of growth, compared to crickets, and up to fifty times more than locusts. Can't speak for others but this is a revelation to me!

Further research is required to ascertain whether the production of a kilogram of insect protein is also more environmentally friendly than conventional animal protein when the entire production chain is taken into account. This makes one - me again - wonder how much money the scientists received for working on this exciting project. The university, by the way, is located in the Netherlands.

A while back and in the name of science and a TV taping, I ate some chocolate covered grasshoppers. Actually, they were quite good until one of the grasshopper legs became visible after biting into the chocolate. That was it for me! Just thought I'd throw that in since the story focused on insects. thing is and realistically speaking, it's doubtful whether farmers will give up cattle raising et al, in favor of insects. Would love to hear from any insect raisers reading this.

Whoopee! The sounds of flatulence

I've frequently questioned some members of the scientific community in as far as their knack to acquire funding for - um - unusual experiments or studies. This one stinks - really!

An acoustics professor from the University of Salford is asking the public to rate the funniness of whoopee cushion sounds in order to advance human understanding of faux flatulence - and raise money for Comic Relief.

The professor, Trevor Cox, designed a website that features twenty whoopee cushion sounds. Each visitor hears six of these sounds, and is asked to grade them accord to the extent they make them laugh.

Okaaaaaay... Personally, I don't find flatulence amusing but then perhaps I'm in the minority.
I mean - c'mon - gimme a break! Like - who cares and more to the point, how much did the good professor receive for his study.

Here is the site the professor set up to listen to the sounds first-hand and if you feel so moved, vote: http://www.salford.ac.uk/news/details/831

Why anyone would be interested in studying this subject is also a good question.

Overdue library book an arresting experience

There are books that capture our imagination, which we read and re-read over and over. On occasion a library book can be stored away and forgotten about. Perhaps - pure speculation here - this was the case with Iowa resident, Shelly Koontz, who was arrested on a fifth-degree theft charge because she allegedly failed to return a collection of essays focusing on the struggles of inner-city Long Beach, California high school students. The book, "The Freedom Writers Diary" has a retail value of $13.95.

You read it right: arrested as in legal proceedings against her.

The president of the Jesup library board, Tom McGlaughlin, expressed the view that pursuing criminal charges against a user for an overdue library book is unusual, but there were also unusual circumstances that were out of the ordinary.

"There is more to this issue than is coming to light at the present time," McGlaughlin said.

Seems that library staff phoned Koontz four times requesting the book be returned plus library officials sent her three letters and a certified letter that Koontz refused to accept. Furthermore, a police office actually visited her home in the fall and told Koontz daughter that the book had to be returned or pay the price of the book.

In Iowa, a fifth-degree theft charge, a misdemeanor offense, carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and up to a $500 fine. In Des Moines, which has the largest library system in the state, an overdue library book carries a fine of 25 cents per day with a maximum of $6 in fines. After 30 days, the book is considered lost and the offending patron is billed for the cost the book, said Sally Wisdom, Des Moines Public Library deputy director.

In some cases, unpaid fines and missing book losses are turned over to a collection agency that specializes in recouping library losses, but Koontz's book would not have been turned over because it cost less than $25.

The missing/mislaid book would not have required the services of a collection agency given its cost of less than twenty-five dollars, yet she was arrested ? Makes a personal wonder and scratch one's head!

The Jesup library has a fine system, but it does not have a collection agency because "it's just not needed," McGlaughlin said. Statistics on monthly overdue books at the Jesup library were unavailable, but McGlaughlin, who has been on the library board for 11 years, could recall no instance where an arrest was made for an overdue book.

Meanwhile, Koontz is free upon posting a $250 bond.

Although Koontz is at least morally responsible for forgetting to return the library book, allowing legal proceedings against her is a bit much. It will be interesting to learn about the circumstances of the case.

Heavy metal...C&W? Taste in music indicates personality type

Playwright William Cosgrove wrote, "music has charms to sooth a savage breast" and according to Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University, musical taste is an indicator of personality type.

Sounds plausible.

The good professor recently conducted a study involving 36,000 people around the world and he found that a person's taste in music is related to her/his personality. In Professor North's words, the research is "significant" and "surprising."

It suggested classical music fans were shy, while heavy metal aficionados were gentle and at ease with themselves.

Participants in the study were asked to rate 104 musical styles and questioned about aspects of their personality. So why conduct the research you're probably asking yourselves?

"If you know a person's music preference you can tell what kind of person they are, who to sell to.

If you have some spare time, the study is continuing and Prof North, who is head of the university's department of applied psychology, is still looking for participants to take part in a short online questionnaire here:

http://www.peopleintomusic.com/

Interesting that the questionnaire has two categories for those people between the ages of 16-23 and those older than 24.

Here are some of his findings:


MUSICAL STYLES VERSUS PERSONALITY TRAITS
BLUES
High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease

JAZZ
High self-esteem, creative, outgoing and at ease

CLASSICAL MUSIC
High self-esteem, creative, introvert and at ease

RAP
High self-esteem, outgoing

OPERA
High self-esteem, creative, gentle

COUNTRY AND WESTERN
Hardworking, outgoing

REGGAE
High self-esteem, creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease

DANCE
Creative, outgoing, not gentle

INDIE
Low self-esteem, creative, not hard working, not gentle

BOLLYWOOD
Creative, outgoing

ROCK/HEAVY METAL
Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease

CHART POP
High self-esteem, not creative, hardworking, outgoing, gentle, not at ease

SOUL
High self-esteem, creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease

ZOO PAYS TO KEEP POPULAR FLUFFY THE PYTHON

Somehow, naming a snake Fluffy, seems somewhat inappropriate especially since Fluffy is a reticulated python. For those of us not familiar with snake or python terminology and according to Wikipedia, a reticulated python is a non-venomous python species found in Southeast Asia. This is the longest snake in the Old World and competes for the title of the world's longest snake with the South American green anaconda, Eunectes murinus. No subspecies are currently recognized.



Fluffy was bred by Bob Clark who raised him from a hatchling and the zoo paid $35,000 to the snake's breeder in Oklahoma to keep the reticulated python on permanent display. By the way Fluffy is a male despite the feminine moniker. While on loan last year, the python helped draw 1.53 million visitors, just under the zoo's attendance record of 1.56 million set in 2006, said Pete Fingerhut, the zoo's associate director.


Fluffy is about as long as a moving van and thick as a telephone pole.


"I really love that snake; I think it's a special animal," Fluffy's raiser said. "It's so big and tame and wonderful. But I have to deal with the realities of life like everyone else. I like to have the money, and I know she's got a great place to live there."



Tame? A boa? Presumably when raising a boa, one does so with a great deal of care...and caution. In as far as Mr. Clark's professed love for Fluffy - different strokes for different folks!


The Columbus Zoo doesn't buy animals very often, said Executive Director Jerry Borin. Its animals generally come as exchanges from other zoos or through breeding loans or donations, he said.

Fluffy is on display in a 25-foot enclosure with a pool and a few plants, where he eats two 10-pound rabbits a week. In the wild, pythons native to Asia eat whatever they can catch, starting with mice and lizards when they're small and graduating to pigs and goats. There are a few reports of human victims.



Somehow and maybe it's just me but the idea or mental picture of Fluffy putting the squeeze and bite on live rabbits is very disconcerting. The largest known reticulated python, named for the cross-hatching patterns on their skin, was 32 feet, 9 1/2 inches when killed in 1912 in Indonesia.