Don't Prey on Me

Mantises are cool!  This is the first time I ever saw one outside of the Insect House at the zoo.  The Northeastern United States is known to have two species of mantis, both non-native and introduced sometime in the late 19th century, probably by accident.  However, they are great pest control, and have been encouraged by nurseries and farms throughout the area.  This particular mantis is the tenodera sinensis, the Chinese Mantis.

This one must have been around three inches long.  They can grow as big as four and a half.  I caught it chowing down on what I think used to be a bee.  Mantises will eat anything apparently, which is a good thing if you want to decrease your populations of pests, but not so good if they eat the bees, spiders, wasps and other similarly beneficial predators.  They have also been known to go after hummingbirds, and small rodents, as well as other mantises.  

Mantises share the same order, Dictyoptera, as termites and cockroaches.  They are the suborder Mantodea, and the termites and cockroaches are of the suborder Blattodea.  They are also pretty similar to phasmids (walking sticks), and grylloblattids (ice crawlers).  

Tell all your Nurses and your Nuns about It

Brett Dennen

Hope for the Hopeless

Dualtone, 2008

produced by John Alagia

singles- 

• Make You Crazy
• Heaven

I confess, the single Ain't No Reason brought me here, and originally I intended to buy the album that song is on.  Instead, I got this one, by accident, but I don't care because it's awesome.  If you enjoy folk/rock (and by that I mean more like Dylan, and less like Mumford and Sons), this guy is a solid choice.

The songs are all well-meaning, nice guy lyrics from a dude that loves baseball and easy going California living.  His idol is Van Morrison, and it shows.  Also, he teams up with Femi Kuti from Positive Force, and Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs.  

Arik Danielsen from PopMatters said Dennen is "No Dylan or Lennon, but he does capture the spirit of a generation attracted to the hopeful promise they witnessed in the Obama canidacy".  Although he is no Dylan, or Lennon, or Morrison, these obvious influences leak out into Dennen's music, and it's awesome.  

Turkey!

This guy is a pet of a man I met during work.  I asked if the idea was to eat it for Thanksgiving, as it was pretty close to the holiday, and I was laughed at.  He's far too old to eat, apparently.

This particular bird is a Narrangansett turkey, which is a rare type of heritage turkey, which are domestic breeds of Meleagris Gallopavo.  This particular breed is a cross between the Meleagris Gallopavo, and the Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris.

Judging from the picture I took, this could even be a Silver Narrangansett, which is even more rare, as the Bronze, and Narrangansett breeds are far more popular.  Happy Thanksgiving!

A Dynamic Duo, or, those Low Notes that you Hear

Royal Blood

Royal Blood

Warner Brother Records, 2014

Produced by Tom Daglety

Mike Kerr - bass, vocals

Ben Thatcher - drums

singles-

• Out of the Black/ Come on Over
• Little Monster/ Hole
• Come on Over/ You Want Me
• Figure it Out/ Love it and Leave it Alone
• Ten Tonne Skeleton/ One Trick Pony

There has been a lot in the media recently about how rock music is dead.  Gene Simmons said it, Jerry Coyne from the University of Chicago said it, Pigeons and Planes ran an article about it, and I read a great article about the rise and fall of all great artistic styles with a focus on rock, but I cant find it.  The point made, though, was that all great artistic styles have a golden age where all the best material is created, and Rock Music's golden age had passed.

Royal Blood seems to be a glimmer of hope for a genre that has been in the decline since the mid '90s.  The music is fundamentally sound (pun intended), the lyrics meaningful and catchy.  And it isn't overly produced.  It's only two British guys, without a traditional lead instrument.  Move over Black Keys.  If it's rock you want, that is new and kicks some ass, check them out.  Also, the art for the album cover, and all their singles, is pretty sweet.  

Peacock in a Box

This is another post where I just show pictures of weird-ass nature that I see at work. Today, I have one of the coolest mostly flightless birds ever invented. Apparently you can keep peafowl as pets, as evident by these pictures. There are two of them, a male (peacock) and a female (peahen). The male is rather obvious.

There are three kinds of peafowl, these particular peafowl are Indian Peafowl, pavo cristatus, and are probably the most recognizable of the three species. It is also the national symbol of India. These birds are most closely related to tragopans, pheasants, and junglefowl.