Twist of Lemon

Crabs, for some reason, are animals that have always fascinated me. It being the holiday season I thought it would be interesting to look at the crab migration across Christmas Island. There are fourteen different species of terrestrial crabs on Christmas Island, but the red crab is the most numerous. Every year around November the crabs migrate to the ocean to mate. Then they migrate back. Then the young crabs migrate to the interior of the island. Here is a link to the life cycle. Here is a video.

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Another interesting type of crab on the island is the coconut, or robber, crab. These things are huge, up to four feet long. Here is another video.

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Unfortunately, this is yet another ecosystem being damaged by an invasive species, the Yellow Crazy Ant.

Last week I found a pop-up note on my desktop telling me I could download Norton Internet Security 2008 for free, since I had the 2007 version. What a deal! So I took the twenty minutes to download the program and then another hour or so to install and configure the programs. Imagine my surprise when all was said and done to find out I only had 30 days on my Norton subscription. Well no problem, i just went to the website to see how much it would…holy crap it is $60! How much would the program cost…oh yeah $60 or $80 for the Norton 360. Now Melby had suggested I use Avast for a free antivirus program and Sygate personal firewall on my laptop, which she has found to be sufficient as well as FREE. So I kicked Norton to the curb.

In the car…

Me: You’re gonna go shopping with me tomorrow.
BF: What?
Me: Don’t worry I just need you for the muscle.
BF: Wow, you really are desperate.
Me: Why?
BF: Using me for muscle instead of just a spastic distraction.

at the Lemonade Stand.

BF: What do you want to do today?
Mr. B: Kill myself.
BF: Then what would you like to do?
Mr. B: That would be up to you I guess.

You will be seeing changes in the format of the Twist over the next week or so! Feel free to leave a comment on what you like and what you don’t like!

This week’s organism is yeast. Think of all the products we wouldn’t have without yeast. No bread, no beer, no wine, no stuffed shirts telling you what wine to buy. The food industry uses yeast extracts to add the flavor component Umami to foods. The genetics of yeast has also been extensively studied and yeasts may someday be used in remediation projects.

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This week’s organism is the Vampire Squid.

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Brian is in the middle of finals for his second to last semester of grad school right now, and he is having a tough time of it. Please send him your encouragement. His blog is Lady with a Hat if you want to leave him a message!

I love you Brain and I know you can do it!

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