Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers

Photo via Wikipedia

Most children are fascinated with grasshoppers. The grasshopper pictured is the Romalea guttata, or eastern lubber grasshopper (or just "lubber grasshopper"). It is the most distinctive species that thrives in the southeastern and south central portion of the United States. Reaching nearly 3 inches (8 cm), it is well known both for its size and its unique coloration. 

Like all insects, this species of grasshopper will go through several stages. When in the nymph stage (youth), it is much smaller than in the adult stage, wingless and completely black with one or more yellow, orange or red stripes. In the adult stage, they reach 2.5–3 inches (64–76 mm), grow wings half the length of their body and become either a dull yellow often characterized by black spots and markings, a bright orange with black markings, or entirely black (as in the nymph stage) with yellow or red striping. In the black adult color phase, the grasshopper is widely known by the name "diablo" or "black diablo". In Louisiana, they are known as the Devil's Horse or cheval-diable. Some may even call it the "graveyard grasshopper". 
photo via planetneptune.com

Romalea guttata occurs west of North Carolina to Tennessee, in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas, and throughout Florida and Arizona. They live in open pinewoods, weedy vegetation and weedy fields. Sometimes these grasshoppers live in sewers, since grass and other food sources accumulate there.

This insect has many ways of defense. The first is its brightly colored warning pattern (aposematism). The insect can emit a foul-smelling and foul-tasting foamy secretion from the thorax when it is disturbed which is dark colored and opaque. It also lets off a loud hissing sound that can scare animals. (Wikipedia)
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Blog by: Scott Glaze
President of Arab Termite & Pest Control of Kokomo, Inc.
03-26-2013

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Lighting Bugs- Fireflies

Lightning Bugs
(Fireflies)
Photo courtesy of Kevin Adams
Photography:
http://www.kadamsphoto.com/

As a child, I'm sure most of us have collected a few fireflies and put them in a jar. Their magical light captivated us (at least for a few precious years) in our youth. Fireflies are a familiar insect of warm summer nights. Did you know that these insects are actually nocturnal (meaning they come out at night) beetles? They are members of the family Lampyridae. Most fireflies have wings, which distinguishes them from other luminescent insects of the same family, commonly known as glowworms.
There are about 2,000 different species of fireflies. These insects live in a variety of warm environments, as well as other temperate regions. Fireflies love moisture and often live in humid regions of Asia and the Americas. In drier areas, they are found around wet or damp areas that retain moisture.
Most everyone can see how fireflies got their name, but many people might not know how these insects produce their signature glow. Fireflies have dedicated light organs that are located under their abdomens. The insects take in oxygen and, inside special cells, combine it with a substance called luciferin to produce light with almost no heat.
FLICKR / GETTY IMAGES
from Time Lists
Firefly light is usually intermittent, and flashes in patterns that are unique to each species. Each blinking pattern is an optical signal that helps fireflies find potential mates. Scientists are not sure how the insects regulate this process to turn their lights on and off.
Firefly light may also serve as a defense mechanism that flashes a clear warning to would be predators: Don't eat me - I don't taste good! The fact that even larvae are luminescent lends support to this theory.
Females deposit their eggs in the ground, which is where larvae develop to adulthood. Underground larvae feed on worms and slugs by injecting them with a numbing fluid.
Adults typically feed on nectar or pollen, though some adults do not eat at all.  Sounds amazing, but adults typically don't live any longer than 2 months.  (National Geographic)
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Blog by: Scott Glaze
President of Arab Termite & Pest Control of Kokomo, Inc.




The Praying Mantis

The Praying Mantis


The praying mantis is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer. The larger group of these insects is more properly called the praying mantids. Mantis refers to the genus mantis, to which only some praying mantids belong. These insects will live for approximately 1 year.
The closest relatives of mantises are termites and cockroaches. They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets.
By any name, these fascinating insects are formidable predators. They have triangular heads poised on a long "neck," or elongated thorax. Mantids can turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them. They are the only insect capable of pivoting their heads!

Typically green or brown and well camouflaged on the plants among which they live, mantises lie in ambush or patiently stalk their quarry. They use their front legs to snare their prey with reflexes so quick that they are difficult to see with the naked eye. Their legs are further equipped with spikes for snaring prey and pinning it in place.
Moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other insects are usually the unfortunate recipients of unwanted mantid attention. However, the insects will also eat others of their own kind. The most famous example of this is the notorious mating behavior of the adult female, who sometimes eats her mate just after—or even during—mating. Yet this behavior seems not to deter males from reproduction.
Females regularly lay hundreds of eggs in a small case, and nymphs hatch looking much like tiny versions of their parents. (National Geographic)


Edited, Revised and Condensed by:  Scott Glaze   March 21, 2013
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Monday, February 11, 2013

Great Facebook Pages

Great Facebook Pages

In our brief history of being on Facebook, we have come across some good people with great Facebook pages.  We will be sharing some of these pages on a regular basis.  Please allow us to introduce: 


Top Left:  Assist Social Media     by:  Elizabeth L. Maness
+Elizabeth L. Maness
Social Media Management | Branding Helping take care of Social Media for you so you have time to take care of Business http://AssistSocialMedia.com/ Follow Us on Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/ElizbethlManess
Mission:  To give companies the time to do what they need to run their business and leave their online client care to me.
Description:  Elizabeth Maness is Social Media Strategist that specialize in using social media platforms to increase your company’s presence online and connect and interact with local clients and potential customers. experienced in marketing, sales, social media management, blogging, SEO copywriting, blog development, and much more. 
Social Media And Your Business:  If you do not have a strong Social Media presence you are missing a large part of your marketing mix, as it has become the most important tool for businesses to connect and maintain loyal customers. That is where using Social Media Strategists come in to make it happen for you.
Gone are the days of force-feeding your potential clients ads and other strong sales pitch-type marketing strategies (outbound marketing). Inbound marketing is the way to go. I can help you build strong websites that search engines will love and will get you noticed, I can help you create traffic to your website using social media and blogging techniques that have worked for our own business. Customers will now find you instead of you working so hard to find them. 
Social Media Marketing Mix: I offer small business consulting, social media management and development, blog development and management, SEO copywriting services, and a fresh perspective on how to connect with your intended audience. (Facebook 'About' text).

Top Right:   Profile Tree     Google Plus:  +Profile Tree
It can be very time consuming and frustrating to find local suppliers of needed services online. Many small businesses do not have a website, do not appear in search engines or display their services in a very poor way on their website. As a consumer we do not know if they provide a service that our friends believe is excellent or just okay! This is what ProfileTree is for - it lists local services in an easy to search, read and review format. See who your friends recommend - what services they offer and what payment methods they take. ProfileTree offers its listing service for small business owners for free, and anyone can come to the site and search for their local business. ProfileTree LLP is an independent company devoted to nothing but serving the local community. Helping small business find customers - and helping people like you find the local services you want. (Website 'About' text).

Bottom Left:  Raising Compassion     

The Intention: To ignite the hearts & minds of people worldwide and inspire them to live more compassionately to create peace and harmony for themselves and others.
Mission:  To increase the flow of compassion in the world by having at least 10 million people intentionally living compassionately day by day – not just in times of extreme trauma and disaster.
Description:  Living compassionately means:  actively & deliberately choosing a reordering of one’s actions and perceptions. It’s a deliberate shift of thoughts from judgement, worry, comparisons, competition, concern, scarcity and fear to expressions and thoughts of appreciation, awe, kindness, care, love, abundance, generosity, joy & presence.
Why live compassionately?
It restores (y)our own being (self) and creates the space for others to feel acknowledged, appreciated and experience the feelings of acceptance and love. 
It will also enhance the opportunity to shift us into the state of acceptance of all that is. All that is, is all that is, no-thing right & no-thing wrong. There will be no need for us to question, clarify, categorize or label any-thing, unless we want to deliberately add some meaning to what’s unraveling and being presented before you. 
Whatever is happening before you is an opportunity for integration, a lesson, an insight to bring you into perfect balance and harmony within… where peace, love, joy, appreciation and humility reside.  (Facebook 'About' text).

Bottom Right:  Remi Vladuceanu     by:  Remi Vladuceanu
+Remi Vladuceanu
“Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers.” - Bryan Weiner, CEO at Digital Agency 360i.
Biography:  Official fan page of Remi Vladuceanu where he shares his experience about Social Media, Community Building, Online Influence, Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and more! (Facebook 'About' text).




Top Left:  Happy Family Academy   by:  Michele Eisenberg
+Michele Eisenberg
The Happy Family Academy was founded to teach people the foundational skills they need to create happiness and healthy relationships – from the inside out. We offer positive parenting solutions to grow thriving children in happy families. We teach a style of discipline and parenting that stops negative behaviors while building love and trust between parent and child. The result? A relationship where both parent and child are motivated and empowered to make choices that work for themselves and for the family. Parents feel better and so do their kids!  (Facebook 'About' text).

Top Right:  Michael Q Todd   by:  Michael Q Todd
+Michael Q Todd
Hi thanks for coming by my page! This is a place for you to ask questions about social media and Japan. View all my other social places at http://xeeme.com/michaelqtodd (Facebook 'About' text).

Bottom Left:  Live The Life You Desire   by:  Malcolm Charlaw
Helping to Inspire, Teach and Guide Others to the life they were and are meant to live!  Everyone is born with the same opportunities, no matter where they are. They present themselves in different ways. The trick is to learn how to see them, then once seen, to take hold and make use of the opportunity. A lot of 'unlearning' and 'relearning' needs to be done. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of 'what' to think and not enough of 'how' to think. When was the last time you had an original thought that were not influenced by anyone else, as in, what you believe, feel, think and so on....?  (Facebook 'About' text).

Bottom Right:  Paying it forward - the ripple effect   by:  Carly Alyssa Thorne
+Carly Alyssa Thorne
A Place to Post Positive, Inspirational, Empowering Quotes, Pics, Videos, Ideas.
Mission: To help Inspire, Empower, Educate, Share, Collaborate with others...  
Description: Paying it Forward The Ripple Effect is beyond All Demographics, Economics, Geography, Race, Gender, Disabilities...

Anyone can Pay It Forward even from a Hospital Bed.
Example: I recently had a Full Knee Replacement even from my Hospital Bed I still gave out Pay it Forward Bracelets and Even honored a Prior commitment and while still in severe pain wheeled myself in my wheelchair out to the Patio to do a One Hour Pay It Forward Radio Interview.

Life is all about Choices:
-To Smile or not
-To overcome or not
-To Give or Hoard
-To Forgive or Hate
-To be a Victim the rest of your life or to Choose to Use Your
experiences to Empower others.
(Facebook 'About' text).

Blog by:  Scott Glaze (Arab Pest Control)
Please feel free to visit our  Complete Social Media Profile and Links