I don't know why we needed to know this

[conuly]

but apparently bedbugs have filthy, germ-ridden penises. So much so that finding out how female bedbugs survive long enough to reproduce was actually worth spending money and a study on. The mind boggles.

Also, here's a piece that is NOT from the Onion and that just comes right out and says that if you're American, you better darn well hate the poor because registering them to vote is just wrong.

Here's an article about breeding new hybrid fruits. Naturally, the comments are full of "OMG! GENETIC ENGINEERING!" by people who, I guess, never have heard of sex.

On the other end, here's an article about a particularly delicious heritage apple that's dwindling.

Here's a set of pictures of the first day of school, dating back 60 years or so. Check out that first picture - first day of first grade, and they're practicing the cursive letters already.

Arizona apparently wants to charge people to visit incarcerated loved ones. Dear god.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Ewww, bedbug sex; it makes banana-slug sex seem 'vanilla' by comparison.

They should all just die right now. Preferably as virgins. Eww.

So should the GOP.

[leora.livejournal.com]

*sighs*
Those are really depressing links.

And the GOP accuses people of class warfare in the upper direction... while class warfare continues to escalate and the poor and middle classes continue to get shafted.

That's local to Sonoma.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Here you can buy delicious, delicious Gravensteins by the box from Yakima's orchards, and Grandma's tree outdid itself this year. (Unlike the one in my parents' orchard, which has been reeling towards its demise for years and rarely sets any fruit at all.)

You generally can't buy them at Safeway, granted. But most farmers' markets and fruit stands around here have them.

Re: That's local to Sonoma.

[conuly]

Now, I don't remember - are you the one of my FList who wanted the pokeberry seeds? We've got more of them coming out of our ears this year (and purslane all over the flipping place, now that I know how to recognize it!) on the Island.

Pokeberries!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Yo, if you've got pokeberries, you and your little Potion-Makers can make the loveliest magenta ink. Pokeberry ink is permanent, so take all anti-stain precautions, and warn your girlies not to taste it or they'll be throwing up and having diarrhea all night. (Actually, just a taste wouldn't do that, but if they think it will, they won't taste it.)

Re: Pokeberries!

[conuly]

One thing I will say for them, they don't eat anything until they have assurances that it is safe. I think it's because I go out of my way to show them edible plants when I find out about edible plants, so they have a small number they know FOR SURE they can eat and aren't tempted by the rest.

The nieces already want to make pokeberry ink (and quill pens!), so that's on my plan for this fall.

Pokeberry is also a mild carcinogen, apparently, so we'll be taking all necessary precautions.

Re: That's local to Sonoma.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

yes, yes I was. (The ones that look like little Chinese lanterns?)

Re: That's local to Sonoma.

[conuly]

No, Chinese Lanterns are the ones that look like little Chinese lanterns.

Pokeberry is the one that looks like little black berries chock full of stainy fuchsia. (Ch THEN the s? That is the stupidest spelling of a color ever.)

Re: That's local to Sonoma.

[eofs.livejournal.com]

The spelling of fuchsia makes sense, the flower was named after a botanist called Fuchs. It's the pronunciation that's unintuitive - and I have to wonder whether that was because the original German, "fook-see-a", is too unpalatable in English.