A few weeks ago I was delighted to meet americanbeetles  in real life. I'm sort of in love with that girl just on principle. She's an entomologist, a cartoonist, and a pretty girl. Those are my three favorite things that a person can be! We met at a picnic which we threw together pretty quickly when she announced her visit stateside. At the end of her stay in the Puget Sound area, I was lucky to grab her for a bite of sushi and a bit of Greenlake-walkin'. I sometimes forget that I have this beautiful lake right next to my apartment. I vow to walk around in there more often this summer. Anyway, Ainsley! It was great meeting you and hurry up and get out of Australia. 
Quite possibly! One of the people at the zoo pointed me to this program for a M.S. in entomology, offered online by the University of Nebraska. Is this something I could do? Is this something I could afford? Will they consider me for enrollment even though my BA is in something completely retarded and related to science not at all? Stay tuned, I guess. I bought a copy of this book, as well as a few others, in order to bone up on biology. Problem is I keep sitting down to study, and then waking up an hour later because the beautiful weather puts me to sleep.

I don't often do this, because I know most of you read drawn.ca, but this is just so simple and pretty and fun.

This one time... from nelson boles on Vimeo.

( So then what happened, Adam? )

A very interesting article on collective decision making in swarms:
SWARM SAVVY
How bees, ants and other animals avoid dumb collective decisions


I came across this article while reading through this guys beekeeping blog: 50000bees.com
He's the brother of a lady here at work, and she pointed me in his direction. Beekeeping is a small world, evidently. 

 Among the several things that made this weekend absolutely wonderful, I hold most highly in my esteem the killer BBQ thrown by my dear friend goldfischegirl . On the grill were a lovely variety of sausages, dogs, burgers, veggies and oysters. The whole thing went until the wee hours of the morning, and I think I got home at 3:00. I met some very charming people, and got super drunk. Success! 

I would also like to point out that Ashley takes VERY flattering pictures of people when they're not looking. I would seriously boink me in this photo!! Please take note of her flickr tags for that one. Also in attendance was suxdonut , whose pictures sometimes are less flattering.

Here's the whole flickr set.

Thanks for inviting me, Ashley! 

So microscopy! There's a hobby.
Here's some bee poop.

The camera isn't fancy, (it's really just a webcam that fits in the eyepiece) but it's a thousand times better than the one I tried out a year ago.  This new microscope is really very nice and I'm super happy with it. The USB camera (which works on my other microscope too, by the BTW,) was really just an added bonus; an "extra" thrown in to sweeten the already sweet deal. This whole package cost less than half of what that one behind the link cost me.

Go to bed, Adam. 


( Edited to add photos of my toys... )

...for this is my blood, which shall be magnified at 400x, for you.



I got a new microscope! It has a camera! Prepare for many pictures of bugs' naughty bits.

How about an update with bees in it?



( There's BEES in your LJ!.... )
Okay, kisses!

 Every time I clean my apartment, I feel like Pee-Wee when he saves all the animals in the burning pet store.  And when I walk into the kitchen, I do that thing he does whenever he passes the tank full of snakes. I make that "eew" face and save it until way way last. 

I've half-assedly updated my website. The lifedrawing gallery has been updated with several Dr. Sketchy sessions. Though it can be hit or miss, the last Dr. Sketchy was a blast! The model was energetic, funny, fit*, and super talented.

Adding to the delightful evening was the presence of my lovely new friend (and now regular Friend of the Nib) Kaia, who had never been to one of these.

Kaia, incidentally, can be heard playing the cello with Jeremy Enigk (of Sunny Day Real Estate) on KEXP. go here:
http://kexp.org/streamarchive/streamarchive.asp and query "Thurs. May 14th at 8:04am." I've listened to it three times now.

*I would have lost an arm-wrestling match, no question.

Check out the Slog's entry about our show, which opens TONIGHT! I am SO going to the cash machine before I head there tonight, because I'm certain we won't have another opportunity to buy some of this stuff for so dang cheap for a long time.

Long ago, before the appearance of neoptera and cold cereal on planet earth, I went into a Goodwill or something like that in Portland, OR. I was on the lookout for clothes and 70's music on vinyl. (So I guess this must have been while still in high school?) One of my favorite finds ever was in the record bin and I'm glad I nabbed it when I did. On three records, thick, cold and heavy like the motherland, were "Songs of the Red Army: Choir of the Red Army of the U.S.S.R." I've had this record in my collection for a long time, and was really never able to enjoy it, as it plays at 78rpm and none of my turntables (also from Goodwill) never played 78s. Enter the formidable Jon Morris, with his pointy tsar-beard and his turntable with a USB-out. He offered to digitize the tracks for me and I gladly (eventually) took him up on it. What follows are links to the 6 tracks, in mp3 format.

01 Song of the Plains
02 The White Whirlwind
03 Le Marseillaise
04 Le Chant du Depart
05 Song of the Village Mayer
06 The Boatmen of the Volga

Follow the images' links to my flickr page if you'd love hi-res images.



Front Cover

( ...in communist Russia, jokes overuse you! )

This thing has no copyright date, so I can't say exactly how old it is. (Granted, I haven't googled the thing in a few years.) Several of us at the Friends of the Nib think tank last night thought that the late 40s might seem about right, though. 

Update: It appears to be from 1936, and also doesn't seem to be terribly hard to find. 

Enjoy! And thanks again, calamityjon !

Here's a cocktail I just invented with the things I found in my freezer.
-2 oz. vodka*
-G.I.Joe "Deep Six" figure with his feet frozen in an ice cube
-more ice

Combine in a high-ball glass.
*alternatively, if you have more than 2 oz of vodka, use more than 2 oz.

As I said a couple weeks ago, I'm keeping honeybees now. They showed up in the mail on the 2nd, and I finally bothered to upload my pics. Let me share them with you! Do bear with me, as my excitement for the whole hobby will translate into way too fucking much typing. 

You may have heard that the Friends of the Nib, Seattle's premier fraternal order of retarded children, are putting on another art show. This one we had, like, a week to put together. There's absolutely nothing fancy about our Bad Economy Art Show at Cafe Racer, and everything's priced to move. Here are several of the pieces I'm tacking to the wall. I'm gonna whip out a few more before we hang it up on Wednesday or Thursday. These are all 6" tall except the tall one, which is 6" wide, in order to confuse my enemies.

 ( More back here... )

 This weekend I visited my family. While I was there, (and since Friday was payday,) I sought out a local apiary and ordered a second package of bees. Immediately thereafter, I called George and arranged to buy a second hive from him. He was so very excited for me on my second package that I kind of can't wait to go back there and buy more woodenware from him.  His bees were out and about, looking for water in the (empty) birdbath.  

The frames he gave me this time were full of drawn-out comb, which will save the colony a bunch of time and get them collecting sooner. 

I really need to bring my camera with me! On my next visit to the house, I will have my first package of bees in hand! I'll be sure to document the event. 

My new favorite person is manning krull . Back before I headed over to France, calamityjon  introduced us (on the internet) on accounta Manning lives in Paris and probably had a tip or two for a tourist. He was, in fact, so very helpful and friendly and forthcoming with ideas, Frenchy phrases, and places to visit that I was sad to learn he'd be out of the country while I was there. Like, sad sad. He and his beautiful girl were heading out on an amazing vacation to L'ile de la Reunion! I am completely jealous and, at the same time, super thrilled for him. What an amazing thing to be able to do, right?

When I heard that he was heading to Reunion, the first thing that went through my mind was, "According to Wikipedia, that's right next to Madagascar. I bet they have incredible insects!" So I asked my new pal whether he could, if it's not too much trouble, find me a few specimens for my small but growing insect collection. I was delighted when Manning replied with a polite "I'll keep my eyes open."

Not only did the guy keep his eyes open, he recruited his girlfriend's family in an insect hunt. You guys! !!! A little while after I came back home from Bellegarde, where I only caught a few ephemeroptera, I recieved a package in the mail. (Addressed to "Adam Watson!" from "Manning!" Never has a more excited package declared its destination to the handlers at the USPS.)

What follows are a bunch of photos of what he sent me. I don't think that simple words in a livejournal post can convey the excitement I experienced opening this thing. It was on par with Christmas morning.

Also, I should say that, so far, I have not identified any of these (save one).

Firstly, here is a katydid and a grasshopper of some sort!

( More bugs under here! ) Manning, ladies and gentlemen! I am so super grateful to him, and I hope that he and I can meet in person some day. Thanks Manning!