The one thing we are all waiting for is peace on earth and an end to war

[gemfyre]

It's the miracle we need, the miracle...
The time will come
One day you'll see
When we can all be friends...



The lightning flashed as angels
Rode firey chargers through the clouds
That answer scared me into tears
And all the grown ups laughed out loud

Now the years roll on
Tired voices have all gone
Now they ride their thunder through the heavens

There's a world in every drop of rain
Embracing oceans sweep us home again
Come along with me
Come along with me
Seek the truth
You shall not find another lie

They say for every living thing
There's a guide up in the sky
That helps you pass from world to world
So you never really die
Then with scythe and cloak
Death comes waltzing to your side
As those visions pass you ask
If there was meaning to your life
As you strain to hear the answer
Spirits sing and devils fiddle
As he bends to whisper in your ear
He leaves you one more riddle

Oh the answers lie beyond the pain
All the questions in our minds
We surely ask in vain
Come along with me
Come along with me
Seek the truth
And you shall find another life

Now my life is like a storm
Growing stronger everyday
Like the unrelenting wind
That comes to blow our lives away
So I live each day like I know that it's my last
If there is no future there can be no past

Now I know those answers never meant a thing
And with instant that I breathe I feel the joy that life can bring
Come along with me
Come along with me
Seek the truth
You shall not find another lie
Come along with me
Come along with me
Seek the truth
And you shall find another life


My burn has pretty much healed up. For a few days there it would go away during the night then go white again during the day, weird. Maybe the blood vessel connections still were a bit dodgy.

Did I ever tell you the tale of the orchid and the wasp? It's a favourite among biologists. In south-west Australia there is an orchid, which is pollinated by a particular species of wasp. This is possibly the only occurance of cross-kingdom mimicry known. The orchid's flowers resemble a female wasp, and it has managed to produce a chemical remarkably similar to the pheremone a receptive female wasp emits. Well of course the male goes nuts over this and flies down to the orchid and tries to take off with the "female" as they do (mating takes place during the "nuptial flight"). Of course it's a flower and attached to the plant so his struggles cause the flower to bounce up and down and the pollen sacs are shot down and stick to the males back, they will come off again on the next flower he attempts to mate with.

Pretty darn clever on the orchid's part. I'm not sure how it affects the wasps reproduction.

Comments

[devinjay.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that at the very least you'll get a lot of really really pissed off male wasps.

And, um, I'm not an expert or anything, but aren't those butterflies whose wings look like owl-eyes (as a defence mechanism) also practicing cross-kingdom mimicry?

Or what about stick insects? That's cross-kingdom mimicry, isn't it? I mean, sticks aren't part of the insect kingdom, are they?

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

ah the stick insects I will have to agree with you on.
I guess in that case you can also include grasshoppers and katydids and anything that mimics a rock.

The butterfly/owl thing doesn't count tho, they are both in the animal kingdom :)

Re:

[devinjay.livejournal.com]

So, um, those fish that look like rocks count, too!

[arkem.livejournal.com]

Isn't a plant or animal that imitates a rock a little more than cross kingdom mimicry? I don't believe there's a kingdom for rocks. (If you don't include the kingdom in my head. I'm the Duke of Pebbles don't you know?)

Though I feel sympathy for the poor male wasps even if I do think its pretty nifty that the orchid managed it.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

I love that song. It's been too long since I played it. I wish they had it at karaoke (yeah, right, way too obscure!) I would sing it every week.

And you know what you get? Sexually frustrated male wasps. And probably female wasps, too, since all the silly male-things are using only their eyes and not their other senses... (OK, that was a little ball-breaking feministy, but bugger it. Just joking ;)

Re:

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

yeah I wish they had the Answer at karaoke too.

[mlpsailorsaturn.livejournal.com]

LOL!
I shared the wasp story to my husband and his reply was:

I bet he has a hard time explaining all that pollen to his wasp wife