I looked up on the internet about people who collect bugs and butterflies and it said how to make a killing jar with a piece of cotton with alcohol on it but I didn't want to kill it, I just wanted to keep it. I have some dead bugs but they were already dead when I found them. Is that how the museum got all their bugs and butterflies? If there were bug detectives, the museum people would get in trouble for that.
John is watching the tennis and Lestrade is still at stupid work and I'm booooooorrrrreeeedddddddd.
89 comments:
I'm sorry you're bored, Sherlock, and though in general I have no sympathy for bugs (cockroaches especially, ugh) I think you're right that bug detectives would have plenty of cold cases if they took to investigating all the specimens in museums. Your drawing looks very professional.
Can I ask what you thought about the baby and the little kid you got to hang out with/share John and Lestrade with yesterday? I know they couldn't walk as well as you or do some of the things you really enjoy, but were you happily surprised by them at all?
And are you/will you be doing anything special to celebrate John's first day at his new job?
I'll be home in a bit, Sherlock. Want to help me cook dinner?
And your drawing, as I said before, is excellent.
That's a pretty good drawing there Sherlock. Almost qualified as scientific illustration!
It's really better if you left the living bugs at the park though. Cause most bugs lays eggs at winters. If you keep it warm in your room it won't lay eggs. Therefore there'll be more bugs at spring/winter. =]
I got to hold the baby a little and give him some of his bottle and that was okay but mostly he was really boring and his poop was really smelly. The other one was okay and he can walk mostly but I wish he could talk better and he can't read or anything either or understand the games I tried to teach him but we got John to push us on the roundabout a lot and that was fun. He could come over again.
That is an excellent drawing. Did it try to bite you? Anthocoridae bite although they only bite humans in self-defence. I'm afraid they don't eat plants (even though they're sometimes called flower bugs), they eat other insects and insect eggs and it might have been difficult and a bit cruel to find it smaller insects to eat all winter.
Lestrade, yes I want to help, what is it?
Lyra, couldn't it just lay eggs in my room and then I'd have lots of tiny bugs?
You were very good with both of them, Sherlock.
Can you imagine Mycroft sitting and feeding you your bottle when you were that small? I bet he did.
And what would you like for dinner? Help John check we've got everything we need for whatever you want.
Anonymous, no it never bit me but I'll be careful next time. I guess it would be really hard to find it food all winter if it doesn't eat plants. Do you study bugs for your job?
I'm almost as much older than the baby as Mycroft is older than me. Was I that boring too?
I want cheesy potatoes.
I used to, biology and biochemistry, the chemicals that make all living things work, plants and animals. It was very interesting.
I was recently in the collections areas of the Natural History museum. They have a whole floor that's just for bug storage and I felt bad for the people with offices on that floor because it smelled bad. I think it's the stuff they use to kill them with. They were quite proud of themselves for having no living bugs around.
And we got to talk with a woman who works in the bird area about how they collect their specimens. She showed us a wing from a wild turkey and said she had hit it with her car. I think she might have been joking but the whole story about what kind of car she was driving and what time of day it was makes me think maybe it was true. She was working on terns though actually and said they were all found dead on the refuges where her contacts work. Which was much nicer than the old ones that showed us with bullet holes from when they were shot in the wild so that the museum could have them. They were very old though, no one does that any more I'm pretty sure.
Leaving now, be with you shortly.
Sherlock - I suspect Mycroft found you fascinating, because he wateched you grow and learn and change.
Kholly - here you're not allowed to pick up roadkill that you killed. Only that has been killed by others. Not that I've ever known anyone try to police that law...
That is a truly impressive drawing, Sherlock--it looks like a professional illustration in a textbook.
I don't know if you saw, but in the other thread I suggested that you might take photos of the really good bugs you find. Then you could look them up in books or online and find out what kind they were, and what they eat, and all that, and even make drawings from the photos. It wouldn't be quite as interesting as being able to watch them at home, but it really wouldn't be very practical to keep a bug zoo at home. I worked in the entomology of the American Museum of Natural history between college and graduate school--I was a secretary/assistant to three entomologists--and it takes quite a big, well-staffed and well-stocked lab to keep interesting insects alive and well. A photo-collection is pretty good though--one of the entomologists I worked for used to go to South America to find new species of spiders, and he would bring back only a few dead specimens to study, only one or two of each kind, and LOTS of photographs.
(Then I got to type up the descriptions.)
As for babies--they are sometimes boring and sometimes interesting. As Lestrade says, babies are most interesting when you see them over time because they do grow and change very quickly and it is fascinating to see them learning. I bet you learned things pretty fast. (Of course, pretty fast for babies means over months and weeks, not minutes.)
Anthocoridae laid their eggs in living plant tissues...so I think it's impossible to let them lay their eggs in your room, Sherlock. And they feed on other insect's eggs (and the tiny bug usually need a lot of food). So it's really better to left them at the park where they can get plenty of food. ;)
Entomology DEPARTMENT! I don't know where "department" went, but I worked in the entomology department of the American Museum of Natural History for about 9 months.
I guess photos would be okay. Sometimes it's hard to see them because they look like what they're standing on though.
Lestrade, why can't you pick up things you hit with your car?
Sometimes it's hard to see them because they look like what they're standing on though.
Very true--it's an evolutionary adaptation. Bugs that look a bit like what they live one are harder for birds and bigger bugs to see, so they don't get eaten, so more of them survive and have children, so that species gets to look more and more like what they live on.
But you could always move them, take the photo, and then put them back. (If they aren't too fast!)
And there's also many bugs with even more obscure camouflage and shape. For example the stick insect.
(In the Bogor zoological museum, they have a 25cm long stick insect. It really looked like a twig!)
Do those live in England anywhere?
Because, if someone really wanted, they could have you done for poaching, Sherlock. If they thought you intentionally killed it.
I'll be up in a moment. We'll have cheesy potatoes and lots of veg, right? You can't exist on cake, cheese and potatoes.
Er...I'm not sure. The common stick insect should be found worldwide. They are around 5cm...
The really big ones usually only found in tropical forest...maybe you can become an Entomologist and go around the world studying insect? =D
There is chicken too and asparagus. I like asparagus.
Lyra, I might like that I think. I could find new ones that no one ever saw before and live in jungles and sleep in a hammock.
That will be very cool!
And scientist had estimated around 20 thousands unfound insect species. If you can find a new one you can name it as you wish. For example: Blattella sherlockis ?
Asparagus is lovely. The side effects less so...
Ah, to be young, and choose jobs upon whether they involve hammocks or not...
(I really really wanted a job where I got a chair that span around when I was little. It seemed like the ultimate symbol of success. No one I knew had a job like that. I achieved my dream. I hope you achieve yours.)
I could find new ones that no one ever saw before and live in jungles and sleep in a hammock.
The spider specialist I worked for did that--he went down to the Amazonian rain forest, and liked to say that he'd go out, shake a tree, and find a dozen new species. (When I'd give him a look he'd laugh and say maybe not a DOZEN, but that there were so many unstudied species there it was an entomologist's dream.) I know that was a number of years ago, but there are still tens of thousands of bugs to discover!
Your chair does spin really well.
Lyra, I would name one after Mrs Hudson because she always calls me when she finds a bug in her flat so I can come and get it.
You are her knight in shining armour. I'm sure she would be honoured to have a bug named after her. Especially if it was a colourful one.
Mmmmm, roasted asparagus.
I'm all for lightly steamed, myself, RR, with a little mayonnaise.
I like broccoli steamed, plain. Asparagus I like best roasted, with a little olive oil and salt. My sister bakes kale (I think also with a little oil and salt) and it comes out all crispy, like potato chips sort of. Pepper rings are yummy lightly sauteed in olive oil. (Also pretty, with all those colors.)
Most vegetables are pretty, if they're cooked right--not overcooked, that is. Such bright colors!
That's really sweet, Sherlock.
Do you know that there's a sea slug that called Achantodoris hudsoni?
(But I'm pretty sure that no insect had Mrs. Hudson's name...yet).
An excellent drawing Sherlock :-)
I like asparagus too. Steamed or roast, either's good for me. Cheesey potatoes sound rather scrummy as well. Can I have tea at your place tonight?
My mistake, I forget the Australian tiger beetle Cincidela hudsoni...
It's 3.30 A.M. here...i should really sleep. >.<
Nameless you can come if you bring dessert.
Sherlock! There's fruit for dessert, and anyway, you don't invite people over and tell them they have to bring things!
you don't invite people over and tell them they have to bring things!
You clearly have not been invited to a lot of American holiday meals, then. :)
Also...what fruit? We have a lot of fresh clementines in the stores now, and I have one for breakfast almost all winter. Mmmmmm.
Okay...you can invite people over and suggest they bring things in certain situations. (Although that's not something we especially do here, unless there really are a lot of people coming. It's more usual for people to offer than to be asked.)
You don't make it a condition of their attendance, when it's just one person, that they bring dessert for you.
Absolutely true. No argument there. (It was just me being "clever", anyway--I didn't really mean it was okay. People are supposed to offer.)
Anyway, it would be hard for Nameless to come to dinner since you can't give out your address.
And we've got grapes, apples, pears, kiwis, bananas and some oranges.
Sherlock is in a sulk at the lack of ice cream on the menu.
Oooh, I love grapes--also kiwis. Especially kiwis. *Makes note to buy some kiwis*
so...do you eat the skin of the kiwi, or not? I believe it is a matter of debate.
I don't--I don't like eating fuzzy. My sister does, though.
Sherlock, when looking at your picture on the web version on a mobile phone, it looks almost like a photograph. So much so that I did a double take. Well done!
Aww, I was kind of teasing, but it's very kind of you to offer, Sherlock, thank you. I don't often eat dessert though, so I don't really have anything I could bring. I did have banana and chocolate chip cake which I made this afternoon, but we've already eaten almost all of it...
RR - if I was going to dinner with friends, I'd probably take some wine, rather than food. Of course, that's not really feasible if I were to have dinner with Sherlock :-)
All that fruit sounds lovely. I don't eat the skin of kiwis, it's a bit tough and hairy. Um. That sounded wrong.
the skin of a kiwi is the tastiest bit.
But perhaps it says something about me that I enjoy tough hairy things ;)
If there were bug detectives, the museum people would get in trouble for that.
Sherlock, I'm pretty sure there are people whose entire job is to track down people who poach animals illegally (and the institutions/individuals that buy them from the poachers). You might want to ask Lestrade if he knows anything about it!
Also, there are the people who work on animal preserves, and their job is even MORE challenging because they have to know how to stop poachers before they get the chance to poach. So they need to be scientists in order to look after the animals and know how animals think AND detectives to look out for criminals and know how criminals think.
See? People offer. (For dinner with friends, I ask what I can bring--and if they say I should bring nothing, I send/bring flowers or chocolate, usually, because I don't drink wine so I don't know what's good.)
I didn't know eating kiwi skins was even an option. They're hairy.
the skin of a kiwi is the tastiest bit.
It may be, but I care a lot about food texture, so.
Also, hee!
KayKay--That's a pretty dangerous job, isn't it? I think poachers are often perfectly willing to kill people.
I didn't know eating kiwi skins was even an option. They're hairy.
So are you...not quite in the same manner as a kiwi, I admit...
Yeesh - I peel the kiwis, like I peel peaches. The fuzz gives me the willies.
You can't exist on cake, cheese and potatoes.
*Indignant* And why not, I'd like to know? :) Just kidding. But those are my favorite food groups, too, and I have to be careful to only eat it sometimes, and eat way more vegetables than potatoes and cheese. Stir fry tonight! Counter all the mashed potatoes this weekend.
Also - Beautiful picture, Sherlock. The detail is amazing! I'm glad you let it go, though. The park really is the best place for it.
L - entirely different!
not entirely! You're very tasty and delectable too!
Lestrade - I'm not going near that one :-p
RR - the weird thing is, I'm not sure it would occur to me to offer, I'd just turn up with it. Of course, I may well be lacking the more normal social graces; dinner with friends was not something I grew up with.
John - it's only recently I've heard of people scrubbing the hairs of and eating the skin. It sounds like a lot more effort than is warranted to me.
I'm not green inside and you're not planning to take a bit out of me - I hope! Entirely different.
Nameless - it might be okay without the hair.
Nameless - I'd default on taking wine, too - and I wouldn't ask. I don't think people do ask here, unless it is some massive party with loads of people and you know it'll be a buffet or something. Otherwise it's wine or chocolates!
And I wouldn't scrub hairs off a kiwi, I'd just eat it.
Nameless, I honestly don't know if I'm supposed to offer--it's just something I started doing when I started being invited, because my mom used to get annoyed when people would just show up with desserts after she'd already made one. And on (rare) occasion people do ask me to bring a salad or something like that. (I don't get invited all that often, but I don't think that's why. :))
REReader - 'Round my part of the US, it's expected that you offer. It's considered good manners. Usually people say no (and that's also expected in some situations), but accepting the offer is fine, too. And of course, people that are invited and are declined their offer to bring food always still bring wine or coffee or chocolate. Or flowers.
Eh, social etiquette. It confuses me, sometimes.
Why don't people just say what they want?
Lestrade and John say I have to go to bed and say night night now.
I think these odd little ways adults interact came about in an effort to be polite. But it would make things easier to just say what you mean, wouldn't it?
Good night, Sherlock, and have a good day tomorrow.
Sherlock, there is something called formal manners, and if you follow that, you can be sure no one will be hurt or angry at what you do. It's a safe way to deal with people when you aren't sure how they will take what you say, because it's so easy for people not to understand each other right. It's roundabout and might seem dishonest, but it makes dealing with different people easier. A lot of people don't know these things any more, and there are a lot more hurt feelings as a result, which is sad.
Night night, Sherlock!
Mazarin--there you go, then!
N'night Sherlock, sleep tight :-)
Is there, RR? Think I need to study those, then!
He's in bed, looking very sleepy. All that bug liberation obviously tiring...
And now I fully intend to have a nice cuddle with my favourite doctor.
Formal etiquette, yes, as you well know. :) (Emily Post, that sort of thing.)
It can be quite useful, especially when you don't know what the appropriate thing to do is. I had a friend--a professor--who got caught in some vicious academic politics and was denied tenure because of bad timing. He challenged it, and his fellow profs got up a collection and gave him a wad of money, to his great dismay. His first impulse was to give it back, but of course he couldn't do that without hurting the feelings of everyone who was involved, so he did what his mother taught him, and wrote formal thank you notes to everyone on the list. And everyone was happy. (He still felt uncomfortable, but it was the correct thing to do.)
Long day for Sherlock! Very tiring, having what you want run up against what you can or should have.
Long day for you adult-type people, too. Hope you get rather more sleep tonight!
I've never heard of Emily Post, and I honestly didn't think there were etiquette guides for modern life (at least, not ones that more than about 3 people agreed on).
I very rarely know what the appropriate thing to do is. Danger, on the other hand, seems to have some sort of inbuilt politeness gene which always means he's lovely.
I'm surprisingly okay. Probably hit me tomorrow. Adrenalin and coffee sorted me out today.
It's a whole industry, and yes, there are guides--they aren't as universal as they once were, but there are still good rules. (A little common sense is needed to sort out the useful from the pointless.) I need rules, because I don't necessarily read people correctly, and I don't think my sense of humor always goes over the way I mean it to.
Emily Post is dead now, but she was the American etiquette industry personified--and her brand is still going strong. (Death cannot halt good manners, apparently!)
Inborn politeness generally works better, though.
(Personally, I always like this book best--but I admit the applications are a little limited. :) )
go out, shake a tree, and find a dozen new species.
I heard an interview on radio with an ant man. He use to go into the desert in the North of Australia and camp, he'd easily find 2 new ant species within a few minutes walk of his tent.
Next year he'd go to the same place, move the tent a hundred yards and find lots more and species over the couple of weeks he camped.
If you want new species, insects is definitely the right specialty.
(Might need to go for Amazonian spiders over Australian ants though, not many trees to sling a hammock from in the Australian desert)
Lestrade - you have a shedload of common sense, and a natural inclination not to piss people off unnecessarily; I think that's more than enough to get you through.
the common sense and the inclination has got me some way....however, inclination doesn't always equal success!! I think I've pissed of a lot more people than I've ever intended...
Still, given my job, no doing too badly.
I'm all for being polite when you can, but sometimes you just have to be harsh with people, and people need to get their feelings hurt for their own good or the good of the organization. As long as you remember that they're people and don't take it too far, it should be alright.
See, I always always offer to bring something to a gathering. But then, I also called everyone to whom I am introduced by title and last name until I'm specifically asked to do otherwise. And use ma'am and sir religiously. It doesn't seem formal to me at all. In fact, it seems very strange to me when I travel to areas where that isn't standard. Maybe it's a deep south thing, but it's the way I was raised. I mean, I'm 30 years old, and I know in some places it would seem archaic, but it's ingrained by now. It made for interesting times when I took some students to South America. They kept calling me ma'am, and one of our guides finally asked why they kept calling me "mom". Poor guy was so confused.
Toodle-oo,
Bronwyn
Hello Bronwyn!!! Long time no see - you OK?
Bronwyn - I think it is just different cultures, different families.
I'm fairly sure my folks never got invited anywhere, and I certainly didn't get taught what to do by them. But I think the UK generally has a policy of taking wine or chocolates.
The name thing...I just call people by whatever I'm introduced to them by, I suppose. But that's often first name. And then they get confused that everyone calls me by my last.
I just call people by whatever I'm introduced to them by, I suppose.
I have a name that's apparently hard for people to remember/pronounce even though it's only four letters. It usually results in two or three camps of people who can't pronounce my name properly and who learned it from someone else who couldn't. And then some of them tell me my name is spelled wrong for how it's pronounced (which is sort of true, but not really their call) and ask why I don't have it changed.
Speaking of... Is your name pronounced "Leh-strah-d" or "Leh-stray-d" or something else?
Well, here it's pronounced 'Leh-strah-d', I suppose. Rhymes with Yard. I mean, that's how everyone's always pronounced it when I was little, so that's how I introduce myself. Although people do get it wrong quite often.
But really it should be pronounced 'Leh-Strah-Deh', which is how everyone back in Italy says it.
This is your fault for saying "rhymes with Yard"
There once was a bloke named Lestrade
Who spent lots of time at the Yard
But he met a cute stranger
Spent time courting Danger
And finds things now aren't as hard.
That is...brilliant. Thank you.
Well done DW.
DW, I'm simply in awe. Well done.
Awesome DW, just awesome.
Awesome DW :-D
(Although, now things *aren't* as hard? I thought Danger had the opposite effect on our dear DI :-p)
"And finds things are frequently hard" fits the rhythm just as well as the original. Substitute as you like. ;)
I feel bad there isn't one for Doc, so...
John came home from the Near East
Met two boys called "brilliant" at least
Then he went for a ride
With a handsome DI
And the love in his life never ceased.
I didn't see the other one before - they're both lovely. Thank you.
You are brilliant at this, DW :-)
I have lots of practice. But they're not usually so...clean. ;)
The clean limerick is a rare breed--I only know a couple of good ones. (These were nice. :))
DW - That's gorgeous. As gorgeous as Sherlock's bug! I get too busy to read blogs for a few days and this happens.
I was ecstatic today because I saw the most beautiful spider in someone's garden today and instantly thought of Sherlock. Fortunately it's a window garden and no one seems to mind that it's there. Here it is:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7nTMpono4eE/TtSANA3DrII/AAAAAAAAAXk/8EB84E412JI/s1600/garden_spider_web.jpg
The funniest thing was that, in a gap between two of the web's support threads, was another perfect (but much smaller--too small to photograph) web that a tiny tenant spider had built! And the little boarder was sitting there complacent as anything, so clearly the landlord wasn't going to gobble him/her up. Enjoy!
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