Author Archives: jon

Stick Insect Problems Part 2

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After the lingering demise of Spiken, the Giant Thorny stick insect, we were given another Spiken by the place we bought the first. We also decided to get a Pink Wing (Marmessoidea Rosea) to keep Spiken v2.0 company, and increase the odds of at least one of them surviving.

Limey, The pink wing, was (hyper)active for a day or so, then clung to the top of the vivarium. We think it was going to shed its skin, though this is no more than an educated guess. Some time later, we returned to find Limey on its back at the bottom of the cage, and it died not long after that. Our assumption is that it fell whilst shedding, which can be fatal because the new exoskeleton takes a few days to harden.

At least Spiken is doing a better job, and shed its skin yesterday. Spiken must be reasonably happy, since stress can delay the shedding process. It looks healthy, though has not moved a great deal since this morning. We await tentatively to see what (if anything) our giant thorny does next. It is a(nother) crucial period for us, since our success rate at keeping what is generally accepted as beginner stick insects is quite low. Fingers crossed.

When Is A Stick Insect Not A Stick Insect?

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When it’s dead. Yes, just a few days after acquiring “Spiken”, it died a slow and, maybe, painful death. We tried our hardest to assure that it had the correct foliage and food to thrive in our care, but we think we have been mislead, all be it unintentionally.

On its arrival it was probably dehydrated and not in the best of health, being posted as a letter to us. We gave it water and a few sprigs of oak, which it seemed to appreciate. The oak was unlikey to have been sprayed with insecticide, according to the florist who sold them to Jo. We believed her, thinking that, rationally, it would not have been the case. Then we bought some ivy, under the same assurance. But soon after its placement in Spikens vivarium, it started to become less active.

Spiken and its ilk are good at playing dead. Ous worries about inactivity were assuaged by this knowledge, though it turned out that it was the beginning of then end. Spiken had most likely eaten forbidden fruit (i.e. Ivy sprayed with insecticide). Its condition worsened, and our nursing did no good. In the end, Spiken lived its (short) life fighting chemicals that were deemed to kill it. And we feel that we were, in some way, party to its death. Even though we should not.

Pressgurka

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I found this simple and tasty recipe the other day:

1 cucumber
1 tsp salt

1/4 dl vinegar (ättika, to be precise)
1/2 dl sugar
3/4 dl water
chopped dill

Skala gurkorna och skiva dem tunt. Strö över salt och lägg dem i en djup tallrik eller skål. Lägg på en tungd och låt stå minst 30 minute så att saltet drar ur vätskan. Pressa ur och häll av vätskan.

Blanda lagen i en skål och lägg i den avrunna gurkan. Blanda ner hackad dill eller persilja.

As said, easy to make and a fresh alternative to the smörgåsgurka you can but in the shops.

We Become Five

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I went down to our postbox earlier this afternoon, to fetch the latest addition to the family: a Thorny stick insect.

Freya has been interested in having a pet for a few years, now. A stick insect was decided upon, after giving her a choice of pets that would fit our lives and livestyle: Mum is allergic to the fur of some animals, and we live in a flat near the centre of town. Dogs and cats were immediately out of the equation, and whilst a degu had a lot going for it, we still did not know if Jo’s allergy would allow it. So, a stick insect it was.

We encountered a further moral issue. Since most stick insect are parthenogetic, we had to track down species that required two to tango. Our qualm was that we did not feel comfortable with crushing or freezing any fertile eggs produced. Luckily, we found a place just a stick insects throw away that was able to find something that required a partner to reproduce. Unfortunatelt, we could not go and pick up our friend: it had to be sent by post.

We will not know which sex it is until it has grown a bit bigger, when the differences between the sexes will become apparent. For now, it is called Spiken.

When Spiken first saw the light of day since being unceremously placed in a plastic jar and shived into a postbox, it was most lethargic. When we furnished its net and plastic vivarium with oak twigs and a spraying of water, it seemed a little happier, seemingly drinking water like it was going out of fashion.

So now, a few hours after its arrival, Freya has already played hide and seek with it, and is very excited about finally having a pet.

 

Video Games and Violence – It Makes Me So Angry

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One of the usual arguments against video games is that they lead to violent behaviour. Several well-known cases of copycat killings do not make the rule. But is there a rule?

A 2004 article in The Guardian shed a little more light on the subject:

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) said there was no evidence directly linking the playing of games with violent behaviour.

But some disagree, most notably Craig Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University who has published a succession of studies making that link. “Violent video games are significantly associated with increased aggressive behaviour,” he says. “High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school and violent criminal behaviour.”

I am not particularly keen on using statistics in arguments. Statstics can be found, used and abused in any discussion: Statistics can support any argument. So, with some hesitance, I enter the discussion.

A (perhaps too) simple question to ask is: If violence in video games is making people more violent, then shouldn’t violent crime rates have increased in tact with the growing number of people playing (violent) games?

According to the Home Office Statistical Bulletin – Crime in England and Wales 2008/09 (page 23), a summary of trends in crime shows this not to be the case. Violent and vehicle-related theft hit a peak in 1995; Since then both of these crimes have decreased year by year, until 2008, where they levelled off. Interestingly, one of the video game industry’s most influentual consoles hit the market a year before the violent crime peak: Sony’s PlayStation.

Perhaps my short time looking into this entry has meant that I have missed something major, or that I am misinterpreting the figures. There is surely some counter argument to my counter argument, and I am just as sure that there is a counter argument to the counter argument to my counter argument. I imagine that people will continue to have their opinions about video games, and it will take a long time – if it ever happens – to change public opinion.

Our earlier quoted Dr Craig A Anderson has some words to the wise, to help protect us from video game hell:

How can you tell if a video game is potentially harmful?

1. Play the game, or have someone else demonstrate it for you.

2. Ask yourself the following 6 questions:
* Does the game involve some characters trying to harm others?
* Does this happen frequently, more than once or twice in 30 minutes?
* Is the harm rewarded in any way?
* Is the harm portrayed as humorous?
* Are nonviolent solutions absent or less “fun” than the violent ones?
* Are realistic consequences of violence absent from the game?

3. If two or more answers are “yes,” think very carefully about the lessons being taught before allowing your child access to the game.

N:B: At the end of writing this entry, I found a scarily similar article on GameRevolution, the difference being that figures and statistics were taken from the mighty U.S.A.