ALL THE REST —  September 26
  

The UN-Common  Housefly

The common Housefly (Musca domestica) is not so very common. It actually has some very special characteristics.The adult fly is about one-quarter inch long and about half an inch across the outspread wings. One-thousand adult flies will weigh less than an ounce. Each foot on its three pairs of legs is equipped with claws and two hairy pads called pulvilli. These pads secrete a sticky liquid that enables the fly to cling to almost any surface and run upside down along a ceiling. The taste-sensitive cells of the common house fly are located on its feet as well as on its mouthparts. The average range of a housefly is only 1/4 of a mile. Tracking the flight of flies, scientists have discovered that they rarely travel beyond a 10 mile radius of their birthplace.

A fly has five eyes. Two of these are huge compound structures that cover most of the head. Between these are three tiny simple eyes, set in a triangle. In spite of all the eyes, a fly has very poor vision. Generally a fly will use its very accute sense of smell to locate its food.

Houseflies are not equiped for biting. Their mouthparts are adapted for sucking up liquid food. Absorbed liquid food flows up through the trunklike proboscis with the action of a pumping organ in the head. The fly will turn solid soluble foods such as sugar into liquids by regurgitating saliva on them. Then suck up the food. (Remember this the next time you shoo a fly off of that piece of cake.)

Flies can multiply at an incredibly fast rate. The female lives about two and one-half months and lays between 600 and 1000 eggs during its lifetime. On the average, 12 generations of house flies are produced in one year. Between the months of April and August one female fly could have as many as 325,923,200,000,000 descendants. Although this does not happen, plenty of flies will be produced every summer if only one female in a hundred escapes death long enough to lay eggs. One sixth of a cubic foot of soil taken in India revealed 4,024 surviving flies.

Unfortunately, flies are also known to be carriers of serious diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Those same hairy sticky feet and tongue cause dust and debree to stick to them. Under a powerful microscope, samples of the dust and dirt clinging to these hairs reveal bacteria that cause a wide variety of diseases. Flies get the germs from garbage and sewage. If they touch food later, it too may become contaminated either from their feet or from the regurgitation of saliva. (There's that piece of cake again!)

Major Source:Comptons Pictured Encyclopedia | When did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth |

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."

Joseph Addison

 

 

Snow White took photos of the Dwarfs and their surroundings. She took the film to be developed.  After a week or so she went to get the finished photos.  The clerk said the photos  were not back from the processor.   Needless to say, she was disappointed and started to cry.  The clerk, trying to console her, said, "Don't worry.  Someday your prints will come."

zphhumor jprof@univ.com

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The judge fined a motorist $25 for speeding, and gave him a receipt. 

"What am I supposed to do with this, frame it?" snapped the driver sarcastically. 

"No, save it," replied  the judge.   "When you get three you get a bicycle."

zphhumor jprof@univ.com

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A Scout Master was teaching his boy scouts about survival in the desert.  "What are the three most important things you should bring with you in case you get lost in the desert?"  he asked.  Several hands went up, and many important things were suggested such as food, matches, etc.
    
  Then one little boy in the back eagerly raised his hand.  "Yes Timmy, what are the three most important things you would bring with you?" asked the Scout Master. 

Timmy  replied: "A compass, a canteen of water, and a deck of  cards." 

"Why's that Timmy?"  "Well," answered Timmy, "the compass is to find the right direction, the water is to prevent dehydration..."

"And what about the deck of cards?"  asked the Scout Master impatiently.

"Well, Sir, as soon as you start playing Solitaire, someone is bound to come up behind you and say, "Put that red nine on top of that black   ten!" 

zphhumor jprof@univ.com

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A man went to his office and bumped into one of his assistants.

He looked up and muttered, "My word! Look at you. You've lost weight. You've dyed your hair. You've replaced your glasses. You have even grown taller, Mike".

"Sir, my name is not Mike,"; replied the assistant.

"My Goodness! You have even changed your name!"

Speaker's Encyclopedia of Jokes, Puns, Riddles, Quotations & Alternate Dictionary

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Several women appeared in court, each accusing the other of the trouble they were having in the apartment building where they lived.  The judge, with Solomon-like wisdom decreed,  "I'll hear the oldest first."  The case was dismissed for lack of testimony.

zphhumor jprof@univ.com

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TRUE FACT ...

Humans begin laughing at two to three months of age. Six year olds laugh about 300 times per day, while adults laugh from 15 to 100 times per day.

SOURCE: NYT, Dr. William F. Fry, Stanford University

Shin: A device for finding furniture in the dark.

Daily Miscellany Comics

Have A Great Day !

Phillip Bower

Soul Food for September 26

Today in History for September 26