2011 Family Pumpkin Carving Contest

We had another successful pumpkin carving contest this year. We had no injuries, no fights, and fair judging. There were only eight entries, all are pictured above. The youngest 2 entrants, both my children had to draw their design and my wife cut the pumpkin from that design. Everyone else did all their own work from start to finish. As always no foreign props were allowed and stencils could not be used either. Members of my household made a clean sweep (below). My wife came in first place with the blazing head (top right). I had the second place pumpkin seen on the bottom with the arms and the crown. My 7 year old came in third with the scowling vomit look on the far left and my 3 year old's was fourth with the sagging left eye (top middle). Thanks to our judges who are new to the neighborhood and are now glad we select different guest judges to help us out every year.

DIY Time-lapse Dolly

I recently purchased a Pico Dolly so I could attempt to make a self-contained time-lapse dolly that I could take anywhere.

Here is the Pico Dolly with the first step complete. I used the rim of a lid that went to an old pill container and attached it to the inside of the wheel. I had to take the wheel off and then replace it using a small hex key.

I used fishing line tied through the spokes of the wheel to attach the lid so I wouldn't damage the wheel with glue or drill holes.

Next I took 2 pieces of plywood and attached them to the dolly using 1/4 inch bolts through the predrilled standard tripod screw holes in the dolly.

Then I attached the pulleys from a motorized pulley set from Hobby Engineering.

The miniature metal gear motor I purchased separately from Hobby Engineering came next.

Finally I connected a rubber bands to the pulleys, a battery pack, and a potentiometer to use as an on off switch and to modulate the speed a little further as needed.

Ultimately I had to attach another rim to the front wheel because I had some trouble getting traction with just one wheel and with the elasticity of the rubber band, the motion needed to be a little smoother. Here is the first video I made with this setup.

The biggest draw backs to this rig are that despite gearing down the rpms, it still moves a little too fast for most natural outdoor scenes. Also it has to be on a relatively smooth and level surface.

UDATE: 11/21/11 - Here is my second version using a chain and sprocket system

Termites and Their Pests, Mites and Nematodes (Roundworms)

I found some little termites living large on the fringe of my compost heap so I put one under my Celestron digital LCD microscope and this is what I found. These are mites and nematodes (roundworms) which are both known to parasitize temites (or it may be commensalism in the case of the mite). The roundworms were living in the head of the termite.

Here is a study from Florida Entomologist on "Mites and Nematodes Associated with Three Subterranean Termite Species (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)"

My best guess based on the the above paper and not much else is that the organisms here are as follows:
Eastern Subterranean Termite - Reticulitermes flavipes
Mite - Family Acaridae, Genus Australhypopus
Nematode - Family Rhabditidae, Genus Rhabditis

Anyone with more knowledge of these species please feel free to offer corrections in the comments.

And don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark!

Head Louse: Pediculus humanus capitis

I previously posted pics of these human head lice about 6 years ago.

Now I have a new toy sitting in my office waiting for an opportunity to get some better pictures of small critters of this sort. Today I plucked this head louse from the head of a little girl who was brought in to my office to see me for a cold. My astute nurse pointed out the fact that she had lice so I grabbed one to view under my new microscope. The first part is at the lowest power then the final two parts are at a higher power. The final part was done when it was still alive and its innards were still moving. I used a Celestron LCD digital microscope for the video.

And don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark!!

An Aphid Live Birth and Predation Time-lapse

I have previously posted some pictures and info on the mutualistic relationship between ants and aphids, but I hadn't really given any thought to the reproductive cycle of aphids. Neil Bromhall has made an excellent time-lapse video of aphid live birth and subsequent predation of the aphids by hoverfly larvae.



I was surprised to learn that aphids give live birth so I read the Wikipedia entry on aphid reproduction. It is far to complex and variable for me to try to summarize here. I will just say that it is quite amazing an worth a read.

A Sci-Fi Movie Recommendation - Pandorum

Last night I watched a sci-fi thriller called Pandorum (official movie site). I don't recall ever hearing anything about it when it was out in theaters, but it was recommended to me by Netflix based on movies that I had previously rated highly. The movie is set in a 60,000 passenger sleeper ship that is fleeing from the earth as a last attempt to save humanity from a dying earth. The ship is on its way to an earth-like planet, Tanis. Various crew members are awakened from hypersleep to encounter other crew members, awakened at different stages of the mission, and some grotesue huminoid creatures. A full synoposis of Pandorum is available on the Wikipedia, but I don't recommend spoiling the exciting final turn of the plot by reading it. Apparently the movie received poor critical reviews from general audiences but did much better among sci-fi enthusiasts. I for one thoroughly enjoyed it, and would love to see a sequel.

Here is the trailer:

Time-lapse of the Beach in Destin, Florida

Here is a nice HD time-lapse of the beach in Destin, Florida. It was filmed by napnet a couple of months ago.



From Crabby at The Destin Sandpiper.

Wool Sower Gall Wasp - Callirhytis seminator

Several weeks ago my neighbor showed me these interesting growths on one of his white oak trees.

I thought it probably was some type of gall so after a few minutes research I found that it was a gall produced by a small wasp called a wool sower gall wasp, Callirhytis seminator, which only makes its galls on white oak trees. The female wasp lays her eggs in the plant and after hatching, the grubb induces the gall formation.

In the center of these galls are tiny seed-like structures, which is why this type of gall is sometimes also called an oak seed gall. Each one contains a larva which is protected and nourished by the tree.

I cut of a few of the galls from the tree and brought kept them in my garage. After about 2 weeks they had all made their way out of the gall leaving these neat little holes in the side of the galls.

Here are some close-ups of the tiny wasps.

For More information:
Galls on Oaks - NC State University
Springfield Plateau Wool-sower Gall
Wikipedia - Gall Wasp

And don't forget to check out Friday Ark #340!