WITH ALL THE DISCUSSION AT EXPLORE.ORG ABOUT FLIES AND THE PUPS.... THERE IS A
VIRTUAL CLOUD OF FLIES THIE YEAR....
SUNDAY--- IF YOU WANTED TO EAT A CORN ON TH E
COB-- YOU HAD TO RUN AROUND THE YARD A 25 MILES AN HOUR TO KEEP AHEAD OF
THE FLYS TRYING TO EAT THE SAME EAR OF CORN....
THEN -----YESTERDAY -....I STARTED "TOYING" WITH THE FLY ON MY COMPUTER
SCREEN TO SEE IF I COULD GET HIM/HERTO REPLICATE ANY MOVEMENTS RELATED TO MOVING
MY CURSER.-- AND I SEEMED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT..
THIS MADE ME WONDER IF THERE HAD EVER BEEN A GOVERNMENT GRANT TO STUUDY
THE IQ OF A FLY.
THIS MADE ME TURN TO A FRIEND --- DR. BOB--- DEAN OF SOMETHING
SOMEWHERE-----WHO HAS ALL SORTS OF FANCY DEGREES AND A SUPER INQUISITIVE
MIND----HE HAS NEVER LAUGHED AT ANY QUESTION I MIGHT HAVE ABOUT THE ORDER OF
SCIENCE AND NATURE.
***************************
HIS REPLY
Ah, I see it’s the old fly and the cursor question. It’s an interesting
question, but I’m not so sure if you can get a grant for it.
First off, flies do have brains. They’re collection of neurons called
mushroom bodies. I think they call them mushroom bodies because when they first found them they didn’t know what they did. They were just these
clumps of cells in their heads that were mushroom shaped so they called
them mushroom bodies. Later on someone figured it out – “Hey, that’s their
brains”.
Flies can do some learning with these brains. They can remember smells
they’ve run into before (flies like smells) and they can memorize parts of
the landscape which helps them navigate. Interestingly people who study
this do so by comparing normal flies with a mutant fly called “*amnesiac*”.
Amnesiac flies have a bad gene and so they forget stuff. It does raise the
question – if a fly was forgetting stuff how could you tell? I guess you
would need to get a grant.
Which leads to the cursor. Flies have enough brains to see it and remember
it, but I don’t think they would play with it. Flies don’t play. What they
always say is that if a bug is doing something unusual there’s two
possibilities; it’s either about food or it’s about sex. So, the fly shows
inordinate interest in your cursor and cursors don’t smell good and they
don’t taste good, in fact there’s nothing food like about them. Given this,
I think we are drawn to one inescapable conclusion about this fly and his
feelings toward your cursor.
Remember, it’s real to him, inside of his little mushroom bodies. Perhaps
the other flies don’t understand his feelings toward cursors, but I hope
that you do and will take the time to nurture and support this budding
relationship.
Or else you could swat him.
Ah, I see it’s the old fly and the cursor question. It’s an interesting
question, but I’m not so sure if you can get a grant for it.
First off, flies do have brains. They’re collection of neurons called
mushroom bodies. I think they call them mushroom bodies because when they first found them they didn’t know what they did. They were just these
clumps of cells in their heads that were mushroom shaped so they called
them mushroom bodies. Later on someone figured it out – “Hey, that’s their
brains”.
Flies can do some learning with these brains. They can remember smells
they’ve run into before (flies like smells) and they can memorize parts of
the landscape which helps them navigate. Interestingly people who study
this do so by comparing normal flies with a mutant fly called “*amnesiac*”.
Amnesiac flies have a bad gene and so they forget stuff. It does raise the
question – if a fly was forgetting stuff how could you tell? I guess you
would need to get a grant.
Which leads to the cursor. Flies have enough brains to see it and remember
it, but I don’t think they would play with it. Flies don’t play. What they
always say is that if a bug is doing something unusual there’s two
possibilities; it’s either about food or it’s about sex. So, the fly shows
inordinate interest in your cursor and cursors don’t smell good and they
don’t taste good, in fact there’s nothing food like about them. Given this,
I think we are drawn to one inescapable conclusion about this fly and his
feelings toward your cursor.
Remember, it’s real to him, inside of his little mushroom bodies. Perhaps
the other flies don’t understand his feelings toward cursors, but I hope
that you do and will take the time to nurture and support this budding
relationship.
Or else you could swat him.
Sincerely,
Dr. B.*****************
Amnesiac flies---SOMEWHERE THERE IS A
DISSERTATON WAITING TO HAPPEN ABOUT Amnesiac flies
*************
THE CAR IS SOLD-- FOR A $10,000 DONATION TO SDP-
WORKS FOR ME !!
RAY AND NANCY BOUGHT IT-- THEY ARE THE
KAYEM HOT DOG PEOPLE-- RAY HAS GIVEN US HOT DOGS FOR ALL MAJOR
PROJECTS LIKE FEEDING 80 PEOPLE AT THE BARN FIRE/BUILDING IN
SAUGUS
NICE GUY-- SO EVERYONE GO OUT AND BUY KAYEM TO
THANK HIM..
KAYEM ALSO HAS A BIG REFRIGERATED TRUCK FOR
KEEPING LARGE QUANTITIES OF FLUIDS COOL...
************
remember priscilla is olives owner and always
considered pinks litter her grandchildren
Michelles story brought tears- made me cry. I
always knew pink would be special. Olive and I are very proud. Send them our
best . Priscilla
************
this is the next HELP
project-- kitty that means you
specially as set designer......
for the December photo of santa's airborne sleigh
pulled by 8 danes....
i have gathered the pieces--- santas sleigh-- 2
very long ladders ( one still needs 14.25 plywood
cut) concrete blocks-- because those ladders sag with 4 danes on them... white
curtain --- tracy wrapped a bunch of boxes as christmas presents-- i have the coat hangers. and fuzzys to make them
antlers, the harness has red pads...
we need a beard and red jacket for
bailey on the seat
4 dogs have done the one ladder---- we need to get
the other 4 in line ( literally) but two are bumpy and luna who are
steady...
today being rainy-- megan can get 2 more blacks
?pumpkin or stanley maybe jade can bring over sammy??? for a dry run so that i
can then line up william to take the shot... maybe sat or
sunday--- --
we tried this with harlequins-- but the harness etc
was too "busy" the black dogs look better.
bailey and chaos in the tree with the cat at the
bottom is such a great shot we need to make this as good.
****
Good news. I have a designer on board to put together the SDP
calendar for us - her time is pro bono and I will confirm incidental costs are
also pro bono. Getting pro bono print production is a little trickier. Printers
don't do that so much these days. I will keep pursuing.
Do you want to meet next week to select your favorite 12 images? I know there are some images to be shot (i.e. Santa), so we could put a placeholder on some months.
I'm LOVIN' "Puppy Hill" and "Puppy Room"...we watch the puppies being fed every morning. The comments are pretty funny too.
Do you want to meet next week to select your favorite 12 images? I know there are some images to be shot (i.e. Santa), so we could put a placeholder on some months.
I'm LOVIN' "Puppy Hill" and "Puppy Room"...we watch the puppies being fed every morning. The comments are pretty funny too.
today i will set up the roving camera again itn the arena in case it is
too rainy
and i need to do that before 8
so i am out of here.
