How do clams reproduce?

Search: oysters bivalves procreate



Why: On reddit, Oyster eggs:

Answer: Bivalves (clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, scallops, etc.) reproduce by external fertilization!

Marine bivalves reproduce by releasing prodigious numbers of eggs and sperm into the water, where external fertilization occurs. The fertilized eggs then float in the surface plankton.



Within 48 hours after fertilization, the embryo develops into a minute, planktonic, trochophore larvae. This stage is followed by another larval form, the veliger, which settles to the seabed and transforms into an adult.



In freshwater bivalves, the eggs are retained in the gill chambers of the female, where they undergo fertilization and develop into a peculiar larval form, the glochidium.



Upon its release, the larva attaches to passing fish, and lives as an ectoparasite for several weeks before settling.

Oyster eggs are commonly sold as food for coral in saltwater aquariums.



Source: Science



The More You Know: But how do pearls form? First, anatomy:

Then (from HowStuffWorks):

As the oyster grows in size, its shell must also grow. The mantle is an organ that produces the oyster's shell, using minerals from the oyster's food. The material created by the mantle is called nacre. Nacre lines the inside of the shell.

­The formation of a natural pearl begins when a foreign substance slips into the oyster between the mantle and the shell, which irritate­s the mantle. It's kind of like the oyster getting a splinter. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. The man­tle covers the irritant with layers of the same nacre substance that is used to create the shell. This eventually forms a pearl.

So a pearl is a foreign substance covered with layers of nacre. Most pearls that we see in jewelry stores are nicely rounded objects, which are the most valuable ones. Not all pearls turn out so well. Some pearls form in an uneven shape -- these are called baroque pearls. Pearls, as you've probably noticed, come in a variety of various colors, including white, black, gray, red, blue and green.

So basically, pearls are cysts that the oysters make to protect themselves from foreign objects. Some farmers even irritate their oysters on purpose to create "cultured pearls"!

Fun fact: Oysters are among the only frutti di mare that I don't eat.

Who sings the song in that Payless commercial?

Search: i am a paleontologist payless

Why: I know a Future Paleontologist of America who might just need that to be her official theme song.

Answer: They Might Be Giants!!! YEEESSSS!!! (and it says "w/ Danny Weinkauf," who is always in the band anyway... so I don't know).

This is one of the only bands anyone at my camp ever listened to in 1995-7. (The other one was REM.)

Oh my god, do you guys remember Dial-a-Song?

Lyrics go like:

I love diggin' in the dirt
With just a pick and brush
Finding fossils is my aim
So I'm never in a rush
'Cause the treasures that I seek
Are rare and ancient things
Like Velociraptor's jaw
Or Archaeopteryx's wings

Now all the kids
Who wanna see 'em
Are lining up
At our museum

I am a paleontologist
That's who I am

Could it be an herbivore
Crushing plants with rounded teeth
Or ferocious carnivore
Who moves so quickly on its feet
It's like pieces of a puzzle
That I love to try and solve
It's so fun to think about
How a species has evolved

Is it a T-rex? (I keep digging, digging, digging, digging)
Maybe a Triceratops? (digging)
Or a Carnotaur? (digging)
Pachycephalosaurus?

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: Speaking of sequins, sometimes I think about how there were actual flying dinosaurs, like dinosaurs who could fucking FLY, and they were huge and wanted to - and could - gobble you up in a single snap o' the jaw. Can you imagine that today? Look out your window right now and imagine a dinosaur flying around.

(Oatmeal)

BUT it turns out that the fearsome pterodactyl was not a dinosaur at all, just a regular ol' "prehistoric winged lizard." Boring!

Pterosaurs are sometimes referred to in the popular media as dinosaurs, but this is incorrect. The term "dinosaur" is properly restricted to a certain group of reptiles with a unique upright stance (superorder Dinosauria, which includes birds), and therefore excludes the pterosaurs, as well as the various groups of extinct marine reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs.

Oh, it's also not called a pterodactyl - it's a pterosaur. At least 60 genera of pterosaurs have been found to date, ranging from the size of a small bird to wingspans in excess of 10 meters (33 ft).

What's a lede?

Search: bury the lede

Why: In "We Opened the Relationship, and It Epic-Failed" by MC Housework on xoJane:

I saw no reason to bury the lede with this post.

Answer: It's the "lead" of a story - just an alternate spelling!

Some American English writers use the spelling lede, from the archaic English, to avoid confusion with the printing press type formerly made from the metal lead or the related typographical term leading.

That's "ledding." And then:

Leading refers to the distance between the baselines of successive lines of type. The term originated in the days of hand-typesetting, when thin strips of lead were inserted into the formes to increase the vertical distance between lines of type.

Anyway, to "bury the lede" is to begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader while postponing more essential points or facts. Boring. Sounds like somebody went to journalism school!

Ostriches don't really bury their heads in the sand. That's an urban legend. But:

If threatened while sitting on the nest, which is simply a cavity scooped in the earth, the hen presses her long neck flat along the ground, blending in with the background.

So where does the myth come from?

Ostriches swallow sand and pebbles to help grind up food in their stomachs. This means they have to bend down and briefly stick their heads in the earth to collect the pebbles. Bingo! Another false myth is born.

More animal myths dispelled here.

Source: Wiktionary, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Speaking of lead ("led"), it has kind of never been actually been used to make pencils. That's another urban legend. The ancient Romans used lead styluses to make light, but legible marks on papyrus. But by the 1500s, people had started wrapping graphite sticks in string because it left darker marks. Wood and graphite pencils came in the 1600s. Behold!

How can you tell a leopard from a cheetah?

Search: leopard cheetah

Why: I showed Katrina this picture,

and then this happened:

And then this happened:

And then this happened.

Anyway.

Answer: Their spots are way different!

The Quick Trick: It’s all in the spots. Cheetahs have simple black spots, while leopards have a more complex pattern.

They both live in sub-Saharan Africa. Points of note:

Cheetahs

• Have solid black round / oval spots
• Have black "tear lines" that run from their eyes to their mouths to keep sunlight out of their eyes
• Are smaller lankier than other big cats (and are not in the genus Panthera, like lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars)
• Hunt during the day
• Rely on bursts of speed
• Move their same-sided legs together (both left, then both right)
• Purr when they inhale
• Can't roar

Leopards

• Have black and brown clustery spots called "rosettes" that simulate moving shadows
• Have spots on their faces
  
• Are gigantic
  
• Rely on "surprise attacks"
• Drag their prey up trees so they can eat at their leisure
• Move their legs in diagonal pairs (front left-back right, front right-back left)
• Only purr when exhaling
• Roar
  

But which has cuter kittens?

(Cheetahs.)

Source: Mental Floss

The More You Know: But what about jaguars! They live in South America.

Jaguars

• Have fewer larger rosettes with black spots in the middle
• Have rounder heads and shorter limbs than leopards
• Are the strongest of all the big cats
• Bite directly through the skulls of their prey
• Are goddamn enormous
  

What's a dagga boy?

Search: dagga; dagga boy

Why: Bob has been sending me journal posts about his hunting trip to Zimbabwe, and he keeps saying things like:

We were back on the tracks of four dagga boys early on the sixth day of our safari.

I don't know what that is, but it sounds racist.

Answer: They are old Cape buffalo who have been kicked out of the herd!

They call these Buffalo "Dagga Boys" - they are large old bulls that have been kicked out of the herd and spend all day wallowing in Mud. Dagga means "mud" in Zulu. They have really short tempers - best to stay away. The mud is to get rid of parasites.

I see this:

The younger males not only bred with the cows, but easily defended the herd against predators, so their presence was vital to the group. The Dagga Boys were basically useless and the old bulls seemed to know it.

That's sad. The name "dagga boy" was coined by South African outfitter and hunter Gerhard Vos. If you want to see some pictures of him with dead animals, click here and here.

Source: This guy's site, Po's Peek

The More You Know: "Dagga" is also slang for pot in South Africa. And also, a South African psychoactive plant, Leonotis leonurus, is commonly known as "wild dagga" (or "lion's tail"). You can smoke it:

It is sometimes used as a Cannabis substitute by recreational users looking to evade current laws on cannabis and other psychoactive plants. Leonotis leonorus is not currently scheduled under federal law in the United States. The smoke is reported to have an unpleasant taste and to be an irritant to the lungs and throat.

What's the origin of the word "henchman"?

Search: henchman etymology

Why: In the Wikipedia plot summary for True Romance, which I haven't seen in years:

Clarence draws a gun and kills Drexl and a henchman.

What's a hench?

Answer: It comes from the word for "horse"!

• O.N. hesta-maðr, "horse-boy"
• Ger. Hengst, "stallion"
• O.E. hengest, "horse, stallion"
• M.E. henxman, "henchman"
  

Young henchmen, in fact "pages of honour" or squires, rode or walked at the side of their master in processions and the like, and appear in the English royal household from the 14th century until Tudor Queen Elizabeth I abolished the royal henchmen, known also as the "children of honour."

In full color.

But the Pages of Honour still exist. It is usually a distinction granted to teenage sons of members of the nobility and gentry. Their job is to carry the train of the Queen's dress.

Elizabeth II has had about a million of them.

Anyway,

The word [henxman] became obsolete in England, but was retained in Scottish as "personal attendant of a Highland chief," in which sense Sir Walter Scott revived it in literary English from 1810. The sense of "an obedient or unscrupulous follower" is first recorded 1839, probably based on a misunderstanding of the word as used by Scott.

Source: EtymOnline, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Did you miss this news story? I thought his real name was Jimmy Henchman, and I thought, "Boy, is that unfortunate."

Jimmy Henchman Arrested by Feds DEA confirms that Czar Entertainment honcho was apprehended and arraigned on drug charges

The manhunt for hip-hop music executive James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond ended Tuesday afternoon (June 21), the DEA confirmed to MTV News. Henchman, who ran the Czar Entertainment management company overseeing the careers of artists like the Game, was arrested in New York City and charged with heading a cocaine trafficking ring.

Rosemond has been on the lam since warrants were issued for his arrest on May 17. On Tuesday afternoon, the onetime music manager noticed federal agents as he walked out of the W Hotel in Union Square, according to the New York Post. Henchman tried to evade US Marshals and DEA agents by taking off on foot, but was apprehended and arrested on 21st Street and Park Avenue South.

Rosemond was then arraigned in Brooklyn on conspiracy to distribute in excess of five kilograms of cocaine; he is being held without bail, a DEA representative told MTV News.