Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Leggy Bugs--Centipedes and Millipedes

Leggy bugs can mean bugs that have lots of legs, or bugs that have long legs. Animal-kingdom bugs can mean insects (6 legs), arachnids (8 legs), or for me, creepy crawlies with way more legs than I care to count. Let's get to the long-bodied creepy crawlies first. Google is a great starting resource for viewing images (for this article, centipedes and millipedes).

Centipedes

Enchanted Learning shows a diagram and descriptive terms of parts. A more detailed diagram is at Amateur Entomologists' Society. Both of these webpages have good elementary information.

Millipedes

Google's hits for millipede images show some atop hands and other body parts (cringe). For sizes, one image that surprised me greatly showed someone using both hands to hold one. On the other hand (grin), one image shows a millipede on a finger, and another shows one with a penny.

Enchanted Learning shows a diagram and descriptive terms of parts. EL's millipede diagram is much more detailed than for the centipede. Amateur Entomologists' Society's diagram is similar to its centipede one.

The University of Bristol's 'Morphology" webpage has a really detailed image and scholastic explanation of anatomy. (The home page "Diplopoda" provides overview of millipedes.) BTW, "Chilopoda" is the term for centipedes, but U of Bristol doesn't have a special section for it. That is, replacing the URL part "chilopoda" for "diplopod" yields a not-found page.

My section about centipedes is short and the millipedes section only a bit longer. The most interesting information might be contrasts between the two creepy crawlies.

Centipede vs Millipede

A big difference in looks between these bugs is the number of legs per segment. Centipedes have one pair, and millipedes have two pairs. One helpful image with side by side drawings and descriptors is at the "Centipede vs. Millipede" section of "Top 10 Facts About Millipedes"..

In seeing so many Google image hits for millipedes where people handle them, I sensed that centipedes might be less receptive to handling than millipedes. Maybe another reason. Centipedes bite. "Millipedes of Petroglyph" provides a section for differentiating the two animals, and especially warning about the centipede's capability to bite and hurt. For a video featuring someone capturing one of each and explaining differences, view "Millipede vs Centipede!".

Additional sites that contrast these two members of Myriapoda (many-legged) subphylum
For some whimsy, visit Gaming History about "Centipede" and "Millipede". Both sites describe the video games, scoring, and technical details. The Millipede site notes that the game (the successor to Centipede) had been originally called Centipede Deluxe. The Millipede site, besides describing the game play and technical details, includes a trivia section on differences between the two games. For videos about the games, visit YouTube and enter appropriate keywords.

Leggy Bugs articles:

Friday, February 10, 2017

Familiar Music in Superbowl 2017 Product Ads

YouTube playlist for this article,
playlist compilation article


What an exciting start and finish to this year's Superbowl—New England Patriots over Atlanta Falcons, 34 to 28 in overtime! For me, one song emerges for games with a lot of emotional stake: the Eagles' "Gonna Be a Heartache Tonight".

This article is similar to my previous article about songs in product ads "Familiar Music in Product Ads and Product Jingles that Became Hit Songs". This time, I focus on Sunday's 2017 Superbowl advertisements, skipping discussing jingles that might become song hits. In viewing commercials multiple times, I was intrigued by some subtle, unfamiliar musical notes, and, with some songs, was psychologically transported to different eras.

Some songs have been standards forever—"America the Beautiful" (Coca Cola), "Amazing Grace" (upcoming Logan movie). Some songs are as old as 50 years or as recent as within this decade. My journey in hunting up music that ads used was distractingly enjoyable for trips down memory lane (Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild") as well as discovering songs new to me (Sia's "Move Your Body").

The following list of products and their associated music are in the approximate order that the ads aired during the game. Except for "standards" that I mentioned earlier, secondary links go to original-artist versions of known songs.

Coca Cola
Ford
Google Home
Michelin Tires
LifeWTR
GoDaddy
Logan (movie)
Bai Antioxidant Infusions
Michelob ULTRA
Lexus LC
Wendy’s
National Geographic’s Genius Series
Kia Niro
Amazon Echo
Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster
Nintendo Switch