I was shifting some turf I had stacked upside down last year to decompose when I spotted some shiny black eggs I’d never seen before. Rooting around some more I found a New Zealand flatworm. I’ve never seen one before so I was somewhat mystified as to what it was until I remembered reading about the NZ flatworm.
“
The egg capsules are shiny, flexible and cherry red in colour at first and later darken to black after several days. After an unknown incubation period, several pale, tiny flatworms hatch out of the brittle capsule.”
These invading species (Arthurdendyus triangulatus) were first noted in Northern Ireland and the western parts of Scotland in the early 1960s and have steadily spread ever since.
Apparently, when an earthworm is located, the flatworm covers it with digestive juices. This dissolves the earthworm which is then sucked up by the predator. Estimates suggest that flatworms consume one or two earthworms per week. When its food supply has been virtually exhausted, a flatworm will shrink and wait until there are sufficient earthworms for feeding to restart. This waiting time can be as long as 12-24 months. It is not yet clear whether flatworms will move long distances to alternative feeding sites.
Gross!
Some flatworm links:
Garden Organic
New Zealand flatworm (wiki)
Defra - Non-Indigenous Flatworms
Down Garden services - New Zealand flatworm page
Great gardening information site with lots of pics and info on loads of pests, diseases and garden friends - Down Garden Services
July 25th, 2007
Well, there I was wondering what I’d write about and there it was, right before my eyes - Bush, the President of the United States, dragging his country another step towards the coveted dictatorship, all under the guise of ‘fighting terrorism’ of course!
George W. Bush who has already declared himself a dictator in the case of a national emergency has now issued an executive order that effectively destroys the Fifth Amendment. read more…
How long before the ‘emergency’ emerges and G.W. Bush suspends the democratic process (lol - it seemed funny writing ‘democratic’ in relation to the US. How times have changed.) and declares himself fully in charge with no reference to the various elected houses? Not long, I’d wager.
The United States is on the abyss of descending into the autocracy it has been marching towards since 9/11 (see Operation Northwoods). It is planned, it is deliberate and if you live in the United States, chances are you won’t be one of the very elite group who will benefit from it. What you may be is one of the people who are forced to work for the equivalent of rations because the wages of the ‘underclasses’ get capped, or you may even be one of the fortunate who get their meals for free in the detention camp you get dragged off to because you are a ’subversive,’ ‘undesirable’ or ‘unpatriotic’.
Then there is this list, published in a comment in Reddit.com, that nicely sums up just how bad things truly have become in the ‘land of the free’.
By the contributor, 2plus2equals11.
Election staff convicted in recount rig in Ohio 2004 presidential election that gave President Bush the electoral votes he needed to defeat Democratic Sen. John Kerry
Bush signs landmark executive order increasing White House power over federal agencies
Bush’s Signing Statement Dictatorship
Senator asks Bush to explain signing statement that gives President authority to open mail without warrant
Bush Wants Phone Firms Immune to Privacy Suits, encouraging them to continue to engage in illegal collaborations with the government
Blueprint for Dictatorship: Recent legislation sets us up for tyranny
Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
US Attorney General Questions the Right to a Fair Trial
The White House is replacing U.S. Attorneys throughout the country
US Attorney General In The Plot Against the First Amendment
Attorneys for the District of Columbia argue that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies only to militias, not individuals
An Army of Christian Right Lawyers Is Waging War on the Constitution
US citizens will require Homeland Security approval to get a job
U.S. citizens to be required “clearance” to leave the United States
An Iron Curtain is Descending on US
Halliburton Builds Detention Camps For Political Subversives
US Administration Approves Use of Gestapo’s Torture Methods
Cheney: Water torture is OK
US administration says detainee shouldn’t be able to tell attorney how he was tortured in secret CIA prison
The United States is now prosecuting suspected terrorists on the basis of their intentions, not just their actions
Man arrested for saying “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible”
Letter to the editor prompts visit from Secret Service
Civil Liberties Advocates’ Worst Fears Realized with Patriot Act Scandal
Police Fire Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas Into Peaceful LA Immigration March
Lawyer Who Questioned Bush on Treason “Falls to His Death”
Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Vocal Opponent of the Bush Administration, Dies in a Plane Crash
9,000 Iraqis “disappear” in US custody
Abuse and torture by U.S. troops
July 20th, 2007
