- Become a Member
- Join Now
- Sustaining Members
- Member Benefits
- Match Your Contribution
- FAQ
- Existing Members
- Member Discounts
- Member Benefits
- Change of Address
- Tax Information
Blink!
Posted at 5:00 AM on July 1, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(23 Comments)
For those who missed it, or would like to hear it again, the Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson interview is now available for listening online.
Thanks, Mike Pengra!
A few days ago we were discussing the sure signs of summer. You mentioned sandlot baseball, working in the garden, and "the chooka chooka of lawn sprinklers", all great signs of the season.
For me, it's fireflies. I am amazed and inspired by them, and was delighted to see that firefly research made it into the New York Times yesterday (registration required).
Trying to catch fireflies in a jar is a treasured memory, and it wasn't easy because as soon as the lid started to close, my target's light would go out and I'd lose it. Were the critters trying to avoid me?
Apparently not.
The flashing is all about the bugs sending signals to each other in yet another one of nature's intricate courtship rituals.
Even firefly larvae glow, which is not a mating signal, but rather is a way to let predators know that the kids don't taste so good, so don't bother.
Leave it to insects to work out such a clearly understood messaging system, even if the message is "stay away".
I recall that Dr. Larry Kyle of Genway, the supermarket for genetically engineered foods, had some unfortunate experiences trying to introduce firefly DNA into our diets. Perhaps this underlying communication of alarm and foreboding is the reason why. I asked Dr. Kyle about his past experiments with photoluminescent treats. Here's his response:
Hmmmm ................................. It's been years since I've thought about Genway Glo-Grapes and Firefly Chips. I thought they were brilliant. BRILLIANT!But the public didn't buy it. We marketed the Glo-Grapes both as a healthy snack and a wireless substitute for Christmas tree lights, and the chips as an eye catching party accent, especially when combined with translucent dip.
Unfortunately for us, the fun of eating glowing food was negated hours later, when that food re-emerged in the bathroom, still glowing. Too bad. For those people inclined to use the facilities in the middle of the night, this effect was a potential energy saver, but nobody saw it that way. The popular imagination was fixated on thoughts of radioactivity and nuclear waste, and frankly, everything looks creepy when lit from beneath.
Fear trumps marketing every time.
We had to take Glo-Grapes and Firefly Chips off the shelves. Sigh.
Would you eat glowing food?
What meals might be improved by photoluminescence?
Comments (23)
Good Morning!
Glowing food doesn't sound very good to me. Three Mile Island ice cream? Yucca Mountain marinade? Not so much.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
hello Dale, Dr. Kyle, and Bloggers -
funny you should choose this topic today because last night the fireflies were spectacular out here! but, on the photoluminescence food topic, we discovered (a very long time ago, in the the Triangle Bar) that gin and tonic glows in black-light lit spaces (like the Triangle Bar back then). don't think it was the gin, so something in the tonic water?? anyhoo, it was pretty psychedelic - listening to tall, leather-clad Maurice play his flute up on the teeny "stage" and drinking glow-in-the-dark G and Ts.
busy day - Ha Det!
my wife used to like it when i glowed in the dark. less now than in the day.
i think the ideal food would be spaghetti. you could have a romantic dinner without the candlelit portion of the formula. a glass of chianti a little garlic bread and a plate of dimly lit noodles sounds like the ticket to bliss. the other application from a a purely functional perspective would be camping food. instead of having to tilt your plate toward the fire to see how big a forkful you are getting in those wonderful fireside meals you could simply use the tin plate as a reflector to tell if you had a little or a lot. dr kyle camp food. the glowing after products might be nice not to accidently have end up on the bottom of your hiking boots just before crawling into your sleeping bag. i'd buy dr kyles luna meals
Good morning, all!
Nostalgia and summer go hand in hand. Fun to hear back from Dr. Larry Kyle!
Morning Heartlanders! When I was a kid, my mom didn't let me do the lightning bug in a jar thing. At the time I figured she didn't want any dead bug mess, but looking back over her life, I think she felt bad for the lightning bugs.
I have actually eaten a glowing popsicle. It had a glow stick embedded in the middle - novelty at a fair. Tasted just like a popsicle, but it was evening, so the glowing was fun! Didn't make me glow however.
For once scientists are leaving Dr Kyle in the dust. There are now phosopholuminescent animals. This link is to a glowing mouse http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2009/m02/y196215112576377.jpg I think there are also zebra fish, pigs and others that glow too. So far no news of glowing goats, but wouldn't they be fun on the 4th of July?
Have a good day!
Fireflies...yes, girl scout camp and jars, did we think we could read by the light of the fireflies? But years ago a group of us grown-ups decided to have a "Firefly Counting Party" (Remember the Gnome calendars?). As it turned out I think only one person actually counted...or was it that she won? Ah, memory...like a firefly.
Barb, you had fireflies last night? It's too cold over here in Mahtowa...I'm moving in with you!
Dale, thanks for playing "Light My Fire"!! What a great song to hear today.
And Barb, those glowing gin & tonics sound great, too.
Did anyone happen to see America's Funniest Home Videos a couple of nights ago? A rather large gentleman( with no shirt) was sitting in his back yard, when a firefly landed in his belly-button. Too funny!!
Camping and Girl Scouts got me thinking about s'mores - do you think Dr. Kyle could come up with heat-activated glowing marshmallows? I think glowing s'mores would be kinda fun. Don't know that I'd want to buy marshmallows that were already glowing, but if the heat of the fire would activate the glow, now *that* would be cool. (Glowing hot chocolate with marshmallows might also be fun - not sure about glowing Rice Krispie bars...I'll have to think on that...)
Fireflies and clear views of stars, along with the chatter of frogs and cicadas, speak of summer nights to me. They are all still available in northern Wisconsin near the shores of Lake Superior.
I am looking for the name of the Richard Shindell song about being stuck in traffic which Dale plays from time to time - can anyone help!
Thanks!
Kathy
Bird Report: My trees and feeders are alive with moms & dads feeding fledgling youngsters...RW Blackbirds, Blue Jays, Cedar Waxwings, Rose breasted Grosbeaks....alive, I say, alive. Now if I had glo-rite food to give them I could see them even better, yes?
More Canadian singers and songs, please.
Good Morning- So glad you gave us a glowing image of Dr Kyle - I was trying to read his comments with his voice, but no one can imitate the great Dr Larry Kyle!
I love anything that sparkles and shines, so eating things that are so inclined sounds rather like fun to me.
Presently, I am missing the major sparkle and shine item - namely the sun. Any chance you can play "Here Comes the Sun" today?
Thanks!
I love fireflies and gin and tonics!
Listened to Dale's show Sat. night and laughed when he said Radio Heartland was originally going to be called Radio Harrland, but decided adding the letter t made all the difference. Wow - did that get me thinking about other original possibilities! Did the progression go something like.. Radio Harpland, Harkland, Harlotland, Harlemland, Harmonicland, Hearthland, and finally Heartland? Maybe the social networking service, Twitter, had starter names too.. like Tooter/Teet, Teeter/Toot, & Tweeter/Twit, before becoming Twitter/Tweet. And then I saw the trailer for Johnny Depp's new movie, Public Enemies, and thought how when the FBI guy refers to John Dillinger as "Public Enemy #1", how much funnier it would be, if instead, he said, "Public Enema #2." Kinda ties in with Dr. Kyle's glo-food today, doncha think?
Public enema?
Thanks for the graphic image, Donna.
And Kathy, the song you're thinking of by Richard Shindell is called "Transit". It's coming up!
There's an old Mills Brothers song my mom used to sing, with the line "Glow little glowworm, glimmer, glimmer..." that would be good to hear this morning!
It's good to see that Dr. Kyle has that green glow around him... I suspected as much.
Donna -- burst out laughing at your comment. I like how your mind works.
Oops, I see you already played it, Dale! will catch it on the re-b.
Thanks for the bird update, Cynthia!
bunny bunny bunny
rabbit rabbit rabbit
it's the first day of the month!
thanx for the car songs, one of your best cds
boys and i were going minigolfing today but now it's raining so we have decided to stay in and cook something (cupcakes, cookies?)
so nice to hear from Larry, tell him we miss him
howdy, gang---
gosh, with all this gray, only my lamp is glowing...
[btw, this tiny type is driving me crazy! also the dullness of the new web pages, and how the radio heartland button is boring gray...but i digress]
tim, such a great idea about the camp food! that WOULD be useful. i also like the glowing popsicle idea, with embedded glow stick :-)
i do think i would drink a glowing drink---especially if it also sparkled and emitted steam...i would pretend it was a magical potion. (yeah, i do stuff like that a lot, but no one knows, except y'all).
by the way again, i've decided to move out to Utah, folks! thank goodness i'll be able to take you all with me :-)
Thanks for the feedback Barbara, and Dale, too, I think.
I was in Webb again so had all kinds of time to entertain myself with my thoughts!
Sorry to be negative on a drab day, but I'm with Kay. The new "gray" is kinda dull and I'm also struggling with how small the type is in the Comments section.
just got home from a trip in to "town" - busy day, as i said. but my oh my - how you folks get so silly when i am not around to monitor. i could name names, but that would take forever. but especially still trying to get the "public enema" out of my mind, DONNA!! and Kay - i'm glad you will still be able to partake in the blog, way out there in Utah!
Cynthia, that was what was so strange - (unless i was halucinating) - the trees were alive with the fireflies; maybe we have a microburst of warmth here??
see you all tomorrow
b
Related Programs
| July 2009 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
Master Archive
Recent Entries
- Become a Member
- Leadership Circle
- Sustaining Members
- Member Discounts
- Become a Sponsor
- Tax Information
- Planned Giving
- Fundraising Credentials
- Vehicle Donation
- Donate Stock