<I>Ampulex compressa</I> is a wasp that uses its stinger to temporarily paralyze and then hot-wire a cockroach so that the wasp can "drive" the larger critter home, where it can lay its egg on the roach host and seal it into a nursery. When the egg hatches, the larva chews its way into the host, where it feeds itself and then spins a cocoon.

Beautiful photographs of ghost towns.

Hilarious rant by anthropologist Roger Sandall over Lynn Truss' <I>Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life</I>. I have to confess I haven't read <I>TTTH</I>, not least because I didn't enjoy her hectoring <I>Eats Shoots and Leaves</I>. Geeze, if you're going to write a book about the failure of everybody to observe proper grammar, wouldn't you want it to be copyedited to a fair thee well? Ms. Truss didn't proof her proofer&mdash;and all I could think as she wagged her finger was that she should have washed it first.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/106howard.1.jpg" ALT="106howard.1.jpg" WIDTH=250 HEIGHT=250 HSPACE=4 VSPACE=4 ALIGN=RIGHT>Much as I like the prospect of being able to grunt a heartfelt <I>Je ne regrette rien</I> immediately before expiring, I know there will be too many what-ifs and wish-I-hadn'ts to make that even remotely possible. But here is one missed opportunity that won't flash before me, because John Atkinson has granted me a second chance.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/106howard.1.jpg" ALT="106howard.1.jpg" WIDTH=250 HEIGHT=250 HSPACE=4 VSPACE=4 ALIGN=RIGHT>Much as I like the prospect of being able to grunt a heartfelt <I>Je ne regrette rien</I> immediately before expiring, I know there will be too many what-ifs and wish-I-hadn'ts to make that even remotely possible. But here is one missed opportunity that won't flash before me, because John Atkinson has granted me a second chance.

<IMG SRC="/images/archivesart/106howard.1.jpg" ALT="106howard.1.jpg" WIDTH=250 HEIGHT=250 HSPACE=4 VSPACE=4 ALIGN=RIGHT>Much as I like the prospect of being able to grunt a heartfelt <I>Je ne regrette rien</I> immediately before expiring, I know there will be too many what-ifs and wish-I-hadn'ts to make that even remotely possible. But here is one missed opportunity that won't flash before me, because John Atkinson has granted me a second chance.

Much as I like the prospect of being able to grunt a heartfelt Je ne regrette rien immediately before expiring, I know there will be too many what-ifs and wish-I-hadn'ts to make that even remotely possible. But here is one missed opportunity that won't flash before me, because John Atkinson has granted me a second chance.

An amplifier producing nearly 400Wpc, weighing close to 100 lbs...from <I>Rotel</I>, of all people? Don't they know their <I>place</I> in the audio world? Next thing you know, Krell will start making integrated amplifiers! Oops&mdash;Krell <I>is</I> making integrated amplifiers...

An amplifier producing nearly 400Wpc, weighing close to 100 lbs...from <I>Rotel</I>, of all people? Don't they know their <I>place</I> in the audio world? Next thing you know, Krell will start making integrated amplifiers! Oops&mdash;Krell <I>is</I> making integrated amplifiers...