Thursday, September 10, 2009

Scutigera coleoptrata


Greetings...

S. coleoptrata is 25 mm (0.98 in) to 50 mm (2.0 in) in length and has up to 15 pairs of remarkably long legs. These delicate legs are attached to a rigid body. This enables it to reach surprising speeds of up to 406 mm (16.0 in) per second (0.9 mph/1.46 kph)[1] running across floors, up walls and along ceilings. Its body is yellowish-grey and has three dark-colored dorsal stripes running down its length; the legs also have dark stripes. (Wikipedia)

I'd like to take this opportunity to amend the Wikipedia page regarding the Scutigera coleoptrata, more commonly known as the 'house centipede.' Specifically, the section dedicated to its whereabouts in the world. You see, it does mention that the Scutigera coleoptrata originated in the Mediterranean and has since spread to Europe, Asia and North America but it fails to report that the Scutigera coleoptrata can also be found...IN MY APARTMENT!!! Yikes!!!

I woke up the other day, did my morning necessary in the bathroom, made a bowl of cereal and finished it and then, 30 minutes after waking, I headed for the shower. That's when I saw it. Clung to the wall near the door like a secret agent from Hell. I stopped mid-step and just stared at it for at least 30 seconds, my mind was like Bambi slipping on the ice trying to grasp the reality of the situation: that hideous alien monster bug was in my room while I was sleeping!! Often, when I see even a tiny insect somewhere near my sleeping area, I'll have nightmares that night, trying to escape 1,000 ants or battling killer spiders thirsty for my blood. It does not help one bit that this time it's a bug that I've never seen before in my life!

When I told this story to our latest Korean friend, Amy, she immediately knew what I was talking about. She used to her cellphone to find the English word for it and that's how we came up with 'house centipede.' Tonight, I actually found it on Wikipedia...in those first few, heart-pounding seconds, I was positive I had discovered an entirely new species. Oh, and did you catch that little fact above that they can reach speeds up to 16 inches/second?! No way!!

I captured the beast using a cup and, once trapped, I was able to document its existence with my camera (above). Its capture was surprisingly uneventful, if that thing had eluded my first strike, I would have dropped my cup and run away, flailing my arms and screaming like a woman. I sentenced it death by drowning and my only hope is that it left no unhatched offspring incubating in some dark corner. Ugh.

In other news, I grew my beard during the summer break and the students have had somewhat mixed but totally emphatic reactions to "The New Brent." Perhaps 85% of the students begged me to cut it off within 5 seconds of seeing me. I took a poll in a few classrooms: many boys thought it was "thumbs up" but a high majority agreed that it was simply a bad idea. I said, "Do you want me to cut it off?" and, in unison, they came back with, "Yes!" So, I held out my hand and asked for 500 won (about 40 cents) from each student. So far, no takers. Some adjectives I've received: ugly, dirty, handsome, old, grandpa, good and Santa Claus. Perhaps the best reaction I got so far was when a 6th grader called me "Abraham Lincoln." I was too busy being impressed with her knowledge of American history to be offended.

The swine flu problem has reached a new high here in Korea. Cases of infected have steadily risen in the past few weeks and the government is taking action. For one, every single student, teacher and visitor to every school in Busan (perhaps all of Korea) gets their temperature taken before entering. We also get a shot of hand sanitizer. I'm all for preventative measures like this but Korea is also not an ideal place to be during this "crisis." It's the combination of faulty logic and heightened paranoia that makes the situation kind of annoying. For example, they go the extreme of testing everyone (I'm just waiting for them to start wearing those spaceman suits they wore in "Outbreak") but they fail to change the disposable covers on their ear thermometers between kids! Um...hello?...anyone home? They make people spend 7 days at home in quarantine but they also don't cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze. Again, the ship's in motion but no one's at the wheel.

That's all for now.

Stay tuned...

-Abe Lincoln