Tag: everything but the squeal

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Cheryl Hayashi: The magnificence of spider silk on TED

Huntsman spider
Cylon 2012 - the Huntsman spider that has decided to live in our bathroom this year

My spidey sense is really tingling this week.  I had downloaded this TED podcast of Cheryl Hayashi talking about spider silk, where it comes from and all it’s amazing properties.  I listened to it in the car this week and it was so good I’ve tracked down the video for you to have a look at.

Cheryl talks about dissecting an orb weaving spider, which I’ve never done.  But, now that she has put the idea into my head, I’m really keen to have a go.  To be honest I wouldn’t really know where to start, but if I find a dead orb weaver around the property I might see what I can do.

We’ve also had a visit from a pretty magnificent Huntsman spider in the house this week.  She’s taken up residence in the bathroom near the nightlight to hunt.  The photo really doesn’t do her size and hairiness justice.  She’s so big I can see her two rows of shiny eyes without my glasses on – which is really saying something, believe me.

We usually get a couple of Huntsmans a year come into the house to hunt and breed.  We don’t mind and we usually christen them Cylon while they are visiting, but they are very messy eaters and the carnage on the floor in the mornings is a bit much.  One night Mr Vivi looked up at the living room ceiling and hundreds of tiny Huntsmans were coming out between the ceiling boards to say hello.  I think he took a photo.  I’ll ask him to post it here if he has it.

Miss Vivi

 

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Happy New Year!

So, here we are at the beginning of Term 1 for 2012 and we’re all about to dive into the Australian National Curriculum for classes up to Yr 10.

Here at Dissection Connection we’re starting the year with a new price list.  It’s over there on the right under Downloads –>  It’s in a slightly different format, hopefully organised to make it easier to use.   Feel free to have a squeal if you have any comments about it.

There are some new dissection specimens worth squealing about so look out for a newsletter in your inbox soon.

We hope you’ve had some great times over Christmas and New Year.  We’re looking forward to hearing from you very soon.

Miss Vivi

and

Mr Vivi

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Ear, Ear


These little gems were shared by Human Anatomy Education on Facebook.  The first is a great little video that would accompany a head dissection or any discussion of the ear.  I’m on the hunt for one of those video otoscopes now….

The second one is a good description of the ear and it’s parts, but what we really want to know is where did she get that t-shirt? I’ve hunted on the internet but so far haven’t had any luck. If you find it will you share it with me?

Miss Vivi

Dec 8, 2011

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Eye’ll take a bucketful

Eyes by Salvatore Vuono

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


So, where do eyes come from? Miss Vivi has them in stock all the time, so for you, getting them is easy. She orders them in lots of 100’s or 1000’s and a bit of work is required here.

In the beginning, a lot of abattoirs flatly refused to supply them due to disruption of work flow and OHS issues. You see, a big abattoir putting through say 1000 head a day is running at capacity. They don’t normally cut eyes out; they usually go down the chute with the head into the rendering plant. The floor manager needs to take a staff member out of production and implement procedure in accordance with a specific risk analysis to get the eyes. As far as production goes, there’s more money in rib fillet or bacon, so why would they bother?

Because Mr Vivi has a way with the meat men, he’s convinced them to go through the above procedure to extract this product. The cost is we have to order 1000’s of the slippery suckers at a go.

I had the opportunity to talk to one of the floor mangers after our last order and he admitted it’s not his favourite job. It’s a bit fiddly, a bit dangerous, there’s an extra bucket on the floor (for the eyes) that can get in the way. You see, an abattoir is a regimented production line. There is a set procedure for removing the commercial items (tongue, cheek meat etc.) out of the head when they are on the head chain (stock moves through the floor on mechanised lines or chains). Commercial items in turn are placed on conveyors that whisk them off for packaging, so a bucket on the floor is not a usual risk.

So when you ask your butcher for 30 eyes and he can’t do it for you, you know it’s possibly not for his want to help you, but because the abattoir’s not going to drop knives to cut a few out for you. So all you have to do to have as many eyes as you want delivered to your door is fax or email an order to Miss Vivi and she’ll take care of the rest.

Mr Vivi