Barf Stew picks up on Jason Offutt's post about a giant bug, which I commented on the other day. The story reminded me of an urban legend I heard when I was in my late teens, early twenties. I was living in L.A. The story was told to me with all seriousness, most of us believed it at the time, including me! The story:
Scientists at UCLA were studying pesticides. Cockroaches taking over L.A. was a concern. So they had a cockroach the literal size of a poodle; kept in a glass cage. Success! Now they could breed the giant cockroaches to test their cockroach killing inventions. But no matter how much of the stuff they sprayed this poodle sized bug with, it wouldn't die. Finally, worried that the cockroach would escape, the scientists had to resort to shooting the thing with a gun.
Several decades ago, I wrote NASA to enquire about the first animals sent to space -- not the dog you feature, but, if i am not mistaken, and i may be (any one who trusts his or her memory is insane), cockroaches deserve the honor. I wondered if the sacrificed bugs got a plaque or anything to commemorate the trip. Never got a reply or maybe i did and it failed to mention the roaches. How about some investigative reporting to reveal what happened? Rise, Ye Sea Slugs! -- Flying Tofu
ReplyDelete