Blimey, I never knew that.

[Sandra & co]

Originally Posted by JoJo88

Not as remarkable as the revelation that you watch This Morning...

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It’s so funny I don’t watch it but just stuck it on and then there’s a comment about the actual bit I watched. Loose woman came on and I switched off can’t stand that program!

[cornishfrogboy]

My contribution of a totally useless fact (unless you are a Male Mantis)…. and I was aware of Gino de Campo/Paul Young.

I always thought that a female Praying Mantis always ate the male during mating..

It's not true, as many people think, that female praying mantids always devour their mates. Only a few of the 180 mantid species engage in this shocking practice, and not always under natural conditions, maybe 12% to 18% of encounters amongst species that partake.. Still, sexual cannibalism is common enough among mantids and other creatures (including some spiders, scorpions, crickets, grasshoppers, and beetles) that evolutionary theorists are forced to account for it. After all, it's hard to see what evolutionary advantage this ultimate sacrifice would offer -- especially for the dined-upon males.

One could argue that the reproductive act and the eating of the male might have nothing to do with each other. Some biologists say it's simply hunger: The females, which are much larger, may be unable to resist a male meal that's so tempting and so vulnerable. And sure enough, researchers have shown that well-nourished female mantids refrained from cannibalism, while those deprived of food ate any male in sight, whether or not mating was involved.

Still, evidence does exist that the two acts are linked, and that the male may even benefit: Not in the short term, obviously, but in the next generation, where the offspring may be more likely to carry his genes. For example, the sex act may be protracted when the female gets caught up in chewing her partner, which could increase the odds he will fertilize her eggs. In addition, when the male loses his head -- literally -- it blocks normal inhibitory nerve impulses and he becomes more abandoned sexually. Bizarre as is seems, the male mantid can continue to engage in sex after his head has been devoured.

Sexual cannibalism isn't a must for the mantis to reproduce. Its advantage for the female may be a handy source of nutrition for herself and to feed her offspring.

There's no clear answer about the male's role in this ritual, and scientists debate whether the male is compliant in his own sacrificial death.

The moral to the story is to always take your partner out to dinner before trying it on… just in case.

[Bozza]

Originally Posted by JoJo88

Not as remarkable as the revelation that you watch This Morning...

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Trying to pick up some new baking recipes after my efforts from yesterday were panned by someone-or-other

[JoJo88]

Originally Posted by Bozza

Trying to pick up some new baking recipes after my efforts from yesterday were panned by someone-or-other

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I'm sure the efforts were fantastic, just a few tweaks in the ingredients and I'm sure they'd be perfect...

[Colette-S]

Originally Posted by Bozza

Trying to pick up some new baking recipes after my efforts from yesterday were panned by someone-or-other

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I was impressed until I saw cheese 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

[JessBlu]

The thunder birds are names after real life astronauts on the Mercury 7 space mission.

[JoJo88]

Originally Posted by Colette-S

I was impressed until I saw cheese 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

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You can have all that healthy nonsense then (brocolli & cauliflower don't belong in pastry ), and I'll take the cheese

Just to add - I'm sure it's actually very nice, but if I'm going to be naughty by eating pastry, I'd rather go all in

[Pumpkin Pie]

Originally Posted by Sandra & co

I watched him too and really like him but always think his accent is fake and he’s going to really be a scouser or have some other strong uk accent!

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I’m glad you said that - I always thought it was just me! Just recently I turned on the TV and there he was hosting Family Fortunes. I quickly changed channel while saying to my husband his accent sounds so fake.

[cartoonp]

7% of American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

I know that seven percent doesn’t sound like a lot, but it actually works out at 16.4 million American adults. So it’s an alarming fact when you think about it.

This shows that one in ten Americans has a flawed understanding of basic science or where their food comes from.

Next, they’ll claim that bacon grows on trees!

[Colette-S]

Originally Posted by JoJo88

You can have all that healthy nonsense then (brocolli & cauliflower don't belong in pastry ), and I'll take the cheese

Just to add - I'm sure it's actually very nice, but if I'm going to be naughty by eating pastry, I'd rather go all in

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Oh me too! I could eat pies and pasties for breakfast but just don’t like cheese!
Green veg doesn’t belong on pastry either