I recently bought a praying mantis egg case from the garden store. It hatched the other day and about 100 little praying mantids came out. According to a friend of mine, the siblings will duke it out, fighting and eating one another until there is only 1 mantis left -- of course, the absolute fittest, fiercest and strongest of the batch. Nature can be so ruthless. I had an adult praying mantis as a pet for a few months last year. It jabbed my friend in the ankle on a camping trip. We caught it in a bottle and took it home. Actually, we caught two of them but one got its head eaten off by the other. OK it's not what you think. It's not because the female of the species bites off the head of the male during mating. They are just so cool to look at with their little alien head like an upside-down triangle with 2 big black oval eyes. It's fun to watch them preen like a cat, cleaning their antennas with their terminator-2 looking arms. To me, this efficient little killing machine has a lot more personality than a hamster!
On to sexier subjects. Eva Mendez is an up and coming actress. I had the privilege of meeting her a few years back. I'm from Hollywood and have met more than my share of shallow aspiring actors. But Eva is different. She was one of the nicest, sweetest women I've ever met who is also incredibly sexy and charming. She also speaks her mind -- check out her interview in the latest issue of GQ.