Seeing this is bringing back some wonderful memories.. when I was a little girl I remember visiting various aunts and uncles with farms and horse ranches in Oklahoma and Kansas, and I remember standing in a field of giant sunflowers taller than me, surrounded by a sky full of fireflies (or lightning bugs as some regions call them!).

Sadly, pollution is killing off these very delicate but amazing creatures and I never see them anymore. I truly miss that experience and wonder where to find them to show future children.

Having this experience in Gemstone was something that made me very happy, and I was delighted at the thought of having one I could always look at... this small thing that would forever bring a smile to my lips... until someone told me even here, they die.. in a game.

So... my request is, can you PLEASE make the fireflies undying? It's a small, simple request... that way they will give pleasure forever rather than a brief amount of pleasure and then a cold kick in the gut reminder of the sad lack of fireflies in the meadow outside my windows...

A humble Hyacinthe

My starflies have died already, less than 24hrs. Poor little things!

You could just let the firefly go before it dies. I did that with my first one.

...the second one I forgot about and it was already dead when I remembered.

Mandy

>I did hang green lizards from my ears when I was little, though. Ya know, let 'em bite on. - Xynwen


This explains so much. However, I'm not innocent. I ate rollie pollies as decorations for my mud pies when I was a toddler. Yeah, I'm wierd.


~Naionna


Not really an embassy, per se, but more like a "oh fine, let them sort it out, let's go have a doughnut" sort of deal. - Xynwen, on CHE annexes

<<Xayle - does this mean you'll bring back the shoulder lizards?

Or ear lizards?

---

Silverthorne smiles at Guarrin, muttering some Giantman gibberish right back at him.

Ear lizards...ear leeeezards...OooOoo...

~ X.

Hey Xayle! How about a hint to where we can find your secret stash? I've been through every shop and searched each room. I've also poked almost every thing I've found.

Gretchen

Meeting Nilandia: http://www.gsguide.net/index.php?title=Nilandia
Nilandia's GS4 Info Repository: http://www.nilandia.com
AIM: Lady Nilandia

I'm not wondering how many of us on staff once lived in Kansas. Since I once lived there, too.

I've always called them lightning bugs, even though in N.E. they call them fireflies.

I taught my children how to catch them, so come to R.I. and you can watch them in my backyard.

~*~ Thandiwe ~*~
(At this point, I tried to summon the crows, by doing a tribal dance in the barrows and singing "Heerre crowie crowie crowie. Oosh oosh." That didn't work.) -- Coyoterre

>>~drew (who expects a lightning bolt now that he ruined the gag)

No, but you'll get one for calling me a he.

~ X.

>I want to be loved for me!
~ XAYLE, notta Xynwen.

I love you for you!

-farmer

*

That's just what we want, criss-crossing furrows all over the town streets from someone wandering through with their animated plow super buddy.

-Strath

>>(We called them lightning bugs in my region, not fireflies)

heh. we called them lightning bugs growing up. or my brother and i did anyway. everyone else calls them fireflies. but, in all fairness, my parents are from iowa so i suppose that's why.


kitten-bot

>>You have to admit, your name is pretty masculine. Your avatar doesn't help at all, it's very non-girly.

Thats what got me. It ends with a vowel, so that screams female. But the name starts with an X so that screams male. And the avatar was the Icing. not female-ish enough to go either way, so I went with 'HE'

>>Being an entomologist has only furthered my love for them. <<

You know, when I was a kid I wanted to be an entomologist (during that phase that most kids want to be an astronaut/archaeologist). As I got older, I let that go, because it seemed like the only consistent job placement opportunities an entomologist could get were either teaching, or working in some phase of the extermination process.

I am quite curious what it is you do for a living as. Would you mind sharing?


It's amazing what people will do when they think you can't see them.

@LORDKRIP:
Actually right now I am working in plant genetics, which is kind of a switch (though not a total one since I have a lot of experience in plant-insect interactions).

But as far as my experiences in entomology a lot of my work comes from the government (USDA, APHIS, Parks and Recreation), Universities (Summer Research Experiments), Botanical Gardens (Integrated Pest Management), and currently the commercial sector (DUPONT/Pioneer).

I have had a really broad range of projects too some of them including Invasive Species research, West Nile Virus Research, Mosquito Control, Moth Pheromone Genetics, Native Bee Pollination Studies, and Beneficial Insect Trials and Research.

I LOVE IT! I have had so many amazing adventures I could tell some insane stories. My apartment is filled with insects in various forms, my favorite being my insect jewelry collection. And I love the old school entomologist, they all know the worst insect jokes and they wear goofy hats, tall socks with either beat-up hiking boots or sandals and cargo shorts (they are fantastic).

I hope that answers your question, and I will admit sometimes work is scarce, especially during winter months but I imagine it is no worse than any other job.


Player of Sivarus

@LORDKRIP:

The Marmorated Brown Stink bug, wow, I was actually at the USDA beneficial insects lab in Delaware when they started to set up that research project and was friends with the scientist leading that project. I haven't talk to them in awhile but I know what you mean, we have currently named our resident brown stick bug 'Harvey' and while I let him out all the time, he is constantly back in the apartment (I am aware that there are probably many Harveys instead of the same one but it makes it easier).

Player of Sivarus