FEATURES
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, June 30, 1993
7
Totally Buggy
STORY BY TODD PUNTNEY • PHOTOS BY TOM LEININGER
Charles Hines, Lenexa senior, holds two of his bug beads on his eyes. The one on the left is a carabid beetle the other is a wood roach. He became interested making these beads about two years ago. The bug is frozen and then entombed into a polymer.
Dead insects change into bug jewelry
Charles lines' apartment is filled with dead bugs. Ants on the table. Cockroaches on the counter. Crickets in the freezer. Beetles on the stove.
They are everywhere, and he likes it that way.
The dead bugs will be used in his business. But Hines' version of the American dream might seem a nightmare to some people. Yet he believes there is a market for his product: bug beads.
His month-old business, Bedebug — pronounced "beady bug" — specializes in jewelry beads made of dead insects suspended in layers of translucent polymer.
"It's always been kind of a dream of mine to walk into a store and see bug beads." he said.
Hines, Lenexa senior majoring in biology, said the idea for a business started two years ago, but until May, school got in his way. With a little pushing from his mother and some spare time on his hands, Hines decided to follow his dream and crawl into the world of bugs.
"I don't have a true talent for biology," he said. "As far as my talent goes, it's more craft-oriented. With this I'm combining talent with my liking."
Hines tips to begin peddling his product at local stores next week. The beads will range in price from $1.50 to $2.50, depending on the size.
He said the process of turning bugs into jewelry could be laborious but, with any luck, profitable.
"The hard thing is that you need to out and get the bugs," he said.
Hines, who has taken several entomology classes to scientifically study insects, has had ample opportunity to catch bugs.
He uses an insect net to catch larger bugs, such as cockroaches and beetles. For the smaller ones he uses an aspirator — two tubes attached to the top of a medicine bottle. By sucking on one tube he can vacuum small bugs with the other.
"One of the tubes has a screen so you can suck the bugs up and not swallow them," he said.
He then places the bugs in a jar and fills it with acetone, killing them. For the larger bugs he uses a syringe and injects them with the chemical.
After they are dead, the bugs go into the freeze.
"I do that so that when I put them in the beads they don't crack," he said. "They'll stay soft in the freezer."
To make the bead, he fills plastic
molds or ice tugs half-full with a hq-
dip.
uid polymer. After the polymer hardens, he places the bugs on top, fills the rest of the mold with more polymer, and within a day he has another bug bead.
The finished product is both eerie and intriguing, he said, although some people are turned off by the roaches.
"The roach beads are the only thing that people have a problem with," he said. "But I think the tackiness and bit of gnarl with the roaches will be catchy. Sometimes people get into really tacky, weird stuff, and this is right on their alley."
The best reaction came from less notorious insects, he said.
Jenny Estrada, Lenexa senior agreed.
"People especially like the beauty o the babybuns," he said.
"I tend to like the beads that have the prettier bugs," Estrada said. "The roaches are a little weird."
Estrada, who has a bracelet made of ladybugs, said some jewelry buyers would like to have beads made with dead insects.
"Some people have a specific bug they really like and would like to see it suspended there," she said.
Although Hines said he hoped his business would be successful, he said his beads also could be used for education.
"Id like to string up the beads and put them in the natural history museum-
"Sometimes people get into really tacky,weird stuff,and this is right up their alley."
Charles Hines
Lenexa senior
um," he said. "And maybe if people buy the beads in stores, they might become more aware of bugs."
His next project is to make buttons or earrings. He said he also wanted to cover his bass guitar with picnic ants.
"It would look cool having the ants just suspended there in a translucent
His jewelry beads take priority, though. The next two will be made from tiger beetles.
“These are one of my favorite kind of beetles because they're really hard to catch and I think they'll make a really sweet bead,” he says, “The first one's going to be mine.”
Charles Hines holds an early experiment in his bug beads, which he made into a necklace. Hines parlayed his interest in bugs into a jewelry business.
Watkins sees high number of heat injuries
Precautions prevent heat stroke, heat cramps,heat exhaustion
By Tracy Ritchie
Council at the Kansen
Special to the Kansar
There has been a rash of students this summer coming into Watkins Memorial Health Center with heat injuries.
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins, said an unusually high number of heat injury cases had been reported for this time of year.
"I think it's because summer came on so suddenly." Yockey said.
Heat injury is a condition caused by the combination of overexposure to heat, inadequate fluid intake and an inability to adapt to hot weather, said Larry Magee, staff physician at Watkins.
rockey said the most common cause for heat injury was a change in temperatures or activities.
People who are accustomed to air conditioning and then begin to spend time either outside or in places without air conditioning could be in danger, he said.
For this reason, Yockey said, high
How to avoid heat injury
Drink several glasses of fluids such as lemonade or a nutrient drink every 30 minutes.
- Watch color and frequency of urination. Normal signs are clear and every 2 to 3 hours.
- See a physician at the first sign
school students on campus for a basketball camp had been complaining of heat cramps.
Rockey said it was important to note the three degrees of heat injury; heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
The most common is heat exhaustion. Signs of heat exhaustion can include headache, nausea, severe muscle cramps, severe weakness, confusion and profuse perspiration.
Heat stroke, which is when the body stops perspiring, is the third and most dangerous degree of heat injury. He said heat stroke had a higher mortality rate than meningitis, a disease that killed a KU student last semester.
Yockey recommended seeing a physician at the first sign of cramps. If first- or second-degree heat injury is ignored, it can turn into heat stroke. This causes the body temperature to rise, and can cause kidney failure, liver failure and brain damage.
"If you get heat stroke, you've ignored a lot of warning signs." Yockey said.
To avoid heat injury, the most important thing is to keep fluids in the body, Yockey said. He recommended drinking several glasses of fluids every 30 minutes
He said the best thing to drink was lemonade, and the next best thing was a nutrient drink such as Gatorade. These drinks have electrolytes, which the body loses in the process of perspiring.
process of perspiration.
Another important sign to watch for is the color and frequency of urination. Yockey said a person should be urinating about once every two to three hours. The normal color of urine is clear, and the darker the color, the more dehydrated a person is.
Heat cramps, and even heat exhaustion if attended to promptly, are both easily treated by medical personnel with fluids and rest.
"If your urine looks like Coke and you don't go very often, you're in trouble." Yockey said.
Yockey stressed that if people watched their fluid intake and did not make the mistake of thinking they were invincible in the high temperatures, heat injury could be avoided.
"The bottom line is, it's preventable." Yockey said
Letterman's goofy humor makes him a success
It's been a rough couple of months for this couch potato.
"Cheers," my favorite sitcom, signed off after 11 seasons, 274 episodes, 111 Emmy nominations and 28 Emmy awards.
Things got even worse for me—and NBC — last week when "Late Night With David Letterman" left the network after 11% seasons.
The quirk talk show began in February 1982 and quickly built a cult following that turned into an audience of millions.
Feeling unappreciated and underpaid by NBC, Letterman is cashing on his success. Dave dumped his "Late Night" digs at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and is moving to CBS for $14 million a year.
Many who don't appreciate Letterman's offbeat brand of humor find him stupid, rude and even offensive. So why has this man, who acts surprised at his own success, lasted so long?
The very traits that turn some viewers off are what make him most appealing to his fans. His appeal is not that he is cool — the way Arsenio Hall sells himself. Letterman is self-admittedly goofy.
Easy. He's different.
Letterman took time to respond to viewer mail every Friday night, but of the 2,200 letters he read, he never gave one serious answer.
Letterman dressed up in bizarre suits a laSteve Allen. He donned a velcro suit and launched himself off a trampoline onto a velcro wall. He wore a suit of Rice Krispies and sat in giant bowl of milk. Wearing a suit of Alka Seltzer, he was lowered into a large glass of water.
More importantly, Letterman could get guests to act in a way they would not have behaved for Leno or Larry King. Newsman Ted Koppel did his own Stupid Human Trick, balancing a dog biscuit on his nose. actor Tom Selleck made motor boat noises in a
"Late Night" gave us Stupid Pet Tricks (70 segments worth) and Stupid Human Tricks.
COMMENTARY
You don't get it? Watch Jay Leno.
metal tub. Actress Cybill Shepherd came on stage wearing a towel. Actress Teri Garr — who according to Letterman is "one fabulous babe" — took a shower in Dave's bathroom when he did the show from his dressing room because the studio was too hot.
While Garr racked up 27 appearances, actress Shirley MacLaine made one. MacLaine was one of Dave's favorite targets because she believes in reincarnation and UFOs.
And when guests were boring, Dave let them know it.
One of Dave's easiest and most popular means of knocking people was
the top 10 list he read early in each episode.
the Rue 1 rejected chapter title from Shirley MacLeane's book according to Letterman. "I'm crazy? You spent $21.95 on this book!"
Of course, sometimes guests let Dave know what they thought of him. Cher gave Dave an insult that had do be censored on the air. Though she later apologized, and Letterman says they are friends, she remains a frequent victim.
All in good fun, Dave reunited Cher and her ex-husband Sonny Bono on the show and got them to sing their 1970s hit "I Got You, Babe."
The No. 1 slogan for Cher's new perfume? "Bring out the Bono in your man."
Letterman's ability to get celebrities to do things they would not do elsewhere might be due to his own self-efeancing nature. Letterman's favorite character recently has been "The Dumb Guy," played by him.
of course, Dave's favorite dumb guy is still Dan Query, who, according to
Despite his fat contract, challenges lie ahead for Letterman at his new home.
On the night of Late Night's sixth anniversary in 1988, Letterman explained why the show had lasted so long: "There's nothing else on!"
However, at CBS, Dave will move from 11:30 (CST) into the 10:30 time slot, going up against Leno and Hall. Lettterman might also have to change his act somewhat to satisfy the audience watching an earlier time slot.
Leno has toned down his act considerably since taking over the "Tonight" show. Nothing will turn off Letterman's loyal fans more than to see him sell out. But he will be competing with two other quality talk shows — instead of the lineup of bad sitcom reruns and dating game programs he faced in his old time slot.
For course, Letterman and his writers have managed to keep the show new and fresh for nearly a dozen
Things are sure to change even more when Letterman moves to the Ed Sullivan Theater and CBS.
In fact, Letterman once remarked on the change this way: "When this show first started, when you were talking about safe sex — that pretty much meant one thing . . . To be safe you would move the bed away from the wall so you wouldn't be banging your head."
Letterman's first show at the new place is scheduled for August 30, so viewers will have to wait a month before the three-way fight to be the king of late night begins.
By the way, my favorite all-time top 10 list: "Top 10 children's books not recommended by the National Library Association." No.1: "The Care Bears maul some campers and are shot dead."
Dave, made New Year's resolutions that included finally catching the roadrunner.
Thanks Dave.
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