MacGyvering

In the depth of my myrm-mania a few weeks ago, Chris recommended an episode of MacGyver where Mac goes into the jungles of the Amazon to battle an army of flesh-eating ants. I had never seen an episode of MacGyver, but Chris has trouble remembering what he had for breakfast this morning so I figured if he was recounting details of a TV show that hasn't been on the air for twenty years it must be something special. CBS has every episode of MacGyver available to watch streaming on their website so I checked it out. The episode is called Trumbo's World, and when I watched it last week I had no idea what I had been missing. It's like Rockford Files (of which I've seen every episode) meets Bill Nye the Science Guy. The streaming quality was poor so I Netflixed it immediately.

Formica on the Formica: A Reflection on My Week of "Myrmecocinalogical" Exploits

Formica is the Latin word for ant. That's where formic acid gets its name, the main ingredient in bee and ant stings. In fact formic acid was originally isolated by grinding up ants. Formica is also the name of the heat resistant plastic laminate made famous on kitchen counters across the country. How fitting then, that my lovely red Formica counter-top, which so endeared me to my apartment in the first place, should now be streaming with its own homonym.