Cockroaches

(Writer's Notes: I assume that you have seen the pic before you managed to read this, in which case, you can do either of the two in case you are eating right this moment. One, you can go to another site OR you can turn off your computer for the meantime. Yes, you have already seen that ugly cockroach, but at least you can finish your food in peace. I am talking to those who are easily disturbed with pictures of insects, murders, violence, snakes, and the like.)

There, having said that, let me go on. No, lest you think this is another letter, this time to a cockroach...you are wrong. Although there was a time in the distant past when a cockroach followed me for half a day- it followed me wherever I went. Don't ask me how I knew it was the same cockroach, I JUST KNEW. I think that if I conversed with it at that time, it would have talked. The 2 of us would have gone down in history as the pioneers of the "New Era: the Forging of Friendship Between Humanity and the Cockroach Community". Such a shame I did not do it then.

I have four facts for you today, on the topic of cockroaches.

1. On a nuclear blast (global scale): this I'm sure most of you already know. If the cockroach is near enough, it surely would get killed by the blast...as surely as if any person stepped on it. However, if it is a continent away, it would survive all that radiation. Fact is, according to experts, it would probably be the only living thing (I am excluding plants) that would remain alive.

2. If you see a cockroach flying, it is a female one...it has to be a female one. Most people think that they fly because...because...because...well, because they can. Wrong, the female is about to give birth and she is looking for the most convenient place for her to lay her eggs. So, if you are one of those committed to stop the population boom of the cockroaches, next time you see a flying one, chase it up to the ends of the earth, if need be, then kill it.

3. Microwave oven: Have you ever wondered if one puts a cockroach inside the microwave oven...will it die? Answer is : the heat is not uniform inside the machine, the plate of course is the concentration-point of the heat. If the cockroach manages to go under it or anywhere outside that concentration-point, it might just live. If it gets hit by the focus though, it should explode. (Hey, if you have gone back to eating while on this part of the article, sorry. I told you to finish that, whatever it is you are eating.)

4. Headless state:
Actually, a cockroach whose head has been cut off will still die, but unlike humans, it could survive for a long time. In theory, it could last up to a month, believe it or not. Consider these facts pertaining to humans:

One, we do our breathing via the nose/mouth. Our breathing is controlled by the brain, and next...second: a beheaded human will die immediately due to a dramatic loss of blood and the blood pressure drop. Another thing, third...even if this person experiences a great miracle and does not die at once...question...how will he/she eat?

Now, we go back to the cockroaches, all the aforementioned reasons are not applicable to them.

They breath via spiracles which are located on every body section. These spiracles bring air to every cell via a group of tubes (tracheae), and breathing is not managed by their brain. Their blood pressure is not akin to the mammal's, thus separating the head from the body would not result to uncontrolled loss of blood. Cockroaches need less food, our 1-day meal would make them capable of surviving up to one full month. That is, assuming it will not be very busy, thus...if it is an athlete-cockroach...it will die pretty soon.

Cool temperatures coupled with all these might just allow a cockroach to live up to one month even if it's head is already kilometers away from it. Fact is, more than its headless state, an infection from a bacterium can kill it first.

There...I am done...cockroach anyone? Er...what I mean...it's your turn...anybody with a cockroach trivia/datum for me? I am all ears...in this case...since it's a blogsite...I'm all eyes...with my head in its rightful place and fully secured.