Welcome to a truncated version of the David Letterman's
Top Ten List (more or less)(and maybe including 
rejected jokes) 
***********

       Top Six of Top Ten Thoughts On The Minds Of
       People In Line For Star Wars
                   
       9.
         "First in line.... This'll look good on my resume." 
       8.
         "The babes should be coming over to talk to me
         any minute now." 
       7.
        "I shouldn't have to wait in this line -- I'm Carrie
         Fisher." 
       6.
        "I sense a disturbance in my hairline." 
       5.
        "Is that some sort of image-gathering droid?"  
       2.
        "This line better move soon, or Paul will have to
         host the show for me." 
**************
       Top Three Star Wars Fan Euphemisms For
        Not Having A Girlfriend 
       My love life is like Mark Hamill's career. 
       No babes in the tractor beam. 
                    
       Saving myself for Princess Leia. 
*************                  
        Top Eight of Top Ten List for May 26, 1999 
        Top Eight Losing Entries In The Pillsbury
        Bake-Off
        X.Triple caramel pork tarts. 
        X.Times Square taffy                     
        X.Week-old sushi roulette                     
        X.Squirrel shortcake 
       10.
          Newark cream pie 
        9.
          Resin clusters                                       
        5.
          1998's winning entry after one year on the back
          porch 
        4.
          "Thanks for making me your sole beneficiary"
          apple turnover                     
****************
 Review of An article on shrimps near deep sea 
 thermal vents -Science News:Vol 155 No. 14 (Apr 3, 1999)
 Scientists'lights blind deep-sea shrimp
 or "Arggh, I can't see"
  The eye spot on the back of a deep-water shrimp near
thermal vents apparently are permanently blinded when 
exposed to the high intensity floodlights from scientific
craft.  
  The latest evidence comes from Peter J. Herring and 
others at the Southhampton Oceanography Centre in England. 
In the March 11 Nature, they describe shrimp with chalky-
white eyes indicating degraded photopigments, at two fields 
of hydrothermal vents on the Atlantic seabed.  Normally 
the eyespots are pink.  
  At one site, most of the shrimp collected had been blinded.  
That field had often been visited by submersible crafts.  
The other site, had been visited for the first time only a 
month before herring's team sampled the shrimp.  Fewer 
eyespots with degraded pigments were found there.
  There is speculation that the eyespots are used to see the 
glow from the vents, but if that were the case, it does seem 
improbable that the highly adapted spots are on their backs. 
They might be used to keep the shrimp from drifting too far 
up or to see other dangers above.  Anyhow at least some of 
the blind shrimps apparently survived for some time. 
  The damage reminds Herring of problems with the deep water 
crustacean Nethrops.  Well-intentioned fishers off
Scotland tossed undersized catch back into the water, not
realizing that surface light had blinded the creatures.
  Robert N. Jinks of Franklin and Marshall University who 
earlier predicted damage, favors setting aside certain vents
as dark sanctuaries until gentler observation techniques
are developed, 
 
*****************
Here's an article discussing flowers that need to be buzzed
to help pollinate:
SCIENCE NEWS, VOL 155-  Apr 3, 1999
"Color code tells bumblebees where to buzz"
 Some flowers spurt pollen only when bees vibrate them just
right.  
  Some display color changes that welcome insects to 
the fertile blooms.  
 The North American wildflower, the Virginia meadow beauty,
Rhexia virginica uses both of these tricks, according to 
Brendon M.H. Larson and Spencer C.H. Barrett of the 
University of Toronto.
  Insect can move all around, but the anthers release pollen 
only when buzzed.  Bees must shiver their wing muscles, to
vibrate the anthers which then shoot out the pollen.  Bumble
bees, but not honeybees, cause the pollen to shoot out.
  The meadow beauty is one of only a few "buzz-pollinated" 
species which changes color with age.  The second day a 
meadow beauty blooms, its anthers fade to pink.  At this 
point, "reproductively, they're kind of eunuchs."  Both male 
and female gametes have lost most of their viability.  
  However, these blooms do bulk up the display, Barret
points out.  And the larger displays attract more bees.
The bees can then use the color cue to focus on the first 
day flowers. 
  The wildflower's strategy avoids the inefficiency of
flashing a lot of flowers, which can result in pollinators 
just crawling from one to another, wasting the plant's 
pollen on its own blooms. 
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