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NOTE TO SELF: DON'T JUDGE A WORM BY ITS LOOKS


A New Zealand inventor of the "wormorator" has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure. Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy. A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.

In Bell's invention, a colony of worms filters solids from the toilet waste and the leftover water is filtered into underground trenches.

When you think about it and some would rather not and for sure some don't care one way or the other (most likely the latter), the mere fact that they are turning...you-know-what into rich loam could be an indication that they i.e. the worms, enjoy the process. Or...on the other hand and we don't really know since the worms, can't express their true inner feelings, their action and end result could be a result of the trauma of having to deal with human feces. I mean - it's totally understandable.

So my next question is: just where does one find somebody with the right qualifications or indeed any qualification to deal with worm trauma? Can the testimony of a vermiculturalist be believed? What does she/he do to test out her/his theory? Pull a worm out of the earth and have a conversation with it?

"Hello worm," she would probably say. "How 'ya doin' today? I'm fine! So...how d'ya like dealing with all that sh**?"

How could the vermiculturalist know the difference between an unhappy and happy worm? More to the point, does a worm know if its happy or unhappy? Do worms suffer from depression?

Also, in as far as hygeine is concerned, who would sit on this compost toilet?

The Auckland Regional Council's concerns went down the pan after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu found the worms in excellent health and breeding happily. I guess one has to take her word for it.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071216/oddities/nzealand_animals_offbeat_worms

We had visitors swim in this past week to help Captain SeaCroft in his quest to clean up the sea: Boris Blowfish, Jasper Jellyfish, BuckStar (and you thought I was going to say Starbucks didn't you?) Clam-mity and Corabell Clownfish.

I think I'm in the sea, snail and bug mode of illustrating right now. This illo is not part of the original "captain" concept but one I've had in my sketchbook for some time. These cheery fellows were just wiggling off the page saying "pick us to be your visitors please!"

I'm dreaming of captains manning their underwater armies fighting to keep the seas clean. This is only a portion of the actual concept for "captain" however my time is very limited over the next couple of weeks, so I am posting just a vingette of the complete scene.

The illustration I indicated in my previous post is still not finished but I'm enjoying the subject so much. I'll give you a hint...it too has an underwater feel to it. I guess I must be dreaming of a vacation by the sea! Finishing it will have to wait though as my husband's parents are coming from out of state for a visit tomorrow.