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Ever try spittin' a cricket? Well, what are you waiting for? Just hop on over to the annual Bug Bowl, held every spring at Indiana's Purdue University. In addition to the traditional cockroach races, insect petting zoo and bug tasting, the cricket spitting contest is probably the biggest event of all.

So big that Bug Bowl founder Tom Turpin, a Purdue entomology professor (which means he's an insect expert), froze fifteen thousand crickets for participants at this year's event.

People actually jump at the chance to put one of the critters into their mouth and then thwock the thing as far as they can.

Nobody spits crickets better than Dan Capps, who's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for his great expectoration of thirty-two feet and one-half inch. Dan, who works at a meat-packing plant in Madison, Wisconsin, first tried spittin' crickets at the 1998 Bug Bowl because "I'm not squeamish about these things. As it turned out, I was pretty good at it."

Crickets are everywhere at the Bug Bowl. You can get Chocolate Covered Crickets on a Stick, or sample Chocolate Chirpie Chip Cookies, which are made with chocolate chips and, yep, dry-roasted crickets. And if you're not into cricket cuisine, you can sample the Mealworm Chow Mein, if you dare!

(Chompin' at the bit to know more about bug recipes? You can learn how to make such delicacies as Rootworm Beetle Dip and Banana Worm Bread at www. ent.iastate.edu/misc/insectsasfood.html.)

But all the critters aren't dead. The whole point of the Bug Bowl, says founder Tom, is to help people better understand and appreciate our multi-legged friends. You can even hold some of the biggest, baddest bugs at the popular petting zoo—in your hands, that is. Of course, if it's a cricket, you can hold it in your mouth, and then let fly!

In Portugal, a dog named Preta has been walking 16 miles to church every Sunday for the last three years. Preta leaves her owner's home at 5 a.m., walks alone to a church in a neighboring village, and takes her place near the front in time for a 7:30 service. When worshipers stand up or sit down, Preta does the same!

When church is over, she usually walks back home—unless she can catch a ride with a fellow churchgoer.

You'll feel a lot smarter after reading these:

1. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
   
   
2. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
   
   
3. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.
   
   
4. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
   
   
5. Houseflies hum in the middle octave, key of F.
   
   
6. The "L.L." in L.L.Bean stands for Leon Leonwood.
   
   
7. Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal.
   
   

True story: A driver gets caught in an automated speed trap that measures his speed and takes a picture of his car. A few days later in the mail, he gets a ticket for $40 and a photo of his car. Instead of paying the fine, he sends the police department a photograph of $40. Then he gets a letter back from the police with another picture … of handcuffs. The guy quickly wises up and sends in the real money.

When 9-year-old Andy Wilkinson visited Alltel Stadium, home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, his mom wanted to take a picture. So she asked Andy to stick his head in the mouth of a 16-foot bronze statue of the team's mascot, a jaguar. Unfortunately, Mom's bright idea for a little Kodak moment turned into something unexpected: Andy's head got stuck. Rescuers had to cut through one of the statue's fangs to rescue Andy, who has decided to keep his head in safer places, fang you very much.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Campus Life.

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