Sick Bastard March 26, 2007

Liam Howlett (spelling?) is the music genius of the Prodigy.

When one of his albums is sold. He’d get $1 for the fact he ‘wrote’ the material. He’d then get a share (say one fifth) for the performance, which is split between the band.

I heard on the radio that their last album sold around 3 million copies in it’s first week release in the US. So estimating he gets $1.25 that’s a lot of money.

They also get a royalty each time a radio station plays the track, depending on the number of listeners.

A tune played on BBC Radio 1, with around 7/8 million listeners, would be worth about £80 in artist royalties.

Singles are always ‘loss leaders’ they’re promotional tools to sell albums. With mainstream artists, the costs in creating a video and other promotion would be unlikely to be recouped if the track does not go top 10, maybe even top 5

Effects Of Horticultural Oils March 3, 2007

Do you know about the toxicity effect on beneficials for ultra fine  horticultural oils or neem oil (ie Green Light Rose Defense or Green Light Veggie & Fruit Defense)?  I have been told that these both are harmless to beneficial, except that the neem will kill bees if sprayed directly on the bee.

They will kill the larval stages of beneficial insects.

The key is to use these only if damage to the plant is too much, and the beneficials can’t handle it, or aren’t in place for some reason. (That reason is usually that they have been killed off by pesticides.) I’m not a pure organic “nut”, nor do I go crazy when someone uses a pesticide for a specific problem. These are pesticides of choice because of their
minimal impact on the environment, and on you. But sometimes they are necessary…

I’m glad you care. The guys at the nursery are in sell mode, and they really don’t care anyway. Most people are totally unfamiliar with the larval (or baby) stages of insects, and there aren’t a whole lot of pictures to help out either. Insect guide books show the adult stages. A little lesson: Certain insects undergo complete metamorphosis (like
butterflies) and their larval stage does not resemble the adult in any way. Syrphid flies (aka hover flies), aphid wasps (parasitic on aphids), lady beetles and other beetles, lacewings are in this group. Then there are insects that undergo what is called simple metamorphosis. They do not pupate and have the drastic change from babyhood to adulthood. The child resembles the adult (about like a human baby resembles the adult). So it’s still not easy to ID them. They grow, shedding their exoskeleton, until they develop into full adulthood, with wings, and the ability to reproduce. Assassin bugs and other true bugs are in this group. (We mistakenly refer to insects as bugs. Bugs are a special group in the insect class, with certain specific characteristics….)