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A whole new meaning to having computer bugs

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As the summer months do their worst to make our lives a living greenhouse, humidity and mould are just two of the smaller invasions the average Hong Kong household has to deal with.

They are problems that you can live without, if you don't mind paying for 24-hour air-conditioning, but there is still one problem that, rich or poor, none of us can get away from.

Hong Kong's muggy summer also brings with it the return of the roach. Those unlovable bugs that scuttle behind fixed wall units and breed like nuclear reactors.

But worry not - even the foul and insidious cockroach has its purpose. At least it does in Wendell's Yucky Bug World [www.nj.com/yucky/roaches].

Apparently, a poultice of crushed cockroaches can be a great cure for stings. Wendell also provides some enthralling roach facts - such as that if you chop off a cockroach's head, it will still survive for as long as a week, until it dies of thirst. Or that one South American roach grows to 15 centimetres long with a 30 cm wingspan.

There is not much else you can do with a cockroach, but the kitchens of Iowa State University have found some enticing uses for our other boneless friends. According to Iowa's Tasty Insect Recipes page [www.ent.iastate.
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