- published: 29 Aug 2011
- views: 102591577
True flies are insects of the order Diptera (from the Greek di = two, and ptera = wings). They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. Apart from secondarily flightless insects (including some flies), the only other order of insects with any form of halteres are the Strepsiptera, and theirs are on the mesothorax, with the flight wings on the metathorax.
The presence of a single pair of patent, metathoracic flight wings distinguishes true flies from other insects with "fly" in their names, such as mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, stoneflies, whiteflies, fireflies, alderflies, dobsonflies, snakeflies, sawflies, caddisflies, butterflies or scorpionflies. Some true flies have become secondarily wingless, especially in the superfamily Hippoboscoidea, or among those that are inquilines in social insect colonies.
Some authors draw a distinction in writing the common names of insects. True flies are written as two words, such as crane fly, robber fly, bee fly, moth fly, and fruit fly. In contrast, common names of nondipteran insects that have "fly" in their names are written as one word, e.g., butterfly, stonefly, dragonfly, scorpionfly, sawfly, caddisfly, whitefly. In practice, however, this is a comparatively new convention, and, especially in older books, one commonly might see the likes of "saw fly" and "caddis fly". In any case, non-entomologists cannot in general be expected to tell dipterans, "true flies", from other insects.
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury.
He has recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. His music, and notably his hits, have become popular among younger generations as he continues to host sold-out shows. Throughout his career, Petty and his collaborators have sold 60 million albums.
Tom Petty was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, and attended Gainesville High School. His interest in rock and roll music began at age 10 when he met Elvis Presley. In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley's film Follow That Dream in nearby Ocala, Florida and invited Petty to come down and watch the shoot. He instantly became an Elvis Presley fan and soon traded his Wham-O slingshot for a box of Elvis 45s. In a 2006 interview on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air, Petty said that he knew he wanted to be in a band the moment he saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. One of his first guitar teachers was Don Felder, a fellow Gainesville resident, who would later join the Eagles. As a young man, Petty worked briefly on the grounds crew for the University of Florida, but never attended as a student. An Ogeechee lime tree that he planted while employed at the University is now called the Tom Petty tree.
I was riding on a train that was bound for somewhere
'Neath the big Montana sky
I was just one of the many
Who maybe just wanted to ride
Was it something that they had never seen
Or something they just felt they had to find
'Cause when the world goes by so fast
You feel left behind
Oh, don't you ever want
To fly somewhere high
Somewhere you feel bound to go
But you don't know how
You'll earn your wings to fly
To fly
'Till my eyes caught a man on this lonely train
With the loneliness in his eyes
And he sat down beside me
And we talked for awhile
He said "There's something in your eyes that seems familiar
But I just can't say why
Maybe another face or perhaps another time?"
Or maybe we just want
To fly somewhere high
Somewhere you feel bound to go
But you don't know how
You'll earn your wings to fly
To fly
Weak or strong we all search for that something more
How we long to find that open sky
'Cause in our hearts
We seek the part that God designed for us...
There was a crash and a flash and a million faces
And it lit that great big sky
And in the twinkling of a moment
We all knew
Well, most of us knew
How to fly somewhere high
Somewhere you feel bound to go
But you don't know how
You'll earn your wings to fly
Somewhere high, somewhere
Jesus is waiting and
He has already earned your wings
To fly