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Spider Missing After Trip To Space Station
Garabito writes "A spider that had been sent to the International Space Station for a school science program was lost. Two arachnids were sent in order to know if spiders can survive and make webs in space, but now only one spider can be seen in the container. NASA isn't sure where the other spider could have gone. I, for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords."
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I for one, welcome our ne.....
Damn you summary for stealing our memes!
The other spider in the container was hungry :)
"People's problem is not that they are mortal, but that they are suddenly mortal" Terry Pratchett
3 - 2 - 1
If I were those astronauts, I'd be hoping the spider bites me.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Is the other spider suspiciously... Larger?
Lost.
That's what the other spider claims, anyway. In other news, that spider just submitted a replacement for ReiserFS.
Isn't that how this whole fiasco started? With a spider going missing... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man
Doesn't it seem likely that the remaining spider ate the other? I mean, it's not like spiders have a strong moral objection to cannibalism...
Think outside the... Hey, where'd the friggin' box go?
There's a spider...lost...in space.
*snicker**snort*
You think your arachnophobia is bad now...
I would guess: outside the container! At least if they have looked through it all and you're incorrect.
Samuel Jackson just got a 3AM phone call ...
It mutated and acquired super-spider powers.
We've probably all seen the video on youtube with the stoned spiders, and the kooky webs they make. I wonder what the effects of cosmic radiation will be on this spider who will be waiting a long time for a snack to buzz into his web. Unless, by space-surviving spider, they mean he can eat non-living things like dust? I think he likely drifted off like the $100000 tool belt that one space-walking astronaught lost yesterday. At least this loss wasn't as expensive. However it's possible this is a mutated spider that craves the media attention for the lulz, in which case it's possible that the spider unlatched the tool-belt in order to make a getaway, and build his own Evil Spider Space Station, with his newly acquired tool set, and other classified missing materials (that would not be reported)!
Although in another scenario, the tool belt will fall to earth with the spider riding it, Slim Pickens style, to crash land and obliterate some curious bystander, ala Dead Like Me. I still think it is more likely the spider will crash land somewhere and start another internet meme (link site contains articles that are 100% NSFW).
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
All your webs are belong to us
In a late braking story, Joe the Spider has just begun the first satellite-to-satellite web hookup. Gone are the days of brick-and-mortar, WWW 3.0 is silk.
Go Mighty Joe.
In a place beyond time and space, in a land far better than this, look for me there...
Actually, spiders do not eat other spiders. While they are known for being very aggressive towards other species, spiders will not attack each other.
The more you know...
Lets hope its not female. they will have to abandon the whole station. if that's the case think Millions of spiders :) Make sure to get Photos!
WulframII - Free Online Mutiplayer 3D Tank Shooting Game
Does they really think that spider wants to make a web when there is no mosquitos or flyes etc there?
Mayby thats why the spider dropped off from that trip and went to havana for getting a suntan.
there were redundant spiders. A must in space applications.
Boy Bitten by Radioactive Spider Dies of Leukemia (Sorry, couldn't source the original)...
The arachnid was sent in order to know if spiders can survive and makes webs in space...
makes? I makes teh webs and yous gives mes teh bugs. Otherwise, I eats other spiders.
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
If right now, I were an astronaut wearing a spacesuit, I guess I'd be feeling kind of itchy all over...
Eight-Legged Freaks!
Putting the "anal" back into "analyst"...
Cosmic rays + a spider? Keep an eye on any astronauts that get bitten by it.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
The spider had hidden inside the lost toolkit and it's now drifting in orbit. It turns out that yes, spiders can build webs in space and it's busy right now building a world wide web.
IANWYTIA (I Am Not Who You Think I Am)
Step 1: "Lose" toolbag in space
Step 2: "Lose" spider in space
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Space domination
If I can not smoke in heaven, then I shall not go. -- Mark Twain
found it!
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Only one spider could read.
If this was the result of spider cannibalism, it'd be easier to just find the dessicated spider husk left in the container. They probably checked for that.
The enemies of Democracy are
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...check the lid.
-- A cat is no trade for integrity!
To everyone (including myself) whose first thought was that the one spider ate the other, I'd suggest we consider how spiders eat.
Spiders don't swallow prey whole. If it'd been two or three octopuses, fish, snakes, frogs or any other sort of animal, this would make sense. But I'd be willing to bet one spider eating the other wouldn't have gone unnoticed for at least a couple of reasons. First, spiders don't eat quickly. One spider eating something the same size would be sucking the juices out of the other for quite a long time (hours). Second, the spiders are messy in the sense that they tend to leave dried out carcasses laying around after they're done.
So... that's probably not what happened.
All spiders can only ingest liquid food, and in fact have two filters to prevent solids from getting in.
From there it gets funnier:
- most spiders simply inject the prey with enzymes that liquefy its innards, then suck the resulting liquid lunch. In this case they'd still find the empty chitin shell of the spider.
- some actually "chew" the food while flooding it with enzymes to dissolve it, but I'm guessing even in this case they'd still find legs and whatnot from the dead spider.
I guess the big question at this point is exactly what species of spider were these two.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
More space disasters. It's practically Challenger revisited.
I can't believe nobody's made a "Spiders From Mars" reference.
You never expect irony, do you?
Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
@iyfwrestling
...make webs in space? There's nothing to catch. Or did they take a box of flies (or maybe ants, since the spiders' prey didn't need wings to hit the webs) to feed the 8-legged beasties?
It's not really missing. It's just busy working on a collaboration with David Bowie.
This guy's the limit!
Web 3.0
My god people, is slashdot actually linking to ABC action news? I mean come on, firstly the summary (of the summary) is woefully incomplete.. Even though the original link also belongs to ABC at least it doesnt have the word "action" attached to "news". I'm just waiting for ABC's next upgrade to SEXY, ACTION NEWS... a bit elitist? Maybe.. but at least the original link clarifies the story rather than leaving out information in order to make the story more "exciting".. From TFA: "NASA isn't sure where the spider could have gone." Doesn't mean they don't have an idea..
From the original article: "Kirk Shireman, deputy shuttle program manager, says that while only one spider is visible, that doesn't mean the other is missing. 'We don't believe he has escaped the payload. I am sure we will find him spinning a web somewhere in the next few days."
That's why Heidi let the bag go yesterday. I know my wife runs out of the room screaming when she sees a spider.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
This is clearly a way to pump up the galactic PR machine for Web of Science.
The spider ran off to Tau Ceti in order to invent the positronic ray. Unfortunately, a band will name itself "Missing Spider" once the movie is made about it.
A spider that had been sent to the International Space Station for a school science program was lost.
The spider's just out missing some classes. For sure, he (or she) was tired of all those science stuff. Damn boring teachers!
Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.
"I for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords."
Why would you do that? Why would you put a classic reply in your summary of the article and rob some poster of a 5 Funny rating? You're just mean.
... Backwards.
My spidey sense is tingling,
I wonder if anyone will get bitten on the space station and come back to face the goblin.....
I have had it with these motherf***ing spiders on this motherf***ing space station!
(Sorry, couldn't resist...)
Houston: ISS we got the final answer.
ISS: Roger that, Could you read it up to us?
Houston: Sure
Professor Eight Legs, in the plastic box, with the mandibles.
ISS: Roger that, I guess the shuttle crew wins this round.
The spider webs in space experiment was already tried in 1973 aboard Skylab.
Did they check the tool bag? Oh, wait...
Best "String" Ever!
...no one can hear you skitter...
spiders don't eat the exoskeleton of their food. there would be an empty spider shell in the cage if one spider had eaten the other.
Though most spiders are cannibals and will eat one another if food is scarce. (or just plain kill each other to limit competition)
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
...an alien probe named S'pdr will encounter the USS Enterprise.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
"I would guess: outside the container!"
Found it!
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
Stupid spiders, what do they expect to catch! Spiders are dumb.
The missing spider had GPS, but was unfortunately outside* the service range.
*above
It could be worse ...
There could be a Sodium Bicarbonate Volcano lost in space.
Spiders on drugs is just as interesting. (Video) (Pictures)
Think about that before your next Jolt Cola.
Looks like these Orb Weavers are more like Orbit Weavers.
Perhaps we could get them to make a new toolbag!
liqbase
Only our trusty U.S. Federal Government would spend untold Ba-Zillions of dollars on a box to hold spiders... only to have that fail when used.
I mean it's bad enough when a spider vanishes when you're trying to kill it (cause now it's mad). Imagine you're an astronaut outside looking for the spider, and of course then you focus your eyes in closer and there it is on the inside of your facemask. Eigh!
(Cue some arachnophile bragging about how that's not scary at all and how he lets spiders walk on his tongue etc.)
She already filed for registering the word Bugger.
those things that ripley so artfully keeps protecting us from.
In other news, the Vogon demolition fleet was sighted in high Earth orbit earlier today...
Now, after the spider is bombarded with cosmic radiation, it makes its way back to planet Earth where it either joins Reid Richards and his team of do-gooders, or it goes on to become the newest super-villain to ever face the Fantastic Four!!!
I can't wait for the episode where our new villian tries to sink its fangs into The Ever-lovin' Thing!
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
It was just beamed up to their mothership. Prepare for the arachnocalypse!!!
Real men read Slashdot articles at -1, bottom up.
A spider that had been sent to the International Space Station for a school science program
And they say we don't spend enough on education.
Think about that before your next Jolt Cola.
I like how the spider on THC did better than the one on caffeine. We should outlaw caffeine and legalize pot.... clearly the caffeine is more dangerous ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
yeah, but those tests were in the crappy old Skylab. These new tests will be in the awesome new ISS. Much better.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665847
A new Super Hero is born.
Think Deeply.
Here, let me Google that for you, NASA.
Because for every spider we send to space, that's one less left here on earth trying to eat us.
Maybe they are just rocket scientists rather than people who post on the internet on the best way to resolve possible cases of spider cannibalism.
Bark for modpoints! BARK FOR MODPOINTS!
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I don't know, this sounds like the opening scenes of a sci-fi horror movie to me.
No, just trying to eat you, and me, since we seem to share the same fear...
Without gravity to constrain its size, it will grow to ten feet very soon.
The only reason that THC is illegal and caffeine is legal is because Big Caffeine is so powerful. Fuckin' JFK killed in Dallas, same place Starbucks started. Makes you think, don't it?
Don't bogart that thing, man. Pass it over here.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Clearly it followed that statistic of how many spiders you eat in a lifetime, so a search of the astronauts digestive track would be more effective.
...because scientists often repeat experiments...and school kids often use experiments with known results while learning the scientific method...if I was still a kid and had a chance to send a spider into space, even knowing that it has been done before, I would still be stoked to see what happened with _my_ spider, and share the experience with the class.
Wow, you totally went meta- on this thread, YOU ARE SO COOL!
Hahahahaha, nice :)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
These spiders are not as they appear to be. They are merely the projection into our dimension of hyperintelligent, pandimensional beings. This whole science project has been stage-managed by them from the start to get back to their home dimension.
Another case of news media sensationalizing what really happened. There are two spiders in the habitat (spider habaitat, not ISS human habitat). The goal is to see how two spiders will interact in micro-gravity.
For about the first 24 hours after launch only one spider was seen. After that BioServe Space Technologies at CU Boulder (the group responsible for the habitat) located the other spider. It had simply been outside of the view of the camera.
Didn't NASA learn a lesson about sending insects and spiders into space after that incident they had with the Ants when they sent that Simpson fellow up?
My God! It's full of Arachnids!!
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father! Prepare to die!
I for one welcome our new meme-stealing overlords.
--------------------------------
Not all who wander, are lost.
You're welcome.
-- The American Taxpayer
Actually youve probably eaten more spiders than spiders have eaten you.
So we've got a spider with 8 arms, a bag of sophisticated tools, and a good source of mutagenic cosmic radiation. I don't like the look of this.
Hypothetically let us say that the spider somehow ended up outside the space shuttle. The question is what would happen to a spider if we left it floating in space for a week or two? Considering that they're cold blooded and their circulatory system is rather basic and non-pressurized (since all the organs bathe in a pool of copper based blood) will the spider die? And, if so, from what?
And maybe I'm not talking to the rocket scientists, but folks on the internet who apparently don't know how spiders eat.
But excellent use of the anti-slashdoters-thinking-they're-smarter-than-scientists meme, with bonus points for inappropriateness.
The enemies of Democracy are
Just because the others don't know that all spiders are trying to eat them doesn't mean the spiders aren't.
That's why Heidi let the bag go yesterday. I know my wife runs out of the room screaming when she sees a spider.
Unless the spider was hiding in the tool bag and is now returning to earth after being exposed to unshielded cosmic rays.
Did anyone ask Heidi if she swallowed a fly?
Sometimes, life itself is sarcasm...
Arachnophobia is the most common phobia, certainly in the western world. It's certainly not innate. Babies show no fear of spider at all. We pick arachnophobia up from our parents and from those around us, and it's easy to see why. When people around you, and almost everyone you see in contemporary media displays arachnophobia, it's hard not to be arachnophobic. Hollywood's use of spiders, and spider like creatures, as stock horror objects is actually a self perpetuating.
I would compare this to the slightly less common, and more substantiated, fear of wasps and bees. People will become very, very nervous around wasps and bees, jumping up from their seats, running away, or trying to kill the creature. But the reality is that these creatures will rarely sting unless you disturb them or their nest(at least in europe). Nevertheless fear of wasps is much more acceptable than fear of spiders, but only slightly more justifiable, and it's just as irrational.
Some people are so arachnophobic that they will actually kill any spiders they see. It's a very ugly thing to see someone quite viciously slam down a shoe or newspaper on a spider as it tries to scurry to safety. There is no reason to it. At least people who stand on chairs aren't taking it out on the spider. Apparently a cure for a phobia is gentle exposure. A friend of mine went to a spider museum in Prague and apparently lost all apprehension around spider entirely. I'm not sure I'd recommend this for your wife though.
May the Maths Be with you!
Indeed, but they won't believe, they'll believe when they're dangling from the rafters in their web cocoon.
a spider's thread of silk
a butterfly's wingbeat
better than fiction
"Violence is the last refuge of the competent, and, generally, the first refuge of the incompetent" - Thing_1
I have had it with these motherfucking spiders on this motherfucking space station!
"Violence is the last refuge of the competent, and, generally, the first refuge of the incompetent" - Thing_1
This is where the whole term debugging computers came from, literally a bug got into the works of one of the early computer.
From Wikipedia:
While working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University, her associates discovered a moth stuck in a relay and thereby impeding operation, whereupon she remarked that they were "debugging" the system. Though the term computer bug cannot be definitively attributed to Admiral Hopper, she did bring the term into popularity.[7] The remains of the moth can be found in the group's log book at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.[8]
And Yes, I know that the term bug was used in aeronautics even before that...
"Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
From the more detailed article: "
Kirk Shireman, deputy shuttle program manager, says that while only one spider is visible, that doesn't mean the other is missing. 'We don't believe he has escaped the payload. I am sure we will find him spinning a web somewhere in the next few days.'"
This is why I don't trust any form of "Action" news.
Worry not, I'm sure NASA is already firing up their ion cannon to fight the beast. It masquerades by day as a mild-mannered Earth sensing satellite.
Starbucks was actually founded in Seattle.
-- Brought to you by Carl's JR
That's what THEY want you to think...
who paid about 0.000000002 cents to get the spider into space
STATUS CHECK 11/19/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
STATUS CHECK 11/20/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
STATUS CHECK 11/21/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH MISSING, PLEASE VERIFY
STATUS CHECK 11/22/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
STATUS CHECK 11/22/08 16:05 UTC: ION CANNON COORDINATES RECIEVED. FIRING
STATUS CHECK 11/23/08 00:00 UTC: EARTH PRESENT
http://pinopsida.com
Because for every spider we send to space, that's one less left here on earth trying to eat us.
If I promise to try eating you guys will somebody send me on the ISS? Please! :-)
This has "Sci Fi Channel Original" (Movie) written all over it.
Andrew Borntreger
Champion of cinematic disasters
Does the spider now become an "illegal Alien"?
I admit, I LOLd.
Did they bother to check up any waterspouts?
(Sheesh. Do I have to the thinking for everybody around here? Even my 1-year-old knows this.)
--- The American Way of Life is not a birthright. Hell, it's not even sustainable.
Starship Troopers, lol.
Arachnophobia is the most common phobia, certainly in the western world. It's certainly not innate. Babies show no fear of spider at all. We pick arachnophobia up from our parents and from those around us, and it's easy to see why. When people around you, and almost everyone you see in contemporary media displays arachnophobia, it's hard not to be arachnophobic. Hollywood's use of spiders, and spider like creatures, as stock horror objects is actually a self perpetuating.
And frankly, when you've looked at both a shrimp and a spider up close, you really have to wonder at why people don't scream more in seafood restaurants...
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
If one of the astronauts is still able to clime walls when back in gravity and able to see without their glasses, I think we'd all know what happened...
Whoa! You really are a dickbat!
Shut up! >:(
As soon as we find a way for a man to carry children, I'm having Hal_Porter's babies!
How sweet. The "snakes on a plane" meme and the "welcome our arachnid overlords" meme have mated to produce a new meme, "the spiders in space" meme.
Or it was sweet, before one meme ate the other after mating, and then was devoured by the child.
Brings a tear to my eye...
Woof.
Perhaps he's sorting tiny screws?
Obviously, the spider has flown off to Planet Arachnid with vital human intel for the overthrow of the human race. Beware, the arachnids are coming!
on eBay
I like microcars
I have a fair amount of arachnophobia. If I were on the station and a spider turned up missing I'd take a page from Sigourney Weaver's book -- don a space suit and blow the airlock to suck the hideous beast into space.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
Remember that web on caffeine. Because this is how the internet looks like actually.
Maybe the spider - now free of the confines of Earths atmosphere - was able to teleport to his home planet Metebelis. http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_3Z.htm
Perhaps the 2nd spider was a 3-d representation of one from Google's Lively.
I was saving that money to buy stock :-(
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
Well I don't know I
Heard it started
Out
Of a
Small town just outside Dallas
However I might be wrong.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
"But the reality is that these creatures will rarely sting unless you disturb them or their nest(at least in europe)."
No way. I grew up in Pennsylvania with a swimming pool in my backyard. You wouldn't believe how much insects a pool in that area attracts. Many, many times if a few friends were over to swim, and the wasps felt threatened of their water source (for their nests in our attic) then they would get very aggressive. They would even just randomly sting people lounging out on the deck. Bumble bee's are one thing, but wasps just don't even want you nearby (even if you were there first). Also, you preyed everytime you mowed the lawn that you wouldn't disturb an underground nest...
In soviet Russia, Your Spider Overlords welcome you!
Make America grate again!
No one will believe this, but I didn't actually post the above comment.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Shuttle Flight: $500 million
Spider habitat: $9
Losing half of test subjects: Priceless
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
"Some people are so arachnophobic that they will actually kill any spiders they see."
I'm not afraid of spiders in the least, but I kill them because I don't want bugs in my house. Yes, spiders aren't insects (I said "bugs" :P), yes they eat other bugs, but I still don't want one crawling around in my bedsheets!
I wouldn't go around killing spiders outside though, that would be dumb...
... it's Boris.
Which goes to show you that pimps, even those with medical degrees, cannot take a joke.
Arachnophobia may not be innate (I think you could argue either way on this--my daughter cried when she saw a spider crawling along the rail of her crib--and as far as I know, that's the first time she ever saw one), but it's a reasonable response.
Spiders are venomous. For an average person, identification of spiders at any distance isn't easy, so the "danger! move away" response is the safe one. And eliminating spiders in a child's bedroom, for instance, is pretty much a no-brainer.
Here in California, one of the common spiders is the Black Widow. When I was a child, my father wound up in the hospital after being "bitten" by a Black Widow. Which again means that the "danger! move away" response makes sense.
With bees and wasps, you've got people who know either first or second hand about the pain of a sting, so again, I don't think a moderate amount of fear is unreasonable, no matter that the danger of being stung is pretty low. For people like myself (where anaphylactic shock is a possibility) moving away from the vicinity of bees is not only reasonable, but wise.
All that to say that I don't think some degree of concern about spiders, bees, and wasps is completely unreasonable--which is what a phobia implies.
By the way, I used to scoop up spiders and carry them outside when I found them indoors. But since I've been married, I usually have to vacuum them up. Sheesh--lose track of one spider on the way to the front door and you'll never live it down :-)
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
I respectfully disagree. Some people will probably believe you.
In Hawaii, only the tourists are scared of our big-as-your-palm cane spiders. Everyone else doesn't mind having them in the house because they eat all the other bugs.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
It's good you're here to fight the meta thing by commenting on it.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
this is not news.
this is fucking nonsense.
i hope they're all bitten and die in outer space.
but I kill them because I don't want bugs in my house.
And, as you note, you end up with MORE bugs in your house, because the spider isn't batting cleanup anymore.
Unless it's a hazardous spider I generally leave it alone.
I don't read AC A human right
What about the hallucingenics? Those webs didn't look all that different than the drug free spider - maybe spaced out more, but not nearly as spaced out as the spider on THC!
Defiantly NOT my experience.... when making webs, I mean.
I like how the spider on THC did better than the one on caffeine.
Let's see which spider does a better job at grepping through a thousand logfiles at 10 in the morning! If it's still the one on THC, I've got a big lifestyle change ahead of me...
Yep ... "If the remaining spider is female the spider my be inside her. ... and soon to see if there are spiders in the computer, and on the rail!"
www.Migrainesoft.com - Computer giving you a headache? We can fix that!
The first question I'd be asking is what the hell kind of spider is it?
This could be the plot for the next Sam Raimi flick.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Depending on the size and type of the spider, there might not be much of a husk left.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Send Peter Parker up, he's got a knack for finding lost mutant spiders. Osh
Do they also subject other spiders to acceleration similar to that experienced in takeoff?
Otherwise, it seems you wouldn't know if any differences in web construction were due to weightlessness or to the possible residual effects of takeoff.
Damn you summary for stealing our memes!
I'm sure it didn't meme to.
So catch them and take them outside. It's not at all difficult.
Perhaps you should work more on sealing your house to outsiders instead of killing the ones that wander in.
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
With hamster supply low and boredom running high... Could be. Try checking the astronauts digestive tracts...
Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_Robinson
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
SUCKED. Being desecra, umm, dessicated...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Starbucks was actually founded in Seattle.
Using Peet's coffee.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
More likely it's a well-executed prank by the grade shool kids. "Sure, we put two spiders in there. Something must have happened to one..."
Hopefully the spider wasn't bombarded by Gamma Radiation on re-entry. Watch out, Peter Parker!
Only if you are a spider.
Uh, actually, the first ever Starbucks was opened in a restroom of another Starbucks. And to this day, Starbucks is the poster child of forceful penetration.
wanted to "spin a web of deceit"...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
It probably ended up in the toolbag that floated away. It'll probably colonize another planet by asexually reproducing - I give it about 3 months before we hear from *them*
People, remember, this is s rigorous scientific experiment based on literally billions of dollars worth of equipment.
If you look at this scientifically, the obvious conclusion is that spiders in space have a 50% chance of spontaneously developing teleportation powers. This vital experiment should put to rest all the loonies who claim space can't do that to people, we have hard proof now.
The more pressing question is why didn't NASA talk about the gecko heat vision experiments in the next chamber over?
-Charlie
But, a future obit might say, "Starbucks FounDERED In Many Places..."
(It seems Borders is having problems, so Seattle's Best in Borders may be losing a home in many places... FWIW)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
You have fallen for their disinformation.
The US has a nice breed of imported wasps (from Africa I think) that aren't supposed to be here. They're much worse than normal wasps and will sting you for your mere existence. They also hurt a lot worse. We have good reason to run away or viciously counterattack with electric flyswatters (my personal favorite).
On the other hand, the only spiders that bother me are the poisonous ones. I tend to lump common wood spiders in with this group because they are hard to distinguish from the poisonous Hobos without a magnifying glass. (Jumping spiders make fun 5-minute pets; they'll jump from hand-to-hand or kill a Black Widow in a jar.)
The government can't save you.
That just what they want us to think. In all reality they are trying to make people scared to go into space so they can rule the universe!
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Let's see which spider does a better job at grepping through a thousand logfiles at 10 in the morning! If it's still the one on THC, I've got a big lifestyle change ahead of me...
The smart spider would write a script to automate that process and reward himself with some THC afterwards ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
When I was digging up my garden, I would occasionally find myself disturbing a big old black-backed bumblebee. Those guys would just stumble around for a bit and eventually fly off. I'd definitely invite them to hang out for a beer and some TV.
Wasps, though... wasps are dicks; like aggro paranoid coke fiends.
"Oh she wants to conquer the world completely
But first she'll conquer me discreetly
The female of the species is more deadly than the male"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-wIvsZBFhQ
How can the people know so little about how Starbucks joined the CIA, the Mafia, and the Knights Templar to take out JFK?
Similar to the upcoming US election results
I hate people who post wishing they had mod points, but I wish I had mod points. Funniest comment in a while.
Actually, JFK was killed in Seattle, and THEY want you to think it was Dallas. That is how powerful THEY truly are.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Some people are so arachnophobic that they will actually kill any spiders they see. It's a very ugly thing to see someone quite viciously slam down a shoe or newspaper on a spider as it tries to scurry to safety. There is no reason to it.
Ever been bitten by a spider? It's quite a bit worse than your average wasp sting.
But I'm not afraid of spiders, really, I just don't want them in my house. Same with ants, flies, house centipedes and anything else that crawls in. Is that so wrong?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The spider left after it found a robots.txt file.
[Insert pithy quote here]
I visited New Orleans as a kid once, and ordered shrimp at a restaurant. I was used to fried shrimp, or cocktail shrimp. They brought out a plate full of boiled shrimp, head and all. Couldn't eat a bit of it.
Of course, now I'll eat anything. Even suck the brains right out of a crawfish. MMmm. Makes me wonder what spiders taste like. Anyone have a recipe?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Until we're free of the bears, we will never be able to breathe easy.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
meta
Help test the
You changed my post u jackass?
It's -10 C outside now - do I pick death by squishing, or death by freezing?
Before reading your comment I had no suspicion that you did.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
No one will believe this, but I didn't actually post the above comment.
You might want to consider changing your password then. From a PC other than the pwnzored one you are currently using.
This is a shamless plug to my photography site but I taken some hardocre photos of spiders, wasps and mantises over the years. If you have a fear of spiders and wasps, this might be the gentle exposure you need.
2 in, one out? lunch?
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
> I don't think some degree of concern [...] is completely unreasonable--which is what a phobia implies.
I do not believe you are correct. A phobia is an intense, and generally irrational, fear of something. In other words, an extreme degree of concern, rather than just "some".
H ow c a n the people k n ow s o little about ho w S t arbucks j oined the CIA, the Ma f ia, and the K nights Templar to take out JFK?
But JFK shot first...
I would compare this to the slightly less common, and more substantiated, fear of wasps and bees. People will become very, very nervous around wasps and bees, jumping up from their seats, running away, or trying to kill the creature. But the reality is that these creatures will rarely sting unless you disturb them or their nest(at least in europe).
Except for goddamn yellow jackets. Oh, sure, they'll only sting you if you disturb the nest...but they hide the damn nests underground so you can easily walk on them.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Oops!
It's a very ugly thing to see someone quite viciously slam down a shoe or newspaper on a spider as it tries to scurry to safety.
I am arachnophobic, actually, and while I'm intelligent enough to critically reflect on my condition and consider the ethical implications of killing due to my phobia, I think you're painting with too broad a brush here.
For me at least, it all depends on where a spider is located. If it's outside, I'll leave it alone if it leaves me alone, and I'm not going to try and kill it - why would I? If it's in my condo, though, then things are different.
I'd submit that most arachnophobiacs are like this. It sure makes sense, too: if you really are afraid of spiders, what you really want is to not see them and not interact with them at all. Personally, even not considering whether it's justified or not to kill a random spider, I'd find killing a spider that is somewhere outside of my own place much more disgusting than leaving it be; even just touching the same newspaper or whatever that killed the spider would be disgusting for me.
But, they lost it. If they are no longer in possession of said tool bag, how could they check it?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" -Voltaire
Maybe someone pulling the strings liked it so much they wanted to see it again....
Should a fly try to fly, would it end up hitting it's head in an attempt to counteract gravity?
I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
>>Nevertheless fear of wasps is much more acceptable than fear of spiders, but only slightly more justifiable, and it's just as irrational.
Tell that to the 4 people I know who have to carry epi-pens around in case of bee stings.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
Is More Deadly Than The Male
think the band is called Space
ah.... the 90s .....
Obviously.
Because it gets kids interested in science and space. There's little "new" stuff to learn from it, but there is a HUGE future benefit to getting kids directly involved in science projects like that. They learn the scientific process, how to think about things logically, and so on, and are attracted to it because it is such a big thing. It's not some silly chemistry lab experiment, they actually get to talk to astronauts and stuff.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
How about an asian giant hornet? I think any fear of them would be justified.
It was hiding in the tool bag and opened the grease gun.
It is now in its own orbit.
Those long-range wasp cans are frickin' awesome, as are the wasp traps. You put them out in the spring, and they never really get a foothold.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
As long as he is not in my house, my car, anything of mine...
Very nice photos.
If you choose freezing, it has a chance to escape while taking it outside. Crush the hell-spawn and be done with it.
Except Starbucks started in Seattle, Washington, good try though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks
It's good to see NASA testing out the major airlines' new inflight meals....
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
Didn't this happen on The Brittas Empire once?
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
That cane spider looks cool. But it also resembles a Brazilian Wandering Spider. Those are described as 'stupid agressive'. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/techuser/2158857410/in/set-72157603167029346/).
I'd be apprehensive of the Cane Spider too, just to be on the safe side.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
That would certainly make me nervous, however the camel spiders I met during my time in 'the Iraq' nearly made me scream. I know they're not spiders per se...but they're pretty much what you would get if a spider had sex with a nightmare.
-=Bang Bang=-
Microwave.
I am always disappointed when scientific studies are limited by tiny imaginations. Had they designed a better environment, I bet the spider's webs would have been much more spacey, i.e. My Art (I'm training to be a space spider in my next life.)
Ah, the good old nature vs nurture debate.
There are a lot of behaviours not exhibited by babies and young children that are nonetheless not 'learned' behaviours (their brains are still developing, after all). Some behaviourists have insisted that facial expressions, and even emotions, are entirely learned, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. The prevalence of arachnophobia suggests that there could be an inborn tendency to develop it. This would not make it entirely unlearned (and does not mean that one could not be conditioned to overcome it), but to insist that it is an invention of western culture perpetuated by Hollywood is likely incorrect.
I have nothing against spiders. I appreciate what they do. I'm not bothered by jumping spiders (even the big ones) or daddy longlegs, or insects. But something about the way wolf spiders move, or the dangling legs of orb weavers, triggers a very powerful phobia in me, and this seems to be the quality that bothers others that I've discussed this with as well. I have family members that are afraid of snakes, or mice, or earwigs, and I never developed a phobia of any of these creatures. I'm not looking to excuse my phobia, but I hear alarm bells go off any time someone insists that a behaviour can't possibly have an inborn component.
You insensitive clod!
It is obviously a Space Traveler Cosmic Ray Augmented Aluminium^wTitanium-Eater Transgenic Earth-Reentry-Able Giant Spider Overlord of Doom Overlord.
-><- no
Starbucks started in Seattle, not Dallas. The first store is at the Pike Place Market.
Huh.
I normally kill every spider I see in the house because even if it's not big enough to harm me, my cat has a habit of chasing them around. She'd probably provoke a small one and get herself killed. Also, some of the huntsman spiders we get here make the predictable giant spiders in every RPG seem plausible. It's a cliche, but they're honestly as big as dinner plates if they live that long, and even though huntsman spiders are relatively harmless, I still don't want my cat provoking them.
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
do spiders eat other spiders ? at least, we can know that the space station will be "bug-free" now. ;)
happy trials
this episode, but I thought that Homer broke the ant farm, not the spider habitat.
They must be pretty happy with the fact that they didn't take snakes instead.
I've known people who have an innate and apparently intinctive fear of spiders and/or snakes, even without prior exposure. My mom reacts to ANY snake just like a monkey -- literally! she jumps onto the nearest raised object, screams and points, exactly like a monkey does when it sees a snake. My neighbour is the same way about spiders, and "sees" them as roughly 10x their actual size.
I'm the opposite -- my reactions are all predator, and never prey animal :)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Maybe it was in that toolbox...
I'm one of those people so afraid of spiders that I can't rest until I kill any I spot in my surroundings. Phobias are irrational fears. I realize what I am doing is not right. I know the vast majority of spiders can't hurt me. None of that matters when it comes to a phobia. Trying to ignore it is like trying to ignore the flu -- it will still be there.
I don't WANT to hurt spiders, but irrational behavior has a way of promoting irrational actions. If it helps, I love stinkbugs and keep them as pets. :)
I let wolf spiders live in the house for the same reason -- they help keep the long-legger spider population down to a mere nuisance, and they don't make any mess themselves. Don't seem to help any with the black widows, tho (which are like a plague here in the high desert). -- Wonder if our small tarantulas would eat black widows? They sure like grasshoppers! Munch-munch-munch-gone, that fast! But they leave significant-sized poo, too.... :(
As to the missing spider... if they were in reach of one another, my guess is that the other spider ATE it.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Now we may never know if spiders can be trained to sort tiny screws in space.
Last piece of evidence was a spun note left in the box: "Jokes on you b*tches!" Yours truly -Charlotte
The 14'th amendment was was created to be an option.
they weren't black widows were they?
Ace
arachno-orbitalphobia ??
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
...if it had been me in that space station it would have been out with the vacuum cleaner and cries of "Nobody leaves till we FIND the F***ER!!!"
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
I always heard it was a Grassy Gnoll who shot JFK
http://www.legacieslost.com/brandon/graphics/Amphigory_E717/GrassyGnoll_thumb.gif
Congratulations! For the first time ever, coffee actually spurted out of my nose when I read that. I don't know what it was, but it just really tickled my fancy!
I'm in to sadism, bestiality and necrophilia. Am I flogging a dead horse?
Actually, I suspect that you are more pissed off about the holy one being lumped together with the evil one (or that the comment doesn't specifically target Bush for derision - gods, that meme is old) than you are about a sig that, while a little controversial, is hardly insightful.
Well, water bears anyway...
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/08/water-bears-survive.html
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
Microwave.
Seconded.
We have good reason to run away or viciously counterattack with electric flyswatters (my personal favorite).
I'm fond of good ol' CRC non-chlorinated break cleaner at ~$3.00 a can. Drops the bastards near instantly, and if you practice, you can shoot them out of the air! Still, if they leave me alone, I leave them alone.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
I didn't know about the experiment. He's under my shoe.
Every time you call tech support, a little kitten dies.
Awesome work.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
Does your wife know the chances of a spider surviving a trip through the vacuum cleaner? Unless you have a fine grained impeller on the sucker, that things gonna walk right back out again. Just like running it down the sink.
Wow, I have to say, beside the fact that you use flash (Boooo), those are some amazingly beautiful photographs!
Cosmonaut Muffet
Sat in a spacesuit
Eating her synthi-dessert
An anti-grav spider
Came right down beside her
And caused Miss Muffet to make a slight miscalculation in the re-entry apogee resulting in a 2.4% increase in thermal expansion of the heat shield upon shuttle re-entry into the troposphere
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
So that's why Frodo survived.
FreeSpeech.org
H ow c a n the people k n ow s o little about ho w S t arbucks j oined the CIA, the Ma f ia, and the K nights Templar to take out JFK?
But JFK shot first...
infidel!
On the way past earth, one spider was caught by the WEB. Error 401 ?
Probably in the toolbag - http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/19/lost-in-space-tool-bag-overboard-spider-missing/
Actually youve probably eaten more spiders than spiders have eaten you.
so far
Just fry 'em in hot oil like they do in Cambodia or maybe if you are really hungry, go for the bird-eating spider like the Piaroa
If this happens to be the Italian long-legged sac spider (Cheiracanthium mildei), this is like putting someone in a round room and telling him to relieve himself in a corner. These spiders like the indoors and instinctively crawl up walls and nest where the wall meets the ceiling. Gravity must play a role in that ability. If that lost spider happens to be a fertilized female looking for a place to lay her eggs, NASA is going to have a problem. It's just poisonous enough to merit medical attention, even for those who may not be allergic to spider strikes (invenomations).
Spiders, grease gun, cosmic rays, space jockeys. I don't like where this is going.
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
(modding)
We have some rather large spiders living in trees near the house.
One afternoon I found a recently dead spider on the ground with all 8 of its legs stretched taut, wrapped together by its own spider thread. All the legs were pulled out of their sockets but still attached to the body. The whole thing looked like a pedestal with a body on top.
At first I though it was some act of cruelty, but later I worked out what happened. It was a very windy day and I surmise that the spider killed itself by trying to escape the wind.
As the wind was blowing, with the spider trying to take refuge, it lost its grip and as it twisted in the air, wrapped itself around its own thread. It basically constricted itself to death. Weird.
I let a centipede run around my house. I had about 15 spiders in my room the first time I saw it; a week later there's none. No bugs either. Damn thing moves fast too.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
But the reality is that these creatures will rarely sting unless you disturb them or their nest...
"Rarely" doesn't work for me. I am allergic to bee and wasp stings; if I get stung, then I will probably die. And this is a common allergy. Mine is more severe than many, but lots of people share this allergy.
If something only "rarely" happens, but when it does, it causes horrible, catastrophic consequences...then it's a dangerous risk and should be treated seriously. "Rarely" isn't never. So, fuck bees.
Female spiders do have a habit of eating the males after sex, which could clearly be distressing to young schoolkids. On the one hand, this form of sex education could prove effective in reducing teenage pregnancy, but on the other it could lead to lifelong mass sexual trauma. I say, 'Conspiracy!'
Of course! Coz they're friggin spiders!
sup cody diablo. while you are here, wtf is home skillet?
I wonder what the effects of cosmic radiation will be on this spider
Isn't this settled? It'll be returned to Earth, whereupon it will escape from its cage and bite a high school student.
Those kids were pretty clever pulling the wool over NASA's eyes like that, but we know what they're really up to.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Irrational solution to an irrational problem? Carry on, Sir!
February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
This option will allow you access through doors between theatres...
Please select...
1. BLUE
2. BLACK
3. PINK
4. SILVER
5. LIFE
6. CAT
7. YELLOW
8. HOBART
+1. As GP said, some degree of fear ("This is dangerous, move away") is absolutely appropriate. Blinding, immobilising, paralysing fear is absolutely not - and that's what a phobia is. It's quite dangerous, in fact - I've seen people step over a 1' long harmless tree snake while walking through the bush on a trail, then start screaming and running blindly once they see it, oblivious to the slippery rocks and crumbling edges of cliffs around them...
What goes from "Take a step back and wait for the snake to do whatever the hell it's doing" moves extremely quickly to a very dangerous situation. Not good.
February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
"Years of research in the lab can save hours of research in the library"
It actually improves the user experience, rather than being obtrusive, in the way and just a gimmick. GP, well done on the site design and photography - very clean.
~/RockWolf.
February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
Actually, in Australia at least there are plenty of good reasons to be extremely arachnophobic. We have numerous potentially deadly spiders, many of which can be found in and around ordinary homes, and some of which display aggressive behaviour. Amongst the catalogue are those that just really, really hurt, those that kill you quite rapidly, and those that induce nice things like necrotised (sp?) flesh.
Although the rate of deaths from bites is very low, I would suggest that is because most people in Australia are smart enough to know that some spiders are quite dangerous and to either kill them, remove them, or stay the hell away from them. Personally I remove things like huntsmen spiders (which can bite, but won't kill you), and kill things that look like redbacks and other dangerous breeds.
And I disagree about the fear not being innate - my personal experience is that there is something hard-coded into me which induces an irrational burst of fear when I see a spider. I don't get the same thing from animals I know to be at least as dangerous, such as snakes (which are also very poisonous and very dangerous in Australia before you start on that topic).
Read Pynchon.
So it's about a 50/50 chance a spider can survive in space?
so, with your theory, we take 2^n spiders, put them 2 by 2, and let nature take it's course.
We repeat with the remaining spiders until we have one huge spider left !!!
Or maybe one was female and the other was male ?
You and your weak spiders. Move to Australia, we have the best spiders. Don't let me get started on our snakes...
meh
God put the infidel on earth to stear you in the right path.
God wills it!
That would certainly make me nervous, however the camel spiders I met during my time in 'the Iraq' nearly made me scream. I know they're not spiders per se...but they're pretty much what you would get if a spider had sex with a nightmare.
Holy fucking shit.
And here I thought the reason I never joined the military was my fear of being shot or exploded. Little did I know there was a much better reason my subconscious kept me far away!
The enemies of Democracy are
It was a brain Herpe that caused John to get supernatural bullet-attracting powers, and his brain telekinetically sucked all the bullets from all the surrounding areas right into his skull until the power was silences. Might explain how Oswald was the fallboy of the Military Industrial-Complex, being an incapacited mentally-ill boy rolling in the back alley.
Joking aside, the clip of ammunition presented to the jury was not manufactured when JFK was shot -- false evidence, not the original.
NASA isn't sure where the other spider could have gone. I, for one, welcome our new arachnid overlords.
Embedded FP in the article... Clever!
Spider is one of Chewtoy's favorites.
Yum spider...much better then cat food.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Flea, flea for your lives...
(Had to be said)
They should visit howspiderseat.com.
We have ourselves a bug-hunt.
Arachnophobia can't be completely learned. It would seem to be partially innate, partially learned.
For instance it would most likely be a lot easier to train a child to have a phobia of a large spider than a duckling.
There have been studies on this done with Chimpanzees and snakes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A526231
and the answer is, one of the other scientists is running an experiment. No need to worry about being bitten.
I've never seen TEHY spelled like that before...
We don't believe in radical loony monotheistic religions from the middle east -- we're Christians.
I think your original post was right on.
It looks like someone doesn't like your politics.
By The Foetid Breath Of Dogar And Kazon!
Two arachnids were sent in order to know if spiders can survive and make webs in space
So now we'll know how The Web will function in space?
*ducks*
Do not commit the fallacy of thinking that just because babies don't do something it is not innate.
You couldn't be more wrong about that. I don't know where you get that idea, unless the only locals you know are white "environmentally conscientious" types from the mainland.
I actually like the simple flash based gallery.. is it produced inhouse.. or is there a place I can download it?
http://dilemma.gulecha.org - My philospohical short film.
Well it doesn't help that their response to being is to jump straight up, often right onto the person who frightened them.
Except that the spider promptly lost the bag of sophisticated tools.
A giant spider eating a bird
I wonder what they are going to tell the kids.
exactly, it's the same thing as with Panda! Those man eater bear disguises themselves and fakes their endangerment (wtf the term is) to gain protection from animalists.
Join my crusade against Pandas!
My fellow slashdotters, what we've seen speaks for itself. The shuttle spacecraft has apparently been taken over - 'conquered' if you will - by a master race of giant space spiders. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain; there is no stopping them; the spiders will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted slashdot personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
Define hardcore, 'coz you're using a different definition than I am it seems :)
>nights Templar to take out JFK?
But JFK shot first...
Yes but it was only a double shot with hazelnut syrup
Think about that before feeding your next Jolt Cola to a spider.
There, fixed it for ya.
Well, you really can't get macro shots like that without external light sources.
This is all off-topic, but having been converted from booing flash like you to appreciating its skillful use, I thought you might be interested in what I have to say about it.
Flash when applied with skill can look amazing, and can look completely natural too. As you say yourself, they're beautiful photographs at that link. They wouldn't be the same at all without the flash.
Of course, it's perfectly acceptable to boo using direct, on-camera flash, which looks awful 100% of the time. Read some of the archive material at http://www.strobist.com/ for a lot of interesting, sometimes stunning use of flash, or check out the strobist flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/pool/ (the quality varies as it's an open group, but a lot of great stuff gets posted.) Here's one I did myself that I'm proud of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/penguinchris/2360013001/ :)
Arachnophobia is the most common phobia, certainly in the western world. It's certainly not innate. Babies show no fear of spider at all.
Ahh, yes, in the same way that womens periods, puberty and old age are cultural and not biological phenomenons. They certainly aren't there from the birth, so that is the only other possibility, right?
I have a severe case of arachnaphobia, I quit Doom 3 even when I came to the spider level.
I wonder why I am reading these comments though, morbid fascination?
This is the sig that says NI (again)
I am afraid of spiders, but I'm an equal opportunity phobiaist?
If it has more legs than me, it won't live long in my house.
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Well it doesn't help that their response to being is to jump straight up, often right onto the person who frightened them.
Cane spiders do not jump.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
You are begging to be confronted to a huge ASCII Tarantula.
Hold your breath.
Here in Ireland, wasps get agitated *very* easily. They'll happily be investigating a litter bin or your lunch, but even if you stay calm they often take to buzzing angrily around your head. A newspaper handy in summertime is the only option for the most part.
This year though we seemed to have some less agressive wasps, and looking at their markings and size they seem to be European hornets rather than the usual German wasps (yellowjackets). Don't know if we usually get these, but the difference in behaviour was noticible. They also went a bit crazy at the flourescent lights in the evening - like moths. I hadn't seen wasps do that before.
-- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
In that case you should care for them until springtime ;)
a nice comfy mason jar and some sticks, and the odd cricket will do nicely
If you can't see the value in jet powered ants you should turn in your nerd card. - Dunbal (464142)
Now we know why the spider was covered with tatoos...
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
Thanks for the compliments guys. As far as the flash site goes, It's a script called simpleviewer. http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/
I think you read too far into the flash comment. :-)
Light is light. Liek you said, it all depends on how you apply it.
<meta name="ROBOTS" content="NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW" />
.
.
- aqk
F U
Holy [nationalgeographic.com]
I would have said I am definitely not arachnophobic, because I don't kill spiders around the house, they don't bother me at all. In fact I like seeing them, because I know they eat other bugs. I think this attitude largely came thanks to my parents: I remember there was a large (by our standards - see below) spider that used to live on the bedroom ceiling at my childhood home, they called it Fido and acted like it was a pet!
It also probably stems from the fact that I'm in the UK, where none of our spiders are dangerous, and they don't get any bigger than a couple of inches across (including legs).
But....... I clicked on that quoted link, and literally shivered in disgust. Sufficiently repulsed that I'm not even going to click on the others!
From your humourless comment, I would suspect you are a woman, but
1. Women are afraid of spiders. ...
2. Women do not employ the word "fucking".
3...
Wait!
Of course! You ARE a woman! A liberated one! This explains it.
I have a cyclone-vacuum, you know the bag-less type, and had a bit of an ant problem for a week or two which meant I was hoovering a lot of ants. By looking in the dirt-box (! but what else to call it?) I reckon about a third of the ants survived being cannoned off the bit of plastic opposite where the hose connects. I should think spiders are more delicate, so depending on the vacuum I would say not a lot.
You thought you could break the laws of physics without paying the PRICE?
In Communist Spacestation...
I've thought about what it is that makes me fear spiders, since they're really fascinating creatures that I'd like to be able to enjoy.
For me, there are specific aspects of spiders that spook me:
The common thing of all of these is the unpredictability. As babies grow up, they learn how the world behaves, and start predicting it. For me, unpredictable unpleasantness leads to a fear reflex. On a related note, the fact that spiders have eight legs means they have more movement options than six-legged insects, which again leads to unpredictability. In that case it's not fear-inducing, just gives a creepy feeling, which doesn't help.
I hope that gives you some insight.
Quick question: If you found a hive of bees in your bedroom, would you destroy them or leave them? What about a spiderweb? A yellow jacket nest?
I'm not trying to poke holes in anything you say; I'm honestly trying to explore what the contours of "reasonable" arthropod-friendly behavior by humans might be.
Classification of a behavior as innate or learned is an oversimplification. In many cases, there is a genetic predisposition to learning a specific behavior which must be nurtured to become active:
Wild-born monkeys are afraid of snakes. They're so scared of snakes that they will cower in the back of the cage screaming rather than reach across a plastic model snake to get at a peanut when they're very hungry. Captive-born monkeys are not afraid of snakes; they happily reach across the model snake to get at a peanut. So what's going on here? That means that fear of snakes must be learned. But how on earth do you learn fear of snakes? The conventional classical conditioning wouldn't work very well, would it, because either you have a bad experience with a snake to learn from, in which case you're dead, or you don't have a bad experience, in which case you don't learn that snakes are frightening. So how are you going to end up acquiring a fear of snakes? It seems an absurd thing to acquire. She argues that what's happening is that there is a program for fear of snakes, an instinct if you like, but that that instinct needs to be socially triggered--in some sense triggered by a vicarious experience, by observing another monkey having a fear of snakes. So she set up an experiment in which she videotaped the wild-born monkey reacting with fear to a snake, and she then showed this video to a captive-born monkey, which immediately acquired a fear of snakes and was not then prepared to reach across even a model snake to get a peanut. She now doctors the video, so that it has the same monkey reacting in the same way in the background, but the bottom half of the screen now instead of having a snake has a flower. Again, the captive-born monkey has never seen a flower, so after it sees a monkey reacting with extreme fear to this new thing called a flower it should just as easily learn a fear of flowers. But it doesn't. It just learns that some monkeys are crazy.
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ridley03/ridley_p5.html
That's a nice little turn-of-phrase there.
You should read the wikipedia entry on them - they are neither poisonous nor aggressive. They do like the shade which has made for some unfortunate encounters, but that's about it.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Interestingly, wasps and related seem to actually react to fear with aggression. The more you fear them, the more you have to fear from them. Consequently, I have been stung by a wasp only once in spite of frequently (and unintentionally) running over their underground nests with a large mower. I have seen other people who fear wasps just walking near the very same nests get stung multiple times by an angry swarm.
It also probably stems from the fact that I'm in the UK, where none of our spiders are dangerous, and they don't get any bigger than a couple of inches across (including legs).
Dream on. My father has been bitten by large British house spiders. They're not poisonous, but if they're big enough, they can get their fangs in.
When I lived on my own in a flat, one summer after being away for a fortnight, I came home to find a brown and yellow stripy spider with a body at least as large as a 50p piece and a leg span larger than a CD lurking in my net curtains.
I am very arachnophobic and it took me an hour to make a long stick and to try to chase it away out of the patio doors. It wouldn't let go of the net curtains and I ended up hitting it. Three of its legs and a bit of its body fell off and some goo came out, but it clung on tight for a few more minutes. I eventually hit it again and it expired in a tangled gooey mess of legs and body.
At another house surrounded by fields, we were plagued by spiders almost as large. Several times I woke up in the night and went to the bathroom to see 6- or 7-inch span spiders in the bath. One night there were two - one in the bath and one on the shower curtain.
The garage was full of hundreds of them (maximum 4 inches though). Every so often I used to go in with a small vacuum cleaner and spend an hour hoovering up all the webs and spiders lurking in all the webs and corners.
You don't need air conditioning when a garage full of spiders makes you turn freezing cold and shivering. You do need a fridge full of beer, though.
In the loft, the apex of the roof was one massive cobweb with thousands of pairs of wasp and fly wings along it...
Stick Men
Funny that they must have known your true inner feelings, since you used the word "prey" instead of "pray".
That or they just like stinging the spelling-challenged humans more than the rest of us.
+++OK ATH
Your comment made me smile.
:)
Actually, spiders do not eat other spiders. While they are known for being very aggressive towards other species, spiders will not attack each other.
The more you know...
You are quite extremely wrong on this one, my friend. Most spiders will eat anything that they can if they are hungry; this makes spider mating rituals (males are typically smaller than females) quite dangerous.
My spouse is an entomologist; we own several books on spider behaviour. I strongly recommend to you John Crompton's "The Spider" which is an interesting, entertaining, and scientifically accurate resource.
Crompton's other books are great too, if you enjoy personal narratives that present natural science accurately. Of course, if you don't, that's like shooting spiders with a howitzer.
I'd like to second this... and the damn things know you're scared of them even if you don't know they're there and aren't reacting to them.
It's the only explanation I have for why the cussed things always pick me randomly out of a crowd.
I'm a she-slashdotter... but I make up for it by living with my folks.