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Topic: Spiders are awesome (Read 321061 times)
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Selby
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2963
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Can't remember posting these here, so here goes. This was my garage... Feeding time! It was neat to actually see how fast they can move and how much they toy with their prey while it struggles to get free. I shot video of it too since I figured I wouldn't have the opportunity to do it again later.
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Merusk
Terracotta Army
Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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It's a shame ants are on your KOS list, in general I think ants (along with the rest of the hymenoptera) are one of the most remarkable orders of animal in existence. Only humans, tardigrades and various extremophile bacteria can rival them in my view.
You're obviously not a homeowner. Ants are great until you have to battle them a few times because they've built nests around your foundation, are tearing up parts of your yard or are coming into the house. Then you start thinking of new and inventive ways to kill the fuckers.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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bhodi
Moderator
Posts: 6817
No lie.
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Yeah. Remarkable doesn't get you off the KoS list. Being less intrusive and damaging to my property or myself does.
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K9
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7441
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You're obviously not a homeowner. Ants are great until you have to battle them a few times because they've built nests around your foundation, are tearing up parts of your yard or are coming into the house. Then you start thinking of new and inventive ways to kill the fuckers.
True, I'm not a homeowner, even if I were I'm not sure that the species we have here in England are really as much a threat to structures as some of the ones y'all get. Really you should move into a caravan and get back to marvelling at how awesome ants are.
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I love the smell of facepalm in the morning
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Johny Cee
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3454
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You're obviously not a homeowner. Ants are great until you have to battle them a few times because they've built nests around your foundation, are tearing up parts of your yard or are coming into the house. Then you start thinking of new and inventive ways to kill the fuckers.
True, I'm not a homeowner, even if I were I'm not sure that the species we have here in England are really as much a threat to structures as some of the ones y'all get. Really you should move into a caravan and get back to marvelling at how awesome ants are. This man would sell you a caravan:
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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It's a shame ants are on your KOS list, in general I think ants (along with the rest of the hymenoptera) are one of the most remarkable orders of animal in existence. Only humans, tardigrades and various extremophile bacteria can rival them in my view.
I agree. Not in my house.
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gryeyes
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2215
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It always blew me away that ants domesticate livestock,farm,enslave other species. And all this complex information is transmitted through genetics (I assume?). They are still slain on sight in my home but not nearly with the same glee as spiders. I find it hard not to consider them "conscious" when they display behaviors like that. That whip scorpion a few pages back is terrifying. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtXPmWJcuZYThe only spider i have ever seen i would consider cute.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Ants are amazing, they are living RTS games. I grew up in the country with very sandy soil, tons of ant nests all over the place, all kinds of ant varieties, big, small, brown, red, black, mixed, etc. It was a sick battleground and sometimes these massive battles would get underway with thick clusters of ants duking it out, flanking maneuvers, it was a lot of fun to watch the progress of the various breeds over the summer fighting back and forth.
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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Cow killers were my favorite, though we didn't get a lot of them. Real pretty red and black striping.
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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FatuousTwat
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2223
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I lived in a forest as a kid and ants were everywhere... There was a 8ft across dying ceder tree that looked normal from a distance, but once you got close you could see it was teeming with piss ants.
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
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Broughden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3232
I put the 'shill' in 'cockmonkey'.
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Cow killers were my favorite, though we didn't get a lot of them. Real pretty red and black striping.
Hey we had those growing up as well! No one ever seems to know what Im talking about when I mention them. They are like, "What? Huh? Cow killers?" You know its strange in all my time as a kid I never ever saw more than 1 at any given time, never saw them traveling in groups or even a pair. Also never ever found one of their nests or homes. Weird.
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The wave of the Reagan coalition has shattered on the rocky shore of Bush's incompetence. - Abagadro
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NowhereMan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7353
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Cow killers were my favorite, though we didn't get a lot of them. Real pretty red and black striping.
Hey we had those growing up as well! No one ever seems to know what Im talking about when I mention them. They are like, "What? Huh? Cow killers?" You know its strange in all my time as a kid I never ever saw more than 1 at any given time, never saw them traveling in groups or even a pair. Also never ever found one of their nests or homes. Weird. Since they're wasps and not a communal variety that has nests (they plant eggs in other creatures) this is not especially surprising. (I did have to Wiki them since I am very much one of those people who'd go, "What? Huh? Cow killers?"
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"Look at my car. Do you think that was bought with the earnest love of geeks?" - HaemishM
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Broughden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3232
I put the 'shill' in 'cockmonkey'.
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Cow killers were my favorite, though we didn't get a lot of them. Real pretty red and black striping.
Hey we had those growing up as well! No one ever seems to know what Im talking about when I mention them. They are like, "What? Huh? Cow killers?" You know its strange in all my time as a kid I never ever saw more than 1 at any given time, never saw them traveling in groups or even a pair. Also never ever found one of their nests or homes. Weird. Since they're wasps and not a communal variety that has nests (they plant eggs in other creatures) this is not especially surprising. (I did have to Wiki them since I am very much one of those people who'd go, "What? Huh? Cow killers?" What? Huh? Wingless wasps? Because I always thought they were big furry ants.
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The wave of the Reagan coalition has shattered on the rocky shore of Bush's incompetence. - Abagadro
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Ingmar
Terracotta Army
Posts: 19280
Auto Assault Affectionado
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They're called velvet ants, but aren't ants. Kind of like amblypygids are called whip spiders but aren't spiders. The big hairy red ones you see are the females, which are wingless. The males have wings and are much more traditionally wasp-shaped.
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The Transcendent One: AH... THE ROGUE CONSTRUCT. Nordom: Sense of closure: imminent.
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23637
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Xurtan
Terracotta Army
Posts: 181
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Asked what he would do with the giant spider he caught this week, Mr Geiszler said: “I think I’m going to mount this one in acrylic to show people how big it is. It’ll make a great paperweight.” No, just.. no.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I thought about having a taxidermist friend stuff the critters I'm bagging in my backyard, then putting them out in front of my house so the lady three houses down who is feeding all the critters in her front yard can see them. I could even arrange them, so the chipmunk looked like he was giving a sermon to the squirrels.
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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They've just discovered this bad boy infesting hop farms in Ireland, apparently it's a previously unknown species. That's not a spider, its an amblypygid. Thanks, I was puzzling at the front legs and pincers. Never heard of those arachnids before. So Ireland's tropical now? Not bad, its got some pretty good beaches.
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The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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Righ
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6542
Teaching the world Google-fu one broken dream at a time.
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The camera adds a thousand barrels. - Steven Colbert
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I wonder if they could take out a chipmunk...might need to import some!
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Sir T
Terracotta Army
Posts: 14223
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From the comments Tarantulas are amazingly soft and velvety. When handling one, make sure there are no sudden movements or they will take a flying leap. Not the kind of thing one wants to see airborne in the house. Indeed.
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Hic sunt dracones.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Tarantulas are amazingly soft and velvety.
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Cyrrex
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10603
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Okay, that made me lol.
And that thing up their eating the frog needs to die in a nuclear explosion.
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"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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Die in one? I'm pretty sure it's the result of one.
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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voodoolily
Contributor
Posts: 5348
Finnuh, munnuh, muhfuh, I enjoy creating new written vernacular, s'all.
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They're called velvet ants, but aren't ants. Kind of like amblypygids are called whip spiders but aren't spiders. The big hairy red ones you see are the females, which are wingless. The males have wings and are much more traditionally wasp-shaped.
Their bites are a 3.0 on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index (dunno if I posted this before). * 1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm. * 1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch. * 1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek. * 2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door. * 2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue. * 2.x Honey bee and European hornet: Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin. * 3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail. * 3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut. * 4.0 Tarantula hawk: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath. * 4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Yeah, I've had a paper wasp more than once. Not fun times. When I was a kid, I had an allergic reaction to it, but haven't since. My hand literally swelled up like a balloon. I also caught a fleeting glimpse.
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apocrypha
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6711
Planes? Shit, I'm terrified to get in my car now!
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* 1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm. * 1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch. * 1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek. * 2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door. * 2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue. * 2.x Honey bee and European hornet: Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin. * 3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail. * 3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut. * 4.0 Tarantula hawk: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath. * 4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.
That's delightful. I'm guessing this Schmidt person was a genuine masochist of some kind
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"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1915.
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Hindenburg
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1854
Itto
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Not as much as the guy that fooled around with the irukandji jellyfish.
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"Who uses Outlook anyway? People who get what they deserve, that's who." - Ard.
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voodoolily
Contributor
Posts: 5348
Finnuh, munnuh, muhfuh, I enjoy creating new written vernacular, s'all.
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Yeah, I've had a paper wasp more than once. Not fun times. When I was a kid, I had an allergic reaction to it, but haven't since. My hand literally swelled up like a balloon. I also caught a fleeting glimpse.
When I was a kid I stepped on a yellow jackets' nest (stupid ground nesters). Got stung in about ten places, including my eyelid. I was completely swollen, and my mom smeared me in a paste of baking soda, meat tenderizer and water. After that, the reaction I have to bee stings is less than that of a mosquito bite (which, on me, is disproportionately more severe). I remember one time about a year after that I was wandering around in some tall weeds and got stung on the back of the leg for no reason, but it felt so mild that I thought a thistle had brushed against me.
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Ingmar
Terracotta Army
Posts: 19280
Auto Assault Affectionado
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Just to add more pedantry, I can't be sure but those look like harvestmen, not spiders.
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The Transcendent One: AH... THE ROGUE CONSTRUCT. Nordom: Sense of closure: imminent.
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proudft
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1228
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* 2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue. * 2.x Honey bee and European hornet: Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin.
Hmm, I've been stung by honeybees (3 times) and a yellowjacket (once), and the yellowjacket hurt a HELL of a lot more. It was behind my knee, maybe that's more sensitive or something, but it's weird they're both 2.something on this scale.
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voodoolily
Contributor
Posts: 5348
Finnuh, munnuh, muhfuh, I enjoy creating new written vernacular, s'all.
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Just to add more pedantry, I can't be sure but those look like harvestmen, not spiders. We call those daddy longlegs around these parts.
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Lantyssa
Terracotta Army
Posts: 20848
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They're called the same here. Just to add more pedantry, I can't be sure but those look like harvestmen, not spiders. It's an image macro. Do you really expect them to have any idea what they're looking at?
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Hahahaha! I'm really good at this!
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