Miscellaneous Discussion Thread

Quote: Face

Quote: petroglyph

Face, me thinks you just have some really wimpy spiders and snakes. J/K One need not fear them to have a great deal of respect.

We could really use a guy like you down here to take point on our trail hikes.

Interesting anecdote. I read that because of so many rattlesnake round-ups down here the rattlers [look it up, in Texas] have learned not to rattle before striking. What is so surprising to the researchers is that they learned that behaviour in one generation.

I think that's part of my incredulity. If we are very lucky, we might get an eastern diamondback sighting on the PA border. Other than that, there's not a single aforementioned critter that will give you a bad day. Our biggest snakes, the Lake Erie Water and Rat, max out at 6'. I've been bitten by both, both when trying to catch them. A playful kitten is a thousand times more painful. Maybe even ten thousand. But I've never once been bit by one I wasn't messing with.

Spiders? We have a few that might get the size of a silver dollar. But not a single one "attacks". Not a single one is deadly. They're either weavers, which make epic and beautiful webs near outdoor lights and snatch up all the pests, or wolf, which live mostly under rocks and actively jump upon bugs. I haven't ever caught a wolf or fishing spider (the big ones) because they're fast as the dickens. But any other spider I've found where it wasn't supposed to be I scoop up and take outside. I ain't never been bit one single, solitary time.

It's not the fear or respect I find curious. It's the near psychotic breakdown some experience at the mere glimpse of one.

Of course, I just hand caught a sea lamprey last Sunday, so maybe I'm too far the other side of the bell curve to ever understand =p

Looking at picture #2 maybe this question is uneeded but did you eat the eel?

People on the West Coast harvest the heck out of eels, not 100% positive on the specie but I have friends that fish for them and consider them delicious, more like lobster than chicken.

I think most food looks better once it's on your plate.

Quote: petroglyph

Looking at picture #2 maybe this question is uneeded but did you eat the eel?

People on the West Coast harvest the heck out of eels, not 100% positive on the specie but I have friends that fish for them and consider them delicious, more like lobster than chicken.

I think most food looks better once it's on your plate.

I didn't. I got out of the habit of fishing for food because I fish too much. I'd empty a pond in a year if I continued.

That's actually an ancient fish, not an eel. They are edible and sought after by some, you just have to clean them good as their mucus lining is somewhat toxic. I can't say I'd ever order it (something about eating parasites is unappetizing), but if someone else did, I'd surely try at least a bite.

Here, they're an invasive and destructive species that gained access during the industrial revolution from all the canals that were made. Our DEC periodically sprays our cricks with lampricides (an interesting story in itself) which turns it Kool-Aid lime green for about three days. While I harvest and kill almost nothing nowadays, I did kill this as I found it in a protected natural spawning run for steelhead.

When I first saw that 2nd pic I thought it was an infected foot or something.

Quote: rudeboyoi

When I first saw that 2nd pic I thought it was an infected foot or something.

Yeah, I was too distracted by what it was and keeping my kid from messing with it to think about taking a proper picture. I should have cleaned it up first.

Fortunately, there's Google.



If you live within 200 miles of the Atlantic coast, 200 miles of the Pacific coast, anywhere along the Great Lakes, or in any of the tributaries thereof, these two foot long, toothy beings are swimming right alongside you.

Happy wading! =)

Quote: Face

Yeah, I was too distracted by what it was and keeping my kid from messing with it to think about taking a proper picture. I should have cleaned it up first.

Fortunately, there's Google.



If you live within 200 miles of the Atlantic coast, 200 miles of the Pacific coast, anywhere along the Great Lakes, or in any of the tributaries thereof, these two foot long, toothy beings are swimming right alongside you.

Happy wading! =)

Looks like some child of Sigourney Weaver?

You did a good thing there Face, let nothing interfere with the ironheads.

That picture is enough to give me nightmares. I'm trying to imagine how you'd get that thing off you once it locked on with a circular clamp. Shiver....

Its a parasite that stays attached for quite some time. Of course you would be welcome to put salt on its tail and hope, but ...

Quote: beachbumbabs

That picture is enough to give me nightmares. I'm trying to imagine how you'd get that thing off you once it locked on with a circular clamp. Shiver....

I wish I never knew about this. Ignorance is bliss sort of thing. I know if I ever go swimming in lake Michigan again and feel something brush my leg I'm immediately going to think of this instead of some fish.

deleted

Getting back to spiders, it occurs to me that the poisonous ones are not weavers for a reason. If you're a creature that has a specialty, it's a great big deal, and huge amounts of resources are devoted to the one thing that gives you a huge leg up for survival. It just doesnt make sense for your DNA to be having to try to hone two different things to perfection.

Last year we had a lot of spiders, must have been a lot of bugs? I had one garden spider on my front porch that astonished me. The big one you see in the middle of the web are all females. In any case I would go out and see her on her web, then check back later and it all had vanished, spider and web both. Not a trace. This happened over and over. Finally I decided that when she caught a bug, she took down her web in a flash and wrapped the victim up in it. I could never catch her in the act. And I mean every last trace of the web was completely gone.

Garden spiders get really big but couldn't be more harmless; often blind too I thought, but wikipedia does not mention this so I could be wrong.



Now, I could be barraged by posters giving examples of poisonous spiders who make big webs, but that will surprise me.

edits, I looked at Wikipedia after first draft.

Quote: odiousgambit

Getting back to spiders, it occurs to me that the poisonous ones are not weavers for a reason. If you're a creature that has a specialty, it's a great big deal, and huge amounts of resources are devoted to the one thing that gives you a huge leg up for survival. It just doesnt make sense for your DNA to be having to try to hone two different things to perfection.

Last year we had a lot of spiders, must have been a lot of bugs? I had one garden spider on my front porch that astonished me. I think I heard these are all females, maybe not. In any case I would go out and see her on her web, then check back later and it all had vanished, spider and web both. Not a trace. This happened over and over. Finally I decided that when she caught a bug, she took down her web in a flash and wrapped the victim up in it. I could never catch her in the act. And I mean every last trace of the web was completely gone. Garden spiders get really big but couldn't be more harmless; often blind too, maybe all of them.

Now, I could be barraged by posters giving examples of poisonous spiders who make big webs, but that will surprise me.

Makes sense.

Quote: AcesAndEights

I would guess some sexual congress, but I think you said you would be abstaining from that until the divorce is final.

You're getting warmer! LOL

Quote: odiousgambit

Getting back to spiders, it occurs to me that the poisonous ones are not weavers for a reason. If you're a creature that has a specialty, it's a great big deal, and huge amounts of resources are devoted to the one thing that gives you a huge leg up for survival. It just doesnt make sense for your DNA to be having to try to hone two different things to perfection.

Last year we had a lot of spiders, must have been a lot of bugs? I had one garden spider on my front porch that astonished me. The big one you see in the middle of the web are all females. In any case I would go out and see her on her web, then check back later and it all had vanished, spider and web both. Not a trace. This happened over and over. Finally I decided that when she caught a bug, she took down her web in a flash and wrapped the victim up in it. I could never catch her in the act. And I mean every last trace of the web was completely gone.

Garden spiders get really big but couldn't be more harmless; often blind too I thought, but wikipedia does not mention this so I could be wrong.



Now, I could be barraged by posters giving examples of poisonous spiders who make big webs, but that will surprise me.

edits, I looked at Wikipedia after first draft.

Are you sure your wife wasn't tearing them down?

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Are you sure your wife wasn't tearing them down?

Good guess. It could also be bats. They love these things and that would surely take the whole web with it.

I always have had a few no matter where I worked, it seems. Every smoke break, I'd be out there snagging moths by the light and flinging them into the web. It's a very neat thing to watch them do their work, see how they sense which wire the bugs on, light upon it, wrap it up, then repair the damage. I could watch them all day.

Some of my friends from work got into the habit of doing it to. We got some of them downright huge by the constant feeding.

I didn't mean to imply, OG, that weavers were poisonous. I was saying that they're harmless. Good, free entertainment, too =)

Quote: rudeboyoi

I wish I never knew about this. Ignorance is bliss sort of thing. I know if I ever go swimming in lake Michigan again and feel something brush my leg I'm immediately going to think of this instead of some fish.

Hehe, sorry =)

Really, you have nothing to fear. They don't prey on mammals. As soon as they touch you, they'd be gone. And if it did happen to latch, just lift it out of the water. It's a fish, it can't breathe air. It would let go.

Also keep in mind it doesn't "bite". It latches on by suction and then rasps a hole into a fish, flexing it's mouth and letting the teeth grind away. It doesn't sink its teeth into you.

I live in a hotbed for them. I see evidence of their parasitizing on fish I've caught every year or so and my home crick gets poisoned every two years or so. In my 30 years of fishing, swimming, and hunting aquatic things, this is the first one I've ever seen in the flesh. You are good to go. In the Great Lakes, you've much more to fear slicing yourself open on zebra mussels or catching a hellacious bacterial infection from the summer time sludge.

Of course, there are some that are nasty. Mostly in Erie from Buffalo to Dunkirk and all the tribs therein. Those ones are aggressive, have barbed teeth, and are partial to "wedding tackle", if you catch my drift.

(There. That ought to keep people out of my fishing holes ;))

Quote: rudeboyoi

I wish I never knew about this. Ignorance is bliss sort of thing. I know if I ever go swimming in lake Michigan again and feel something brush my leg I'm immediately going to think of this instead of some fish.

Don't go skinny dipping.

Zebra mussels????? Don't you people use garlic to dislodge them from pipes and pilings?

Quote: FleaStiff

Zebra mussels????? Don't you people use garlic to dislodge them from pipes and pilings?

No, at least I don't think so. 'Round here, about the only purposeful removal comes at Niagara Mohawk to keep the cooling water inlets open. I couldn't tell you what they use, but I can't imagine it's an engineer with a garlic press. All the docks and whatnot get pulled in every winter lest they get destroyed by 3' of ice, so the mussels don't build up too bad.

Still, there's nothing you can do about the thousands of square miles and tens of billions of the buggers that are just "around". Any shallow bay or breakwall you'd be on is covered. I don't mean to say they're some kind of dangerous; it's not near as bad as coral. Smash into a wall of them and you'll get a little scratch, maybe a superficial cut. I'm just saying, to get back to my point, that those little boo-boo's are worse than anything you'd have to worry about concerning lampreys. And I guess to get way, way back to my original point, lampreys are kind of like spiders. Almost completely harmless, but someone will $4!+ a chicken if they see one.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Are you sure your wife wasn't tearing them down?

She denied it, I thought of that!

Quote: Face

Good guess. It could also be bats.

Nope, it would happen in the middle of the morning typically, and careful detective work ruled out the wife too [g]. Furthermore, if some creature was killing the spider, it showed a remarkable ability to get itself replaced same day or the next!

Quote: Face

I didn't mean to imply, OG, that weavers were poisonous.

Why would I think you implied that? Actually I had assumed incorrectly that there are only two poisonous spiders in the US [contiquous 48], the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse, and that "everybody knew that". I had always heard that, but in days of yore before the internet it was hard to check on these things. So I just found out that there are plenty of other poisonous spiders, and more now because of introduced species such as the Brown Widow [see link]. It does still seem to accurate to say that no real Weavers are poisonous. In fact it still appears to be fairly accurate to say that the poisonous spiders are recluses and widows of some kind, related or not.

http://www.venombyte.com/venom/spiders/venomous_spiders_by_state.asp

random thought of the day:

We went to an airshow today. Can I say that the pilots of the Blue Angels are insane. Who the hell thought, mmm I wonder if I can make an airplane fly upside down for 10 miles.

Quote: GWAE

random thought of the day:

We went to an airshow today. Can I say that the pilots of the Blue Angels are insane. Who the hell thought, mmm I wonder if I can make an airplane fly upside down for 10 miles.

It is every bit as dangerous as it looks.

Quote: beachbumbabs

It is every bit as dangerous as it looks.

Especially when you're checking out porn while doing it 😁

Yeah, they re-assigned that guy elsewhere.

Quote: GWAE

random thought of the day:

We went to an airshow today. Can I say that the pilots of the Blue Angels are insane. Who the hell thought, mmm I wonder if I can make an airplane fly upside down for 10 miles.

I got a real problem with them wasting taxpayer money on that b***s*** dog and pony show. The fuel costs alone are astronomical, just adding more and more to our national debt.

deleted

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

If they weren't at these shows, they certainly would be elsewhere in the world.

Whatever, then one less squadron would be out in the field drilling. You can't convince me those shows aren't a waste of money that could be better spent.

I personally find it distasteful and bordering on Jingoism. But I'm probably just cranky tonight.

deleted

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

The main point is recruitment. Sure it's expensive and why both main squads, USAF and USN, were grounded last year.

Exactly. "The best of the best of the best."

Quote: AcesAndEights

Whatever, then one less squadron would be out in the field drilling. You can't convince me those shows aren't a waste of money that could be better spent.

I personally find it distasteful and bordering on Jingoism. But I'm probably just cranky tonight.

Maybe it is public somewhere but don't they charge a fee to the air show to come?

The Geico Skytypers where here too. I assume most of the writing is done with computers and possibly even the flying but to get 5 planes to line up perfectly is pretty impressive to.

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

The main point is recruitment. Sure it's expensive and why both main squads, USAF and USN, were grounded last year. The "Blues" will be in my area in September.

I agree it's a great recruitment tool. Also it is pretty cool to see military aircraft in action as a kid. I wanted to be an air force pilot after seeing some of these shows when I was a kid. I turned out to be a desk jockey in the air force lol but hey it's close enough.

deleted

Strangly enough I wanted to be an airline pilot when I was a kid. Sadly my math skills and eye sight was not up to the standard required at the time and I decided to get into law instead.

Now I absolutely hate flying but I cannot get enough of it.......It is a really weird feeling inside of me :)

Quote: GWAE

The Geico Skytypers where here too. I assume most of the writing is done with computers and possibly even the flying but to get 5 planes to line up perfectly is pretty impressive to.

Hey, you can practically do that at home now with no humans at all.

Airshows and military bands are part of the theatrical productions that sell bonds and support tax levies.

Its dangerous to fly planes that have been displayed and sometimes the most dangerous flight is just after a maintenance check.

Its disappointing to learn that the prestigious Marine Corps Barracks in Washington, DC is actually considered a bunch of drunks and that the pornography and sexual harassment is present in elite units. Canada had its top base commander exposed as a pervert, rapist and murderer a few years ago.

It can be depressing at times. As a confirmed iconoclast I tend to focus on the reality of the past but I often to fail on the primacy of our distorted present.

Quote: rxwine

Hey, you can practically do that at home now with no humans at all.

now that is wild. I went to my BIL college senior project for engineering. They had 1 quad copter that barely worked. This is what a good student should have been able to do.

Dell customer service representatives blow. 30 minutes to speak to someone and he was an idiot. Now I know why there company is tanking, I hope they go broke.

That company made millionaires galore but at a large university computer club meeting regarding them when they first started out the speaker asked everyone who had dealt with them and also had problems with them to stand...almost have the lecture hall stood.

They've been on razor thin margins and are focusing on hardware for sales to the cloud, those buyers don't need techie assistance.

Random thought of the day:

I have a goal to be involved in as many natural disasters as possible. I don't know why but they have always fascinated me. I want to see a tornado, tidal wave, forest fire and water spout. I want to feel an earthquake. I want to be in an airplane that crashes.

I have been in a hurricane so that one is out.

I of course want to live through all of these and I do not wish ill will on anyone else and I don't want to see people lives ruined by damaged houses. So if I can get involved with all of the above with my stipulations then I will be happy.

Quote: GWAE

Random thought of the day:

I have a goal to be involved in as many natural disasters as possible. I don't know why but they have always fascinated me. I want to see a tornado, tidal wave, forest fire and water spout. I want to feel an earthquake. I want to be in an airplane that crashes.

I have been in a hurricane so that one is out.

I of course want to live through all of these and I do not wish ill will on anyone else and I don't want to see people lives ruined by damaged houses. So if I can get involved with all of the above with my stipulations then I will be happy.

Aren't you in western PA? We get earthquakes all the time.

Quote: Face

Aren't you in western PA? We get earthquakes all the time.

yes in Pittsburgh. We did have one last year or the year before but it was like a 2.1 or something that was barely noticeable. I want to be in one where the house shakes and things fall off the walls. Maybe like a 7.5

Quote: GWAE

Random thought of the day:

I have a goal to be involved in as many natural disasters as possible. I don't know why but they have always fascinated me. I want to see a tornado, tidal wave, forest fire and water spout. I want to feel an earthquake. I want to be in an airplane that crashes.

I think being near a catastrophic explosion of a volcano and surviving at the closest possible point would do me for a lifetime. It's pretty much everything: earthquake, explosion, smoke, fire, fire rain!, falling rocks, melted rock. I'm not talking lava flow eruptions which you can go see anytime.

Edited to add: think there is also fire tornados, and the possibility of being swallowed by a crack in the Earth. What more could you ask for?

Quote: rxwine

I think being near a catastrophic explosion of a volcano and surviving at the closest possible point would do me for a lifetime. It's pretty much everything: earthquake, explosion, smoke, fire, fire rain!, falling rocks, melted rock. I'm not talking lava flow eruptions which you can go see anytime.

Edited to add: think there is also fire tornados, and the possibility of being swallowed by a crack in the Earth. What more could you ask for?

yeah I forgot to add that. I would like to experience that as well. Would hate to see the one in Europe a few years ago that was just ash and smoke. I want to see the type you just described.

I scratch my "natural disaster bone" with youtube.

The Japanese tsunami, tornadoes, hurricanes, lava and pyroclastic flows: it's all there at your fingertips.

I am glad to see that I am not the only weirdo that likes these things.

There was a tornado just a bit ago near Bradford. Get on it!

This is gonna jack up the flow of the thread, but I reckon that's what this thread is for.

You guys are weird.....you kinda gotta respect it :)

Acting on my son's repeated recommendations, I finally watched "Lone Survivor."

An OUTSTANDING movie.

Thats great to hear. At planet Hollywood I received a postcard to send to universal for a free copy of lone survivor.

Quote: GWAE

Random thought of the day:

I have a goal to be involved in as many natural disasters as possible. I don't know why but they have always fascinated me. I want to see a tornado, tidal wave, forest fire and water spout. I want to feel an earthquake. I want to be in an airplane that crashes.

I have been in a hurricane so that one is out.

I of course want to live through all of these and I do not wish ill will on anyone else and I don't want to see people lives ruined by damaged houses. So if I can get involved with all of the above with my stipulations then I will be happy.

So, ok. Just for fun, I have been through the following (feel free to skip this; I'm just listing these for the hell of it, per GWAE):

1. I have flown through the top of a tornado in the cockpit of an American Airlines jet while it was in the process of killing ~25 people in Louisiana/Mississippi. That was an amazing ride, with a cowboy captain and a freaked out co-pilot. Oops. A few people in the back got hurt. November 1992, I think. Might have the year wrong (edit; I did. corrected). RIP to those who suffered below.
2. I have had a tornado skip over the top of me while lying in a ditch, in Iowa. Looked straight up into it. around summer 1974.
3. I have been in an earthquake that shook the tower, rolled me across the room on a wheeled chair, and dropped a heavy BRITE scope from the ceiling onto the console, along with ceiling panels. Can't remember the Richter; around 5, so not like Northridge or another big one. 1992?
4. I have flown through St. Elmo's fire (ring of lightning that crawls up all sides of the airplane) several times.
5. I have lived within 20 miles of an active volcano in Kona, HI, 2011, and was unknowingly breathing the ash cloud for months during the night. (It rises and falls with the ambient air temperature; I was at 1100' elevation with no air conditioning.) The MOMENT I left the island (as in breathing the airplane air), I began coughing up black ash and it took 3 days of continuous coughing to get the black out of my mouth and off my tongue. Apparently my lungs appreciated the different air, because that wasn't happening before I departed. Probably the most personally alarming of all of these.
6. I have had a waterspout pass within 100 feet of me while working traffic and unable to leave. Kona again. 2010, I think. Extremely rare there.
7. I have been in a 2 person airplane where the landing gear collapsed. Technically a crash, but while the aircraft was damaged, we were unhurt. 1986.
8. I have been in more hurricanes than I care to remember, especially in 2004, but probably about 20 lifetime. Storm surge came within 1 inch of flooding my house during Charlie, did put my garage and pool underwater; I was out in it all night clearing storm drains. The eye passed directly over my house; we went outside and looked at everything - just minor damage. Some co-workers lost roofs; my 2nd level supe's house split in half vertically and was destroyed. 1 week without electricity/phones; 2 weeks before the floodwater fully receded.
9. I worked for 2 weeks in the middle of a forest fire (the fire tower as temporary duty) that ultimately burned 1/2 of Florida in 1998, and several months within three - five miles of it, same circumstances. Had to drive through the fire each way to work TDY, finding passable/open routes.
10. I was on duty for the tsunami of 2011 in Hawaii, with the runway next to the ocean. They thought it would be 6 feet, wiping out the airport; it was 4 inches. No effect; some waves at high tide breached the shore and drained away.

Maybe about average, maybe more than average for 5+ decades. Most of that was exhilarating, but not fun.

Quote:

Maybe about average, maybe more than average for 5+ decades. Most of that was exhilarating, but not fun.

"Average?"

Off the chart!

Wow.

The closest I came to equalling any of your experiences was watching Mt. St. Helens erupt for hours on May 18th.

I was with friends at the spot where the authorities blocked the highway, denying gawkers access to the volcano.

Too damned close.

Had the wind shifted, we'd have been buried in ash.

Who knew?

Then again, pounding Rainier beer all day, who cared?

I spent my childhood in Tornado Alley. Never saw a tornado. Biggest hail I saw was about the size of grapes.

Hang around me, not Babs.