The Night Mail

[Craigw]

41 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

 

I'm struggling to see what part of that is unAustralian?

 

People usually prefer to let a Funnel web try to catch a brick or very large rock.

[polybear]

58 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

It makes you look like a bit of a girl.

 

 

Actually, it makes you look much worse!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note to @Andy Y:

 

Forget the moderation.....make it a life ban....

 

Yours,

A Traumatised Bear.....

[iL Dottore]

I’m thinking aloud here….

 

OK, let’s say we are (a) in Australia and (b) we come across a large funnel web spider. We channel our inner @polybear and hit it with rock….

.…… hard………

 

…….repeatedly….

 

So now we have an EX-funnel web spider, but for how long are the remains still dangerous? Obviously, following a frenzied, psychotic, PB style attack it will certainly be in no fit state to inject the venom, but the venom hasn’t gone anywhere.  I haven’t found any information about how much venom the spider carries or how stable it is outside the spider body (one assumes it does break down, sooner or later).

As all it takes is a scratch for the venom to enter the body and we have to assume the venom is still present in, on and around the corpse and that the venom remans dangerous for some (undefined) time after death, it seems I have bad news to pass on to PB (and fellow arachnophobes) which is:

 

EVEN IF IT’S DEAD IT CAN STILL KILL YOU!

 

 

[iL Dottore]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Note to @Andy Y:

 

Forget the moderation.....make it a life ban....

 

Yours,

A Traumatised Bear.....

Let’s face it Bear, they (snakes and spiders) ARE gonna get you no matter what you do, or how many you kill (see above)

 

So you can either

 

Chomp down on the cyanide capsule, now!
 

OR

 

Learn to to coexist with them - respecting their boundaries and needs.

[polybear]

11 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

IAs all it takes is a scratch for the venom to enter the body and we have to assume the venom is still present in, on and around the corpse and that the venom remans dangerous for some (undefined) time after death, it seems I have bad news to pass on to PB (and fellow arachnophobes) which is:

 

EVEN IF IT’S DEAD IT CAN STILL KILL YOU!

 

 

 

Cremation....

 

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Let’s face it Bear, they (snakes and spiders) ARE gonna get you no matter what you do, or how many you kill (see above)

 

So you can either

 

Chomp down on the cyanide capsule, now!
 

OR

 

Learn to to coexist with them - respecting their boundaries and needs.

 

Note to Puppers @PupCam:

 

How's that Araknawotsit Nuke coming along?

[PhilJ W]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Tut, tut!

You have to do better, Bear.

Don’t forget, as the Zen Masters would say “to defeat the spider, you must first become the spider”

[Happy Hippo]

51 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Cremation....

 

 

Note to Puppers @PupCam:

 

How's that Araknawotsit Nuke coming along?

Probably already developed:  however, we haven't managed to build a suitable  reusable delivery system for a low orbit strike.

[Happy Hippo]

19 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Anyone who has read Heinrich Harrer's book 'The White Spider' will find no arachnids in it whatsoever.

[bbishop]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

They have tarantula spiders here, small tarantulas but still huge and hairy things as spiders go. Some of the bugs are best avoided, though the most dangerous are probably mosquitoes  as although malaria isn't a thing here dengue very much is. And dengue fever is no fun.

I have oily skin so can cope with the sun but mossies just LOVE me.  On with the Oil of Spike Lavender.  Going back forty odd years, my JRT also suffered with the mossies.  He always answered to "Spike", it meant a wipe over with smelly stuff but then a WALK.

[jjb1970]

37 minutes ago, bbishop said:

I have oily skin so can cope with the sun but mossies just LOVE me.  On with the Oil of Spike Lavender.  Going back forty odd years, my JRT also suffered with the mossies.  He always answered to "Spike", it meant a wipe over with smelly stuff but then a WALK.

 

One of the great plus points of Singapore is it is remarkably mossie free given the location and climate. The government invests a lot of effort in controlling mosquitoes, it's pretty impressive how effective it is, they're very strict about preventing stagnant water in storm ditches and keeping them clean for example. They have wardens who go around inspecting homes to check that anti-dengue precautions are implemented, the first time they knocked at our door asking to see plant pots and stuff my wife thought it was a scam. The result is I rarely get mosquito bites here, miraculous given the number of bites I can get in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam etc. The government does dengue mapping which is very precise, and can implement heightened controls in high risk areas.

 

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Cremation....

Then the smoke/vapors might still get you!

[AndyID]

I happen to like my spider a lot.

[Winslow Boy]

56 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I happen to like my spider a lot.

There's always one isn't there.

 

Bear where did you put that special list you mentioned. I think I might have someone to go on it.

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, Winslow Boy said:

There's always one isn't there.

 

Bear where did you put that special list you mentioned. I think I might have someone to go on it.

Andy’s had a number plate…

[Winslow Boy]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Andy’s had a number plate…

Don't split hairs. A spider is a spider. We start going down this route and next you'll be saying crimson lake is a jolly nice colour.

Edited August 24 by Winslow Boy

[Oldddudders]

Just now, Winslow Boy said:

A spider is a spider. 

But not a spyder.

[Winslow Boy]

6 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

But not a spyder.

You say toemato I say tomato.

[Northmoor]

TNM'rs may remember a few weeks ago I reported that my neighbour Brian had passed away.  He was a keen fisherman, classic car and motorcycle enthusiast; his son Michael inherited none of these interests.  Completely out of the blue, told me soon after the funeral that in the will, Brian had left all his tools to me or Paul, another neighbour who has restored a VW Beetle and camper.

 

Today's job has been to start clearing the workshop and following my own recent advice on here, to use a self-storage unit while I make the space in my own garage and as a buffer while I dispose of what I don't want to keep.  The quantity (and often, quality) of the tools is phenomenal; this is a life's worth of self-sufficiency in "getting things done".  There are multiple power tools, socket sets, an air compressor and special tools I would not have wanted to buy for one-off jobs but will now never have to, more paint thinners than I will ever need etc.  There's lots of woodworking tolls in particular that I won't use but I've agreed to clear the workshop, not cherry-pick, so if I do end up selling any instead of gifting them, the funds will go to CRUK.  Back to finish the job tomorrow, when the forecast is for something other than the stair-rods we had this morning.

 

[Tony_S]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Anyone who has read Heinrich Harrer's book 'The White Spider' will find no arachnids in it whatsoever.

Though he may have noticed some in the Himalayas. The Himalayan jumping spider lives permanently  at higher altitudes than other creature. 

[Tony_S]

38 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

saying crimson lake is a jolly nice colour.

The Great Western liked it at one time for certain vehicles. 

[AndyID]

Arggg! The transistor the powers the heated bed on my 3-D printer has failed. I have a spare driver card but replacing it involves moving a lot of connectors. I may be gone for some time.

[Happy Hippo]

23 minutes ago, AndyID said:

Arggg! The transistor the powers the heated bed on my 3-D printer has failed. I have a spare driver card but replacing it involves moving a lot of connectors. I may be gone for some time.

That'll teach you to try and print out Clapham Junction in one continuous run!

[J. S. Bach]

Speaking of spiders. Mother had this very heavy, thick cast iron frying pan that she called a "spider"; I have absolutely no idea as to why, either. I think that she got the name from her mother as I do remember Gramma calling it that, too. I wonder if she was referring to this now long-forgotten brand name:

https://oldtimecastiron.com/2019/05/griswold-spider-skillet/

I do not remember anything on the bottom that would have been a remnant of the Griswold marking.

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Speaking of spiders. Mother had this very heavy, thick cast iron frying pan that she called a "spider"; I have absolutely no idea as to why, either. I think that she got the name from her mother as I do remember Gramma calling it that, too. I wonder if she was referring to this now long-forgotten brand name:

https://oldtimecastiron.com/2019/05/griswold-spider-skillet/

I do not remember anything on the bottom that would have been a remnant of the Griswold marking.

 

That's probably why. Just like vacuum cleaners in the UK were usually called hoovers regardless of which brand they were.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

I happen to like my spider a lot.

 

Does this mean the Big Beary Boots (steel toecap safety boots, to be precise....), Wire Brush or Blow Torch treatment is off limits?

 

Just askin' for a friend....