dvrabel on 8/5/2006 at 22:56
If you had 8 legs Tulsidas, I'd probably squash you for being an annoying pest; no normal decent human being with any real appreciation or understanding of the natural world gives a shit about a single spider.
Tulsidas on 8/5/2006 at 22:58
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
fig etc
Hey, maybe i's not referring to you
alone by
you?
Stitch on 8/5/2006 at 22:59
Quote Posted by Tulsidas
Don't feel bad/jealous if you find yourself incapable of even trying to think/act on the lines of a normal decent human being, or even agreeing with someone who is trying to :)
It's becoming abundantly clear you aren't exactly the authority on decent human behavior :)
Starrfall on 8/5/2006 at 23:05
I mean it people, we're talking about HERDS of cows here.
Tulsidas on 8/5/2006 at 23:06
I see the whole bunch of The Admin's usual ass-lickers beginning to gang upon me now. No, Thanks.
Jackablade on 8/5/2006 at 23:07
Tulsidas, why don't you get a friend to drop a spider on your face when you're not looking and see how you react? Report back to us.
Parker'sSire on 8/5/2006 at 23:08
Swallowing spiders in your sleep... A friend had told me about that statistic some time ago, so with renewed mortal fear (after reading this thread) I decided to finally look it up.. Seems it ain't so.... (breathes deeply and says silent prayer)
(
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mspidereat.html)
Tulsidas, I find GBM's remarks totally realistic and honest. It's ludicrous to equate a loathing of spiders to a lack of humanity. I'm willing to bet that when push comes to shove, if GBM, like most of us, had an opportunity to get rid of the spider and be sure that it would never return (have it caught by the local spider-lover society, or something), he might take it.
But he's talking about a gut, instinctive reaction.
I was terrified of Horseshoe crabs when I was a little kid. Nasty (and incorrect) stories about them all over the place where I came from.
In college I used them to do behavioral and pharamacological research. I learned to be totally comfortable around them and actually liked them.
They're nothing but HUGE arachnids.... basically water-spiders. And they moved like that and looked like that (under that "shell").
We all can learn... but GBM's just being honest. And we've been conditioned to think that something that huge and that ... that... spiderey... might actually come after us if we go for
it.A former colleague told a story about going to the cellar of the psych dept at his college to take care of a loose rat that the silly girls in the dept were afraid of and complaining about. He handled rats every day.
He started down the stairs and a 1 ft Norwegian Brown rat was coming UP the stairs toward him. He backed out of there fast. Now that is scary.
Dia on 8/5/2006 at 23:22
I have no problem with spiders living outside my humble abode and appreciate the fact that they deter (occasionally) other little creepy crawlies from slipping inside my house. But when they attempt to take up residence inside, well, that's a horse of a different color let me tell you. Humane? I've tried all that humane treatment of spiders and they just keep coming right back in and yes! they're all poisonous and they will bite you (especially when you're sound asleep and not expecting anything in particular) and then you wake up with a nasty red lump somewhere on your person where nasty red lumps really shouldn't exist and then it itches and hurts simultaneously for days. My idea of humane treatment is to wad up about 20 facial tissues, nab the little vermin and promptly flush it down the toilet (usually accompanied by my smug, 'Let's see the little bastard get out of that one!' remark)(oh - and I usually have my plunger nearby because in my enthusiasm to be rid of the spider I inevitably use too much tissue and clog up the toilet). I did battle with a particular spider for three mornings running just last week; every time I got in the shower & started shampooing my hair, I'd catch movement out of the corner of my eye and there'd be this medium sized arachnid (about the size of a US nickel) lowering himself on his little lowering web-thingy right towards my forhead. Twice I thought I'd washed him down the drain, only to have the samething happen again the next morning, the ballsy little creature! On the third morning I knew there was nothing for it but to just squish it with my shampoo bottle (accompanied by the obligatory, 'Eeewww'). I'll share my Spirea with spiders, but not my shower and not my bed. As far as I'm concerned they're all perverts and absolutely deserve whatever ignominious end they meet.
P.S. My garage is one of those 'gray areas' regarding spiders.
Rug Burn Junky on 8/5/2006 at 23:25
While we're on the subject of pests, I have a couple of pigeons nesting just outside the kitchen window of my apartment. Originally I was planning on just installing deterrent spikes, but Tulsidas has convinced me that something else entirely is in order.
So, should I try to poison them, or would a homemade flamethrower be in order?
Low Moral Fiber on 8/5/2006 at 23:29
Obviously you need to take them out for a quiet picnic in the forest and have a talk about your relationship and how their perching on your windowsil is slightly infringing upon your personal space. :D I would then suggest you and the pigeons go and find a place for them to stay in as such that everyone is happy and the pain of heartbreak is not to last so long :thumb:
