Random Thought of the Day

September 8th, 2017 at 7:02:36 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
I was more upset this morning that I forgot to charge the tablet the day before, than about the 8.x earthquake that woke me up around midnight.

It's not the first time one wakes me up, but this one seemed to just go on and on. I noticed only because I couldn't get back to sleep.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 8th, 2017 at 12:56:18 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18629
Btw, in addition to alligators, pythons, monkeys, iguanas, giant house eating snails, house eating sink holes, Florida also has the Manchineel.

Quote:
All parts of the tree contain strong toxins, some unidentified.[4] Its milky white sap contains phorbol and other skin irritants, producing strong allergic dermatitis.[5] Standing beneath the tree during rain will cause blistering of the skin from mere contact with this liquid (even a small drop of rain with the milky substance in it will cause the skin to blister). The sap has also been known to damage the paint on cars.[6] Burning the tree may cause ocular injuries if the smoke reaches the eyes.[7] Contact with its milky sap (latex) produces bullous dermatitis, acute keratoconjunctivitis and possibly large corneal epithelial defects.

[8]
The fruit is possibly fatal if eaten; however, "fatalities from ingestion are not reported in the modern literature"[9] and "ingestion may produce severe gastroenteritis with bleeding, shock, bacterial superinfection, and the potential for airway compromise due to edema. Patients with a history of ingestion and either oropharyngeal burns or gastrointestinal symptoms should be evaluated for admission in hospital. Care is supportive."[10]

When ingested, the fruit is reportedly "pleasantly sweet" at first, with a subsequent "strange peppery feeling ..., gradually progress[ing] to a burning, tearing sensation and tightness of the throat". Symptoms continue to worsen until the patient can "barely swallow solid food because of the excruciating pain and the feeling of a huge obstructing pharyngeal lump".[2]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchineel
You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?
September 8th, 2017 at 2:09:36 PM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
Quote: Nareed
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/10/19/offensive-play

I think I'm done with Football. I don't see how this can be fixed.
Maybe the answer is as simple as not paying these guys millions and millions of dollars?

Lower the pay to the average income of a worker in country. These guys are only taking this abuse hoping for the big payday.

Make it tag football in school, cut way down on the contacts. In fact penalize head contacts. You ruin your knees, shoulders and back, you are an idiot like me and Face, and no amount of protection can save you. Darwin rules. But at least later in life, no one has to wipe the drool off your face and change your Depends.

Follow the money.
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW
September 12th, 2017 at 7:02:54 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Don't you just hate it when Waze finds the faster route, and then you get stuck on a one-lane road behind someone doing half the (low) speed limit?
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 12th, 2017 at 2:02:43 PM permalink
reno
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 58
Posts: 1384
I appreciate discovering impossible facts about earth that seem to violate the laws of physics.

For example, the hottest time of day is usually mid to late afternoon. But the exceptions can be mind-boggling:

On Sept. 9, 1994, the temperature in Great Falls, South Dakota soared from 67 to 93 Fahrenheit in just 15 minutes between 5:02 a.m. and 5:17 a.m. By 5:40 a.m., the temperature was back down to 68 degrees.

In the middle of the night (3am) on July 11, 1909 in Cherokee, Oklahoma the temperature peaked at 136 Fahrenheit.

In the middle of the night (12am) on June 15, 1960 in Kopperl, Texas, the temperature peaked at 140 Fahrenheit.

And on July 6, 1949 in Figueira da Foz, Portugal the temperature increased from 100 to 158 Fahrenheit. The increase took just 2 minutes. It stayed 158 for just 30 seconds.

All four of those incidents are examples of a heat burst-- a rare phenomenon that can occur when a thunderstorm decays.

Quote: Wikipedia
the event is caused when rain evaporates (virga) into a parcel of cold dry air high in the atmosphere making the air denser than its surroundings. The parcel descends rapidly, warming due to compression, overshoots its equilibrium level and reaches the surface, similar to a downburst.
September 14th, 2017 at 7:58:01 AM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
My job, I am either booking multi stop International for road warrior clients
or simple domestic for job interviews for my clients company
On the calls where I arrange a person to fly to another city for a job interview
After booking air for an interviewee , I always ask for an airline frequent flyer number.
Most say something like "Yea I have one but its not handy right now"
WTF, You are calling me to arrange air travel.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
September 14th, 2017 at 2:01:15 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18629
Speaking of bananas...


When I lived in Florida as a teen, we would go boating down the many canals cutting through our neighborhood. You had to watch out for webs of the nicknamed "Banana spiders" as their webs would often be strung across some area of vegetation overhanging a narrow canal.

They are not dangerous -- possibly lovely if you like big spiders.

You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?
September 14th, 2017 at 3:19:15 PM permalink
odiousgambit
Member since: Oct 28, 2012
Threads: 154
Posts: 5052
Quote: rxwine
Speaking of bananas...


When I lived in Florida as a teen, we would go boating down the many canals cutting through our neighborhood. You had to watch out for webs of the nicknamed "Banana spiders" as their webs would often be strung across some area of vegetation overhanging a narrow canal.

They are not dangerous -- possibly lovely if you like big spiders.


I think it would be extremely rare to have a web building spider be dangerous anywhere in the world. They rely on their web and their ability to wrap up their prey and make it helpless in that web - they don't need poison. I can say for sure no web-makers in the US are poisonous - but I mean real webs, not just a silky lair.
I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]
September 14th, 2017 at 5:01:43 PM permalink
kenarman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
Posts: 4470
Quote: odiousgambit
I think it would be extremely rare to have a web building spider be dangerous anywhere in the world. They rely on their web and their ability to wrap up their prey and make it helpless in that web - they don't need poison. I can say for sure no web-makers in the US are poisonous - but I mean real webs, not just a silky lair.


Not sure that is right this quote is from National Geographic.

"Black widows are solitary year-round except during this violent mating ritual. These spiders spin large webs in which females suspend a cocoon with hundreds of eggs. ... Black widow spiders also use their webs to ensnare their prey, which consists of flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars."
"but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin
September 14th, 2017 at 6:16:51 PM permalink
rxwine
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 188
Posts: 18629
Quote: odiousgambit
I think it would be extremely rare to have a web building spider be dangerous anywhere in the world.


It can be dangerous when someone is riding backwards in a boat and gives the spider an unexpected ride. Or funny.
You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?