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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 20, 2011 10:45:23 GMT -8
Embryo, dunc. I've never met an embryonic driver, though I have met quite a few with a smaller brain capacity. I tell my wife that she doesn't lack anything- it's the estrogen added into the equation that makes her mind clouded, lol. Then I go sleep on the couch.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 20, 2011 10:41:38 GMT -8
Yes, the amount of radiation is nominal. It is really a ploy, in my view, to have better ability to monitor electrical use so they (being power companies, which probably have their hands in some politician's campaign accounts) can charge more for power used during peak hours. Kind of like how insurance companies can charge you more if you are using up your insurance (that deductible +20% more of whatever the total cost is, despite paying for 10 years of good health with no problems) but if not they will just take the monthly fee which is more than you are getting back in care. Or airline companies that have gas that costs 100x more if you want to fly around Christmas than it does to fly off season. Same plane, same gas, should be same price.
I think if the intention was actually to conserve energy it would be fine, but it's not being applied as such. They charge you for what you don't use while you are at work and then charge you that plus extra for being home. My advice, find a night job. Lol. It's very aggravating being abused by large companies that you can't avoid using, like insurance, power company, phones, banks- especially banks, bunch of crooks. I have to direct deposit and therefor pay all these ridiculous fees to whichever bank I am forced to "chose" because it's "paper reducing"- really? Then why print me an additional pay stub anyway? It is not at all about the customer anymore, it's all about the institution. And they know they've got you so you just have to grin and bear it.
In my part of Florida we have remote meters that are checked every so often. It's said because it avoids dogs, but really to make checking meters faster because they can scan your house from their car now which means one employee can now take up what used to be 10 people's jobs. I'll stop because the way business is allowed to treat the American people (and other nationalities in their respective countries) is very discouraging and it just makes me aggravated more than I can express. Gets worse and worse. Politicians and CEO always out to help themselves to a large portion of your hard-earned meal and now the politicians are cutting the crust off the sandwich for their CEO buddies. Any day now I expect to hear "then let them eat cake."
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 20, 2011 5:56:51 GMT -8
One other thing that relates to gender composition that Claude explained is that in butterflies, females would be more "fragile" gender due to their being heterogametic. In humans males are the more fragile embryo because they have only one X and one Y so if a defect is on either one it can cause catastrophic developmental problems. In Lepidoptera, females are ZW so a problem affecting one chromosome would like wise be more detrimental than it would to a male that is ZZ, especially when considering recessive genetic diseases that cause termination of the fetal organism- of course many genetic diseases are recessive or they would by nature breed themselves out. This plays a role in the slight female bias of surviving human embryos so probably similarly Lepidoptera.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 20, 2011 5:24:13 GMT -8
I bet the adults are gone for the season so I don't think the pitfall would work right now. The adults I collected in June-July all died over the last few weeks. You might even be a little far south for them, I don't know how far south the species is collected. Try near Ocala when it gets hotter again. The ones I found were in the same spot one of the other members found them some 40 years ago I think. My guess is that grubs will be the only form they are found in now. I found mine in mid summer but I didn't know where to look until then so I imagine once it is hot again in May you would probably be able to find them. Maybe even earlier. What kind of habitat were you in? We have a lot of dry oak forests up here but I only found them once I started looking in areas around moist hardwood hammocks. They don't seem to like sandy oak scrub as much even though rotting oak can be found in both. The place I went was near Ocala and then also around Lochloosa/Cross Creek. All have muddy-bottomed natural water sources with lots of little tributaries (and therefor a nice selection of venomous snakes and alligators so as always in Florida, be alert). I literally just stopped at all the bright isolated lights in the area from 9:30-10pm until about 12-1am. There is something with my timing that could be refined as most of those I found were already crushed by vehicles, but it still worked on my first attempt.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 20, 2011 4:48:33 GMT -8
That's a very nice Cecropia. I can't see scale but my impression is that the northern examples are bigger than those which are found here. I think every Lepidopterist that isn't specifically working with them has a little bit of Sat envy . Where I am am there are maybe a dozen or so species. I am not really positive actually, it might even be less. Two Citheronia, E. imperialis, A. polyphemus, H. Cecropia, two or three Callosamia sp. on occasion, two Anisota sp., A. luna, A. io, Hemileuca maiia rarely, maybe something I missing as I am calling roll in my head. All are really nice, to me. Bill, feel free to chime in here if something strikes you that I am missing. I think that's it though. Really the northeast and southwest seem to have more species of Sat to me but it may be because I don't see them that I think of them as being more numerous. Where is the center of diversity for North America, anyone know?
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 19, 2011 5:19:12 GMT -8
Hmm, yes Winged that does seem to hold true. I often find polyphemus while walking my dog at night but luna I see pretty much only when I am out looking. I see a lot more lunas than polyphemus in general though, they are very predictable during the summer in rural areas.
I have a couple of local Cecropia, they are the least common of the three you mentioned down here in my experience. Very nice though, a special treat for a Florida collector. I am a Sat fanatic myself, they're my favorite.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 19, 2011 4:01:21 GMT -8
The article link that you posted is SyFy Channel news. That site, dvice.com, is the Syfy Channel news website. Look under the title. So you are in luck- you actually do know that there is SyFy Channel news as you referred us all to it.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 18, 2011 7:11:19 GMT -8
If you browse around for tarantula and other invert breeders you will see that many actually offer dead specimens. No prices listed that I saw but presumably if a live version is $20.00, the dead one would be significantly less. A lot of times they are lumped in with "Herp" dealers so checking somewhere that sells bearded dragons and ball pythons might be useful as well. Happy hunting!
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 18, 2011 6:02:32 GMT -8
You can find Antheraea polyphemus around you, it's the most common Sat in our area after A. luna and A. io I think, in my experience anyway. Quite a few E. imperialis and C. regalis and sepulchralis as well. Check bright isolated gas stations around April-May and July-August, those seem to be peak months around here. I saw lunas almost every single night I went out for a couple of months. You can find Sats most of the time in Florida save the very few really cold months- December through February. Even then people find Lunas during warm spells. Poor little guys have a hard time getting the season's in order here- heck, sometimes I do too! What you can find (maybe, I can in Florida on rare occasions) are Ascalapha. They are accidental migrants but often enough around that I have one and have seen several myself. Those will make the other US collectors drool
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 18, 2011 5:52:27 GMT -8
You are clearly not involved in the sciences at all. The reference you are using to suggest that scientists themselves are reporting these fantastic assertions before even considering the alternative is a component of the Syfy channel. It should be fairly obvious what is really going on here, it's not "the scientists" making these wild claims in the public forum. The reason you "have to hear about it" is because you read Syfy channel news.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 17, 2011 8:00:14 GMT -8
Cockroaches and probably crickets have the "wash your hands" syndrome- themselves they do not carry a specific disease commonly. But they will touch things and then touch your food or toothbrush or something else that makes you vulnerable to transfer infection from whatever they were on previously, be it rotting fruit, raw chicken, your toilet or a bowl of sugar. Most of the time they don't carry anything, rarely they can. If you could get them to wash their hands before returning to work, you would be fine. Otherwise there is always a chance, albeit remote, that they could transmit something to you via contamination. If your general area is fairly clean, the chances are more remote. If you live in a place with less than perfect sanitation or unclear sanitation (say an apartment with an unknown yet particularly filthy neighbor) then you might er on the side of caution and at least move them out.
Worry more about how they are getting in and about proper use of pesticide should you chose to go that route. Pesticides are generally much more acutely harmful than most things a roach could transmit to you.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 17, 2011 6:05:28 GMT -8
Yes, the article clearly says in the third paragraph in second grade language "The fact that the experiment gave the same result so many times suggested that one of two things was true: either the neutrinos really were speeding past light itself and heralding a new era of physics, or there was some fundamental flaw with the experiment, which was much more likely."
Why you suspect anything that has to do with science and government and technology I will never understand- what late night parties? You were there? You better believe that everyone was very skeptical, hence it was re-assessed over and over until the flaw in the experimental design was sussed out. A lot of money was thrown at the nuclear problem too. Now we have a lot of extra power we would be buying from Iran otherwise. In fact you are suspicious of GPS, the Chinese, the administration of the grants of the world and scientists all in just one thread. Surely not every is out to get you, to trick you into thinking they were making your life more convenient just to rip it all away so they can laugh and say "ha ha ha, look at this guy now with his quill pen, candle and mariner's map!"
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 17, 2011 5:24:18 GMT -8
I think it's cribaria, I find them here too just south of you. They do have difficult wings to move, powerful wing muscles I would guess. Put it on the pin and use forceps to "flap" the wings a few good times before trying to spread it.
I like the pronounced veination in the wings and I think their heads always look too small for the rest of the moth.
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 17, 2011 5:18:04 GMT -8
Hmm, maybe I should get a spray bottle to shoot myself every time I destroy one of my own specimens, lol. Sorry to hear this happened. My cat likes flowers. My dog flings slobber on everything. I like fuzzies, from cats to dogs to tarantulas. I also like snakes and fish and everything else alive. As such, I have a cabinet that closes which allows to me dry specimens and keep everything else out. I made it from an unfinished pantry I got on sale at Home Depot. I finished it, added a latch and rubber gasket so the door would pull tight and seal and I keep moth balls for extra assurance. Looks like a nice piece of furniture from the outside.
I think you can find more of this moth fairly easily once you find out a bit about it's local biology. Look around for spurge (Portulaca sp.) this time of year, the caterpillars really like the wild forms where I am and can often be found on the ground munching away. They have a pretty fancy skin pattern and so are fairly noticeable as far as caterpillars go. I just raise it and then you have a perfect adult. You will find larvae getting ready to pupate and hide out over the winter. Good luck!
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Post by starlightcriminal on Oct 14, 2011 9:12:30 GMT -8
Yes, winged, they do have an impressive potential life span for an almost-spider (ever count their legs carefully?) don't they? I think the record is half a century but maybe that has even changed since I was more involved with them. I was shocked when I found this out as well as most pet stores will give you a 15-20 year estimate on an average "old" female. This might be true because interest is lost in them over time or as a result of bad care, but I know for certain that this is not the full potential. I used to keep a wide variety of tarantula myself, I have just a few now as I was required to thin down when my spider-phobic wife came into the picture. She graciously allows me to keep those I still have despite her legitimate fear, albeit an irrational phobia, but they definitely moved out of the bedroom and into an out of sight location, lol. I reared all of mine from slings, the trendy term for spiderlings. It's a lot of fun to watch them change as they transition from instar to instar. Better chances of getting girls this was too. Because males live so much shorter lives they are more often available when you are looking at adult examples and are also therefor supposed to be much cheaper.
A lot of breeders will secretly retain their females and sell off "unsexed" juveniles that have actually been sexed and sorted already. Rather dishonest. You can sex a baby tarantula when they aren't very large at all, just a couple of inches, with great accuracy if you cup it and turn it over- males have fusillae about where the apex of the leg unions are that can be spotted easily with a handlens. But most people won't manhandle their tarantula (for good reason, don't recommend it for you and your tarantula's safety in general) or even know what to look for so they are sold males as either "unsexed" or sometimes even sold as females when they clearly are not. I even once had a guy trying to sell me a female tarantula that had mating hooks on his pedipalps. And this guy clearly knew what he was doing, especially the part where the he marked up the cost to $100.00 more than what the male counterpart would fetch on the market.
Tarantulas are an interesting thing- lots of unknowns available in the pet market with just purported names but no definite description despite being well represented in the pet market for years. Pamphobeteus sp. "Platyomma" which might be Vitalius or something else entirely is a commonly available example of this phenomena. It's not like nursery plants where they do have real latin names and are just not correctly applied if used at all; many tarantulas are only known by the pet trade names. They really beg for some extensive collecting and taxonomic research as I'm sure a great number of them could be resolved and named or renamed as required. Not sure why they get so little scientific attention in the invertebrate community, they are really noticeable which usually means well studied.
I really recommend getting in touch with some of the big breeders and dealers- you would likely be able to pick up atleast recently deceased males. Swift's Inverts, PetCenterUSA, Ken The Bug Guy are all big breeders/importers in the US that might be able to sell you dead adults. Keeping in mind the short relative life of males and the fact that tarantulas are gentle lovers in general, they would all likely have deceased males throughout the year. All of those listed have excellent stock so you might be able to get some very beautiful specimens. There are more too of course, those are just names that strike me as big national dealers. If you are in Europe you will have an even easier time getting a hold of breeders.
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