Am I the only one who read the headline and thought this was about the personality scores given out to South-Asians as part of the Harvard admissions case?
Myth of the Brown Recluse
31–40 of 158 posts
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#32Relevant link: https://abc7chicago.com/man-uses-blowtorch-to-kill-spiders-s...
The Fresno Fire Department said a man who was house-sitting for his parents set the home on fire after he used a blowtorch to kill black widows...
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#33My sis-in-law had a necrotic bite from a brown recluse that nearly required surgery to stop the decay. This was in the Midwest. One of the happiest points of moving to CA is not finding them on my pillow. Creepy little creatures. I haven’t met anyone in 16y of life in CA that has heard of them.
> One of the happiest points of moving to CA is not finding them on my pillow.
Christ this thread is seriously nightmare fuel for someone who grew up in a country where literally no dangerous wildlife exists. I cannot imagine dealing with deadly animals on my pillow.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#34Yep, tons of spider in Missouri... I used to be somewhat freaked out about brown recluse spiders as a child but now as an adult I could care less. There is one with a web setup in my basement that I walk by every day, I just let it be since there is a pile of dead bugs under the web.
I remember one kid in high school got bit and had a nasty necrotized spot on his ankle, other than that I have only heard of a few people who have been bit.
As far as black widows go, I have only seen/caught a couple of them and never heard of anyone being bit by one.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#35DRTS; (For those of you who didn't read, because... font too small) - Brown recluse spiders, in general, don't bite people unless you have less than 20/20 vision. In that case, you should run for the hills, esp. if you don't know how to zoom in the browser. A+ for content, but accessibility less so.
I believe it would be FS;DR
But, in case you are serious: CTRL++ to zoom in. CTRL+0 to reset to normal.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#36Growing up in California, I was always fearful of black widows. I had no idea the availability of antivenom was so great.
The article doesn't mention how long you have after the bite until the antivenom must be administered, so it's feasible that people living in remote or undeveloped areas would still want to be wary. I also imagine that children are more susceptible to the venom, so it still makes sense to teach them about the danger.
Most people don’t need to be. What the article fails to mention is that Black Widow bites are only life-threatening to the ‘feeble’ (children, elderly, sick, etc). Otherwise you’re in for a very bad time, but the chance of dying is insignificant.
“In the United States each year, about 2,200 people report being bitten .. each year 12 bites are considered serious but no deaths have been reported in 100 years ..
.. Contrary to popular belief, most people who are bitten suffer no serious damage, let alone death ..
.. Since the venom is not likely to be life-threatening, antivenom has been used as pain relief and not to save lives .. a study demonstrated that standardized pain medication, when combined with either antivenom or a placebo, had similar improvements in pain and resolution of symptoms.”
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#37> How hard is that Arkansas guy laughing who was sleeping on top of 6 brown recluses? I get the point and I second the sentiment and intent of the article. But then again that Arkansas guy must be very brave nonetheless when he isn't worried about six brown recluses living next to him while sleeping - considering that the spider definitely is venomous and a bite can trigger necrosis.
We don't laugh that hard, I have been bit twice, and both left sizable scars. Although, if you know you have been bit and get treatment within in a day or two it shouldn't be that bad. --Arkansan
It is better now that we have running water and don't have to use the outhouse. That was a bad scene for brown recluse bites, in particular with respect to the typical bite location.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#38If people in the midwest are laughing, imagine how Australians feel.
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#39Yep, tons of spider in Missouri... I used to be somewhat freaked out about brown recluse spiders as a child but now as an adult I could care less. There is one with a web setup in my basement that I walk by every day, I just let it be since there is a pile of dead bugs under the web. I remember one kid in high school got bit and had a nasty necrotized spot on his ankle, other than that I have only heard of a few peop…
I've had 2 bites from the brown recluses.
The first was on my upper lip, sent me to the hospital, before the necrosis it swelled up closing off my mouth and nose so I couldn't breath. The "core" was extracted and I was left with minimal scarring, but I keep a mustache to cover it.
The second bite was on my big toe. Woke up one morning with my toe swollen to the size of a small orange. When I went to the hospital for that one, some rotting had already started. My 350 pound father and two nurses held my leg down as the doctor cut into it. They were no match, I knocked them all to the ground when I felt the blade. I now have a dime-sized spot on my big toe.
I still don't fear them, and recognize the good they do. I try to avoid spiders now though ;).
Re: Myth of the Brown Recluse
#40[flagged]
With something like this, brown recluses in California. Where a lot of people believe it, because it's a "known fact". Well local media is populated by a lot of those people. They're probably not knowingly lying or creating a conspiracy. Just talking about something "everybody knows", and it just happens that that fact is mostly wrong.
There isn't a problem with saying the media is wrong, misinformed, or lying, if you have hard evidence to support that claim.
Trump's problem is he just claims any negative news are malicious lies, and rarely has anything to support his claims even a little bit. And that he, the undisciplined lair, is the only reputable source of information anyone should listen to, if they were smart anyway.
Big difference.