Mailable Live Animals • Hacker News Board

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#141

Post by dexterdog » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 8:52 PM UTC

np- wrote: post #77

Turing_Machine wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an incident maybe 30 years ago where a medical school employee went into New York (I think it was) to pick up a batch of human heads to be used for teaching purposes. He left the box in his car while taking care of another errand, and it was stolen. The box was found sitting on the sidewalk a few blocks away, with the heads still in it. One can only imagine what went through the thief's mind when he opened…

Regardless of the thief, it does seem a little concerning that the chain of custody for actual human heads involves being left unattended in a random employee's car.

Once they've been relegated to the heap of experimentation they really don't need to be controlled that much. Oddly I would feel in some way violated if a loved one of mine had died and his/her head were in that box, but if it happened to my own head I would pay it no mind.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#142

Post by s0rce » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 8:52 PM UTC

np- wrote: post #77

Turing_Machine wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an incident maybe 30 years ago where a medical school employee went into New York (I think it was) to pick up a batch of human heads to be used for teaching purposes. He left the box in his car while taking care of another errand, and it was stolen. The box was found sitting on the sidewalk a few blocks away, with the heads still in it. One can only imagine what went through the thief's mind when he opened…

Regardless of the thief, it does seem a little concerning that the chain of custody for actual human heads involves being left unattended in a random employee's car.

A lab I worked in while I was in college had a freezer with a bunch of human heads in it. pretty creepy.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#143

Post by btilly » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 9:11 PM UTC

dexterdog wrote: post #139

btilly wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insects may do fine, but individual species are another story. For example through most of Los Angeles, if you see an ant it is probably an Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Over my son's life, the variety of native ants to be found near me has visibly declined.

That's probably not so much climate change as it is invading foreign species.

And the reduction in flying insects documented in https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... is unlikely to be climate change either. Nor is https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-di....

Not everything is about climate change.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#144

Post by markdown » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #143

dexterdog wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's probably not so much climate change as it is invading foreign species.

And the reduction in flying insects documented in https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... is unlikely to be climate change either. Nor is https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-di... . Not everything is about climate change.

What isn't about climate change soon will be.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#145

Post by pvaldes » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

simlevesque wrote: post #73

Does anyone know why you cannot ship a pheasant in december ?

Is too cold to survive

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#146

Post by markdown » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 9:30 PM UTC

esalman wrote: post #117

As a non-immigrant, USPS is probably the #3 most impressive thing to me about the US after the interstate highways and national parks.

As a non-athlete, I agree.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#147

Post by ourmandave » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 9:48 PM UTC

This reminds me of the horror pygmy marmosets or "Thumb Monkeys" endure.

There's a very high mortality rate as they're poached and shipped to people who have no idea how to care for one.

https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/no-pygmy-marmo...

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#148

Post by diogenesjunior » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 10:07 PM UTC

markdown wrote: post #146

esalman wrote: post #117

As a non-immigrant, USPS is probably the #3 most impressive thing to me about the US after the interstate highways and national parks.

As a non-athlete, I agree.

What is your first and second?

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#149

Post by alex_young » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 10:18 PM UTC

I once had to go to a mail processing facility in SF to retrieve a package which had had an exception in the delivery process. That was it's own nightmare, but I digress...

The postal worker I eventually talked to had a desk in a little office where she seemed to be sorting out issues for people like me. I think my case was a pretty mild one, but she kept getting calls from people about some live chicks which were somehow stuck there. It did not seem like fun.

The post office is amazing. They are true unsung heroes.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#150

Post by aae42 » Tue, Aug 17, 2021, 10:34 PM UTC

picking up packages of bees at the post office is hilarious (they won’t deliver it all the way to your house)

i love doing the ‘ol “oops i’m gonna drop it” routine as i walk out the door past the horrified people standing in line to buy stamps