At the risk of disappointing Alan in Belfast, I don’t have a longer comment to add.. Apart from pointing out that, in relation to the current apparently vexed Space Shuttle mission STS-126, the BBC headline noted here now seems somewhat premature. Nasa – One of our spiders is missing, and the other one is confused..
Fair play to Iain, he managed to get over 2,200 people voting in his poll for the top Northern Irish blogs this year… We (just, I imagine) retained our top spot, with Splintered coming straight in at number 2, no doubt his pet subject du jour will have garnered him a lot of fans… I’ve [...] read our review »
World by Storm has a nice piece up on the IRA’s role in helping MK, the armed wing of the ANC, in the 1980s. In particular he sees a strange alchemy at work there: …if one can think of a clearly legitimate contemporary struggle it was that against apartheid and it is to the credit [...] read our review »
Somehow I escaped reading this essential school text, with its story of racism in 1930s American South. Living in Northern Ireland, I draw parallels with sectarianism, with its similar bigotry and prejudice. To Kill a Mockingbird was part of a Unite Against Hate campaign event at Parliament Buildings in Northern Ireland, which I’ve written [...] read our review »
The spider was obviously in the tool bag. Her fear of spiders is why she dropped the bag in the first place. Looks like the husband is off the hook thanks to some clever bloggers.
“One is missing, the other one is confused.”
Well, if that doesn’t take you back.
A spider’s skill at spinning its web is so obviously affected by different drugs that NASA scientists think spiders could replace other animals in testing the toxicity of chemicals.
The more toxic the chemical, the more deformed the web. NASA researchers think that with help from a computer program they can quantify this effect to produce an accurate test for toxicity.
If you care about spiders, if you care about drugs, if you care about spiders on drugs —
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc
Susan:
NASA “think” about lots of things, it doesn’t mean there is any logic to their though process. They have a budget so enormous that the “thought” of sticking a straw up a frogs arse and blowing just to see what happens, has probably conviened several meetings so far.
The NASA budget is going to come under more intense scrutiny in the next year, losing tool bags and spiders in only cause for congress to start asking harder questions.
Have they considered looking inside the other spider?
It’s been a long trip, she was confused, there was nothing to do, he was doing her head in ……..
Why didn’t I think of the spider-in-the-toolbox gag? The current Shuttle mission may be stressed, but just imagine if Stormont had a Department of Space …
lol, cynic. Nice one.
Thanks for your insights, McGrath. Most would have twigged I was something less than serious somewhere between “if you care about spiders on drugs,” and seeing the eencey weencey alcohol tester spider served with an eencey weencey restraining order.
NASA has doomed us all soon we will be ruled by giant mutant space spider overlords.
Spare me my giant arachnid overlord and I will serve you for life!!!!