Digital Camera

[Firefox 0]

Something you guys need to know before shooting more strange bugs:

 

WARNING: From the University of North Florida

 

An article by Dr. Beverly Clark, in the Journal of the United Medical Association (JUMA), the mystery behind a recent spate of deaths has been solved. If you haven't already heard about it in the news, here is what happened.

 

Three women in North Florida, turned up at hospitals over a 5-day period, all with the same symptoms. Fever, chills, and vomiting, followed by muscular collapse, paralysis, and finally, death. There were no outward signs of trauma. Autopsy results showed toxicity in the blood.

 

These women did not know each other, and seemed to have nothing in common. It was discovered, however, that they had all visited the same restaurant (Olive Garden) within days of their deaths. The health department descended on the restaurant, shutting it down. The food, water, and air conditioning were all inspected and tested, to no avail.

 

The big break came when a waitress at the restaurant was rushed to the hospital with similar symptoms. She told doctors that she had been on vacation, and had only went to the restaurant to pick up her check. She did not eat or drink while she was there, but had used the restroom. That is when one toxicologist, remembering an article he had read, drove out to the restaurant, went into the restroom, and lifted the toilet seat. Under the seat, out of normal view, was a small spider. The spider was captured and brought back to the lab, where it was determined to be the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata) , so named because of its reddened flesh color. This spider's venom is extremely toxic, but can take several days to take effect. They live in cold, dark, damp climates, and toilet rims provide just the right atmosphere.

 

Several days later a lawyer from Jacksonville showed up at a hospital emergency room. Before his death, he told the doctor, that he had been away on business, had taken a flight from Indonesia, changing planes in Singapore, before returning home. He did not visit (Olive Garden), while there. He did, as did all of the other victims, have what was determined be a puncture wound, on his right buttock.

 

Investigators discovered that the flight he was on had originated in India. The Civilian Aeronautics Board (CAB) ordered an immediate inspection of the toilets of all flights from India, and discovered the Two-Striped Telamonia (Telamonia dimidiata) spider's nests on 4 different planes!

 

It is now believed that these spiders can be anywhere in the country. So please, before you use a public toilet, lift the seat to check for spiders. It can save your life! And please pass this on to everyone you care about.

 

Officer Sylvia Steele

University of North Florida

Science Dept

4567 St. Johns Bluff Road, South

Jacksonville, FL 32224-2645

Urban Legend lah Rameish....

 

Anyway, very few species of spiders can kill an adult unless the adult is allergic to the venom..

 

FYI, the Two-Striped Telamonia is a spider jumping spider that's very common in Singapore.. It's not venomous and at it's largest size of 11mm (females), it can barely bite through human skin. I caught a heck load of them before when I was younger..

[heady 0]

Rameish, good urban legend ah. See this:

http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/toiletspiders.html

 

Actually the spider this legend refers to is the one most of us have played fighting spiders with:

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/s...a_dimidiata.htm

 

Maybe we all are immune to the toxin....

[av98m 0]

av: wah.. nice one.. mind telling how much u paid for the f80+grip? I've been planning to get one.. maybe sometime in the future to try out the film experience. .. I once saw f80s for 350 .. damn cheap but too bad so quickly snatched

I paid 380 for the F80 & MB16 grip on clubsnap. It was an old ad and I was quite suprised no one jumped on it. Pristine condition, seller included the Magic Candle guide to the F80 (very useful book) and I found the unfilled warranty card tucked in the book!

Edited April 26, 2005 by av98m

[Blues 0]

Is it black or the chrome version.? there've been some selling for quite cheap but I am looking for the black one

[av98m 0]

Mine is chrome, which doesn't look half bad. For some reason its easier to find chrome units on sale rather than black.

 

BTW, I strongly suggest buying together with the grip. Much better handling and balance, esp with larger and heavier lenses. Cheaper using AA batteries instead of CR123s as well.

Edited April 27, 2005 by av98m

[Rameish 0]

Ok OK, Firefox you could have waited 2 or 3 days for AV to start developing symptoms. You no fun lah :-)

 

"This one has a few things wrong with it: There is no such thing as the Journal of the United Medical Association, nor is it likely that any such article on this subject by "Dr. Beverly Clark" ever appeared in any medical journal. Additionally, the Civil Aeronautics Board disbanded in 1984! There have been no reliable and valid accounts of such mysterious injuries or deaths at Olive Garden or any other restaurant.

 

This urban legend has taken many forms over the years. As it circulates, more detail is removed or replaced to make it seem more believable and less like the joke it was probably intended to be. This latest version is stripped of many of the "facts" that made earlier versions easy to research and debunk. The earliest Internet version (1999) I found links the mysterious deaths to "Big Chappies" restaurant in "Blare" airport in Chicago (presumably an abberation of "O'Hare") and identifies the spider as the hilariously named "South American Blush Spider" or "arachnius gluteus.""

 

 

 

Omission of the fictitious airport and replacement of the equally fake spider with a real one (Two-Striped Telamonia) in this version, combined with a heady case of "False Attribution Syndrome" have given this old hoax new life.

 

This is not a notice from the University of North Florida. The school became unwillingly affiliated with this hoax when one of its employees (presumably "Officer Sylvia Steele," though her title seems incongruous with a position within the Science Department) received and forwarded it, inadvertently adding her signature and credibility to the message. Since it would seem that someone representing a university science department would know things like this, it makes sense to assume they are the source of it. Somewhere along the way (either coincidentally or intentionally) references to Chicago were replaced with "North Florida" to help the tale make more sense.

[Firefox 0]

Ok OK, Firefox you could have waited 2 or 3 days for AV to start developing symptoms. You no fun lah :-)

He already knew it was an urban legend la.. LOL..

[Blues 0]

[av98m 0]

I vote this the worst attempt at a hoax since the coining of the phrase "People are our most important asset".

 

[Rameish 0]

It was worth a try

 

 

Anyways, has anyone identified the white bug/spider yet (looks like a spider).

 

 

Oh this one is true: If you happen to be shooting spiders in Australia be ware of the Red Back spider. It can kill a small child or the elderly but even for us younge adluts ;-) it does cause serious problems.

Edited April 28, 2005 by Rameish

[av98m 0]

A kind soul on clubsnap provided this info:

 

This could be a Australische Krabbenspinne (Thomisus spectabilis), eh.. a type of crab spider..see:

http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/a...d_popup&_bild=1

http://www.museums.org.za/bio/spiderweb/thomisid.htm

 

The Thomisdae, or Crab spiders are the masters of ambush and disguise. This large family includes 37 genera in South Africa and many more in other countries except the arctic areas. They are called crab spiders because of their crab-like appearance and sideways motion. They occur more commonly on plants, sometimes under rocks and are harmless to man.

 

The most conspicuous genus, Thomisus (the flower crab spider, is short and squat, ranging in size from 3-11mm. Its glabrous integument (exoskeleton) is cryptically coloured, taking on the colour of its surroundings. Thomisus stenningi in the Western Cape is able to undergoe white to yellow colour changes. This colour change facilitates camouflage on flower ambush sites and is completed within 2 days. Other species turn pink and appear to remain this colour. While colour patterns are species specific, colours can vary. The first and second pairs of legs are noticeably longer and thicker than the last 2 pairs. The abdomen is triangular in shape, being widest posteriorly. Its lateral eyes are situated on projections.

 

Thomisus is a sedentary spider and is usually noticed only when one sees a strangely positioned, usually upside down, insect and upon investigation, the insect can be seen to be in the grips of a spider. Thomisus waits for flying insects to settle, patient and motionless, with outstretched legs. She can detect them from 20mm and when within a range of 5-10mm, Thomisus closes her powerful front legs, catching the insect which can be up to 3 times her size. The insect is then bitten behind the head and killed. The insides are dissolved and sucked from the exoskeleton and the empty, perfect form of the insect is dropped to the ground.

 

[Rameish 0]

Shall I split this topic as it's begining to talk more about bugs. LOL

[av98m 0]

OK lah, let me post another photo to keep this on track. Just don't ask me to identify it ok?

 

 

This pic is from the same roll as the spider, with the same setup. So its uncropped.

Want a 4R print of this one and the white spider?

Edited April 28, 2005 by av98m

[Q00 0]

i really like your bug shots av... i really like the way only the bugs are in focus and everything else fades out of view... i like the effect.

[Firefox 0]

It was worth a try

 

 

Anyways, has anyone identified the white bug/spider yet (looks like a spider).

 

 

Oh this one is true: If you happen to be shooting spiders in Australia be ware of the Red Back spider. It can kill a small child or the elderly but even for us younge adluts ;-) it does cause serious problems.

That's a Misumenops nepenthicola.. But most of the time, you'd just call it a Crab Spider.. LOL.. It's under the Thomisdae family of spiders.

 

Aye.... Redbacks are very close relatives of the Black-widow.. They even have the hour-glass under their backs as well. It seems no deaths have occurred from the bites of a Redback so far..