English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

When the fish lurched back after being stung, I seemed to see a thin thread between proboscis and fish.

But I wasn't entirely sture.

Like several cm long, this "thread". Perhaps I missaw.

Anonymous

The Wikipedia page for Conus helpfully hyperlinks "venomous harpoon", in case you want to learn what "venomous" and "harpoon" mean.

4:04 AM

Yay!

►

This video may be shocking for you.

Anonymous

Oh no! :-(

Anonymous

I recognize that video :-(

Anonymous

Poor snails.

Yeah.

I also see a blood-squirting lizard, and so many other weird animals on Youtube...how am I ever going to get to bed?

Anonymous

Think of something less terrifying. Like sloths!

Anonymous

4:08 AM

Unless you have a fear of sloths.

Anonymous

I know people who are afraid of moths, which seems like a really silly fear to me.

Hmm.

Maybe a very large moth in my bed is a bit scary at night.

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Do you know this slug?

Anonymous

You might mistake a very large moth for a bat.

Anonymous

That looks like a nudibranch!

It is.

Anonymous

4:12 AM

Aww

Anonymous

Oh, that reminds me!

Anonymous

Green sea slug makes chlorophyll like a plant

@Cerberus Well, you shouldn’t have invited him into your bed if you thought he’d be scary after dark, now should you?

They just fly towards me from all directions.

Anonymous

@Cerberus I've seen moths that seem fairly large to me, but never a giant like an atlas moth

Anonymous

4:18 AM

I'm told that it's possible to mistake a very large moth for a bat when it's flying toward your face

Anonymous

@snailboat Frankenslugs!

@snailboat I would bow before that emperor.

@snailboat We really have to stop this sort of genetic engineering when it turns out monsters like those!

@snailboat That I would call scary.

I would find it a delight and a joy and a wonder. As I said, I would kneel before it.

I have heard of the chlorophyllic slug.

4:20 AM

But I love the great moths.

I don't know...

If it's in a cage or something, maybe...

No, on my palm. Gently gently.

I grew up with the great ones: lunas, polyphemus, cecropia. Would regularly raise them into cocoon state and then hatch and release their chrysalides, like any child. Such a wonder.

They are furry and so beautiful.

And so ephemeral.

Perhaps this enhances their beauty. I don’t know.

Such majesty in their great wings.

They are not powered fliers like the hawkmoths, but they are super impressive.

These are all Saturnids, you know.

The one he showed above is the Atlas, which can have a wingspread an entire foot across!!!!

> Most Saturniidae are harmless animals at least as adults, and in many cases at all stages of their life. Thus, some of the more spectacular species – in particular Antheraea – can be raised by children or school classes as educational pets. The soft, silken cocoons make an interesting keepsake for pupils.

Saturniidae

The Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, are among the largest of the moths. They form a family of Lepidoptera, with an estimated 2,300 described species worldwide. The Saturniidae include such Lepidoptera as the giant silkmoths, royal moths and emperor moths. Adults are characterized by large size, heavy bodies covered in hair-like scales, lobed wings, reduced mouthparts, and small heads. They lack a frenulum but the hind wings overlap the forewings, producing the same effect of an unbroken wing surface. These moths are sometimes brightly colored and often have translucent eyespot...

This is the only lethal one:

Lonomia

The genus Lonomia is a moderate-sized group of fairly cryptic saturniid moths from South America, famous not for the adults, but for their highly venomous caterpillars, which are responsible for a few deaths each year (e.g., [http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/179/2/158]), especially in southern Brazil, and the subject of hundreds of published medical studies. They are commonly known as Giant Silkworm Moth, a name also used for a wide range of other Saturniid moths. Description The caterpillars are themselves extremely cryptic, blending in against the bark of trees, where the larvae co...

According to research published in the journal Toxicon, Lonomia obliqua has a unique venom that causes disseminated intravascular coagulation and a consumptive coagulopathy, which can lead to a hemorrhagic syndrome. Study revealed that at the base of each spine was a sack where the toxins were stored. As the stems and needles penetrated the victim, venom would flow through the hollow needles and into the puncture wound.[6]
It was also discovered that the toxin in the caterpillar's skin held potent anti-clotting agents. This anti-clotting agent would attach to another protein to the body's c…

Before this, nobody knew that caterpillars could kill a man.

I’m quite surprised, actually.

I knew there was skin irritation possible from some of them, but actual fatalities are new to me.

500 deaths, it says.

It’s like living with scorpions and not knowing it.

> The reported death rate is 2.5%. An antiserum is produced by the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. It effectively reverses the coagulation disorders induced by Lonomia obliqua venom, and patients treated with this antiserum recover rapidly.

I was always a little nervous about woolly bears. They look prickly, but I think they’re ok. The tiger moths they turn into are pretty, too.

Arctiidae

Arctiidae is a large and diverse family of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species. This family includes the groups commonly known as tiger moths (or tigers), which usually have bright colours, footmen (which are usually much drabber), lichen moths and wasp moths. Many species have 'hairy' caterpillars which are popularly known as woolly bears or woolly worms. The scientific name refers to this (Gk. αρκτος = a bear). Caterpillars may also go by the name 'tussock moths' (more usually this refers to Lymantriidae, however). Diagnosis ...

> The setae of the Woolly Bear caterpillar do not inject venom and are not urticant—they do not typically cause irritation, injury, inflammation, or swelling.[2] Handling them is discouraged, however, as the bristles may cause dermatitis in people with sensitive skin. Their main defense mechanism is playing dead if picked up or disturbed.

Pyrrharctia isabella

The Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella) can be found in many cold regions, including the Arctic. The banded Woolly Bear larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its caterpillar form, when it literally freezes solid. First its heart stops beating, then its gut freezes, then its blood, followed by the rest of the body. It survives being frozen by producing a cryoprotectant in its tissues. In the spring it thaws out and emerges to pupate. Once it emerges from its pupa as a moth it has only days to find a mate. In most temperate climates, caterpillars become moths wi...

> Recent research[4] has shown that the larvae of a related moth Grammia incorrupta (whose larvae are also called “woollybears”) consume alkaloid-laden leaves that help fight off internal parasitic fly larvae. This phenomenon is said to be "the first clear demonstration of self-medication among insects".

There is so, so, so much that we just do not know.

Children like them.

Woollybear Festival

The annual Woollybear Festival is held every Fall in downtown Vermilion, Ohio, on Lake Erie. The one-day, family event, which began in 1973, features a woolly bear costume contest in which children, even pets, are dressed up as various renditions of the woolly bear caterpillar. The festival is held every year around October 1 on a Sunday on which the Cleveland Browns have an away game. It is touted as the largest one-day festival in Ohio. History The festival is the brainchild of legendary Cleveland TV personality Dick Goddard, longtime weatherman at WJW-TV. In much the same way Punxsut...

4:44 AM

Text wall!

Why do animals play dead?

Why won't some predators eat the dead? Many do?

Because some predators only eat live prey.

Right.

Like the possum.

But why?

They want to know it was healthy living critter when they eat it. They don’t want to eat something that has died, and may have rotted.

Or had a disease.

So possums play possum.

I’ve seen it as a kid, when I accidentally frightened one, the poor dear.

> Many species retain distasteful or poisonous chemicals acquired from their host plants. [...] The insects advertise these defenses with aposematic bright coloration, unusual postures, odours, or, in adults, ultrasonic vibrations. Some mimic moths that are poisonous, or wasps that sting.[6] The ultrasound signals help nocturnal predators to learn to avoid the moths,[7][8] and for some species can jam bat echolocation.

Holy batbrains, Batman!

The moths jam bat’s echolocation! How’s THAT for a defence, eh?

I had no idea!

Hmm.

@tchrist I have heard of that.

> They can survive freezing at moderate subzero temperatures by producing a cryoprotectant chemical.[9] The larvae of another species, Phragmatobia fuliginosa, may be found on snow seeking a place to pupate. Species in Arctic and temperate belts overwinter in larva stage.

4:48 AM

I knew some insects could survive 0.

That is Celsius, right?

It doesn’t say. I should imagine.

> The most distinctive feature of the family is a tymbal organ on the metathorax.[1] This organ has membranes which are vibrated to produce ultrasonic sounds. They also have thoracic tympanal organs for hearing, a trait which has a fairly broad distribution in the Lepidoptera, but the location and structure is distinctive to the family.

Well, I guess that’s why the woolly-bears are called Arctiidae.

It’s the cold stuff more than the bear stuff, I bet.

But I’m not sure.

The cold stuff is named after the stars, right? And the stars are the bear...

Ok, it’s not the cold stuff:

> Many species have 'hairy' caterpillars which are popularly known as woolly bears or woolly worms. The scientific name refers to this (Gk. αρκτος = a bear).

They occur in the arctic, and get frozen, so I thought their name was from that, but it’s really from the bear part instead.

That may or may not be correct...

What do you mean?

4:52 AM

Because the arctic is also named after bears.

Well, yes.

Mom won't buy me an espresso machine, can you believe it?

It’s Christmastime. She may be fibbing.

Haha.

Haha, no. They're far too expensive for a Christmas gift.

4:55 AM

I'll tell my mother I have been deprived of the barest necessities of childhood.

Then why would she get you one?

I never got mine.

It was a bit of a joke.

gasp

Maybe you can sue her?

Now there's an idea!

4:55 AM

But it's past my bed time already.

Good luck in court!

Thanks!

disappears

lightning strikes

This one is just ten bucks.

casa.com/p/…

ground catches fire

You can have one of those.

4:56 AM

world destroyed

That’s what I used in college.

That's a moka pot, silly. Who calls that an espresso maker?

Maybe I'll just build one.

Actually, we called it a cafetera, I believe, because it was when I lived in Spain that I was introduced to it.

Do you think plywood will work?

They call it an “Espresso Coffeemaker” on that page, that’s who.

4:58 AM

Plywood, old computer parts, and PVC. That's a real espresso machine.

Get extra insurance on the house first.

Hah.

This aluminum coffeemaker has the classic style your looking for in a stove top espresso maker, with the quality of a Imusa brand product. Imusa has been producing coffeemakers for?over?fifty years?and is considered one of the top manufacturer of coffeemakers in the world. This coffemaker makes 6 cups.
It brews a traditional Espresso Coffee in minutes. Made for the stove top, it can be used on all gas, ceramic or coil surfaces. The bakelite hande provides for easy handling. Made from durable long lasting aluminum. Recommended handwash only.

I was very poor.

And living in Spain?

Yes.

5:01 AM

Huh, neat. Why?