Australian spiders perish

The Sidney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia ^ | February 2 2003 | Sidney Morning Herald

[FreedomCalls]

Australia's eight "spidernauts" are among the casualties of the space shuttle disaster.

Students and scientists involved in the project were eagerly waiting to see if the Australian Golden Orb Weaver spiders have been able to spin webs in space.

They had spent 16 days in the space shuttle Columbia as part of a project to see if webs built at zero gravity are different to those created on the ground.

Low resolution video images of the spiders suggest they have successfully built webs.

If this had proved correct, scientists would have attempted to mimic the spider silk in aerospace structures and space stations.

The spiders were bred at Melbourne Zoo in a four-year joint project by NASA and students from Glen Waverley Secondary College and RMIT University.

The spider were due to be retired to the Melbourne Zoo's new World of Bugs and Butterflies display once their mission was complete.

[Rodney King]

Years ago I was having an adult beverage with a friend in his beautiful spacious back yard. He had one of those bug zappers with the purple light. Poking a bit of fun at him I suggested that the thing was probably just attracting more critters to the funerals of those already deceased. He said he didn't care. As far as he was concerned he'd have been happy if there had been no bugs. Period. I made some comment about the birds and their food source. He said he didn't care, he didn't want them around either. I gave up. Can't argue with that kind of logic.

As I understand it, the bug zappers do attract bugs, and they don't get the mosquitos. Those new ones that emit CO2 are apparently good though. Anyway, I did mean it about kiling the spiders. They should all die and rot in Spider hell.

[PsyOp]

Let's try this on for black (widow) humor:
HEADLINE - "Eight-Legged Freaks Become Crispy Critters--Australian Arachnids Mourn."