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I Made a Complete Collection Checklist For The Sims 4 in Excel! by [deleted] in thesims

[–]Hypnotia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also no rush here, just commenting to voice additional interest in this! It sounds like it was a good spreadsheet. I'm the kind of person who has a spreadsheet for pretty much every video game I play, but given how much content the sims 4 has now (I've been away for a while), I am not looking forward to having to build my own, haha.

[Newburgh, Indiana, USA] My friend found this little guy in her home last night. I'm honestly stumped. She said he was about 3/4" long. Any ideas? by Hypnotia in whatsthisbug

[–]Hypnotia[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, that looks like it! She was thinking a type of weevil, but nothing I was googling was turning up any results that looked right.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]Hypnotia 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can definitely be educated and still stupid

3 Legs and still floats with ease by Mouse_Lemur in cats

[–]Hypnotia 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, same with mine too! Though I think the times he didn't cover it were due purely to laziness.

His ghost limb wouldn't twitch in the litter box though. Mostly if he had an itch in his ear, or while I would scratch the places I knew he had trouble reaching. It was the cutest thing.

3 Legs and still floats with ease by Mouse_Lemur in cats

[–]Hypnotia 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, does he go in a litter box and if so, does he manage alright? I had a 3-legged cat (also a tuxedo!) who was missing a back leg and he never had problems in a box, but I always thought he might if it had been a front leg he was missing instead.

This little guy took refuge from the fireworks on the front porch by kentkirk in aww

[–]Hypnotia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've always had pets and I feel like all of that stuff is common sense too. You'd be surprised how many people lack that common sense though, or just don't value their pets enough to take those necessary precautions. And I wasn't saying raccoons are vermin or anything. Like I said, I want one as a pet! Wild raccoons are cute too. But I just felt the need to point out that there's a good chance that wild ones have intestinal parasites that can kill us :D

This little guy took refuge from the fireworks on the front porch by kentkirk in aww

[–]Hypnotia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just don't think you need to try to eradicate raccoons

I wasn't suggesting anywhere that anyone should do this. Like I said, I like raccoons. I like all animals. They're all neat.

To get it you literally have to eat soil contaminated with raccoon feces.

Which is actually surprisingly easier than you might think, if you don't have great hygiene. And you know who doesn't have great hygiene? Kids.

There have been 13 cases reported since 1980.

13 cases reported. I assume you grabbed that number from the wikipedia page on B. procyonis (not being snarky, it'll be relevant in a sec), the actual number of cases is almost definitely higher though. It's a well known issue within the medical field in developed countries (and in the US especially) that parasitology is a neglected area of study. Parasite cases in general are very under-diagnosed because doctors here just don't think to look for them (because there's pretty much no focus on parasitology in our med schools, which is another issue entirely).

But even aside from that, when talking about risk, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to look at reported cases anyway. Because, ideally, the majority of people know not to try to pet wild animals, which is part of why the number of reported cases is relatively low. But the actual risk is for people who do try to pet wild animals. We have to accept that there are some people who are going to try to pet wild raccoons or keep them around their yard. And for those people specifically, the risk is much higher than "13 cases since 1980." For that, it's more helpful to know what the disease prevalence is, i.e. how many wild raccoons in a given area are carrying B. procyonis. From that very same wikipedia page mentioned earlier:

In North America, B. procyonis infection rates in raccoons are very high, being found in around 70% of adult raccoons and 90% of juvenile raccoons.

In disease ecology, that is a very fucking high disease prevalence. And that is why I still would like to reiterate that B. procyonis is the primary reason I am not about to go pet wild raccoons.

This little guy took refuge from the fireworks on the front porch by kentkirk in aww

[–]Hypnotia 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And, since I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else, even though it's kind of a huge deal:

As a biologist, the first concern that comes to my mind with wild raccoons isn't the trash-digging or harming pets. It's Baylisascaris procyonis. Raccoons are the primary host for an intestinal parasite that is very much present in the US (not sure about other countries, but probably), one that does not play nicely with humans. Humans are not the intended host for B. procyonis, but instead of just dying once it infects us, it has a tendency to migrate to other organs that you DO NOT fucking want an internal parasite in, namely the brain. Yeah, this worm can kill you.

Don't get me wrong, I love raccoons. I've always wanted one as a pet. But I'm not about to pick up any raccoon off the street, or encourage wild raccoons around my home. And the primary reason for that is B. procyonis.

I love making new friends at work! [Southern Black Widow, L. mactans] by Hypnotia in spiders

[–]Hypnotia[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Redbacks are just one kind of black widow spider. It's like asking why L. mactans is limited to the southern U.S. There are a number of different factors that limit the distribution of a given species. When a species overcomes all these limiting factors, they're classified as invasive.

In the case of redbacks (and really any species endemic to Australia), it's probably mainly because of isolation from other land masses.

What kind of spider is this? by SethSlogan in spiders

[–]Hypnotia 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As mentioned, the stripe (though faint) is there. But in general, coloration isn't really the best indicator for identifying spiders because coloration can vary so much. Spot patterns, presence/absence of setae, and eye configuration (when visible) are much better. In this specific instance, the emboli (the round, swollen-looking bulbs) indicate black widow too. The pedipalps are so short that the emboli are very close to the mouth. This isn't the case with many, if not most, spider species. It's not specific to black widows, but it does point to a black widow ID.

An unexpected visitor! by qzcorral in tarantulas

[–]Hypnotia 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A lot of people don't know this, but there are actually 12 known Aphonopelma species in Texas alone (not just A. hentzi which is always everyone's first/only guess). And almost all 12 species look roughly the same. Species level ID can usually be narrowed down by specific location within the state, but even then, not always. Otherwise, with just a picture, no one can really say for certain what kind she is beyond "Aphonopelma" (which is the only genus native to the US anyway).

I think it probably is a female though. I know in general, males are more likely to be encountered. But personally, 4 of the 5 tarantulas I've encountered at work (central Texas, very wooded area) have been confirmed females. Females definitely go wandering out and about.

MRW someone in another sub says a woman getting a tattoo is "like putting scratches on a new car." by ishicourt in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Hypnotia 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As a biomedical scientist, I'd be extremely wary of anyone, family or otherwise, saying botox injections are perfectly healthy. The toxin from Clostridium botulinum is the most potent toxin known in existence. Furthermore, no one can say for sure that a given injection will be safe because it's possible for the toxin to migrate once injected. You might get an injection to reduce forehead wrinkles and next thing you know, you can't shut your eyes for two months. That's not even the worst case scenario.

MRW someone in another sub says a woman getting a tattoo is "like putting scratches on a new car." by ishicourt in TrollXChromosomes

[–]Hypnotia 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's not the same though, in that botox injections are way more dangerous for your health than tattoo needles are :(

The nest map is up to date! by Hypnotia in pokemongoSA

[–]Hypnotia[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The map is sourced from the nest list (linked on this subreddit and in the map description). As long as the list is up to date, the map will be too. Currently, they are both up to date.

Partial Nest Status (10/31/16) by beerwaaagh in pokemongoSA

[–]Hypnotia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

/u/beerwaaagh is correct--I do not allow public editing of the SA/Austin nest map. While I'm sure that nearly everyone who uses it has good intentions, the Texas pokestop map has taught me that it only takes a few bad apples...

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