Because I live most of
my 'real' life on-line I tend to live with my friends in many different
countries but I have few blog readers, e-mailers and Facebook contacts who live
in the UK. As a result I know nothing about
UK politics (upon which it was once my job to be an expert), a tiny bit about politics in some other
countries, and lots about American
politics. But the problem with American
politics is knowing what is real and what is just a joke. OK, a sick joke. Like this -
"To the Missouri
State Senate, women aren't people. They aren't American citizens. Pharmacists
in Missouri can refuse to sell them birth control pills. It's about belief. If
your pharmacist believes you, a woman, shouldn't be using birth control, he can
refuse to sell you the drugs. It's about his belief. He has a right in
Missouri, according to the Senate, to see to it that you behave as he thinks
you should. This is what it means to be a woman in America today? We're back to
this?" - Anne Rice
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta - 'Model Making Mischief'
[c.1885]
I like his style because so many of his portraits suggest the model has a sense of mischief.
Detail from a portrait of Aline Masson, 1876
Dama con sombrero
Helen, and other arachnophobes, don't read the rest....
I follow Wirral
Newsbeat on Facebook. It's a really good
site for keeping up-to-date with what is happening in my area. But occasionally it posts some utter
rubbish. It has just posted a picture of
a spider and said it is a False Widow Spider, that it has recently invaded The Wirral, and is
dangerous.
What a load of
rubbish. Firstly, they have been around over 100 years. The false widow spiders that have been blamed
for a small spate of bites in the UK are Steatoda nobilis, which arrived in the
country from Madeira and the Canary Islands in some bananas in 1879. (We know the exact year because they had
their little passports stamped.)
Secondly, the poor innocent chap pictured on the
Facebook page is not a Steatoda species.
So it's a false false widow. Wirral resident Sarah
Ravenscroft commented "This poor innocent spider has now been wrongly
accused, he'll have to go into hiding now or his life will be made a
misery!"
Thirdly, they will
only bite if threatened, and generally live in cracks or holes, for example
within walls or garden sheds.
Fourthly, whilst the
occasional widow has killed people...
no incy wincy spider has ever
done so in this country.
This species does, however, carry a poison to which you may have a reaction if you are one of the few unlucky people to be allergic to it. But then bees, wasps and peanuts also carry such a poison.
This species does, however, carry a poison to which you may have a reaction if you are one of the few unlucky people to be allergic to it. But then bees, wasps and peanuts also carry such a poison.
Fifthly, in the 1970s
I was bitten by one that was hidden in some bananas and which felt threatened when I
went to eat it! The base of my thumb
swelled up and it was painful for about twelve hours. That was it.
No more than the sort of bite one can get from many other British invertebrates
and certainly a lot less unpleasant than being bitten by a cleg or horse-fly.
Sarah
Ravenscroft said "Wonder how many people will ring in sick with the
excuse 'Sorry I can't come in I've been attacked by a false widow'".
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