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A significant proportion of the population has arachnophobia to a
greater or lesser extent. A much larger proportion, whilst not
actively arachnophobic, will nonetheless be freaked out by large
spiders on their head or dropping down their shirt collar.
England, fortunately, is blessed with
several largish (3-4 inch),
fast-moving, long-leggedy spider species which are completely
harmless. It should therefore not be a major problem to breed
large numbers of these, and then release a couple of thousand of
them from a drone-borne container into the midst of any riotous
assembly.
For instance
https://en.wikipedi...Tegenaria_parietina
[MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 12 2019]
or
https://en.wikipedi.../Giant_house_spider
[MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 12 2019]
Spiderbait
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiderbait
To counteract the spiders. [neutrinos_shadow, Aug 13 2019]
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Annotation:
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The rioters (riotees?) could bring Spiderbait. |
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Bun for calling up for service Spiderman's original ancestors. But, would Spiderman consider people who are looking for basic human rights to be criminals? Hmm. I wonder if the spider ancestors have the same ethos? Eg: Drop the spiders into the middle of the Tiananmen Square 'riot', they land, look around at the distressed students' faces, and walk off en masse. |
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[n_s], it's a well-known fact that spiderbait doesn't work on Spiderman or his ancestors. |
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//[W]ould Spiderman consider people who are looking for
basic human rights to be criminals?// |
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I'm not suggesting a specific group against whom this could be
used; just that it would be a pretty effective non-hazardous
way to disrupt a mob. |
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Not suggesting that you were suggesting it, [MB]. It's more like: Hey, Hong Kong currently has a bunch of riots going on, what if...? |
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It would be an effective dispersal impetus.
Recommended research off-shoot: package the spiders, so that they can be deployed for home/ vehicle/ personal security purposes. Imagine the dampening effect on break-ins and assaults if you'd be met by a sudden explosion of long-leggedy I'll-kick-yer-arse arachnids?! |
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//Hey, Hong Kong currently has a bunch of riots going on,
what if// I'm pretty sure they have nastier spiders in Hong
Kong, and knowing the Chinese, they would not hesitate to
deploy them. |
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//package the spiders// Slight problem in that, if you start
with a box of 2000 spiders, you wind up with one very fat
spider and 15,992 spare legs. So, the spiders would have to
be packaged immediately before dispersal. |
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Perhaps a practical way of achieving this effect in a home security setting would be to have your entire house lined with a sort of double-glazing over all the walls, ceilings and floors, such that the space between the panes of glass forms a contiguous space in which thousands of spiders live. Then any intruder to your house will be suitably startled by what appears to be every surface covered with spiders. |
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Bullet ants would do a better job. |
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//Bullet ants would do a better job.// |
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Only if you don't mind infesting the area. And if you don't mind that they're going to infest your areas in return. |
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In some parts of China this would be considered
airborne snack delivery. |
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// would Spiderman consider people who are looking for
basic human rights to be criminals? // |
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Spider-Man probably wouldn't, but Spiderman (who is in
charge of taking care of the spiders (or a descendant of
someone who did that job)) very well might, and would be
glad to have someone paying him for the services of his
spiders. |
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This idea would work if you could recruit the spiders depicted in the very silly* movie "Eight Legged Freaks" ... |
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*Spiders of that size are a biological/physiological impossibility due to their respiratory systems. |
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//biological/physiological impossibility due to their
respiratory systems// |
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Not really. Many spiders have so-called "book lungs" which
are as efficient as they need to be. If lungs were a limiting
factor, they'd quickly evolve more finely-pleated surfaces
for better gas exchange. They'd also tune up the muscles
that they (and some insects) already use to move air in and
out. |
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A bigger problem is the lack of a closed circulatory system.
However, it's not clear how much of a limitation this is and,
again, it would evolve and adapt if it were the only
constraint. |
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A yet bigger problem, though, is the exoskeletal model. It
works very efficiently only for small creatures (or bigger
ones, like lobsters, that get support from water). It doesn't
scale well. It also has to be moulted to allow for growth -
anyone who's seen a tarantula moulting will appreciate that
anything very much bigger will simply be too floppy to
survive immediately after moulting. |
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Since we're relying on hypothetical advances in evolution already molting is easily solved with an exoskeleton that can expand, a double or triple exoskeleton with only the largest being hard and the inner ones still being enough to support the body during molting, molting one limb at a time, better defenses during molting and/or a body that can molt completely and then regrow the exoskeleton one bit at a time such that each stage creates the necessary support for the next. |
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In the land of the arachnophobic the man without fear of
spiders (& perhaps a little whip, to wrangle them with) can be
king. |
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Does anyone know someone who sells teeny tiny bullwhips? |
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To our certain knowledge, the Intercalary has a fine collection of full-sized whips, but he's very unlikely to lend any of them out. |
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It's the fact that he's given them all personal names that's the creepy part ... |
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He's a collector. It's Sturton you want to worry about. |
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Incidentally, he says he can get you another 2 cases of the
same "personal hygiene" product if you like - he's stopping off
at Macau on his way to a St. Rudel's Day feast. |
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Make it three, please. Will he want cash, or would he prefer the usual "payment in kind" ? We need a fresh supply, had a party of drunk Klingons in the back of the Cube the other night ... the place still stinks. Dunno, should have known better than to go south of the river at that time of night ... |
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Your last "payment in kind" apparently etched the inside
surface of his favourite port glasses, so I think he'll be looking
for cash. |
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^ gotta be a winner, you should post that ... |
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Interestingly, it is very difficult to have a genuine phobia about venomous snakes, or sharks, or crocodiles, or tigers. |
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A phobia is defined as an "irrational fear" and being afraid of tigers or sharks is perfectly rational; they have an established record of attacking and injuring or killing humans. A fear of large predators is perfectly rational and therefore not a phobia. |
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Refusing to empty the laundry basket because there might be a king cobra in it, when you live in northern Norway or Japan or any place where cobras are not commonly found is a phobia. |
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