Today was spider feeding day, and it’s usually a bit of a chore just because I have so many spiderlings right now. Mary came along to help this time, though, and it was amazing how easy it was: I’d zip along all the vials with spiders, flicking sacrificial flies to their waiting doom, and she’d follow along behind, capping each vial as I went. Zoom, it was done.
Now my dilemma: do I keep my wife, dragging her in to assist every feeding session, or do I grow an extra pair of hands? The latter does have some attractive aspects, you know.
Did I read that right? You’re feeding the spiders other spiders and not fruit flies? I knew that some spiders are cannibalistic and some eat other spiders in general, but I thought you were feeding your brood flies. Is this population control? You were having some fruit fly supply issues previously…is this where that has led us to?
Exactly what I was going to highlight, but my comment is:
The man really does have SPIDERS on the brain. That was an obvious “can’t think of nuthin’ else but spiders.”
Maybe you should hire her as an assistant. Another income?
Surely you should grow two pairs of extra limbs to bring things up to the correct number. Two new arms and two new legs, the latter to take the weight off those bone spurs.
As I think George Orwell wrote in “Animal Farm”: Four legs good, eight hands better!
I look at it this way, what is easier for the task at hand? Training a stranger or hijack a willing domestic accomplice?
Given the whole ongoing pandemic thing, I’d go with the domestic co-conspirator. ;)
Spiders are smart! thought you would like this if you have not seen it.
https://www.metafilter.com/193119/Clever-Those-Salticidae
@3 ” Maybe you should hire her as an assistant. Another income?”
Don’t be absurd ,what kind of mad scientist has his wife for an assistant ?
In “Pyramids” by Terry Pratchett the whole ‘workforce for building pyramids’ thing was solved by using time loops. There is also the ‘army of robots’ solution, but it comes with its own set of problems, so do the golem.
OT
A powerful geomagnetic storm is expected, I hope you get clear skies and can watch any nothern lights that extend down to where you live.
Cephalopods provide a clue to how ,many arms we should have.
Wouldn’t you also need a sub-mind to operate the hands? This would actually be multi-tasking, which currently isn’t really a thing that exists.
@birgerjohansson, being on a space weather mailing list, old news.
As usual, it’ll remain cloudy here, with a fair amount of rain to make the current chilly temperatures a touch more miserable.
Speaking of miserable, got my booster yesterday and went through an evening of a very, very angry deltoid. Feeling much better today, while my wife is now complaining of injection site inflammation.
In other news, CRT is still being taught in k12 schools, alongside advanced brain surgical techniques… ;)
That, courtesy of yet another idiotic news story about school board meetings drowned in objections to the graduate student level courses allegedly being taught in k12 schools, so obviously if that’s true, advanced brain surgery is also being taught or something.
Por que no los dos?