by liberal japonicus
My wife and I were marveling at this
A Burmese python slithering through the Everglades proved that her eyes weren't bigger than her stomach, swallowing intact a 76-pound deer.
At 15.65 feet, the python isn't the largest on record. But the size of her prey both impresses and concerns state and federal wildlife scientists and land managers trying to control the non-native species.
A necropsy conducted by Everglades National Park wildlife biologists showed the python had a girth of 44.1 inches after devouring the adult female deer. The snake normally weighed 139 pounds.
While on this side of the Pacific, there is this
A research institute in Okinawa Prefecture said Monday that the world's longest habu snake, at 2.42 meters, has been found in the village of Onna in the center of the prefecture's main island.
According to the institute, a man in a car on Oct. 12 found the snake creeping across a street near a residential area of the village.
While I don't currently suffer from ophidiophobia, I may have to reconsider...
Combine this herpetology thread with the plumbing (or lack thereof) thread from a couple of Fridays ago and imagine meeting one of these hooded creatures on your way to or IN the outdoor fully-unactuated banyo at 3:30 am as you offload an evening's worth of San Miguel beer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Cobra
The article mentions the Philippine island of Mindoro as a rich habitat.
Yup.
Also, the Los Banos campus of the University of the Philippines on Luzon, whose facilities extend up through a lush, tropical jungle on the side of a mountain, features during certain times of the year many, many cobras flowing out of the greenery at night to block traffic on the byways and chase squealing coeds back to the dorms.
Africa, natch, offers a much more varietal bestiary of snakes to worry about during ones more vulnerable moments -- haven't been there -- but the World Health Organization offers a book on the phenomenon which you can Google.
One tip from the book: Don't keep your chicken in your hut. It draws the reptiles indoors for lunch.
Which raises yet another drawback of the Republican plan (with help from some Democrats) to convert Medicare to a barter system in which chickens are exchanged for prostate exams and gynecological adventures.
Although the way I look at it is what's the difference between losing your chicken at home or handing it over to Ron Paul for consumption?
Either way, what you end up with is feeding your chicken to a snake.
Posted by: Countme-In | November 04, 2011 at 12:08 PM
It probably goes without saying that all Burmese pythons in Florida were transported there by people. Students, to some degree. And then released into the wild, because they had to go home for the summer.
When I was much younger, there was a rash of wild-dog attacks on cattle around Gainesville; same root cause. What a cute puppy; oops, it got too big to bring home.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | November 04, 2011 at 02:21 PM
As winter approaches, this may be the time to remind everyone that it is the season for that most warming of delectables: snake soup. Hong Kong has some restaurants specializing in this dish, but many other Cantonese places will offer it in the winter. Cross over into Guangchou and the variety becomes even richer, I'm told.
Surprisingly good. And I was only surprised at first because I was (am) a gweilo.
Posted by: dr ngo | November 04, 2011 at 03:34 PM
Probably most pythons can't afford traveling by cruise ship, but some might stow away on a container ship.
Of course, we don't want them over-staying their visas. They might take jobs away from American snakes.
You'd think one of the airlines would offer a special deal, or at least a group rate, for pythons traveling on their own.Posted by: Gary Farber | November 04, 2011 at 04:37 PM
Just wanted to congratulate the seven billionth person in the world.
I hope that baby comes to realize that blastulas and corporations are people, too, which means the world's population count is actually much higher than seven billion.
Also that he or she needs to stand in line behind the blastulas and corporations for various and sundry rights.
Posted by: Countme-In | November 04, 2011 at 05:55 PM
O.K., so, what if I just mention that a diarist at a certain political website of the right-wing persuasion has been identified by TPM as one of the four individuals arrested for planning to do bad things to lots of liberals.
Posted by: Countme-In | November 04, 2011 at 06:26 PM
Links, Count! Gotta give links for these teasers.
Posted by: wj | November 04, 2011 at 07:23 PM
Well, here's the link to one of the TPM articles.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/meet_the_senior_citizen_militia_members_arrested_in_georgia_bio_attack_plot.php
There is a further link in the article to the political website where the first guy (and his profile) mentioned is a diarist.
I've tried to link to the diarest directly but odd things happen for whatever reason.
Posted by: Countme-In | November 04, 2011 at 09:31 PM
It's now my birthday on the east coast.
2 hours and 45 minutes to go here in Oakland.
Measuring by date, not time of birth, which I'm quite vague about.
53.
The last year has certainly been damn better than the previous one to it, or the one before that, but I'm still, or again, in the process of starting life over again, it seems.
I hope I get better at that. I'll confess that I'm pretty damn unhappy right now.
At least I'm in therapy again.
Posted by: Gary Farber | November 05, 2011 at 12:18 AM
If Python then Monty. Maybe throw in some seasonally stretched owls instead of chickens.
The biggest snake is of course Jörmungandr aka the Midgard Serpent, another product of strange genetics.
Posted by: Hartmut | November 05, 2011 at 06:24 AM
Happy Birthday, Gary!
Posted by: Countme-In | November 05, 2011 at 08:49 AM
My total and unreserved agreement on this point.
Happy Birthday, Gary. May your life continue to improve, and may you find some near-term ease from your current low emotional state. It's a prayer, in whatever form you find acceptable, or just a wish for you to be well.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | November 05, 2011 at 10:36 AM
Best birthday wishes, Gary!
Posted by: sapient | November 05, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Thanks, y'all.
Posted by: Gary Farber | November 05, 2011 at 04:09 PM
O.K., so, what if I just mention that a diarist at a certain political website of the right-wing persuasion has been identified by TPM as one of the four individuals arrested for planning to do bad things to lots of liberals.
I would seriously be open to the idea of carving out some kind of independent state and giving knotheads like these guys a one-time-only chance to go there.
Choice of where could be tricky, but I'm sure we could figure something out.
Once out, always out, though. No backsies.
Then, we build a big wall between us and them. Barbed wire, dogs, mines, and a moat.
Posted by: russell | November 05, 2011 at 04:13 PM
And crocodiles in the moat.
Posted by: dr ngo | November 06, 2011 at 12:47 AM
Russell: The Free State Project.
Or quite a few such folks are in Idaho.
But, heck, be generous: we could spare most of the Dakotas, and Montana, and mostly only miss out on some beautiful scenery which will presumably be turned into mines and wells.
I'm sure Dick Cheney would be happy to extoll the wonders of Wyoming.
The moats should have sharks with fricking lasers on their heads. Lasers powered by fricking gin and tonics.
Posted by: Gary Farber | November 06, 2011 at 01:50 AM
Oh, and Russell? You might want to read Heinlein's 40s short story, Coventry.
Though you do get to come back from it if you meet the requirements.
But I seriously recommend the story; it's both a good story, and couldn't be more relevant to discussing these sorts of libertarian views.
Moreover, it's hard to find a libertarian to scratch who hasn't read Heinlein.
You can find a copy in various anthologies, or tucked in the back of Revolt in 2100, not one of Heinlein's better books, but available for under $3, if curious.
Or you could look for any of these editions.
Posted by: Gary Farber | November 06, 2011 at 01:58 AM
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress has a different story to tell, but with a somewhat wider moat.
Posted by: Slartibartfast | November 06, 2011 at 10:13 AM
Russell: The Free State Project.
Yeah, I know about those folks. I don't really have any issue with them, because (a) they don't mind working within the law and the electoral process, as opposed to dumping ricin on my head, and (b) NH is kinda like that anyway, they're just gonna blend in.
Although hard-core libertarian folks attracted to NH because of the cool tech jobs are going to be disappointed to find they will have to live in the southern part of the state, where all the liberals and commie MA expats live.
They might even find themselves forced to cross the border in the MA on a daily basis to get to work.
I don't mind live free or die types. It's only when they want to kill me and people like me that they start to really annoy me.
Posted by: russell | November 06, 2011 at 04:19 PM
Speaking of snakes, a Republican FINALLY comes forward with a concrete, specific jobs plan:
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/11/07/cain-still-unable-the-entire-shoe-warehouse-drops/
If more people volunteered to keep their heads down and worked to get a head without demanding high wages, then we could all have nice things.
To receive lower taxes, go just a little lower and .... a little farther to the right ... that's it. Yes.
In other news, Schmoe Lame is up up his usual punkish activity over at Redrum tarring all Occupy Wall Street participants with the same brush because of some bad actors in their midst.
Apparently, our character is determined by the worst among us.
O.K. I'm game. But is he?
His fellow hanger-outers continue to get have their diaries posted over there while planning to murder millions of Americans and, in the case of one of their buddy-boys, Herman Cain, attempting a job-creating finger-f*ck in the Tea Party limo.
Hypocrisy?
No, we left hypocrisy behind a llllonngg time ago. I believe what we have here is a large contingent of full blown (they demand more for less from the rest of us, but what they don't realize is that they are apt to end up only partly blown for less) psychopaths who are going to bring the entire country to its knees.
Posted by: Countme-In | November 07, 2011 at 05:22 PM