足跡@Universe.Earth

 

 

Nearly 10 years ago, I had moved to Australia.  My new neighbour Ron called me to see him close to his fence in our backyard.   Ron lived behind our house and he used to be a famer, he grew vegetables and loved to check us out, he wanted to know what we are doing. 

When I walked closer, he said : “Mei, do you know that the red back spider is poison and deadly?”  I told him that I did not know that and  I did never see one yet! 

Then he pointed his finger to the fence just between both of us, and then I saw a spider with a red point on the black who was hanging in a tiny web.  I screamed immediately.   Ron laughed and put his finger on top of the spider and squashed it, he killed the spider.  He told me this is a piece of cake, he kills red blacks all the time.

After then, I did kill one myself when we renovated our backyard.  I was moving a brick which has 6 holes in the middle, a red black did hide in one of this holes, when I moved it, I saw a red back spider moving, it was already close to my finger,  I was scared and dropped the brick onto the floor, the spider was thrown out and fell onto the floor, I immediately stepped on it.  

Then I knew red back spiders are not aggressive, just don’t wait until they bite you, you will be fine.

 

當我初來澳洲住, 我家後花園有個老鬼鄰居, 常常關注我家的動靜.

有天他見我在後園種花. 他叫我走到圍欄去聊天.

並問我道: 你可知否悉尼紅背蜘蛛是惡毒無比嗎?

我剛來報導, 當然對那些小動物是沒什興趣的, 當他知道我一無所知..... 就開始陰陰咀笑.... 

佢用手指一指角落, 說: 看, 那隻就是啦! 

我看到一隻細小黑蜘蛛, 背部圓圓上是有一小紅點.  動也不動, 掛在蛛網上.

隨著, 老鬼便用手指往蜘蛛上一擠壓,  我"嘩"一聲,  老鬼覺得好不威風.  他說他殺紅背蜘蛛當食生菜.

後來, 我家後園重修, 我自己也看到過不少紅背蜘蛛, 也自己殺死過一隻. 

當時是好害怕的, 它就是躲在一磚頭裡,  當我移動磚頭時發現了它, 立即就嚇到掉到地上,  它也被拋出掉在地上, 我好自然就往它身上踩去.  

依我所見, 紅背蜘蛛根本不活躍的, 不是網上說的會向你攻擊的.  它們行動不快, 你有足夠時間殺鬼死它們, 肯定快過它們襲擊你.

 

Red Back Spider - Attenborough: Life in the Undergrowth – BBC

 

 

 

Red Back Spider - toilet spider

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider

紅背蜘蛛是一種劇毒蜘蛛，身長在2—8mm之間，背部有個紅色印記，攻擊性極強，被咬中五分鐘後傷口開始發熱發痛，如無血清治療，半小時內死亡。但自1956年以來，並無記錄在案的因紅背蜘蛛咬傷而死亡的案例。

紅背蜘蛛偏好棲息於黑暗乾燥處，雌性紅背蜘蛛會在交配後，把消化液注入雄蜘蛛的身體和把雄蜘蛛吃掉。據研究發現，母紅背蜘蛛壽命有2-3年；公蜘蛛壽命只有6-7個月，有83%的雄性紅背蜘蛛在沒有交配之前就死掉了。

有趣:

1.  紅背蜘蛛網:  晚上建築, 並且是三維建築的, 不單是和橫濶, 而是向下向深.  (睇BBC, attenborough – Life the Undergrowth 就是.) 只要你想像天上就是一般的蜘蛛網, 可是他從網中一些線向下再築更多的支線接觸著地面或平面.  當有小動物經過觸摸到, 就被纏著整隻獵物被彈起.  因為彈起在半空, 而沒有了其中東西可以被依靠, 紅背蜘蛛就可以爬下來把你用網絲包起來, 慢慢吸食.

2.  紅背蜘蛛 原來是外來客. 不是原產澳洲! (睇片: Red Back Spider - toilet spider)

When my papa left me in 2006, I was always afraid of death, because I was with him in hospital the last few days before he died...... all the terrible things around him, breathing facility, all the plastic pipes from his lungs, arms, mouth... all around his body....etc. I always think may be one day it will be my turn to be in the same situation like my papa was.......

Tonight, I watched a documentary, Billy Connolly's Big Send Off, I think it is a good documentary and it is worth to spend some time to have look at it........ for those who care for elderly parents or any other family member in that situation. It is inevitably that we are all going to die.

 

 

Billy Connolly embarks on a personal and enlightening journey where he looks at our attitudes towards death. He immerses himself in a range of experiences and talks about death with his pal Eric Idle.

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In the documentary, it did mention :

Drive-thru funeral parlor
Want fries with that? Not a likely question you’ll be asked at this drive-thru.
For nearly 40 years, a funeral home in southern Los Angeles county has been adding a dash of convenience to the business of death.
The mortuary, located in Compton, claims to offer an efficient way for prominent members of the community to be viewed en masse. Elderly who have a hard time walking don't have to leave their cars.
One possible reason for the drive-thru's success could stem back to the 1980s, when Compton was a hotbed for gang violence. The LA Times reported that cemetery shootouts made gang members reluctant to gather for graveside services. And since the glass partition of the Robert L. Adam's funeral parlor is bulletproof, it became a popular location for gang funerals.

 

 

 

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In the documentary, it did mention :

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish funeral.
I do have some questions :
1. Why are they swaying their heads non- stop during prayers, I wonder if it does not hurt their neck muscles, over the years? I think this shuckling must cause a disease and have a special name.
2. will they dig out the dead bodies several years later? otherwise they would run out of room in Jerusalem.
p.s. after searching with google, I found this article below, and I believed that they bury the dead bodies there forever, that is why Israeli people need to find more places for new cemeteries, and that's why they put their new cemeteries on Palestinian land!!

http://alt-arch.org/en/graveyard_metropolis

 

 

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In the documentary, it did mention :

Neptune Society Columbarium of San Francisco
This is a special place, because it tells a story about the AIDS epidemic that struck San Francisco, most AIDS sufferers died, ............and no funeral homes were taking the people for fear of AIDS infection.
I'm touched hearing Billy say " the whole story is in that wee box"........ " I love and I miss you"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the documentary, it did mention :

 

 

I wonder if it is a good idea making a tattoo for the memories of my loved one???!!!

 

http://www.allsaintstattoo.com/#!__menu

 

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In the documentary, it did mention :

The Chinese Traditional Funerals. they did introduce 陰司紙 in English, it is called a hell bank note, 路票 in English, they call it a spirit world traveller's cheques. But they did not mention 紙紮屋, 紙紮公仔...等等的祭品, I wonder what it would be called in English. So, I go to the google.... and I found a lot of funny things that I never knew before.

 

 

紙紮祭品 in English, it is called paper offerings or Joss paper goods 紙紮衫, 屋, 車.... in English, it is called papier-mâché clothes, houses, cars, toiletries, electronics and servants.

 

 

鬼都唔住啦! I don't think a ghost would like to live in such an ugly house :

 

 

I want to become a rich ghost :
紙紮豪宅 papier-mâché delux houses: NT$ 77,000
紙紮度假式行館 papier-mâché delux holiday villa NT$ 6,300
http://www.skea.com.tw/hot_house.htm

 

 

 

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And Finally, I told Edward that I would love to end up in a university autopsy room. Edward said, yes, my dear, if you don't end up in southern Indian ocean first.