[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

34 posts ยท Jan 25 2002 to Feb 6 2002

From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@w...>

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 16:15:35 +1100

Subject: Re:[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

Beth wrote, re Cane Toads:

> > The truly, truly desperate in search of a high have been

I suspect that's from personal experience, right?

OK, the header's incomplete. The post is about dangerous Austr-Alian
wildlife.

Gotta be careful talking about poisonous beasties down here: the Yanks will
get the impression that everything's venomous. Not true. Neither
the man-eating 20 ft Great White Sharks nor the 20ft Saltwater crocs are
poisonous (though some are a LOT bigger than 20 ft - though that's big
enough). Ok, so the spiders are poisonous, as are the scorpions, snakes,
jellyfish, seasnails, sea urchins, octopi, toads, even the (male) platypus.
But not *all* the poisons are fatal. Or at least, not always. And you may die
from infection from the bite of a goanna or parentie, but they're not
poisonous either.

Now having damaged the Australian Tourist Industry yet again....

Just some thoughts though for SG2: suppose an alian - sorry - alien
beastie or plant secreted a powerful hallucinagen as a pheremone? Get too
close, and the Umpire starts putting Pink Elephants or whatever on the table.

And one more thing. I can imagine colonists in the GZGverse having the same
perverse pride in their menagerie of dangerous beasties that we do in Oz.
Personally, I think the Grizzly Bear is quite bad enough thanks,

From: KH.Ranitzsch@t... (K.H.Ranitzsch)

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 06:27:57 +0100

Subject: Re: Re:[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

[quoted original message omitted]

From: Kevin Walker <sage@c...>

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:48:04 -0600

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> On Thursday, January 24, 2002, at 11:27 PM, K.H.Ranitzsch wrote:

> You didn't mention the Drop Bears.

Now don't start this discussion up AGAIN!  ;-)

From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@w...>

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 22:17:14 +1100

Subject: Re: Re:[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

From: "K.H.Ranitzsch" <KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de>

> > Let's just say the Saltwater Crocs are one of our lines of defence

No, some things are just too terrible.

From: Derk Groeneveld <derk@c...>

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 19:44:52 +0100 (CET)

Subject: Re:[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Alan E Brain wrote:

> Beth wrote, re Cane Toads:
not being
> > able to feel said lip for 24 hours is no fun!

> Gotta be careful talking about poisonous beasties down here: the Yanks

*chuckle* I know that when visiting Australia it was very hard not to get
paranoid when mopuntainbiking across Rottnest island near Perth. I could see
poisonous snake under every bush. The only creature taking offence was a
startled seagull, of which I graciously took a picture;)

More startling was the comment that the garden of the house I stayed at
was crawling with Redback spiders - which mere nicely pointed out to me.
But of course they shouldn't be fatal to an adult. Really. Honest.

Cheers,

From: Channing Faunce <channing@g...>

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 10:46:35 -0800

Subject: Re: Re:[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

[quoted original message omitted]

From: Glenn M Wilson <triphibious@j...>

Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 22:39:42 EST

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

On Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:48:04 -0600 Kevin Walker <sage@chartermi.net>
writes:
> On Thursday, January 24, 2002, at 11:27 PM, K.H.Ranitzsch wrote:

Well, Eureka has some AWI Teddy Bears, maybe they could do Teddy Bears in
Space... almost as good as "Pigs in Spa-a-a-a-a-c-e!"

Gracias,

From: Derek Fulton <derekfulton@b...>

Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 17:53:58 +1100

Subject: Re: Re:[OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> At 10:46 25/01/02 -0800, Chan Faunce wrote:

Who ever said that Platypuses were cute and cuddly;)

Cheers

From: Kevin Walker <sage@c...>

Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 01:54:26 -0600

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> On Saturday, January 26, 2002, at 12:53 AM, Derek Fulton wrote:

> Who ever said that Platypuses were cute and cuddly ;)

Definitely not the Platypus or anyone that's been pierced by that nasty
rear flipper spike.  ;-}

From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@w...>

Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 22:45:17 +1100

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

From: "Glenn M Wilson" <triphibious@juno.com>
:
> >

> Well, Eureka has some AWI Teddy Bears, maybe they could do Teddy Bears

From: Beth Fulton <beth.fulton@m...>

Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 01:41:36 +1100

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

G'day,

> I suspect that's from personal experience, right?

Yep, unfortunately.

> Just some thoughts though for SG2: suppose an alian - sorry -

Sounds fair to me;)

> And one more thing. I can imagine colonists in the GZGverse

I'd say so too, in fact you could run an entire scenario based around a trip
to an offworld animal park... it'd be truly horrific;)

> Let's just say the Saltwater Crocs are one of our lines of

One of the best ones, along with the stingers and 100s kilometres of mangrove
swamp, salt flats and desert...

From: Glenn M Wilson <triphibious@j...>

Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 11:01:58 EST

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

On Sat, 26 Jan 2002 22:45:17 +1100 "Alan and Carmel Brain"
> <aebrain@austarmetro.com.au> writes:

My wife will shake her head, then smile for joy when I get her some next
Christmas (since she was disappointed by Evil Empire's LOTR Miniatures set (a
Fat Frodo to be precise.)

Gracias,

From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@w...>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 22:44:01 +1100

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

Some more on Oz beasties.
http://www.usyd.edu.au/su/anaes/spiders.html

The reason I'm bringing up the subject again is to share some good news. My
sister got bitten by a whitetail spider on the shoulder aboout 5 weeks ago.
(No, that's not the good news). The Good News is that the necrosis has
stopped,

From: Jeremey Claridge <jeremy.claridge@k...>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 11:55:19 +0000

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> Some more on Oz beasties.

> Whew. Had us worried for a while. First time that osteomyelitis

Glad your sister is healing, but it looks like I'll emigrate to New Zealand
instead:)

From: Robin Paul <Robin.Paul@t...>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 12:11:24 -0000

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

[quoted original message omitted]

From: Paul Owen <paul@g...>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 13:05:36 -0000

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

Yep I agree, thats me never visiting Oz if I can possibly help it.

> > Some more on Oz beasties.

From: Derek Fulton <derekfulton@b...>

Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 00:31:56 +1100

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> At 10:44 4/02/02 +1100, Alan wrote:

I suppose this is one time 'scoring a first' was something your sister could
do without. Glad it wasn't worse.

Cheers

From: Derek Fulton <derekfulton@b...>

Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 08:39:30 +1100

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> At 10:10 4/02/02 +0100, Karl wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----

What you don't know about, can't hurt you:)

It true, it's works;)

Most of the time.

Cheers

From: Laserlight <laserlight@q...>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 18:08:08 -0500

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@austarmetro.com.au>

> The Good News is that the necrosis has stopped,

You know, if Australia has a Tourism Department, they're probably

From: Beth Fulton <beth.fulton@m...>

Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 10:58:09 +1100

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

G'day Alan,

> The Good News is that the necrosis has stopped,

After 5 weeks that's amazing! One lucky lady! (Well excusing the bite in the
first place that is).

> But not a lot is known about a lot of Australia's

This and the subsequent reactions to it does bring up a good point to do with
the space colonies. That joke post I sent about Australia was probably very
close to the mark about absent minded use of sharp sticks and checking
you shoes, especially if you grew up in the bush - Derek grew up in town
and so doesn't smash his shoes repeatedly against the wall every morning...
well at least not as much as I do, and he doesn't check the bed for snakes or
the loo for spiders before settling down... another couple of bush habits I've
found hard to break. However, anyone coming out here new often becomes
horrified with what we just accept as everyday, and I'm sure it runs back the
other way too (my Kenyan friend doesn't bat an eyelid when discussing lions,
but I'd be way scared if I ran into one). This would create problems
from colonies and their ability to draw recruits/immigrants if people
really did start to suffer cases of "xenophobia". Gamewise this could also
have some strong scenario based effects. For instance, hidden surprises like
the "killer bugs", but also even just cases of extra morale effects:

e.g.1. Pvt Bloggs get bitten by wildlife in turn one and the screaming he does
as a result sees the mission motivation for the rest of his squad go from
medium ("we're out to kick reasonable butt as this place is worth having") to
low ("who the hell would want this place anyway?").

e.g.2. Pvt Bloggs get bitten by wildlife in turn one and the screaming he does
as a result sees the squad do a panic roll everytime it comes into
similar vegetation/circumstances after that.

e.g.3. Pvt Bloggs get bitten by wildlife in turn one and the screaming he does
as a result sees him turn into one of the wildlife (fast acting
xeno-rabies)...

Much in the same way as DAWGIE's militia (I think it was DAWGIE, but I have a
poor memory) used the bugs as a trap for the guys chasing them down, you could
use these kind of levellers to give militia a chance in "high tech kick ass
squad comes to quieten the unruly natives" scenarios.

Just a thought

From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@y...>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 17:06:36 -0800 (PST)

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

--- Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@austarmetro.com.au>
wrote:

> good news). The Good News is that the necrosis has

Well, this sounds like good news. Congrats, good luck on further therapy. And
I sincerely hope she doesn't meet any more spiders.

From: DAWGFACE47@w...

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 20:00:21 -0600 (CST)

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

very good BETH!

From: Glenn M Wilson <triphibious@j...>

Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 00:32:04 EST

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> On Tue, 5 Feb 2002 10:58:09 +1100 Beth.Fulton@csiro.au writes:

<snip>

> Much in the same way as DAWGIE's militia (I think it was DAWGIE, but I

Evil, cruel and unethical. Sounds good to me.

Gracias,

From: Alan and Carmel Brain <aebrain@w...>

Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 20:11:56 +1100

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

From: "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>

> You know, if Australia has a Tourism Department, they're probably

It does, and they're not - few US tourists go anywhere these days
after Sep 11 :-( Which is really sad. Guess we'll have to go visit

From: Rick Rutherford <rickr@s...>

Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 09:36:09 -0500

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> Alan and Carmel Brain wrote:

Yes, but if you really want to scare people, you're going to have to
rename the things. I mean, really -- "Aggressive House Spiders"?
What's next, "Pushy Lawn Bugs"?:)

From: Beth Fulton <beth.fulton@m...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 16:04:48 +1100

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

G'day,

> Yes, but if you really want to scare people, you're going to have to

Do you reckon Germy could sculpt one of those for us?!!;)

From: Jeremey Claridge <jeremy.claridge@k...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 08:56:45 +0000

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> > What's next, "Pushy Lawn Bugs"? :)

Right 'Pushy Lawn Bug' hmmm........ I can see myself now showing people a new
scupting saying 'yes but does it say Pushy to you?';)

From: Tony Francis <tony.francis@k...>

Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 09:17:54 +0000

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> Jeremey Claridge wrote:

No, it'll more likely say "bl**dy difficult to cast" to me ;-)

From: Jeremey Claridge <jeremy.claridge@k...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 09:27:12 +0000

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> > Right 'Pushy Lawn Bug' hmmm........

(Tongue firmly in cheek)

An artist cannot be restricted by the manufacturers inadequacies. If a Pushy
Lawn Bug needs 16 individually cast tentacles then so be it!:)

From: Tony Francis <tony.francis@k...>

Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 09:56:41 +0000

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> Jeremey Claridge wrote:

I'll tell our mould-maker you said that. I wonder if your local casualty
department has ever had to extract two halves of a 7" silicon mould from
where the sun don't shine ... ;-)

From: Brian Bell <bkb@b...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 08:14:31 -0500

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

So...your saying that you will make, by hand my order for 200 of them at $0.50
each, right?

-----
Brian Bell

From: Jeremey Claridge <jeremy.claridge@k...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 13:24:06 +0000

Subject: RE: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> So...your saying that you will make, by hand my order for 200 of them

Done! but please allow 365 days for delivery:)

From: Roger Books <books@m...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 08:48:43 -0500 (EST)

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

On  6-Feb-02 at 08:47, Jeremey Claridge (jeremy.claridge@kcl.ac.uk)
wrote:
> > So...your saying that you will make, by hand my order for 200 of

Is that 365 days for the lot or 365 days for each one?

From: Jeremey Claridge <jeremy.claridge@k...>

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 14:02:43 +0000

Subject: Re: [OT?]Dangerous Alian Wildlife

> > > So...your saying that you will make, by hand my order for 200 of

Damn someone spotted the small print!:)