Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Along came a spider...



Radio question of the day:

The cartoon character Popeye had four nephews. What were their names?
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What I learned today:

The Black Widow is considered the most venomous spider in North America. The venom of the black widow spider is 15 times as toxic as the venom of the prairie rattlesnake. BUT, Black Widow spiders are not usually deadly, especially to adults, because they inject only a small amount of venom when they bite.

Only the female Black Widow is venomous; males and juveniles are harmless.

Female black widow spiders will usually eat the male after mating. Yum, yum. The female then lays several batches of eggs, containing up to 750 eggs each, in one summer. Normally, only 1 to 12 young survive after the egg incubation period of 14 to 30 days due to cannibalism. Those little boogers.

Already more than I wanted to know.

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Answer to the Radio question of the day:


The names of Popeye's four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye.

Never heard of 'em. I'm not makin' this stuff up.

20 comments:

Lila said...

Learning is a dangerous thing.

I had no idea that those were Popeye's nephews' names! For real??

Libby said...

Lucy, sadly, I KNEW the answer to the question of the day!! I know most EVERYTHING about cartoons from when I was a little kid. (I led such a sheltered life, ya know?)

sherle said...

That stuff about the black widow? Priceless information!!! Darlin' you made me giggle at the cartoon today... a sure sign of healing. I just might start a new blog - and call myself the Black Widow! Unfortunately - because all of my 'surviving eggs' are female, I might have to go undercover! ;-)

Jamie Dawn said...

Women spiders have all the power! Men and kid spiders are harmless. That sounds good to me.

I watched Popeye a lot when I was little. My dad was a fan of Popeye and The Three Stooges, so, so was I.

kenju said...

I never heard of them either. My first thought was Hughey, Louey and Dewey and as I was trying to remember the fourth one, it dawned on me that they were Donald Duck's nephews....LOL.

Fred said...

I remember his nephews, but I would have never guessed these names.

Nope, there's no way you could make that stuff up.

Doug The Una said...

So, popeye has a brother or sister? I'm just illiterate.

I thought the house brown spider was the most venomous in the U.S. I have tarantulas, rattlesnakes and black widows living on my property. If I ever haven't posted by, say, 5AM local time, you'll know why.

Sar said...

Eeeeeegads! My crawling skin had just started to subside then I read Doug's comment above. *shudder*

Kristie said...

Reminds me of some words i recently learned...
from a previous post of mine:
The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've
accidentally walked through a spider web

http://kristied.blogspot.com/2005/12/word-funnies.html

lime said...

preying mantises not only eat their mates, they also eat their young. how about them apples?

what um creative names for 4 nephews

Bela said...

Oooooh, spiders!!!!! *running away*

Peter said...

Those nephews names Lucy, ya sure ya didn't make them up ??

Minka said...

I had a spider bite ones. Harmless really...two little indentions on my little finger and a little swelling...teaches you never to play hide and seek in a forest in Portugal!

Anonymous said...

I knew a little about the black widow - my son use to live in OK City..and they are common there..as are roaches. He doesn't live there anymore thank God.

I did not know about Popeye's family. That was one cartoon i never really got into - that and Bullwinkle and Rocky.

Logophile said...

We don't have the black widow around these parts (western WA) or any poisonous snakes either. We do however have the brown recluse.
Also icky.
The creepy crawlies are so... (insert shiver down spine here).
Popeye had relatives?
Who knew??

Doug The Una said...

Brown recluse is what I meant, Ariella.

Doug The Una said...

Brown recluse is what I meant, Ariella.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Did you find out whether Olive Oyl was Pure Virgin?

the many Bs said...

Popeye was one of my childhood heros, still I never knew of his nephews.

That's interesting facts about the spider. now I won't be able to sleep for a week.

Trucker Pete said...

Hrm. Sucks to be "Poopeye".