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All that's missing is a hackneyed George R. R. Martin quote.
The Illuminati and other Conspiracy Theories thread
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Dotini
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Here in the conspiracy thread, we attune like spiders with preternaturally long antennae to whiffs of paranoia.
From the
"due to the potential pathogenicity of the virus to testicular tissues, clinicians should pay attention to the risk of testicular lesions in patients during hospitalization and later clinical follow-up, especially the assessment and appropriate intervention in young patients' fertility"
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.12.20022418v1.full.pdf
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What... what do spider antennae look like exactly? I can't say I have ever seen one before... is this some sort of conspiracy?
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They possess none or, for Northern English readers, they antennae.
Dotini
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Preternatural means "not found in nature".
Multiple eyes of a jumping spider
Spiders have up to eight eyes, each with a single lens rather than multiple units as in the compound eyes of insects. The specific arrangement of the eyes is one of the features used in classifying different species. Most species of the Haplogynae have six eyes, although some have eight (Plectreuridae), four (e.g., Tetrablemma) or even two (most Caponiidae). Sometimes one pair of eyes is better developed than the rest, or even, in some cave species, there are no eyes at all. Several families of hunting spiders, such as jumping spiders and wolf spiders, have fair to excellent vision. The main pair of eyes in jumping spiders even sees in color.[7]
Net-casting spiders of genus Deinopis have their posterior median eyes enlarged into large forward-facing compound lenses. These eyes have a wide field of view and are able to gather available light more efficiently than the eyes of cats and owls. This is despite the fact that they lack a reflective layer (tapetum lucidum); instead, each night, a large area of light-sensitive membrane is manufactured within the eyes, and since arachnid eyes do not have irises, it is rapidly destroyed again at dawn.[8]
However, most spiders that lurk on flowers, webs, and other fixed locations waiting for prey tend to have very poor eyesight; instead they possess an extreme sensitivity to vibrations, which aids in prey capture. Vibration sensitive spiders can sense vibrations from such various mediums as the water surface, the soil or their silk threads. Changes in the air pressure can also be detected in search of prey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_anatomy
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That is quite possibly the best spider joke I've ever seen on the web...
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I approve of the manner in which you've written this.
👍
What? I've never heard it used to convey that. Point of fact, I've never actually heard it used at all. The handful of times I've seen it used, it was employed in a context akin to that of "abnormal".
The closest I can find to the definition you've provided is "existing outside of nature", which sounds similar but is distinctly different.
According to Google, "preter" comes from the Latin praeter, meaning "beyond". Therefore, something that is preternatural is beyond that which is natural. As such, your "spiders with preternaturally long antennae" alludes to spiders possessing antennae (they don't) whose length is beyond what is found in nature.
Something that is not found in nature is unnatural.
"Preternatural" (along with the adverb "preternaturally") is a bit of a thesaurus word. You use thesaurus words...like...a lot.
A very early lesson taught in a creative writing workshop as part of my high school English curriculum was to toss out the thesaurus and to use words common in everyday parlance. The thesaurus is a crutch for writing that lacks substance and using words pulled from it has a tendency to alienate the reader, plus you run the risk of using words that aren't actually appropriate for the message you're trying to convey.
Oh look, copypasta.
Multiple eyes of a jumping spider
Spiders have up to eight eyes, each with a single lens rather than multiple units as in the compound eyes of insects. The specific arrangement of the eyes is one of the features used in classifying different species. Most species of the Haplogynae have six eyes, although some have eight (Plectreuridae), four (e.g., Tetrablemma) or even two (most Caponiidae). Sometimes one pair of eyes is better developed than the rest, or even, in some cave species, there are no eyes at all. Several families of hunting spiders, such as jumping spiders and wolf spiders, have fair to excellent vision. The main pair of eyes in jumping spiders even sees in color.[7]
Net-casting spiders of genus Deinopis have their posterior median eyes enlarged into large forward-facing compound lenses. These eyes have a wide field of view and are able to gather available light more efficiently than the eyes of cats and owls. This is despite the fact that they lack a reflective layer (tapetum lucidum); instead, each night, a large area of light-sensitive membrane is manufactured within the eyes, and since arachnid eyes do not have irises, it is rapidly destroyed again at dawn.[8]
However, most spiders that lurk on flowers, webs, and other fixed locations waiting for prey tend to have very poor eyesight; instead they possess an extreme sensitivity to vibrations, which aids in prey capture. Vibration sensitive spiders can sense vibrations from such various mediums as the water surface, the soil or their silk threads. Changes in the air pressure can also be detected in search of prey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_anatomy
It's a pity you didn't include the palps in there, since these appendages on either side of the spider's head are occasionally mistaken for antennae, chelicerae or even legs, the latter resulting in some spiders appearing to have ten legs instead of eight.
UKMikey
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I'm sure if you ask him, he's gossamer for you.
Meanwhile, perhaps the high prevalence of cases in Singapore is due to its being better at detecting the virus than other countries?
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...old-standard-for-case-detection-harvard-study
Dotini
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Tom Cotton is a US Senator from Arkansas. He is a Harvard educated lawyer. Enlisting in the US Army infantry, he earned combat medals in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising to the rank of Captain. He is presently serving on the US Senate Armed Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee. Against much pushback and would-be debunking, he has persistently advocated the hypothesis the Wuhan coronavirus is a bio lab accident.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/sen-tom-cotton-coronavirus-origins
https://www.foxnews.com/media/sen-tom-cotton-coronavirus-origins
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Dotini
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The Senate holds top secret briefings on coming disruptions. What are these about? They are ostensibly about disruptions, social and economic, following in the wake of coronavirus outbreaks, according to reports and speculations on social media. No, they definitely don't need to be taken seriously, which is why you are reading this in the conspiracy thread. Oh, do you like Doritos? I like Doritos - although sometimes I call them Saddam Chips, in deference to the infamous dictator who was said to consume them as the better part of his diet. My nephews Kole and Holly picked up on my joke and also now use the term Saddam Chips. Today I will attempt to buy a case of Doritos.
The Senate holds top secret briefings on coming disruptions. What are these about? They are ostensibly about disruptions, social and economic, following in the wake of coronavirus outbreaks, according to reports and speculations on social media. No, they definitely don't need to be taken seriously, which is why you are reading this in the conspiracy thread. Oh, do you like Doritos? I like Doritos - although sometimes I call them Saddam Chips, in deference to the infamous dictator who was said to consume them as the better part of his diet. My nephews Kole and Holly picked up on my joke and also now use the term Saddam Chips. Today I will attempt to buy a case of Doritos.
...Is the best post of the year?
Joey D
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Could be. If they believe and they're likely to be in an audience that gets...cancelled. But then again they may not fear getting...cancelled...if they believe getting...cancelled...by the Pope will result in them going to heaven.
Keef
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If it's not a conspiracy theory then it's not appropriate for this thread. I'll keep looking.
Dotini
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With regards to the coronavirus, it seems to have caused quite a lot of alarm and disruption. However, is it true that the seasonal flu causes more total deaths than COVID-19 is going to do over the same time period?
I'm skeptical that some aspects of the phenomenon haven't been exaggerated, hyped up or exploited for reasons of money and power. In other words, as much a cultural madness or panic problem as a real medical problem.
Any takers?
I'm skeptical that some aspects of the phenomenon haven't been exaggerated, hyped up or exploited for reasons of money and power. In other words, as much a cultural madness or panic problem as a real medical problem.
Any takers?
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It is basically just a flue. But flues can be deadly to people with chronic health problems and the elderly. The biggest concern with Covid-19 is that it is highly contagious even during incubation period. The danger not a lot of people are mentioning is the risk of the flue mutating. So yes it is a real medical problem, but it is not a some kind of zombievirus.
Joey D
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I have a conspiracy theory. Several people I know, myself included, had nastier than usual flus in the past year. So my theory is that coronavirus has been around much longer than the recent scare. That it may have already been here as of last fall and didn’t become an issue until now
Dotini
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There is some anecdotal evidence for the theory that this novel virus has been circulating since September or perhaps earlier. On other fora I have seen charts and graphs of much higher than usual anomalous pneumonias which are NOT associated with the seasonal flu virus.
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