Why, Australia, WHY? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Watth
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 12:09:44 pm
content: Not EE related, but... WHY?https://jezebel.com/australian-woman-grudgingly-gives-ride-to-enormous-fre-1820630157

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 01:11:05 pm
content: Quote from: Watth on November 22, 2017, 12:09:44 pmThe only reason we have these bloody shark attacks is because spiders can't swim.Never mind, they seem (the spiders that is) to prefer tourists to locals.

author: bd139
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 02:31:54 pm
content: My next door neighbour is emigrating to Australia. She crapped herself and was in tears when there was a hedgehog in the garden. I wish you guys luck

author: PTR_1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 02:36:29 pm
content: Looks like a huntsman. Probably the only animal here in Australia that's not trying to kill us.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 02:43:36 pm
content: I thought that *SOME* of the sheep were harmless! (ob. Pterry reference)

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 05:21:34 pm
content: okay, I'm curious. Why only 6 legs on it? I don't see the other two.

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 05:38:22 pm
content: ...

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 05:41:36 pm
content: I lived in Florida for a while and one night we came in to the bedroom, flipped the blanket back and a little tiny Eastern Coral Snake was hiding under the blanket.I found it cute and so colorful but handled it carefully with a long stick.Later I found out it was a very dangerous creature.You never know, where these animals are hiding.

author: Tomorokoshi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 05:56:01 pm
content: Quote from: HighVoltage on November 22, 2017, 05:41:36 pmA 424, 4% snake!

author: suicidaleggroll
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 06:04:49 pm
content: QuoteBurn the car to the ground and buy a new one, it's the only way to be sure.

author: Miyuki
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 06:13:36 pm
content: Thank God for good old safe Europe with no dangerous wild creatures

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 06:16:12 pm
content: You are right but wait:...

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 06:21:23 pm
content: Lucky me, only a few dangerous animals here. Most dangerous is the mosquito, carrier of Malaria, then the Tsetse fly, carrier of Ngorogoro. Then you get the dangerous snakes, Black and green Mamba, Mozambique cobra, other cobras and puffadders, and then the big cats, elephant, rhino, hippo and buffalo to round things out.No real bad spiders aside from the black widow, and a good number of toxic plants, including castor oil growing wild all over, and the happy plant.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 06:41:45 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on November 22, 2017, 06:21:23 pmsouthern hemisphere has its hazards, in oz - game of chicken with a roo when driving can ruin you day & the car.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 06:56:00 pm
content: At least drunken Kangaroos aren't as much trouble asdrunken Elephants, which have a reputation for ignoring minor obstacles in their way like smaller trees, fences, telegraph poles, vehicles etc.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 07:32:19 pm
content: Never underestimate the intelligence of elephants, especially if they want to get to either water or food. Electric fence that is military built with a lethal setting, no problem. Remove all trees within 200m they bring a few with for the next time.For something so big, that they can literally walk right next to you without making any noise above the local breeze is scary, all you can hear is the grass being moved out of the way.

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 07:34:44 pm
content: Northwest (Oregon/Washington) only has Black Widows, Brown Recluses, Poison Oak, stupid people. That's pretty much it here for dangerous things i think.

author: John B
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 07:43:39 pm
content: I had a similar experience with a huntsman at night in the car. When I was driving along, I noticed that the lights on the dashboard were covered up in a suspiciously huntsman spider-like way...... Still not sure which way they get in. There's the AC/ventilation air intake, and the exhaust vent at the back of the vehicle.

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 11:26:01 pm
content: The worst thing is when they disappear into the car somewhere, you know damn well it'll re-appear at the worst possible time in the worst possible place.I guess that's what our 40+ degree Celsius days are for, park the car in the sun with the windows down a bit and the problem will leave by mid afternoon.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 11:41:11 pm
content: Quite a while ago I was house-sitting a beautiful home in the wine country when my dog started barking, it turned out she was barking at a huge rattlesnake which was holding its own and hissing at her with its mouth open, rattle tail going full blast.Its head was big and very wide. You could see two huge fangs inside its mouth.It was definitely poisonous. But when I arrived, the snake slithered into an enclosed area under the deck behind some tools. Realizing that our dog was in danger as long as it was around I attempted to tease it to come after me and caught it under a long rake. I then chopped its head off as it squirmed, with a shovel. I buried its head under some rocks so the dog couldn't get it and hung its body, still squirming back and forth on a fence. This confrontation occurred and was all over in just a few seconds. I didn't have any time to think at all.Even without its head, it kept squirming for a very long time.After it was over my adrenaline was really pumping. In retrospect would I have done it again? Probably yes because I didn't really have any choice. Had I had some kind of specialized snake catching tool (a stick to pin it down by its head and another stick with a loop and noose to catch it?) and a sack or bucket to put it in I likely would have caught it and then tried to figure out how to bring it somewhere else and release it. But as it was I had to kill it.

author: HighVoltage
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2017, 11:54:10 pm
content: There are "specialists" who take snakes out of the engine compartments of cars.It seems like this happens every day, somewhere in the world.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:04:48 am
content: Quote from: Falcon69 on November 22, 2017, 07:34:44 pmHere in Florida, we have rattlesnakes, crocodiles, tourists and a vast majority of members of the small senior citizens with enormous cars club.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:11:17 am
content: Quote from: Miyuki on November 22, 2017, 06:13:36 pmThe data is not perfect (reporting inconsistencies) and the vertical scale is logarithmic to fit the labels but Australia is far from the worst place to risk your life from animals, below is reliable data plotted across Europe and adding Australia for comparison.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:20:32 am
content: What kinds of animals still kill people in Europe?Some areas have pretty bad Lyme disease, I hear. Malaria is said to be making a come back in Greece.Quote from: Someone on November 23, 2017, 12:11:17 am

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:32:35 am
content: Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 12:20:32 amCommunicable diseases are handled under different ICD-10 codes, those used for the plot of W53 to W64 inclusive only include people killed by the direct mechanical actions of animals (and some plants).

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 01:31:39 am
content: Carnivorous plants?This is making me see my European roots entirely in a different light!

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 01:38:29 am
content: Oh...Thats very disappointing of us.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 03:48:42 am
content: Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 01:31:39 amTriffids.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 04:03:34 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on November 23, 2017, 01:35:53 amWe have the statistics freely available, you can check that all you like. From the European Detailed Mortality Database we can see how countries compare for their rates of assaults causing death (attached below) and Australia is quite a bit higher than the average european nation, so with that and the relative rates of deaths from animals (venomous or otherwise) the data shows the exact opposite of your suggestion.After a slight error I've reuploaded the animal threat comparing europe to Australia:Seems like europeans are bad at treating venomous animal bites or are they actually more common?

author: Neganur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 06:23:03 am
content: Drowning after touching jelly fish, death by inflammation from tick bites, don’t think snakes are sufficiently venomous in the northern countries. Can’t think of much else.Edit: oh my, allergies! Bee sting.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 06:48:30 am
content: Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 12:20:32 amDomestic animals, sometimes. Being trampled to death by cows is a thing.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:03:13 am
content: Finland seems like pretty dangerous place must be all those venomous snakes bears wolfs bulls and polar bears...

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:03:44 am
content: Quote from: Neganur on November 23, 2017, 06:23:03 amX23 Contact with hornets, wasps and beesthis dominates deaths from poisonous/venomous animals in the above plot. Similarly W55 Bitten or struck by other mammals includes boring things like cows on farms.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:08:11 am
content: Quote from: Someone on November 23, 2017, 07:03:44 amWell in Finland (what is very dangerous place) in average one person yearly dies from hornet/bee/wasp stings like i said must be the polar bears...

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:15:14 am
content: Quote from: Bashstreet on November 23, 2017, 07:08:11 amThats not the figures they're reporting:http://data.euro.who.int/dmdb/Many deaths per year attributed to envenomation from wasp/bee/hornet in Finland alone. Question remains is exposure higher? or health care worse? or both? We can make easier guesses for countries such as Kazakhstan.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:16:50 am
content: Quote from: Someone on November 23, 2017, 07:15:14 amI Would know about that.I just know in average one person dies from wasp etc stings yearly in Finland.

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:23:58 am
content: Quote from: Bashstreet on November 23, 2017, 07:16:50 amYou say that without presenting any qualification or authority, while the official coroners reports submitted to the international databases say its 3 or so. Lets consider who to trust? Feel free to present any references and data you like rather than insisting that we're wrong.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:27:16 am
content: Quote from: Someone on November 23, 2017, 07:23:58 amLong term average death rare from bee/wasp etc sting deaths in Finland is 1.2 for example in 2014 4 people died from bee strings between 2007 to 2009 none.You can study the Finnish death records here.http://www.stat.fi/til/ksyyt/index.html

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:28:43 am
content: I seem to remember (citation unavailable) that most snake bite injuries come from people trying to kill the snake.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 07:48:31 am
content: Quote from: aargee on November 23, 2017, 07:28:43 amWell never good idea to try go and use fist to kill a snake

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 11:19:57 am
content: QuoteI dont know what Animal could you kill you in Austria. We have just ~3 Bears

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 11:34:11 am
content: Quote from: Lord of nothing on November 23, 2017, 11:19:57 amHey by those statistics Austria is almost dangerous as Finland.. Must be all those cows with bells that come over the border from Switzerland with murderous goals.Of course as healthcare is so much poorer in Austria and Finland people kicked by cows or mauled by polar bears do not get same level of help.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:06:33 pm
content: Quote from: Someone on November 23, 2017, 04:03:34 amInterestingly the "statistics" in the quoted picture without no resource material or no information how the craft had been constructed claims there are nearly 0.10 deaths per 100.000 people in Finland from "poisonous/venomous plants and animals"That would mean approximately 5.5 yearly deaths.In Finland deaths by Bee/wasps/hornets stings are in range of 1.2 deahts per year or 0.021 deaths per 100.000 people.http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(16)30367-0/fulltextLast death by the only venomous snake the common adder happened almost 20 years ago 1998.http://www.kyyn-rauhoittaminen-suomessa.com/Mushrooms and some rare plants are another source of poisons in Finland.From 1969–2006 there was 8 deaths result from mushroom poisoning (including long term deaths caused by liver or kidney failure) 0.2 people yearly or 0.0038 per 100.000 peoplehttp://www.hus.fi/sairaanhoito/sairaanhoitopalvelut/myrkytystietokeskus/Julkaisuja/Sienimyrkytykset%20ja%20niiden%20hoito.pdfThere are some other poisonous plants in Finland but death caused by such plants is statistically nonexistent.Question rises what are the claimed other deaths in the "statistic"I have feeling situation is similar in Austria.. if someone bothers to make a study.

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:06:58 pm
content: Years ago there was an electronics project in ETI to scare spiders away. It used ultrasonics. I built one and ran an experiment. They do not work. The same magazine has a high gain op-amp to connect to a cassette recorder AF input to record noises from ghosts. Also designed a pulse charger for NIMH batteries. Electronics hocus pocus.But this isn't hocus pocus: A few years ago I was about to sleep, but in the twilight in the hallway outside the bedroom, I saw all these dark blotches on the wall. I turned on the light to discover an infestation of huntsman spiders. I killed about 30 to 40 babies and the huge mother which was nesting in a nearby linen cupboard. A week later a giant huntsman (maybe the dad) crawled on our bed up to the pillow area. I shoved it off and it hit the floor only to run under the bed which has about a two inch gap to the floor. Bloody terrifying. Around that time over few years, we would find an average of one to two per week inside the house.Want to see what one looks like? The poms sent convicts to Australia. We sent them this....http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/giant-huntsman-spider-hitches-a-10000-mile-lift-to-uk-from-australia-in-familys-belongings/news-story/065d477f53e9fa1c59137b66bf3880e9

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 12:32:41 pm
content: Just noticed.... Belgium has 5 times the rate of deaths from poisonous/venomous animals and plants compared to turkey.... that i can say is pure bs

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 01:12:17 pm
content: In the US Southwest, every year around this time, huge male tarantulas (around the size of a human hand) migrate to find mates, in some areas its quite spectacular, (they can be seen all moving across the land at once, by the millions, when they find a female in her burrow they enter, have sex, and then they die.)They do not bite. (at least the ones here in the US do not bite unless you are threatening them, and I don't think I have ever heard that they are venomous from anybody.)Some people actually keep them as pets.So, the article about the spider stowing away to the UK said huntsman spiders were not venomous? Are some species venomous and some not?Do huntsman spiders bite people frequently?Where I live now we have both black widow spiders (not common) and I think also brown recluse spiders, but I have only seen the black widows a few times, and I don't know enough about brown recluse spiders appearance to recognize them.

author: Circlotron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 01:15:58 pm
content: Quote from: Lord of nothing on November 23, 2017, 11:19:57 amAnd a blonde haired girl that breaks into houses and eats porridge that belongs to someone else?

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 01:49:13 pm
content: Differences may be because of improved access to health care, in some countries, as much as actual incidence of injuries. For example..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinococcosisis one of a great many endemic / tropical diseases of poverty, very common in Turkey..Some tropical diseases are not treatable currently, or treatments are very costly or not very effective, largely because of lack of interest among drug manufacturers. ( Maybe this will change as they migrate northward and southward. )The healthcare situation in Turkey (according to a Wikipedia article) is alleged to have improved a lot over the past few years (according to Turkish government sources which may not be telling the whole story) I do know that Turkey as well as Mexico and India, and a number of other countries, are pushing hard to become destinations for cross border health related business from subsidized patients in the cash-strapped US and Europe.Quote from: Bashstreet on November 23, 2017, 12:32:41 pm

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 02:07:47 pm
content: Quoteisnt (in) Europe.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 02:09:44 pm
content: Some of Turkey is in Europe and most is in Asia.Turkey straddles the border between Asia and Europe with Istanbul in both.

author: Lord of nothing
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 02:12:33 pm
content: When you know the People you think different.Trust me if you would know how the people relay thing you would say that.

author: Bashstreet
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 02:31:17 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 01:49:13 pmI hope your not saying that healthcare is better in Turkey compared to Belgium

author: suicidaleggroll
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 02:39:15 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 01:12:17 pmI saw that once, driving from San Antonio to New Mexico in early July. Somewhere in west Texas we turned north off of I-10 and a couple miles later there were tarantulas EVERYWHERE. Millions of them all over the road walking to the east...SUPER creepy since I had never heard about it before. It lasted a few miles and then stopped.Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 01:12:17 pmI highly recommend doing some research on them. Brown recluse spiders are BAD news, I am so thankful we don't have them here in CO, but when I lived in TX they were a problem. My dad got bit by two of them on two separate occasions. One was in a shirt that he put on, it bit him on the stomach just below the belly button. Over the next couple of weeks his skin just started eroding away and it left a pit in his stomach. The other was in a shoe, when he put it on it bit the bottom of his foot. Same story there, his foot started eating away and he ended up needing a skin graft. Even though I don't live in BR territory anymore, I still shake out all of my clothes and shoes before putting them on.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 04:33:49 pm
content: Quote from: VK3DRB on November 23, 2017, 12:06:58 pmIt just requires more power. With a parabolic reflector and suitable source, an ultrasonic transmitter should catch spiders on fire.Quote

author: Someone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 08:35:28 pm
content: Quote from: Bashstreet on November 23, 2017, 12:06:33 pmYou can get the same data and present your own interpretation of it, this is quickly throwing up the reported deaths from broad ICD-10 codes as delivered in a convenient format from the European Detailed Mortality Database.If you really want to reproduce it the specific codes used for the two axis were:X20-X29 inclusiveW53-W64 inclusiveYou could use a larger time series where available but controlling for reporting differences gets harder the further back you go so this took the default settings from the database which is most recent year reported. A cursory check was made to be sure there weren't any extreme outliers by comparing results across several random years for each country but you're welcome to pull all the data through and average it if you want to spend the time.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 11:32:59 pm
content: Quote from: cdev on November 23, 2017, 01:49:13 pmAnd you found these in a Wiki article?Wow this must be some research...You realize that the entire Europe has universal healtcare? That nobody in their right mind ever said: I'm going to Turkey for a surgery. Because you do that at home. Yes, sometimes you have to pay for something. Like last time, I had to pay 8 entire euros for half a dozen X ray shots and the analysis of it.It would cost up to a thousand dollar in the land of the free. The name is ironic, isn't it?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 23, 2017, 11:36:31 pm
content: Back to electronics please