Real-Life Weirdness

[Luke Bunyip]

Just watched an amazing doco on the South Pacific by the BBC and the Discovery Channel. Had some amazing video of insectivorous caterpillars. They look like twigs, but they have spins on the rear of their abdomens which they use to grab their prey. Scale them up a size or too and they could be 'interesting'.

[RevBob]

Heck, that's nothing. As usual, Australia's got that beat all hollow with its bird-eating spiders. Who needs to scale THAT up?

Note to the squeamish: the link has photos.

[stefanj]

My college friends and I used to occasionally go on road trips from eastern Long Island to Chinatown in downtown Manhattan.

I'm thinking of compiling the various weirdnesses that happened on these trips. Late-night urban oddness.

Last week I asked one of the key members of the group about any interesting stuff I might have missed. A doozy:

Rob was rummaging around a Canal Street restaurant supply store when he had a very strong urge to take a leak. He managed to convey his need to one of the employees. Another guy was tasked with taking Rob to the loo.

It was down a flight of stairs . . . and another. And then . . . a rock-walled tunnel that lead to a dimly lit CAVE under the streets of Manhattan. Through it ran a small stream, into which Rob was directed to pee.

He suspect that this was the buried remains of the titular canal.

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by RevBob

Heck, that's nothing. As usual, Australia's got that beat all hollow with its bird-eating spiders. Who needs to scale THAT up?

Note to the squeamish: the link has photos.

It is apparently not unusual for praying mantises to capture and devour hummingbirds
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bw...php?sc=migrate

Luke

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by RevBob

Heck, that's nothing. As usual, Australia's got that beat all hollow with its bird-eating spiders. Who needs to scale THAT up?

Note to the squeamish: the link has photos.

South America and Africa both have similar species, although frogs, lizards and snakes are more common prey than birds.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

Less obviously a puzzle and more of a mystery is the Winchester house.

Yeah, that one is truly odd and disturbing in its way.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Running Wolf

You get the same type of grasping at straws with the UFO nuts. You can be a mile away from a major city's airport and they will swear that every light in the sky is a UFO.

Which they technically are. :lol:

[Luke Bunyip]

Just saw a doco with a Pommy physicist wandering around the Z machine in New Mexico. And here's a bit of video showing still images of a flashover event, as well as its construction.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Mysterious bird deaths in Beebe, AR over New Years. While I have no doubt that a mundane explanation will be found, an inventive GM could surely come up with a not so mundane one for an adventure.

[Anaraxes]

Elaan of Troyius had it exactly backwards. Pheromones in women's tears actually lower sexual arousal and testosterone production.

http://www.livescience.com/health/fe...re-110106.html