Heaneyland!

So I clicked on and started reading the article, marveling at the cool photo, and thinking blithely, "Oh, Francis, he's so anti-spider," but then the feeling changed to "Uh, whoa, is really intense" and just as swiftly degraded to "Holy crap what the HELL? This is not safe!"

Specifically, I'll name the turning points for me:

1) "The gossamer strands, slowly overtaking a lakefront peninsula, emit a fetid odor, perhaps from the dead insects entwined in the silk. The web whines with the sound of countless mosquitoes and flies trapped in its folds."

2) The spiders are “spreading out for sure,” Mr. Gowin said, pointing out cedars that appeared to have a dusting of snow. “They’re going to take over this whole point.”

Having said all that, it's still really freaking cool and I wish I could go see it. With superior-quality noseplugs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_%28novel%29

I'm not afraid of spiders. But you wouldn't get me anywhere near that place. Pictures are fine with me.

I liked the comment by Ms. Garde, the superintendent: “We’ll try to protect it, with what little staff we have. I’ll use the web-of-life analogy. If you break one part of the web, it affects us all.”

Hm. A spider web is like the web of life...

Perhaps she should meet up with Miss Teen South Carolina.

I, for one, welcome our new spi...

Holy crap, that's a big honkin' web.

/runs away screaming/

join us, francis.... join us... jjjooooooiiiiinnnnn uuuuuusssss....

Just got back from Florida where plenty of trees are enrobed in sticky webs. Not acres' worth of trees together, but plenty of single trees. That was creepy enough to see from a moving car—that Texas nightmare? Yes, *prolonged shudder*, indeed.

I definitely wasn't out looking for more spidery news, but just came across this news story about a German man who lived in a flat full of pet spiders, lizards, and more. Things did not go well, alas. It all started when the black widow spider bit him, and then the situation worsened.

Bad news: All those spiders!
Good news: I bet there aren't many mosquitoes around there.

I'm having a hard time understanding how anyone, even in jest, could see this as creepy and not overwhelmingly mysterious and cool. Spiders from 12 different families, none with any known habit of co-operation even within their own species, responding to lord-knows-what--cross generational spider prophesy? Genetic programming dormant for centuries? Seriously, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event for us, once in lord knows how many lifetimes for the spiders.
Is it dangerous? Sure, if you're a mosquito. What about these less-threatening quotes:

1) "The park’s staff says that while the web has killed some leaves, it should not hurt the trees."

2) "The staff expects the web to last until colder weather this fall, when the spiders begin dying off."

True, the ginormous web is a cool phenomenon in many regards. Still, I could not possibly go near it because I would freak the fuck out.