SHP Forums

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20 ... p-at-night

What happens to lakes in an area hit by forest fires and floods? Some will glow in the dark.

For a cluster of lakes in Australia's eastern Victoria, the combination of the fire and then the rain washed ash and nitrogen-rich soil into the water. The Gippsland Lakes experienced a rise in sea level. That caused the lakes to mix with sea water, which also raised the salinity.

This recipe led to the introduction of a species of algae called Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as "sea sparkle." The bioluminescent brew gave the water a nocturnal glow.

Bioluminescence -- when a living organism lights up at night -- is a natural phenomenon. Australian photographer Phil Hart caught the eerie light of the lakes and shared his snaps.

The shutterbug runs Night Sky Photography workshops in Australia, where he teaches the art of capturing images like these.

You don't want to go to Australia. That place has so many unbelievably freakish and deadly creatures that it scares me. One of their fun little inhabitants is the funnel web spider. Its fangs are so long it'll actually embed itself into you and you'll need to physically pry it off. Add that to the fact its venom can kill a fully grown human being 15 minutes and the only thing left to do is launch missiles at it.

I have wanted to go to Australia forever.

Tawmis wrote:I have wanted to go to Australia forever.

Just make sure to buy a flamethrower once there. You'll need it.

That spider made me shiver just by reading of it!

AndreaDraco wrote:That spider made me shiver just by reading of it!

The stuff nightmares are made of...

I think I am desensitized to the fear of spiders. I lived in Puerto Rico for two years. Tarantulas were everywhere. EVERY-where. No matter how much you boarded up you're house, they were making their way inside. Especially when it rained. And our backyard, without exaggeration, was a tarantula hole about every couple of inches. My mother, in her insane Spanish madness, would pour Clorox down the holes to kill them (because they'd come up and shrivel; and if they just came up without the shrivel; there was my mother's shoe or hand to end their spidery life). But no matter what, they were everywhere.

While the funnel spider is obviously far more dangerous, it looks just like a tarantula to me. And when you wake up as a kid and find a tarantula creeping along your bedsheets, you kinda get used to the idea. So the over all appearance does nothing to bug me.

I do love this pose of the female funnel spider... she fully looks anime like she's gonna launch some rockets!

Why? Why you posted a picture of that thing!?

AndreaDraco wrote:Why? Why you posted a picture of that thing!?

What if GK4 featured those spiders... written by Jane Jensen?

I don't have an answer.

I hate spiders. But I adore Jane Jensen...

Uhm...

Oh yeah? What about these hell-spawned creatures?

The red-black spider is even worse. I could die only by seeing it...

AndreaDraco wrote:The red-black spider is even worse. I could die only by seeing it...

It's pretty much the equal of the Black Widow.

DeadPoolX wrote:

AndreaDraco wrote:That spider made me shiver just by reading of it!

The stuff nightmares are made of...

I was discussing not too long ago, how it's very interesting (to me) that Australia is full of some of the most deadly specifies in the world (with their spiders and snakes ranking near the top) and why many of these species are found ONLY in Australia.

Andrea, this thing came knocking looking for you.

Enough with the spider pics already.