Here’s a little good news: Skepticon 14 is happening on 29-31 July.
I’m experiencing a little trepidation about attending an in-person meeting, but these are smart skeptics, they’ll all be practicing good hygiene and will wear masks, right? I know I will be.
What also tempts me is that I plan on driving there, slowly, with frequent stops, and maybe a couple of overnight stays en route. I intend to couple the trip to a spidering expedition in Iowa and Missouri. The farther south I go, the greater the likelihood of finding black widows somewhere, which would be cool.
Is it weird that I’m more comfortable with finding large venomous spiders than I am with meeting people?
YES! be skeptical about Skepticon. By July according to the ‘ex-spurts’ we will be in the ‘endemic’ phase of the plague; only killing about 100,000 a year. There will be some at Skepticon who will be careful, but some will be casual spreaders, be careful. Demand good fresh air flow and/or open windows and DISTANCE.
No, given the fact that so many people are disease sharing lemmings, your afinity for spiders is ‘completely normal’ (oh, no, not the ‘N’ word, that is inappropriate in today’s world)
slightly off topic but important about the xtian terrorist crowd:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/pierre-tristam/101502/the-christian-arrogance-behind-praying-coach-s-supreme-court-case
NO.
The odds of your dying from a black widow bite pales in comparison to dying from your fellow hominids’ stupidity, carelessness and willful ignorance. And this snippet from The Lancet is disquieting.
https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(21)00869-2/fulltext
But with the shifting of species’ ranges changing due to climate change, in the sadly-not-too-distant future the black widows may be coming to a range near you.
I found Western black widows while helping a friend paint her house in NE Kansas.
Give them time, they’ll make Minnesota.