Argiopes. Black and Yellow Garden Jillifont. My favorite Jillifont. I like to catch ants and throw them on the web. Because they're usually low to the ground.

Orb-weaver spider?

Bwah! My sister totally egged Nurse WooWoo on. It was brilliant. I thought she (Nurse WW) would be on good behaviour, just to show me up, but she was GOLDEN. Quantum physics and changing paradigms and everything.

Now Sis is walking her to her car and telling her to stop being late (she called at 12:30 to say she'd be here at 12:50 and showed up after 1) because my head hurts (she's too nice to say this herself, you understand, and she'd feel awful if she knew I was telling you this, but COULD YOU PLEASE STICK TO YOUR COMMITMENTS??). (I can still hear them talking--the fuck?)

If she hadn't done anything else to help me out (she just finished putting together the Adirondack chair and cleaning the balcony), and even if this doesn't work, this is worth the plane ticket I'm reimbursing.

Go sister of ita !! That is awesome!

yay for sisterly support!

can she go to the doctors and emergency room with you?

Man, your sis rocks my world. Love her.

I have to give a shoutout to my Hubby.

He recently jointed the NRA, because that made entry into a recent gun show free. He's always been interested in gun, particularly historical and hunting ones. We own a few, and they're all safely stored and managed. I have no objection to guns per se, but I think they're too easy to get and too many morons have them. However, I despise the masturbatory rantings of many NRA members as well as the politics of the group's leadership.

Still, I'm not going to forbid a grown man from joining a group. He wanted to enter a raffle they were holding, because one of the hunting rifles they're giving way is one he's wanted for years. I expressed dismay at a check from an account with my name on it showing up with money for the NRA. Hubby obligingly went and got a money order. The money is still from our joint account, but they won't have my name anywhere.

We agreed long ago that political debates are often not a good idea, because I rarely have the points handy that backup my opinions, and Hubby is an excellent debater so I'm quickly on the defensive. Hubby cares a lot more about being right than I do. I see it as a huge thing, though, that he's willing to bow to what he sees as an unfounded bias against the group but one which I feel strongly about. I made sure to thank him, and I've even managed some rational discussions about gun policy.

Verdict of sister: pathological liar.

And you know? I knew most of the stuff she said was untrue, but...I hadn't actually framed it that way. It's both kinder and harsher than my view of her. But...so fucking Occam's razor that I'm bleeding out over here.

I don't know if she believes the bullshit actually happens--is she in a cabal that she believes came up with a cure for cancerandAIDS (that's how she breathlessly says it) or does she believe she's in a cabal that whatever or is it purposely false from the start?

My sister repeatedly pushed her out of her comfort zone on her beliefs (whereas I nod and say "yes, I know what dark matter is" rather than "ita !--what's that? Nurse ShitWoo, when will it become perceptible, then, and why is this a good thing???" and "In which capacity did you work with both the CIA and the FBI whilst you were an investment broker?" like my sister does.

Apart from the threat of a fistfight which hovered high above me (she was pointedly polite and very "I believe, I think, I feel" and "Me, mine myself" when she disagreed with the random stuff the nurse posited) it was fucking HIGHlarious.

Go sister of ita !! That is awesome!
yay for sisterly support!
Man, your sis rocks my world. Love her.

Yes, awesome, and absolutely.

can she go to the doctors and emergency room with you?

She could and has, but she's only here through Tuesday, and I hope to avoid either in the short term. With her assistance, so cool beans.

Huh, I did not know this about argiopes and other jillifonts that produce designs on their webs (stabilimentum):

... [one] theory is that they make the spider visible and therefore animals such as birds are less likely to damage the spider’s web. One more recent theory is that web decorations attract prey by reflecting ultraviolet light.[4] Light in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum is known to be attractive to many species of insects.[4] Many other theories have also been proposed such as thermoregulation, stress, regulation of excess silk, or simple aesthetics. At least one variant has been observed to vibrate the web, while positioned in the stabilimentum, when approached by a body the size of a human. Another theory is camouflage as it breaks up the outline of the spider. One theory has been put forward that the purpose of the stabilimentum is to attract the male of the species to the web when the female is ready to reproduce. A limited study carried out in the Calahonda area of Spain in the summer of 1992 showed that there was a positive correlation between the presence of a male in the webs of Argiope lobata and the presence of a stabilimentum.

The aesthetics/mating thing sounds good to me. I mean, their very colourful, they're certainly not hiding, and if an animal is doing shit for aesthetics, then that's attracting mates right there. It obviously doesn't seem to work to deter unsuspecting gardeners who are also Buffistas, however (data sample of one, whatevs)...

I think the other reason that they're my faves is that they are late summer critters, and September is my month, yo (especially now that the back-to-school trauma is over for me).

ita !, for a moment there I thought you were saying that your sister was the pathological liar.

That's actually extra scary, to me, for the person in charge of my medical care to have a tenuous relationship with truths and honesty.