Can someone help me understand what nonvenomous arthropods are killing people at such a high rate in Florida?
Take your pick.. The humid conditions breed all kinds of crap. I would think fleas are the number one bug in Fla.
The title on that graphic is really horrendous. "Most Unique Ways to Die..." Firstly, things are either unique or they aren't. There's no more unique or most unique. But even assuming that 'most unique' means 'least common', the graphic shows the most common ways, not the least common ways. barfo
I used to feel that way, but I've decided that there's a coherence to more and less unique, even granting the fact that "unique" means one of a kind. Two items can be unique, in the binary "is or isn't" sense of the word, but one of them, despite being specifically unlike anything else, still more similar to something else in existence than the other item. Once you start using terms like "unlike anything else," you're accepting the existence of degree, as "like" (and thus "unlike") can be more or less. Something that is "more unique" just means "unique, but more unlike everything else than other unique things." Not that you can specifically measure or that there's a baseline for "uniqueness," but as a gut-level feeling that this thing is so unlike anything else you've experienced, I think it's useful. Well, that's my pointless digression for the day and I'm sticking to it.
We have snakes and tarantulas here. One time there was a rattle snake lying dead at the stop sign by my house. Wife saw it as I drove by. She wanted a better look so I did a u turn and drove the car right up to it with her side by the snake. As she leaned out to get a better look at it I pinched her leg and made a ssshhhhhhh sound. She damn near hit her head on the headliner of the car. We laughed for a good minute or two.
You'd think right? She was horrified for a second and then laughed her butt off once she realized what I'd done. I got lucky with her. 20 years is coming soon.
