Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with spider

Freaky Bright Orange Spider!

senador — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:54:56 -0800

I have a picture of this spider with a bright orange body. I was hoping someone out there could identify it. http://picasaweb.google.com/senador1/OrangeSpider#

Are spiders crawling on my sleeping face?

Morrigan — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:31:58 -0800

Periodically (maybe a couple or few times a year), I wake up with something on my face that seems like a bug bite. Nothing dramatic; it itches a bit, raises a small welt and then heals. My family called these "spider bites." Is that what they are? My home (mid-Atlantic US) has no obvious evidence of spiders living inside. Do mosquito bites present differently on the face? These are not as itchy as mosquito bites usually are and I haven't noticed it happening more in summer. It doesn't resemble a blemish, either; its center seems to have bite-like qualities and it is often in non-blemish-prone areas like my cheeks. Googling "spider bites" is an unhelpful horror show.

Why was the spider removed from the Arachnophobia movie poster?

toomanyplugs — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:26:57 -0800

Why was the spider removed from the movie poster for Arachnophobia between the theatrical release and the video release? When this movie came out in 1990, I remember the movie trailers and promo material having a single spider dangling in front of the moon. Apparently Wikipedia confirms this. But when the video came out, and for all promo material after, the spider was removed as I've found for reference here.

I vaguely remember there being some interesting story about why this happened, maybe a lawsuit or something, but I can't seem to find any reference to this fact.

It seems like everybody just overlooks the fact that a picture of the full moon doesn't really have anything to do with spiders.

Does anybody have any info about why specifically the video cover got changed?

Incey Wincey

Megami — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:35:57 -0800

Are all spiders of the same species equally adept at spinning webs? Watch any nature documentary about spiders, and you can't help but be amazed at how spiders seem to just 'know' how to spin their webs. But I was wondering - are all spiders as good as each other? For example - some humans seem to have more ability at certain skills than others. Does anyone know if this is also the case with other animals? I would also be interested in the same question for things like birds and their nests.

Note: I know that spiders can get parasites or diseases that affect their nervous system that will mean they are unable to spin webs properly.

Identify this orb weaving spider.

sevenless — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:05:48 -0800

Spider identification. Outside my ground floor window a spider has set up shop in a corner. It's an orb weaver, but it does something I've never seen before. It has made an orb web 25-30 cm in diameter. The largest openings at the edge of the orb are about the same size as the spider. It doesn't sit in the orb though. Instead it has also made a sort of blind up against the window frame, and it hides behind it. It backs into the blind and appears to peek out over the top. Whenever something hits the web it rushes out to the center and systematically plucks on the strands. It appears to be testing "sectors" of the web to precisely locate where something has gotten caught. If it's food it wraps it up and takes it back to the blind. If not food it cuts out whatever is stuck and repairs the web. The spider is about 1 cm across. I don't know if it has any markings since it moves really fast, and I can't see it's back. It's behavior is remarkably stereotyped and has incredible economy and precision. Is it an Aculepeira species? That's the closest I could find, but I couldn't find a whole lot of information. The spider and I are in the northwest US.

Can You Search For XML Text?

netbros — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:41:31 -0800

Do Google and Bing spider XML pages? Some of my HTML pages link to other XML pages. Do Google, Bing and the other search engines index these XML pages?

This isn't a mouse spider, is it?

majcher — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:50:20 -0800

This spider is probably not what I've convinced myself it is, right? Right? This morning, a few hours after waking up, I discovered and captured this giant black spider on my bed. I like spiders, so although I was mightily creeped out, I did my quick "not a widow or a recluse" check, decided it was probably harmless, and released it in the back yard.

I still wasn't sure what exactly it was, so I showed the photos to some friends, who said that it was most likely some kind of Mygalomorph, which includes things like tarantulas. A bit more poking around has me convinced now that it's one of these mouse spiders. This seems very unlikely to me, as they are usually found only in Australia and South America, but they have been spotted up here in Texas.

So, can anyone confirm the identity of this critter one way or another? I'm fine letting a tarantula roam around, but the stuff I'm reading about mouse spiders (aggressive, very toxic to humans) has me wondering if I let the little guy go a bit prematurely. Thoughts?

Identify this men's jacket

paperclip — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:51:48 -0800

I'm trying to identify this jacket or windbreaker I saw someone wearing. It was black, with a large red spider on the back. I'm afraid I don't remember any other identifying details, but it looked good as a sporty, casual thing. Google is failing me - ideas?

It must be 'cause I'm so sweet

amarynth — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:12:50 -0800

What is biting me once a month? About once a month since September, I've been getting a single bite in different places on my body (I've been bitten twice on my inner forearm, twice on the opposite hand, and once where the back of my neck meets my shoulder). The bites swell up and itch like crazy. Right now, I have a bite on my hand, and the swelling is about an inch and a half in diameter, with two red marks in the center about half a centimeter apart. There's no blistering or head on the bite. I've always first noticed the itching in the evening or at night, but obviously have never seen or felt anything while it's happening. The first couple of times it happened, I thought it might be something that bit me outdoors or at class, but class is over and I don't spend a lot of time outside now that it's gotten colder. I suppose it could be something at work, but it seems most likely that it's something in my house.

What the heck is biting me? And why only one bite once a month? When will it die and leave me in peace?

What kind of spider is this?

Scientifik — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:36:57 -0800

What kind of spider is this? I live in hawaii and recently came across (and subsequently killed) this spider. Does anyone know what kind it is?

What are these bruises and how do I get rid of them?

wexford_arts — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:10:04 -0800

I know about spider veins (those tiny, flat blue/red/purple lines) and varicose veins (raised, lumpy veins). I know that these can be treated with laser or sclerotherapy. But what do you call faint blue bruising that seems to follow the path of blood vessels but is neither sharply defined nor raised? And how can you treat it? I've had a very faint permanent bruise on one leg for at least ten years, but it now seems to be spreading into an estuary of bruises. Is this just an amorphous set of spider veins, an early stage of varicose veins, or something else? Or is my skin is just getting thinner and these are normal blood vessels?

Checking for links to bad people?

roll truck roll — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:03:24 -0800

Is there any way to search a website for links to pages like this? A client's website has hundreds of pages of old content, content that they have no intention of updating but still gets relatively high traffic. Because of the kind of content we're dealing with, it's more important that the pages are there than that they're manually updated on a regular basis.

Is there any way to comb through and find links that have gone to domain squatters? There's some concern about the unsavory things that those pages sometimes advertise, or (more to the point) that an old link might one day go to one of those unsavory things.

Of course I've seen plenty of spider programs that check for broken links, but the ones I've seen don't seem to have a way of checking for legitimate content.

Avoiding porn is essential; avoiding "what you need, when you need it" would be nice.

Not so itsy bitsy.

thisisnotkatrina — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:21:47 -0800

Where (online) can I find a toy camel spider or something that looks remotely similar? Can't believe I'm wasting a question on this.

A friend is currently stationed in Afghanistan. He's expressed the desire for me to find a big plastic spider (as big as a baseball, he specified) to send to him to play jokes on people with. He said if I can't help him scare people over there I'm going to have 4 months of being scared to put up with when he gets home. Eek!

I have looked everywhere imaginable and googled every possible string of words I could think of and I'm coming up empty handed.

The best I can find is this. It's about the right size but a little too dark, (I'm guessing), I'm afraid to look at more pictures of camel spiders to check their colors though, haha, so I'm not sure if they vary.

Any leads would be greatly appreciated!
Just think, by helping you are really and truly supporting the troops. Haha, well, one of them, not the unlucky victims of his jokes.

Where to find Windows Spider Solitaire on a Mac

dripped — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:29:16 -0800

"I need Spider Solitaire exactly the same as on the old computer", said mom. Anyone able to point me in the direction of an EXACT (The purchased one from Apple, apparently isn't close enough) copy of the windows version for MAC? Or does she have to buy a copy of Windows and run it on their mac?

Help me get my images back online

syzygy — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:44:22 -0800

I'm looking for software or a service that will spider my blog and return a report of all broken image links. Due to a billing problem with an expired credit card, my hosting account was closed, and all of the images I'd uploaded to it were lost.

I still have the images locally, but I had hundreds of them on my blog, and I used a directory structure like /continent/country/StateOrRegion/city/SiteName/SiteName_[some numbers].jpg for storing my images. I need to find a tool that will list all of the broken images links for me so I can recreate the correct directory structure.

Bonus points for a tool that will help automate FTP'ing the images back to the correct directories (the image names on my local hard drive are the same as the ones on the server, but the directory structure is different).

spiderman spiderman

caelumluna — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:07:38 -0800

Just tonight, I saw this spider in front of my neighbors apartment. it didn't move, and I didn't want to make it move to be honest. Is that thing real? or am I terrified by a toy. I live in Connecticut if it helps to identify.

Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?

stackhaus23 — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:10:52 -0800

As a Brit traveling to California do I need to be wary of snakes or spiders (or anything else for that matter?) In the spring of next year I'll be traveling to San Francisco but might also journey to other parts of California. As ridiculous as it sounds, bare in mind I'm British, do I need to be wary of snakes or spiders or anything else hazardous to a naive and foolish Brit?

SpiderFilter

Big_B — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:34:50 -0800

Can you identify this spider? Are we going to die? So we have had this spider living in our backyard for a few weeks. It is about 1.5" across and sits in the middle of a large radial web about 2-3' in diameter. She (?) only comes out at night, and sits there upside down. Did I mention it is RIGHT next to our spa? Is this thing going to eat us in our sleep? What kind of spider is it?

Can you identify this spider?

chr1sb0y — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 06:56:06 -0800

Can you identify this spider? It is currently in the basement of a house in upstate NY (Rochester area). There's some concern among the homeowners (friends of mine) that it's a black widow.

Spider ID?

ztdavis — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 21:32:58 -0800

What kind of spider is here, hanging out above my bed? I would guesstimate that from leg to leg the guy you see there is probably 1.5"-2". Is it the somewhat hard to identify brown recluse (who isn't even supposed to be native to Chicago)? Will I die? How best can I kill it from a distance? I am staying awake anxiously awaiting your answers! And thanks!

In search of free online tool for creating radial graphs!

cortex — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:47:20 -0800

Are there any free online tools for generating radar (aka radial, spider, star) graphs/charts? The ideal tool would be easy to use dynamically and/or against large sets of data to generate multiple graphs.

I know that Google Documents, for example, provides a lot of graph/chart options, but not this specific sort. On the other end, I'm solid with perl and aware of e.g. radial.pm, but I'd love to find a slick, existing start-to-finish tool rather than having to roll some or all of it myself.

Any ideas?

Black widow or no?

scody — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:12:33 -0800

Black widow or no? (Sorry, no photo -- phone was dead, so couldn't take a pic. But perhaps some of you spider buffs can help me out nevertheless.) Earlier tonight, I killed (please no lectures about killing spiders - my boyfriend's dog is in the house and will eat such things) what I thought might be a black widow, but based on what I've been reading, some of the characteristics have me a bit unsure. Perhaps it was a juvenile or male black widow, or perhaps another species entirely?

- about 3/8 to 1/2 inch long (which seems on the small size?)
- glossy, jet black (which seems typical)
- abdomen not hugely bulbous -- more oval-shaped (which doesn't seem typical)
- definite orange marking (which seems typical, even if red is more common), but on the back, not underside (which doesn't seem typical)
- all legs of even length (which doesn't seem typical)

We live in L.A.; my boyfriend says he sees nests of them pretty often outside at night when he's walking the dog, but never indoors (this was in his bathroom -- he's at work so wasn't around to ID it). How freaked out should we be?

Looking for software to crawl/spider websites to find hubs, core websites on topics.

IronWolve — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:14:04 -0800

Looking for software to crawl/spider a term in google to show me main websites for a topic. And if possible to generate graphs like this. I want to find main websites, hubs for key topics, and display a graph like gnutellas maps. graph map

I dont know the correct terms to search for software that will crawl websites and make me a link map with hub/nodes.

Download secured content to read later?

tiamat — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:47:46 -0800

How can I download/cache web pages that require cookies and/or a login for later reading in Firefox (or IE). Is there a spider plugin for either browsers, or a stand alone program that will support authentication? I'm going away to somewhere I likely won't have internet access full time. I'd love to be able to download my livejournal friends page and some other pages for reading offline. Say, the root page plus 1 level of links deep, for articles and content not on the main page.

The hard part: many of the pages I want are password or login protected. NYT premium content, private livejournal pages, etc.

IE6 used to be able to do this, but it looks like they've dropped the feature in 7. I've tried HTTrack, Getright, Flashget and wget, but can't get around the cookies/login issue.

I think I need to do this from inside IE or Firefox, so that I can take advantage of pre-existing cookies, but I can't seem to find a way. Please help.

Otherwise, is there a way to use getright, flashget or some other caching-downloader to authenticate before downloading?

This is on Vista Ultimate with FF2 or IE7.

I'd even be willing to pay for software if it does a good job, so free is not a requirement.

Can you identify this spider

zeoslap — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 06:05:19 -0800

Can you identify this spider? Found this guy in a sink, has some crazy looking pincers on his front two 'arms?' Curious because my wife has an inch wide swollen bite on her leg. Doctor said it was a brown recluse bite which is silly seeing as they don't even live in California but wondering if this guy could be the culprit.