onenitealone said:

You sound like me with giant cockroaches/waterbugs. I'm ok with spiders....it's just roaches (mainly those huge ones) that terrify me. God forbid one to crawl on me in public. People would think I'm a fool for panicking the way I do. I remember a few years ago, and I was at home when one fell out of the trashcan and on to my bare foot. You know at first I assumed it was a a piece of trash or paper because the trash can was starting to overflow. When I looked down I saw a huge one take off under the refrigerator. I screamed so loud that my mom came running downstairs....she thought someone had broken into the house and was after me. I felt so bad for waking her up over a roach.

AnckSuNamun said:

are you as bad as this guy:

gay weather man vs. roach
http://www.youtube.com/wa...cYcphpD3kM

AnckSuNamun said:

Oh God - I'm with you there. I've never seen a cockroach but I think I'd have a heart attack if I did.

The roach was about the size of the one in the middle. I know we stay kinda out in the country, but I was still thinking wtf was something that big doing in the house




And a cockroach on the foot?? I'd have to amputate it.

I had a similar incident a few years ago. I went on holiday to Turkey with my mates and, one night, I was getting ready to go out when - all of a sudden - this flaming salamander or something appeared from nowhere and started running up the walls. I've never seem anything run so quick! My mate - who was more of a pussy than I am - hid in the corner and it was left up to me to get rid of it. But all I could do was scream every time it came near me. I'm sure the people in the room next door thought I was being attacked or something.

And the other day, I was waiting in line at some shop and a wasp started flying near this girl ahead of me. She was freaking out and started jerking about and nearly barged into the woman behind her. My reaction at the time was . But I know for a fact that, if it had been me, the entire line of people would have gone down like a load of dominoes.

I would've been freaked out too if I was unsure of what it was that went flying up the wall, but after seeing that it's a salamander. I would've been o.k. Oh, man he hid in the corner.....that's not good

AnckSuNamun said:

Sorry - I *had* to get rid of that picture of a cockroach.

You know what's really embarrassing? Sitting on a bus - or public transport - with a wasp flying near you. Trying to maintain your composure, yet totally freaking out inside, with nowhere to turn can be amazing.

Fauxie said:

http://www.crikey.com.au/...risks.html

Germaine Greer is right, Irwin took silly risks

Date: Thursday, 7 September 2006
Quadrant editor PP McGuinness writes:

Poor old Germaine. She is getting the usual quota of abuse for dissenting about the posthumous praise being heaped on Steve Irwin. But as is usual with Germaine, despite her looniness and contrarianism, there is a nugget of good sense and high intelligence buried in her verbiage.

Of course Irwin took silly risks with the wild animals with which he entertained silly people. Of course wild life is always dangerous, and accidents are inevitable if you get too close to it. Animals in the wild are not cuddly or well-intentioned to human beings - if they are big enough they want to eat us, if not, they don't want to know us. And it is true that Irwin provoked and annoyed animals to provide entertainment for onlookers.

However, the greatest danger in dealing with such beasts is to get too confident and assured that you know what you are doing. The real story of Irwin and the stingray is that he got careless. It is a great pity that he came to grief - he was a harmless entertainer - but, except for his family, hardly a tragedy. He knew (or should have known) the risks, and he took them knowingly. In the process he made a great deal of money - and good luck to him.

The most sensible comment so far has come from John Wamsley, who pointed out once again that the real answer to preserving Australian wildlife and environment is to put a market value on it - like charging the greenies and people like Irwin for their self-indulgence, or charging those who want to collect Australian fauna. If you want to save the wilderness, buy it rather than appointing yourself a high priest with privileged access.

But Germs has a point, and should not be shouted down simply because she is not toeing the conformist line. Personally, I much prefer to Irwin's David Attenborough's docos about the environment and the fauna. But I'd be willing to bet that there is a degree of exploitation there also.

Fury said:

I saw that Yeah...if it was a fairly big roach then yeah I think I would've been worse. I would've left the area until the roach was gone

AnckSuNamun said:

i leave my windows open at night and i went in the kitchen the other night and two of these motherfuckers were fucking on my goddamn wall. i smashed the fuck out them motherfuckers. that shit is nasty. fucking big ass palmetto bugs--and them motheruckers can FLY too!
reminds me of one of my favorite spooky movies: MIMIC


[Edited 9/17/06 7:19am]