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- Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
- Path: sparky!uunet!uvaarpa!darwin.sura.net!paladin.american.edu!auvm!UKCC.UKY.EDU!BGRISSOM
- Message-ID: <WORDS-L%93012411573376@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 11:53:46 EST
- Sender: English Language Discussion Group <WORDS-L@uga.cc.uga.edu>
- From: BGRISSOM@UKCC.UKY.EDU
- Subject: Re: WORDS-L TP: Nancy's Science/Nature Question
- In-Reply-To: Message of Sun, 24 Jan 1993 17:32:07 +0100 from <torkel@SICS.SE>
- Lines: 17
-
- > This reminds me of a gratuitous piece of information I picked up in Darwin.
- >There is this sea creature known as...the stone fish? Something having to
- >do with stones, anyway, because it looks deceptively like a stone. Only, when
- >you step on it, it hurts. In fact to such an extent that the first thing
- >to do, according to the horrifying plaque, when somebody has stepped on
- >one of these things is to prevent that person from taking his or her life
- >(by drowning or otherwise), because that is what people tend to do in order
- >to escape the pain. I quickly resolved not to dip as much as a toe into
- >the waters of Northern Australia.
-
- But you're not safe even if you avoid the ocean! How about those
- nasty cane toads (Bufo marinus) that were imported to control insects
- and are about to take over Queensland and NSW? Indestructible,
- apparently. You squash one, and it swallows its own intestines and
- goes on its rapacious way.
-
- brad
-