I am so glad for the Internet and YouTube. In past days, people would work on such things in the obscurity of their own homes, with only neighbors and family to know about them. Now, the native genius, strength and talent of so many is made known to the world.
What? No mention of the "Apple of Death" tree? The Manchineel is sometimes also called "Arbol de las Muerte" because of its highly toxic and irritating sap. Even standing under the tree in the rain will cause painful blisters on the skin, as the toxins are washed off of the tree and drip onto those standing underneath for shelter.
In this article about the tree, we learn: "The most famous victim of manchineel is probably conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon, who led the first European expedition into Florida in 1513. He returned to colonize the peninsula eight years later, but his invasion met resistance from Calusa fighters. Some native Caribbean people used manchineel sap to make poison arrows, and one of these sap-tipped arrows reportedly struck Ponce de Leon's thigh during the 1521 battle. He fled with his troops to Cuba, where he died of his wounds. "
If you carry the box label with you, and have a sufficiently puzzled/helpless look on your face (at home, we call this the 'Victrola Dog' look), you can look innocent while finding them. Also, someone may help you out.
Whenver people complain about workplace or consumer rules, I tell them that for every rule, there is a person who died doing that prohibited thing. Probably more like 100 people died.
Our cat used to go out into the neighborhood and collect all kinds of junk. Notably cigarette packs (empty) and fast food bags (empty). He also brought back gloves and laundry (a thong, a towel, a wash cloth). He was so proud bringing these into the house.
Well, many lizards are known to drop their tails on the ground, running away with just a bloody stump. The tail wriggles in a distracting way to divert the predator's attention. That being said, when I uncovered a small gecko in the presence of my chickens, it tried this trick. All that happened was that one chicken ate the tail, while another one ate the rest of the gecko.
Centuries-old stone markers are scattered across Japan's coast, warning that earthquakes are followed by tsunami, and marking where buildings will be vulnerable. Some towns followed the warnings, and built homes only on high ground. Others ignored these warning stones. This is in a country where earthquakes and accompanying tsunami are pretty frequent!
More relevant is the frequency of incidents where radioactive metals find their way into scrap metal. Medical equipment containing radioactive Cobalt or Cesium sometimes ends up in junkyards after they are decommissioned. These devices are then disassembled, and the parts sold as scrap, including the radioactive 'source'. The scrap is sometimes melted down and mixed with steel to make reinforcing bars (rebar) for construction. Many incidents of this type are documented at Wikipedia. The contaminated rebar is sometimes intercepted before it is used in buildings, but sometimes it is not detected until long after installation. An apartment building in Taiwan, along with other buildings, is still being rented to tenants in spite of being built with radioactive rebar.
Radiomedical devices are clearly marked, and the containers for the radioactive 'source' material are built to be durable and are themselves well-marked with the familiar nuclear-trefoil. In spite of this, salvage of radioactive metals still occurs in many countries, resulting in the deaths of scrap-metal collectors, foundry workers and others. This is not an issue for untold generations in the future: we cannot even protect people today. Last year, radioactive rebar was found being used in India, and Mexican radioactive rebar was detected in a California scrap-metal facility.
Impressed by the strength from pulling the nail out? It's more amazing that the bee could drive that nail into a brick!
In this article about the tree, we learn:
"The most famous victim of manchineel is probably conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon, who led the first European expedition into Florida in 1513. He returned to colonize the peninsula eight years later, but his invasion met resistance from Calusa fighters. Some native Caribbean people used manchineel sap to make poison arrows, and one of these sap-tipped arrows reportedly struck Ponce de Leon's thigh during the 1521 battle. He fled with his troops to Cuba, where he died of his wounds. "
Vikings!
That being said, when I uncovered a small gecko in the presence of my chickens, it tried this trick. All that happened was that one chicken ate the tail, while another one ate the rest of the gecko.
We have an example of how effective such warnings are: Associated Press - Tsunami-hit towns forgot warnings from ancestors.
[EDIT: the article is no longer there, so here's a link to a related article in the NY Times.]
Centuries-old stone markers are scattered across Japan's coast, warning that earthquakes are followed by tsunami, and marking where buildings will be vulnerable. Some towns followed the warnings, and built homes only on high ground. Others ignored these warning stones. This is in a country where earthquakes and accompanying tsunami are pretty frequent!
More relevant is the frequency of incidents where radioactive metals find their way into scrap metal. Medical equipment containing radioactive Cobalt or Cesium sometimes ends up in junkyards after they are decommissioned. These devices are then disassembled, and the parts sold as scrap, including the radioactive 'source'. The scrap is sometimes melted down and mixed with steel to make reinforcing bars (rebar) for construction. Many incidents of this type are documented at Wikipedia. The contaminated rebar is sometimes intercepted before it is used in buildings, but sometimes it is not detected until long after installation. An apartment building in Taiwan, along with other buildings, is still being rented to tenants in spite of being built with radioactive rebar.
Radiomedical devices are clearly marked, and the containers for the radioactive 'source' material are built to be durable and are themselves well-marked with the familiar nuclear-trefoil. In spite of this, salvage of radioactive metals still occurs in many countries, resulting in the deaths of scrap-metal collectors, foundry workers and others. This is not an issue for untold generations in the future: we cannot even protect people today. Last year, radioactive rebar was found being used in India, and Mexican radioactive rebar was detected in a California scrap-metal facility.
(What's really odd is that all I had to do was search for "Corgi gun", and this came up right away!)