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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dammitall, you can't withdraw now,  just as I was about to accuse you two [in googlewhack] of carpal waspishness!
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
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OK, if you won't do me a cut, I'll just withdraw. Have fun selling tickets to a shadow
match.Well, come to think of it, why dont'cha step right on over here, Mr. Max...perhaps we do have something to talk about after all!...'course, the, uh, 'overhead' is high here, and other things, but I'd be more than willing to part with, say....ohhh.... 
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Anybody here ever read a children's book named The Giant Jam Sandwich ?
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Ok, wofa, you gonna give us a hint, or what?  Cool thread, Sweet WO'N! Thanks! (not a lot) 
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Giant Jam Sandwich, written by John Vernon Lord (with Janet Burroway), published in 1972. It's about a small town which suffers a wasp inavsion: "One hot summer in Itching Down, Four million wasps flew into town. They drove the picnickers away, They chased the farmers from their hay, They stung Lord Swell on his fat bald pate, They dived and hummed and buzzed and ate..." The townspeople finally got rid of them by trapping them in a giant sandwich (jam, of course) and then airlifting the whole thing out to sea. Much cuter in the hard copy, and the illustrations, than I can provide here. I just thought it was germane to the discussion. (New thread possibility here - where does the word "germane" come from? Don't have my dictionary handy) For more information see http://www.adh.brighton.ac.uk/schoolofdesign/MA.COURSE/LGJS.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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Main Entry: ger·mane
Pronunciation: (")j&r-'mAn
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English germain, literally, having the same parents, from Middle French
Date: 14th century
1 obsolete : closely akin
2 : being at once relevant and appropriate : FITTING <omit details that are not germane to the discussion>
synonym see RELEVANT
- ger·mane·ly adverb
(from "Online version of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary")
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Carpal Tunnel
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wofahulicodoc's questionSo is germane germane to the conversation?
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Didn't used to be, but I guess it's bludgeoned its way in now. I'll take Definition 2.
Strange, it's not exactly from "germ-" the seed as one might think, but seems to follow geneology in the other direction, if it's "having the same parents."
Anyhow, The Giant Jam Sandwich is fun to read to kids or grandchildren, in addition to dealing with certain current events alluded to above. [returning-the-thread-to-its-point-of-origin-e]
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veteran
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I been bee stung lots of times (as a kid, who wasn't?). I been stung by wasps (got swarmed, but only seven stings on my leg, thought I got snake bit again). I been stung by hornets (felt like someone swatted me in the head with a baseball bat - yes, I've been swatted several times in the head with a baseball bat, so I do have a basis for comparison). I'd say the wasps hurt the worst, then hornets, then bumble bees, then honey bees.
Snakes only hurt a little (been bit hundreds of times in a single day), but I've never been bit by a poison one, nor even a very big one (no longer than 3 ft or so) - come close, but never quite been bit by one.
I don't like being stung, but it's not any more annoying than watching Seinfeld. My youngest got attacked by some hornets at our house. I was mowing the lawn in the back and my oldest came running around the house screaming and absolutely terrified that "something's wrong with Anna!" I went around and it took me a few seconds to figure it out. I grabbed her up and took her in the house. "It's still in my hair!" she screamed. And I grabbed a lock and squeeze the little thing to death in my fist. I found their nest on the side of the house (apparently the sound of the mower had agitated them). Bought some poison and sprayed them that night as they slept (or whatever it is they do).
I must have missed a few. A few days later, they had reestablished in a small bush right next to my front door. I drenched the bush and that was the end of them. It was also the end of the bush - it died a few weeks later. And now, years later, the grass is only just beginning to grow on the spot.
I'm terrified by all manner of arachnid and numerous other crawling things. Wasps, though, just don't scare me personally. But I'll tell ya, when I heard my kid screaming like that it's got to have been one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. And we were dealing with a pretty small nest, no bigger than cantaloupe, say. No idea how many hornets it had it contained. Probably no more than 30 or 40 (wild guess), but when they were dive bombing it seemed a lot more.
Don't want to think about a really huge nest, but I can sympathize with just about anything somebody would do to get rid of such a horde of the surly, little devils, from the latest chemical poison to napalm.
I do wonder, though. I *thought* I read one time that honeybees were imported to the U.S. by early colonists. Is it true? (My memory's terrible and sometimes I unintentionally confabulate to fill in gaps on what I think I thought I read.) Regardless, is it true of NZ?
k
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Re: Snakes only hurt a little (been bit hundreds of times in a single day),
i am nosy! what kind of research do you do that you have been biten hundred of time in single day by snakes? do you do medical research? or work in a zoo (and yes, i know the bronx zoological society is working hard to not use zoo for animal research facilities.)
i suppose in theory i have some snakes about. my part of NYC is small town-ish (very different from suburban) and we have a large, "undeveloped" natural wetland park very close. so i regularly see, racoons and possums, and turtles, and all manner of birds, (and some rats) and i have even a local vixen and her kits(but not often!) but i have never seen a wild snake any where in NYC. does Virginia have that many?
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