There are some things I know, many without having the need to personally verify them. I never encountered a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake when I was growing up in Chicago. Without being told, however, I knew that they should be avoided when I lived in Arizona and went quail or dove hunting in the desert.
When someone suggested I not walk too close to the cholla, even though they call it a "teddy bear" cactus, I believed them.
I have never encountered a jelly-fish, although I have waded around on a couple of ocean beaches. I do know that they should be avoided. If I walked on the sandy shore and saw one washed up, I would not reach for it. It shouldn't be to difficult to avoid. The mobility of a jellyfish which has been washed ashore is somewhat limited. It slows down even more after death. Even an out-of-shape American can escape a dead jellyfish the size of a turkey platter.
How then do we explain this:
Take a Number to Get Stung Folks. No Pushing in Line
Consider the logistics of this. The deceased creature is about the size of a turkey platter. Imagine your own turkey platter. Now gather 150 people around it. Can you visualize a situation in which they could all be stung?
So, you and Joe are playing on the sand. "Hey, Joe, what's this gooey thing? Looks like a big jelly fish. I think I'll scoop up a big handful of glop...Ouch!"
"Oh, Sam, you must have gotten stung. Does it hurt a lot? Do you think it could sting me too?...Ouch!"
"Hey, what are you guys screaming about? Is that a jelly-fish sting? Suppose it has anymore stinger stuff left? Let me see...Ouch!"
"Ohhhh, c'mon let me try!"
Lather, rinse, repeat a 150 more times.
Is there a rash of stupid in New Hampshire?
2 comments:
Key lines from the story:
""When the current moves the jellyfish in, and the wave action starts to tear them apart, that's the end of them," he said. "The tentacle can then become unattached from the jellyfish."
When this happens, you end up with is a surf that is loaded with thousands of venomous tentacles."
So you didn't even have to touch the thing; you just had to be in the water anywhere near it. If knowledgeable folk on scene failed to clear an adequate stretch of beach, no wonder dozens got stung.
From reading the article it seemed that the JF streaming stinger thingies got ripped off the main (dead) body and suspended in the surf. Apparently they can still sting you if detached
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