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GIANT SPIDERS IN LOUISIANA? Part 2: TWO EVEN CLOSER ARACHNID ENCOUNTERS IN 2007
A second spectacular giant spider illustration by Swedish artist and friend Richard Svensson – see Part 1 of this ShukerNature blog article for a previous one by him (© Richard Svensson)
In Part 1 of this online world-exclusive ShukerNature blog article of mine (click here to read it), I documented a hitherto-unpublished alleged sighting of a giant spider in 2005 by an American soldier in Louisiana, as recalled to me by him via a series of emails. However, the soldier, whom I am referring to merely as Sgt S (not his real rank or initial), also had two further sightings of such creatures, and in much the same location, but this time in 2007. I ended Part 1 of this article by quoting a section from his email to me of 29 July 2019 concerning his 2005 sighting, but this same email also contained a full account of his two 2007 sightings, plus some thoughts by him concerning the possible lifestyle of these mega-spiders. So here are his 2007 account and thoughts:
2007 Sightings
During another pre-deployment training exercise at Fort Polk, Louisiana, within the Fort Polk Wildlife Management Area and centered at FOB Forge in the same area as the 2005 sighting, I briefly observed another giant spider in daylight hours and again at night. This one was different than the 2005 sighting as it was larger, with thicker legs and body, as well as a darker coloring. I attached a map depicting the approximate location of each sighting.
The first sighting was in the late afternoon when two other soldiers and I went for a run on Alligator Lake Loop, a wide dirt road between two wooded areas near Highway 469. One of the soldiers began suffering from heat exhaustion and sat down in the road. We moved her to the shade, and I ran for help. When I returned with the medics, they placed the patient on the truck, and we all started moving back when a Sergeant complained he stepped on something sticky. Immediately a batch of leaves on the embankment started moving. He and I both saw the head of a giant hairy spider pop up and back down. He wrote it off as a squirrel, but I clearly saw it pop up and move its head around then drop back down. It had two huge shiny black eyes each about three or four inches around. The head itself was bigger than one foot and looked like the head of a tarantula. It had thick hairy bristles all over it with large white or clear fangs which were only partially exposed, but with smaller horizontal pinchers facing each other at a small mouth about two or three inches each. Its coloring was a dark brown with light striped color variations giving it excellent camouflage for the area. It dropped back down into the leaves and essentially disappeared so when we asked if anyone else saw it, there was nothing to see but dry leaves and dirt. Everyone was heading back so we took off running and jumped on the medic truck. When we got back to the aid station, the Sergeant who stepped in the sticky spot had lost his running shoe. He went back later looking for the shoe but could not find it anywhere on that trail.
In the late afternoon, our Platoon Sergeant wanted to see how far we ran and exactly what happened, so we walked back to the same spot. At the location of the sighting, we were talking about the incident and heard leaves rustling and a light thud behind us. We turn around and the missing shoe was there behind us in the middle of the road that we just walked through. We were both astonished as we could not have missed a white shoe in the middle of a wide dirt road. The shoe was wet (on a hot, dry day on the dry dirt road) and it looked like it had been chewed on, with big holes in it. My Platoon Sergeant thought someone was playing tricks on us and angrily started yelling "Who's out there? Show yourself?" We heard a loud hissing and clicking coming from the ground and the leaves on the embankment started shaking so naturally, we both took off running and screaming like banshees. Senior leadership ordered us not to say anything about it to anyone and cautioned everyone to stay in groups.
Louisiana giant spider, 2007 daytime sighting (plus earlier-described 2005 sighting), marked out by Sgt S on Google map (© Google Maps – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
Later that week during the training exercises, I was positioned at an attic window of a fake wooden house in a staged village. Around midnight I saw an old buddy from basic training walking by and I stopped him to talk. I walked out on the roof and jumped down to catch up and have a cigarette. A few minutes later, while talking with my back to the house he suddenly got very scared, yelled and threw his cigarette lighter at the house, and ran away. When I turned around, I caught a glimpse of the giant spider walking away on the roof I was just standing on about 12 feet away. It was easily six feet around at the feet and the torso was roughly one foot thick by two feet long. I could see two claws at the end of the back feet. It was dark brown with light stripes. It looked very much like an enormous tarantula with thick legs about two inches around at the feet and three to four inches at the base. I threw rocks at it as it scurried away, and it scampered off the roof and disappeared into the darkness of the woods.
My old friend came back with his Commander and he was noticeably shaken, hyperventilating, and almost crying, completely out of character for him (he was later referred to mental health and I did not see him again after that night). I confirmed to the Captain what I saw and after conferring with senior leadership, once again they told us it wasn't real, and if we talked about it, we would be ridiculed, and our careers jeopardized. As far as I know, nothing was put on record about the incidents.
This concludes my accounts of the giant spiders at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Louisiana giant spider, 2007 night sighting, marked out by Sgt S on Google map (© Google Maps – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
My assumptions based on observations of the incidents:
1. The spider is rarely seen because it is nocturnal and burrowing, probably living in underground nests connected by spider-tunnels, it also moves extremely fast and retreats hastily when confronted.
2. It is an ambush Alpha predator, utilizing trapdoor-style burrows with draglines to detect prey. It makes thatched covers for these trapdoor burrows with sticks and leaves and its own silk. It may attack and consume humans if they are alone.
3. It may scent mark its prey or deploy a chemical defense to ward off attackers.
4. It may track or hunt by scent. (I believe the animal was able to find me on the roof of a building days later after encountering it a mile away. I believe this to be the case as I urinated in the wood line at both locations. Either that or it scent-marked me the two times I was there).
5. The sightings in 2005 and 2007 may have been the same species but different sex, as female spiders are often larger and different color than males.
6. Military leadership may choose to keep a lid on the existence of such creatures to prevent public panic, destruction of morale, loss of training schedule and facilities as well as the loss of contracts and to avoid scrutiny of primary leadership if said creatures are responsible for missing persons.
7. Local soldiers and cadre offer jokes about the creatures but also issue serious cautions to stay together in groups particularly at night because of actual missing person cases.
Louisiana giant spider, distance between 2005 and 2007 sightings, marked out by Sgt S on Google map (© Google Maps – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
As can be imagined, faced with such an extraordinary yet so soberly-written and detailed an account I was nothing if not nonplussed, and responded to it with the following email of my own:
Since my previous email to you, I've read and re-read your two very detailed emails to me regarding the apparent giant spiders witnessed by you and others at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Based upon your descriptions, there can be little doubt that the creatures were indeed spiders, but I am at a loss to explain their size, as this is so much bigger than fundamental arachnid anatomy and physiology would normally embrace. The traps and trap-lids that you mention are certainly reminiscent of those created by trap-door spiders, and I also agree with your various conclusions at the end of your second email. How such sizeable spiders, even if nocturnal, could have succeeded in eluding scientific discovery, however, remains as perplexing to me as their size. What would be interesting and potentially enlightening in relation to such questions and mysteries would be to ascertain if others, perhaps including other servicemen, have also spoken of encountering such creatures. So with that in mind, and having already received your kind permission to do so, I shall indeed compile an article at some point, based upon your accounts, and see what it may elicit. There must surely be some historical precedents involved here, local people or those spending time in the area, such as fellow servicemen as noted earlier, must surely have stories of their own, and perhaps giving yours some publicity will encourage them to come forward with their testimonies.
Meanwhile, thank you once again most sincerely for kindly making your experiences known to me and for the amount of detail concerning them that you have presented - a fascinating read indeed.
On 6 August, I received a final email from Sgt S concerning his experiences:
Outstanding! Thank you Dr Shuker for all your efforts. I will offer you two more pieces of information that I recalled about the sightings. For the 2005 sighting, when the creature turned around to flee into the trees, it appeared to have something about the size of a basketball tied or stuck to its back legs, dangling separate from the body. I think this may have been a smaller captured prey that it carried off. I bring this up because it may answer why it's evaded discovery, if it instinctually carries off its victims to multiple burrows.
Also, while inspecting the 2005 area a senior officer claimed he saw it and ordered everyone to withdraw from the area. He also ordered we remain silent on the issue or there would be serious concurrences.
In the 2007 incident, as the Platoon Sergeant and I turned to run away I felt something like water spray the back of my legs. Afterward other soldiers were complaining that I had a horrible musty smell about me and my clothing even though I was very routine with my personal hygiene. I believe the spider scent marked me allowing it to locate me inside the attic of a building a day later. My thought is that this highly predator[y] behavior has eliminated previous eye witnesses.
So there we have it – either a meticulously thought-out hoax or one of the most astonishing cryptozoological testimonies ever recorded! If the former, it is important that the full details as originally provided are documented so that they can be consulted if later retellings by others embellish or distort; if the latter, it goes without saying that as comprehensive a documentation as possible is essential in order to preserve an immensely significant mystery beast case.
Female Carolina wolf spider (© Noah J Mueller/Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 4.0 licence)
The largest species of spider known to exist in much of North America is the Carolina wolf spider Hogna carolinensis, a burrow-digging species whose females, black in colour and larger than the males, measure up to 25 mm in body length – a far cry indeed from the colossi claimed by Sgt S. Of especial interest, however, is that his accounts of alleged giant spiders in Louisiana are not unprecedented. As I documented in a ShukerNature blog article of mine from 30 July 2014 dealing with alleged sightings of giant spiders (click here to read it), and as also briefly alluded to by Sgt S in one of his emails to me, just such creature had indeed been reported from that very same American State, but almost 60 years before the first of Sgt S's three encounters. Here is what I wrote about it:
One of the most startling giant spider reports comes from Leesville in Louisiana, USA. According to William Slaydon, it was here, while walking northwards along Highway 171 to church one cool night in 1948, that he, his wife, and their three young grandsons had spied a gigantic spider - hairy, black, and memorably described as "the size of a washtub". It emerged from a ditch just ahead of them and crossed the road before disappearing into some brush on the other side. Not surprisingly, the family never again walked along that particular route to church at night!
Moreover, just a few days ago, on 25 June 2020, longstanding friend and fellow cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard briefly recalled on his public Facebook timeline an alleged giant spider reported in the Atlanta area, Georgia, by a firefighter. Ken stated that this eyewitness had claimed that the spider was 11 inches across (as big as a dinner plate), and that when he first saw it out of the corner of his eye he thought that it was a cat! Ken fully documented this report as follows in his book A Menagerie of Mysterious Beasts (2016):
I was admittedly shocked when I was contacted by a man from College Park, Georgia, who described an encounter with a nightmare-sized specimen. The witness, Christopher Williams, has an impressive background, having worked as a fireman and EMT for the past fifteen years. As William tells it, he was mowing his grass early one summer morning a few years ago, and when he bumped his lawnmower into the side of a tall pine tree in his front yard, the impact caused something to move. Out of the corner of his eye, Williams detected something that was brown in color easing slowly up the tree. As he turned to look, he was horrified to realize that the object in question was in fact the father of all wolf spiders and in his own words was at least eleven inches long, "as big as a house cat."
Immediately aware that he was looking at something that wasn't supposed to exist, Williams backed up slowly and headed into the house in order to retrieve either his camera or cell phone. He was admittedly concerned that such a move could place him in danger, as it might motivate the enormous arachnid to pounce on him. By the time Williams returned a couple of minutes later with camera in hand, the thing had disappeared. All I can add to this perplexing mystery is that, despite the extraordinary nature of his claim, over the phone Williams came off as an impressively sincere and credible eyewitness.
Ken's FB post recalling Atlanta's mega-arachnid shortly afterwards received a response from a mutual FB friend, Kimberly Poeppey, who recalled two further reports of giant spiders in the USA, both of which were new to me, and she later added a few additional details on her own FB timeline following my request for any further information that she may have. According to one of these reports, a couple pulling up in their motor vehicle to their house's open drive near the Everglades in Florida reputedly spied a puppy-sized spider squatting in the garage's open doorway, but when they pulled up it wandered off into the bushes. Kimberly believes that this occurred within the past 20 years. In the second incident, two sewer operatives in New York City were working on a water line in a crawl space within an old building's basement when in their flashlights' beam many eyes shone back at them, and supposedly the beam further revealed that these eyes belonged to a huge spider, bigger than a rat! Kimberly believes that this occurred some time during the 1960s/1970s, and she recalls that the two operatives refused to go back in there afterwards.
Are the Everglades in Florida home to puppy-sized spiders? (public domain)
In over three decades of research into mystery animals of many kinds, I have read countless testimonies and spoken to numerous alleged eyewitnesses of unidentified beasts. During that very long period of time, I have gained no small degree of insight concerning the truthfulness or otherwise of such documents and persons. To my mind, drawing extensively upon this valuable experience, the accounts of Sgt S ring true, and the above-noted report from 1948 of just such a spider in the very same area of Louisiana lends anecdotal support if nothing else.
In addition, the following comments elicited from Facebook friend Willis Beyer on 25 June shortly after I posted Part 1 of this article to the Cryptozoology group on FB are well worth recording here. According to Willis:
Karl, seriously, after spending roughly five months training at Ft. Polk back in the summer of 1970, including time in the "bush" preparing for Vietnam duty, I wouldn't be surprised at all that the soldiers actually saw a cryptid arachnid there.
Please understand that I am speaking of the place as it was then from half-century old memories, OK? But at that time, areas of the "bush" there that were used for pre-Vietnam training were the hottest, most humid, "jungliest" environment that I had ever spent time in. (I later found out that they were worse than some areas of the bush in Vietnam.) Insects, snakes (both poisonous and non-poisonous), lizards, bats, opossums, raccoons, armadillos, wild dogs, feral hogs, etc., abounded. A very large cryptid species of arachnid would have had plenty of available prey!
Consider this: A late good friend of mine, a Marine, spent two tours in the central highlands. Long story short, while he was there, two Marines from his outfit were taken by tigers, both at night, both from FOPs (forward observation posts). According to my friend, they were reported as KIA, but their families were never told the circumstances of their deaths, just that they had been killed.
Also, in my experience, the military didn't actively pursue AWOLs, at least stateside. The usual response, unless the serviceperson in question had access to critical classified MOS info was, "they'll eventually turn up".
Needless to say, Willis's comments corroborate very closely a number of the claims made by Sgt S in his extensive account. How to explain his giant spider reports from a strictly zoological perspective, conversely, is another matter entirely.
Life-sized model of a griffinfly ( GermanOle/Wikipedia - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence)
This is because there are notable physiological constraints to consider when considering the likelihood of such creatures actually existing. As I noted back in my July 2014 ShukerNature article and also in my emails to Sgt S, some of today's largest known spiders utilise a tracheal respiratory system comparable to that of insects, i.e. consisting of a network of minute tubes that carry oxygen to every cell in the body. However, this prevents such spiders and all insects from attaining huge sizes in the modern world, because the tracheae could not transport oxygen efficiently enough inside spiders or insects of giant stature. During the late Carboniferous and early Permian Periods, 300 million years ago, conversely, huge relatives of dragonflies known as griffinflies or meganisopterans did exist, but back in those primeval ages the atmosphere's oxygen level was far greater than it is today, thereby compensating for the tracheal system's inefficiency.
In contrast to known species of large modern-day spider, smaller spiders employ flattened organs of passive respiration called book lungs rather than a tracheal system. Yet neither system is sufficiently competent to enable spiders to attain enormous sizes, based upon current knowledge at least. So if a giant spider does thrive in some secluded, far-off realm, let alone in Louisiana, it must have evolved a radically different, much more advanced respiratory system, not just a greatly enlarged body.
Coconut crab (© Whologwhy/Wikipedia – CC BY 2.0 licence)
Interestingly, there is a notable precedent for the development of a truly novel respiratory organ among large land-dwelling arthropods, which I discussed as follows in my July 2014 ShukerNature article:
The largest of all such species known to be living today is the coconut crab Birgus latro, which sports a body length of up to 16 in, a weight of up to 9 lb, and a leg span of more than 3 ft. Indigenous to various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, despite being a crab it is exclusively terrestrial (it cannot swim and will drown if immersed in water for over an hour), and has evolved a unique respiratory organ known as a branchiostegal lung that enables it to exist entirely on land, and which developmentally can be seen as midway between gills and true lungs.
So who knows: if crustaceans (which are predominantly aquatic arthropods) can achieve this during evolution, maybe spiders (which are predominantly terrestrial anyway) have also achieved something analogous. Moreover, it has been suggested that perhaps some reports of so-called giant spiders are actually sightings of giant land crabs, but crabs are very different in appearance from spiders, due in no small way to their instantly visible chelae (pincers), and no such crabs are known to exist in any of the world regions from which giant spiders have been reported.
In addition, with its extremely heavy, bulky body and thick exoskeleton the coconut crab also provides an effective counter to arguments that a species of spider possessing similar physical accoutrements, as might be expected from one with specimens as big as the claimed Louisiana examples reported here, could not exist for fundamental anatomical and physiological reasons.
Having said that, all of this is in any case sheer speculation, and is likely to remain so – unless, as hoped for by Sgt S, someone should not only capture or kill a giant spider in Louisiana but also retain or preserve its body afterwards, and duly alert scientific attention to it. Only then will we know for certain that mega-arachnids really do exist, and, therefore, have indeed overcome all physiological constraints. Meanwhile, his remarkable story is now, at last, fully accessible to the public – so who can say what it may elicit at some stage in the future?
I wish to offer my most sincere thanks to Sgt S for contacting me and for so kindly permitting me to document fully here his very thought-provoking accounts; and as always to my exceedingly talented artist friend Richard Svensson for so kindly permitting me to utilise his awesome artwork in my writings.
In addition to the two parts of this article and my previously-referenced July 2014 article, for further reports of giant spiders presented here on ShukerNature please click here, here, and here.
Atlach-Nacha, the Spider God of Clark Ashton Smith's primordial Hyperborea (© Richard Svensson)
Labels: coconut crab, cryptozoology, giant spider, griffinfly, karl shuker, meganisopteran, Mirabilis, mystery arachnid, ShukerNature
GIANT SPIDERS IN LOUISIANA? Part 1: A CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE MEGA-ARACHNID KIND IN 2005
With one of my giant spider models (© Dr Karl Shuker)
Of all of the countless cryptozoological subjects that I have researched and written about during the past three decades, few have attracted more interest and correspondence than reputed sightings of giant spiders - some of which have been claimed to be the size of puppies, or even small children! - in a variety of far-flung locations around the world. As I revealed in 2014 via a previous ShukerNature blog article of mine (click here to read it), the vast majority of these reports have originated, not surprisingly, in remote jungle locations within tropical Africa, South America, Asia, and New Guinea.
However, among them were two very intriguing (and frightening) reports of a huge spider allegedly encountered in suburbia - one in England, and one in the USA, which I have also documented in my book Mirabilis (2014). Due to these locations (let alone the various anatomical and physiological shortcomings that would seem at least theoretically to prevent any modern-day spider species anywhere from attaining the kind of size attributed to the alleged specimens documented in my article), I considered these two examples to be among the least likely of all such reports – but now I may have to think again.
My book Mirabilis, containing a very extensive chapter devoted to reports of alleged giant spiders from around the world (© Dr Karl Shuker/Anomalist Books)
This is because I have received a series of very detailed and truly extraordinary communications from a United States soldier who claims to have been one of several army personnel who encountered some enormous spiders at close range while conducting field training in Louisiana.
The soldier, whose name I have on file but who has asked me not to identify him, had been troubled by his experiences with these creatures for some years, but knowing of my interest and work relating to mystery creatures he finally decided in 2019 to reveal to me via a series of emails his full, incredible story. Moreover, he even gave me full permission to document them publicly, in the hope that others would learn about these creatures and that one may even be captured or killed for scientific study and identification. Needless to say, as I have no independent corroboration (yet?) for any of the details given to me by him, I am unable to confirm whether or not any of what follows is genuine, but I consider it more than sufficiently compelling to warrant documentation.
So here, in an online world-exclusive courtesy of this 2-part ShukerNature blog article of mine, and recalled in his very own words, is the truly fascinating, scary, but hitherto-unpublished saga of that soldier (whom I shall refer to hereafter simply as Sgt S - not his real rank or initial). It consists of three separate alleged encounters with some veritable monster spiders in Louisiana. Arachnophobes, you have been warned!
Soldiers participating in an exercise (in a simulated Iraqi village) at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana (public domain)
I received Sgt S's first email on 25 July 2019. It was quite brief, merely asking me if I would be interested in hearing his first-hand accounts of:
...three separate incidents where I witnessed giant spiders at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in 2005 and 2007. These incidents took place at US Army training areas twice at night and once in the day.
Naturally, I swiftly replied, stating that I would indeed be interested in doing so, and the very next day I received an email from him containing the following extensive report:
Below is my detailed account from 2005. I will send more information on the 2007 sightings later. Recalling this matter was difficult and stressful, but I needed to get it off my chest as the events have haunted me for over a decade. I reached out to you in hopes that this helps your research and may someday lead to enlightening the world to the existence of these creatures. In the meantime, I prefer to remain anonymous but give you full rights to use my story.
In 2005, I was a US Army soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, KY with D Company, 1st Battalion - 101st Aviation. Sometime in early 2005, 101st Airborne Division traveled to Fort Polk, Louisiana's Joint Readiness Training Center for several weeks of complex field training.
In the early evening, I was asked to escort a female soldier (for her privacy I'll call her Sergeant Becky) from our Company tents to our motor pool, walking on a dirt road between two wooded areas, both of us holding flashlights. She was roughly 5 paces (10-15 feet) in front of me when she tripped, stumbled down and started screaming in high pitched shrieks. As I ran up checking on her, I saw a large "hairy thing" about four feet away from her, on the woodline at the right side of the road. At the time I was not wearing my glasses and being near-sighted, it was mostly blurry until I closed the distance next to SGT Becky, where I froze in place about five feet from the "hairy thing". As I focused on it for a few seconds, I could see the creature had whitish-gray or beige bristles all over it, in mottled color variations. The head was rectangular shaped with curved corners and small bumps trailing down into ridges along the sides. The creature had two large black eyes about two inches around and several smaller black eyes or spots on its head. At first approach, its head was about three feet from the ground with two long, thin legs raised up in front reaching five feet up in the air, with several long, thin, stick-like legs supporting behind it, each about one inch around. As I was running up, I unknowingly kicked rocks and dirt right at the thing, and it reacted by instantaneously backing up and pulling its head and legs down and back to about two feet from the ground and balled-up roughly two feet round. I could see it perfectly still for a second while I froze in place. Then it popped its head up briskly to three feet again and splayed its legs out to about four or five feet wide and opened its mouth like it was going to pounce. The mouth hole was about two or three inches whiles the fangs were about four to five inches, ruddy reddish-brown colored, with fuzzy bristles all over the mouth. Both Sergeant Becky and I fired our M4 carbines at it (we only had blank rounds for training). With the flash and noise, it scurried back into the trees and was gone in a split second. Sergeant Becky was still screaming, trying to crawl away and was stuck on something on the ground that looked like a rope. I stepped on it too and it was stuck to my boot and I had to cut her loose with my knife. We were both uninjured, save for Sergeant Becky being severely traumatized by the incident, requiring her removal from training and commander's referral to Mental Health.
Later when our senior leadership inspected the area we found long sticky spider web-like strings leading to a half-meter hole that was thatched over with leaves. The same material was stuck to our boots and my knife which I could only clean off with a cigarette lighter. The military refused to believe us and insisted that we only saw a wild dog suffering from mange. The Sergeant was referred to mental health on a long term basis and we were both ridiculed and ordered not to talk about it anymore. I was called into the mental health facility on return to Fort Campbell to corroborate Sergeant Becky's story and subsequent stress issues. Our leadership at the time "actively discouraged" me from offering any details other than that I saw "a hairy thing about the size of a dog". I have not talked about it with anyone since.
After receiving an email of thanks from me for his account and also containing a few lines of discussion concerning size-related respiratory restrictions applicable to spiders, later that same day, 26 July, I received a short follow-up email from Sgt S:
Thank you for getting back so quickly. I appreciate your interest. It takes time to go through and detail what I saw but I'll work on the other two sightings this weekend. The locations I am reporting at Fort Polk are only 7 miles away from Highway 171 in Leesville, Louisiana where the 1948 report occurred. It is important to note that the military training personnel at Fort Polk often joke about the insects that are big enough to carry people off. Also, they mention that people tend to go missing there so they caution staying in groups, especially at night. It might be worthwhile to delve into missing person reports.
Sgt S's next email to me was sent by him on 29 July, and contained not only a detailed account of his two 2007 sightings but also some noteworthy additional details regarding his 2005 sighting, as well as his personal thoughts concerning the lifestyle of these spiders.
Louisiana giant spider, 2005 sighting and 2007 daytime sighting, as marked out by Sgt S on Google map (© Google Maps, reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)
I shall conclude Part 1 of this present ShukerNature blog article by quoting from his email those extra details relating to his 2005 sighting:
I have compiled an addendum of additional observations from the 2005 sighting. After writing the incidents down I began to recall other related details surrounding these incidents. You have my full permission to publish this story so long as my name is kept anonymous until one of these things is captured or killed for positive scientific identification.
On the same night of [the] 2005 incident, while our senior leadership was reviewing the spider hole area, we found a circular thatched cover about half a meter wide, hinged to the back of the hole with some type of glue. It was woven from small sticks and leaves "glued" together with an unknown substance, with a symmetrical, radial patterning. It was sturdy and lightweight. There was also a very strong, acrid / ammonia-like scent at the site which persisted on our clothes for several days.
An Opposition Force Sniper disappeared the next night not far from the original incident. I was inside the back of a truck pulling guard duty at the flight line perimeter fence, near a heavily wooded area when I caught an opposition force soldier (for privacy I'll call him SGT SAM) sneaking up on our position. I tackled SGT SAM and held him in place while his teammate was firing at our position from inside the wood line. We heard sounds from the wood line of someone crying out and then abruptly silenced followed by snapping branches and then something moving in the brush. After the training cadre cleared and reset our position, SGT SAM went back to check on his teammate who was not answering radio calls and he could not find [him]. SGT SAM came back insisting that something was wrong.
The next morning SGT SAM and his teammates lead a search for the missing soldier finding only a torn piece of his shemagh scarf in the woods near our position, which he said he would never tear apart, let alone leave anything behind as he was meticulous about his job and his equipment. The sniper's disappearance during a training exercise, lack of response to radio calls and absence from rally points all being highly unusual and disturbing to his teammates. Army investigators were oddly aloof and unconcerned citing that many good soldiers go AWOL to New Orleans.
A few days afterward, and very late at night, several soldiers and I heard something walking across the tin roof of our double-barn sized sleeping quarters. It sounded like slow heavy raindrops for one minute and then stopped abruptly. There was no rain at the time and when we went outside to look there was nothing on the roof.
Another night a soldier claimed he awoke to what he thought was an old bearded man with huge black goggles lying prone on the ground at the doorstep staring at us through the open door of the tent. He said the man crawled back quickly and was gone over a ten-foot fence and back into the woods in seconds when he sat up to question him.
A rumor circulated from the local post soldiers that a Wildlife Management Ranger in a tree-mounted deer blind had observed eight of these creatures gathered in a remote clearing, facing each other in a circle, taking turns placing sticks into a pile. I find this highly dubious and probably a fable to scare visitors, but it does show that the locals already have an awareness of these things and openly joke about them.
In Part 2 of this ShukerNature article I shall provide the remainder of this fascinating email, containing Sgt S's even closer alleged encounters of the arachnid kind from 2007, together with his own thoughts regarding these mega-spiders' possible lifestyle. Don't miss it - so please click here to read it!
Spectacular artwork depicting a giant spider (© Richard Svensson)
Labels: cryptozoology, giant spider, karl shuker, Mirabilis, mystery arachnid, ShukerNature
GIANT SPIDERS IN LOUISIANA? Part 2: TWO EVEN CLOSE...
GIANT SPIDERS IN LOUISIANA? Part 1: A CLOSE ENCOUN...
GETTING AHEAD (OR TWO?) WITH VIETNAM'S VIKING DEER...


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I am expecting same image as in canvas imageview. But i dont get it..

A: When you stringify the object, the result is an object notation meaning the loss of its prototype - ImageData. Again parsing it will give a JSON object with prototype as "Object" object. Thus you will not get the image as desired.
Now in case you have to follow stringify route:
1. Create a new object of type ImageData by : var imgData = ctx.createImageData(100,100); //ctx is the context
2. iterate over all the keys of object returned by result of JSON.parse and set each of imgData.data[i] = theobject.data[key];

3. Now use this imgData object for new image.
Hope it helps!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Mondial, is a bi-annual magazine from lifestyle cycle brand Rapha, containing long-form writing, photography and in-depth reportage, all connected to cycling. The company is known for their refined and classic aesthetic, and have extended their sophisticated style to the magazine's design.
To underpin and enhance their brand, Rapha publishes a cycling magazine for its loyalty customers with the name 'Rapha Mondial'. For the sixth issue, Park's brief was to contribute to the creativity and tactility, and deliver an eye-catching, high quality magazine that reflected their brand, a perfect blend of luxury, performance and aesthetics and which screamed out 'pick me up and read me'.
In this issue Rapha wanted to "up their game" in terms of the aesthetics of the magazine. They were already using our XD screening technology (allowing both conventional and stochastic screens to be used on the same plate) and the design style was already set, so Park suggested that they continue to do so, but for this issues change the materials used.
To increase the interest of the reading experience, we proposed using a mixture of materials within the text: matt, gloss, uncoated, together with a tactile uncoated stock for the cover.
We prepared a number of white paper dummies, each with a different combination of papers so that Rapha could choose the mix that best reflected the brand.
We applied our unique Park XD Screening technology. For the coated (gloss) stock, this used a 240# Sublima (hybrid) screen to the images, and a 21 micron stochastic screen to the four colour tints. For the uncoated stock, a 200# conventional screen was used.
Within ParkXD Screening, the use of two screens within a single page, produces the best reproduction of imagery (maximum detail, vibrancy and lift) while ensuring that tints and vignettes remain smooth and even (of particular importance to Rapha).
At our suggestion, the solid black article headings were converted to print as 4 colour process in order to obtain a more dense black. In addition, we neutralised the monochrome imagery to ensure the images maintained a consistent colour when printed.
Plate profiles, developed to achieve the best results on each material, were applied.
Epson proofs were supplied on each of uncoated and coated paper to ensure an accurate colour match on press.
Special hard drying inks were used to print the uncoated materials.
The sheets were printed to ISO 12647-2 (2013) colour standard, with the customer on-site to pass the cover and first few text sections.
All print production, folding and binding were carried out in-house, while a member of the production team supervised the foiling on the cover at the outworker.
This magazine has been shorlisted in the Print, Design and Marketing Awards 2018.
Askew is a creative consultancy and design studio based in New York City. They build and elevate brands by identifying strategic and conceptual drivers, and creating work that seeks innovation, cultural resonance and thoughtful creativity.
Askew has over 20 years of experience working alongside Fortune 500 and emerging brands across fashion, luxury, music, technology, sports, and culture/lifestyle sectors.
Askew– NYC, a brand new customer, contacted us, at 22.30hrs on the Tuesday, asking if we could produce 3 high quality fashion posters mounted on 1/4" white foamcore (24x36in) to be delivered to Four Marketing in London the following day.
Four Marketing is a fashion agency working with brands across all platforms, from wholesale, distribution, public relations, through to full digital and retail experience.
The images had to be of high quality as they would be used for promotional material the very next day.
We confirmed that we could meet the deadline, but that we recommended printing straight onto foam board. Printing directly onto the substrate achieves a better finished result, eliminating any potential ripples or bubbles, as well as being cheaper for the customer.
The final artwork file was transmitted to us from New York at midnight and we supplied a quote in the early hours on the Wednesday morning. Once the quote had been confirmed, the board was ordered at 08.30hrs on the Wednesday morning, arriving via dedicated courier before noon.
The boards were printed to the highest photographic quality. With no time for proofs we took photos during production and sent them to Askew via email.
The boards were all delivered to Four Marketing in London EC1 before 16.00hrs the same day.
Alfred Dunhill Ltd. is a quintessentially British luxury brand, specialising in ready-to-wear, custom and bespoke menswear, leather goods, and accessories. The company is based in London, where it also owns and operates a leather workshop.
34,000 copies of this complex high quality look book were required to be distributed worldwide, before the Chinese New Year. The paper stock changed at the very last minute, which gave us an almost impossible challenge of four days to print, foil and bind. The look book comprised 70 pages plus 4 x 2 pp dividers, plus cover, with the dividers printing on Colorplan, a material that is slow to dry. Furthermore, the imposition and design necessitated a two page on Gallerie Gloss 150gsm, bound in as the first binding section.
Due to the change of material we had to source huge amounts of paper at very short notice. We worked with Ebbs to source 200,000 sheets from different areas of the country including Manchester, Leeds, London and Kent.
In addition, we had to get 18,000 sheets of Colorplan 'Smooth Embossed' in less than 24 hours. Working closely with G.F. Smith, we had the debossing turned around within 24 hours. This meant we had 4 days to print, deboss the divider pages, foil and bind.
A 200# screen plus image and plate profiles specially developed to achieve the best results were applied for the uncoated and coated materials, while hard drying inks adapted for each material were used.
Proofs were supplied as hi-resolution Epson proofs on uncoated/coated papers.
Adhering to ISO12647 colour management targets, we accurately matched the signed-off proofs and a member of the team press passed every section.
Each of the divider pages were treated as 2pp tip-ins, which had to be hand-fed to the binder.
The same member of the team was also onsite at the outworkers to pass the foiling and debossing. We made certain that minimum heat and pressure were used to adhere the matt foil, ensuring clean crisp edges and a consistent foil throughout the run.
To ensure accurate knock-up of the lightweight two page of the first section, we slowed the running speed of the binder by 30%, and had an additional operator on the machine.
Each of the divider pages were treated as 2pp tip-ins, which had to be hand fed to the binder.


text:
Q: Using multiprocessing to double the speed of working on a list Let's say I have a list like this:
list_base = ['a','b','c','d']

If I used for xxx in list_base:, the loop would parse the list one value at a time. If I want to double the speed of this work, I'm creating a list with two values to iterate over at once and calling multiprocessing.
Basic example
Code 1 (main_code.py):
import api_values

if __name__ == '__main__':
    list_base = ['a','b','c','d']
    api_values.main(list_base)

Code 2 (api_values.py):
import multiprocessing
import datetime

def add_hour(x):
    return str(x) + ' - ' + datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M')

def main(list_base):
    a = list_base
    a_pairs = [a[i:i+2] for i in range(0, len(a)-1, 2)]
    if (len(a) % 2) != 0:
        a_pairs.append([a[-1]])

    final_list = []

    for a, b in a_pairs:
        mp_1 = multiprocessing.Process(target=add_hour, args=(a,))
        mp_2 = multiprocessing.Process(target=add_hour, args=(b,))
        mp_1.start()
        mp_2.start()
        mp_1.join()
        mp_2.join()
        final_list.append(mp_1)
        final_list.append(mp_2)

    print(final_list)

When I analyze the final_list print it delivers values like this:
[
<Process name='Process-1' pid=9564 parent=19136 stopped exitcode=0>,
<Process name='Process-2' pid=5400 parent=19136 stopped exitcode=0>,
<Process name='Process-3' pid=13396 parent=19136 stopped exitcode=0>,
<Process name='Process-4' pid=5132 parent=19136 stopped exitcode=0>
]

I couldn't get to the return values I want conquered by calling the add_hour(x) function.
I found some answers in this question:
How can I recover the return value of a function passed to multiprocessing.Process?
But I couldn't bring to the scenario I'm using where I need the multiprocessing inside a function and not inside if __name__ == '__main__':
When trying to use it, it always generates errors in relation to the position of the created code structure, I would like some help to be able to visualize the use for my need.
Note:
This codes are a basic's examples, my real use is to extract data from an API that allows for a maximum of two simultaneous calls.
Additional code:
According to @Timus comment (You might want to look into a **Pool** and **.apply_async**), I came to this code it seems to me it worked but I don't know if it is reliable, if there is any improvement that is necessary for its use and this option is the best, feel free to update in a answer:
import multiprocessing
import datetime

final_list = []

def foo_pool(x):
    return str(x) + ' - ' + datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S')

def log_result(result):
    final_list.append(result)

def main(list_base):
    pool = multiprocessing.Pool()
    a = list_base
    a_pairs = [a[i:i+2] for i in range(0, len(a)-1, 2)]
    if (len(a) % 2) != 0:
        a_pairs.append([a[-1]])

    for a, b in a_pairs:
        pool.apply_async(foo_pool, args = (a, ), callback = log_result)
        pool.apply_async(foo_pool, args = (b, ), callback = log_result)
    pool.close()
    pool.join()

    print(final_list)

A: I think you need shared strings between processes. They can be obtained from multiprocessing.Manager().
Your api_values.py should look like this:
import multiprocessing
import datetime
from ctypes import c_wchar_p

def add_hour(x, ret_str):
    ret_str.value = str(x) + ' - ' + datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M')

def main(list_base):
    a = list_base
    a_pairs = [a[i:i+2] for i in range(0, len(a)-1, 2)]
    if (len(a) % 2) != 0:
        a_pairs.append([a[-1]])

    final_list = []
    manager = multiprocessing.Manager()

    for a, b in a_pairs:

        ret_str_a = manager.Value(c_wchar_p, "")
        ret_str_b = manager.Value(c_wchar_p, "")
        mp_1 = multiprocessing.Process(target=add_hour, args=(a, ret_str_a))
        mp_2 = multiprocessing.Process(target=add_hour, args=(b, ret_str_b))
        mp_1.start()
        mp_2.start()
        mp_1.join()
        mp_2.join()
        final_list.append(ret_str_a.value)
        final_list.append(ret_str_b.value)

    print(final_list)

Source: How to share a string amongst multiple processes using Managers() in Python?

A: You don't have to use a callback: Pool.apply_async() gives you a return (an AsyncResult object) which has a .get() method to retrieve the result of the submit. Extension of your attempt:
import time
import multiprocessing
import datetime
from os import getpid

def foo_pool(x):
    print(getpid())
    time.sleep(2)
    return str(x) + ' - ' + datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%d/%m/%Y %H:%M:%S')

def main(list_base):
    a = list_base
    a_pairs = [a[i:i+2] for i in range(0, len(a)-1, 2)]
    if (len(a) % 2) != 0:
        a_pairs.append([a[-1]])

    final_list = []
    with multiprocessing.Pool(processes=2) as pool:
        for a, b in a_pairs:
            res_1 = pool.apply_async(foo_pool, args=(a,))
            res_2 = pool.apply_async(foo_pool, args=(b,))
            final_list.extend([res_1.get(), res_2.get()])

    print(final_list)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    list_base = ['a','b','c','d']
    start = time.perf_counter()
    main(list_base)
    end = time.perf_counter()
    print(end - start)

I have added the print(getpid()) to foo_pool to show that you're actually using different processes. And I've used time to illustrate that despite the time.sleep(2) in foo_pool the overall duration of main isn't much more than 2 seconds.


Sorry for the silence... I have been without internet access for a while, and busy with festivities. Not really any time to write at all, but walks by the sea and on Exmoor, and shopping and ice skating and lots of family time, amongst other things.
Here's wishing peace, joy and good health for 2014. May it bring much happiness.
I hope the desperate situation in Syria improves and my children are happy at their new schools. I'd like to write a good poem next year - just one stonker would be enough - and help welcome a new nephew or niece into this world.
I'm also turning forty which is hard to believe (in my head) but I'm sure not in others'...strange to be approaching middle age yet still feel young inside and out.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I'm looking forward to telling you about some exciting poetry news in the new year - meanwhile I have a pile of enticing books to be read and some new running tights to get muddy. Not to mention loads of thank you letters to be written!


text:
Yuri Cortez sent a special message to Croatia's National Football team: "You have a lion's heart"
Many have a special memory of the World Cup in Russia, and one of them is definitely Yuri Cortez, a likeable Salvadoran and photojournalist of Agence France-Press (AFP), who gained...
by Tena Brnad 14. June 2021.
Many have a special memory of the World Cup in Russia, and one of them is definitely Yuri Cortez, a likeable Salvadoran and photojournalist of Agence France-Press (AFP), who gained a piece of world fame and attention amidst celebrating Croatian footballers after Mario Mandžukić's magnificent goal in the match against England that placed Croatia in the finals of the 2018 World Cup.
As luck would have it, the Croatian national team is due to play its first game at the European Football Championship tomorrow, against England, which prompted Cortez to send a special video message of support to Croatia's "Vatreni"!
"Hi dear friends from Croatia! I wanted to wish the Croatian National Football Team the best of luck at this year's EURO. Although I won't be there to take the amazing photos when you celebrate your goals against England in the match coming soon … But I know you will make me and all of your fans from around the world proud – Let's Go Vatreni! We can do it – You have a lion's heart – You can do it!", said Cortez, also known as a great lover of Croatia.
Namely, we remind you that the Croatian National Tourist Board contacted Cortez after the World Cup in Russia and invited him to visit Croatia together with his family. Cortez accepted the invitation and on that occasion visited the Croatian coast, from north to south, capturing with his camera numerous natural, cultural and historical motifs, as well as the beauty of Croatia.
"Croatia is best recognized globally for tourism and sports. Numerous Croatian athletes have made an immeasurable contribution to the visibility of our country, which I am sure will play a significant role at the European Football Championship", said the Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board Kristjan Staničić, adding that the European Football Championship is a great opportunity for additional tourism promotion in Croatia in the world.
Let's add that today, Yuri Cortez works in Venezuela as the head of the AFP bureau, the world's third largest news agency. In his professional career, in addition to sports competitions, he also photographed natural disasters, humanitarian crises, and he went through and recorded battlefields around the world with his camera.
SOURCE: CNTB
yuri cortez
FeaturedSpecial

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The European Commission has launched the long expected draft of the revised Annex 15 (Qualification and Validation) for public consultation (see our GMP News from 12 February). This revision mainly takes into account changes to other sections of the EU-GMP Guide Part I, Annex 11, ICH Q8, Q9, Q10 and Q11, QWP guidance on process validation and changes in manufacturing technology. But also a new chapter on verification of transportation has been included.
Along with the Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of Medicinal Products for Human Use (GDP Guideline), transport should be performed in accordance with the conditions defined in the Marketing Authorisation (normally these are the storage conditions), the product specification file (for investigational medicinal products) or by the manufacturer. Those could be defined based on product stability and risk assessment. The chapter also defines that risk assessment should not be limited to temperature impact but also to other factors like "e.g. humidity, vibration, handling, delays during transportation, failure of data-loggers, topping up liquid Nitrogen, product susceptibility and any other relevant factors." Any critical environmental conditions should be continuously monitored throughout the transport.
Stakeholders are invited to comment on this draft by 31 May 2014 at the latest.


SharesPost, a top provider of liquidity solutions for the private growth asset class, has launched its own SharesPost Token Index.
The new index is meant to improve the tracking of the token market's growth. The index concentrates on a set group of tokens that use the ERC-20 protocol, using factors like trading history and market capitalization to assign each token a unique weight based on supply in circulation and current price. Consequently, the token index can indicate the market's maturity in real-time, simultaneously lowering transaction costs and liquidity risk. These qualities make the SharesPost Token Index the first of its kind in the industry.
SharesPost, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer and SEC-registered Alternative Trading System, launched the industry's first online secondary market for private technology shares in 2009. Since its launch, SharesPost has facilitated more than $4 billion in shares transactions of more than 200 technology companies. SharesPost's platform now allows clients to access private market and liquidity solutions, such as data on leading private technology companies, SharesPost's Private Growth Index, and the SharesPost100 Fund, which provides investors easy access to the asset class. SharesPost Lending allows private company shareholders to borrow against their company shares. In addition, SharesPost launched its first initial coin offering in 2017.
The token index employs a market capitalization formula to determine total value that is based on daily pricing data. The index uses the volume-weighted average price of tokens from a whitelist of exchanges. SharesPost chose the specific tokens for its index because they represent the broader blockchain sector, have specifically defined utility, and are sourced in reliable projects. This means that SharesPost excludes from its index any tokens pegged to one particular currency or asset.
SharesPost uses July 1 of 2018 as its baseline to review the token index's performance back to the third quarter of 2017. This allows SharesPost to compare its data to Ethereum and Bitcoin prices. While short-term volatility has been the leading story in the token market as of late, crypto assets offer opportunities for long-term investments. The token index has increased 17 percent since October of last year as Bitcoin has increased by 59 percent and Ethereum has dropped 17 percent.
The SharesPost Token Index can be viewed here.


A friend said she read that it can be really unsafe to travel to Oaxaca. Has anyone had any problems there? Would you recommend and hotels ?
I have travelled twice alone with just my small daughter to Oaxaca. We are budget travellers and stay in cheap hotels, take buses, including night/long distance buses and we were very safe. There is a lot of stupid propaganda and chicken little type stuff being spread by ignorant or weird ultra-paranoid people and it scares people away. It is very safe as long as you have common sense and courtesy. Oaxaca and most of Mexico are much safer than most places in the U.S.
I hope you choose to go. I will be going in the next 2 or 3 weeks myself.
We just returned from three weeks in Oaxaca City and Bahias de Huatulco. We traveled all over and never had any problems. The area is fantastic, the people are friendly and we will visit again.
Oaxaca, and Mexico in general, is IMHO much safer than many places in the US. There are some domestic issues, but tourists are not bothered.
Use common sense and you will have no difficulties.
You don't say what price range you are looking for, but we checked out several hotels in the downtown area, from top end to bargain. Eme if you would like some rate information.
Oaxaca is both a city and a state of Mexico (like New York, New York). The city of Oaxaca is quite safe. Many areas of the state of Oaxaca are also very safe. There are definitely unsafe areas though and I think if you post specific destinations you can get some specific feedback on them. The crime rate in Mexico overall is much, much higher than in the United States but that doesn't not mean you cannot have a safe and exciting vacation there if you take the right precautions based on knowledge of the area you are visiting.
Oaxaca can be very safe as long as you don't flaunt your wealth or go to certain areas at night. I have taken groups of teenagers there over the past four years and we have never had any major problems. The zocalo is safe and I have had to walk the streets late at night to checkj up on a sick student. The outlying pueblos have had some indiginous issues that have been blown out of proportion by our media. The Oaxacan people are very gracious and open to foreigners. Make sure you check out a Guerreros pro baseball game and or Las Brisas public pool. You can see how the middle class Oaxacans live. Also the Sunday market in Tlocolula (nice church) is a must.
The city of Oaxaca is safe. There are various areas in the state of Oaxaca where you have to be careful. I'm not sure why Xose went off on John K as John clearly says that you can have a safe visit. But for what it's worth if you go to the United Nations website http://www.odccp.org/mexico/ you'll see that Mexico's per capita murder rate is triple that of the US.
Been there and would have no hesitation about going back. We have been to a lot of the "colonial cities" (Taxco, Morellia, etc.)and they are all great. They are like any place else in the world (except maybe better then a lot of others). As long as you have common sense, they are safe.
Just returned from 8th trip to Oaxaca and experienced no problems whatsoever. My kids have been running around Oaxaca city by themselves for the last few years. There is some inter tribal violence in rural areas not visited (at least without great difficulty) by tourists. But I have never heard of it effecting Oaxaca City at all. Last January I spent over an hour talking to two Oaxaca City cops. I told them I was retired from law enforcment and we compared our jobs. They both told me that they would never work inthe USA because it is far too dangerous. Likewise they told me they have nothing to do all night long because there is no crime. In many weeks in Oaxaca city over the past ten years I have never seen anything to contradict what they said.
We were in Oaxaca City in June. Felt very safe in the city, and travelling to the nearby sites with our two teen age daughters. Walked around in the evenings and stayed at Casa Sierra Azul about 2 blocks from the Zocala.
Mexico City was a bit more scary, but there are so many armed police on most corners that we felt no danger during the days. We were a lot more cautious about walking at night or using taxis than Oaxaco.


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text:
Billy Hardy (footballer)
William "Billy" Hardy (18 April, 1891 in Bedlington – March 1981 in Iver) was a former English footballer probably most famous for playing in the 1927 FA Cup Final for Cardiff City
Hardy began his career at his hometown club Bedlington F.C. before moving to Scotland with Hearts quickly followed by a one-year spell at Stockport County. In 1911 he signed for Cardiff City and it was there his career flourished. Having joined the club when they were playing in the Southern League he was an ever present for the next decade before Cardiff joined the Football League in 1920. His first ever match in the Football league was against his former side Stockport County and he was the clubs only ever-present player in the 1920-21 season.
Incredibly Hardy continued to be ever-present in the following decade for the Bluebirds, including both of their FA Cup final appearances in 1925 and 1927. Instantly recognisable - he was stocky and practically bald from an early age - he played his last ever game for Cardiff in March 1932 in a 1-0 win over Gillingham at the age of 41 and when he left the club he had played in a total of 585 first team games. After leaving Cardiff he managed Bradford Park Avenue for four years, later working as a chief scout at the Yorkshire club.
Despite his unquestionable ability Hardy was never selected for the England national football team. It was often thought he was denied an international cap because he played for a Welsh team.
Billy Hardy's long career with Cardiff established him as a hero in the town. Described by a local newspaper as "the idol of all South Wales," it was said that when he appeared on a newsreel shown in Cardiff cinemas, the audience cheered for 10 minutes."South Wales Echo", 20 February 1922.]
Following his retirement he ran the Dolphin Hotel in Somerset until 1949 when he emigrated with his wife Olive to Tasmania where he ran a grocery store. They returned to Cardiff in February 1963 eventually moving to Teignmouth in Devon. Hardy died in March 1981 in Iver, Buckinghamshire at the age of 89. ["Player, coach, manager, hotelier and grocer" The Cardiff City Miscellany pg.31]
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Home » News » Biggest Anime News For August 8, 2022
Kon'nichiwa, Otakus Happy Monday. Hope your week starts well. Today's news are Tower of God 2nd Season, 'The Fruit of Evolution' Sequel Anime's Teaser Reveals, and Ranking of Kings Season 2 Will Air In 2023. There's more where this came from, so read on for the rest.
Tower of God 2nd Season
Ranking of Kings Season 2 Will Air In 2023
The Rising of Shield Hero Season 3
Bleach: Thousand Year Bloodwar
Voice Actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi Passes Away
'The Fruit of Evolution' Sequel Anime's Teaser Reveals
Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement Lead and Voice Staff
Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Anime will release in 2023
Tower of God season 2 will be available on Crunchyroll for streaming. Additionally, the WEBTOON podium will release the first volume of the graphic novel from Unscrolled edition of WEBTOON on 22nd November. Anime's 1st season was released on Crunchyroll on 1st April 2020 and in Japan, it was released on 2nd April. It had a total of 13 episodes.
Ranking of Kings's official Twitter confirms that Season 2 will release in 2023.
The Rising of Shield Hero's official website released a new visual and additional staff changes for season 3. Hitoshi Haga directed 4 episodes, storyboarded 5 episodes from season 1, and will be the director for season 3. We saw Takao Abo and Masato Jinho directing the previous seasons. Kevin Penkin will make a return for the anime's music alongside Keigo Koyanagi as a supervisor for the scripts and Kinema Citrus for the animation of production. The show's 2nd season aired on the AT-X channel on 6th April.
◤ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄◥
キービジュアル第2弾
◣__________◢
運命を砕く 力はきっと
振り下ろされる 刃に似ている
TVアニメ『BLEACH 千年血戦篇』
2022年10月より放送開始。
🔗https://t.co/QEczE2FIrI#BLEACH_anime #BLEACH21st pic.twitter.com/oTIRxtmHDd
— 【公式】TVアニメ『BLEACH』 (@BLEACHanimation) August 6, 2022
The members for the TV anime Bleach: Thousand Year Bloodwar on the same arc of Tite Kubo's manga revealed additional cast members and a new visual on Friday. The newly announced cast members are Yuki Asami Seto (Shino Madarame), Daiki Yamashita (Ryūnosuke), Yamadera (Quilge Opie), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Nödt Kōichi) Hideyuki Tanaka (BG9), Yasuhiro Mamiya (Mask De Masculine), Takaya Hashi (Robert Accutrone), Tomoaki Maeno (NaNaNa Najahkoop), Nobuaki Kanemitsu (Driscoll Berci). The anime will be released on TV in October. The advance screening will be done in Tokyo on 11th September for the first 2 episodes.
On Monday Haikyo announced that Kiyoshi Kobayashi who was a renowned voice actor passed away on 30th June due to pneumonia. He was 89, and Kiyoshi Kobayashi's family held a private funeral. Furthermore, Haikyo added that other details will be released later. Last year in September Kobayashi announced that he will take retirement from his long-time role of Daisuke Jigen from Lupin III after 52 years. He gave his voice to that character in 1969 and was the only original member left in the show. Kobayashi also gave his voice to other shows like Death Note (Watari), The Legend of Galactic Heroes, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure (Avdol), Mobile Suit Gundam: 0083 Stardust Memory, and many more characters.
The official website for the anime of Miku and U35's Shinka no Mi light novel series began streaming a teaser trailer for Shin Shinka no Mi the sequel anime. The video reveals that Miyuki Sawashiro will voice the new character Destra, and also reveals the anime's January 2023 premiere date.
Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement's official website revealed the anime's first member from the cast, staff, and visual teaser on Monday. The protagonist Mitsuha Yamano's voice will be given by Rika Nagae. Hiroshi Tamada will be the director of the anime and will direct it at Felix Film. Additionally, Akihiko Inari will handle the scripts for the series. The character's animations will be done by Yuki Fukuchi. Keisuke Motoe also drew an illustration to commemorate the notification of the new anime.
As an elementary school student, Ritik discovered Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z and became a fan of Japanese animation. His knowledge of anime/manga has increased over the years, and he's now ready to share it with readers all over the world. He's always looking for a wonderful new anime to watch or manga series to read.


Back In Action… For REALS this time.
Rough. If you needed an explanation from me on where I've been for the last 6+ months, like... that's legit all I've got. It's been rough. It's 11:14 p.m here in Chicago. The air is cold, the wind is rude, but the view is always beautiful. I'm actually standing in my kitchen, a bowl of… Continue reading Back In Action… For REALS this time.


Daughter of Hope: Why China? Why now?
I loved that. A couple of our guides in China (for our adoption trip) said some of those exact things. They believe in "nothing." I pray for China often and our daughter's birth family...that some of those bold and dear believers would share the gospel with them.
I also remember seeing a line outside of the place where Mao's body is (next to Tiennemen Squ.). Our guide told us the people were lined up to worship him. Made me feel a little sick and a lot sad.


IDEAL RECREATIONAL LOT TO ENJOY THE OUTDOORS! 1.55 acre, perc failed, candidate for control fill should you choose to build in the future. South facing lot in a rural part of Fairfield, Fairfield Area School District, Liberty Township. Lot is level and wooded. Partially cleared. Easy access to Route 15 and other commuter routes. The 1.55 acres is made up of 13 & 15 Strausbaugh Trail that is for sale. Taxes shown are for both addresses combined. No HOA!!!


Peattie was born in 1898 and died in 1964, and his masterpiece, written in the late 1940s, is A Natural History of Trees. It has two parts—one on Eastern and Central North America, the other on trees of the West—and it covers hundreds of species. He was a botanist and is accurate and complete, but these are also wonderful portraits. Part of what makes the book such a pleasure is his attention to the effect that a tree has on the people looking at it or sitting under it.
There are a dozen hickory species native to North America, but the shagbark (Carya ovata) is obviously his favorite. The usual textbook description tells us the tree has compound leaves, with a five-fingered look. Peattie correctly observes that winter and early spring are the shagbark's best seasons. Its female flowers in April, with male catkins, are noted and praised, and the tree is said to have impressive fall foliage. Wrong. Those flowers and catkins are barely visible. The allegedly good fall display is a dull yellow-brown and the leaves are often speckled brown. Some years the leaves turn a sullen brown and drop off early in September.
In its barer seasons, the plates of bark, more than a foot long, about six inches wide, and curling at both ends, seem interestingly warped. (They're attached at the middle, and it would be hard to pull them off.) There are loads of trees with exfoliating bark, but few or none with these big segments.
What is most impressive, and rarely mentioned in contemporary tree books, is the shagbark's emerging foliage: "But about the first week in April the inner bud scales begin to open, arching out and twisting at the same time, but with their tips at first still adhering in a pointed arch. Shining and downy on the inner surface, and yellow-green richly tinged with red, they look like petals of some great tulip or magnolia as finally they part and curl back. The young leaves and catkins are then seen standing up in a twist, like a skein of green wool." Peattie, whose works are being reissued, studied French poetry his first two years at college before turning to botany. He has a sort of romance with this tree (and others); his language is affectionate and sensuous.
The shagbark is one of those trees, like an ancient weeping cherry, with flowers or tender foliage shown to advantage against textured, aged-looking bark. The shagbark's nuts were important food for Native Americans. They're tasty, though small. The thick green four-sectioned husk turns dark, splits, and drops in the fall, when it's food for game birds such as wood ducks and turkeys.
Pig farmers are the people who intentionally plant a shagbark. The nuts are part of the mast that pigs favor. Thinking of the famous hickory-smoked ham, there's a connection—pigs that grew fat on hickory nuts have their meat cured over a hickory wood fire.
And, of course, there's Andrew Jackson, known as Old Hickory. In 1830, he planned his tomb (he would die in 1845), placing six shagbarks around it.
Constance Casey, a former New York City Parks Department gardener, writes on natural history for Bloomberg News and Slate, as well as LAM.
I love stories like this! Thanks for sharing this amazing story with us! Regards!
That's a wonderful informative fact on shagbark hickory.These trees have their own uses as well. For example, Shagbark hickory wood is used for smoking meat and for making the bows of Native Americans of the northern area. The lumber is heavy, hard, and tough, weighing 63 lb/ cu ft when air-dried and has been employed for implements and tools that require strength. These include axles, axe handles, ploughs, and skis.


17/03/2014 · ==Trick to Use Pen drive As RAM== Step 1: Insert a empty pen drive and open its properties. Step 2: Click the "Ready Boost" Tap in properties window.
17/05/2017 · I used to use the "Tablet PC Edition" of Windows XP on both a passive touch fujitsu 1510d and a capacitive Hewlett Packard 2710p. Although both were convertible laptops I found myself regularly using the pen in laptop mode for quick notations and quick navigation, so I appreciate that the pen can be used with this too.
9/05/2016 · If you own a Surface Pro 4, for example, chances are your pen is already paired and ready for use. Instead, use the left-hand rail and navigate to the Pen settings, which are far more useful.