Greg In The Desert

A high school teacher in my hometown of Chandler, Arizona claims to have found a scorpion in his bag when he bought an egg McMuffin from McDonalds. The story on Channel 15’s website describes the scorpion as a baby and more venoumus than an adult.

It wasn’t just any scorpion — it was a baby scorpion, which is even more venomous than it’s adult counterpart.

Both of these statements are false. The scorpion appears to be a Vaejovis spinigerus, that looks like the same kind of scorpion I find in New Mexico. This is probably an adult as they don’t get much bigger than this. Had Channel 15 bothered to just use google, they would have found the ASU’s “Ask A Biologist” website where Christopher Putnam states

Other people say the sting of a baby scorpion is more dangerous than the sting of an adult, but again, this is false. The venom in a scorpion’s stinger is the same all through a scorpion’s life.

I suppose it is possible for the scorpion to find it’s way into the bag. I would hope it didn’t get into the bag at the restaurant but maybe in at the manufacturer or during transport. I wasn’t able to find where the bags are made. Scorpions are found in Chandler, but since the city has become more developed they are not nearly as common as they used to be. I find the whole story suspicious.

• New Mexico Independent » Schott Solar banking on public investment in sunshine – That Schott Solar is barreling ahead with plans to become New Mexico’s flagship solar manufacturing company, despite the current recession, makes sense considering where the company is coming from.

  Dr. Gerald Fine, CEO of the North American branch of the German company, sees a dynamic in the U.S. now similar to what caused the solar energy industry to take off in Europe five years ago. Germany went on to become the largest consumer of solar energy products worldwide, and he predicts

• Confessions of an Introverted Traveler – Features – World Hum – But I don’t seek people out, I am terrible at striking up conversations with strangers and I am happy exploring a strange city alone. I don’t seek out political discourse with opinionated cab drivers or boozy bonding with locals over beers into the wee hours. By the time the hours get wee, I’m usually in bed in my hotel room, appreciating local color TV. (So sue me, but I contend that television is a valid reflection of a society.)
• Judge Orders Halt to Illegal Robocalls Selling Deceptive Warranties – Today Judge John F. Grady of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order stopping telemarketing company Voice Touch, Inc., its principals James and Maureen Dunne, its business partner Network Foundations LLC, and Network Foundations principal Damian Kohlfeld from making any further calls in violation of the Do Not Call Registry and other provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the FTC Act. The FTC filed the case yesterday, charging that the defendants were operating a massive telemarketing scheme that used random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive consumers into thinking that their vehicle’s warranty is about to expire.
• Follow Ups: REI Says ATM Photographer Is Welcome In Their Store Any Time – REI's Director of Corporate Communications contacted us with an official statement about the recent showdown between two Loomis security guards and a customer with an iPhone at one of their Seattle stores. She says despite the document Shane says he was forced to sign at the police station, he is not banned from their stores. Below is REI's official statement.
• Steve Stucker Explains the Recent Night Winds in Albuquerque – We call these "back door fronts" because most fronts come from the west or northwest. When the cold air pushes up against the central mountains (Sandias/Manzanos) it is sort of like hitting a wall, or an air dam, thus the wind gets forced into and through the little passes, gaps and canyons in the mountains, causing breezy to wind conditions in ABQ. It wasn't windy everywhere this morning, ABQ had the strongest winds in the state. The pattern is just a combination of the placement of high pressure and low pressure, and until we get a big "kicker"—some big system that moves through and knocks these little systems out of our area—the same basic pattern will continue for the next week or so at least, not windy every night, but every few. Friday night is probably our next big blow. God bless…..ss
• Clearly not a craigslist fan – Meanwhile, the backpage.com (owned by Village Voice Media) “adult entertainment” section for Greenville, SC has about 60 ads for the last 3 days, many of which are quite explicit, quoting prices for specific sex acts, close-up photos of bare genitalia, etc , etc (Be careful, even the index page has photos that are not-safe-for-work).
• HOW TO – Make a cheap “pager scanner” « adafruit industries blog – In this video (m4v) we show you how to take a $10 pager and make “pager scanner” – it can see all the pages and pager data on the pager networks – surprisingly it’s still used for a lot of interesting things and for transmitting data to many devices. Breadboarding diagram here…
• LOOPRumors – E*Trade launching iPhone App? – LoopRumors sources confirm that E*Trade Financial is working on an App for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. The company is said to have a very secret beta circulating internally. E*Trade currently has a native application for Blackberry phones, but the iPhone counterpart promises to be more robust and add much more functionality that the current Blackberry version.
• Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Restaurant Recipe: Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Ad Hoc – It's been quite the week for fried chicken. First we gave you Grandma's recipe, then we showed you oven-fried crispy chicken. And now we're giving you one more crispy, greasy, delicious recipe for fried chicken, and it's from Chef Cruz of Thomas Keller’s restaurant Ad Hoc. Apparently great chefs love fried chicken too!
• Chinese Forum Poster Describes Next Generation iPhone Details – Mac Rumors – We've been keeping an eye on some reports coming out of Chinese forum Weiphone over the past couple of weeks, and it appears the reports are starting to spread. In early May, a forum poster from the Chinese site posted specs and a screenshot from what is claimed to be the next generation iPhone.