News

NEW PUBLIC LOOS FOR HAWKINGE?

Story by Godot

Now that the old public toilets have been demolished and with the increase of population we need some Super Loos!

Made of one way toughened glass, they already have them in Houston Texas.

Once inside, no one can see in, but you can see out.

WELL WORTH A PEEK

Submitted by Lazarus

This is a really weird site, well worth a peek

http://members.tripod.com/%7Eadriandvir/index.htm

Enjoy!

All you out there that like to keep an eye on such things, try this.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0505/27spacewx/

Lazarus

<SPAN id=main1>ALARMING SPIDERS

By Finkle

Arachnophobes across East Kent won't need telling twice that spiders are something to worry about. <SPAN id=main2>However, they might be surprised to learn that o­ne reason spiders get people's nerves o­n edge is that they are often responsible for false alerts o­n burglar alarm systems.

To make matters worse, this is the time of year that spiders are o­n the move looking for romance, and many will be heading indoors for the shelter of nooks and crannies in our homes, leading to a big increase in incidents of squealing and climbing o­n to chairs.

Spiders play a significant role in making us jump by triggering burglar alarms. John Lawton, of North Devon firm Barum Friend Security, said: "Spiders are the biggest cause of false alarms with intruder alarms.

"Spiders tended to take up residence in or near the "passive intruder" units mounted in the corners of rooms near the ceiling, which detect movement using infra red beams. "I have to say it tends to happen where people don't dust or keep the cobwebs down. You can get a lot of this sort of problem in warehouses," he said.Mr Lawton offered some advice to people keen to keep spiders at bay.

"Conkers do the trick. They seem to exude a chemical and the spiders go away," he said.A more high-tech way of keeping spiders away from alarm systems is the use of a chemical similar to the non-stick material used in frying pans.

Peter Smithers, an arachnologist working at the University of Plymouth, said: "The substance has a smooth finish and the spiders can't walk over it."Mr Smithers said it often seemed that at this time of year, there was a population explosion among spiders because so many of them were o­n the move. "There certainly have been a fair number of the big hairy house spiders around. There are quite a lot around, but then there are always quite a lot around," he said.

House spiders, which came from the genus tegenaria, head indoors at this time of year because they were males seeking a mate. "At the end of the season, the males become adult and their prime drive changes from acquisition of food to acquisition of a mate," he said.

"Once they have found a female, they have to go through a ritual courtship in which they carefully make their way into the web.Britain has almost 700 indigenous species of spider - all harmless to humans, but that does not stop them consistently coming near the top of lists of things that reduce us to quivering gelatinous wrecks.

Indeed, a recent survey found that people in Britain were more scared of spiders and other creepy crawlies than they were of the threat of a terrorist attack.