4 ms·

A sheet of spider silk nearly half a mile long covers a field near Memphis

24 points by edward 11y ago

verytrivial 11y ago
"news.nationalgeographic.com needs to uniquely identify your device to play premium content..." It begins.
- reustle 11y ago
  I didn't see anything when viewing on chrome on desktop (with uBlock). What information was it requesting? Some new HTML / JS hook?
  - hirsin 11y ago
    It's Chrome for Android only - https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/4410268?p=mobile_protected_content&rd=1 https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/4410268?p=mobile_pr... I'm assuming it's a nonstandard thing they're experimenting with that provides a combination of device ID and browser ID (assuming Chrome on Android is similar to it on desktop, where each install is branded with a number).
- 001sky 11y ago
  That was quick National Geographic gives Fox control of media assets in $725 million deal https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-geographic-magazine-shifts-to-for-profit-status-with-fox-partnership/2015/09/09/7c9f034e-56f0-11e5-8bb1-b488d231bba2_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-geog...
ghubbard 11y ago
The article headline is: "Millions of Baby Spiders Create Giant Silken Blanket" tldr; Baby spiders do what they do. Spiderwebs enuse.
- violentvinyl 11y ago
  Thank you, the one question I had (Was it a single spider?) was answered by the original headline.
  - ghubbard 11y ago
    The question I had, "Why would someone want to make a half mile long sheet of spider silk and put it in a field outside Memphis?" is also answered by the original headline.
yitchelle 11y ago
spiders are amazing creatures. Just read the article on the BBC on one where is spun a web across a river. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151126-the-worlds-biggest-spider-web-can-span-an-entire-river http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151126-the-worlds-biggest-s...
- masklinn 11y ago
  There's also the 2010 article "An Immense Concentration of Orb-Weaving Spiders With Communal Webbing in a Man-Made Structural Habitat"[0] documenting a 4 acre web inside the Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Plant housing an estimated (lowball) 107 million spiders. [0] PDF http://www.entsoc.org/PDF/2010/Orb-weaving-spiders.pdf http://www.entsoc.org/PDF/2010/Orb-weaving-spiders.pdf

24 points by edward 11y ago

verytrivial 11y ago

"news.nationalgeographic.com needs to uniquely identify your device to play premium content..." It begins.

reustle 11y ago
I didn't see anything when viewing on chrome on desktop (with uBlock). What information was it requesting? Some new HTML / JS hook?
- hirsin 11y ago
  It's Chrome for Android only - https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/4410268?p=mobile_protected_content&rd=1 https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/4410268?p=mobile_pr... I'm assuming it's a nonstandard thing they're experimenting with that provides a combination of device ID and browser ID (assuming Chrome on Android is similar to it on desktop, where each install is branded with a number).
001sky 11y ago
That was quick National Geographic gives Fox control of media assets in $725 million deal https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-geographic-magazine-shifts-to-for-profit-status-with-fox-partnership/2015/09/09/7c9f034e-56f0-11e5-8bb1-b488d231bba2_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/national-geog...

ghubbard 11y ago

The article headline is: "Millions of Baby Spiders Create Giant Silken Blanket" tldr; Baby spiders do what they do. Spiderwebs enuse.

violentvinyl 11y ago
Thank you, the one question I had (Was it a single spider?) was answered by the original headline.
- ghubbard 11y ago
  The question I had, "Why would someone want to make a half mile long sheet of spider silk and put it in a field outside Memphis?" is also answered by the original headline.

yitchelle 11y ago

spiders are amazing creatures. Just read the article on the BBC on one where is spun a web across a river. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151126-the-worlds-biggest-spider-web-can-span-an-entire-river http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151126-the-worlds-biggest-s...

masklinn 11y ago
There's also the 2010 article "An Immense Concentration of Orb-Weaving Spiders With Communal Webbing in a Man-Made Structural Habitat"[0] documenting a 4 acre web inside the Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Plant housing an estimated (lowball) 107 million spiders. [0] PDF http://www.entsoc.org/PDF/2010/Orb-weaving-spiders.pdf http://www.entsoc.org/PDF/2010/Orb-weaving-spiders.pdf