Camel wrote: I am familiar with diabetes as most of my family suffers from it. Though, they don't have the "bad" kind. The kind that requires insulin shots. That is all.
All diabetes is bad. If you think otherwise, you're only fooling yourself.
Untreated Type II can maim and kill just as much as Type I
WyrdNyrd wrote:*i.e. Good-natured teasing. Dunno if "ribbing" is an expression used by Americans.
Yes, it is a common expression over here.
Chardok wrote:Flight
Of course, you are all well aware of my flight phobia. Just not natural. Too many things doing too much stuff. one thing goes wrong and *poof* that's a Looooong time to think about the rapid deceleration that's coming.
You are correct - when something goes wrong time stretches out and you have a loooooooooooooooooooooooong time to consider the hard ground below.
Uh.... not that I have much
personal experience with that, of course....
Spiders
They bite. They're ugly. I hate them. One time this huge spider crawled out of my couch onto my arm, and I screamed like a girl, threw it onto the ground and stomped it with my combat boot so many times, that it because part of the carpet.
Yeah. I'm totally like that around spiders, too. Except no one thinks it worth mentioning when
I "scream like a girl". For some reason
Lazarus wrote:I'm off to New York this summer, so does anyone know whether there are any large/dangerous varieties I should be aware of so I can keep a heavy object of some sort handy?
Not so much big, but there are two main venomous ones in most of the continental US. There are black widows, which are black and have an orange "hourglass" on them. The bites are seldom fatal to adults (although if you have a sensitivity to spider venom it's a problem) but are painful and can have medical complications. If bit by one do mention it to your doctor/seek medical advice.
The other nasty is the brown recluse. They're brown and, uh, reclusive. Hence the name. Not particuarly big, and in many instances people never see what bit 'em. The problem with these guys is that the venom is toxic to muscle tissue. The bite never heals, may never look worse on the surface - or maybe it does look worse - but underneath terrible things are happening. The results in the worst cases resemble the effects of necrotizing faciitis, but not so fast moving or extensive since it's a chemical reaction and not an infection. Obviously, seek medical attention for this one, too.
The key here is
prevention. Both types - black widows and brown recluses - like to hide out in dark, undisturbed corners. So don't go sticking you hands into dark holes and corners without shining a light in there first and checking it out. Neither is as bad as, say, the Sydney funnel web. If you are bitten, don't panic - most folks recover with no lasting ill effects. Just don't neglect the situation, either.
Assuming you stay in NYC, you shouldn't have to worry about things like tarantulas, unless you have friends with weird-ass ideas of "pets".
Fear vs. Phobia
It's important to keep in mind the distinction between a
fear - even and intense fear - and a
phobia. If you feel fear but can still function, it's a fear, not a phobia. Phobias are disabling fears.
As an example: if you "scream like a girl" when you see a spider, but still have the wherewithall to either locate a suitable bludgeon and smash it into oblivion or find a can of death-to-spiders spray and use it, you have an intense fear. If, upon seeing a spider you "scream like a girl", leap up in a blind panic, bounce off several walls as you attempt to locate and use the nearest doorway, run out into the yard tearing your clothes off because you fear it MIGHT have crawled up your pant leg, then pass out into a heap.... THAT is a phobia.
Not that there's a hard and fast line.
And, of course, some fears are completely rational. I don't have a fear of heights, I have a fear of
falling from heights, which is actually a survival trait in most situations. Despite that fear, I am still able to jump down from a moderate height, and once leapt off the roof of a building (it did seem like the better alternative at the time). So, while the fear is real and intense, it doesn't get in the way of my ability to act in an emergency.
When I was a kid I
did have a fear/phobia of clowns. Like, full-throated-scream kid of fear. I have to wonder if my poor vision was a factor - I couldn't see normal faces too well, perhaps the clown faces, instead of looking painted, looked horribly deformed. I do remember them looking hideously
wrong, a complete and terrifying distortion of the human face. I still dislike clowns intensely these days, but it's nothing like it used to be.
I for one do not enjoy fear or being cross eyed and puking on your shoes. Nevermind how much you might enjoy that. 
) and he hit the gas instead of the brake, threw me ten feet in the air and I landed on the bumper of the car we had just finished working one. I still get angry about that situation when I see a Jeep Wagoneer since that is the vehicle that threw me ten feet. I don't blame the vehicle I blame the idiot behind the wheel but seeing a Wagoneer just reminds me of his idiocy. Someone owns one just down the road from us so I see it all the time too *grr*
. Something must have happened to start that attack because that dog was a very friendly happy dog, but we're all in the dark. We can't figure out why the attack happened. 
