| Archive for San Francisco Bay Area Tarantula Society SF BATS |
| EdgarOrtega |
SFBATS in the SF ChronicleThe San Francisco Chronicle is doing a story on SFBATS!SF Chronicle reporter, Carolyn Jones has invited SFBATS members to meet her and Ken The Bug Guy at Baldwin Park in Concord on Sat at 11:00am. Ken is bringing some bugs to show, and it would be great of some other members were there too, to talk about SFBATS. She said the more people and bugs, the better! The story will run BEFORE our meeting, so LOTS of people will be reading about us and hear about the Spring Sling Fling! Yay! Come to the park, and support SFBATS--you may get your pic in the paper. 
|
||
| wburke17 |
Pretty cool.. with a lil more publicity you guys might get as big as scabies HAAHAHAHAHAHAHA | ||
| EdgarOrtega |
Warren...
|
||
| wburke17 |
HAHAHAHA I like that one | ||
| Bonedog |
I just can't make it down two weeks in a row. Let us know what day the story will be out so I can get a copy. | ||
| BayLee |
muahahaha, I have not see one thing about you guys. Have you made it to the big screen yet???? |
||
| wburke17 |
uhhhhhmmmm...California Gold with Huell Howser at the L.A. bug fair last year... Idolized forever on public access TV | ||
| BayLee |
That is a good one. Great guy and sure has a hugh following group. |
||
| EdgarOrtega |
Lony made a funny! | ||
| llamamama |
OK...I'm sick and grumpy...but Warren, if you're so in to being a SCABIES, why are you on this forum? It's about T's, not about which group is better. | ||
| wburke17 |
Im just playin and having some fun. kinda like sibiling rivalry. look back at some of the early posts and you'll see what im talking about. SCABIES supports the BATS just as the BATS support us. if we didnt we wouldnt be planning an invasion at your next meeting 
|
||
| UglyKid2 |
Don't worry Warren, if Laurie gives you any more lip just let me know, I'LL deal with her! 
|
||
| llamamama |
You, and what army, Kid? LOL You gotta catch me first, and you *know* what the odds of *that* happening are, don't you? 
|
||
| wburke17 |
See Laurie, Johns got my back 
|
||
| EdgarOrtega |
Warren... you're flying much too close to the sun, my friend. Careful, she may burn off your wings.
lol |
||
| llamamama |
Warren, if all ya got is John to watch your back, you're in big trouble...you don't realize whose watching *his* back! LOL
No invasions going on at any group's meeting...just invites accepted. LOL Thanks, Edgar.
|
||
| wburke17 |
lolololol.
not to many people openly invite scabies into the establishments....hahahah |
||
| llamamama |
ROFL! We're not an "establishment". 
|
||
| EdgarOrtega |
Carolyn Jones from the SF Chronicle said to bring as many people and bugs as possible. The more creepy and crawly the better, she said. hehe (I think she meant the bugs ;) )
All SFBATS members are invited to meet the reporter for the SF Chronicle story, so meet us in Baldwin Park in Concord at 11:00am this Sat.  and bring something to show off. :)
Hope to see some of you there! So far John, Laurie, Lony, Rachel, Ken, and I will be there. |
||
| BayLee |
Hey guys,
Here are the pictures from our meeting today with SF Chronicle reporter Carolyn Jones. Looks like everyone had lots of fun. Carolyn was very brave and held Laurie's B. smithi at the end. A few pictures: Rachel, Edgar and John 
John's Klugi was a little mad 
Carolyn interviewing Edgar and John 
Carolyn and Laurie 
I think Carolyn kind of enjoyed holding Laurie's smithi!
THe slide show has a few more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebaylees/sets/72157617008191406/show/ |
||
| darth skippy |
was that a corn in the slide show? it was pretty
|
||
| BayLee |
Yes, Rachel got her from John.
She is very pretty! |
||
| EdgarOrtega |
Great photos, Lony.
That was fun. |
||
| llamamama |
Yes, nice pics, Lony. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys again next Saturday.
|
||
| UglyKid2 |
Thanks for posting those great pics, Lony. I brought my camera but I was so excited I forgot I had it!
|
||
| Arachnocat |
Awesome pics Lony! I'm enjoying my fancy new cornsnake.
Can't wait to see what they put in the article. The reporter lady seemed cool. She was brave to hold a T. She was really afraid of my snake though! lol. |
||
| EdgarOrtega |
That really is a nice corn snake They are fun to breed. I still call it a ghost. :) It's super pretty. Yeah, she went running when you brought it out. heheh | ||
| Arachnocat |
I posted a pic on the cornsnake forum and so far they say "very dark ghost" so I think you're right Edgar
|
||
| Arachnocat |
I can't wait to see! I hope it comes out tomorrow! | ||
| northswan04 |
When's that article come out?! | ||
| BayLee |
Either tomorrow or Wednesday I think. Edgar is most likely going to get notified by Charolyn.
I can't wati to see it. Yeah
|
||
| EdgarOrtega |
I haven't heard from her, but I think maybe Wednesday. | ||
| wburke17 |
If theres an online version of it post the link please :)
If not can someone bring a copy to the meeting. |
||
| Arachnocat |
The reporter said it would be online too. I've been checking. We'll be sure to post it when it's up
|
||
| Arachnocat |
Nothin yet? | ||
| DeeCasey |
I have been watching too and nothing yet. Maybe tomorrow? |
||
| BayLee |
Was nichts???? | ||
| EdgarOrtega |
No, nothing, online, yet... I hope it comes out. |
||
| Arachnocat |
I hope I don't miss it if it's in the paper. I guess it will come out online at the same time? | ||
| EdgarOrtega |
Ok, I got an email from Carolyn. She says she thinks it will be running on Friday. :) Which is cool, since it is the day before our meeting.
Oh, and she told me she was bragging to people that she held a tarantula. Cool, huh? 
|
||
| llamamama |
COOL! My smithi will be famous! LOL
Well, at least I won't have to buy another paper tomorrow!
|
||
| BayLee |
Yeah, GO SFBATS GO!!! |
||
| DeeCasey |
Here it is gang! 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/art...;hw=sfbats&sn=001&sc=1000 |
||
| BayLee |
Oh great we are famous! Thanks for posting it. | ||
| UglyKid2 |
Nice! I bought 3 papers his morning! Too bad she used the word "toxic" twice in describing the urticating hairs and T bites paralyzing humans for days... I dont know where she got that and it will scare even more people away that are already afraid of spiders. Other than that, great article!
|
||
| Arachnocat |
I know, I read that and I was like "what!?". I thought we did a good job saying they were harmless to humans, with the occasional allergic reaction... Oh well. Unless one of us writes an article, there's going to be a bit of wrong info in there. Although, that's pretty bad. lol Anyways, cool article. Now I gotta go buy up all the chronicles in my area so everyone I know gets a copy. lol. |
||
| northswan04 |
Um, I'm actually disturbed by some of the blatently false facts in this article I believe need to be retracted including the following. Am I the only person who things this article brought negative attention rather than positive?
"Many tarantulas are ill tempered and dangerous. A tarantula bite can paralyze a human for several days." Horrbile wording and this has NEVER happened. "Their hair, which is barbed, can also be a highly toxic irritant." Hair is NOT toxant, is an allergen. I would really like to go into a rant. I'm sure she was a nice lady but she sure didn't do us any favors. ....... |
||
| Arachnocat |
We spent a lot of time talking to her about tarantulas being harmless. I know none of us said they paralyze people. Wonder where she got that from?
Sounds like she intervewed some other people besides us. Maybe EBV told her that. I wouldn't be suprised. lol. |
||
| UglyKid2 |
Yes it bothers me too because tarantula keepers who read that will think we don't know what we're talking about and potential tarantula keepers will say Uh uh, no way am I getting a tarantula | ||
| northswan04 |
Well if we're all behind this I'll write a letter to the editor, asking for a retraction. Or someone who was there can. Doesn't matter to me. | ||
| DeeCasey |
I was excited to see the article but yes, I agree, I was a little disturbed by the misleading information.
Keep in mind though, this is how the public views arachnids. This article was a chance to dispell the myth about tarantulas but hopefully it will have no ill effects. You will just get more of those typical questions (and you know what they are) and we have to work harder at convincing people that they make wonderful pets! "Will I die if it bites me?" "will jump and chase after me?" "Is it poisonous?" "Can I de-fang it?" "Can I remove its stinger?" "aren't you afraid it will bite you?" |
||
| EdgarOrtega |
Haha yeah I think that info must have come from the zoo or EBV. Didn't come from us! :P
I think the article came off as positive for the most part. I actually got a message from someone in San Rafael who said they saw me in there, and she said she was glad to see spiders get some positive press. I noticed the story was featured on the chronicle homepage, too. Says, "It's getting hairy in Concord!" lol www.sfgate.com Haha, OH and read the tons of comments under our article that people posted. Scroll to the bottom to read them. lol My favorite one, so far... "This is a goth thing, right?" Bwahahaha I think this will bring lots of curious folk to our meeting. :) Lots of potential new T lovers! woohoo! |
||
| EdgarOrtega |
A few others. lol
"Did anyone notice that in the picture of the people holding their critters that all 5 were wearing black t-shirts. I want the black t-shirt concession at this meeting." "I don't like seeing Taranula and Fling in he same sentence." "'Bay Area Tarantula Society'...now there's a resume addition." |
||
| BayLee |
Oh boy did they turn the story around!
What gets me is that the public buys all of this nonsense. I had a few people come up to me at work and thought it was great to see this in the newspaper. Some laughed about this part: "And, if that isn't enough excitement, attendees can also watch tarantulas mate." but mostly the response was positive. They know better not to say anything negative because I will get into a long discussion with them about how Tarantulas are misrepresented, especially from the media and that the movie industry has given them such a bad name. |
||
| EdgarOrtega |
Lony was a hot shot at work, today. She's famous.
|
||
| BayLee |
Well I would not call it that.
|
||