SPIDERS

 First, a couple of newsworthy items. Donald Trump could be indicted on Thursday.

Second, Japan beat the USA to win the championship of the World Baseball Classic.     Ohtani struck out Trout to end the game.

We're now cruising Australia, and I was somewhat surprised about how large it is, and how similar our countries look with the South Pole at the top.

Did not realize how large Russia was.  In square miles of land.

• World  57,510,000
• Russia  6,323,740
• Antarctica  5,500,000
• China  3,600,950
• Canada  3,511,023
• USA  3,531,905
• Brazil  3,266.584
• Australia  2,947,336
• India  1,147,960
• Argentina  1,056,640
• Kazakhstan  1,042,400
• Algeria  919,595
• Not only does Australia have about the same shape as the U.S., but we are almost the same size.
• Australia is more than 2.5 times larger than India.

However, Australia ranks #55 in number of people with 26.4 million.

• Madagascar and Nepal with 30 million each have more people.
• Yemen has 34 million and Canada has 39 million.
• The U.S. has around 340 million at #3, or we have 13 times more people than Australia.
• India now has slightly more people than China, with both around 1.425 billion.

This is a strange segue, but on this sci-tech Wednesday for this blog site, I now turn to spiders, for we are soon to dock in Queensland, and Australia just found a large one there, a super-size trapdoor spider named Euoplos dignitas.  

• The body alone is around 5 centimeters (2 inches) across, plus add the legs, all eight of them.  No mention of leg span.
• The largest spider in the U.S., the Hogna carolinensis, is only 1.4 inches wide.

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  However, the biggest in the world is the Theraphoa blondi, commonly known was the Goliath bird eater.  
• This tarantula can reach up to 11 inches tip to tip including legs. 
• Why the name?  National Geographic said there is an 18th century engraving showing this spider eating a hummingbird. In reality, they might consume other arthropods, but not birds.
• If one bites you, the sting would be similar to a wasp.

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  Then again, this same article says there is an even bigger one, for the Giant huntsman spider has a 12-inch leg span.  But you can see that this is is skinny, and lighter than Goliath Bird Eater.
  
  I early in this trip mentioned that the deadliest spider in the world is found in Sydney, and is the Funnel Web Spider.
• There are 43,000 different spider species on Earth.  The smallest is the Samoan Moss Spider at 0.011 inches long.

Last night, we attended the Captain's reception, a new one who just boarded.  Here is a rather youngish Krasimir Radek of Bulgaria with our cruise director Robert.  Then Chef Bert Muhle.

And that's me with a friend I met at this gathering.  Dinner was French in the Colonnade.  Caesar Salad, French Onion soup, Foie Gras Serine, Escargots a la Bourguignonne, Lobster in Butter, Citrus Risotto, and a Classic Creme Bruleé topped with some Bailey's Cream.

Rather than going out, we watched a film in our room, one of Liam Neeson's worst, Made in Italy, gaining 44%/39% scores.  Yes, it was worth all of that.

At the end of the day, I was up to 11,899, which only meant I forgot to zero the pedometer out in the morning.  I actually only walked 3313 steps yesterday.

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