Do we HAVE to send our kids to school?

[SiameseRat]

If it's not one thing it's another. It just isn't safe anywhere...
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20051023140409990008&ncid=NWS00010000000001

 

[Moderator]

And let that be a lesson to anyone else caught passing notes.

 

[C-pher]

Snakes are cool...I used to have them as pets when I was in High School.

 

[Grifter]

As soon as I saw the title of the article I closed it so I don't know if it is any different from the one I read but here goes:

I was talking with my girl last night about this. I guess I'm just sad that at such a young age this happened to her. I personally believe that if she does lose her arm the teenage boy responsible for it should be greatly beaten with said arm.

Problem is, someone is going to speak out against the boy, then everyone is going to flock to him and protect him and say NO IT WASNT HIS FAULT. He isn't to blame. And baby him some more.

I don't want to sound like an extremist and say : Kid need to be beaten more, they learn quicker.

But if you punish a kid and not baby him, he won't screw up again, and if someone else sees this, they won't screw up either. DISCIPLINE IS CONTAGIOUS IS SERVED RIGHT

 

[SiameseRat]

It will be interesting to see what sort of punishment the kid gets.

Maybe he doesn't need to be beaten with the arm, maybe a more "Ancient Mariner"ish punishment is appropriate. Just make him wear the stinking, rotting, decomposing arm around his neck...

I feel bad for the girl. But, doesn't anybody in PA know what a copperhead looks like? They're all kinda stupid. And while I do feel really bad for the poor girl, what was she thinking poking her finger at a poisonous snake? Kids...

 

[Admin]

I feel bad for the girl. But, doesn't anybody in PA know what a copperhead looks like? They're all kinda stupid. And while I do feel really bad for the poor girl, what was she thinking poking her finger at a poisonous snake? Kids...

I feel bad as well. But I know if I lived in an area with poisonous snakes, my boys would know what each one was, and would never consider getting close to one.

 

[Len-2A Training]

I feel bad for the girl. But, doesn't anybody in PA know what a copperhead looks like? They're all kinda stupid. And while I do feel really bad for the poor girl, what was she thinking poking her finger at a poisonous snake? Kids...

I feel bad as well. But I know if I lived in an area with poisonous snakes, my boys would know what each one was, and would never consider getting close to one.

Derek, we do! There are plenty of rattlers in these parts!

No, most kids in school today don't learn such things. They are too busy teaching them to pass the MCAS to spend their time in such trivial matters as actually learning about nature, etc.

As a kid, I had some snakes too. One lunged at me when we returned from vacation and I went into the playroom in the cellar. turned on the light and this 3' black snake takes a lunge at me. He was mighty hungry, having slithered into the cellar a month earlier as we were packing for a 1 month vacation in "North Country". He missed and I caught him in a large jar, fed him the frogs I brought back from VT and kept him for a while.

What did I learn from that? Well when I had my oil burner replaced last week, I cautioned the workers to keep the cellar door closed at all times to avoid visitation by little critters (the "woods" are a mere 25' from the bulkhead).

It's sad that this moron was being stupid/vicious . . . even if he didn't know that the snake was poisonous. No snakebite is a pleasant experience.

 

[C-pher]

No snakebite is a pleasant experience.

No it is not...

Growing up in the south, we also had Water Moccasin that we would catch. All you really need is a long stick with a Y at he end. But, even then we didn't take them to school. We kept them in a glass fish tank in the garage. Didn't really play with them too much. Just watched them and fed them mice...then just let them go back into the canals where you found them.

 

[Lynne]

Another piece of useless info, I suppose, however, young men between the ages of 16 to (I think) 29 are #1 for snake bite victims. Why? Well...above story is a good example, only this time it was a girl. I don't know what kind of punishment he could receive (legal wise), but I sincerely hope someone does more than slap his wrist.

 

[SiameseRat]

I never found anything more interesting than garter snakes and box turtles where I grew up. I was only allowed to keep them until the end of the day. But I don't think anyone ever lost an arm to a box turtle or garter snake.

At least I hope not...

 

[Admin]

Derek, we do! There are plenty of rattlers in these parts!

There are only two venomous snakes in Massachusetts - the timber rattlesnake and the copperhead. (Contrary to popular belief, there are no venomous "water moccasins" in the Bay State, only harmless water snakes.) Statewide, populations of our two endangered venomous snakes are believed to number no more than a few hundred individuals. Due to a host of problems, these populations are probably still declining despite rigorous efforts to protect them. Our "rattlers" are now known to exist at only a dozen or so widely scattered sites in mountainous regions of the state; the distribution of copperheads is even more restricted. As a result, most of Massachusetts is completely devoid of venomous serpents.

Good thing there isn't that many. [shock]

http://www.umass.edu/nrec/snake_pit/pages/real.html#ven

 

[Skald]

My parents are moving to Arizon.

First thing I told my mom and dad "Learn to identify the different snakes, it can save your life." My mom and dad are just shaking it off with 'its a gated community' type deal.

Then again, I watch Venom ER on Animal Planet whenever I can so I may be a bit paranoid.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

I love that show. [lol] Shoot my Dad always taught us about snakes. We lived in Utah for awhile,my Dad on weekends was great for taking us to different places and we went up in the mountains and I sat down on a rock,not paying any attention what so ever,the next thing I heard was from my Dad not to move ,or move my hand. I had a baby rattle snake right by me. I have never forgotten that.

 

[TonyD]

All snakes are poisonous until killed and proven otherwise!

 

[Admin]

All snakes are poisonous until killed and proven otherwise!

[lol]

 

[dwarven1]

All snakes are poisonous until killed and EATEN!!

Corrected your post, Tony.

BTW, rattlesnake does taste like chicken!

Tough, rubbery chicken, that is.

 

[Lynne]

We found a Mill snake (I think that's what Ed said it was) in the back yard a month or so ago. They aren't nasty, but I let him deal with it.

 

[KMaurer]

There were plenty of snakes, including a lot of rattlers, where I grew up. I guess the only problem might have been that, even though we know all about poisenous snakes and identifying them, we were teenage boys. As a result would would frequently catch rattlers and either keep them around for a while or give them to the university biology department.

You're right about the taste, Ross, but they're only tough and rubbery if you don't cook them properly.

Ken

 

[dwarven1]

You're right about the taste, Ross, but they're only tough and rubbery if you don't cook them properly.

Well, guess I won't go back to Rustler's Roost in Phoenix, AZ again if they don't know how to cook rattler properly!

'Course, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to Phoenix again, so that's probably not a big problem!

But now I know, thanks to you, Ken.

And all these years I thought that was the way that rattler was supposed to be... Ya learn all sorts of things on this board. Next thing you know, we'll be posting recipes for rattler. [lol] [lol]

Ross

(Ken, I'm not making fun of you - just how we got off on this whole silly topic. Which is more my fault than anyone else's, so I guess I'm poking fun at how I shifted this thread off topic.)

 

[KMaurer]

Well, to drift back in the gerneral direction of the purported topic, we also tended to bring (non-poisonous) snakes to school frequently. A friend used to bring his pet tarantula and let it crawl around on his desk during class. Of course kids somehow knew better than to do really stupid things (unless they knew for certain that no adults would ever find out).

Ken