#20B - MISCELLANY

This will be the 25th Blog Entry even though it is "#20B". I have no shortage of topics both for educational purposes and rants. However, I'd really like to hear more from my readers. If you don't want to use the comments link below each entry please feel free to email me at spidershoppe@icloud.com. I'd love topic suggestions. You can submit potential educational topics or things you think I might want to rant about. I am equal parts educator and angry author. ;)

I created the Kiss My Big Hairy Spider Faffbook page (up to 170 likes already) to announce each entry for two reasons: 1) so I wouldn't violate the rules of some Facebook groups regarding external links and, specifically, external links to a Blog that sometimes contains profanity or adult content and 2) because I presumed that most of you wouldn't bother with creating a Blogger/Blogspot account. Today one reader, Jeremiah Natte, posted the helpful information that there is an App for iOS, Android and Kindle that makes following Blogs easy. It's called Feedly. Check it out. I'm sure it makes it real easy to follow my blog. Of course, there also is a Blogger app.

I can tell you that the page views numbers have decreased since I stopped posting on AB's Faffbook. I need to maintain enough readership to make this worth my time so please share and come back for a read every now and again. I also notice that it is my most controversial rants that have seen the most traffic so maybe that's what people want. I am happy to rail on about all the fucktards in the hobby and why the American hobby sucks compared to that in Europe (an upcoming blog entry I am carefully working on).

I also wanted to mention that all of my projects are accessible through my master website, ExoticFauna.com. From here you can access my Tarantula Bibliography, a database of all currently recognized tarantula species with a downloadable PDF Species List that also provides bibliographic citations for articles especially those in hobby publications. You can also view much of what was printed in the 7 issues of ARACHNOCULTURE that were released from 2005-2007. Of course, my SPIDERSHOPPE also has a navigational tab as does my annual ArachnoGathering and my photo galleries at SmugMug. A new page that I just created is linked at the top of the right sidebar. It is called "Appearances" and it lists my lectures and the shows where I will be vending.

My next appearance is for the NARBC in Arlington, Texas the last weekend of August. I normally only exhibit at the Tinley Park show, which is an hour and a half from my home. This is also where my ArachnoGathering is held each March. Brian Potter and Bob Ashley have been kind enough to support my ArachnoGathering and I look forward to the third annual this coming March. Their lectures are overseen by Russ Gurley and he asked me to speak at the August NARBC outside of Dallas. I will be giving a lecture on Saturday, August 29 at 2 pm titled "Ornamental Tarantulas (Poecilotheria) in Captivity and in Nature". Click here for more information. My compensation for the lecture is a vendor booth at no charge. So, although I hadn't planned at ever selling at the Arlington show and it would be much easier for me to fly down without livestock, I have decided to bring a small inventory and drive down. After the weekend I may do some photography in southwestern Texas with Chad Campbell and Jason Newland for a few days.

This year I am not involved in a field trip with the team I usually travel the world with. Andrew has put together a new team and is off somewhere on his own and Paul and Guy are considering coming to the states in 2016 to do an American southwest field trip. So December 3 I am going to instead return to Costa Rica with my stepfather Joel. It will be part holiday with a bit of tarantula and reptile hunting thrown in. When I was last in Costa Rica in 2006 I was still using a film camera and my photos were very disappointing. I would love the opportunity to rephotograph a few species in situ.

February 2016 holds the possibility of Borneo and Malaysia. My 31,000 miles in the air February 2015 from Chicago to Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi to Tokyo to Chicago to Bristol to Chicago almost killed me. I'm not sure if I want to repeat the experience. But I absolutely loved Langkawi and the company of the Pennell extended family and may do anything it takes to return. But one thing you can count on is that March 5 I will be at the 14th BTS Lectures. Bristol, UK is my home away from home. To visit the Pennell's and Serious Ink, plus participate in the lectures again (don't know that I'll speak again this time) is something I won't miss.

Yours in spiders, ink and words, MJ