#48 - FINAL FACEBOOK FUCKERY

You've read me rant about Faffbook. My contempt for it is obvious. I like Instagram and Twitter, even though a life without any social media would be a better one. But fuck Faffbook.

Now that I have closed my business and am distancing myself from the hobby I wondered whether I could finally do away with Faffbook. My Instagram account @exoticfauna allows me to share photos with followers without the noise, nonsense and FUCKERY of Faffbook. I also have a new IG account for gun lovers (@dailyhandgun). I don't have many followers there yet so if you have any interest please follow me. 

I haven't done much with Twitter of late because my personal Faffbook page is linked to it and it's also easy to share my IG posts to Twitter as tweets with one click. But reading my Twitter feed used to be a frequent occurrence. I don't read or watch news. Anywhere. Any time. Twitter allows me to follow my interests and what little snippets of news I desire. With a 160 character limit these snippets are necessarily concise. No fluff, no nonsense. 

Faffbook offers me nothing. Last night I was tagged in a post that went on and on with a bunch of discussion I had no interest in reading. I turn off notifications so I am not bothered, but for some reason I kept getting more and more notices as my name was repeatedly used. I can't stand this. Leave me out of your discussions. I have no interest. I don't have the time or desire that the chatterboxes do. The conversation itself didn't really bother me (ok, maybe a little ...), but I am bothered that I can't just avoid any and all conversations if I choose. I also want to prevent being tagged so that I am dragged into the noisy chatter. I share my opinions here in this blog. I'm not going to post them on social media.

Twice before I have deactivated my Facebook account. This is my third incarnation. So I decided that three times is a charm and decided to deactivate again after un-"friending" everyone. Two problems. Number one I am an admin of the BTS Facebook page. This isn't a biggie. There are plenty of admins and mods and one message to my best mate Mark and I'd be relieved of my duties. However, the other problem is my blog. 

How does the blog connect to Facebook? Well, I have repeatedly recommended the app Feedly. I know there are other similar ones, but a reader suggested Feedly to me early on and I love it. I am now reading about ten blogs using this one app. I suggest you do the same. Of course, you can also sign up for a Blogger account instead and keep up with my blog there. 

However, I know damn well that few are going to do either and all of you that waste hours each day on Faffbook are getting my notices of each blog posting there. If I deactivate my Faffbook my KMBHS page will also cease to be published. As will my Spider Shoppe, Exotic Fauna and ArachnoGathering pegs. I'm not bothered by the last three. So, I guess I am going to find out how much my readership drops by deactivating and having no more FB announcements of the blog. You've been warned. At least bookmark kissmybighairyspider.blogspot.com and visit often.

It sucks that FB doesn't allow you to just deactivate your personal page without losing pages you've created. You can just ignore your personal page and I have friends who have done that. I could delete every friend and let it rot, but keep KMBHS going on FB. That doesn't seem like a desirable compromise. 

Arachnoboards has been kind enough to give me banner advertising so I hope this brings me new readers. And I am hoping those who have read my blog for the past two months through almost 50 entries have bookmarked the blog in their browser at least so they can return and catch up when they have the time and desire. 

But your Faffbook announcements will cease. My Faffbook will be obliterated. Looks for me as @exoticfauna on Instagram and Twitter and YouTube. If you're into handguns please follow my @dailyhandgun. 

I'm not going to keep ranting or whining or whinging about FB while it still pops up on my devices. It's time I made another positive life change and moved on. Goodbye Fuckbook. 

PS: For those of you who actually are real friends this of course means no FB Messenger. Close friends can text, acquaintances can email. I also like using Whatsapp for "FB Messenger" style chatting with fast photo shares so you can also use that if you have my phone number AND are a close friend. But from now on it is only Instagram and Twitter for me.

PS2: Sadly, I can't completely dispense with Google+ and Gmail as they are tied to YouTube and I need to keep that account going. But you can always reach me at m.a.jacobi@icloud.com.

#3 - INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE

INTRO
I learn something arachnid and/or reptile related every day and I've been at this for a very long time. I got my first pet snake 42 years ago. I was catching and keeping jumping spiders, etc. even before that and had my first tarantula in the 70s. Knowledge is an ongoing process and it relates to hard-earned experience. It comes from trial and error. It comes from listening to those with greater experience. It comes from asking questions of those you respect. It comes from digesting anything you can read. It comes from asking questions. It comes from observation. It is a gradual process and it takes time. It takes years, decades.

INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge does not come from information. It comes from questioning information. It comes from skeptical inquiry. It comes from seeking better answers.

We all know the telephone game. At least that's what American's call it. Elsewhere it is known as Chinese whispers or pass the message or whisper down the lane. Regardless of name it is all about cumulative error. The first person whispers a message to another, which is than passed down a line of people until the final person announces the end result message to the group. Errors typically accumulate in the retelling, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly.

This happens every day on Faffbook and internet forums like Arachnoboards. Someone with a little bit of information (not knowledge!) - as they say a little "knowledge" is dangerous - posts something authoritatively that he may have read only recently and perhaps introduces a bit of error. It is then regurgitated by someone else in another post, typically with the same authoritative tone, and the even less experienced take it as gospel. As these inexperienced and unknowledgeable continue their willingness to answer questions they don't have the expertise to address, the "Chinese whispers" comes into full play and misinformation is spread. Information is not knowledge, but misinformation is dangerous.

The Internet has given birth to a generation of non-readers, except for social media posts that require only short attention spans. Why pay $10 for a book written by someone with my knowledge and experience when you can read the opinion of some newbie for free? OK, save yourself the 10 bucks. Why not read only posts by people who are known "experts"? Because they're usually too busy or, like me, sick of it all. The truly knowledgeable (with notable exceptions) tend to shun the cesspool of internet/social media discourse. But wouldn't you want to pay attention to something posted by a recognized experienced keeper/breeder and not someone you've never heard of before? The problem is that those who post the most are typically those with more time than sense and are mid-level hobbyists. Look at Arachnoboards post counts; there are people who have been on for two years or less with 2000+ posts. Those are the people to avoid.

The other misinformation danger out there is the many "weekend warrior" "pseudo dealers" who often know less about correct tarantula husbandry and propagation than the majority of their customers. There are people who just got in the hobby that all of a sudden are resellers and I shudder to think about the husbandry support they can offer their customers. These guys have day jobs and aren't true animal people. Do you want to buy from them or guys like me or Kelly Swift or others that have been doing this for decades? It's not about the price or selection; it's about cultivating a relationship with someone who can provide expertise. True knowledge. Not snippets of information.

My advice is to read my book ;). As arrogant as it may sound, it is the ONLY American book I recommend. However, it is aimed at the neophyte hobbyist that walks into Petco and offers less to the experienced keeper. I'm working on an advanced book. Don't read "the bible". It has little to offer the modern tarantulaculturist and contains falsehoods and rambling editorials by someone with little experience with modern breeding and the variety of species in today's hobby. Marshall is outdated and lacking in husbandry info.  There are better books in Europe, but most are in foreign languages.

Better still, find an apprenticeship of sorts. I alluded to this when I mentioned cultivating relationships with experienced dealers that have been around 10, 20, 30 or 35 years. Not salesmen or computer programmers or auto mechanics. True animal people that spend every single day immersed in arachnoculture. Ask them questions. Those are real answers. And those are pieces of information that can actually become knowledge.

In closing, I dedicate this blog to Christian Elowsky who may have used the phrase "information is not knowledge" in his Arachnogathering lecture and Kelly Swift who has been doing this as long as me. When I was mostly breeding pythons and my tarantula projects were just a diversion, Kelly was working for the legendary Louis Porras at Zooherp in Sandy, Utah. Kelly and I were both doing mostly reptiles, but eventually we both focused more on our true passion - tarantulas. This goes back many years and illustrates that true animal people, who have made it their sole work for some 35 years deserve more of your support than the short term "weekend warriors" who come and go each year. I'm sure I'll have a full on "pseudo dealer" rant in an upcoming blog. Stay tuned.

All the best, Michael

#2 - HERE WE GO AGAIN

Intro

Before I offend, expose, vent and start calling out fucktards and douchenozzles, I suppose I should start a bit slower and milder and mix up a few topics and end with one bitching.

Breeding

Day has started great with my American first Avicularia sp. Colombia molting to 2nd instar during the night. Unfortunately about one third of the 1st instars didn't make it. I noticed mites when I opened the sac and was fighting them for the duration of incubation.

More Breeding

I keep finding more sacs and breeding production is in full swing. I noticed that a female Avicularia minatrix was wandering without her sac this morning and found it left on other side of enclosure. I opened and maybe the eggs are good, maybe they're not. I also decided to move a Cyriopagopus schioedtei female from her temporary cereal container housing where she was paired and rudely pulled up her cork slab to put it in her new swank 10 gallon-on-end quarters. Then I saw the egg sac. Doh! Even the highly experiences do stupid things. Lesson learned: flashlight examination first.

The Bitching

Name spared because the poster is just one of the many sheeple who do the same, but this is a post on the BTS Faffbook page today: "Anyone have a quick rundown on how a set up for a purple bloom bird eater should be? Its about 3 inches big at the moment, size of tank etc thanks"

First, if you don't understand why I call the shitgutter that is Facebook "Faffbook" here's your explanation: "faffing" is Brit slang for fucking around, wasting time. Second, no matter what you choose to call it it is the land of the lazy. My response to this post was this: "1. Start with scientific name 2. Google is your friend. 3. Self-research is rewarding." How many posts a day do you see where instead of someone researching a question with the incredibly vast library called the intrawebs, they just post a query and wait for someone to do the work for them? For fuck's sake, READ! Now I know that the info she might have found if she bothered herself to do a Google/Bing/Yahoo search might have been misleading, inaccurate or just plain asinine. That is the minefield that is the Internet. The only thing you can trust in cyberspace is porn. And that will lead me to my next blog - "Information is not knowledge". Until next time, MJ

#1 - RESURRECTION

I can't believe how long ago my last blog post was. As a writer, you'd think I would have stuck with it. But "Kiss My Big Hairy Spider" was created during a very odd period in my life. I was in limbo, temporarily living in Milwaukee between my stints in Seattle, and I decided to spew some stuff out. The name alluded not only to my passion - arachnids, specifically theraphosid, or tarantula, spiders - but also basically translated as "fuck you"; these are my opinions, this is my rant.

I am now speeding into my 51st birthday and, believe me, I have more to rant about. Always opinionated and always irreverent, I have plenty more to spew. Social media has pretty much shit upon anything that was pure, and I confess I've been dragged into its cesspool. I avoid getting involved in discussions with anyone I don't personally know and respect, but few have similar restraint. I post my pretty pix. I advertise my pretty spiders. But I shun the ugly masses and ignore the inane.

I have been professionally peddling arachnids, herps and other exotics since 1982. Outside of my own businesses (e.g., Jacobi Herpetoculture, The Living Terrarium, SpiderShoppe, Exotic Fauna Enterprises), I have held pet industry positions from reptile manager to buyer to delivery driver to salesman specializing in wholesale premium dog and other pet foods to general manager of a multi-million dollar pet wholesaler servicing Petco and independents in the five states of the Pacific Northwest, which also operates - and still does - the largest veiled chameleon breeding program in the world. I know some shit. Most of the time, I know my shit. So, if you're interested in learning the truth about tarantulas and other arachnids instead of what some newbie quoter of half-truths and regurgitated nonsense posts, read my blog. If you're interested in reading my rants on the things about the hobby that piss me off, read my blog. If you want to hear about my travels and experiences, subscribe here.

The KISS MY BIG HAIRY SPIDER blog has been resurrected. Again I spew. Perhaps you read.

This is a RESURRECTION