Jon in Pasadena

Well, for me the Shinto trappings (like the salt and the mawashi and the fun little dance that the Yokozuna does ) are not particularly relevant. That's not what I'm looking at. As a student and teacher of Japanese martial arts I am intrigued by the techniques used by these big, strong fighters. It isn't always easy to see the techniques hidden under all the fat, but believe me, they are highly skilled. Personally I am built like the antithesis of a rikishi, but I try to watch and learn from skilled fighters wherever I may find them.

Are you a Sumo fan? I think it's pretty cool, myself.

[ quote=Alaska Darin,Sep 6 2004, 07:31 PM] That's a very nice story - in a pretty twisted kind of way. 20281[/snapback] Yeah, strangely enough that seems to be an accurate description of most of my stories....

When I was in college I almost stepped (barefoot) on a good-sized Widow. I ran and got a jar and captured her easily enough. I named her "George Carcass" after a friend of mine who hates all creepy-crawlies, and over the next few weeks I fed her a steady diet of bugs, mostly moths since they were always fluttering around my dorm room and annoying me. Watching her stalk and kill the moths was really cool. A true assassin. The moths never knew what hit them. One day I noticed a huge egg sac had appeared overnight. Apparently female Widows, like many spiders, can store previously obtained sperm for months at a time, and they fertilize their eggs when they get a good food supply. Eventually hundred of cute littly baby Widows emerged and ate everything they could find including each other. I gave the survivors to a researcher on campus who works with a company that milks the venom to make antivenin. Pretty cool. Sadly George passed away one day after eating what I suspect was a tainted bug. But I'll always have the memories.

Dunno, but they're probably made by the Tyrell Corporation....