Looks like Araneus diadematus to me. They have a white cross on their abdomen like the one on your photo. Cool spiders (they’re all cool :)

Yes, the trap-doors are more closely related to tarantulas than the other spiders you mentioned, so they are much bulkier. That one looks to be male to me, so I think you’ve found one out looking for a lady.

Not a recluse. Looks like a Ummidia (trap door spider). Very cool spiders.

I love this! Not sure what you mean by “ends”, though. Are you referring to the whimsical fringe in the armpit of my sweater? That is a design element!

I think we might be kindred spirits. The stuff I own because suddenly Hobby X was the most critical thing in my life… There is a recorder (the instrument) sitting on my desk right now because I decided a couple of months ago at 2AM that it was high-time I learned to read music. Thank goodness I didn’t buy a violin.

I took a couple photos mid-molt today, but they are so stinking blurry. It’s a mix of low-skill, low-light, a phone camera, and trying to photograph through reflective enclosures, I think. I have thought about looking into better equipment before, but having read your story I don’t think that’s a good idea!

I have (so far) been mercifully spared by the photography bug, so I’m not sure where it falls in terms of cost, but keeping inverts can actually be done really cheaply while still providing very good care. Now that I’ve said that…run for your life, lol.

I can’t really speak to insects, but I do keep tarantulas and have really had to set firm bounds on myself. Not just money-wise (because oh, the beautiful terrariums you can build), but also in terms of what I can reasonably care for, what I reasonably have space for, etc. That said, this is probably the most fun I’ve ever had with a hobby. I have two prepping to molt as I type this and I feel like it’s Christmas morning.

This is a little off-topic, but if you are okay with spiders, you might enjoy this video from Dave’s Little Beasties that shows the development of a tarantula (Theraphosa stirmi) from an egg. This is an very large species with very large eggs, so you can really get a good look. I believe Dave does touch on bad eggs briefly here as well.

Video link

Battlestar Galactica is the one I just can’t do. I didn’t watch it when it aired, but I borrowed the box set from someone around the time it wrapped up. I think I watched 3 very tense episodes, looked at how many remained, and bailed. If I ever try again I’ll pretend I’m watching them being broadcast and stick to one episode a week. I’m probably a wuss, but that show left me exhausted.

I quite like Dana K. White’s system for this. When putting something away she asks “if I were looking for this item where would I look for it first?” And wherever that place is is where the item goes. Now I keep all my Sharpie markers in the silverware drawer and I can always find one.

Dana White doesn’t write specifically for the adhd crowd, but I swear she’s the first organizer that has ever made sense to me. There’s more to her system than this, obviously, but not much, and it almost never involves buying more bins.

Sweet, I guess I’m going to have to get a PC at some point. I actually played Riven for iPadOS recently and it was still fun, but the point and click is pretty tedious.

I’m not sure a remake willl ever match the magic of when I originally played in 1998, though. My laptop was so junky I played most of the game under a blanket because the screen was so dark, haha.

Ad Riven. I read all the novels, too!

It’s been a while, but I wanted to come back and thank you for this rec, because I really like the blue lizard sunscreen. I got the stick for my face and tube stuff for the rest of my body and I’m really pleased with them. These actually rub in very well and I’m not leaving white streaks on everything I touch.

The Count of Monte Cristo is what immediately came to my mind also. He is absolutely thorough in his revenge.

Priorities!

Very excited to have the compact comments and swipe down on the image previews!

Oh that’s funny, I forgot beehaw didn’t have downvotes. I actually can downvote and see the downvotes, but maybe those are just going off into the ether.

Oh, and I also suspect the user(s?) doing this is using other accounts to upvote the posts.

The ones I’ve been reporting have all been lemm.ee users and it is a violation of the lemm.ee rules to use your account to advertise on lemm.ee or any other instance. I don’t know how other instances are handling it.

I actually don’t know who gets the reports I’ve been submitting, either, so I’m not sure if it’s doing anything.

I’ve been reporting them. It seems that a lot of the posts contain affiliate links, so it’s someone trying to make money from that - not because they wrote the books that are getting posted.

Some have been banned, but they keep coming back. Some may be bots, but not all - I saw at least one come back with a hateful response when called out.

Hyperion is my favorite of the two, but I don’t think you could go wrong with either. If you are interested in audiobooks there is one for Dune that is very good.