The spider is situated 'backwards' on the web, which makes re-setting the slingshot easier. I' imagine that the spider uses sympathetic vibrations of the web itself to detect the sound coming from the insect's wings.
It would be interesting to see if the construction of the web, perhaps the length of the strands or their tension, are attuned to the particular range of sound coming from prey insect wing beats. If there were more spiders of this sort, with special preferences for certain insects, I'd predict that their webs would reflect these preferences by being constructed to better detect sounds of the preferred frequencies.

"Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Spock on Star Trek"
Really? You have to tell us what he did? Is there anyone on Earth who doesn't know?

"For desire--that is, attachment--leads to only disappointment. Disappointment leads to suffering."
. . . and That is the path to the Dark Side.

No! Never! Never, ever marry a 'boy who won't grow up'! It's a recipe for marital disaster!

I'm good for 10 years, then my warranty expires or something. Who are "Gloria Gaynor" and "Rick Grimes"? I think I interpreted some of the questions differently than they expected. For instance, they ask what I'd do if I see some looters: Fight them, Join them or Ignore them. I figure I'd ignore them. 'Live and let live, and don't give others a reason to hate you' is how I figure I will avoid injuries from groups of people with break-in tools. The next question asked about looters who attack me. Do I: fight, get hurt or run away. I figure running away is the thing to do. Looters have nothing to gain by attacking me, they want the contents of the 7-ll next to me. If I run from the desired resource, they'll concentrate on that.
Does the quiz give more points if I take an aggressive approach?

OK, no. I re-ran it, answering that I'd fight, and I am now down to only one year. I guess there are other factors that make me unable to break the decade.

So, has she had offers of marriage yet? (Edit: The link says she's a "mom", but doesn't mention her husband. She's a professional competitive eater, and had "plowed through a 12-pound sandwich with a 1-pound side of fries in 54 minutes" the previous day!)
I suppose it's a testament to the tenderness of Sayler's steaks, as well.

That is such an adorable little dragon! And such a great response from CSIRO! I am sure that they all were willing to move mountains to deliver for a girl who addresses them with: "Hello Lovely Scientist"

Thank you for posting this review. I had *heard of* her book, but never bothered to get any details about it or Friedan. Your concise and detailed description has given me much perspective on a time when I was a small child, unable to understand or appreciate the social changes that marked that time. It is shocking to me to be reminded that women could not even establish credit without a man even as recently as the 1970s. I will be sure to forward this post to my daughters, who may not appreciate how recently and how pervasively sexism was openly institutionalized. (Today, it is probably almost as pervasive, but merely less open)

Wow. I often try to figure out the twists of a story as it is going, but this took an extra turn that I didn't anticipate. Really nicely done.
Now I'm scared.

If she had had an education in chemistry, she could have raised the money by cooking meth.

I remember reading about this in Time magazine's bicentennial special issue. I believe the limpet mine that was used was called a "torpedo".

Wow. I completely forgot that aspect of the Ewoks. They were fully prepared to eat Han, Luke, Leia and even Chewbacca before they were convinced that 3P0 was a god. That puts a completely different spin on the celebration scene at the end of the movie!

Not having seen the NPR link, perhaps they orient themselves in the same direction that mice normally defecate, and so the mouse will run in the same line as the fox is oriented, making it possible to catch the mouse during the dive.