Rugby and real estate
A reader from Glen Eden writes: "Everyone knows having open homes is a pain in the neck - keeping the house not just tidy but immaculate is a tough call for me at the best of times but this weekend was particularly excruciating. I had food poisoning and had been vomiting since 5am, and looking after a 4-year-old, but decided the show must go on (things have been really slow because of the preoccupation with the Rugby World Cup and I really have to sell). "After cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, vomiting again, shoving anything lying around into cupboards, ironing the pillowcases and putting dirty dishes in the oven, I took my kid and a plastic bucket and drove down the road and parked. By this stage I had body aches and was shivering. My kid was bored. I gave him my phone and he played a game. I vomited in the bucket. We did this for an hour and arrived home just as the agent was bringing her flag in. I pulled into the driveway, wound down the window and asked: 'How many through?' None. Damn you Rugby World Cup!"
Beware the snail
No snake or scorpion has the killing power of one lethal snail. The innocuously named geography cone snail (Conus geographus) has a toxin so powerful that a lethal dose for a human is just 0.029-0.038mg. There have been only 36 recorded human fatalities, because it lives in the ocean. But it is capable of penetrating the wetsuits of any humans foolish enough to get too close. BBC Earth explains: "To take down their targets, cone snails have modified teeth ... They are sharp, hooked and hollow, like a cross between a harpoon and a hypodermic needle. The snail launches one at an unsuspecting fish, whereupon it delivers a cocktail of toxins that targets the nervous system. Once the fish is paralysed, the cone snail can devour it." (Via neatorama.com)
