Joro update time!   

*dons amateur naturalist's hat*

The males started appearing in the webs in August as usual.  I have no idea where those things spend their lives prior to August.  They don't build webs of their own, so I guess they just they hide in nooks and crannies and feed on whatever bits of edible stuff they can find there.  I literally never see a male Joro until they start to show up in the females' webs.  These things must have powerful pheromones in order to find each other when mating season approaches.

The females aren't fully mature yet, but they're close, and the males know it, and courtship season has already begun.  I watched a male court a female a few days ago.  He was on her underside, grooming her or something, and she would flinch every now and then but otherwise remain motionless.  Whenever the female flinched, the male would move away a little, probably out of fear of being eaten (which is a legitimate risk, as you'll see below), and wait several seconds before moving back in to resume his courtship.

"Love is in the air... everywhere I look around..."





"You see it all around you... good lovin' gone bad..."





Both photos taken the afternoon of September 18th.

They can also bulge and fracture and stuff, though.

I had a small lithium battery in a small portable keyboard.  It bulged and popped the keyboard open.

The lithium battery in my laptop lasted 10+ years.  I think I had it maybe 15 years total.  Not sure without looking it up.  It developed a small bulge which is when I got rid of it.  The replacement did not last nearly as long.  I have developed a habit of looking at the bottom of the laptop to check for bulges and it had been okay.  Then, the trackpad began having issues.  I had to resort to using a USB mouse but, even with it, the trackpad would be "stuck" and make even the mouse hard to use.  I eventually thought to check the battery and, indeed, it had developed a bulge and was obviously pressing on the trackpad internally.  Since removing the battery, I have had no issues with the trackpad.

Are the batteries removable?  If so, take them out and take them to a place that recycles and/or properly disposes of them.  You should be able to continue to run the laptops off of AC power.

This is exactly what I did.  I'm also semi-paranoid about lithium battery fires, so I took the battery out and dropped it off at the nearest call2recycle place.  Just dropped it in the bin and done, out of mind and out of my life.

There's a locator at their website for anyone who wants to do the same, so y'all can find the one nearest you:

https://www.call2recycle.org/

Typically, it is when lithium batteries are charging that they catch fire.  So, if you leave them alone without providing power to them, the risk is reduced considerably. 

They can also bulge and fracture and stuff, though.  Extreme temperatures can damage them, etc.  Sure, it might be rare, but if the battery is no longer of any use, then there's no reason not to get rid of it.  For me, it's about peace of mind, something I place great store by.

I don't want to clear the hard drives since they actually still work, but the batteries are toast now.

Laptop still works, but it's got problems.  :(


https://jefftanyard.blogspot.com/2025/09/computer-update.html

I tried to reply to your blog post but some weird thing happened with Blogger when I signed in and it wouldn't let me change my profile to the right one, so...

Anyway, I read it and sympathize. :D

I usually keep my laptops as long as I can before I replace them. The last one had the spacebar and shift key quit working on me. I replaced the keyboard and fan and was pretty happy for another year.

But honestly, if my kid hadn't known how to tear into the thing to do the replacements, I would've had to let it go. The wrist rests were covered in some rubbery stuff that I had to take alcohol to because my wrists were sticking to it as I wrote. :D

But it lasted 10 years for me. It was an Asus.

The one before (a Dell) lasted about that long too.

My new one is another Dell, and honestly? It's kind of mediocre. I opted for an SSD and I regret it because it's too small. I don't think it'll last nearly as long.

My big concern these days is that I don't really know what to do with the old ones. I don't want to recycle them, but I don't want to keep the lithium batteries hanging around forever either since I hear they have a tendency to catch fire for no reason.