Count Until a Staff Member Posts! (394)

[Bricket]

27
How about... Riders on the Storm?

[Brisky]

28

Riders in the storm! dun dun...

Wild populations are considered to be "threatened" and are listed on Appendix II of CITES. All the giant pythons (including the Indian python, the African rock python, and the reticulated python) have historically been slaughtered to supply the world leather market, as well as for folk medicines, and captured for the pet trade. Some are also killed for food, particularly in China.

The IUCN has recently listed the Burmese python as "Vulnerable", reflecting its overall population decline. Important reasons for the decline are trade for skins and for food; habitat degradation may be a problem in some upland areas.[1]

In Hong Kong, it is a protected species under Wild Animals Protection Ordinance Cap 170.

The floor is dry again!

[Bricket]

29

THIS IS THE END

[Brisky]

30

Burmese pythons are often sold as pets, and are made popular by their attractive colour and apparently easy-going nature. However, these animals have a rapid growth rate, and often exceed 2.1 m (6.9 ft) in length in a year if cared for and fed properly. By age four, they will have reached their adult size, though they continue growing very slowly throughout their lives, which may exceed 20 years.
A coiled Burmese python at Berlin Zoo

Although this species has a reputation for docility, they are very powerful animals, capable of inflicting severe bites or even killing a keeper by constriction.[31] They also consume large amounts of food, and due to their size, require large, often custom-built, secure enclosures. As a result, some are released into the wild, and become invasive species that devastate the environment. For this reason, some jurisdictions (including Florida due to the python invasion in the Everglades)[32] have placed restrictions on the keeping of Burmese pythons as pets. Violators could be imprisoned for more than 7 years or fined $500,000 if convicted.

Burmese pythons are opportunistic feeders; they eat almost any time food is offered, and often act hungry even when they have recently eaten. As a result, they are often overfed, causing obesity-related problems to be common in captive Burmese pythons.

Like the much smaller ball python, Burmese pythons are known to be easygoing or timid creatures, which means that if cared for properly, they can easily adjust to living near humans.[citation needed]


Floor is wet...

[Momma Bird]

31


how we doing so far?

[Bricket]

32
Doing neatly I would say

[Brisky]

33

Although pythons are typically afraid of people due to their high stature, and generally avoid humans, special care is still required when handling them. Given their adult strength, multiple handlers (up to one person per meter of snake) are usually recommended.[33] Some jurisdictions require owners to hold special licenses, and as with any wild animal being kept in captivity, treating them with the respect an animal of this size commands is important.[citation needed]

Knock it off on the table, please.

[Bricket]

34
So, what's the biggest friendship killer? Risk, Monopoly or Uno?

[Momma Bird]

35


Chess is the biggest friendship killer

[Brisky]

36

A .45?

[Bricket]

37
Talking about taking a shot

[Brisky]

38

The russians shot for the moon...

They exploded.

[Momma Bird]

39


Oh no, I am running out of fingers and toes, I don't know how much higher I can count

[Bricket]

40
Nuke the moon?

[Brisky]

41

The N1 (Russian: Н1, from Ракета-носитель, Raketa-Nositel, carrier)[3] was a super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to deliver payloads beyond low Earth orbit, acting as the Soviet counterpart to the US Saturn V.[4][5] It was designed with crewed extra-orbital travel in mind. Development work started on the N1 in 1959.[5] Its first stage is the most powerful rocket stage ever built.[6]

The N1-L3 version was developed to compete with the United States Apollo-Saturn V to land a man on the Moon, using the same lunar orbit rendezvous method. The basic N1 launch vehicle had three stages, which was to carry the L3 lunar payload into low Earth orbit with two cosmonauts. The L3 contained an Earth departure stage; another stage used for mid-course corrections, lunar orbit insertion, and powered descent initiation; a single-pilot LK Lander spacecraft; and a two-pilot Soyuz 7K-LOK lunar orbital spacecraft for return to Earth. The Apollo spacecraft was able to carry three astronauts (landing two on the Moon), and relied on the Saturn V's third stage for Earth departure.

N1-L3 was underfunded and rushed, starting development in October 1965, almost four years after the Saturn V. The project was badly derailed by the death of its chief designer Sergei Korolev in 1966. Each of the four attempts to launch an N1 failed; during the second launch attempt the N1 rocket crashed back onto its launch pad shortly after liftoff and exploded, resulting in one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in human history. The N1 program was suspended in 1974, and in 1976 was officially canceled. Along with the rest of the Soviet manned lunar programs, the N1 was kept secret almost until the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991; information about the N1 was first published in 1989.