This market resolves as YES if I see a giant house spider in my apartment at any point between now and October 31, 2023 (inclusive.) Otherwise, it resolves as NO on November 1, 2023.
I am putting 100 mana on YES as insurance, and then I will not bet further on this market.
Additional context
Giant house spiders - who are their own species, not just large members of the common house spider species - live exclusively in western Cascadia, and the males frequently enter houses in search of females from late summer to early fall. The searches are typically unsuccessful, since giant house spider females don't tend to enter houses. They are harmless.
They are also really, REALLY big and I know from experience that I will have a REALLY bad panic attack upon seeing one in person. My partner just spotted one in our office while I was taking a shower, and thankfully I didn't see it.
Send help.
Fine print
Giant house spiders and hobo spiders look similar enough that I might confuse them for one another, but giant house spiders are significantly more common and significantly more likely to end up in an apartment. I will assume any spider big enough to send me into a panic attack on sight is a giant house spider.
I have to physically see the spider for this to resolve as YES.
If my apartment is destroyed somehow before October 31, this resolves as N/A, assuming that I survive and still have Internet access.
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@IsaacKing I will resolve this as YES as soon as I've mentally recovered enough, so probably in 2 to 3 years.
@Meta_C I will be panicking too much to be able to (I also probably could not look at the picture without having a nasty anxiety attack.)
@JohnSmithb9be And a climate I really like. And cool volcanoes. And a long record of being really supportive of trans people. And-
(I've thought about it a lot.)
@JohnSmithb9be If my partner and I end up getting accepted to PhD programs there, we might!
@evergreenemily Immigration to Iceland is extremely tough. And insects are extremely important to the ecosystem.
@FrederickNorris I imagine it's way more feasible if I get my PhD there, though. Six years of living there on a student visa, learning Icelandic, etc. would definitely help.
Also, as someone with a keen interest in biogeography, I'm very aware of that. :P But they're important to the ecosystem outside of my apartment (well, they're always in the walls/attic/etc. which is fine - really I just don't like seeing them) and I don't particularly like it when they get inside of it. I do try to avoid killing spiders and I just ask my partner to gently escort them outside. After all, any giant house spider in this apartment is only here because he got lost.
@evergreenemily Learning Icelandic is a necessity.
It is likely spiders inside your apt were born there. Consider that spiders get bigger by eating other creatures. But ty for not killing them.
@FrederickNorris Apparently I was misinformed about the giant house spiders here - they don't actually live outside and accidentally enter houses, they always live in houses. They're just very rarely seen outside of mating season since they like hiding in (more-or-less) completely undisturbed parts of the house - but males in search of mates will sometimes scurry out into the open around August and September (so maybe Halloween is a bit late of a closing date - ah well, it's fitting.) Females basically never leave their nests unless they're in desperate need of food.
Since I live in an apartment complex (insert "I find it quite simple" joke here,) I'd wager it wasn't born in this specific apartment and instead has probably been moving from apartment to apartment over the course of its life in search of food/mates. This apartment was (somewhat poorly) deep-cleaned less than a month ago, so I doubt there were any active webs/nests when we moved in. Then again, there's some sort of attic/crawlspace right above us, since we live on the top floor...
I don't even wanna think about what they must be eating to get that big, but I'm glad they're eating it. The only bug I've seen in our apartment so far is some sort of tiny fruit fly/gnat, so at least they're keeping the worst stuff at bay...?
Also, apparently I shouldn't be asking my partner to send them outside, since they aren't good at surviving out there - then again, "outside" is directly onto a large patio connecting multiple apartments, so I'd expect the spiders (cave-dwelling by nature) to end up scurrying into another apartment very, very quickly.
I'm deathly afraid of spiders, but I do respect them for eating all sorts of actual pests. And at least no Northwest spiders are dangerously venomous...
@evergreenemily Spiders are our friends! I'm glad you took some time to learn about them.
@FrederickNorris They are friends! Unfortunately, my psychological issues means I have to be friends with them from a distance...
I'm definitely less scared of them than I used to be. Part of it is growing older and gaining more emotional maturity/stability, and part of it is doing a bit of research on the ones I see so I at least know what they're up to and whether it's a good idea to banish them outside or not (e.g. wolf spiders should be taken outside, house spiders shouldn't, etc.)