Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/08/vehicle-outfitted-with-shoes.html
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“While the roads are closed during migration season to protect the crustaceans, a couple who live in this Australian territory still needed vehicle access to their two luxury eco-lodges”
My heart truly bleeds for this couple who are wealthy enough not to have to abide by the local laws
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The phrase “luxury eco-lodges” gives me hives.
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Or I could just avoid Christmas Island during crab season.
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The couple are the people running the eco-lodges for their wealthy guests, no?
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They call their invention the “crab mobile” “fuck you, I’m rich”
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I’d imagine it’s really the noise and vibration from the “shoes” that makes them effective.
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Ho Hum. Christmas Island has this seasonal mass crab migration when evidently they ALL head to the sea to spawn. Apparently they get everywhere, including inside living areas. I spent some time on CI - it was not during spawning time - and there is a bazzillion land crabs there. Of course, they are all through the jungle - and a lot on the roads. I believe the locals try to avoid them and the crusty little buggers can even cause punctures. Just unimaginably staggering how many there are tho.
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The phrase “luxury eco-lodge” gives me hives.
Tacking that ‘s’ onto the end to make it plural makes my skin weep blood.
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Like crabs, you don’t just get one, apparently.
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Aiiiieeeeeee! Forget the “shoes” – Take off and nuke the site from orbit!
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Sweeper shoes? More like Crab Catchers.
It looks like it works to me if you go slow. I think that is a reasonable solution for people who live in the area and need to travel. Neat.
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Only thing in that video that needs to be nuked from orbit is the soundtrack.
Happy migrating crustaceans! I lived on Andros Island, Bahamas, back in the 1970s, and the land crabs there would do a similar breeding migration. They would march through and/or over anything in their path from the bush to the sea. I still remember the scratchy clicky sound of them climbing up the outside stucco walls and over the roof of our house. A nuisance but harmless.
While I haven’t been back there in years, I hear they are not nearly as prolific anymore.
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You know, they are hippies trying to make a living. If they call it a “Luxury Eco-Lodge” then not only do they get a pass on off-grid peculiarities that are probably necessitated by their location, they also get twice as much per night than a normal Air B&B rental would.
My guess is that the road is closed during the season but the people who live or who have business there are exempted; you can’t just cut people’s access to their houses and businesses. Most people probably just run over the crabs. (I don’t know, maybe someone walks in front of the car with a broom?) They’ve come up with a cute viral marketing ad that probably actually does help prevent them from cruelly car crushing Christmas crabs.
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Mount a few leaf-blowers on the front. A bit noisy, but it’d work!
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I am reminded of the aeroplane/conveyor-belt-runway conundrum.
How much air blowing out the front would be needed to stop the vehicle making progress? Would it be enough to launch the crabs straight into the sea from 100 metres away? Questions, questions.
Also, they should buy a hovercraft.
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An ekranoplan. Wait, no! An ekraboplan!
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Why all the hate? I think if their attitude were “fuck you, I’m rich,” they would eschew the crab-saving devices and the slow, careful driving, and just zip on down the road like normal ignoring all the crunching.
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Utah Phillips used to talk about these people.
You got NARPs around here ?
New Age Rural Professionals.
They are out cruising the back-roads in their old green carryalls and their car stereos blaring meditation music out into the wilderness. We got … Whole place lightning-struck by the peripatetic ruminations of the Tibetan ruling class in exile.
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“After mating the males trek home.” A behavior shared with other species.
