OT: Just when you thought things could not get worse... The plague is back!
Just for fun, let's sprinkle some bubonic plague into this whole mess.
In seriousness, this is not a big deal since modern medicine/hygiene addresses plague risk quite well (and it was a squirrel in the wild, not a person).... but the potential headlines and hot takes!! Enjoy!
Link: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/squirrel-bubonic-plague-tests-positive-in-colorado-morrison/
watch out for Space Aids. Only Rick Sanchez of Earth dimensions C-137 has the cure. I bet he would trade it for some szechuan sauce.
There's AIDS in space?
Way worse than earth Aids
Seems to only happen when one enters a black hole.
In all seriousness, this happens in Colorado most years. There was a Phish Concert last year out at the Colorado Rapids (MLS) stadium where camping was banned because of a plague outbreak in the prairie dog population.
It's hot here, but it's why I always wear long-sleeve t-shirts and long pants when hiking in the summer. Avoid those tick bites .........
I believe that this is real, but I also really want to believe that they just made up the prairie dog thing to scare Phishheads from dirtying up the place.
Ah the great Phish Dicks Plague of 19'
Ah the great Phish Dicks Plague of 19'
bah.....wake me up when the frogs and locusts hit
I watched the movie Magnolia recently. There’s a scene where it starts raining frogs. That ruined the movie for me. But, apparently, when high winds or tornadoes pass over water, they can scoop up fish or frogs and deposit them on land. I just found the sheer number of frogs depicted in Magnolia to be beyond belief. The density of frog-rain was several per square foot. Maybe scattered frog showers I would have accepted, but torrential frog-rain? I’m not buying it.
I thought that was a Biblical reference of some kind.
EDIT: 5 seconds of Googling confirms suspicions.
In the Bible's Book of Exodus, God casts down a rain of frogs on the Egyptians for their refusal to free the Israelites, leading to it becoming a popular narrative device when exploring themes of forgiveness and redemption, such as in Magnolia.
Why do that to frogs? Seems cruel. Couldn't have made it rain pine cones or something?
Because frogs are slimy and gross and don't make good mulch.
The locust plague is already here (in East Africa): https://www.sciencealert.com/the-locust-plagues-in-east-africa-are-sending-us-a-message-and-it-s-not-a-good-one
For the people that have anxiety about this kind of stuff: don't stress, human cases in the U.S. happen every year. :)
There are cases in the US every year
It never left Inner Mongolia
I remember reading, years ago, that to this day China still has outbreaks of several oldtimey diseases from all the biological weapons testing the Japanese did on them during WWII.
Unit 731 I think.
Yeah, if you ever want to despair about humanity and the MGoBoard isn't doing a good enough job, Google Japan and Nanjing for some seriously NSFL shit.
Also, Dan Carlin HH has a series about Imperial Japan. Fascinating.
Yes, nothing new here. Cases of Plague in Prairie Dogs have been common for years out here. I have always thought that Prairie Dogs should have been named Prairie Rats. It would have made it a lot easier to clear them out of populated areas as they tend to carry lots of disease. And yes, I am blaming the Prairie Dogs for infecting that squirrel.
+1. Yes, prairie dogs have somehow gotten a reputation as being cute. Despite being disease-bearing rodents!
Coyotes, of course, have gotten a bad reputation - which doesn't make sense either, as they are much more likely to take out prairie dogs than actual dogs.
Seems like we may need a good old threat down on this. I mean obviously bears are still number one. Just this week we had this happen.
The list is something like:
1 Bears
2 to 5 would include Prairie Dogs, Coyotes, Plague infected squirrels, murder hornets
6 Corona Virus.
Really need the old comedy central Colbert to sort this out.
Love the list! I .... uh, can I say this without getting in trouble ... agree with #6 and its placement. :-)
Yes, because bears, coyotes, prairie dogs etx kill way more people and so way more economic damage than #6.
Yeah, I saw this headline and was honestly somewhat relieved it was "just" the bubonic plague since we (seemingly) have a handle on it. Had it come out that squirrels were now zombies, then that's another thing.
It's bad enough I have to worry about humans coughing on me. Now squirrels?
I already hated squirrels!??
That's nothing. Wake me up when polio and dysentery come back.
Didn't read it. Did the squirrel do the drive-thru testing, or did they find it when he was admitted to the hospital?
Coming here is a real drain. Nothing but negativity.
Take an antibiotic
To add more to this Jumanji 2020, now there are wildfires happening in the Arctic. I guess global warming isn’t a “hoax.”
Dang, there goes my squirrel stew.
wake me up when 2020 is over
The "Plague" never left and there are regular outbreaks in the US southwest ALL THE TIME. It's completely treatable. Concern trolling cloaked in a lame attempt at humor is still concern trolling.
There are cases every year in the United States, albeit few and far between. The CDC says an average of 7 cases per year and a range of 1-17.
It's funny how there are cases every year but now the media mentions it. And to think people believe the media isnt a problem
Damn, I guess I better do something about my excessive rat problem
Yellowstone National Park sits on a caldera, and for many years geologists had difficulty determining the exact location. In the early 1960's with the onset of satellite imaging, it was discovered that the entire park was one giant caldera. Mostly dormant right now, when it does erupt, enough ash, lava, etc. is spewed out to cause mass extinctions of most of the western half of N America. Geologic evidence is that the caldera erupts every 600,000 years; the last such eruption was 630,000 years ago. So you see, there is always something you can worry about...!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera
Sleep tight!
I am a little worried the feds are going to find out that I removed my mattress tags... well not that worried, those bastards are never gonna take me alive