I'm sure you've heard by now, but Yosemite/its environs is on fire.
Seriously, guys. It's on fire.
Showing posts with label Horrible news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horrible news. Show all posts
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Speaking of the Great Barrier Reef...
Sigh. Ever since I did my 6th grade Endangered Species Report on the Galapagos Penguin, I've wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands. And now I learn that tourists are ruining the island...what a conundrum!
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Time to book a trip to the Great Barrier Reef
RIP Coral Reefs.
*...Although, maybe not. Are there starfish there? Starfish really creep me out.
All Coral Reefs Could Die by Century’s EndBetter get on that dream to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef!*
Every coral reef in the world will probably die off by the end of this century unless the production of carbon dioxide is curtailed severely, researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science report. Accelerated carbon dioxide production is making the oceans more acidic, thus preventing the basic skeletons of coral reefs from being made.
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| Lighthouse Reef, Belize - Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic |
*...Although, maybe not. Are there starfish there? Starfish really creep me out.
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| Ugggggh, so creepy. Via. |
Monday, October 29, 2012
UM WHAT?
Oh Em GEE. Have you heard about the police officer in NYC who was recently arrested for plotting, on multiple occasions, to "kidnap, rape, cook and eat women"?!?!
This is a real story, and like many real stories, it is incredibly bizarre. It has recently been discovered (by the FBI, no less) that NYC police officer Gilberto Valle, aged 28, married, with a one-year-old daughter, liked to spend his free time on his home computer chatting with various people via IM about the logistics of kidnapping and/or cooking women. Not only that, but he also created upwards of 100 files that contained information about various women that he knew, including their addresses, physical descriptions, and photographs. He also went so far as to look up various women in a federal database, and to offer to kidnap some of them for money.
The federal complaint filed against him is fascinating, and creepy as hell. For example, here's the FBI's description of Gilberto chatting with his "co-conspirator #1" (CC-1) about the logistics of silence-of-the-lambsing one particular woman:
And let's not forget about the kidnapping, plotted with Co-Conspirator #2!
Valle's lawyer claims that he is "at worst is someone who has sexual fantasies about people he knows and he talks about it on the Internet" and that "nothing has happened....it's just talk," and that may be legally true. But I can't imagine that his wife--who turned him in, by the way--or his job--which he used to access federal database information about potential victims--will take kindly to any of his talk.
People can be really creepy sometimes.
***********
In other news, THERE IS A HURRICANE OUTSIDE.
This is a real story, and like many real stories, it is incredibly bizarre. It has recently been discovered (by the FBI, no less) that NYC police officer Gilberto Valle, aged 28, married, with a one-year-old daughter, liked to spend his free time on his home computer chatting with various people via IM about the logistics of kidnapping and/or cooking women. Not only that, but he also created upwards of 100 files that contained information about various women that he knew, including their addresses, physical descriptions, and photographs. He also went so far as to look up various women in a federal database, and to offer to kidnap some of them for money.
The federal complaint filed against him is fascinating, and creepy as hell. For example, here's the FBI's description of Gilberto chatting with his "co-conspirator #1" (CC-1) about the logistics of silence-of-the-lambsing one particular woman:
And let's not forget about the kidnapping, plotted with Co-Conspirator #2!
Valle's lawyer claims that he is "at worst is someone who has sexual fantasies about people he knows and he talks about it on the Internet" and that "nothing has happened....it's just talk," and that may be legally true. But I can't imagine that his wife--who turned him in, by the way--or his job--which he used to access federal database information about potential victims--will take kindly to any of his talk.
People can be really creepy sometimes.
***********
In other news, THERE IS A HURRICANE OUTSIDE.
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| From The Cat in the Hat |
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Beware the pigs
So I've been pretty disconsolate this week, moping around and crying periodically when I'm left alone without sufficient distraction. But I guess things could be worse...I could get EATEN BY MY HOGS.
According to various news reports, a 69-year-old Oregon farmer was eaten by his giant hogs last Wednesday. The poor man apparently went out to feed his 700-pound oinkers and never came home. When his family went to look for him several hours later, all they found were his dentures; further searching of the pig pen revealed bits and pieces of his body. Nobody is quite sure how this happened, but the two primary hypotheses seem to be that (a) he had a heart attack or some other similar malady, and fell into the pen, at which time the pigs ate him, or (b) he was attacked by the pigs, pulled into the pen, and eaten alive. To quote what I believe is the original media report, "While investigators are certain that the hogs consumed most of Garner’s body, they do not know how he died." Authorities in Oregon have dispatched a forensic anthropologist to look into the matter.
Ten points for the Examiner, which posted this awful picture along with their version of the story:
Now, if you think this is the first time such a gruesome thing has happened, let me disabuse you of such notions. In 2004, some hogs in Romania knocked a farmer's wife unconscious and ate off her face and ears and fingers (she later died). In 2006, a farmer in England was bitten and mauled by his hogs; he was fortunately saved by his wife, who turned a hose on the pig. And there are probably many more similar incidents, but I don't feel like looking for them. So I guess I'll end with this life lesson: If you are raising 700-pound hogs, keep a hose nearby. You can thank me later for that valuable piece of advise.
Now, back to moping.
According to various news reports, a 69-year-old Oregon farmer was eaten by his giant hogs last Wednesday. The poor man apparently went out to feed his 700-pound oinkers and never came home. When his family went to look for him several hours later, all they found were his dentures; further searching of the pig pen revealed bits and pieces of his body. Nobody is quite sure how this happened, but the two primary hypotheses seem to be that (a) he had a heart attack or some other similar malady, and fell into the pen, at which time the pigs ate him, or (b) he was attacked by the pigs, pulled into the pen, and eaten alive. To quote what I believe is the original media report, "While investigators are certain that the hogs consumed most of Garner’s body, they do not know how he died." Authorities in Oregon have dispatched a forensic anthropologist to look into the matter.
Ten points for the Examiner, which posted this awful picture along with their version of the story:
Now, if you think this is the first time such a gruesome thing has happened, let me disabuse you of such notions. In 2004, some hogs in Romania knocked a farmer's wife unconscious and ate off her face and ears and fingers (she later died). In 2006, a farmer in England was bitten and mauled by his hogs; he was fortunately saved by his wife, who turned a hose on the pig. And there are probably many more similar incidents, but I don't feel like looking for them. So I guess I'll end with this life lesson: If you are raising 700-pound hogs, keep a hose nearby. You can thank me later for that valuable piece of advise.
Now, back to moping.
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| Ha, like I would have pets. Those things are liable to eat you! |
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Oh god, oh dear god.
Stop the presses: Contagion is coming true.
Well, in ferrets at least. Yep. Seems as if a mad Dutch scientist has created a strain of bird flu that can be transmitted from ferret to ferret without direct contact--through the air. This is terrifying the scientific community, as the avian flu was one of the most deadly ever recorded in humans--it killed six in ten who contracted the virus. The only saving graces preventing the bird flu from spiraling out of control and killing 60% of the earth's population (both in 2006 when it was all the rage, and now) are (a) the lucky fact that, so far, the only way people have contracted bird flu is from birds themselves, and (b) the lucky fact that that the virus spreads very inefficiently, binding to cells only very deep in human lungs.
Because bird flu is so deadly (once contracted), many scientists have been concerned that it could mutate into a strain that is easily spread from human to human via coughs and sneezes and whatnot. Enter Ron Fouchier, Dutch researcher at Erasmus Medical Center, who embarked on a course of research that has lead to the existence of a bird flu strain that can be easily spread from human to human via coughs and sneezes and whatnot.
Scientific American describes the research as follows:
Thanks to Mahdroo for the tip on this one.
***
In other news, it seems I may have jumped on this honey-not-being-honey bandwagon a little too early. (Thanks to Anonymous for pointing this out.) I still think it makes sense to buy locally-produced honey, though...if you ask me. Which nobody did--but hell, it's my blog, eh?
Well, in ferrets at least. Yep. Seems as if a mad Dutch scientist has created a strain of bird flu that can be transmitted from ferret to ferret without direct contact--through the air. This is terrifying the scientific community, as the avian flu was one of the most deadly ever recorded in humans--it killed six in ten who contracted the virus. The only saving graces preventing the bird flu from spiraling out of control and killing 60% of the earth's population (both in 2006 when it was all the rage, and now) are (a) the lucky fact that, so far, the only way people have contracted bird flu is from birds themselves, and (b) the lucky fact that that the virus spreads very inefficiently, binding to cells only very deep in human lungs.
Because bird flu is so deadly (once contracted), many scientists have been concerned that it could mutate into a strain that is easily spread from human to human via coughs and sneezes and whatnot. Enter Ron Fouchier, Dutch researcher at Erasmus Medical Center, who embarked on a course of research that has lead to the existence of a bird flu strain that can be easily spread from human to human via coughs and sneezes and whatnot.
Scientific American describes the research as follows:
To help answer [the question of whether bird flu could ever morph into a disease that can spread among people, via a cough or sneeze, by attaching to nasal or tracheal membranes, as the seasonal flu does], Ron Fouchier...and his team "mutated the hell out of H5N1" and looked at how readily it would bind with cells in the respiratory tract. What they found is that with as few as five single mutations it gained the ability to latch onto cells in the nasal and tracheal passageways, which, Fouchier added as understated emphasis, "seemed to be very bad news."Think we're safe because this flu has so far only infected ferrets? Bad news on that front. As ScienceInsider notes:
The variety that they had created, however, when tested in ferrets (the best animal model for influenza research) still did not transmit very easily just through close contact. It wasn't until "someone finally convinced me to do something really, really stupid," Fouchier said, that they observed the deadly H5N1 become a viable aerosol virus. In the...experiment, they let the virus itself evolve to gain that killer capacity. To do that, they put the mutated virus in the nose of one ferret; after that ferret got sick, they put infected material from the first ferret into the nose of a second. After repeating this 10 times, H5N1 became as easily transmissible as the seasonal flu.
The lesson from these admittedly high-risk experiments is that "the H5N1 virus can become airborne," Fouchier concluded—and that "re-assortment with mammalian viruses is not needed" for it to evolve to spread through the air. And each of these mutations has already been observed in animals. "The mutations are out there, but they have not gotten together yet," Osterhaus said.
Ferrets aren't humans, but in studies to date, any influenza strain that has been able to pass among ferrets has also been transmissible among humans, and vice versa, says Fouchier: "That could be different this time, but I wouldn't bet any money on it."Hence the title of this post: Oh god, oh dear god. I think it is high time to invest in some emergency face masks (designer, if you must), and to perfect the art of the antiflu elbow-bump (endorsed by Nobel Laureates!).
Thanks to Mahdroo for the tip on this one.
***
In other news, it seems I may have jumped on this honey-not-being-honey bandwagon a little too early. (Thanks to Anonymous for pointing this out.) I still think it makes sense to buy locally-produced honey, though...if you ask me. Which nobody did--but hell, it's my blog, eh?
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
No more swimming, I guess
First the ocean, now freshwater...is nowhere safe to swim?*
Always on the lookout for a nicely terrifying story for this blog, my good friend Tiffani just alerted me to this doozy:
Yup, you read right. Apparently, there's a amoeba that lives in "warm freshwater" (mostly lakes, rivers, and hot springs...but also improperly sanitized swimming pools) that can travel up your nose, into your brain, and cause your death within 1-12 days (according to the CDC, an outfit I tend to trust).
The unfriendly little organism that is capable of such feats is called Naegleria fowleri, and it's made national news this week because it has killed three people this summer--so far. That's quite a lot, considering that only 32 cases were reported to the CDC in the decade spanning 2000-2010. (Actually, maybe the number of 2011 deaths is not "a lot"...more like an average amount. But I'm still worrying.)
CNN describes in simple terms what the Naegleria fowleri does:
What you are probably wondering at this point (because I sure was wondering!) is what the symptoms of an amoebal takeover of your brain are. I'll tell you. Well, I'll let the CDC tell you:
What's most terrifying about the menace of Naegleria fowleri is not necessarily that it exists (though this is frightening indeed), but that a) it is 95% lethal (only ONE person in the US has survived an infection), and b) infection incidence increases when weather gets hot for long periods of time, and um, Global Warming, anyone?
So there you have it: Swimming in warm freshwater can lead to your death via an amoebal brain swarm. This has been your scary public service message of the day. You're welcome!
Also look! A diagram!
*I should probably say "safe and pleasant," as I suppose chlorinated and saltwater pools are a fairly safe swimming option. But swimming pools are icky.
Always on the lookout for a nicely terrifying story for this blog, my good friend Tiffani just alerted me to this doozy:
Yup, you read right. Apparently, there's a amoeba that lives in "warm freshwater" (mostly lakes, rivers, and hot springs...but also improperly sanitized swimming pools) that can travel up your nose, into your brain, and cause your death within 1-12 days (according to the CDC, an outfit I tend to trust).
The unfriendly little organism that is capable of such feats is called Naegleria fowleri, and it's made national news this week because it has killed three people this summer--so far. That's quite a lot, considering that only 32 cases were reported to the CDC in the decade spanning 2000-2010. (Actually, maybe the number of 2011 deaths is not "a lot"...more like an average amount. But I'm still worrying.)
CNN describes in simple terms what the Naegleria fowleri does:
The amoebas enter the human body through the nose after an individual swims or dives into warm fresh water, like ponds, lakes, rivers and even hot springs. ...When an amoeba gets lodged into a person's nose, it starts looking for food. It ends up in the brain and starts eating neurons. The amoeba multiplies, and the body mounts a defense against the infection. This, combined with the rapidly increasing amoebas, cause the brain to swell, creating immense pressure. At some point, the brain stops working.Um....YIKES.
What you are probably wondering at this point (because I sure was wondering!) is what the symptoms of an amoebal takeover of your brain are. I'll tell you. Well, I'll let the CDC tell you:
Initial symptoms...start 1 to 7 days after infection. The initial symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and stiff neck. Later symptoms include confusion, lack of attention to people and surroundings, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations. After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within 1 to 12 days.It's like you think you have meningitis, but nope! The news is much worse! Just when you thought it couldn't possibly be worse.
What's most terrifying about the menace of Naegleria fowleri is not necessarily that it exists (though this is frightening indeed), but that a) it is 95% lethal (only ONE person in the US has survived an infection), and b) infection incidence increases when weather gets hot for long periods of time, and um, Global Warming, anyone?
So there you have it: Swimming in warm freshwater can lead to your death via an amoebal brain swarm. This has been your scary public service message of the day. You're welcome!
Also look! A diagram!
*I should probably say "safe and pleasant," as I suppose chlorinated and saltwater pools are a fairly safe swimming option. But swimming pools are icky.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Babies and beheadings (but not at the same time)
As many of you know, my sister recently had a baby. Yep, my younger sister, sharer of much of my DNA, pushed a tiny human out of her lady hole, and let me tell you: it is ADORABLE. (The baby, not the lady hole.) Many of you will be surprised to hear this (but the rest of you won't), I love babies. And kids. Really, I do. I may seem like a cold-hearted bitch to strangers, what with my insistence on telling it like it is and whatnot, but I love kids. I always have. When I was growing up, my first two career ideas for myself were: swim teacher at the YMCA (I really liked my swim teacher) and then, when my mother pointed out that "swim teacher at the YMCA" wasn't actually a career, I aimed a little higher and decided I wanted to be a day care teacher.
Since that time my career goals have matured slightly (though if I'm being honest my ultimate career goal is to win the lottery and not have a career), but my love for children has not. And thus, I decided that when I am in Toronto for a conference at the end of this month, I'm going to tack a weekend on to the trip to go to upstate NY to visit my sister and her baby. But mostly her baby. Yes, I could wait until I move to the east coast in June/July to see the baby, but I don't want to wait! I want to see him now!
Getting from Toronto to upstate NY seems easy enough, as they are pretty close together, but it's not cheap. The easiest way to get there would be to fly, but that costs $400 or more, and you have to route through NYC which just seems stupid. Renting a car is a $200 proposition, the train costs $100, and the bus $50. I'm still a poor grad student (though I won't be for long!), so obviously, I chose the bus. Plus, according to Greyhound, the bus I'll be taking has power outlets and free internet access. So it was a no brainer.
Speaking of no brainers (a morbid pun that will make sense in a minute), this brings me to the real topic of today's post. Yesterday I was telling someone about my plans to take the bus from Toronto to NY (and my hopes that it will be a more pleasant experience than the one I had taking a bus from Sofia, Bulgaria to Istanbul; man, that was an experience I don't want to repeat), and as soon as I mentioned "Greyhound" she gave me a meaningful look and said ominously, "I'd be careful who you sit in front of." Of course I asked why, and she proceeded to tell me about an incident in which a passenger on a Greyhound bus, out of nowhere, BEHEADED THE GUY SITTING IN FRONT OF HIM. Yep. Head completely off. Most terrifyingly, the beheader and the beheadee didn't know each other; it was an act of random violence. I'd never heard of this, so I was convinced it was an urban legend. Unfortunately, multiple news stories confirmed its veracity. There may also have been cannibalizing involved.
I did not know that beheading was a danger of bus travel (crashes and fires I know about), but now of course I am terrified that in my quest to meet my nephew I will end up with my head cut off by the guy behind me. Does this mean I have to sit in the last row of the bus? I hate that seat! It's next to the bathroom, and it makes me motion sick! (Wait, I just reread an account of the incident and it appears that the stabber attacked the guy sitting next to him, not in front of him. Phew. I really don't like that last seat.)
If you never hear from me after the end of this month, I guess you'll know what happened to me.
Who beheads a fellow bus passenger? Honestly.
***
FUN FACT: Prior to becoming a state, the Territory of Utah offered beheading as an optional method of execution!
Since that time my career goals have matured slightly (though if I'm being honest my ultimate career goal is to win the lottery and not have a career), but my love for children has not. And thus, I decided that when I am in Toronto for a conference at the end of this month, I'm going to tack a weekend on to the trip to go to upstate NY to visit my sister and her baby. But mostly her baby. Yes, I could wait until I move to the east coast in June/July to see the baby, but I don't want to wait! I want to see him now!
Getting from Toronto to upstate NY seems easy enough, as they are pretty close together, but it's not cheap. The easiest way to get there would be to fly, but that costs $400 or more, and you have to route through NYC which just seems stupid. Renting a car is a $200 proposition, the train costs $100, and the bus $50. I'm still a poor grad student (though I won't be for long!), so obviously, I chose the bus. Plus, according to Greyhound, the bus I'll be taking has power outlets and free internet access. So it was a no brainer.
Speaking of no brainers (a morbid pun that will make sense in a minute), this brings me to the real topic of today's post. Yesterday I was telling someone about my plans to take the bus from Toronto to NY (and my hopes that it will be a more pleasant experience than the one I had taking a bus from Sofia, Bulgaria to Istanbul; man, that was an experience I don't want to repeat), and as soon as I mentioned "Greyhound" she gave me a meaningful look and said ominously, "I'd be careful who you sit in front of." Of course I asked why, and she proceeded to tell me about an incident in which a passenger on a Greyhound bus, out of nowhere, BEHEADED THE GUY SITTING IN FRONT OF HIM. Yep. Head completely off. Most terrifyingly, the beheader and the beheadee didn't know each other; it was an act of random violence. I'd never heard of this, so I was convinced it was an urban legend. Unfortunately, multiple news stories confirmed its veracity. There may also have been cannibalizing involved.
I did not know that beheading was a danger of bus travel (crashes and fires I know about), but now of course I am terrified that in my quest to meet my nephew I will end up with my head cut off by the guy behind me. Does this mean I have to sit in the last row of the bus? I hate that seat! It's next to the bathroom, and it makes me motion sick! (Wait, I just reread an account of the incident and it appears that the stabber attacked the guy sitting next to him, not in front of him. Phew. I really don't like that last seat.)
If you never hear from me after the end of this month, I guess you'll know what happened to me.
Who beheads a fellow bus passenger? Honestly.
***
FUN FACT: Prior to becoming a state, the Territory of Utah offered beheading as an optional method of execution!
Friday, April 29, 2011
The world, she is a dangerous place
If I were mother earth, I'd be pretty pissed off at humankind. And if I believed in a mother earth, I'd totally believe she's pretty pissed off. I mean, how else would you explain the glut of tornadoes in the south? That's clearly retribution for the fact that there's still a giant hole in the ozone layer (Side note: Is it shocking that until recently I did not realize that the ozone hole is still a problem?). Or, you know, the tornadoes might just be retribution for climate change in general. Or not. We don't know.
This is actually what I'm most concerned about in general: We don't know. All things considered, caveatting this statement with my rudimentary understanding of science and nature, we barely know anything about the ultimate consequences of what we're doing to the world. Even scarier, if my friends are at all representative of most people, we don't much care to know. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to tell someone something about disease or climate change or death or disaster (I'm a great person to invite to parties, by the way) only to hear, 'I don't want to know! Stop talking!' People: Ignorance may be bliss, but complacency kills. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence! (Side note: I'm getting a lot of new catch phrases from the reading I've been doing for this blog. I like it. Almost time to make a cartoon about me! ...Or unfriend me, as the case may be.)
Related: Want to know where (in America) you are most likely to die from weather-related incidents? There's a map for that! (Ha, good pun, self.)
****
In non-weather related news, I learned yesterday about some new ways to contract illness and/or get paralyzed:
1. Touching armadillos = leprosy.
Yep, according to a study that I read about on the NPR website, touching raw armadillo meat can give you leprosy. Finally, vindication for my fear of touching raw meat! Not that I've ever touched raw armadillo. But that would fall under my "ew" category just as much as chicken and beef. (Funniest part of the NPR article: right after warning you to avoid touching armadillo, they link to an armadillo chili recipe on some website...called yumyum.com.)
Related: Want to know where the most cases of leprosy occur in the US? There's a map for that too! (Less funny pun the second time, but still a true statement.)
2. Trying surfing for the first time = paralyzed.
While idly surfing the net last night, I came across a website I probably shouldn't know about called OMG Facts. One of the facts that I read actually did make me go OMG, so I shall share it with you: There's a documented medical condition called surfer's myelopathy, in which, when you try surfing for the first time, you could end up paralyzed. (To be fair, the condition can actually be caused by any activity in which you hyper-extend your back, but is most often (or most sensationally?) caused by surfing for the first time. I know! OMG, right??)
I don't want to sound alarmist (ha! of course I do!), but my discovery of this disorder means I am likely never to go in the ocean again. Not that I often go in it at the moment--I am already scared of the ocean, what with jellyfish and sharks and weird fish and all. AND, believe it or not, I have already been kind of worried about ocean-related paralysis, thanks to the "community water safety" segment I had to take in my 12th grade gym class (taught by Ms. Miller, she of the four-inch-long bedazzled fingernails). I vividly remember sitting in the humid pool room, on the bleachers, watching a video in which a man describes (and an actor reenacts) running into the ocean, encountering a wave, and ending up paralyzed (here's a similar story). The lesson I learned from this video was not to be careful, but rather to avoid the ocean at all costs. At that point in my life I had only ever been swimming in the ocean once (actually, the gulf of Mexico), and I found it to be an extremely unpleasant, salty experience. So avoiding the ocean, which I've done fairly successfully since 12th grade (three Hawaii trips excluded), really isn't too difficult for me. I might live in Los Angeles, but I think I've gone within an eighth of a mile of the ocean maybe ten times in the five years I've been here. Do I want to go to the beach? You mean, do I want to sit out on a swath of sand with hoards of people, roasting in the cancerous sun, sand getting in everything, wind whipping the pages around on the book I'm trying to read, with the risk of paralysis (or shark bite) if I try to get in the water? I'll pass, thanks.
With that happy thought, I wish you a tornado-, paralysis- and armadillo-free weekend! XOXO.
This is actually what I'm most concerned about in general: We don't know. All things considered, caveatting this statement with my rudimentary understanding of science and nature, we barely know anything about the ultimate consequences of what we're doing to the world. Even scarier, if my friends are at all representative of most people, we don't much care to know. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to tell someone something about disease or climate change or death or disaster (I'm a great person to invite to parties, by the way) only to hear, 'I don't want to know! Stop talking!' People: Ignorance may be bliss, but complacency kills. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence! (Side note: I'm getting a lot of new catch phrases from the reading I've been doing for this blog. I like it. Almost time to make a cartoon about me! ...Or unfriend me, as the case may be.)
Related: Want to know where (in America) you are most likely to die from weather-related incidents? There's a map for that! (Ha, good pun, self.)
****
In non-weather related news, I learned yesterday about some new ways to contract illness and/or get paralyzed:
1. Touching armadillos = leprosy.
Yep, according to a study that I read about on the NPR website, touching raw armadillo meat can give you leprosy. Finally, vindication for my fear of touching raw meat! Not that I've ever touched raw armadillo. But that would fall under my "ew" category just as much as chicken and beef. (Funniest part of the NPR article: right after warning you to avoid touching armadillo, they link to an armadillo chili recipe on some website...called yumyum.com.)
Related: Want to know where the most cases of leprosy occur in the US? There's a map for that too! (Less funny pun the second time, but still a true statement.)
2. Trying surfing for the first time = paralyzed.
While idly surfing the net last night, I came across a website I probably shouldn't know about called OMG Facts. One of the facts that I read actually did make me go OMG, so I shall share it with you: There's a documented medical condition called surfer's myelopathy, in which, when you try surfing for the first time, you could end up paralyzed. (To be fair, the condition can actually be caused by any activity in which you hyper-extend your back, but is most often (or most sensationally?) caused by surfing for the first time. I know! OMG, right??)
With that happy thought, I wish you a tornado-, paralysis- and armadillo-free weekend! XOXO.
 |
| Did you know armadillos can swim? Me neither! |
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Only eight months until 2012...
Call me a pessimist, but we might need to start preparing for the End Times like, now.* Just look at what has happened in the last day or so!
Another giant earthquake in Japan!
A pretty big earthquake in Mexico.
A less big earthquake in Arkansas.
Announcement of two Jersey Shore spin-off shows, featuring JWow/Snooki and DJ Pauly D.
Need I say any more?
On top of all this, I learned today that cats have been known to sleep with babies...on their faces...suffocating them. Evidently this is not news, however, as this New York Times article from 1909 attests:
Thank goodness I'm allergic to cats, is all I have to say about that (and we haven't even touched on toxoplasmosis!). Not that I have a baby, but still. If California gets hit by a giant earthquake, causing major societal collapse and disruption of the food supply, I'm going to recommend eating the cats first of all. We've got to save the babies!
Keep up with your earthquake sightings here. And learn more about cats suffocating people, such as drunken college students, here.
*By preparing for the end times I mostly mean buying a gun and investing in some water filtration products. Don't want to get too crazy, now.
Another giant earthquake in Japan!
A pretty big earthquake in Mexico.
A less big earthquake in Arkansas.
Announcement of two Jersey Shore spin-off shows, featuring JWow/Snooki and DJ Pauly D.
Need I say any more?
On top of all this, I learned today that cats have been known to sleep with babies...on their faces...suffocating them. Evidently this is not news, however, as this New York Times article from 1909 attests:
Thank goodness I'm allergic to cats, is all I have to say about that (and we haven't even touched on toxoplasmosis!). Not that I have a baby, but still. If California gets hit by a giant earthquake, causing major societal collapse and disruption of the food supply, I'm going to recommend eating the cats first of all. We've got to save the babies!
Keep up with your earthquake sightings here. And learn more about cats suffocating people, such as drunken college students, here.
*By preparing for the end times I mostly mean buying a gun and investing in some water filtration products. Don't want to get too crazy, now.
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