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Jun. 20th, 2011 12:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* I've been a plague watcher all my life. You'd think the disease I'm most horrified by would be a hemorrhagic, like ebola, but it's not. It's rabies. It will likely always be rabies. Rabies is as close to zombies as real world diseases get. Even with modern medicine, if you are not treated early, before the symptoms are noticeable, you die slowly and horribly. it's a terrible process, the progressive, irreversible brain damage. Some get lethargic, others violent. imagine someone you know, slowly changing into a randomly violent, bitey, unpredictable stranger. There is reason to think rabies in humans played a roll in the werewolf legend, as rabid humans bite just like rabid animals and an unsteady walk can devolve to going on all fours. I have often wondered if rabies is one of the origins for the uncanny valley response some have to shuffling, unsteady humans.
* Why all this fuss over one sick raccoon and some missing feral cats? I know raccoons travel in packs. If there's two sick animals sighted 9one by me, one by the neighbors), that means there are more of them we don't see. I am suspecting nothing can be done until it burns itself out or one of them bites a child. I certainly can't go hunting them. I lack tall boots, training and weapons, and I don't think shooting raccoons in a residential neighborhood full of children is a good idea even if I were any good with guns. Despite the perfect weather, the neighbors have been keeping their children inside, there is no screaming by the rope swings or skate boarding up and down the street. Each time I go out, I keep my eyes peeled at ankle level, lest something come for my legs.
Back when there was money for such things, there was a program to put sandwiches laced with oral rabies vaccine out for racoons in areas prone to outbreaks. It used to be you could call animal control and trained, properly equipped people would sort out your infected wild life. I miss living in a first world country.
* Fobok correctly points out that I mistook Jim Youngs for Richard Hatch. It was the cheekbones, I think.
* I miss Wesley Snipes. I have nothing clever to say, just that I liked watching him be an action hero, and wish they'd offer him a decent role in a movie I'd actually watch.
* I watched Outcasts on BBC last night as it was in pace of Doctor Who. I love the concept, but it's sloooow. It does contain plenty of conspiracy theory and paranoia fodder which bodes better for the future. I'll likely watch a few more before I know if it's worth the hassle. I also gave Falling Skies a shot. Boring premise, but good pacing and actually have a few aspects other things with the same premise didn't, which lends hope for better things to come. I'm also willing to give it a few more chances to improve. As usual, both shows have all white people in charge/as main characters. Sigh. Lets hope the supporting cast gets more face time in future. At least the English show has women in positions of power. Both shows also seem to be using children for melodramatic purposes and the American show is also using dogs. Sigh.
* "Breeding with Neanderthals appears to have helped early humans fight disease:" http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-neanderthals-early-humans-disease.html
* "Ötzi's teeth:" http://news.discovery.com/history/oetzi-iceman-bad-teeth-110615.html
* Roman poop: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8575243/Dormice-sea-urchins-and-fresh-figs-the-Roman-diet-revealed.html
* "Vatican archeologists reveal 3rd century paintings hidden beneath Rome:" http://www.romereports.com/palio/Vatican-archeologists-reveal-3rd-century-paintings-hidden-beneath-Rome-english-4352.html
* Death of a Gladiator: http://www.livescience.com/14650-roman-gladiator-tombstone-epitaph.html
* "Tombs in Suffolk studied with aid of space-age science:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13748889
* More on vikings in Greenland and climate change; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1392749/Cold-climate-forced-Vikings-Greenland.html
* "Udupi: Ancient Unicorn Idol Found at Kalya:" http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=105370
* "Britain Is More Germanic than It Thinks:"http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,768706,00.html
* "Excavated Bomb Suggests Early Start for Artillery:" http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,769016,00.html
* Snerk: "Asterix books contain 704 victims of brain injury, study finds:" http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/16/asterix-books-brain-injury
* "On middle ground, compromise and neutrality:" http://www.sparkindarkness.com/2011/06/on-middle-ground-compromise-and.html
* Why all this fuss over one sick raccoon and some missing feral cats? I know raccoons travel in packs. If there's two sick animals sighted 9one by me, one by the neighbors), that means there are more of them we don't see. I am suspecting nothing can be done until it burns itself out or one of them bites a child. I certainly can't go hunting them. I lack tall boots, training and weapons, and I don't think shooting raccoons in a residential neighborhood full of children is a good idea even if I were any good with guns. Despite the perfect weather, the neighbors have been keeping their children inside, there is no screaming by the rope swings or skate boarding up and down the street. Each time I go out, I keep my eyes peeled at ankle level, lest something come for my legs.
Back when there was money for such things, there was a program to put sandwiches laced with oral rabies vaccine out for racoons in areas prone to outbreaks. It used to be you could call animal control and trained, properly equipped people would sort out your infected wild life. I miss living in a first world country.
* Fobok correctly points out that I mistook Jim Youngs for Richard Hatch. It was the cheekbones, I think.
* I miss Wesley Snipes. I have nothing clever to say, just that I liked watching him be an action hero, and wish they'd offer him a decent role in a movie I'd actually watch.
* I watched Outcasts on BBC last night as it was in pace of Doctor Who. I love the concept, but it's sloooow. It does contain plenty of conspiracy theory and paranoia fodder which bodes better for the future. I'll likely watch a few more before I know if it's worth the hassle. I also gave Falling Skies a shot. Boring premise, but good pacing and actually have a few aspects other things with the same premise didn't, which lends hope for better things to come. I'm also willing to give it a few more chances to improve. As usual, both shows have all white people in charge/as main characters. Sigh. Lets hope the supporting cast gets more face time in future. At least the English show has women in positions of power. Both shows also seem to be using children for melodramatic purposes and the American show is also using dogs. Sigh.
* "Breeding with Neanderthals appears to have helped early humans fight disease:" http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-neanderthals-early-humans-disease.html
* "Ötzi's teeth:" http://news.discovery.com/history/oetzi-iceman-bad-teeth-110615.html
* Roman poop: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8575243/Dormice-sea-urchins-and-fresh-figs-the-Roman-diet-revealed.html
* "Vatican archeologists reveal 3rd century paintings hidden beneath Rome:" http://www.romereports.com/palio/Vatican-archeologists-reveal-3rd-century-paintings-hidden-beneath-Rome-english-4352.html
* Death of a Gladiator: http://www.livescience.com/14650-roman-gladiator-tombstone-epitaph.html
* "Tombs in Suffolk studied with aid of space-age science:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13748889
* More on vikings in Greenland and climate change; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1392749/Cold-climate-forced-Vikings-Greenland.html
* "Udupi: Ancient Unicorn Idol Found at Kalya:" http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=105370
* "Britain Is More Germanic than It Thinks:"http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,768706,00.html
* "Excavated Bomb Suggests Early Start for Artillery:" http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,769016,00.html
* Snerk: "Asterix books contain 704 victims of brain injury, study finds:" http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/16/asterix-books-brain-injury
* "On middle ground, compromise and neutrality:" http://www.sparkindarkness.com/2011/06/on-middle-ground-compromise-and.html