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You are here: Home / Healthcare / Monday Evening Open Thread: Darwin Could Never Have Imagined…

Monday Evening Open Thread: Darwin Could Never Have Imagined…

by Anne Laurie|  August 21, 20239:05 pm| 164 Comments

This post is in: Healthcare, Open Threads, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All

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(On the other hand: Another entry in the ‘why twitter will be missed’ file.)

Hi, ER Doc here.

I can’t believe I have to say this but please do NOT perform mouth-to mouth on dead wild animals. https://t.co/beCb9t4kAR

— Sam Ghali, M.D. (@EM_RESUS) August 19, 2023

Related: please do NOT perform mouth-to mouth on live wild animals

— Sam Ghali, M.D. (@EM_RESUS) August 19, 2023

Tell all your friends about this

— Sam Ghali, M.D. (@EM_RESUS) August 19, 2023

This is how pandemics get started

— Sam Ghali, M.D. (@EM_RESUS) August 19, 2023

you only have one life. when you get to the end of it you won't remember all the dead wild animals you didn't perform mouth to mouth on but you'll remember the ones you did

— flglmn (@flglmn) August 20, 2023


I can assure you, the bunny did not make it.

— Sam Ghali, M.D. (@EM_RESUS) August 19, 2023

Nope. Did not survive. pic.twitter.com/2HDZIKyvWV

— JC R WHIT, PhD (@JC99WHIT) August 19, 2023

Yes

— Sam Ghali, M.D. (@EM_RESUS) August 19, 2023

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Reader Interactions

164Comments

  1. 1.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:07 pm

    Come on, people. Don’t kink shame.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    August 21, 2023 at 9:10 pm

    Not sure mouth to mouth works that well in a situation where the body is crushed anyway.

  3. 3.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 9:14 pm

    “Petey plays with them until they stop playing back.  Then Petey brings them to me crying either as mementos or wanting me to fix them”.

    Wut?  Lady, don’t you realize that Petey is bringing you half-dead offerings so you can finish them off?  They’re love offerings, ma’am.  He’s not asking you to “fix” them, he’s giving you the oppty to finish them off.

    Sheesh.

  4. 4.

    Yarrow

    August 21, 2023 at 9:18 pm

    If you’re going to do rescue breathing on wild or dead animals at least use a face and mouth guard.

  5. 5.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 9:20 pm

    I wouldn’t even lay a finger on a wild animal, let alone my damn mouth. What is wrong with people.

  6. 6.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 9:20 pm

    @Alison Rose: After 2020-2021, I think we know the answer to that question.

    ETA: I remember as a kid, if we tried to pick up food that had dropped on the floor for any reason except to throw it down the drain, we got seriously yelled at and maybe spanked.  No “five second rule”, no nuthin’.  And this lady thinks she’s so immune to consequences she can canoodle with a wild animal?  Hell, I get all skeeved-out when my neighbor’s (incredibly sweet) doggo Stevie licks my face.  I wash my hands after touching her.  What’re these people *thinking*.  Oh right, they’re not.

  7. 7.

    Kent

    August 21, 2023 at 9:21 pm

    That last tweet from Jorts and Jean just slayed me!

    But I can confidently say I have never once been tempted to do CPR on a wild animal, nor will I ever be tempted to do so in the future regardless of having read this.

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    August 21, 2023 at 9:21 pm

    Io Colony, sub level 43, preAdult instruction room, circa 3045:

    “And so, preAdults, we see from the many electronic “social media” artifacts that we’ve reviewed this week why Earth’s population was greatly reduced, beginning in 2024.”

    “Maestro Instructor, did they all kiss the same bunny?”

    “No no my preAdult…that wasn’t required.  All it took was one of them ‘kissing’ the wrong bunny, and, well…(sigh)…”

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:23 pm

    My grandfather gave his yorkie mouth to mouth when she had a heart attack. She then took digitalis every day and lived to be 19.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    August 21, 2023 at 9:23 pm

    If CPR is out, what about a defib machine?

  11. 11.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    August 21, 2023 at 9:23 pm

    https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-12-22

  12. 12.

    Yarrow

    August 21, 2023 at 9:24 pm

    So today I found out that a neighbor got bit by a flea while in California, got typhus and spent a week in the hospital. Typhus! I had no idea that was a thing in the US.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:25 pm

    @dmsilev: Car battery and jumper cables.  Field expedient.

  14. 14.

    Andrya

    August 21, 2023 at 9:26 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:  Adding to what you said, this is what wild mother cats do to teach their kittens to hunt.  Petey thinks his person is an incompetent kitten who needs remedial hunting lessons.

    Adding to what Dr. Sam said:  the wonderful older friend who taught me how to backpack required every novice who joined his backpacking trips to attend a 1 hour class (given by him, free) on backpacking safety.  (This was California, about backpacking in the Sierra Nevada mountains.)  One rule I remember:  never approach the remains of a dead rodent!  California wild country rodents pass around bubonic plague, and if a rodent dies of plague, its fleas will be looking to jump to a new warm blooded host.

  15. 15.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 9:26 pm

    @Yarrow: Wait’ll you hear about the squirrels in Yosemite.

  16. 16.

    Spanky

    August 21, 2023 at 9:27 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    And this lady thinks she’s so immune to consequences she can canoodle with a wild animal?

    Not any more.

  17. 17.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 9:27 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: I love dogs but when I see people letting their dogs lick their mouths, I’m just like…do you understand how disgusting dogs can be? That tongue was probably wrapped around the dog’s junk moments earlier. My cat will occasionally start licking my arm and I let her do it for maybe five seconds and then I’m like OKAY ENOUGH and then I clean it off.

  18. 18.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 9:29 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    That tongue was probably wrapped around the dog’s junk moments earlier.

    Hell, my neighbor has informed me that Stevie eats her own poo from time-to-time (and this is apparently not rare in dogs).  Ain’t no way I’m lettin’ Stevie lick my mouth if I can help it.

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    August 21, 2023 at 9:31 pm

    @Yarrow: Maryland now has its first local malaria case in over 40 years. What’s old is new again.

  20. 20.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 21, 2023 at 9:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I missed a transition there, and felt comfortable understanding why you aren’t transphobic.

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    August 21, 2023 at 9:32 pm

    @Alison Rose: But, but, but, she had a sincerely held belief in the healing power of her very own breath.  We must not question a person’s sincerely held beliefs, Alison.  You know this.

    //////////

  22. 22.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 9:34 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: Yep, many dogs eat their own crap when they’re young. Our old doggie Charlie did it a couple times as a puppy, but thankfully we managed to train him out of it.

  23. 23.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 9:35 pm

    @Scout211: I have a sincerely held belief that she’s a dingdong.

  24. 24.

    Jeffro

    August 21, 2023 at 9:35 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: there was a piece in the Post a week or so ago about allllll the good reasons not to let pets (dogs, mostly) lick you in the mouth.

    I sent it to my brother, who’s just gross this way.

    He claims he doesn’t let his dog do this…anymore…

  25. 25.

    Ken

    August 21, 2023 at 9:37 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: They carry the plague, right? The Black Death one.

    Alan E. Nourse, physician and science-fiction writer, had a very good novel, The Fourth Horseman, where a new, pneumonic strain of that shows up. The first case was a woman hiking in the Rockies, who saw a poor sick little squirrel and picked it up. Though at least she didn’t give it mouth-to-mouth.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    August 21, 2023 at 9:38 pm

    Our spotted lanternfly population seems to have absolutely exploded in the past week. It’s super-gross. I don’t believe they transmit any disease (that we know of), but they went from occasional to every-damn-where and the sidewalk looks like a crime scene.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:38 pm

    Some of you may be a bit obsessively germophobic.

  28. 28.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 9:40 pm

    @Ken: a-yup, so I hear.   Here in SF we got tons of ’em.  I hear you can blind ’emm with laser pointers, and I muse about getting one and trying to learn how to aim well.  A bunch took up residence in my apartment’s attic a few years ago: the landlord eventually redid the roof, and since then they seem to have gone, but now I hear rodent-like sawing sounds from the basement, so maybe they’re down in there, sigh.

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:40 pm

    @Ken: Prairie dogs are supposedly rife with plague-carrying fleas.

  30. 30.

    Scout211

    August 21, 2023 at 9:45 pm

    @Yarrow: This really is a full service blog. I learned a thing or three today reading balloon-juice. California Dept of Public Health

    Flea-borne typhus is a disease caused by Rickettsia typhi bacteria that are spread by fleas. Human cases of flea-borne typhus are reported worldwide, but mainly in tropical and coastal areas. In the United States, most cases occur in Texas, California and Hawaii, with an average of about 300 cases every year. In California, flea-borne typhus is considered endemic (always present) in areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, but sometimes cases are also reported from other parts of California. A person can get typhus by coming in contact with fleas that are infected with the bacteria that cause typhus. Fleas become infected when they bite small animals like rats, opossums and stray cats. Fleas can then spread the bacteria that cause typhus to other animals and humans.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:45 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: I hear you can blind ’emm with laser pointers, and I muse about getting one and trying to learn how to aim well.

    Christ.

  32. 32.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 9:46 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Omnes, if you wanna French your dog, you go right ahead. We’ll still accept you.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 9:47 pm

    @Alison Rose: ​
      I don’t have a dog. And when I did it was a male and I don’t swing that way. Just saying.

  34. 34.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 9:49 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Cats give you their kills as a sign of affection.  And they do not “play” with their prey, they torture/tease them letting them think they are getting away.

    I have owned kitties since I was eight and love them.  Those are just the facts.

  35. 35.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 9:50 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    ANY mammal can carry rabies.  No way here either.

  36. 36.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 21, 2023 at 9:51 pm

    Has anyone seen Roy Kent and his niece Phoebe? Last I heard, she wanted to a veterinarian for wild animals, and I hope she didn’t do this and catch the plague or something.

  37. 37.

    LAO

    August 21, 2023 at 9:53 pm

    When I saw that twitter thread I instantly thought of Jay from TikTok

    https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRWt291u/

  38. 38.

    Yarrow

    August 21, 2023 at 9:54 pm

    @Spanky:  I knew about the malaria in Florida and Texas but hadn’t heard about Maryland. Ugh. Malaria is not fun.

    @Scout211:  Pretty sure he said he was in L.A. so that tracks.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 9:55 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    I just make air kisses with my dog, no touching. Am I a canine-tease?

  40. 40.

    LAO

    August 21, 2023 at 9:55 pm

    @Alison Rose: you definitely do not want to meet my dog: she is both disgusting (killed 3 ground hogs) and is a licker. I tell her on the daily, it’s a good thing she’s so cute.

  41. 41.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 9:56 pm

    @Alison Rose: 
    Immune system boost.

    AKA “I can’t tell whether this is killing me or making me stronger…”

  42. 42.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 9:59 pm

    @eclare: Maybe your dog is asexual and prefers it!

  43. 43.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 10:01 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    Great way to think about it!

  44. 44.

    Argiope

    August 21, 2023 at 10:01 pm

    I learned not to try to heal anything in class Rodentia when I was 7 and tried to pick up a “sick” chipmunk I found on the sidewalk. I had great intentions. It ended up having its head sent to Columbus to the state veterinary lab to rule out rabies. Looking back, that wasn’t a great day for my dad. All I got was a bite on the finger and a life lesson, but I had no idea what rabies was, and he did. This wannabe Bunny EMT is way older than 7.​

  45. 45.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 10:06 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: i just want them to not undermine my house.  I mean, they were all over the attic. From one end to the other.  During the 2 years until I convinced my landlord that maybe they ought to redo the roof, every time it rained I worried that maybe the dam squirrels had dug through The shingles and Left a channel so the rain could flood my entire apartment.

    This isn’t exactly the countryside: the houses here are cheek by jowl.

  46. 46.

    RevRick

    August 21, 2023 at 10:06 pm

    @Spanky: I recall reading in a biography of Henry Ward Beecher that when he moved to a church in a recently settled area of Indiana, he had to contend with malaria in the region.

    One of the effects of climate change will be the spread of tropical diseases, especially into the Gulf Coast region of the United States.

  47. 47.

    Betty

    August 21, 2023 at 10:07 pm

    @Suzanne: I have seen articles warning about them, but I think the damage is to crops, not people. Doing a little research, I found that they can actually help honeybees be more resistant to mites. Nature can be strange.

  48. 48.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    August 21, 2023 at 10:09 pm

    @eclare:

    Our Stewie brings me a stick or twig every day for some praise and a reward (treats). He used to bring me hummingbirds until I removed the hummingbird dispenser (large flowering plant) in the back yard. Now I reward him with treats so he brings me sticks and such instead of poor birbs.

    It works. :)

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    August 21, 2023 at 10:10 pm

    Biden’s visit to Lahaina.

  50. 50.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 10:11 pm

    As far as life lessons about wildlife are concerned, I learned second-hand in Anchorage AK that when hungry moose descend to the valleys and towns in the winter, it’s a truly terrible idea to try to feed them, even if the majestic and apparently docile 7-foot specimen at your front porch reminds you of “Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose”. They can get angry and stompy, and they cannot be outrun, especially in snow.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:11 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: ​
      I just find the desire to blind them a bit trop. Killing, I could understand, but not blinding.

  52. 52.

    persistentillusion

    August 21, 2023 at 10:12 pm

    @eclare: I had a Blue Heeler dog who loved me and would bring me tribute.  After the dead bird on my pillow, we had a talk….

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:12 pm

    @Carlo Graziani: ​
      Hide behind a tree. Moose have terrible eyesight and poor memories.

  54. 54.

    Jackie

    August 21, 2023 at 10:13 pm

    @Yarrow: Typhus, malaria, leprosy, flesh eating bacteria… the ends of time are a coming.

  55. 55.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Oddly enough, that’s the advice that I received in Anchorage, although it was on the basis that “you can get around a tree a lot faster than a moose can.”

  56. 56.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: to kill involves deadly force, and that might injure humans inadvertently.  But since the squirrels like roofs and railings, I can sit on my elevated back porch And be certain That a laser pointer would affect no humans.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    @Jackie: Hurriquakes.

  58. 58.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 10:15 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    That’s great!

  59. 59.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 10:18 pm

    @persistentillusion:

    Ugh.  I thought my dogs killing a raccoon in my backyard was bad.  I paid my yard guy to take the carcass away.

  60. 60.

    Ella in New Mexico

    August 21, 2023 at 10:18 pm

    Gawd. Although, I’m sure she meant well. I had a co-worker who caught tuleremia but didn’t know why until they did a deep dive search in their yard and found a rabbit carcus doggo ate.

    She clearly has a good heart but…I agree with the MD.

    It was a wild bunny….at least use your hands to create a funnle with zone of no contact maybe? Or just let it pass?

    Sad either way.

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:19 pm

    @Carlo Graziani: Probably true as well.

  62. 62.

    evodevo

    August 21, 2023 at 10:20 pm

    @RevRick: Yep…Yellow fever killed ~5000 in Philly in the late 1700’s.  Between the spread of mosquitoes and anti-vaxxers, I can imagine what the future will hold…

  63. 63.

    phdesmond

    August 21, 2023 at 10:22 pm

    @Jeffro:

    put a garish cover on it!  best-seller material.

  64. 64.

    CaseyL

    August 21, 2023 at 10:22 pm

    My grandmother brought a baby caiman back from Florida for me when I was about 8. It arrived dead, and I desperately hoped to revive it.

    My parents put it in a shallow dish of warm water and I did, in fact, give it mouth-to-mouth. The only reason I didn’t try CPR is that CPR didn’t exist yet (this would have been the early 60s).

    The poor thing was well and truly dead, though, and at some point in the night my parents got rid of it.

    (I would give mouth to mouth and CPR and anything else I can think of to one of my animals if they suddenly up and keeled over. But I hope I’d have enough sense not to try that with an animal I didn’t know at all.)​

  65. 65.

    Andrya

    August 21, 2023 at 10:25 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:   At a minimum, ask the SF Humane Society for a method of killing squirrels that is no risk to humans and less cruel than what you are doing.

    The most severe pain I have ever experienced was an infection in the inside of one eye.  I had had no idea that level of pain was even possible- it was orders of magnitude worse than a severe burn.   Please don’t do that to squirrels if there is any alternative.

  66. 66.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:28 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: And blind squirrels will live long healthy lives with their seeing-eye mice and little white canes?

  67. 67.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 10:28 pm

    @Carlo Graziani:

    I assume the towel over the head ploy doesn’t work

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:31 pm

    @kalakal: ​
      Moose are dumb but not mind-bogglingly stupid.

  69. 69.

    satby

    August 21, 2023 at 10:31 pm

    @RevRick: Chicago, being swampy originally, not only had malaria but yellow fever too.

    @Scout211: Typhus and bubonic plague, both still endemic in the southwest. And I distinctly remember several SW jackals arguing with me that they didn’t need to use flea preventative (toxic chemicals!!!) on their animals because that only happened on the remote reservation areas. Sure, because pathogen carrying fleas are great respectors of suburban boundaries.

  70. 70.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 10:32 pm

    We have an armadillo living in the backyard. If it suffers a cardiac arrest it’s on its own. Leprosy is not on my bucket list

  71. 71.

    Ksmiami

    August 21, 2023 at 10:33 pm

    @Ken: prairie dogs in the Southwest are plague carriers as well. Do not go near dead ones especially

  72. 72.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 10:33 pm

    @kalakal:  That’s camels.

    (OK, that’s a flagrant foul, nolo contendere. But I couldn’t resist…)

  73. 73.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 10:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: they are rodents, there are millions of them, they spread diseases, and I wouldn’t care except that they dug into my house.  I mean are you going to next tell me that I should care about pigeons?   They’re flying rats.

    ETA: different answer: they’ll be easy pickings for the many many outdoor cats in my neighborhood.

  74. 74.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 10:34 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: but are they ravenous?

    They’re certainly mind bogglingly ginormous.

  75. 75.

    satby

    August 21, 2023 at 10:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: agree. Plus, talk about red flags.

    For chrissakes, they’re squirrels, not T-rexes, and Chetan was renting. That’s what rental insurance is for.

    Ok, full disclosure: as an animal rescuer, not only have I saved dogs, cats, and the occasional rabbit, but also squirrels, raccoons, and various birds including several pigeons. We share their space.

  76. 76.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 10:37 pm

    @Chetan Murthy:  For what it’s worth: ultrasound noisemaker pest repellent devices are very effective at making rodents and other pests anxious to be elsewhere. They are like inaudible (to humans) car alarms that never stop. Easily purchaseable online, and work on squirrels, raccoons, mice, etc.

  77. 77.

    Chetan Murthy

    August 21, 2023 at 10:38 pm

    @satby: dude I’m musing about it not doing it… Read my original comment.

  78. 78.

    satby

    August 21, 2023 at 10:41 pm

    @Chetan Murthy: good, because if you do it you’ve outted yourself as a sicko.

    I said what I said.

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 10:41 pm

    @kalakal: My only personal encounter with a moose came when I was seven.  My dad and I were backpacking on Isle Royale in Lake Superior.  We set up our tent along side a trail one evening and woke in the morning to find a cow moose sticking her head in our tent to see who and what the fuck we were.  Obviously, she decided we were mostly harmless.  She and her calf took a detour around us and swan off across a nearby small lake.  Her head was a very large and moose-like thing to wake up to.

  80. 80.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 10:53 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    That will wake you up fast!  I saw them in AK, they are huge.

  81. 81.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 10:56 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:  That sounds like a lucky break to me. Cow Moose + Calves + humans = stomping in a lot of cases.

    I was once on the balcony of an in-law’s house in Palmer, AK, when we noticed that a cow and two calves were cooling themselves in a shallow creek-fed pond on the property. We watched, and then all hell broke loose when the house dog started barking (also from the balcony) at the intruder. First the cow chased the calves into the woods. Then she turned back and, neck hair erect and chuffing like a locomotive, challenged the house to single combat, running up to the wall beneath the balcony, then backing off, and running up again. It was a very impressive, and frankly somewhat intimidating display.

    (And, this far into the moose thread-diversion, I cannot resist “A moose bit my sister once…”)

  82. 82.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 11:02 pm

    It’s not as exciting as a moose or prairie dog or whatever, but I got my hand nearly bit off by an angry goose when I was a wee lass. Photo evidence from moments before the attack!

  83. 83.

    Yarrow

    August 21, 2023 at 11:03 pm

    @Carlo Graziani:  I can tell you from personal experience that while humans may not be able to hear them they can feel them at some level. Created stress and panic at a level I cannot describe. Quit the minute the device was turned off. Just a warning in case someone tries one. Also, if you have pets they can cause issues for them.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 11:09 pm

    @Alison Rose: ​
    I had an uncle who offered me five dollars if I pet one of the geese on his friend’s farm. I entered the goose enclosure. I did not get the money. I did develop a desire to eat goose rather than turkey on Thanksgiving (more flavor, less dry, and fuck those vicious bastards).

  85. 85.

    coin operated

    August 21, 2023 at 11:10 pm

    If you’ve ever had your nipple bitten off by a beaver…you just might be a redneck

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjerEk16b7w

  86. 86.

    Sister Golden Bear

    August 21, 2023 at 11:12 pm

    Rainbow Flag Killer Identified As Christian Extremist

    Yep, he’s exactly who we thought he’d — although being Asian was a twist.

  87. 87.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 11:12 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I was far too young to have any recollection of it now, but my mom said they were “nice at first” and then that one just went spare on me hand, to quote the philosopher Ringo.

  88. 88.

    Lethe

    August 21, 2023 at 11:12 pm

    @Carlo Graziani: Oh yes. Was about 14, came XC-skiing round a turn on the Hillside Ski trail, and we both got surprised. Learned you can climb really skinny birches with your skis on.

  89. 89.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:13 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Mrs kalakal had a similar experience as a kid. She was fetching some water from a spring at a tiny, remote campsite north of the St. Lawrence see way when she this slurping noise. She turned and about 3 feet away was a moose. Luckily it ignored her, put it’s head down and began drinking. As she says “It’s head was bigger than I was!”

    I’ve never seen one but Leeds museum has a skeleton of an Irish Elk which were about the same size, it’s 7 ft high

    with unfeasibly sized antlers 12 ft across

    Irish Elk

  90. 90.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:15 pm

    @Alison Rose: Geese are vicious sods

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 11:16 pm

    @kalakal: One of the places where T. H. White got it very, very wrong.

  92. 92.

    Carlo Graziani

    August 21, 2023 at 11:17 pm

    @kalakal:  Their rendered fat is abundant, and makes for heavenly roasted potatoes, though.

    My son will eat fowl, but not mammals, from some inscrutable moral choice. He thought he was separated forever from Yorkshire pudding, a considerable sacrifice, until I realized that duck is close enough to beef and duck lard makes excellent Yorkshire pudding. I scored high Dad points that day.

  93. 93.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 11:20 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    You look so unsuspecting!

  94. 94.

    zeecube

    August 21, 2023 at 11:20 pm

    @Alison Rose: Great pic. You were brave.

  95. 95.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 21, 2023 at 11:20 pm

    Spain’s Olga Carmona has some poetry for the fans after Spain returned home as world champions.

  96. 96.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:23 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: You’re not kidding.

    They are nasty creatures.

    I once had a run in with a swan, I was walking through some reeds by a canal, came across a cleared area with a big pile of twigs, while I was wondering what it was a swan stuck it’s head out and then came at me screeching, wings out. It was huge.

  97. 97.

    Ksmiami

    August 21, 2023 at 11:25 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: they are.

  98. 98.

    Alison Rose

    August 21, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    @eclare: Or too young to realize that birb was suspish :P

     

    @zeecube: Thanks! I love those shoes.

  99. 99.

    tobie

    August 21, 2023 at 11:26 pm

    My gallows humor reached its limit today. There’s a COVID outbreak in my mother’s senior home in Florida. She moved there after my father died so she wouldn’t be alone. Now she’s alone in her apartment. The new booster cannot become available fast enough!

  100. 100.

    sab

    August 21, 2023 at 11:28 pm

    @RevRick: My dad did work with Ohio bloodbanks in the 1960s. They were very concerned about Vietnam vets bringimg malaria back into the midwest and border states. It had been endemic in the 19th century.

  101. 101.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 21, 2023 at 11:30 pm

    @NotMax:

    There have been some great clips from this visit.

  102. 102.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 11:30 pm

    @tobie:

    Oh that’s awful.  I agree about the new booster, it cannot get here fast enough.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 11:30 pm

    @kalakal: Swans are like giant geese with ‘roid rage.

  104. 104.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:30 pm

    @Carlo Graziani: nice one!

    Somewhere I’ve got an Edwardian children’s annual, “Chums” or something like that, it’s full of wonderful ripping yarns and photos of the wonders of science & technology c1908. It has an article “Our Christmas Dinner!” with these little girls happily feeding a goose while telling the reader how much they’re looking forward to eating it. Not much for sentiment, our ancestors.

  105. 105.

    tobie

    August 21, 2023 at 11:32 pm

    @eclare: Thanks. That my mother is in a state with Dr. Ladapo as its surgeon general fills me with dread.

  106. 106.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 11:33 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    No surprise.  It’s so sad.

  107. 107.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 11:34 pm

    @kalakal: I wonder if geese know about foie gras and that’s why they are so hateful to humans.

  108. 108.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 11:34 pm

    @tobie:

    I had forgotten about that, ugh.

  109. 109.

    wjca

    August 21, 2023 at 11:36 pm

    @Spanky: Maryland is seeing malaria.

    And for more variety, it appears Florida is seeing a bunch of cases of leprosy.  Which is entirely curable these days.  Unless DeSantis (or other cultists) decide that, like vaccines, antibiotics should be anathema.

  110. 110.

    tobie

    August 21, 2023 at 11:36 pm

    @eclare: On the positive side, I now have good reason to get my mother to bone up on her Zoom skills. I’m going to be abroad starting in February and Zoom will be the best way to keep in touch with her.

  111. 111.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:37 pm

    @tobie: Here’s hoping she’s ok.

    Couldn’t agree more about the booster. As for Ladopo the man is a menace to health.

  112. 112.

    Jackie

    August 21, 2023 at 11:38 pm

    Off topic, but funnier than hell!:

    ”Axios: “Fox restricted campaign credentials for the post-debate ‘spin room‘ — where aides tout their candidates and rip their foes — to candidates who are participating in the debate.”

    “Trump’s aides and surrogates had indicated they would be in the spin room despite their candidate’s absence — but now they’ll only be able to enter if they are guests of media organizations.”

    Bahahaahaaaa!  I do believe MTG, Gaetz, TIFG Jr, Kari Lakes, Byron Donald and others planned to be there as TIFG’s surrogates.

  113. 113.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 21, 2023 at 11:38 pm

    All this talk of geese. One of the Soviet generals commented after WW2 when there was talk about how effective dogs were as sentries, and he scoffed. He said the geese were far superior in raising a ruckus when they sensed something was off or an intruder was in the area, and dogs couldn’t hold a candle to their effectiveness.

  114. 114.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:41 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Good point. In that case I can hardly blame them. They do seem to get on with collies

  115. 115.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 21, 2023 at 11:41 pm

    While I can’t knock people for empathy and kindness, any walk down a nature trail the first thing in the morning and having to step over last night’s slaughter should really dispel any romantic notions about animals.

  116. 116.

    tobie

    August 21, 2023 at 11:42 pm

    @kalakal: I sometimes wonder whether Lapado believes the crap he says or if he just relishes being a rightwing provocateur. DItto for Vivek Ramaswamy. Both are so committed to ‘owning the libs,’ that they convince themselves of the most preposterous positions. The fact that they have a big mic and in Lapado’s position power makes them dangerous. Otherwise they’d just be the asshole who yells at the neighbors’ kids.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 11:44 pm

    @kalakal: They are both as mad as hatters, so it works out well.

  118. 118.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 21, 2023 at 11:46 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​
      I still think wolves are pretty cool though.

  119. 119.

    eclare

    August 21, 2023 at 11:51 pm

    @tobie:

    Good luck with Zoom!

  120. 120.

    kalakal

    August 21, 2023 at 11:53 pm

    @tobie: Don’t know about Ramaswamy but I think Ladopo is  both. He’s a genuine crank about the benefits of a healthy diet “eat more fruit, cures all ills” and a full bore anti-vaxxer. He also just loves being in a position to impose his fruitcake ideas on others. We’re going to get a lot of preventable disease down here, he and DeStupid are talking about banning mRNA vaccines. Good luck with that, the Villages will descend en masse on Tallahassee in a convoy of a 1,000 golf carts, armed with sharpened Zimmer frames. Sadly I’m dreading a big measles outbreak, and people learning the tragic way that it is a very dangerous disease for children

  121. 121.

    phdesmond

    August 21, 2023 at 11:55 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    wow, spaniards really do use the second person plural.

  122. 122.

    tobie

    August 22, 2023 at 12:08 am

    @kalakal: I didn’t realize you were in Florida. My mother is in Sarasota, home of America’s malaria outbreak. There is a vaccine against malaria, but you’re right: Lapado and DeSantis would ban it. I pity immunocompromised folks in Florida. They’re really at risk in a state where the leadership doesn’t believe in public health

    ETA: every senior with an ounce of sense will leave the state if DeSantis bans the mRNA vaccines. Heck, I’ll be on the road from Maryland to Florida to collect my mom.

  123. 123.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 12:21 am

    @tobie:

    Absolutely, go get your mother if FL bans the vaccine.  But Puddin Boots has already picked a fight with Disney and lost the state 1B of investment and either one or two thousand jobs.  And he picked a fight with cruise lines who dock in the state over their wanting to have some covid restrictions.

    So I’m guessing he feels like he can do whatever he damn well pleases, regardless of protests.  He cannot be forced out of govt due to term limits soon enough.

  124. 124.

    tobie

    August 22, 2023 at 12:31 am

    @eclare: DeSantis is truly awful and Florida is slowly discovering it. I don’t have a good read of the state I hope one day someone can explain how the state swung so far right. Yes, there are the usual suspects–midwestern retirees settled there en masse, Latinos in the state bought the line that Dems are socialists hook, line, and sinker, the state Dem party was/is a disaster, etc but I’m not sure that captures such a dramatic shift in political sentiment.

  125. 125.

    kalakal

    August 22, 2023 at 12:31 am

    @tobie: Yes, I’m about an hours drive north of your mother in Clearwater

    He almost certainly won’t. He really, really needs the votes of the MAGA retirees and they are very keen on enjoying a long retirement. It’s no coincidence that he prioritised vaccine roll outs in both The Villages and Sarasota. The uptake of vaccines amongst the over 65s was really, really high. Piss them off and he won’t even win Florida in a Presidential election

    If he does, and the State Senate doesn’t override him get your mother out. Mrs kalakal and I will be vaccine tourists to NJ where my stepdaughter lives.

  126. 126.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 12:35 am

    @tobie:

    Don’t forget gerrymandering that allows the most extreme R’s to get in the legislature with no hope of voting them out.  They allow him to do what he wants.

    Extreme gerrymandering happened in my state, TN.  No way to get some of these fuckers out.

  127. 127.

    kalakal

    August 22, 2023 at 12:39 am

    @eclare:

    I think his shelf life is pretty limited thanks to his crappy presidential campaign

    I am so looking forward to the Fl GQP pols treatment of Ron DePlorable after he crashes and burns. They’re a bunch of stupid, vicious weasels who have spent the last few years rolling over for him out of a mix of ambition and fear. In a few months he’ll be the lamest of ducks, term limited and covered in loser stink. And they hate him

  128. 128.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 12:43 am

    @kalakal:

    The shade and froid will be delicious.

  129. 129.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 22, 2023 at 12:59 am

    Holy cow, world records have been falling all weekend at the World Track and Field Championships, and the women’s 4×100 relay is an especially wonderful example as the US dominates!

  130. 130.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 1:10 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Awesome!

    I thought Allyson Felix retired?

    Wait, is that old video?

  131. 131.

    HumboldtBlue

    August 22, 2023 at 1:18 am

    @eclare: ​

    She did. I used old video I thought was from this weekend’s races because I’m an idiot.

    To make up for it, here’s Jane Fonda talking about the genius who is Dolly Parton.

  132. 132.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 1:19 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Happens to all of us.

  133. 133.

    Ruckus

    August 22, 2023 at 1:27 am

    @Carlo Graziani:

    I will say once again I was in the housing area of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon walking to the store on the south side of that housing area. There was a group of 9-10 yr olds play with a ball and they looked at me, all of them shut up and they slowly walked away. It seemed the were looking past me so I slowly turned around and about 3-4 feet, now in front of me was an elk. I’m close to 6 ft tall and his back was 1 1/2 to 2 feet over my head. His antlers were about 6 feet tall and just a guess, he likely weighted about 1500 lbs. He looked down at me and I walked very slowly away, like those kids. If they knew not to run, I figured that was a smart move. Elk walked on like he owned the place, which he very much did. Those kids may have saved my life, in a situation I was never expecting.

  134. 134.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 22, 2023 at 1:35 am

    Ummmmm…….

    Ummmmmm……..

    Ummmmm………….

     

    Cubs win!  Cubs win!  Tigers’ fans are not their crowd!

  135. 135.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 1:37 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    That is awesome.  I rewatched that movie a few months ago, it holds up.  I remember going to see it in the theater with my parents when it came out.

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    August 22, 2023 at 1:39 am

    @coin operated:

    I think might be is doing a hell of a lot of work there.

  137. 137.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 1:39 am

    @Ruckus:

    Wow!  I guess that is a good rule for all wild animals, don’t run.  Prey runs, and four legs always beat two.

  138. 138.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 1:43 am

    @coin operated:

    Oh that is hilarious, especially the last line!

  139. 139.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    August 22, 2023 at 3:23 am

    @Alison Rose: And cat shit is considered a delicacy by many dogs.  Since cats have such a high protein requirement for their food (they are obligate carnivores), even their shit has a lot of protein in it.

  140. 140.

    Christopher Mathews

    August 22, 2023 at 3:35 am

    People often don’t think about the consequences of touching wild animals.

    I once petted a very friendly, very feral tomcat without wondering where he’d been.  As this was in the town of Pripyat, in the middle of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, it was a very dumb thing to do.

  141. 141.

    Princess

    August 22, 2023 at 6:00 am

    People are such idiots.

  142. 142.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 22, 2023 at 6:07 am

    @Carlo Graziani: ​
     

    My son will eat fowl, but not mammals, from some inscrutable moral choice.

    I don’t know the reasons for his choice, but global warming is one reason I’ve drastically reduced my beef consumption: methane from cow burps and farts produces ~14% of greenhouse gas production. Whether pigs or sheep are less problematic than cows, or whether cows are the problem because we have a ton of burger chains in the U.S. but no comparable mass vending of pork or lamb fast food, I have no idea. But fowl clearly aren’t nearly so much of a climate problem, so we’re eating a lot more chicken these days.

  143. 143.

    Anyway

    August 22, 2023 at 6:18 am

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Sha’carri Richardson beat two Jamaicans for the 100m gold.. Good win for the 23-yr-old.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    August 22, 2023 at 6:24 am

    @HumboldtBlue: When the Gauls were besieging Rome around 470 BCE (I think) they tried to sneak up the Capitoline Hill one night.  The watchdogs did not bark but some geese alerted Roman defenders who then repelled the attack. So for centuries after the Romans kept a flock of Sacred Geese on the hill.

  145. 145.

    Baud

    August 22, 2023 at 6:30 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    methane from cow burps and farts produces ~14% of greenhouse gas production.

     
    I think it was Newt Gingrich that mocked government funding for cow fart research in the 90s as an example of government waste.

  146. 146.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 22, 2023 at 6:31 am

    @satby:

    Sure, because pathogen carrying fleas are great respectors of suburban boundaries.

    Ground squirrels are.  They’re the reservoirs for plague, not urban rodents like rats.  Typhus I dunno.  Not afraid of plague, since the infection rate is ludicrously low and the US death rate nonexistent.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    All the duck-type waterfowl are vicious, violent, and spitefully mean, at least as a species average.  Ducks treat each other evilly.  They know humans are way too big to hurt, is the thing.  The bigger, the nicer, but also the less intimidated.  A swan who’s feeling pissy feels no need to hold back.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I still think wolves are pretty cool though.

    They are.  They really are.  Alas, DO NOT TOUCH.  They have parasites that are harmless to themselves but grotesquely fatal to humans.  Ugh.  Parasitology class taught me things the mind of Man should not know.

  147. 147.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    August 22, 2023 at 6:36 am

    @Baud: ​
     They always appeal to the worst in people

    Blasting what he called excessive spending, Jindal mocked the Democrats’ stimulus bill for including “$140 million for something called volcano monitoring.” Jindal paused for effect. “Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.”

  148. 148.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 22, 2023 at 6:41 am

    @Baud: ​
     

    I think it was Newt Gingrich that mocked government funding for cow fart research in the 90s as an example of government waste.

    Because of course he would.

    This has been an interesting thread. We’ve discussed The Plague, the hazards of the majestic møøse, and even a passing mention of pigeons as flying rats. So I’ve had Firesign Theatre, Monty Python, and Tom Lehrer all going through my brain at once.

  149. 149.

    prostratedragon

    August 22, 2023 at 6:56 am

    World track highlights, day 3 featuring the women’s 100m final. Note that the winner, Sha’Carri Richardson, is way over in lane 9. Good day for Team USA. And what is it with these falls at the finish? The agony of defeat!

  150. 150.

    eclare

    August 22, 2023 at 7:04 am

    @prostratedragon:

    That finish was incredible.  So glad for Sha’Carri.

  151. 151.

    LiminalOwl

    August 22, 2023 at 7:32 am

    @Ken: Ooh, thank you.  I read Nourse’s The Universe Between when I was 12 (probably my first non-fantasy SFF) and loved it. Will look this one up.

  152. 152.

    Mel

    August 22, 2023 at 8:11 am

    @Alison Rose: Fellow goose bite survivor here!

    Sixteen year old me was at a party, standing near the pond and trying to look cool while talking to very cute boy.

    My goose nemesis snuck up behind me, and bit me, HARD, on the butt cheek, and hung on with a vengeance for several minutes while I hollered and did cartoon-worthy panic flailing of arms and legs.

    Bruises on butt lasted for several weeks; bruises to teenage dignity still make me cringe a little bit even decades later!

  153. 153.

    Ken

    August 22, 2023 at 8:17 am

    @Christopher Mathews: I once petted a very friendly, very feral tomcat […] in the middle of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

    Sounds like a superhero origin story. Or supervillain, whatever.

  154. 154.

    Mel

    August 22, 2023 at 8:29 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: CDC reports US plague deaths as follows: 1 in 2005, 2 in 2005, 2 in 2007, 2 in 2009, 1 in 2013, 4 in 2015,  2 in 2020.

    There are several close calls every few years, as well, like the married hikers in upstate New York a few years back who contracted plague but were misdiagnosed several times. One of the couple ended up septic and developed gangrenous legs. Plasmapheresis, surgery, and massive amounts of IV abx saved the day eventually, but plague is still serious stuff, esp. since it is not on most ER or primary docs’ radar and can thus go mis-or undiagnosed until serious complications set in.

    My Dr. friend who ran a public health clinic used to say, “Sure, the chances of  [ insert hideous side effect or disease here] are small on paper at 1 in 1,000, etc., but it’s not so small seeming if you ARE that 1 in 1,000…”

  155. 155.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2023 at 8:57 am

    With all this talk about attempting/not attempting to save feral animals, here’s a question for your Ethics class, libtards:

    If you encounter a stricken TFG, do you give him/it CPR or equivalent?

    ETA: No, it’s not actually a serious question, nor am I looking for an answer/debate.

  156. 156.

    Paul in KY

    August 22, 2023 at 10:42 am

    @Jeffro: Hominids are related to rabbits. After you leave primates & lemurs, it’s rabbits, tree shrews and bats.

  157. 157.

    Paul in KY

    August 22, 2023 at 10:48 am

    @eclare: The cat doesn’t think of it as torture, IMO.

  158. 158.

    Paul in KY

    August 22, 2023 at 10:52 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: You are lucky. She could have just decided to stomp you into jelly and there wouldn’t have been a damn thing you could have done about it.

  159. 159.

    Paul in KY

    August 22, 2023 at 10:58 am

    @Christopher Mathews: His fur was a beautiful glowing green…

  160. 160.

    Paul in KY

    August 22, 2023 at 11:00 am

    @eclare: Glad she got serious about her craft. She has a ton of talent.

  161. 161.

    Jess

    August 22, 2023 at 1:08 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: I’ve heard that commercial pig farming is disastrous to the watershed. Plus, they’re as smart and sensitive as dogs, so that’s another reason not to factory farm them.

  162. 162.

    Jess

    August 22, 2023 at 1:14 pm

    @SFAW: Nope. Point and laugh.

  163. 163.

    Sloegin

    August 22, 2023 at 3:45 pm

    This dead bird thread is a good reminder to me that I don’t hate all people.  Just some of them… quite a bit.  Thanks!

  164. 164.

    SteverinoCT

    August 22, 2023 at 5:24 pm

    @Snarki, child of Loki:

    https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-03-16

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