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Gone Fission
Eddie writes "Just when you thought it was safe to go back into that snakehead fishpond behind the shopping center in Crofton, Md., now comes word of a new threat slithering into our environment - "nuclear worms" from Vietnam carrying cholera and other deadly diseases." There are a bunch of blurbs here and there about these worms - apparently this Washington Post story was the origin of most of them.
"Leave us alone you ugly bags of mostly water"
A fluorescent, hot pink worm, having diarrhea. Now this I have to see.
Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski
I am reminded of this comic....
Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski
I really hate to see people importing forgein plants and animal species into this country without really stopping to think as to what the consequences could be. These worms not only have the potential to wipe out certain bi-valves. The article seems to imply that they really don't know what damage they could do. A bit of research would be a great idea. Anything that can survive on the dash of a hot car for 3 days is a serious ecological threat. However the northern states have little to worry about, since the worms can't live under 68 degrees there is little chance of a problem occuring there, however florida in particluar could have some SERIOUS problems, since these breed in mangroves (florida has plenty) and florida does'nt really get cold enough to kill them off, there is a great likely-hood of these gaining a foot-hold there. Like I said, bad idea, really bad idea.
The article seems to be presenting this as a good thing. Any imported animals are likely to cary disease, and they're a new import so it just needs to be found out what safeguards and restrictions should apply, just like fruit. /bigger/. And this one seems to have come about naturally, no mention of any genetic engineering, and for everybody who doesnt bother to read the article: "Nuclear" Worms is just a name. Come up with to market the things. These are just animals being brought from one region to another. Like horses. But getting chopped into bits after the sale.
Just another developement in the modern way of making everything
Any "Threat" is more likely going to be based on survival-of-the-fittest, not some non-obscure diseases which happen to be in some worms which have been imported for years with no related cases of illness.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Call me a skeptic, but I don't personally think you'd want a 5-foot-long worm crawling around inside of you.
Out here in the country, we seem to have lots of crickets. My cat has found a new favorite hobby--it plays with a cricket for a little while, and then eats it. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, except that when a cricket dies, it lets out a long string of eggs the writhe around like a worm. My cat sat there and gagged for about 10 minutes because it had a string of cricket eggs coming up its throat and out through its nose.
Now, if by "intestinal worms" you just mean the ones that seem to just consume everything you do, and you never gain weight--well, I'm surprised that wasn't in that last US bill about weight control in children.
The article only said 5-7 feet long; I wonder how big around these bad boys get. For some reason, that description called to mind a boa constrictor for me...
Not only can I get worms that carry viruses via e-mail in my Outlook mailbox, thanks to M$, I can now get them in my P.O. box via snail-mail thanks to FedEx!
It'd make for an interesting conversation peice.
"so.. um what's with the large bulge moving around your torso?"
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
From the WP article...
:)
> Early imports were packed in material found to
> contain the pathogen that causes cholera,
> though no cases resulted.
It was the packaging, not the worms, that were the problem. I just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who didn't read the full WP article.
If we are going to go ballistic over non-native species, then we should start by wiping out all the pigeons in North and South America, please.
-- Terry
That sounds like exactly what I was saying when the first Starbucks arrived in Scotland. Everyone thought that it was pretty cool that a coffee could come in so many different ways - and that biscuits had italian sounding names!
But pretty soon they had ousted most of the indiginous coffee places, and even quite a few other minority species like good record shops, and cheap wineries.
Now all you see for miles around is shops with silver chairs and tables out the front and streets littered with empty 4 gallon coffee cups.
I drive over the cups whenever I see them, which I take to be their eggs or young. And I refuse to give them the money they need to survive. Some day I am sure they will suffocate us. There are no food shops within a mile of my home now, but there are 4 starbucks. My how things change...
How do you have a story about a nearly fluorescent 5-7 foot worm and not include a picture? Maybe it should also be A.K.A. vapoworm(tm)
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
When I first saw this I thought "yeah, ok", but after some googling it appears that they are actually real and not some washington post made up crap. This link
Maryland Marine Notes which discusses concerns for Chesapeake bay mentions how the Department of Natural Resources classifies the "nuclear worm" on their list of no known problems but potentially dangerous creatures.This one is by the US Wildlife field service:
more info I've been trying to find a photo but everyone has the same info... basically wildlife angencies are trying to figure out what the hell it is and how dangerous it is... fisherman use it as bait, and the press hypes up the "nuclear" part of it by saying it was created by agent orange and napalm. The actual name nuclear worm was made up by a bait salesman on chesapeake bay because it sounded good. *rolls eyes*
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
i'm finding mention of these worms from as far back as '98 in fishing sources.
e x/ stories/tidwell08301998.htm
4 1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/ind
and I think i found the reporter's tracks, too:
http://www.atbeach.com/fishtalk/messages/29
this being so, does it really have relevance or is it a reporter making hype? if it weren't hot pink, would anyone care?
secondly, does anyone have a picture? I can't find anything through google. i'm certainly curious. also, can anyone link pics of the chernobyl worms a friend of mine just told me about? how strange the world is...
First we get news of fricken laser beams, now we have mutated, ill tempered..... uh......... worms.
and all on the same day we get an article that holywood is down the tubes, must be a slow geek day!
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Drink Coffee - Do Stupid Things Faster And With More Energy!
Is this the start of a Goa'uld like species? Are we all going to be enslaved by snakeheads thanks to the US government tipping thousands of tons of exotic chemicals on the world?! ;)
Chris "Ng" Jones
cmsj@tenshu.net
www.tenshu.net
It's from The Simpsons, it's the name of Mr. Burns' company's boat.
Um, aren't the editors more or less explicit about this? From the FAQ:
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
I bet I fish more than 99.999% of the folks that read this (about 5 days a week from April-November) and even I can't believe Slashdot is now doing bait-and-tackle articles.
The H1-B program really IS getting out of hand.
$25,000 of business is "explosive"?
No photos? One weak story copied by
several weak editors
Ites says: for the full scoop, please
interview the worms and find out how
they feel about being imported in unclean
boxes, chopped into little pieces, and
used as fishbait.
Not to mention the insulting name.
Sig for sale or rent. One previous user. Inquire within.
will now be pulled from the libraries. Geesh. And that was one of my favorite books too...
All the worm recepies inside... yummy.
There's a gorilla from Manilla whose a fella that stinks of vanilla and has salmonella.
Yeah-- I thought this might be a new virus or something-- some cross between Code Red and the old Nuclear Macro Virus ;)
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