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Missing Lab Mice Infected With Plague
Buford C Nuzzle-Chunks writes "PhysOrg is reporting that 'The FBI and New Jersey officials have started a hushed but intensive search for three missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague'. The Washington Post says it's not that big a deal, but I was dismayed at the PhysOrg article's quote from Richard Ebright, a Rutgers University microbiologist, about certain federal bio-terrorism labs: 'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
Someone to build a better mousetrap!
Some settling may occur during posting.
... just as soon as we capture the last of these rage infected monkeys.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Not so hushed now, is it?
In any case, they're just mice... Don't Panic.
If they're "infected wqith a deadly plague," perhaps they simply died?
'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.' Thats because at McDonalds theres usually some fat guy who got stuck in the doors.
"'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
Given what they serve at McDonalds, thats probably a good thing. I'd rather take my chances with the mice.
The mice should feel right at home.
/I'm from there.
Just build a McDonald's at each of these facilities... Boom! You have your security, and the burger joint has a fresh supply of ingredients on hand.
We're talking about New Jersey. I could understand being concerned if it was somewhere else, but New Jersey? This probably improves the environment and air quality there.
It's always nice to see that the people who deal with dangerous biohazard materials are so careful with what they do. I guess you just get complacent after awhile... it happens with everything. It's unfortunate that there aren't better routines and checks in place to be absolutely certain this kind of thing doesn't happen.
;-)
Even if it's no big deal this time, who's to say what could happen in the future if mutant infected lab animals are allowed to roam free?
I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
Three plagued mice, come on everybody sing along....... Three plagued mice.....
I heard that they ran off with the farmer's wife, who cut off their tails with carving knife.
It's true! Witness the signs!
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Three sick mice; three sick mice
See how they glow; see how they glow
They all glow from the reactor's strife
Their tails are as sharp as a surgeon's knife
Three sick mice; three sick mice!!!
You better avoid Taco Bell until this situation is cleaned up.
Are these mice visually impaired?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
At least now we know that if something goes wrong, FEMA knows what to do.
28 Days Later .......
It doesn't really sound very deadly from TFA...
"Scientists, however, said with modern antibiotics, plague can be treated if quickly diagnosed and is not the scourge that wiped out a third of Europe during the 14th century. "
I mean it's still the plague, and it still COULD be deadly, but then if they were infected with the flu or somethign they could be deadly too.
meh.
New Jersey rats will carry both Ebola AND the plague.
Incidently there only carriers of bubonic plague and not pneumonic plauge with i belive it's much more dangerous.
The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world!
west nile virus-another governmental coincidence
Yot are we gonna do tonight, Brain? Try to take over the world?
No, Pinky. We are going to try to find a pharmacy and cure this <hack> damn cough!
www.eFax.com are spammers
That's nothing. The bubonic plague is actually relatively common (as plagues go) in New Mexico... Those mice are probably on a cross country trip to join their brethren.
How hard can it be to find 3 rats in Jersey?
As GW would say..."They're doing a great job!"
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
It's really tempting to drive around and look for the mice myself. Not only would I be the first human to die of the plague in quite some time, I would no longer have to live in New Jersey. Win, freakin' win, baby!
Well, that explains the guy pushing a cart down the street yelling "Bring out your dead!" /from New Jersey
If God had meant for man to see the sunrise, He would have scheduled it later in the day.
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I don't want to go on the cart.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel fine.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I think I'll go for a walk.
Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I feel happy. I feel happy.
[the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club]
Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much.
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Large Man with Dead Body: Right.
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
How many labs were flooded during Katrina? How many of those were doing research of this type? What, you can't answer that? Point is, nobody knows WHAT people will be exposed to down there. Three rats with Plague is nothing compared with what could be unleashed.
Considering that in the US you can catch it from squirrels
Oh, brother. Please ... sit down before you fall down. You forgot that ridiculous ^_^ as well.
the mice arent gonna hang around in this dimension all day...
Accept any challenge, No matter the odds.
It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside, that I go to school at NJIT, which is essentially across the street from where these mice were released. It's also great that their escape seems to coincide exactly with the beginning of the Fall semester.
The one thing that comforts me, is that the mice will either be shot in a gang related incident, or become drug addicts, before they are able to spread their tasty payload... This also gives me a good excuse to not go to class.
SuPz.orG
The bubonic plague is treatable with antibiotics as long as you treat it fairly soon.
And this is NOT like it's something that we've wiped out completely and would annihilate mankind if it reappeared -- actually there are still between 1000 and 3000 cases every year, including some in North America.
So yeah -- if you live near where the mice escaped and you come down with a nasty flu (and those, uh, buboes), you should make sure you get it checked out immediately... but it's no disaster.
McDonalds security is no laughing matter.
Consider, for example, the international fugitive known as the "Hamburglar".
Nobody seems to care much.
http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/openspace/nature/pdog_ plague.htm
Maybe I could sell prairie dogs on ebay to dim terrorists, been looking to supplement my income.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Me too. McDonald's is horrible for your body!
To commemorate...
(with the plague)
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
I find it hard to believe the line about the security, it seems like it's been put there to add impact to an otherwise not that important story. I work in university labs, granted not with things like the plague, but anywhere animal use takes place there is pretty good security. This is perhaps not a result of the dangers of the animals escaping but rather to stop animal-rights activists from getting in. Yes, it could be better, but the McDonalds quote is just flamebait IMHO.
Probably like this...
Guy in white coat: "Can I get some mice? And some Bubonic plague? And funding?"
Lab Director: "Sure. Just make sure you don't repeat the whole Rhesus Monkey - ebola thing that you did in Congo back in '79"
Guy in white coat: "These mice will never escape! I'll put them in a bigger cardboard box this time!"
blah blah blah
Are they blind? (the three mice)
Once upon a time, I could walk into high security areas without being checked. Of course, I worked there and knew my way around. Any random terrorist would probably take a wrong turn and end up with a gun shoved up his nose.
...)
If you know enough to subvert the system then you are already security cleared. (We've been betrayed by people with security clearances so a security clearance isn't a 100% guarantee but
At one point, we thought we weren't very secure so we had an exercise to test the security. We found out that without prior knowledge of the facility, you couldn't get in without a bazooka.
For these mice might have fled to Russia to join the civilization of rats reported to exist somewhere in the Urals. Now, just imagine what will happen if these rats start using these mice as suicide terrorists...
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
I don't get those PETA/ALF types....
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too
Three plague mice, Three plague mice See how they run, See how they run! They all ran after The F.B.I Who cut off their tails With a carving knife Did you ever see Such a sight in your life As three plague mice?
This has been on Drudge, Yahoo, and Fark for days. "News" implies that it is new information, doesn't it?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
At my local McDonald's there are plenty of mice! Perhaps the missing lab mice are among them.
Best Buy can have you arrested
you are such a fag.
Anyone else reminded of the Tom and Jerry cartoon where there's an explosive white mouse that escaped from a lab. Any reports detailing these mouses capture must be followed with an obligatory, "Don't you believe it." Nothing like teaching kids at a young age never trust the media.
I for one welcome our new plague-infested mice overlords.
maybe they're just good carriers, and they meanwhile reproduced to make more carriers. Try not to get infected while wading through a white sea of mice that carry the plague.
Ok, so I might be exaggerating a tiny bit.
Be on the lookout for sick looking cats with tails hanging out of their mouths.
That's why we haven't seen the hamburgler lately, he's been shipped to Gitmo.
This would get really scary and cool in that "wow we're going to die in a pretty neat way" if these mice were also the recently developed super mice that could regrow any part of their bodies except for their brains.
the joint venture product called the Halliburger.
"Would you like flies with that?"
What we do everynight Pinky, try to take over the WORLD!!!
I don't put much stock in that comment at all. While I can see it being true for the older existing labs that are out there it definately is not true for the new labs that are part of the "government's rapid expansion of bio-terrorism labs".
How do I know? Well I am working on a new Bio-Terrorism Research Facility that is being built right now. As I look out the window I can see counter-terrorism barriers be installed. If I go inside the building there are airlocks at the entrances to areas with high risk bugs. Every door in the building also has an access control system. In addition the building is built to withstand a explosive blast (extra reinforcement, blast proof windows, etc.)
It is easy for someone to say that a McDonald's may have more security but in reality nothing could be farther from the truth. There are a lot of other things built into this building to protect us on the outside (as well as the inside) but people are just too quick to criticize most of the time without doing research or clarifying their position.
I've got a couple of boards, a megaphone, cartwheel, and some stencils: B R I N G O U T Y O U R D E A D
If anyone is interested in buying my new emergency kits, let me know!
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Bubonic plague is not something that is really that dangerous in modern "1st world" countries. It's primary infection vector (fleas carried by rats and mice) is simply not something that can easily support large outbreaks without other factors contributing like general unsanitary conditions and large populations of free roaming rodents cohabitating with people. While this presented a large enough problem in the Middle Ages when generally unsanitary conditions were combined with high population density and a lack of modern medical treatment it just isn't something that is a risk in the United States.
As a matter of fact, a quick google search on the term "prairy dog bubonic" will return quite a number of results showing that wild bubonic plague is not something unheard of in the US however and occasionally human infections do occur and are easily treated with antibiotics. The rare fatal cases are usually found in the elderly or infirm who fail to seek medical treatment prior to the disease causing pneumonia and sepsis in it's late stages.
I find it amazing that reporters continue to make things like this seem like an emminent threat when the elephant in the room that no-one seems to want to aknowledge is the far greater threat posed by Nuclear Weapons... But that is a different topic all together. And if you are wondering, that statement isn't meant as a troll...
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
These young'ns. A little plague gets loose and people get all a-tither. Heck, I visited a few relatives in late August in the middle of Anthrax country and haven't turned blue yet:
http://www.rcgazette.com/news/082905.htm
It's okay, the odds of healthy mice surviving in Newark are pretty low to begin with.
You are about as gay as they come. You make Liberace look macho.
Have you found a suck buddy from your slashdot exhibitionism yet? Don't worry if you haven't. The way you are making it totally clear that you are as gay as they come, you'll find plenty of smelly slashdot homos who will let you suck them off.
No text
The squirrels in the foothills above my community have been known to carry bubonic plague for many years, but there's nothing anyone can do about it. I don't recall any cases of it having been passed to humans (campers, etc) as yet however.
9/11 Eyewitnesses to Explosive WTC Demolition 1 of 2
This may be our first clue about the building of a new hyperspace bypass in an uncharted, unfashionable end of the Western Spiral of the Galaxy.
IWARS.
People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
"missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague'. The Washington Post says it's not that big a deal,"
Pfft! It's just 'plague', quit crying already...
"Two mice (Frankie and Benjy) escaped from Earth before the premature termination of its programme. They had belonged to an Earthling known as Trillian. They were rather keen to remove Arthur Dent's brain to reveal the ultimate question, which they had devoted a lot and time and money to finding."
The only PT Boat Journal on the web: http://www.PT171.org
ROFLMAOBP(bubonic paluge)
One of my neighbors got the plague. He's like one of the three people on the planet that somehow managed to catch the bubonic plague that year. What shitty luck.
Evidently the good news for him is that he's now immune.
The mice are the physical manifestations of superintelligent beings, sent here to weed off certain portions of the population deemed unworthy to perform the necessary calculations of the computer Earth.
--
"Extra Anus Kills Four-Legged Chick" -- Headline
We worked with this about 20 years ago - Pasteurella sp., though this species is similar. It needs incubation at body temperature, outside of that it doesn't do well - IIRC cultures were dead in less than a day out of their ranges, but we autoclaved everything jsut for good measure. Plus we signed a big piece of paper from NIH saying we'd take full responsibility for it all. Some good news is that not all strains are human pathogens. More good news is it doesn't form spores, so dead bacteria is dead bacteria. Plus it responds well to antibiotics. What we call "plague" bacteria are very common in livestock - ag people call it "shipping fever" because it's usually not a problem until you stuff lots of animals in a stock trailer or car and let them breath, scratch and bite each other for a week, and you can have high mortality on arrival. The wild strains of some of these are nearly ubiquitous in rabbits, and more common than you'd think in household and farm animals.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
I wish I had the mod points... MOD PARENT UP!!!
The research lab is only concerned with animal dental hygiene. The mice just have really bad plaque.
[thud] [clang]
CART MASTER:
Bring out your dead! [clang]
Bring out your dead! [clang]
Bring out your dead! [clang]
Bring out your dead! [clang]
CUSTOMER:
Here's one.
CART MASTER:
Ninepence.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm not dead!
CART MASTER:
What?
CUSTOMER:
Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm not dead!
CART MASTER:
'Ere. He says he's not dead!
CUSTOMER:
Yes, he is.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm not!
CART MASTER:
He isn't?
CUSTOMER:
Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
DEAD PERSON:
I'm getting better!
CUSTOMER:
No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
CART MASTER:
Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
DEAD PERSON:
I don't want to go on the cart!
CUSTOMER:
Oh, don't be such a baby.
CART MASTER:
I can't take him.
DEAD PERSON:
I feel fine!
CUSTOMER:
Well, do us a favour.
CART MASTER:
I can't.
CUSTOMER:
Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
CART MASTER:
No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
CUSTOMER:
Well, when's your next round?
CART MASTER:
Thursday.
DEAD PERSON:
I think I'll go for a walk.
CUSTOMER:
You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
DEAD PERSON: [singing]
I feel happy. I feel happy.
[whop]
CUSTOMER:
Ah, thanks very much.
CART MASTER:
Not at all. See you on Thursday.
CUSTOMER:
Right. All right.
[howl]
[clop clop clop]
Who's that, then?
CART MASTER:
I dunno. Must be a king.
CUSTOMER:
Why?
CART MASTER:
He hasn't got shit all over him.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
And thanks for all the cheese
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the real reason the plague was such an pandemic had more to do with sanitary conditions (or the lack thereof) than the deadly nature of the virus itself.
That said, even if they are infected with it, it could (and probably is) be a mutation, or they may have made it non-infectious as part of an experiment.
...
... and then spread nationwide without any containment procedures at all.
Just cool down and realize that if NJ disappears, it's not like anyone cool ever goes there, just biotech scientists and supermodels
I'm more worried about virulent diseases being spread nationwide by NOLA refugees, quite frankly, as they were in an interesting biochemical soup for a long period of time in a warm climate
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
It's what would have happened to the Plague Dogs novel if Disney had made it into a movie instead of the British.
"Cinderelly, Cinderelly, we've got the plauge, oh, Cinderelly."
--highest income state in the USA --we are in the top 5 states in terms of peach, blueberry, and cranberry production. --we were smart enough not to vote for GWB -- in both elections -- we cheerfully pay our full share of auto insurance. There is a lot more, but I don't want to upset the goobers next door in Pennsultucky
"a Rutgers University microbiologist, about certain federal bio-terrorism labs: 'You have more security at a McDonald's than at some of these facilities.'"
Why would this dismay you? More importantly, why would it surprise you?
I doubt very seriously that the very low level, very unimportant labs devote much time to security.
Bio-terrorism lab isn't synonymous with "lab full of the most dangerous bugs on earth." Some of them just aren't that important.
Sounds like someone looking for something to get fired up about.
Who the fuck modded that shit as funny? I've had funnier bouts with food poisoning.
ever played the Tetris game version of that, the one that shipped on the Monty Python and the Holy Grail CD? It was amazingly fun!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Haven't you used that joke like 4 times already, as well as the one about the martians?
Stop Global Warming!
Just say no to irreversible processes!
I live not all that far from Newark, but I am not too concerned over the missing mice being the article states they should die rather quickly being infected... What concerns me is the lack of security or the fact these mice went missing like some key nuclear hard disks a while back from Los Alamos... That is disconcerning to me.
Its great that I attend school less that a mile away from that place...
enuff said...
-- All Gods were immortal.
-- S. Lem
It's actually the T-Virus, but they just don't want people panicking
"Eating the mice", explained the late Gerald McBoingboing, "was the safest way of disposing of them once they had escaped the confines of the lab."
Mr McBoingboing then started a bloody coughing fit and, collapsing like the WTC towers, expired.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
(sigh) Mods on crack. The parent is FUNNY! Nor Offtopic.
Why they give mod points to children and idiots I will never understand.
Plague is endemic in the prairie dogs and such in the western US. There are a couple of cases of it in humans in Colorado every year or so. Personally I worry more about hantavirus.
Plague isn't the big deal it was a few centuries ago. Most of us are descended from people who were exposed to plague (considering how widespread the epidemics were) and survived. We're just not as tasty to Yersinia pestis as those who didn't. It has about a 6% mortality rate worldwide these days vs 60% to 100%, depending on the infection mode, during the widespread epidemics of old.
-- Alastair
They're probably posting on /. right now.
The Mass. Nurses Association has the best take I've read.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Atlantic city. The motto shoulde read "Welcome to New Jersey quarantine. Now you can't go home."
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
...at least one of these mice will end up at the home of a certain brown mouse and grey cat?
I for one welcome our new plague-infested mice overlords!
Best. Webhost. Ever. Dreamhost.
mmm... Roadkill...arrgghhh...
A transplanted New Jerseyan I know works for a Midwestern branch of the CDC. During the anthrax attacks in late 1991, she pointed out that none of the New Jerseyans who got sick actually died from it, even the ones who got the more dangerous form of the disease. Her point was that people who live in NJ regularly face environmental hazards, and it just makes them stronger.
As for me, I'm not going to argue with anyone who glows in the dark.
Did you want fries with that?
/Mods, everyone knows this is offtopic, so don't waste your points.
I'm from NJ, so thanks for sticking up for us! That said...
Even the less urban areas of NJ are still speckled with unmediated Superfund sites at the highest rate in the US.
Agriculture is nice -- but it is also a heavy polluter, although bush berries and fruit trees less so than some other crops.
Also, I do want to mention that few of us are cheerfully paying the highest auto insurance premiums in the nation.
There are less obvious downsides that fall outside the "armpit" stereotype.
Highest property tax rates, lowest ratio of federal taxes paid to benefits received, among the highest cost of living, traffic, overcrowding (except for in the pine barrens). Highest state school tuition for in-state students (well, it was when I attended Rutgers).
I still really like living in NJ, but there are a ton of things that we need to work on changing, or at least work on limiting.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Can anyone spot the movie reference?
(Hint: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084509/)
You cant fight in here, its a war room!
UMDNJ is having some issues as of late. First, they're under investigation by the FBI for financial "problems." Then, someone breaks in and steals the very files the FBI was using as part of its investigation. And now, this. Pretty soon and they're going to be assimilated into the Borg that is Rutgers University. At least we don't lose mice...
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
But don't you mean" Ring around the rosies, Pocket full of posies, Ashes,Ashes, we all fall down!
Oops, that's leprosy.
Do they happen to be Blind and without tails perchance?
That quote is right on. I work in a BSL 2 lab (fooborne pathogens, like Salmonella, Listeria, E.coliO157:H7, and so forth) for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and I can certainly say that our "security" is laughable at best. We have a security guard posted at the front door to the lab from 9 AM to about 4 PM. Most people arrive at or before 8 AM.
And a quick story about other outstanding security...adjacent to the building where I work is an office of the Department of Homeland Security. About 3 months ago, myself and one of my coworkers, who is about 25 (I'll be 23 in a few days), decided to go up and poke around. We're young lab workers, so we were just in street clothes; in particular, I was wearing a Slayer T-shirt and jean shorts (my professional-looking lab attire). Neither of us had our badges out, and we poked around Homeland Security for a solid 15 mintues. Nobody stopped us, asked to see ID, nor even asked if we worked there.
Yeah, most labs could probably stand to beef up their security.
"It never got weird enough for me." - HST (RIP)
Given that plague isn't a rare phenomenon (especially out West), I don't see too much to be concerned about with regards to infected mice running around. Some streptomycin or gentamycin should fix the problem. The article made this sound like it was wild-type Y. pestis, but if it were a hypervirulent type (which they wouldn't indicate), then I would be very concerned. The Soviet Union developed antibiotic-resistant strains of Y. pestis and the Japanese actually used it as a weapon against the Chinese (by dropping infected fleas from airplanes).
Given the tidbits of information that have been published on N. Korea's BW program, I'm sure there are places in the US that study hypervirulent BW agents.
I'm just amazed by the lack of security at this place, which should be BSLIII (the second highest level of containment).
I moved here from NW FL 4 years ago. I have had enough of paying too much for everything. NJ is not _that_ nice. I'm moving to Texas.
...
OBQ:
Holy dogshit! Texas! Only steers and queers
come from Texas, Private Cowboy!
PETA officials stated that the mice should be found before they are infected with anything [from jersey]
I was under the impression that New Jersey was already a plague infected/disease infested city. . .
It'll be like finding a specific needle in a needle stack!!!
I work on the same floor as one of the regional, federal bioterrorism labs on the south side of Chicago and unless there are a lot of McDonalds with biometric access restrictions (thumbprints) combined with individual employee keypad codes I think the security at most BSL3 labs trumps McDonalds. That is all besides the negative pressure double doors and decontamination showers.
We're all going to DIE!!!!!!!!!!
*runs to spread panic and fear*
Live forever, or die trying.
I for one welcome our three plague-infected furry overlords.
So are these Plague Mice 1/1 creatures which gain +1/+1 for each other Plague Mouse in play?
i don't post here much but i have something important to say. we're all gonna die!
This is a complete NON-Story that has its roots in the Patriot Act.
First. As glarvat mentioned, the plaque is everywhere. In NM, my home state, rabbits, prarie dogs, gophers, you name it carry the plaque. So if Osama wants to get ahold of some Yersinia pestis he need look no further than the bushes outside his mud-brick hut in Northwestern Pakistan.
Second. The real reason this is an issue is because of the professor from Texas who had apparently misplaced some samples of the Ames strain of Anthrax, which is commonplace in many labs across the country. Now he's in prison. There are details of the case all over the web, but just like everyone else in every profession, as scientists, we make mistakes, don't take perfect notes, misplace things, lose things, etc.
Given that these mice--and a vial of Ames Anthrax--are not a threat and are widely available using simple techniques all over the globe, the normal response would be to note the discrepancy, tell the boss and continue with your work. Work that--you know--is designed to combat these same bugs and actually do something good for Society.
So in the past, this has surely happend at many labs and there were no problems and there really isn't an threat to the public. Now, the FBI swoops in, asks questions, then tries to catch the professor making a misstatement. Even though the original offense, not taking good enough notes about what happened to the mice, is not a crime, the professor will find himself fired, or in jail, or both.
Mice don't have RFID tags and the need to be moved into new cages 2 or 3 times a week. Although not common, they do get misplaced during cage transfers and or experimental procedures. Unfortunately, this professor will likely lose his job because of a simple mistake.
Welcome to 1984.
I am no longer suprised at the depths that the US government will sink to under the guise of "fighting terror".
These Bioterrorism labs are surely a blatant cover-up for US Gov. breaking the 1925 Geneva Convention ban on Biological Warfare to do research for their own bio wepaons.
The only mods that are on crack are the ones who thought that his way-too-fscking-overused Austin Powers joke still has any shred of humor in it. If anything, the fact this this stupidity gains "Funny", as well as the damned "In Soviet Russia" yawns among others, shows only that Slashdots mods apparently find anything funny. Either that or its from a group of TripMaster Monkey fans, like the teenage girls around the Beatles. "Oh, Trippy! You're so-o-o-o funny! Can I have your autograph? Oh, please! Give me one of those ^_^ smiles, too! We love you so!"
It's almost to the point where we only have to say "Joke #4!!! LOL!!" and we'll know exactly which overused phrase the poster is referring to, which will of course get a +5 funny even though it was the 5th time that was mentioned in the past several articles.
Okay, that's enough of that. Friday's here. Time to relax.
It's buboes, not bubons
Support the FairTax
Maybe these two rats are just trying to avoid their opressive masters so they can get to open water and eventually drown.
Ah, the English.
I meant "outside living tissue".
Hushed: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
It made the local news last night. Local here meaning NYC, only the largest TV market in the US... I only caught it on the "more news at 10/11" blurb while watching something else. It hit the Star Ledger yesterday according to Google News. It looks like it hit AP. It's all over Google News.
Just at what point would it be not hushed? Perhaps you're waiting for the DHS Threat Level to be raised? No luck yet...
All true wisdom can be found in sigs.
A kid whose dad works at the lab wants the mice for company. He's campling in the mountains. Leonard Nimoy is working on a cure. Stay tuned. We'll be back after these commercial messages.
I think some firing is in order, seriously they need to fucking throw the book at anyone who is running this sort of facility without proper security.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Well, wages here are higher too, though not proportional to cost-of-living. If it weren't for the proximity of the in-laws (and the SOs need for that), I'd be outta here too...
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
The plague in rodents is actually very common, and occurs naturally. Here in the town where I live, it's a known fact that many many rodents, a hell of a lot more than 3, carry the plague. Two cats this year were discovered in my town with plague. It's known to be spread all over the county. You don't see me posting stories on slashdot about it.
See:http://www.turnto23.com/news/4883235/detail.ht ml?subid=22100581&qs=1;bp=t
First I saw this stupid story on drudgereport, and tried to explain to some co-workers that it was totally not a danger to anyone, then I see it on slashdot the next day. Sigh. Stay away from my mountain stronghold.
"'Yrch!' said Legolas, falling into his own tongue."
Many of the rodents and prarie dogs in California and Colorado carry the bubonic plague. You just have to be sure your pets dont hassle them and come done with, but some do. As the article mentions a few humans get it too.
Thunk.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
I just went camping in Grover's Hot Springs, south of Lake Tahoe. There are signs everywhere warning you to beware, don't pet the squirrels. . . because they have plague! Well it seemed serious at the time. I didn't actually witness any plague-related deaths while we were there.
It became kind of a joke, actually. The bear warnings were much more dire.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Unlike HIV, flu, and other nasties bubonic plague is a bacterial infection. If you detect the symptoms in time then the survival rate is fairly good.
Meanwhile, one research group recently cooked up an experimental vaccine against Yersini Pestis. If that pans out it could be a wonderful thing for first responders, New Mexicans, and of course researchers.
> since when
That behavior is on the short list of reasons why primitive humans may have tolerated and encouraged wild dogs to hang around, they clean up shit.
Check the phrase "shit-eating grin" for more info about dogs' habits in this regard
Ok, I'm more than happy to change my stance on the Ring around the Rosies if I'm am given a better explination, as I do understand that most of what we think we know about history is just hear say. The snoops article, just isn't convincing.
"Ring Around the Rosie" is simply a nursery rhyme of indefinite origin and no specific meaning
The author doesn't know where the rhyme came from, and claims that it has no meaning, but says with confidence that it isn't about the plauge? Questionable at best.
He then cites reworded versions that were published a few years later as evidence that the original wasn't the original.
Later after stating that the rhyme had no meaning, he quotes Folklorist Philip Hiscock putting forth:
The rings referred to in the rhymes are literally the rings formed by the playing children. "Ashes, ashes" probably comes from something like "Husha, husha" (another common variant) which refers to stopping the ring and falling silent. And the falling down refers to the jumble of bodies in that ring when they let go of each other and throw themselves into the circle.
The author clearly understands his logical fallicy as he states:
Either "ashes" was a corruption of an earlier form or a deliberate use; it can't be both.
Which is the same kind of logicl fallicy.
The author keeps on about how the original MUST have been created in mid 1300s for the plauge story to be true. This is an obvious Straw Man argument. While the original might be that old, the author clearly acknowledges that the rhyme has been attributed to the reoccurance of the plauge in 1665. Of course that date delutes his inflamitory remarks of:
Children were apparently reciting this plague-inspired nursery rhyme for over six hundred years before someone finally figured out what they were talking about Besides, given the straight forward wording of the rhyme, it is entirly plausible that no one ever bothered to remark upon it. It would be easy to come up with hundreds of examples of subjects not critiqued because they are considered obvious. Perticularly in a time of less prolific writting.
Then there is the authors claim: The explanations of the rhyme's "true" meaning are inconsistent, and they seem to be contrived to match whichever version of "Ring Around the Rosie" the teller is familar with. For example, the purpose of the "pocket full of posies" is said to by any one of the following:
* Something carried to ward off the disease.
* A way of masking the "stench of death."
* An item the dead were commonly buried with.
* Flowers to place "on a grave or funeral pyre."
* A representation of the "pus or infection under the skin in the sores" of plague victims.
The first four examples are basically the same thing. Posies are all over the place, so you say you have a pocket full of them. Which specifically is right. One, multiple, maybe all of them. Asking when the posies were administered is like asking when the rash is being described. Before death? After Death? In the grave? During the funeral? In a four line rhyme, it is obsurd to expect a detailed time line. Suffice it to say that people stricken by the plauge also had posies around them.
The fourth example, which I have never heard of before, doesn't sound as plausible, but then I've never examined someone with the plauge. Either way though, giving four consistant examples and one inconsistant example at the end is certainly not a convincing argument. If four people tell you the sky is blue, and one says it is purple, that doesn't mean all five are wrong.
So, while I can't guarantee that the rhyme is about the plauge, I can tell you that the snoops article is contradictory, logically fallacious, and not belivable. That means, until better information comes along, I will have to go with the most probable argument, which is that the rhyme is about the plauge. (Wow, that was a much longer post than I expected!)
Wow. Jealous much?
Oh, puh-lease. My non-AC account has had "excellent" karma since before he became a nuisance.
A more accurate statement is that he's like that song that the radio stations keep playing over and over and over again. At first, the song was pretty cool. Then when you hear the same thing fifteen billion times, you just want to blow up the radio station.
Welcome to WTMM, the home of TripMaster Monkey - bringing you uninsightful karma whoring and fucking annoying smileys until your eyes start to bleed!
If you'll conced that the northeastern corner of NJ is a shithole, you'll probably concede that the rest is indistinguishable from rural Arkansas. But then we'd have to carve out AC, which is also a shithole. And the lovely Jersey Shore--what shall we call that? A paradise of mullet-haired guys standing knee-deep in water with boomboxes on their shoulders showing off for high-strung, yappy girls. Let's see, what else is good about NJ? Tomato farms? Ski areas with 200 feet of vertical drop? Clubs filled with shirtless men who will go to the grave denying their gayness? Stripclubs where girls wear bikinis? Litter-covered streets? Newark? Trenton? I dunno--you tell me.