81–90 of 112 posts
Was so excited when I saw this link. Was hoping it would be more like the Trees of New York [0], but appears to be a book. The bodega in my last neighborhood (Fort Greene) featured an orange cat, Ice Spice. Spice birthed Olivia who now has loads of kittens. They wander in and own like they own the place, even whining at customers to open the doors for them. Here's a picture I took of Olivia on top of the tobacco prod…
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By that logic, we shouldn't be fighting malaria in Africa either. Are there any benefits to toxoplasmosis besides some people finding the vector cute? The alternative isn't living in a sterile bubble.
Without infections your immune system gets bored and starts attacking you. You need to have something for your immune system to do on a regular basis. Toxo is to a very large degree asymptomatic. You are full of and covered with organisms. Being paranoid about infection isn't helpful to anyone. Ok you don't like cats, that's fine, but are you as passionate about rare steak which is a much more common vector? Malaria.…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis?useskin=vec...
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That sounds profoundly irresponsible of the associated humans.
It would be irresponsible for a pet owner... but you have to understand the context is New York rats, which exist in immense numbers, massively beyond every other major US city, because of a century of just leaving trash piled up on the sidewalk ( https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-11-27/new-yo... ). Bodega cats aren't pets, they're a cheap and low-impact way to keep rats from moving into the bodega en m…
Pray spends less time at a location if there are predators. The prey is skittish.
Glue traps kill Rats, new rats fill the niche. Some rats learn to avoid them.
Wolves harry deer and kill some but the deer don’t eat all the baby saplings because fear means they move on more often.
Rats have the numbers, killing some of them isn’t the best solution.
Cats are smart when the rats change behaviour so does the cat.
Older cats teach younger cats.
Glue traps are a completely different solution.
They also kill a lot of spiders so you get more flies.
Nurturing predators is a way better solution.
An NY bodega is an ecosystem.
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Right but cats are awesome
What a privilege it must be to think so. Sadly, I cannot relate. To me they're poison or a visit to the ER. Like if most of the people in the world thought diamondback rattlesnakes or boomslangs made adorable pets to let roam free. If you can imagine drowning in your own fluids, unable to breathe, while your whole body swells painfully and itches, your nose runs uncontrollably and eyes swell shut, you've got the pict…
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What a privilege it must be to think so. Sadly, I cannot relate. To me they're poison or a visit to the ER. Like if most of the people in the world thought diamondback rattlesnakes or boomslangs made adorable pets to let roam free. If you can imagine drowning in your own fluids, unable to breathe, while your whole body swells painfully and itches, your nose runs uncontrollably and eyes swell shut, you've got the pict…
This is an incredible amount of drama over one of the most common animals on the planet.
For those of us who are, it's literally the foundation bedrock of every choice I make during the day. My work is cat-free. My family don't own cats. My persistent friends are the folks who don't own cats that I can visit regularly. My world is a lot smaller than yours. Less opportunity.
People with severe food allergies have to plan and limit themselves similarly. Because people who don't understand can't be trusted to help limit exposure. Sensible precautions are seen as unnecessary drama by those who don't need them.
Anyone with a severe allergy can share a dozen stories about the times someone who didn't understand almost got them killed. Standing up for ourselves in the face of folks trying to downplay our conditions is the reason any of us are still alive.
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you just made me wonder if the fact we sweat serves a similar purpose as your spit covering example. (i don't know, but you triggered a thought!)
Nope, it's evaporative cooling (like a swamp cooler) for your body.
here's what i was thinking...presence of protein lysing enzymes in sweat as a protective mechanism.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187439191...
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It would be irresponsible for a pet owner... but you have to understand the context is New York rats, which exist in immense numbers, massively beyond every other major US city, because of a century of just leaving trash piled up on the sidewalk ( https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-11-27/new-yo... ). Bodega cats aren't pets, they're a cheap and low-impact way to keep rats from moving into the bodega en m…
> low-impact As one of the 10% of humanity who has a severe allergy to cats which causes me to be unable to breathe, break out in hives, and weep incredible amounts from every exposed mucus membrane, I had to laugh at this. And cry a little. Y'all have no idea how high impact cats are. Fel D proteins seem to trigger immune responses across a broad range of mammals. They are homologs of slow loris venom which also cau…
Are they? If the cats are eating rats, then they don't really need to be fed. If they're allowed to go outside, then you might not even need to clean the cat's litter box. Rat traps have to be reset, and the corpses disposed of; cats do all that automatically.
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you just made me wonder if the fact we sweat serves a similar purpose as your spit covering example. (i don't know, but you triggered a thought!)
Nope, it's evaporative cooling (like a swamp cooler) for your body.
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Without infections your immune system gets bored and starts attacking you. You need to have something for your immune system to do on a regular basis. Toxo is to a very large degree asymptomatic. You are full of and covered with organisms. Being paranoid about infection isn't helpful to anyone. Ok you don't like cats, that's fine, but are you as passionate about rare steak which is a much more common vector? Malaria.…
You will have plenty of exposure to microbes simply by existing outside of a sealed sterile chamber, and microbes != pathogens. There's no need to encourage exposure to and infection by pathogens, and this idea often results in increased risk or severity of disease. See: "chickenpox party" intentional exposure of children to varicella, putting them at risk of shingles as adults, with the risk increasing the younger t…
Here's research into intentional infection with a parasite to treat autoimmune diseases