42 thoughts on “Fungus Among Us ?”

  1. not just the Candida auris above but also:

    from a quote in Futurity

    The new study, which appears in Science, shows chytridiomycosis is responsible for the dramatic population declines in 501 species of amphibians, including 90 extinctions—mostly frogs, but also toads and salamanders. In Australia, 40 species have declined and seven have become extinct.

     

    This represents “the greatest recorded loss of biodiversity attributable to a disease,” says lead author Ben Scheele, postdoctoral fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University.

     

    “This also places Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (B. dendrobatidis), the fungus that is the most common cause of chytridiomycosis, among the most destructive invasive species we have ever seen,” Scheele says. “In terms of impact, it is comparable to rodents and cats, which threaten 420 and 430 species with extinction, respectively.”

     

     

    and from Netflix “our planet”

  8. quote in   business insider link for  the Stephen miller story above
    “There’s definitely a larger shake-up abreast being led by Stephen Miller and the staunch right wing within the administration,” a person close to Nielsen told the publication. “They failed with the courts and with Congress and now they’re eating their own.”

  10. Pat, please check your computer’s time setting. I’m going to send this at exactly 0846

  12. And then they came for me but no one spoke up because well I guess they’d already picked up all the rest of the idiots.

  13. flatus, have no idea how the posting times get so messed up.   must be the Russians.

  14. what’s wrong with these pictures?  click and peruse wapo article from the other day:

    Formal and casual
    White House photos
    show distance between
    Trump and increasingly
    diverse nation

    In picture after picture, emanating from the most exclusive corridors of American political power, Trump is seen with a team of aides and advisers that is almost exclusively white.

    […]

    They add up to a panorama of a president who has shown almost no compunction to appoint a diverse team. Fifteen white men and four white women are among the 22 Cabinet-level positions, along with Carson, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who is Asian American, and Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who is Latino.

    In the West Wing, Trump’s two dozen highest-paid senior staff members are all white, except White House director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp, who is Cuban American.

    (Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and White House legislative director Shahira Knight are of Middle Eastern descent, which the U.S. Census Bureau defines as white.)

    [continues]

     

    and almost all male in the higher offices of power.

  15. Jack…  very best of wishes…  and oh yes…   a hug.

    “They failed with the courts and with Congress and now they’re eating their own.”

    anyone want some popcorn while watching this….

  16. Biden forced out Sherrod Brown –a true friend to organized labor.

    If this is true (I don’t see any link providing proof)…  it’s a good thing to know.  Cuz if this is true, it says that Brown doesn’t have the balls to be president.

  17. https://aflcio.org/2018/10/30/best-candidates-working-people-2018-sherrod-brown

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/08/why-sherrod-brown-will-be-missed/?utm_term=.24ecf4f11073

    I don’t think it was balls I think it was old school politics and money– and the Democratic party lacking the balls to tell Biden-Obama no

    from the wowpoo article
    Still, Brown would have brought to the race a combination of idealism, maturity and practicality that will be missed. He has impeccable progressive credentials yet is grounded in what is possible. On his lapel, he wears not a congressional insignia or an American flag but a pin with a caged canary — the kind miners used to carry into the earth to warn them of deadly conditions. It is a reminder of the strides that unions and progressive government have made to assure workplace safety and decent wages, benefits and working conditions.

    As George Packer wrote in the Atlantic last month, when it still seemed likely that Brown would join the race: “Nothing would test the proposition that the Democratic Party can regain its old working-class base like a presidential candidacy of Sherrod Brown.

  18. I think oif Obama is going to give opinions on how or what the primary race should look like he should endorse

    I think he won’t because he doesn’t want to hurt Biden’s feelings but Obama knows Joe cannot win

    He’s a sentimental favorite and has spent the last couple of years being a good Democrat but if he really cares about the party and winning   he won’t get in…

  19. acosta’s parents came from Cuba. This demonstrates that there are Hispanics (descended from Indians) and Hispanics (descended from conquistadores), and that the latter are still conquisting the former.

  20. KGC… thanks for those links.  So essentially what that proves to me is that both parties have no balls.  Or at least on the Democratic side…  it’s business as usual as the way the game is played.  Something that the youngsters have yet to learn, BTW.

    As I’ve said… I’m not voting for Biden in the primary.  Brown was my first choice.  Now… I’ll wait to see the debates.  But as I didn’t throw Pelosi under the bus as she was a long time good soldier for the Democratic Party…  I feel the say way about Biden.  All anyone has as to who the Democratic candidate will eventually be is one vote.  The rest of it is just jackshit.

  24. More than a decade ago, scientists were saying that frogs were the canaries in the coal mine of Climate Change.  It looks as if they were right.  Now if we could only get something that would handle the major cause:  Human beings.  Of course, the Anti-vaxers and overuse of antibiotics could make that one happen.

     

  25. Let’s see, would I recommend that Sue, who will be 58 this November, place Mr Biden, who is younger than I, in charge of her family’s affairs for the next 4 or, potentially, 8 years? BTW, Joe will be 78 in November 2020.

    As a minimum, he should have the 25th Amendment tattooed on his chest.

  26. Jamie, we’ve got an anti vaxer in the family. There’s no reasoning with her and her nitwit husband.

    What Renee said. ?

  27. KC, not sure why you think tying Biden and Obama is a bad thing for Joe.  Compared to SFB, Obama was rather popular.

    Sorry, the formatting went to shit when I tried to post the graph – short story is that Obama’s average approval over his presidency was 47.8 and SFB’s has been 39. Since 1937 Truman and Carter had the lowest averages – at 45.4 and 45.5 respectively. There is no former president that SFB stacks up favorably against wrt approval ratings.

    Where were the quotes about Biden forcing Sherrod out of the race from? Prior thread? I would like a link to the source of that information. I’m guessing that’s BS.

  28. E.J. Dionne thinks Joe should be in the race.

    It would be good for the country and the Democratic Party for Joe Biden to run for president. But it could be hell on him.

    If Biden backed off from running, he would be cast as a martyr to “political correctness” and “the new multiculturalism” by many of the same conservatives who would do everything they could to defeat him if he won the nomination. Faux sympathy of this sort is starting to appear on the right. It’s designed precisely to undercut further advances toward gender and racial equality.

    Moreover, as a noncandidate, Biden would hang over the rest of the field like an absent giant who makes everyone else look small. The heart often longs for what it can’t have. Instead of being “too old to run,” Biden would become the missing and longed-for “elder statesman.” Cries of “Where is Biden?” would rise up whenever a major candidate stumbled. And, God forbid, if President Trump were reelected, we would again live through the “If only Joe had run” lamentations.

    All of this would be disastrous for Democrats and progressives. The only way to know for certain if Biden is, in fact, the best candidate to beat Trump is for him to get in the race — to prove he can appeal to young voters despite his age; to demonstrate he can navigate a party that has changed dramatically since he entered the Senate in 1973; and to show he can absorb all the blows that will come his way courtesy of opposition research into his astonishingly long career on the public stage.
    If he can pass these tests, he will be more formidable for it. But, to put it gently, the experience will not be pleasant. And, yes, it’s entirely fair to ask whether a 76-year-old can successfully navigate our changing mores and win over the younger voters Democrats need.

    * * *

    The bottom line is that Biden belongs in this fight. He represents important components of the coalition that will have to come together to defeat the president. He could help Democrats solve a strategic dilemma: how to be tough as nails on Trump while still promising the more harmonious political future that middle-of-the-road voters long for. And if he fails, the ultimate nominee will be far better off for having faced down Biden and not be haunted by the ghost of a candidacy that never was.

    Pass the Ammo – the circular firing squad needs to reload.

  29. Pogo

    I don’t think it is bad  I just heard Biden doing it over the weekend– it pushes Obama to do something and in the end I don’t think it will be good for Joe

  31. KC – I don’t think that Obama will endorse anyone – that would be tantamount to dissing the other candidates – and having been an outside chance candidate who won the nomination from the establishment candidate and went on and won two elections, I doubt he’d want to inject himself into which candidate he thinks should get the nod.  I was busy last weekend – running hither and yon and fertilizing the lawn – that kind of stuff – and missed any news about Obama giving advice about what the nomination process should look like – was there an article I’m not finding?  anyone have a link?

    From the article linked by RR about the Alles firing:

    A White House official, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss Alles’ departure, told CNBC that the president has been frustrated with the increasingly high numbers of monthly illegal border crossings.

    There were approximately 76,000 illegal border crossings in February alone, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics. The figure for March, set for public release by Tuesday, is expected by some to be as high as 100,000.

    “The president deserves people in positions who will carry out his agenda,” a White House official told CNBC.

    NBC News’ Pete Williams reported Monday that, according to an administration official, Alles’ firing was “not based on any single precipitating event.” The decision was made 10 to 14 days ago, the official told NBC — before the Mar-a-Lago intrusion.

    As of Alles’ firing, the DHS is operating without Senate-confirmed officials for Secret Service director, agency secretary, deputy secretary, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, Immigration and Customs Enforcement director and inspector general, NBC noted.

    Nielsen tweeted that she will remain in her role until Wednesday to allow for a smooth transition. At that time, DHS won’t have a Senate-confirmed commissioner, either.

    I have one question after reading the article – exactly WTF does the Secret Service have to do with border crossings other than reporting to the same cabinet secretary as ICE and CBP?  OK, one more question – how many careers of people who have dedicated their professional lives to the service of this country under D&R presidents will SFB destroy before he leaves office – and should we count Barr as one of them?

     

  32. given the chaotic state of things, perhaps it’s not the fungi we should be worrying about but that which may have already done its will with us:  brain eating amoeba.

     

    It doesn’t happen often. But most summers, several Americans — usually healthy, young people — suffer sudden, tragic deaths from a brain-eating amoeba.

    What is this scary bug? How does it get to the brain? Where is it and how can I avoid it? WebMD answers these and other questions.

     

    What Is a Brain-Eating Amoeba?

    Amoebas are single-celled organisms. The so-called brain-eating amoeba is a species discovered in 1965. It’s formal name is Naegleria fowleri. Although first identified in Australia, this amoeba is believed to have evolved in the U.S.

    There are several species of Naegleria but only the fowleri species causes human disease. There are several fowleri subtypes. All are believed equally dangerous.

    N. fowleri is microscopic: 8 micrometers to 15 micrometers in size, depending on its life stage and environment. By comparison, a hair is 40 to 50 micrometers wide.

    Like other amoebas, Naegleria reproduces by cell division. When conditions aren’t right, the amoebas become inactive cysts. When conditions are favorable, the cysts turn into trophozoites — the feeding form of the amoeba.

    Where Are Brain-Eating Amoebas Found?

     

    Naegleria loves very warm water. It can survive in water as hot as 113 degrees Fahrenheit.

     

    These amoebas can be found in warm places around the globe. N. fowleri is found in:

    • Warm lakes, ponds, and rock pits
    • Mud puddles
    • Warm, slow-flowing rivers, especially those with low water levels
    • Untreated swimming pools and spas
    • Untreated well water or untreated municipal water
    • Hot springs and other geothermal water sources
    • Thermally polluted water, such as runoff from power plants
    • Aquariums
    • Soil, including indoor dust

     

    Naegleria can’t live in salt water. It can’t survive in properly treated swimming pools or in properly treated municipal water.

     

    Most cases of N. fowleri disease occur in Southern or Southwestern states. Over half of all infections have been in Florida and Texas.

    [continues at Web-MD]

  35. I recall in Cleveland Hts, OH shortly after the war, if people within a household were not vaccinated against the few diseases for which effective vaccines were available, the Public Health Service would staple red placards on their front doors warning the general public to keep their distance. Children of the household were prohibited from attending schools; public, parochial, or private. The few placarded families on our block were shunned into compliance.

    Less then a decade later, Mr Canfield, the Roxboro Jr High music teacher, lost his his entire family full of children to poliomyelitis–such a tragedy. Within two years of that happening effective polio vaccines were available.

  36. Varying degrees of resistance to viruses.  My stepsister and I ate, played, slept together for a week.  She was paralyzed from the neck down and five years later died during her third spinal surgery.  I had a bad case of the “flu”.  The Salk and then the Sabin didn’t arrive until several years later.  Now polio seems to be irradicated in the US, but there is a new disease of still unknown cause:  AFM

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2018/12/03/polio-like-disease-us-kids-appears-have-peaked-cdc-says/?utm_term=.04b594eeea98

  38. Pogo

    Obama spoke someplace over the weekend and gave your speech about the circular firing squad and about people “not being perfect enough.”

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