Atomictumor

This is kind of a disgusting post, with links to really gross stuff. If you don’t like gross stuff, go here!

I have two classes with a very funny girl named Kathy. Kathy is Polish, but grew up in Germany, so to the untrained ear, she sounds Russian. Exactly like Molotov Cocktease, actually. One day I will get her to say “Brock Sampson”.

But I digress.

Kathy came into class a few weeks ago talking about a nasty-as-fuck problem her husband was having. He woke up one morning with a large bump on his arm. It was bright red, with a good-sized hole in the center. So they did what any of us would do: they squeezed the crap out of it.

Pus seeped out and something could be seen behind the hole. So she broke out the tweezers. After what I can only assume was copius amounts of husbandly cussing, she pulled out a yellow sack-like thing. They threw the sack-like thing away, but took pictures of it for posterity’s sake.

Because it’s always good to know what you pull out of your body, her husband went to see his doc. After looking at the pictures, she admitted she didn’t know what it was. So she took the pictures to a colleague.

The colleague knew. It was a dermatobia hominis, aka human botfly.

Human botflies are typically found in Central & South America. The female botfly catches a mosquito and lays her eggs on it. When the mosquito lands on its victim, the egg(s) fall off onto the host and hatches. The maggot burrows under the skin where it lives and feasts on flesh. After about 8 weeks, it squirms out and goes off in search of a mate.

They grow up so fast!

The doctors said it’s not unheard of for someone to be a botfly host so far north, but it is extremely unusual. I guess he was just one lucky s.o.b.

Kathy got a kick out of telling this story to absolutely everyone at school. Kind of like how I’m enjoying grossing you all out now. :)

Public city schools in Cleveland, Ohio are initiating a program to teach age-appropriate sex ed to all students, K-12.  The classes will, of course, teach biological aspects of sex ed, but will also include lessons on self-esteem and peer pressure.

K-3rd grade will discuss topics such as how a virus works and appropriate vs. unappropriate touching.  4th-6th grades will learn about menstruation and reproductive health, while 7th-12th graders will learn about interpersonal relationships and STDs.

These classes are the result of high teen pregnancy rates as well as alarmingly high rates of STDs.

It’s this sort of progressive, pro-active teaching that I’m such an advocate of.  I wish this were the norm instead of surprising and news-worthy.

I wonder what the trouble was between this church and their local library? The San Fransico Chronical reports here. Did they get too happy, make too much noise, or did they bring in the snakes? Vipers always freak the librarians out. If the worshipers had been quiet Quakers, would that have made a difference?
The Contra Costa County government says,

“We think a library and a church are different things and should stay different,”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, stating,

“The county has a legitimate interest in … excluding meeting room activities that may interfere with the library’s primary function as a sanctuary for reading, writing and quiet contemplation,” and in preventing the room from being “transformed into an occasional house of worship,” Judge Richard Paez said in the majority opinion.

But a dissenting opinion brings an important point,

Judge Richard Tallman… in his dissenting opinion. “Separating religious worship from other religious speech inevitably leads to state entanglement in religion” and is beyond the government’s authority, he said.

What it boils down to, according to this article, is be careful how you say your speech (i.e. information) in a public space. There are differences in kinds of speech (information). Be careful, also, of who you gather with in a public space. There are differences in kinds of speech (information) spoken by various groups. It is telling that this has played out in a library where the presentation of information is hallowed. I wonder how effective Government will be as an abiter of information?

Wait a minute Caesar the government has always claimed ultimate authority on what may be said when, where and especially, how.