Sunday Evening

[nightdog_barks]

Ugh, stress and sinuses making my jaw ache. To counteract, baby Tasmanian devils being adorable! Good god, they're so cute. :-D

Comments

[pwcorgigirl]

Eeeehhhh! They're so cute! They look at lot like teeny black bears when they're that small.

Sorry about the jaw ache. *hugs* Some weed blooming somewhere has my head clogged up and it's a misery.

[nightdog_barks]

They do look like little black bears! They were so cute snuggling up to the keeper. :-D

I don't know what's blooming around here -- they mentioned pigweed on the pollen count the other night, so maybe that has something to do with it. Urk.

[hannah]

Oh, man, the point where the jaw aches is one of the worst because it tells you exactly how sick you are without any room for argument.

I'm feeling depressed and disheveled from a row I had with my dad earlier today, so I'm going to try to scrape myself together to write a bit.

[nightdog_barks]

Yeah, I don't think I have a fever -- it's just stress and sinus troubles, and the combination of the two has produced this kind of perfect storm in my jaw.

I'm sorry you're feeling down, and I hope writing helps. ♥ ♥ ♥

[taiga13]

Ug, I've had some bad sinus infections in the last couple of years and they were agony. I hope yours clears up soon, and that your stress gets better.
I've spent a quiet day. I did discover that my bank was offering to match donations to the Red Cross for famine relief in Africa, and that these donations will be matched by the federal government too. So I made a donation knowing that the Red Cross would get $3 for every $1 I donated. Such a small contribution to such a disaster, but my reasoning is that a small amount of money helps more than none at all.

[nightdog_barks]

It hurts to chew on my right side, so I really hope this clears up soon too. GRRRRR.

That's great that your bank and the government are doing matching donations! We donated to Save the Children last week -- I haven't heard of anyone doing matching funds here, though.

[taiga13]

Yesterday I read this scary article pointing out that much of the world's cropland is irrigated, so when the water supply is depleted - which it rapidly is - so will the food supply. This isn't news, I remember these issues being brought up at the last agrologist conference I attended, but this brings it home.
(PS The Tasmanian devils are going extinct due to facial cancer??? Yikes!)

[nightdog_barks]

I know! It's like the white fungus thing that's killing bats in the U.S. So awful to contemplate.

[taiga13]

My biology prof was fond of reminding us that 99% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct... Now we're undergoing the fifth great extinction (I think it's the fifth.) Our species has had what, 200,000 years? I wonder if that's considered a good run. My, I'm cheerful tonight.

[silverjackal]

I'm sorry to hear about the malaise. Maybe some ginger tea or something might help? (It tends to encourage lymphatic movement in the jaw, so it theory it might help with the tension as well as the sinus ache. Then again, if you don't like ginger, the "cure" could be worse than the ailment.) Watching the little devils is bittersweet. Unless veterinary medicine pulls off a miracle, the species is doomed. :(

[nightdog_barks]

Actually, I love ginger, so I might try that. :-)

Unless veterinary medicine pulls off a miracle, the species is doomed. :(

Oh, no! Even the zoo-born? Hm, I guess you'd have to have an international breeding program so they don't get inbred ...

So sad.

[silverjackal]

There aren't enough specimens in zoos to carry on the species. Or if they did try to bolster the captive numbers, the risk of inbreeding depression and the associated issues is very high. They can't bring in wild-caught animals, because the disease is so blasted infectious, and wild populations have declined 70% since the early 1990's (the first outbreak was in 1996). Mortality in high density populations has been 100%. The disease itself is remarkable -- a *contagious* cancer, one of only a few types in the world, and a right bastard. As with the Ethiopian wolf, I say "Look well, look now, while you can. Future generations will not know them." I wish heart and soul to be proven wrong, but I wouldn't wager so much as a single cent.

[nightdog_barks]

Yeah, it's that "contagious cancer" part that's just terrifying. o_O

[silverjackal]

Indeed! When they initially thought a virus caused the cancer it was terrifying enough, but contagious through direct contact? D: