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c0nc0rdance

2 Nov, 9 tweets, 3 min read

I don't know about you, but my anxiety about our democracy is at 110%... so here's a short thread about big cat enrichment using pumpkins.

Big cats in the wild are naturally curious, and pumpkins would be unfamiliar objects with unusual smells, tastes, bright colors and shapes.

Some big cat rescue groups accept pumpkin donations, but the number of jack of lanterns need is likely very small.

Sometimes the rescue specialist will fill a pumpkin with raw meat to provide a "challenge and reward" activity as well as encouraging play and discovery.

Even this Pallas cat gets in on the discovery and exploration process.

Cats come in all sizes, but the derp level is the same.

Pumpkins might be especially interesting because they're hollow-ish, have soft bits, hard bits, a bit of heft. Lots of strange phenomenon to uncover for an inquisitive felid.

Claws make excellent jack o' lantern carving tools!

"New Study: Caracal Pumpkin Helmet reduces head injuries by 3.2%"

Fun fact about the caracal: the Ancient Egyptians tamed them and used them for hunting birds in high grass.

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@c0nc0rdance

14 Nov

Let's talk about the All-Black towns of Oklahoma & how it could have been a majority Black state.

Oklahoma Territory formed in 1890, at a time when Blacks living in Jim Crow South were persecuted. Many relocated to urban centers in the North where they were minority population.

The idea of a "homeland" within the US that would be Black majority was popular; locations without existing white majority populations.

One champion for Majority Black Oklahoma was Edward P. McCabe, a prominent Black lawyer, politician, clerk from Kansas.

He organized a plan (~1881) involving 25 All-Black cities to be settled in Oklahoma territory. He hoped to swing political power to allow himself to be voted Governor of the newly created Majority Black state & government.

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13 Nov

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1327224089451196420

Elon Musk is the Jon Snow of molecular biology.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1327224089451196420

In case you don't know molecular biology, PCR detects DNA or cDNA (made from RNA).

It can't detect proteins, and imagining that *every biomarker* is *always detectable* in *every sample* is a fundamental misunderstanding demonstrating lack of understanding in this field.

We're careful to say we detected viral *RNA*in a nasopharyngeal sample, which correlates to infectious virus most, but not all of the time.

Same with protein antigen or antibody: you never get a full picture, just strong clues.

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13 Nov

My MAGA family members are posting pictures of their gun collections, draped in Trump flags, so how about a nice relaxing thread of Mini Highland Cows?

!!SO FLUFFY I'M SCREAMING IN TEXT!!!

Hello fellow dog. I am grass dog.

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13 Nov

In 1993, a new hantavirus was discovered with a focal point near 'Canyon de Muerto' on the Navajo reservation adjacent to the Four Corners region, where UT, NM, AZ, CO touch at a single point.

It had a case fatality rate of 67%.

I'll skip some detective work, though it's a fascinating story. The disease resulted from exposure to infected deer mouse droppings.

Once the outbreak was under control, the question of naming became a sticking point.

Prior convention would have been to call it "Hantavirus Muerto Canyon", classing it with Hantaviruses 'Puumala' (Finland) and 'Hantaan' (Korea) and 'Dobrava' (Slovenia)

The Navajo people of Muerto Canyon objected to being associated with a deadly cardiopulmonary disease.

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