3 posts tagged “mouse”
The two "ears" on the top/left side are the right and left buttons with a very prickly looking scroll wheel.
Steampunk originally referred to a specific type of science fiction literature set not in the future, but in a pastiche of the Victorian, industrial, steam-powered era. Now it also refers to a design aesthetic as well.Think computer keyboards wired and built into old typewriters. The cobbled-together aesthetic can be very lovely. It's good to see the bones of our machines. Spiffy!
Toxoplasmodia gondii beyond having a pretty cool name, is generally a pretty benign infectious agent in most humans, although it can affect animals like cats and mice.
If mice are infected, the plasmodium causes them to not fear cats and sometimes even to seek out areas with cats. Then the parasite can gain entry to the cat, its preferred host (it can only reproduce in a cat).
Humans can contract the parasite themselves through contact with cat feces, like from a litter box. It can also be contracted by eating undercooked or raw meat. Toxoplasmosis in humans is even more interesting and freakish, with possible wide-ranging effects, although most infected people do not know they have it; it can remain latent. However, it can also become acute and cause death (rarely).
Studies suggest that toxoplasmosis in humans:
- can affect the gender of children born to infected mothers. She is much more likely to give birth to a boy.
- can cause antisocial behavior and decreased IQ in men and promiscuity and higher IQ in women
- can cause schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and neuroticism in all infected people
- can slow reaction times
- can increase risk-taking behavior in all people
- can cause cysts on the brain, a kind of mild encephalitis (even in its latent phase, although usually does not cause problems and often remains undiagnosed)
The incidence of toxoplasmodium carriers is surprisingly high: averaging 30-65% of the worldwide population, but especially high in certain countries that eat a lot of raw or rare red meat, such as France and Germany (in the 80%), compared to Britain (22%) and South Korea (4%). It's been suggested the the pandemic nature and the mental symptoms could impact entire cultures.
While a lot more research needs to be done on the effects of toxoplasmosis, it is really interesting!
I can't decline any Latin verbs anymore - but the one thing from Latin class that I'll never forget is discovering that the Romans enjoyed dormice. As food!
Here is a recipe for pork-stuffed dormice and so much more.
The Romans also insisted on drowning almost everything they ate in garum, which is a fish sauce. While apparently okay-tasting, it was made by pickling any spare bits of fish and then letting them rot until liquified for a few months. There are still many modern cuisines (including Thai) in which fish sauce plays a very important role. However dormice have gone considerably out of style.
