i am out with lanterns

gaza soup kitchen

the sameer project

salam charity

Please listen to this baby tapir CHEEP and maybe all your sorrows will go away for a precious moment 🩷🩷🩷

The Enigma of Amigara Fault

This short story by Junji Ito is about a fault that appears in Amigara mountain after an earthquake. The earthquake exposes countless human-shaped holes in the mountain which seem to have been made about a thousand years ago. People, intrigued by these  silhouettes, gather at the site and that’s when things get creepy.

"As rabies seems to be spreading more in wildlife, veterinarians are especially worried about vaccine hesitancy spreading among pet owners, a dangerous trend that could lead to more dogs — and their owners — becoming infected. A 2023 study published in the journal Vaccine found in a nationally representative sample of Americans that nearly 40% believed canine vaccines were unsafe and 37% believed that vaccines could lead their dogs to develop cognitive issues, such as autism."

Living in Texas, I'm always aware of the existence/risk of rabies. We get hundreds of positive animals a year in our state and make up a solid 1/4 of the entire country's annual total on our own. It hadn't occurred to me that other states seeing so little of it also meant they expect and watch for it far less, meaning they may not catch it in time to treat.

Keep your pets vaccinated and know the rabies carriers in your area. (The CDC website has a fun color-coded map.) There are different strains, though the entire continental USA has bat rabies. Texas also has skunk rabies and a patch of mongoose rabies down near Austin. Any mammal can spread the virus, but carriers can spread the virus while being asymptomatic for years before they finally get sick and die from it.