Scott Vomit Fan Blog

Tried visible mending for the first time !

Initially introduced to Archive 81 via the Netflix show (highly recommend, due for a rewatch soon)

Upon finding out this horror series was based on a podcast I decided to give it a listen today. I'm only going to be talking about the first season. The episodes are all about 15-20 minutes, typically closer to the 15/16 minute mark. There are only 10 episodes in the first season meaning it's pretty doable for binging in a day.

The plot does have suspense, however there is very little initial build up. I enjoy the more ARG aspect of the podcast, having Dan's friend be the one putting it together and searching for him. The acting isn't the best, but seeing as how its the first season and the episodes are short I won't be too harsh on that.

I enjoy the differences between the podcast and the show (SPOILERS AHEAD) for example the fact that for the show they adapted it so Dan was working on VHS tapes as opposed to audio cassettes. Aside from the fun I had picking out the differences between the original and the show, I enjoy that ratty is an original character brought into the show and I enjoy the suspense that builds from hearing the detailed and visceral sound effects without being able to see what's happening.

So the first thing we do is take our ticks out of their old container and we pop them into a solution of 10% bleach with a little bit of dish soap added just to make sure that the ticks sink to the bottom. It’s really important to mention that everything we do with the ticks is safe and doesn’t harm them at all. They’re perfectly happy, even if they do get a little bit dizzy when we vortex them. So as you’ve just seen, we give them a little bit of a spin on the vortex, and that just makes sure that they get nice and clean, and then we’ll empty them out into the sieve, leaving no man behind. 

We then change the solution in our tube to 70% ethanol, this is partially to get rid of the beach, um, and just to give them a bit of an extra clean. And as you can see, they’re perfectly happy and lively. Again, we give them just another little spin. I don’t know whether ticks actually get dizzy, but they’ve never seemed to be that disorientated after. And again, we pour them into our sieve to get them out of the ethanol and it also means we can collect all the waste liquid at the bottom easily.

There's actually no possible end to the data live organisms provide. Seriously none. You can test how every possible environmental factor - temperature, humidity, water quality, air quality, every possible pollutant - affects that organism's growth and activity in almost infinite combinations. How their sensory systems react to every stimulus you throw at them. What microbial symbiotes they may harbor and why. What affects their mating behavior and egg production and plenty else.

All these things can tell you something about an animal's interaction with its ecosystem but ticks are of course also significant to humankind because some species can carry disease, which not only makes it worth knowing how they fare under different chemicals or climates but opens up an entire new world of things to test such as how long it takes pathogens to transfer from tick to host, how long pathogens can live in their gut, whether *that's* affected by environmental conditions, what in an environment might reduce their fertility or discourage mating, whether there are surfaces they have more difficulty climbing, whether anything applied to human skin discourages biting or alters feeding time, whether they're affected by different medications in the blood they consume, the actual effectiveness of every alleged natural repellent, how their salivary compounds function and a million other things relevant to people's health and safety!

She hasn't said what experiment she was prepping them for here but everything you can possibly test might be useful to combating the spread of things like Lyme disease. We even know from the washing itself that they can survive all that bleach and ethanol! That right there was pretty important to know!