An Algorithm Put This Article in My News Feed

Photo by Egor Kamelev on Pexels.com

In a survival situation, you probably wouldn’t make it on bugs alone, despite what some sites would have you believe. But insects could certainly be an important part of what keeps you alive. Bugs are highly nutritious, with lots of proteins and vitamins and modest amounts of fat. Here are the things you should know.

9 Bugs to Eat in a Survival Situation (And 4 You Want to Avoid) — https://www.fieldandstream.com/story/survival/insects-to-eat-in-survival-situation/

Faithful followers know I have two blogs, this one and http://garyskitchen.net. The latter is more or less devoted to food. I debated whether to post this article link here or there. I decided here because my professional life is devoted to understanding what kills people. Obviously getting lost while hiking and running out of food can lead to an early expiration date.

The article was fun to read. You’ll enjoy it too unless you’re a conspiracy theorist.

Insect consumption has been highlighted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization as an important tool in addressing food insecurity for a growing global population. And since agriculture is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after the energy sector, insect eating presents a compelling climate solution, too – crickets, for example, can provide the same amount of protein as cows for less than 0.1% of the emissions.

Meaty, cheesy, coconutty: a chef’s quest to prove insects taste delicious — https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/09/insects-food-menu?amp;amp;amp

Hmm…maybe I should have posted this on https://garyskitchen.net

Was SARS-COV-2 the Reason Why People Forgot How to Drive?

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its 2020 annual traffic crash data, showing that 38,824 lives were lost in traffic crashes nationwide. That number marks the highest number of fatalities since 2007. 

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/nhtsa-releases-2020-traffic-crash-data

In Pandemic Year One we had the highest number of traffic fatalities since 2007.

Correlation is not causation. The post title is a click bait joke.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF)

RMSF is the most common fatal rickettsial illness in the United States.

Overall hospitalization rates are noted be at 23.4% based on aggregated reviews of case reports (Openshaw 2010.

Case fatality rate is estimated to be 5-10% overall (Biggs 2016). If treatment is delayed, case-fatality rates of 40-50% have been described for patients treated on day 8 or 9 of their illness.

Case fatality rate is highest in those over the age of 70 (Amsden 2005).

Without treatment, the case fatality rate is over 25% (Lacz 2006).

Citation: Muhammad Durrani, “Emerging Tick-Borne Illnesses: Not Just Lyme Disease Part 4 RMSF”, REBEL EM blog, November 5, 2020. Available at: https://rebelem.com/emerging-tick-borne-illnesses-not-just-lyme-disease-part-4-rmsf/.

The CFR for untreated RMSF surprised me.

And yet another reason besides bears to stay out of the woods.

Remind me to tell some of my favorite tick stories when we can all gather unmasked to enjoy some food and drink.