People going crazy because of bugs

[Pietro]

Just heard a wonderful talk:

http://edge.org/3rd_...ky09_index.html

 

It's worth the 25 minutes.

 

It looks like there are sometimes of bugs that live and can only reproduce inside a cat. Those bugs, called Toxo, when they are eaten by mouse they make him go crazy, lose fear of cat, love the smell of cat urine, and change its behavior in ways that make it more susceptible to end up in a cat stomach.

Wow. Especially because for all the rest the mouse behavior is unchanged. Still have the other normal fears.

 

Now the next part:

people who have been in touch with this bug also change their behavior.

 

They have 4 times more probability of dying of high speed accident on the highway, there is a correlation with schizophrenia (as TAXO when it gets in the brain releases dopamine). Recently it has also been reported for those individuals a higher probability of taking cats names on online discussion groups, use feline avatar, and see cats as embodiment of higher spiritual beings.

 

Suddenly the idea of getting healthy starts to be to get rid of all those bugs (or at least to realize when your action are produced by them). What an interesting time to be living in!

 

your meows?

[Mal]

[Apech]

Perhaps I should change my avatar!

[Marblehead]

I have been around cats most of my life.

 

Yes, I still like to drive in the fast lane.

 

Peace & Love!

[balance.]

I grew up in a household with four cats.... Gods, all of them.

 

 

...I also find myself... compelled to drive at the sort of excessive speeds that sends the blood to the back of the head upon acceleration...

 

 

..should I be worried?

Edited March 17, 2010 by balance.

[Taomeow]

I've read about another bug, the one transmitted by rats and affecting cats, who lose their appetite for rats as a result. Infected people develop an aversion to rats as food too. Which in some parts of the world is a trait welcomed by the species. Nature plays funny games.

 

I used to drive fast but the price of speeding tickets went up so steeply that I don't anymore.

 

I was nicknamed all kinds of cat names since birth. (My favorite was the Ukrainian for kitten, kotenya, the only word of affection my father used.) Circa the sixth grade, me and my girlfriends were known as "the cats gang." My favorite movie director used to be Federico Fellini, who reportedly invested quite a bit of his own money into creating shelters for homeless cats and campaigned successfully to make it illegal in Italy to perform medical experiments on felines (in the US, hundreds of thousands suffer the tortures of hell every year at the hands of "researchers" -- I've signed petitions to stop it but the devil we're up against is too powerful here). In Peru, while I was still telepathic after the ayahuasca ceremonies, a jaguar named Pedro (which is almost Pietro ) who is kept in a cage told me that he either goes free or the world goes kaboom, our choice. I believed him.

[sifusufi]

UH OH...

 

Cool thought- Return of the dragon... early AM stretching scene where Lee Jun Fan(Tang Lung) emulates the kitty.

oh..oh,oh! and at the end where he fights Colt (please no Chuck Norris Jokes)!

Edited March 16, 2010 by sifusufi

[Gerard]

How can those bugs be transmitted to humans?

[SirYuri]

I wonder how can we prevent this?

[Pietro]

I've read about another bug, the one transmitted by rats and affecting cats, who lose their appetite for rats as a result. Infected people develop an aversion to rats as food too. Which in some parts of the world is a trait welcomed by the species. Nature plays funny games.

 

I used to drive fast but the price of speeding tickets went up so steeply that I don't anymore.

 

I was nicknamed all kinds of cat names since birth. (My favorite was the Ukrainian for kitten, kotenya, the only word of affection my father used.) Circa the sixth grade, me and my girlfriends were known as "the cats gang." My favorite movie director used to be Federico Fellini, who reportedly invested quite a bit of his own money into creating shelters for homeless cats and campaigned successfully to make it illegal in Italy to perform medical experiments on felines (in the US, hundreds of thousands suffer the tortures of hell every year at the hands of "researchers" -- I've signed petitions to stop it but the devil we're up against is too powerful here). In Peru, while I was still telepathic after the ayahuasca ceremonies, a jaguar named Pedro (which is almost Pietro ) who is kept in a cage told me that he either goes free or the world goes kaboom, our choice. I believed him.

 

 

compelling story

it looks like Pedro and Pietro have more in common than just the name

so have you freed him?

[Taomeow]

compelling story

it looks like Pedro and Pietro have more in common than just the name

so have you freed him?

 

No, and it's an ongoing frustration of mine, something that takes away from my respect for myself. I have things going on in my own life and people who rely on me, and I know it's no excuse because I made a promise to Pedro that I would try to help if I can, and even though it wasn't verbalized, I know the universe knows when to treat a promise as an oath. But other things keep causing me to postpone and forget, then I remember and then I postpone again... it's something supernatural, this fog that doesn't let me think about how to help Pedro with any clarity. Well, I would probably have to start a campaign and try to raise money to buy him out and take him to the remote parts of the rain forest and set him free. I never did anything like that and I don't know how, I asked someone in the know and he promised to help and then didn't. Also, just setting Pedro free may not be enough -- he was captured very young and may need re-training for the wild environment... So, I don't know yet how to do it. I will probably post a thread at some point and hope for the brilliant taobum minds to brainstorm this.

[Ya Mu]

Thanks for posting the link Pietro. Very interesting!

[Creation]

Thanks for posting the link Pietro. Very interesting!

Agreed. Thanks for posting.

[Taomeow]

I finally read the whole article, and it occurred to me that it rings yet another bell... there was another study, one that involved something that changes human behavior in a fundamental, core fashion... Yup, now I remember. Too lazy to look for a reference, but I'm sure it's there somewhere, I most certainly didn't make it up.

 

Anyway, human sexual behavior. Humans release pheromones and these are like guides for the genetically most compatible coupling-- if you're a normal healthy human, you are attracted to whoever is good for you genetically, both because you're compatible to begin with and because the kids will have this huge advantage of the best genetic compatibility of the parents. So, young women were asked by researchers to sniff T-shirts worn by guys and report on which one was the most attractive-smelling to them. Invariably a 'normal natural' woman found the T-shirt of the guy who then proved her best genetic match the most attractive.

 

But then they tested another group of women, the ones on contraceptive pills. These invariably chose the guy who was the worst genetic match, making sure whoever they pick for a partner is bound to be Mr. Wrong and, should they ever get off the pill and procreate, Mr. Genetically Impairing Dad for the kids to come.

 

So... which parasite affecting core human behavior produces Premarin?..

[Pietro]

No, and it's an ongoing frustration of mine, something that takes away from my respect for myself. I have things going on in my own life and people who rely on me, and I know it's no excuse because I made a promise to Pedro that I would try to help if I can, and even though it wasn't verbalized, I know the universe knows when to treat a promise as an oath. But other things keep causing me to postpone and forget, then I remember and then I postpone again... it's something supernatural, this fog that doesn't let me think about how to help Pedro with any clarity. Well, I would probably have to start a campaign and try to raise money to buy him out and take him to the remote parts of the rain forest and set him free. I never did anything like that and I don't know how, I asked someone in the know and he promised to help and then didn't. Also, just setting Pedro free may not be enough -- he was captured very young and may need re-training for the wild environment... So, I don't know yet how to do it. I will probably post a thread at some point and hope for the brilliant taobum minds to brainstorm this.

 

 

Thanks for showing us your heart, that was precious.

 

Pietro

[Pietro]

I finally read the whole article, and it occurred to me that it rings yet another bell... there was another study, one that involved something that changes human behavior in a fundamental, core fashion... Yup, now I remember. Too lazy to look for a reference, but I'm sure it's there somewhere, I most certainly didn't make it up.

 

Anyway, human sexual behavior. Humans release pheromones and these are like guides for the genetically most compatible coupling-- if you're a normal healthy human, you are attracted to whoever is good for you genetically, both because you're compatible to begin with and because the kids will have this huge advantage of the best genetic compatibility of the parents. So, young women were asked by researchers to sniff T-shirts worn by guys and report on which one was the most attractive-smelling to them. Invariably a 'normal natural' woman found the T-shirt of the guy who then proved her best genetic match the most attractive.

 

But then they tested another group of women, the ones on contraceptive pills. These invariably chose the guy who was the worst genetic match, making sure whoever they pick for a partner is bound to be Mr. Wrong and, should they ever get off the pill and procreate, Mr. Genetically Impairing Dad for the kids to come.

 

So... which parasite affecting core human behavior produces Premarin?..

 

I think you are refering to this:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/080812-contraceptive-smell.html

 

which has an interesting follow up:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/stress-mating-preferences-100309.html

When the volunteers looked at the erotica, relaxed men found nudes whose faces resembled them more pleasant. Stress, on the other hand, made the men reverse their preferences.

 

And I love the possible explenation the researcher put forward:

When times are dangerous, the researchers conjectured men might not want women too similar to them, as inbreeding might lead to offspring not genetically diverse enough to deal with the varying circumstances that a risky and stressful environment might impose on them.