Didn't syphyillis originate in the New World? Or was that a myth I read somewhere?
I had no idea! But wikipedia tells me it's likely. Man, that would have made actual sense with the American veggies I listed. Smallpox was the opposite of sense.
Angel: Will you just shut up for once?! Illyria: What? Angel: My God, the speechifying. Has it ever occurred to you that now might not be the best time for when-we-were-muck stories?
'Time Bomb'
Natter 69: Practically names itself.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Jesse - Oct 11, 2011 10:14:27 am PDT #1258 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Ginger - Oct 11, 2011 10:20:53 am PDT #1259 of 30001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
There's still a debate about syphilis. It was not diagnosed in Europe until after Columbus' return, and writers at the time believed it came from the New World. There's clear evidence in bones that it existed in the Americas for hundreds of years before Columbus. There are some bones from one European location that may have indications of syphilis, but this is hotly debated. There are earlier descriptions of symptoms that some scholars attribute to syphilis and others to leprosy. What is indisputable is that the wave of syphilis in Europe after Columbus was much more virulent than any previous similar disease, but became less devastating after several generations. So the odds are that if Columbus did not bring the first syphilis to Europe, he at least brought a much worse strain.
(Okay, I'm a disease geek. Don't get me started on the Plague.)
le nubian - Oct 11, 2011 10:26:43 am PDT #1260 of 30001
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
Cass - Oct 11, 2011 10:29:36 am PDT #1261 of 30001
Bob's learned to live with tragedy, but he knows that this tragedy is one that won't ever leave him or get better.
Okay, I'm a disease geek.
I find this charming.
And it's nice not to be the only one.
§ ita § - Oct 11, 2011 10:29:53 am PDT #1262 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
There's a The Counter in the Miami airport. Rare burger with cranberries and plantains is delicious.
Now I need to kill time without thinking. Grrrr.
Kathy A - Oct 11, 2011 10:31:45 am PDT #1263 of 30001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
(Okay, I'm a disease geek. Don't get me started on the Plague.)
That reminds me that I really should read my copy of Gina Kolata's Flu, about the 1918 Influenza. It's shelved right next to Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague.
Yes, I'm a disease geek, too!
Ginger - Oct 11, 2011 10:34:59 am PDT #1264 of 30001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I've read both.
JenP - Oct 11, 2011 10:37:20 am PDT #1265 of 30001
Pretty pictures. I love Fall. It's my favorite.
I've never heard of The Counter, but I think I approve of their burger offerings already.
I need to work for the next three hours straight, except for the occasional b.org sanity break.
Kathy A - Oct 11, 2011 10:38:29 am PDT #1266 of 30001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I did my term paper for my British history class on the economic impact of the Black Death on medieval England--that's what got me started on the subject.
That, and my professor's notorious Rat Lecture which he gave every semester throughout his career. Since I had him for both History 101 and the Brit History class, I got to hear it twice. He went into detail about the rats he saw in the sewers of Milan that were the size of Maine Coon cats. Ugh.
Toddson - Oct 11, 2011 10:43:52 am PDT #1267 of 30001
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
I've heard - semi-jokingly - that syphilis was originally a disease of sheep.