Tag: Nature

They report…you assume and move on

Another example of why you must do your own due diligence when forming opinions and doing research. Taken from News10 this morning:

    Butte County Man Dies of West Nile Virus

“Wow!” you might say, “this is getting out of hand, people are dying left and right.” However, read on a few lines and you find:

    The man who died was suffering from a chronic disease in addition to West Nile.

Now I am not saying this man did or didn’t die of the WNV, but “chronic disease” does sort of mean, well, “Lasting for a long period of time or marked by frequent recurrence, as certain diseases: chronic colitis.”

Gotta get them skeeters, eh?

With all this talk of Sacramento’s mosquito killers, it’s interesting to note some similarities in how people were warned about mass spraying of pesticides to combat WNV in other jurisdictions.

In Canada, there’s a fight brewing in the province of Manitoba, where local citizens also were given very little warning about the spraying of Malathion (another mosquitocide) over residential neighborhoods (or as we say in Canada, nehbourhoods). While doctors up north have voiced their concerns, the push for large scale fogging is continuing.

It seems the modus operandi of “vector control” people is to give citizens little warning before spraying their property, pets and plants with bug poison.

Ah, the perils of democracy.

We get comments

Kudos to Sac Rag reader Mariellen for finding a nice controversial spin to the spraying story. Together we can get to the bottom of this! We can make the powers that be bend an ear to the little guy because the little guy has the power of 10 bloggers and a handful of readers on his side! Either that, or together we’ll just wait patiently in front of the TV until the spraying is over and then forget about it when football season starts.

Not to pile on, but, ok, to pile on

The Sac Rag is increasingly more alarmed with this WNV (yes, you know you are in deep doo doo when the acronym is thrown around) issue. For example, this excerpt from an article on News10.net:

    This morning vector control district officials said they believe they have killed off 40 to 50 percent of the overall mosquito population in the sprayed area and called on residents to eliminate standing water where mosquitoes thrive. “After these applications, it’s not going to do us any good if people aren’t managing their water supplies — if they have unmaintained swimming pools, if they over-water their lawns — because we will see a recruitment of the adult mosquito population,” vector control district manager Dave Brown said.

Continue reading “Not to pile on, but, ok, to pile on”

The Spraying Continues

RonTopofIt turned me on to this map of the spraying area which uses the super cool Google Maps API. (I’m planning to implement that here at SacRag just as soon as I understand how to do that).

Anyway this whole thing is just getting out of control (hence the new category designation). Where was the public notification that there was even an epidemic? I’m sorry, but if there is a super deadly disease spreading through town I don’t want to have to tune in at just the right segment on News 10 to hear it from county health person Glenna Trochet. I want Arnold to freakin break into the news to tell me.

Also, “pyrethrin cancer” on Google yields 6300 results. (Pyrethrin being the mosquito killing pesticide being used.) But not to worry: “chocolate cancer” yields about 1.4 million!

Cropdusting. Literally.

Wait. It seems that SacRag would be in severe neglect if we all forgot to discuss the fact that our whole town is going to be cropdusted today and tomorrow by the Vector Control Department (I’m not sure what that is but it sounds like a department that only sees action when cropdusting neighborhoods is called for). Apparently this will save us all from West Nile Virus. I’m getting the sense it’s kind of a big deal considering a) they’re coating us in poison; b) Good Day Sacramento said we shouldn’t run our AC tonight and we’re supposed to wash down all outside furniture and keep our pets inside; c) it’s being done by this mysterious “Vector Control.” On one hand I’m not quite motivated enough to do even the minimal research that would be required for a remotely well-formed opinion. On the other hand, I’m thinking maybe the joy of blogging is that you can spout off opinions with or without any substantiation for them. Sooo… I guess I’m not liking the cropdusting. Counterpoint?

Hot enough for ya?

It’s that time of the year to discuss one of the many unique-ish things about Sacramento…it gets hot, damn hot. And the only thing more unique-ish about the heat in Sacramento is the denial about the heat in Sacramento by those who have lived here for years. I’m going on my 9th year in the River City and this “heat wave” is no different than in years past. However, no matter where you go or what you are doing you run into a steady stream of, “Man, it’s really hot out there, what’s going on?” “This heat wave, come on, it’s a killer, what’s going on?” Well, what’s going on is that it gets hot in Sacramento about this time each and every year. Sure, some days are hotter than others, but again, Sacramento gets hot, you with me yet?

The good news is that San Francisco has four times the number of heat-related deaths as Sacramento – about 41 per year, compared with 10 here. So chin up Sacramento, you’ve got that going for you.

The Arrival of Summer

The east coast may have their gophers to tell them how much more winter is left. For us? We know summer is upon us when the Arrow People take over the River City.

Yes, the Arrow People – those dancing, sunscreened and walkman-wearing sign bearers who stand on the corners of intersections, pointing you in the direction of the latest deals to be had. Whether they’re hocking a new sandwich shop, a $5 slice of pizza, a new housing development, a car dealership, or almost anything else, you know it’s summertime in the city when these people have hit the streets.

So, the next time you see one of the Arrow People getting jiggy widdit on the corner, roll your car window down, throw your fist up in the air and give them a solid SacRag “Right Awn!!”.

After all, summer’s here!

Little Winged Migration

You can’t help but notice the tiny orange and black butterflies zooming around town.

No, this is not normal.

This year, Sacramento is a way station in the largest ever migration of the Painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui). After a winter in Southern California, billions of butterflies are making their way to British Colombia for the summer. The migration only occurs once every decade or so, possibly in concurrence with El Niño years.

My theory, while not widely accepted by the scientific community, indicates the return of Motley Crue.