#lyme

[shanks]

[joy-haver]

Watching people I know fall for conspiracy theories that the government is secretly breeding ticks and giving them lyme disease as a way of disabling the population….it’s disheartening.

We always want the bad things that are happening to be the result of someone’s plan, because if they are, we can simply stop them by disrupting that plan. The more sinister and evil and masterminded we imagine the enemy, the easier it is to justify our failure to beat them, and the easier it is to daydream heroic solutions. But the reality is that most of the harms in the world are not planned for, they are simply the byproduct of people with money trying to get more money, and of power trying to sustain itself.

So, let me give a very simplified overview of what’s happening with ticks and mosquitoes.

My understanding is this:

There are a lot less predators for them. Insect populations overall are dropping, meaning there isn’t enough food for birds and small mammals to reproduce. These insect populations are falling due to habitat loss primarily, and loss of host plants (basically, there is a lot less land for them to live on. Even when they have land to live on, they might not have the right plants to live on, because there are so many invasive species and monocrops).

In general, the few insect species that have rising populations are those that feed on humans and livestock, which is mostly things like ticks and mosquitoes. Humans and livestock are the most abundant food source left around. A lot of the things that feed on us have had more opportunities to adapt to the ways we’ve changed the world, so they can survive things other insects can’t

Most predators can’t survive on ticks and mosquitoes alone, so there aren’t many other bugs and animals left to eat them.

Also, most of the things we do to kill mosquitoes and ticks kill their predators more than they kill them. This means that every time we spray insecticides, we end up with more mosquitoes and ticks, because we kill the bugs that eat them.

There is a lot more we could get into about disease transmission via insects, and I will leave that for someone who knows more. But my point is, the government and the rich people don’t actively have to be trying to give you lyme disease - they probably aren’t trying, but a lot of it still is their fault. They destroy the environment for money, and it causes all these issues.

[arturia-giallo]

ライム by 碳酸 [Twitter/X] ※Illustration shared with permission from the artist. If you like this artwork please support the artist by visiting the source.

[nimandmossy]

This is a Lyme disease hate post

Fuck you Lyme disease!!!

[innocentrowan]

I have been seeing a lot of talk recently about if there was a sixth book what would it be about, and i think i have nailed it down to a few options that I think would be likely.

We know it will be pre 74th games because they end after the 75th and we have seen both of them. we also know that there are no more tributes from district 12. and we know that we have seen the 10th, the 50th, the 74th and the 75th games.

That leaves 71 possible games. but i think we will probably not be seeing the nine before Lucy Gray’s game because that’s when the games became a commodity.

Now we have 62 games left. i think we can assume it will be someone we know of or something we have heard of. That leaves us with about 19 games total, plus two games I think are interesting enough that despite not knowing the names of the victors could be interesting. so 21 options.

of thoes 21 options, i don’t think we will actually see 2 of them because they were created by the movies. (porter millicent tripp and augustus braun) so back down to 19 again.

Now I don’t think we will see some of them for obvious reasons. we won’t see Mags because her game is so close to Lucy Gray’s and there is very little to add to what we already know with her. I don’t think we know enough about Woof, Palladium, Lyme, or Blight. I also don’t see her using a district 1 or 2 victor unless there is a specific reason (and I have two of thoes I will mention) just because her ideas seem to be focused on the more poorer districts (but I could be wrong) so I will also not be counting Brutus or Enobaria. this brings us down to 12 specific games I think we might see.

I think the 25th hunger games could be possible. it was where each district was forced to choose a two children to be victors, but at the same time i don’t see how she can follow any philosophy other than perhaps in order to say “see how you turn on each other” but that doesn’t feel like a thing SC would do for her deep philosophical thinking stories.

Then there is the year where a boy who was going to win resorted to cannibalism and katniss is pretty sure the game makers created an earthquake to kill him. That’s all we really know about thoes games, but it could be interesting to see in a “you are what you do to survive sort of way.

Instead of going in order of winning or district, of the 10 known victors left I am going to be going from least likely in my mind to most likely.

10: Chaff

I don’t think Chaff will actually be involved because his game is so close to Haymitch’s and seems to be similar emotionally/mentally to Haymitch. That said it could be interesting to see someone who chose not to get “fixed” after their games, he is missing a limb and has some other scars even after he has won his games.

9: Finnick

Finnick being this low is probably a bad call on my part, but we already know so much about his games and after his games that I can’t see much new being added. There is the fact that he is from district 4 and either volunteered before anyone else could or the person who was supposed to volunteer didn’t, but otherwise I think we know it all.

8: Wiress

Other than her instability during the games and that she was brilliant, we don’t really know much about her. It could be interesting to see her in the original games, we know she probably was stable during her original games, so that might be something, but I don’t actually see it.

7: Johanna

My beloved. This is a Finnick problem all over again. We know too much about her games! And yet she has some things going for her, we don’t know what happened to her family and we don’t know what he life was like too much after the games. We also know she hides her abilities at first which might be interesting.

6: Seeder

Seeder is an early on player of the game probably between the 25th and 50th games given the description given to us by Katniss. She is also described as one of the few victors who hasn’t turned to some sort of substance. And she is from 11 which I have a sneaking suspicion is a likely candidate for the next place we see characters from.

5: Annie

Honestly Annie and Seeder are almost tied in my head, but Annie living gives her an edge in this fight. But Annie could be interesting because we could see her mental health both pre and post games, and because we could see how mental health is treated in Panem.

4/3: Gloss/Cashmere

Like I said, this is the exception to my no district 1 & 2 argument. Mainly because I think it would be interesting to see siblings back to back. And because I can imagine going into the games, winning them but becoming disillusioned with them, then watching your baby sister have to do the same thing and believing it’s a good idea. Plus it could be interesting if we got to see back to back games maybe.

2: Cecelia

Who? I hear you asking. Cecelia is the most important character introduced in Catching Fire to me. She is from district 8, and most importantly she has kids. She is the only known victor to have kids. When Katniss realizes what the rest of her life as a victor will look like she thinks that having a kid would be a death sentence for them, that they would be forced into the games as a gimmick. But Cecilia has them, and that means either she chose to have them knowing the risk or was forced to, either way I must know more!

1: Beetee

Not only do I find this character incredibly interesting, he is one of the six living victors at the end. He is incredibly respectful and seems to be integral to everything that happens after Katniss and Peeta win. His relationship with Wiress could also be built on, as could the fact that the only thing we know about his game is how he won. Also I like him a lot, so clearly he is the best choice.

[cherrylymeaid]

MANIA!

[ahedderick]

Tickborne

I recently got an email from a family member who was looking for info and/or doctor recommendations for lyme disease, because of my son's battle with lyme.

Which made me take a deep, deep breath (I'm frustrated about a lot of things, today, and I don't want to unload on him) and write out a small essay about tickborne illnesses. IlnessES. PLURAL! My son didn't have lyme, he had babesia (also spelled babesiosis.)

I have posted here before, but it bears repeating. There are quite a few tickborne diseases. Anyone who has gotten a tick bite or is frequently outside and at risk for getting bitten should:

Read the CDC website to find what diseases may be in your area of the US (I don't personally have info for other areas of the world)

and check out the various symptoms of those diseases BEFORE even asking a Dr because

Many doctors don't even know this stuff, and you may very much need to do some research on your own before asking for a diagnosis.

About Ticks and Tickborne Disease

General information on diseases spread by ticks and signs and symptoms of tickborne disease.

[hayley4682]

I think instead of Haymitchs games being about the theme of propaganda, it should have been Commander Lyme

Lyme is a victor from District 2 who eventually becomes a rebel when we see her in Mockingjay being in charge in District 2

Reasons why I think we should of got a Lyme book

1) We know basically nothing about her backstory other than the fact that she is a district 2 victor. We could of had a fresh start and introduce characters that we have never met before or not know a lot about (District 2 victor Brutus comes to mind)

2) Being from district 2, she was most likely a career. We could see from her pov all the brainwashing (which is caused by propoganda) she had been through and how she's like in the arena

3) How she became a rebel and overcome brainwashing. We could have seen what happened to her, which made her become a rebel and help the rebels

4) See what's life in district 2. Are there poor areas? Are there rich areas? What happens to people who people who speak out against the capital and the brainwashing? Is it different from the other districts? How do children become careers? What are the dynamics between the careers and their parents? Are their parents just as indoctrinated as their children?

We could have seen a lot of information if we could have been given a Lyme book, and I wished we knew a lot more about her life + backstory.