Everyday Junglist
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About me. You know how everyone says to be a successful writer you should focus in one or two areas. I continue to prove them correct.
Stories (715)
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The Last Cat
It had happened so fast. Within a year every cat (but one) on the face of the earth was either dead or in the process of dying. The newly discovered virus, Feline Leukemia Virus - variant AB.8 (FLV-Ab8), was found to be responsible for the deaths. Most scientists believed the virus had arisen naturally, a mutation or series of mutations of the commonly circulating Feline Leukemia virus, which, though often fatal, is not all that transmissable, and for which a highly effective vaccine exists. A small but vocal minority of scientists were convinced the virus was the result of a bioweapons research program. They claimed the virus had managed to escape its home lab either by acccident, or that it had been released intentionally. Most pointed the finger at Russia and China as both were known to have or have had active bioweapons research programs, and they remain two of the very few countries where laboratory research using cats (domestic cats) as test subjects is still allowed and fairly common. In truth, the bioweapons crowd had some strong arguments in their favor. There were elements of the FLV-Ab8 genome that had sequence signatures indicative of human intervention. Most troubling however was the speed and mechanisms by which the virus mutated within the infected host to evade its' immune system. This was something that had never seen in a naturally occuring virus before. Virologists and molecular biologists would be studying and learning from this virus for a very long time to come. In the now however, the virus' impact was devastating and every cat was affected equally. By every cat, I mean every cat, from the most common domestic to the most exotic wild species, each and every one of the 37 cat species comprising the family Felidae was gone or soon to be gone, forever. This included, among others, cheetahs, pumas, jaguars, leopards, lions, lynxes, tiger, and domestic cats, living in any region of the world, and cats are native to almost every region on Earth, with the exception of Australia and Antarctica. I say forever because all attempts at cloning had failed, and though each species' genetic material had been saved and frozen in cryogenic storage, it would be hundreds, perhaps thousands of years before technology would advance to the stage where this material could be used to produce the cats again. The ecological impacts were significant and mostly just beginning to be felt. Rodent populations had boomed out of control in many important agricultural regions resulting in untold levels of crop destruction, starvation, and putting several countries on the brink of war. Resource competition between countries contributed to greatly rising tensions world wide. Diseases the rodents transmit such as plague and hanta were on the rise, and there were many more predicted impacts, along with surely many, many more that remained unforseen. The earth, however, would persevere, it would adapt, we would adapt, we would survive the loss of the cats, as painful as it might be.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Fiction
Thank You Mexico
As I approach the 9 month mark of living in Mexico (Baja, California) I have been reflecting on lessons learned, and thinking a lot about the various mistakes and missteps I made in this first year as a US expat in a foreign land. While there are a few things I would do differently, I do not regret at all my choice to move here, and given conditions in the United States at the moment, from an economic perspective at least, each day that passes makes it seem more and more like a very smart move. That said, I have not been sparing in my critiques of various aspects of the country, particularly its immigration system, which makes the process of obtaining residency about as simple as triple integrals. However, when looked at in comparison with the US system, about which I have heard a host of nightmarish tales, it does not look all that bad. I also was a bit unlucky with my timing as an influx of Haitan immigrants flooding the system at exactly the wrong moment greatly complicated my own situation. There are other aspects of the country I have critized as well, and though I believe in all cases those criticisms were fair, I do not want them to overshadow all the very good things I have come to know and love about the country of Mexico. I have also written at length about some of these, and they are the reason(s) why I have chosen to stay. With those in mind I woud like to offically say thank you so much to the following:
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Wander
To Build a Liar
Author's preface: As I recently moved I have been rifling through a number of dusty old boxes over the past week or so. Within one of the boxes I found a folder which contained the tattered pages of several stories I had written a very long time ago. To give you a sense of just how long ago, they had been typed, neatly double spaced, using an old school electric typewriter. One of these was a story I had written in the 7th grade called To Build a Liar. It was a parody of the classic Jack London short story To Build a Fire. I can't recall any details of the origin of the story though I do have a vague recollection of my impressions of Jack London's writings. Generally a fan, but the man struck me as a blowhard and a braggard, thus the parody which is an example of that tendency taken to its extreme. Below I reproduce the text exactly as I wrote it way back then. All the awkwad phrasing, redundancies, grmmatical misakes, spelling errors, etc. are left untouched. Enjoy.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Fiction
Tape Manufacturers in Crisis as Tape Backing Technology Falls Further Behind
Tape manufacturing has reached a crisis point as advances in tapes and the adhesives that make them sticky, have far outpaced the ability of makers of tape backing, the material that tape sticks to so it can be rolled up or otherwise delivered for use, to keep up. 3M, makers of Post-It Notes, Scotch tape, and a variety of tapes and adhesives that have become household names, has been ground zero for the ongoing crisis. Vice President of 3M's tapes and glues division Alfredo Espinoza said the following yesterday in a prepared statement describing the rapidly worsening crisis.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in FYI
Life's Stupid Mysteries 2
Has a question ever occurred to you that is totally stupid? I mean really, really dumb. A question so inconsequential and meaningless that it is barely worth the effort to ask, yet alone take the time to find an answer. A question so ridiculous that it may have occurred to at most ten people in the entire history of the world. Welcome to part 2 of life’s stupid mysteries (LSM) a series in which I ask, and sometimes bother to try and answer, depending on how lazy I am feeling, questions no one else is asking and no one else cares about.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in Lifehack
