To tell the truth the news these days is either boring or gusting or both…..so on weekends I try to give some news that was missed…..enjoy.

We are closing in on the big day, Thanksgiving and the usual fare is turkey with all the fixins’…..so this year things could be awkward….

Just a few weeks ago, economists with the American Farm Bureau Federation warned that Americans should brace themselves for higher turkey prices this year heading into the holidays, blaming inflation and an outbreak of avian flu. Now, more recent numbers are in, and that dour outlook for the Thanksgiving dinner table hasn’t changed much. According to USDA data from Oct. 14 cited by CNBC, the price per pound of an 8- to 16-pound bird currently hovers at about $1.99. Last year around this time, that number was $1.15—translating to a 73% increase in 2022. The New York Times notes the turkey supply has been struggling for some time, starting in 2019, when producers started to slow down on raising turkeys after prices fell.

Then came the pandemic, supply-chain issues, and inflation, which has affected the price of feed, fuel, and labor for turkey farmers. Meanwhile, what the Times calls “a particularly persistent and contagious strain” of avian flu has affected nearly 48 million birds in more than 40 states this year, killing upward of 7 million turkeys, or almost 4% of the nation’s total. What exacerbated the issue during this year’s avian flu bout—the likes of which hasn’t been seen at this level since 2015—is that instead of striking as it usually does in the cooler spring, when migration is peaking, it stretched into the summer months, which is when farmers raise their flocks for the holidays.

“It’s certainly occurring at a terrible time,” a commodities strategist tells CNBC. Experts say there’s a chance suppliers could bolster markets’ turkey supply at the last minute, but consumers shouldn’t hold their breath on that. Fresh turkeys at reasonable prices will be hardest to find come November, and restaurants that usually serve turkey with their holiday offerings are warning customers now that might not happen. None of this necessarily means you’ll be completely out of luck as you start picking up ingredients for your Thanksgiving repast. “They’ll find a turkey of some kind. It just might not be that nice 10-pounder,” an exec with the price reporting agency Urner Barry tells the Times of consumers’ prospects. “It’s essentially a ‘you’re going to take what you get and feel good about it’ situation.”

We all know about the hurricane that ravaged Florida and now there is a lingering result of that storm…..

Florida has seen an increase in cases of flesh-eating bacteria this year driven largely by a surge in the county hit hardest by Hurricane Ian. The state Department of Health reports that as of Friday there have been 65 cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections and 11 deaths in Florida this year. That compares with 34 cases and 10 deaths reported during all of 2021. In Lee County, where Ian stormed ashore last month, the health department reports 29 cases this year and four deaths. ABC News reports it logged only five cases and one death in 2021 and no cases at all in 2020.

Health officials didn’t give a breakdown of how many of the cases were before or after Ian struck, notes the AP. But the BBC reports the Lee County Health Department put the blame at the storm’s feet on Monday: “The Florida Department of Health in Lee County is observing an abnormal increase in cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections as a result of exposure to the flood-waters and standing waters following Hurricane Ian,” it said in a statement.

 

Lee County health officials earlier this month warned people that the post-hurricane environment—including warm, standing water—could pose a danger from the potentially deadly bacteria. NPR notes the Vibrio vulnificus population grows during warm months (it should begin to drop sharply as the cold sets in late this month) and may also experience a bump when sewage enters coastal waters, as happened during Hurricane Ian. The county health department said in a news release Oct. 3 that people with open wounds, cuts, or scratches can be exposed to the bacteria through contact with sea water or brackish water. People with open wounds should avoid such water and seek medical care immediately if an infection is apparent.

Are you a ‘couch potato’?

If so then you need to heed the words of WHO……

Get active or risk disease. That’s the message from the World Health Organization, whose first global report on physical activity indicates 500 million people in 194 countries will develop heart disease, obesity, diabetes, stroke, dementia, depression, or other diseases unless they boost their physical activity. “There are few areas in public health … where evidence on required action is so convincing, cost-effective, and practical,” according to the Global Status Report on Physical Activity 2022, which notes regular exercise reduces the risk of premature death by up to 30%, per the Guardian. Inaction comes at a “severe” cost—$27 billion per year between 2020 and 2030—and will strain “already overwhelmed health services,” according to the WHO.

The report found fewer than 50% of surveyed countries have a national policy on physical activity. It is only possible to meet the global target for a 15% increase in physical activity by the end of this decade if more people become more active through mass-scale physical activity events or public information campaigns encouraging people to exercise, the report says. “We need more countries to scale up implementation of policies to support people to be more active through walking, cycling, sport, and other physical activity,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus writes in the report, which also calls for physical fitness programs in day care centers, schools, and workplaces, and improved road design to make walking and cycling safer.

“Each dollar invested in chronic disease risk factor prevention such as reduction of physical inactivity yields returns up to seven times of the dollar invested,” Health Finance Institute CEO Andrea Feigl tells CBS News, which notes increasing physical activity also has benefits for mental health. Some 43% of the new cases of noncommunicable disease predicted to appear would result from depression, according to the report. It found “unfair and unjust” inequalities in levels of physical activity “between women and men, girls and boys, old and young, and the socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged” and adds “we hope countries and partners will use this report to build more active, healthier, and fairer societies for all.”

This is from the ‘Fate Is A Cruel Bitch’ files……

 

Only a skull and a pair of trousers remained after a suspected rhino poacher was killed by an elephant and then eaten by lions in Kruger National Park, South African National Parks said.

The incident happened after the man entered the park Monday with four others to target rhinos, according to a parks service statement.

An elephant “suddenly” attacked the alleged poacher, killing him, and “his accomplices claimed to have carried his body to the road so that passersby could find it in the morning. They then vanished from the Park,” police said.

“Indications found at the scene suggested that a pride of lions had devoured the remains leaving only a human skull and a pair of pants,” the statement said.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/07/africa/south-africa-rhino-poacher-eaten

That is about it for this Saturday…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”