Minneapolis is a lovely city, except for the geysers of blood erupting out of the sewer system. Don’t get the wrong idea, though—only some of it was human blood.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Could have been worse for him, I suppose. It could have been the revenge of the pre-mentral feamle god, “tampax” – where she lets her feelings be known by throwing thousands of used tampons at him.
I was wondering if the lab was somehow affiliated with Miskatonic U.
Nice going PZ :P
Help me, o.b. wan kenobi, you’re my only hope.
waddaya mean “except for”?! i would’ve thought that one of the better points!
This is quite possibly the most disgusting blog post I’ve yet read. And to think I was going to be eating soon…
This is quite possibly the most disgusting blog post I’ve yet read.
I don’t know, that ear wax and smegma one was pretty bad. :)
RE” This is quite possibly the most disgusting blog post I’ve yet read. And to think I was going to be eating soon…”
Written by someone who perhaps thinks that insects are disgusting too.
Wait, it’s OK to dump BLOOOD in the sewer? I thought that was considered a biological contaminant and had to be handled specially? What kind of testing? HIV?
You know I hear a lot about what colleges have to go through to dispose of samples, seems to me that this should hold true and there should be APPROPRIATE disposal protocols for ANY lab waste, hospital, school, lab, whatever.
Minnesota gets all the good people. First PZ Myers, now Pennywise the Clown?
Dang.
“Written by someone who perhaps thinks that insects are disgusting too.
Well now that you mention it, I am quite revolted by Periplaneta americana, however I am not gun shy around Vespula vulgaris or Bombus. I also prefer capture and release, as opposed to the messier and less diplomatic “wall smash”.
I thought that biological wastes were supposed to be mixed with bleach and thus thoroughly disinfected before they were disposed of. Perhaps these labs are breaking half a dozen health regulations.
I don’t find any insects to be “disgusting” and I am perplexed as to how anyone else can either. It just boggles the mind. I think it is like some sort of phobia that people learn. Maybe that is the origin.
I do however find some insects dangerous to my health, but that is a different story.
Yikes. I hope that guy gets himself properly tested. Human blood is pretty dangerous stuff, especially to other humans. Think hepatitis, if not AIDS.
It’s a sewer system. Would the guy be more, um, sanguine if he had swallowed its other contents?
truth machine:
I think it all boils down to one’s expectations. If he had expected blood, he would probably have complained about eating feces.
I don’t know how long HIV would survive outside the body. I think it is fairly sensitive to temperature and probably wouldn’t deal with being at room temperature (or lower) for long. Hepatitis, on the other hand, is a pretty hardy virus. But are we sure that it was blood, not blood+bleach? If the latter the health dangers are much less.
I just hope the Apocalypse gets here soon so the rest of us can get on with our lives. Where are the locusts? I only want to know so I can plan my next vacation. ;^D.
I imagine they would have to virkonned the living shit out of that blood before pouring it down the drain.
I’m thinking it might be blood from perfusions [formaldehyde]: lots of it gets dumped down the sink when you do that, and it’s almost impossible, given the volume, to capture and sterilize it. In a way, it’s already kinda sterilized since the formaldehyde kills a lot of the nasty stuff. Given the trend in regulation, etc., I can fully imagine how capture and sterilization of that waste blood will eventually be required.
OT: Peanut-butter creationism (don’t know if you PZ-ites were already aware of that video or not…I haven’t been able to log on to Scienceblogs for a while due to browser problems with the advertisements).
How could they possibly be allowed to dump blood down the drain?? We work with lots of (animal) blood, and are required to autoclave it and dispose of it as hazardous waste.
I suppose that Minneapolis has made the top of the short list for the next convention of the vampire society.
BBIM:
& another stereotype swirls down the drain.
I assume that the blood was ‘clean’, e.g., tested for communicable diseases?
I suppose that Minneapolis has made the top of the short list for the next convention of the vampire society.
Those Republicans have already decided to have their convention here. ;-)