Althouse: I love tick flicks!

June 14, 2009

I love tick flicks!

39 comments:

Meade said...: "If a [tick] ever needed dyin' he did
No one had the right to say what he said about you"; 6/14/09, 10:21 AM
rhhardin said...: Brad Paisley Ticks.; 6/14/09, 10:28 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: It should have been waterboarded first!

Missed opportunity.; 6/14/09, 10:31 AM
Anonymous said...: It's kind of a low key horror movie, "The Tick that Ate Cincinnati."; 6/14/09, 10:31 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: An insignificant parasite feeding off Conservatives; clinging to the media. Then Althouse has him squished.

I can't help feeling this post is somehow related to Andrew Sullivan.; 6/14/09, 10:38 AM
rhhardin said...: Alternate disposal method: entrap tick in paper towel by repeated folding, secure with rubber band from pile left by US Postal Service daily deliveries, and drop in wastebasket (or tangerine colored tick recycle bin if present).

Squishing does not work with ticks.; 6/14/09, 10:39 AM
Bissage said...: This tick video is quite the coincidence.

It was just this morning I gave the dog her monthly dose of Frontline®.

I use a metal comb to dig through her coat to get down to the skin.

She’s not a big fan of that.

Still, she’s learned to tolerate it well enough.

This morning’s reward was a nice piece of waffle with butter and maple syrup.

Also, I think she kind of likes what has come to be known as the “Ticky Bug Song.”

Death to ticky bugs,
death to ticky bugs,
death to ticky bugs,
let’s make them all die!; 6/14/09, 10:42 AM
Fred4Pres said...: As bad as ticks are, and in the Marine Corps I saw a fellow platoon member get one buried in on perhaps the worse possible place to get one, leeches are worse.

Nevertheless, Meade did what needed to be done.

The price we pay for good blackberries.; 6/14/09, 11:09 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Meade did what needed to be done.

So this is how Obama is finding his billions in health care savings.; 6/14/09, 11:19 AM
Jeremy said...: Palladian - Tell everybody about your crabs.; 6/14/09, 11:36 AM
Ophir said...: If you're going to kill the little fella at least have the decency to name his tag after the correct class.

How would you like it if you accidently ended up on a tick's envelope and, after filming your execution, he'd write a cute little post about you and tag it with:

Tick + Meade, reptiles, Althouses?; 6/14/09, 11:36 AM
Ophir said...: As bad as ticks are, and in the Marine Corps I saw a fellow platoon member get one buried in on perhaps the worse possible place to get one, leeches are worse.

And even worse is a leech in perhaps the worst possible place to get one; 6/14/09, 11:43 AM
chuck b. said...: The insect tab is technically incorrect, as ticks are arachnids not insects. If you want to be all-inclusive you could say "arthropods". Have a nice day!; 6/14/09, 11:44 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Oh, good point! I know ticks aren't insects! Will fix.; 6/14/09, 11:52 AM
reader_iam said...: Not sure which reaction from my son amused me most: "Crush it, dummy!" "Kill it, already!" "What's a snuff movie? When you play with something before you kill it?(!)" or ...

... "The **podcast lady** is in O-*Hi*-O now? Since WHEN?" (You have to envision--"enhear"?--imagine the emphases here, in the piping tones of 9-year-old boy.)

LOL.

[Context for first hostility toward ticks: Our dog brought three home with us from a family gathering in rural Indiana a couple weeks ago, only they had burrowed in. The removal process distressed my son--and the dog, of course.); 6/14/09, 12:02 PM
reader_iam said...: Jeez, Althouse, my son *still* remembers that podcast theme song of yours, and can sing it (just did). Of all things.; 6/14/09, 12:05 PM
knox said...: He needed killin'.; 6/14/09, 12:17 PM
TitusisbackfromWisconsin said...: Good afternoon fellow republicans and lovers of the bush doctrine.

I made it back from Wisconsin.

The weather was beautiful. I went fishing, played baseball, went to a fish fry, gained weight, worked out, had fresh strawberries, went to a gay bar and was called an old man and also asked to have a three way.

One of the rare clumbers isn't moving very well. He had a difficult time getting up. Now I am worried.

How are you?

What did I miss?; 6/14/09, 12:18 PM
amba said...: Warhol-worthy.; 6/14/09, 12:40 PM
TitusisbackfromWisconsin said...: Madison gays go to a gay bar out along some road by car dealerships get pissing drunk, get in their cars and drive. How sad. I saw a couple of guys stumple out of the bar, barely get to their cars and drive off. Also, I guess there is no such thing as "turning someone off" at the bar when they are too drunk. One guy, who was wearing a leotard top with sequins, yes I said a leotard top with sequins, couldn't even stand up but was able to order another drink.

They are also stuck in the 80's.

Why if Madison is supposed to be so enlightened and liberal and "cool" are the gays so ignorant, non worldly and dress so poorly?

It is a strange dichotomy. Madison supposedly liberal and highly educated juxtaposed to Madison gays who seemed rather ignorant, could not hold conversations and worked in jobs that paid poorly and required no education. Whassup up with that?

That Mark Kaine queen who works on Channel 3 cruised me at the gym. I was like no way Mary.

My parents also still get the Wisconsin State Journal delivered. What an awful newspapers.; 6/14/09, 12:46 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Oh, your tired worn out poorly trained or sorrowfully wired brains, whereby all things, all things, are referenced in connection with rudimentary partisan politics, even posts about ticks.

Blood sucking spiders ---> trodden political ruts. Yes, I do get that. Poli-ticks. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Other minds process things differently, more pleasingly, I would say. Origami tick by origamidennis on Flickr.

But dung beetles are my favorite bug. Please look out for them and post photos should you see one at work. Dung beetles do not gorge on your blood nor endanger your health. They're very advantageous for humans, and for the whole planet, actually. They clean the surface ridding it of poo which minimizes flies and other pesky insects, they aerate and mulch soils. They're good for livestock.

Much of Egyptian mythology and their understanding of the cosmos is derived from dung beetles. They're sacred. Statues are created in their honor along with jewelry in vast amounts as well as protective amulets.

The live bugs dig vertical channels into the ground that lead to horizontal chambers suspiciously like the tombs of the ancient mastabas. The dung beetle larva that develop inside the dung ball deposited in the chamber looks very much like a wrapped mummy. In some species the parent remains in the chamber to protect the eggs and larva, perishes there while the larva grows inside the dung ball left by the parents. The larva devours the moist dung from inside the dung ball as it develops so that the space inside grows concurrently with the growth and size of the larva until it is finally fully developed and only a dry shell remains of the original buried ball, whereupon the adult bug emerges from the chamber giving the appearance of a proper resurrection!

Here's an impressive Oragami dung beetle by Sipho Mabona on Flickr.

In our culture butterflies are the symbol of metamorphosis and so used for death-related subjects, sympathy cards, mortuaries, and such. In ancient Egyptian culture it is the dung beetle that represents metamorphosis, but this subject includes the daily life and death cycle of the sun itself in its movement across the sky. Kheper, in Egyptian, to the ancients (in my mind, I read "hyper"), The chairwoman in Kafka's The Metamorphosis calls the transformed character alter Mistkäfer, the old dung beetle. Kheper -- Mistkäfer, get it? Like ticks, once you see them, you see them everywhere. In literature Aristophanes, Aesop, Poe, and Wodehouse, all build stories around dung beetles, among many other authors and artists.

They're an irresistible subject even for my own silly animation, lame as it is, but in my defense, I've only begun understanding them.; 6/14/09, 12:52 PM
Roman said...: I don't usually watch tick flicks, but this one has a happy ending.

Just watch out for PETT (People for Ethical Tick Treatment)!; 6/14/09, 1:14 PM
Anonymous said...: I use scotch tape on ticks.

Take a little piece of tape, stick it to the tick and then fold up the tape with the tick snug inside.

I then wrap the scotch taped tick in some cellophane. After placing the celophaned, scotch taped tick gently onto a paper towel I then enfold the paper toweled, cellophaned, scotch taped tick in a sturdy piece of aluminum foil.

Just to be safe I then place the aluminum foiled, paper toweled, cellophaned, scotch taped tick into a tightly sealed plastic container.

And then it's off to the county waste disposal site and I'm done with that nasty little bugger.; 6/14/09, 1:56 PM
Rockport Conservative said...: We live in the sticks, an oak forest, we have plenty of ticks, on us and the dog. I do a nightly brush and tick search on her. Then they get smashed or flushed down the handiest drain. I love the puppies singing "They ain't no ticks on me."; 6/14/09, 3:54 PM
Ralph L said...: It may just be my low body temperature, but ticks always migrate to my crotch or head.

When you find one the day after a hike, you immediately wonder whether there are others lurking somewhere.

If I'm at home, I perform a burial at sea, with suitable prayer.; 6/14/09, 4:29 PM
Ralph L said...: in the Marine Corps I saw a fellow platoon member get one

I thought the military had a DADT policy about sex with arachnids. Y'all really were into each other's stuff.; 6/14/09, 4:38 PM
Ralph L said...: I spent that whole video waiting for the tic to fall through the holes in the table.; 6/14/09, 5:05 PM
Crimso said...: Ticks are absolutely no joke, and should be summarily executed (Meade, you're braver than I am for touching it without having to). I contracted a tick-borne illness about 7 yrs ago, and it was by far the sickest I've ever felt. My bouts with the flu were mild by comparison. The really bad part only lasted a few days (I saw a physician about 24 hrs after I first started feeling ill), but I continued to feel fatigued for months. My brother-in-law had a very similar experience. I generally hate arachnids, and it's really simply because a few nasty ones (I've had numerous encounters with brown recluses as well) give the whole lot a bad reputation.; 6/14/09, 7:42 PM
TitusisbackWisconsin said...: OK, I am officially concerned about one of my rare clumbers. She can barely move. She can't even get up to my expensive divan without my help. The queens that took care of her (that do not live on the Penthouse) said she was fine all weekend. Bullshit.

Back to my Wisconsin travels.

I went to the same bank that Althouse went to in Columbus which will be in the new Johnny Depp movie. It is very cute. Long the windows. I went upstairs with mom. Mom and Dad and I had a great time. I caught some large mouth bass right off the pier at our cottage on Swan Lake. I drove around the city of Madison. East Wash, West Wash, Middleton (the good neighbor city), West Side, etc. I had a great time. I was very active. It was wonderful to see them. I played baseball in Waunakee with my entire family. My parents and I are very close. They are amazing people. Honest, hard working, decent, happy, love life, real "doers".

Also, I am concerned about the Madison gays. I think the whole "gay" thing is holding them back. When you go out in Boston or NYC you meet professional, successful mos. But when I went out in Madison I met mos that are hourly employees. They do not have careers, they have jobs. Believe it or not I tend to listen most when meeting others, I don't talk much. So when in Madison I listened to many mos. They had nothing to say. They hated their jobs, they were not "out" to anyone, they had multiple roommates, they rented, and had no goals. Or if you call a goal saving enough money to go out in Milwaukee. And they drank quite a bit and had to drive a decent distance to go home. I met a guy from Janesville, Broadhead, Portage, and another one from Beloit. All of them were drinking these huge Long Island Ice Teas and planning on getting into a car and driving home. They also have no money and are lousy tippers. They are totally not fabulous. There is something not right about that.

Big city gays are from Venus and small town gays are from Mars.; 6/14/09, 7:50 PM
TitusisbackWisconsin said...: Althouse, I think you need to hold an emergency meeting regarding the fat of the gays in Madison.

What is even worse about my entire Madison gay experience is how the straighties in Madison must view them. There must be no respect towards them and there shouldn't be. They are losers. Oh one of them I met was working on getting a degree from Upper Iowa so I guess they aren't all losers.; 6/14/09, 8:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Titus, Club 5 is the last bar I would go to in Madison, and I'm gay. It's as terrible as you describe. And the two downtown, Shamrock and Woofs are not much better, if better at all. I'm really pretty disappointed in Madison's gay scene as well.

I've only lived in Madison for two years, as a grad student. All the professional or grad student gays I know just avoid the gay bars because it doesn't feel like Cheers to us the way gay bars did in our undergrad years. We all came from different places and found our niche in some "straight" bar that was accepting of openly gay people (something Madison DOES have going for it).

Though I must say I long for the gay community in somewhere as quaint as Bloomington, IN; a much closer-knit, interesting gay scene in my opinion. It doesn't have the "professional feel" of DC or Chicago (the metro areas I've frequented) but it does feel like there is a pleasant mix of serious students and university faculty.

I honestly think Madison lacks an intellectually stimulating gay bar scene not because there are no professional gay people or that there is no place for us, but because there are so many bars that are very welcoming of gay patrons.; 6/14/09, 8:19 PM
TitusisbackWisconsin said...: Gaywrites, I am glad to hear that Madison's straight clubs are welcoming to the gays but Madison, for it's size should have a cool gay club. The city has almost 300,000 people. Providence, which is probably half the size of Madison, has amazing gay clubs and professional mos.

I don't know what I would do as a gay in Madison. I like to go out and socialize with my professional gay friends. I don't care where but I need to find a welcoming environment with other professional gays to have an interesting fun conversation with. I like blue collar trade as much as any mo but I want my blue collar trade to be hot and at least somewhat informed.

Unfortunately, Madison did not provide that for me. Granted I was only there for the weekend and everyone told me it was "Milwaukee Pride", but still.

Come on Madison, get with it.

Needless to say I am going out tonight to get some affirmation that all gays are not freaks.; 6/14/09, 8:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Good luck, sir!; 6/14/09, 9:29 PM
Bob said...: A tick inspection should be a part of any hike or walk in the woods. To make it easy on yourself, wear light-colored clothes such as khakis instead of jeans, as the dark-colored tick will more readily show against the light fabric. After you have walked through tall grass/weeds, do a visual inspection of your trousers for ticks, and brush off any that you find.

The ticks that are responsible for Lyme Disease, Deer Ticks, are typically the size of a pinhead (not a microcephalic pinhead, but a literal straight pin head).; 6/14/09, 10:40 PM
Meade said...: Ralph L said...
"I spent that whole video waiting for the tic to fall through the holes in the table."

Funny you should mention those holes in the table, Ralph L.

One of those holes has paranormal properties. We put all sorts of things in it and whatever we put in always disappears.

For example: spiders, insects, food particles, even whole half-eaten sandwiches. It's bizarre! I even put a pair of men's shorts down that particular hole and presto... Gone! Afterwards, I swept the floor with a broom -- nothing!

It was downright eerie. (Of course, that was after Althouse threatened to put down that hole a man wearing shorts.)

She might've been kidding, I can't always tell. But still, that would've been a little too paranormal even for me.; 6/14/09, 10:54 PM
El Presidente said...: "He'll be reborn, as something higher than a tick. We did him a favor"

Not an expert, but I don't think the Bhagavad Gita contemplates 'doing favors'.; 6/15/09, 8:40 AM
sonicfrog said...: SPOON; 6/15/09, 2:30 PM
Wince said...: Remove the tick properly.

Using sharp pointed tweezers, or specially made tick tweezers, grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible, as close to its embedded mouthparts as you can. If you squeeze the body or head, you risk compressing the guts and salivary glands and expelling even more organisms through their mouth into your body.

Do not twist the tick or turn the tweezers as you pull out the tick. Pull out straight with a slow, steady motion. Twisting may force more organisms into your body, and may result in the head or more of the mouthparts being left in your body.

Do not apply any substances to the tick before removing it - no alcohol or nail polish, no petroleum jelly or other ointments, and do not try to burn it out or otherwise convince to let go of you. It won't let go. It will just happily keep on sucking your blood and pumping pathogens into you.; 6/15/09, 10:42 PM
reader_iam said...: EDH: This is the method (emphasis on the slow) employed by DH to remove the tick from the dog, which method (on account of the slow, and patient, mostly) so distressed my son.

The dog is perfectly fine. Aside from one targeted yelp associated with final removal of a tick, he just moved on. Incident closed.

Our dog is a dog. Our son is a human.

Therein lies a sweep of a tale.; 6/15/09, 11:33 PM