Thursday Things: Pre-Ides of March Edition
12 March 2020. Vol 2 No 11. By Dan McGirt. #31
Welcome to Thursday Things! The Ides of March is almost upon us. Also: viruses. Viruses are almost upon us.
Caesar the day! Photo by Nicole Reyes on Unsplash
Sunday is the Ides of March. Beware! Especially if your name is Julius. Also, it might be a good idea to avoid the forum. Or crowds in general. And do not go to brunch with Brutus and the gang.
Where is St. Patrick when we need him? Ireland records first-ever venomous snake bite.
A Dublin man is hoping for some of that power for himself after he reportedly fell victim of a venomous snakebite – believed to be the first time such an event has been recorded in Ireland.
The 22-year-old, who owned a venomous puff adder, was treated with anti-venom in Connolly Hospital, the Irish Post reported last month.
Whoa, whoa, whoa — hold up! The victim “owned a venomous puff adder”? St. Patrick goes to all the trouble of driving the snakes out of Ireland by the power of faith and you bring a venomous puff adder in here? And keep it in your home? Can that possibly be a good idea?
“Considered one of the most aggressive and dangerous snakes of its kind, the puff adder carries a particularly venomous bite.”
So that would be a big no. Good luck to the luckless deadly puff adder owner. Maybe when you recover ditch the snake and get a pet mongoose or something.
Meanwhile, in India: Marauding monkeys take over government office block and force officials to flee Troops of monkeys have raided the offices of India's top cabinet ministers and taken over.
The Indian government is waging war on troops of marauding monkeys who have taken over the offices of top officials.
Punjab and Haryana Civil Secretariat headquarters in Northern India, which is home to cabinet ministers and bureaucrats, has been overrun by opportunist macaques, who are said to climb into offices via balconies.
Despite attempts to rid the headquarters of the menace, the paper reports the situation has become so bad guards have taken to "avoiding eye contact" or running away to avoid provoking them.
Great. As if we don’t have enough problems with viruses and ill-tempered pet snakes, the Planet of the Apes has begun.
Here are some literary maps of Hell, per Dante’s Inferno. Apparently, people love drawing maps of Hell based on Dante’s Inferno and have ever since it was published. I prefer Narnia.
A map of Hell by Joannes Stradanus, 1587
There is a secret alley full of bookshops in London.
My cure for all gloomy news and bad things: Puppies and kittens playing together!
Thank you for reading Thursday Things. See you next Thursday!