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October 6, 2007 Newsletter
This and That: The Only Way to Deal with Spider Bites
As Richard Nixon used to say, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Most spider bites don't need anything more than a little first aid, such as alcohol or witch hazel, possibly some antihistimine (you can buy this stuff at a pharmacy...I don't need to mention any brand names. For one thing, I am too lazy to try to figure out what to do to make that "registered trademark" symbol, and, anyway, would it turn out that way without using the "html code" for that symbol? Unlike most people who create their own web pages nowadays, I don't use style sheets.) Some spider bites resemble insect bites, and, likelihood is you couldn't tell the difference unless it was the dead of winter. That's because late fall tend to kill the insects; spiders, on the other hand, tend to live in your house. They live under floor boards. They live in any crack you happen to not have caulked. They live in exposed attics, unfinished sections of your house, in the insulation between your wall and the outer wall. Still, if the spider bite doesn't go away, there may be more to it than meets the eye.
The Black Widow Spider (click here to see it) lives all over the US but mainly in warmer areas and in the south in the winter...but I am warnng you I've seen them in houses up north in the winter as well...in wood piles, undisturbed areas of your house, and any other place one might expect to find spider nests. Out here in west Texas they are very common. The nice thing is they are easy to identify: shiny black spiders with red hourglass-looking shapes on their abdomens (the part of the spider that is not the head...spiders, unlike insects, have only the head and abdomen along with eight, not six, legs). Basically, you will know immediately if you have been bit by one. Your bite area will be very painful, your muscles will seize up, you might vomit and you might have difficulty breathing almost at once. The longer you wait to get it attention the worse it gets by a mile. Whether you know if you've been bitten by one or not, if these symptoms manifest themselves, call 9-11 and get IMMEDIATE HELP! You could go into respiratory shock very quickly.
The Brown Recluse Spider (you are going to have to "Google Image" this one...there are any number of varieties of this spider, some are darker than others, some have a more "violin shape" on the abdomen than others, and anyway, there are a huge number of shades of brown) is much more problematic and likelihood is you will have NO IDEA you have been bitten by one until a day or so later! Heck, you won't even feel the bite! Especially if you are sleeping! Anyway, they live in the south, east of the Rockies, they are small, they are brown, their legs are about one-and-a-half times as long as the body itself, and unless you are cleaning an area where they live you are not likely to encounter one (but again, they are nocturnal, so that is why they could get you when you sleep). Different people react differently to spider bites, but with this spider you don't want to take the chance that you may or may not be allergic. In severe cases, brown recluse spiders cause "skin necrosis," which means your skin rots away (or ulcerates) exposing the underlying organ tissue, which could take a very long time to heal. But it is not likely that a victim will wait this long to get this thing looked at. If you feel an itchy area that is reddish (as with an insect bite), is spreading, and is beginning to have a "target" pattern look to it, go down to your nearest doctor/clinic/rural health clinic or if all else fails your emergency room...but get yourself to a doctor or nurse practicioner or physician's assistant and get it looked at. The sooner the better! Try not to wait more than five days after the bite, when you see the target pattern. It might be treated for brown recluse venom, or it might be something else. According to "Wikipedia": "In fact, many wounds that are necrotic and diagnosed as brown recluse bites can actually be methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)." Since MRSA (a major cause of untimely death in hospitals and nursing homes that probably killed my dad) is much more serious than any brown recluse spider bite, you do NOT want to take any chances!
Pass the "Orange-O" (with apologies to the late, great Kurt Vonnegut)...that's all we have left (?)
If J.R.R. Tolkein is Britian's greatest fantasy fiction writer of all time (okay, okay, he's tied with his Oxford professorial fellow, C. S. Lewis), then Kurt Vonnegut is America's. Vonnegut's first published novel, "Player Piano," is also his most telling one (but not his funniest, which would be "Breakfast of Champions," a laugh on every page). In some future America, only Ph.D.s or other Doctorates can hold management-level positions of any kind; holders of Bachelor's or Master's Degrees are lumped with "the reeks and recs" and do all sorts of menial jobs, like work on assembly lines that produce a cereal product, Orange-O, that serve to quench the munchies of the typical prole couch potato, as all reeks and recs are dumbed down to be. That way, they won't revolt against their overlords or against their own alienation, mental depression, and emotional and spiritual death. While "Slaughterhouse Five," which is Vonnegut's opus to the fire bombing of Dresden during WW2 that he in fact witnessed while in a POW holding area called 'Slaughterhouse Five', is his most anti-war novel. and "Cat's Cradle," about the effects of the the fictional WMD 'Ice Nine', is his most science fiction novel, "Player Piano" I think is the most important for today. We live, my friends, in something that is more closely and closely resembling a dystopia. Orwellian on one level. Aldous Huxleyan on another level. Isaac Asimovian on another level. Ayn Randian on another level. Or, if you are into movies and not books, think "Matrix" meets "Robocop" and "Brazil", with a little "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (the original, of course!) and "Idiocracy" thrown in.
Truly I say, unless the remnant (the 30% who has the capacity to withstand and eventually defeat the oligarchs, as opposed to the 70% who are already either financially, spiritually, or emotionally enslaved to them) puts themselves in a position where we can accomplish this--the countryside, lock, stock and barrel--then we will in fact (short of a miraculous reprieve such as a Ron Paul Presidency for 8 years, if THEY let him survive that is) be partakers in our own destruction...and even then we will need all the ammunition we can get a hold of to ward off "the Night of the Living Dead" (ie. zombies from the 70%) if not the out and out paid-slaves of the oligarchs (Blackwater?). But before I continue let me say this: I do have some sympathy for the 70%! I DO understand why they are clueless! I have taught in public schools--in fact I went to public schools!--and I know for a fact that public education makes even the brightest students less able to freely think and less likely to question authority (in fact, only the authority of God must not be questioned, and if you don't like that statement, too bad!). I know for a fact--because I have been a victim of nonsense "conspiracy theory" myself--that it is hard to believe that our own "elected" government WOULD WANT to enslave us. [Yes, I said WANT to enslave us...people like Hillary actually believe that THEY are doing this "new world order/illuminist/one world government" program for the good of all. Further, THEY believe not only that if the rest of us are slaves/serfs/indentured servants, then THEY will be able to "control" the world for everyone's benefit (even the slaves) without us to get in their way. Further, they believe that THEY have a "divine right" to do so (see another dystopian movie, "Aeon Flux", about how this benevolent slavery would look), and that this is the only way to save the world from destruction. Believe it or not, some of the oligarchs and lackeys really do believe what they are doing is a good thing for all (which assumes, of course, as with Jacques Cousteau's warning, that 2/3 of humanity must die for this "utopia" to exist). Not all the oligarchs appear like craven lunatic psychopaths bent on cruelty and bloodlust--but the fact is all of them are, in one way or another: THEY, by their very nature, have no true sense of brotherhood with anyone, often not even with themselves, and their rule of thumb is that the end justifies the means. In this way I really feel sorry for the "soulless" oligarchs.] Okay... I DO understand! That is why this site exists: to educate the 70%, get them off their butts and out of harm's way...but the 70% must be SEEKING the truth first, or else they won't find their way here unless through divine intervention.
A Word About "Dysfunctional" People
The story of Carol Anne Gotbaum, who was arrested at the Phoenix airport several days ago, was tackled by TSA goons and eventually died in custody is not only symptomatic of today's burgeoning police state USA, but from a view of the increasing number of people who are taking medications for disorders like depression, bipolar mania-depression, attention-deficit or attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorders, or are self-afflicted with some sort of eating disorder, and other conditions that might turn one "dysfunctional" (or cause the explosion of the number of "dysfunctional families"). Gotbaum supposedly reacted the way she did to TSA intimidation because she had forgotten to take her medication (which in no way excuses TSA's behavior!). Let me say (as someone who actually has a counseling certification but not a license) that I have no doubt that the western world as a whole, which, in its lust for wealth and power, is losing its spiritual compass, its "soul" if you will. I am pretty much of the opinion that this is by design, but it isn't something the oligarchs are imposing on anyone by force--most of the western worlders who have the disorders listed above are willing partakers in their disorders. People get depressed because what they put into their bodies is throwing their body chemistry out of whack, or because they can't hope to look like Paris Hilton...which leads many women and girls to take on an eating disorder on top of all that! Kids in school become hyperactive or lack attention because of what they put into their bodies (or their parents have them put into their bodies) or because they are very bright and public school won't challenge them. Few with these disorders are "born that way" and for most, while they don't "choose" to be depressed, they choose the foods and the attitudes that lead them to be depressed. Or perhaps they live in an unhealthy environment or an unhealthy relationship or have a job they hate. We know that soldiers returning from war often exhibit "post traumatic stress disorder" (if you don't know what that is, Google it), but just the mere act of living a lifestyle that you are forced to live can do that as well, IMHO. Further, you don't have to live in the cities and suburbs to feel this way. There are quite a few "depressed" or "emotionally disturbed" people who live in rural areas as well and attend sessions at rural Mental Health-Mental Retardation centers. I truly believe that remote rural areas are not for everybody. Sometimes, living in isolation can be just as stressful as living ten feet from your neighbor. As I mean to stress on this site, it takes a certain type of person to live in the rural remote SUCCESSFULLY. In the near future I hope to discuss this issue.
The "Psy-Ops" Just Keep Coming!
My final thoughts for today relate to all this business on TV, the news and the internet: will we or won't we invade/bomb/nuke Iran. I call it "psy-ops" for a reason: everyday, in fact it seems every minute, someone--either neocon or antiwar or pro-Israel or anti-Israel or heck just about anyone with an opinion--is claiming that "we" are going to do something to Iran very, very soon (and not only that, but Wolf Blitzer in his "Situation Room" report with some military brass actually ascertained that we are already at war with Iran [see this video here]). This is despite the fact that Bush, who certainly is pushing more UN sanctions on Iran, and Israel, which is certainly intimidating Syria and is known to have called for attacks on Iran because of Achmadinejad's supposed quote about wiping Israel "off the map", have not yet actually gotten their governments to create any serious legislation (forget a declaration of war...we haven't done that since FDR) calling for an attack on Iran. What we get is all sorts of threats from Israel (see the Debka Files site, which is a Mossad operation; the motto of the Mossad is "By deception, thou shalt do war"); votes from the spineless-Democrat-led Congress about calling the Revolutionary Guard of Iran as "terrorist," because Congress is owned lock, stock, and barrel by AIPAC; reports from reputable journalists like Seymore Hersch of the "New Yorker" that attack on Iran is imminent (Google "Seymore Hersch + Iran"); neocons like Paul Wolfowitz calling for invasion or bombing of Iran, and the rest. And then you have the affore-mentioned Achmedinejad coming to Columbia University; the mullahs (who actually run Iran) claiming the Koran won't allow the creation of nukes for war; other Iranian officials claiming Iran has the right to develop peaceful nuclear energy; that the US or Israel would be crazy to "do something" to Iran because Iran wouldn't just play dead like Saddam's Iraq did, and that surely Russia and China (Iran's allies in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) wouldn't sit idly by as they did with Iraq, and Syria would attack Lebanon or get Hezbolla to do something... So, my take is this: until President Bush actually gets on TV as he did a few days before he invaded Iraq, and says he will invade Iran unless Iran does this or that by a certain date, then I as far as I am concerned the invasion/bombing/nuking of Iran is only a rumor. You, dear reader, can believe what you want.
Like what you read? Then subscribe to the Something Happening Here Newsletter! I do not have a set time for it to come out, but I try to make a newsletter once a week or as much as possible with hints and tips on how to live better and more naturally on your rural remote land. From handling garden insects to collecting valuable resources like water and firewood to raising your children to dealing with neighbors, I believe my 25 years experience living on the land can help you make the most of your rural remote life.
Click here to read the first newsletter about how we fix out dirt driveway after rains washed them out, dealing with mice, and more. Click here to find out how to I used herbs and natural products to help with allergies, cold, and other respiratory ailments. Click here to read Part 1 of the "Gloom and Doom" scenario and here to read Part 2. Click here to learn the ten essential items you must have to begin your new life on your rural homestead. Click here to stop worrying about what we cannot change and change only what we can. Click here to find out how I dealt with culture shock after I moved from the big city. Click here for some different angles on the Ron Paul phenomenon. Click here to read about how to liberate yourself from "the matrix". Click here to test yourself to see if you are ready to move into the country. Click here to find out how the people will defeat the oligarchs. Click here for some tips on preparing for winter in the country. Click here to bolster your resolve in dealing with garden-eating varmints. And click here for a dose of reality.
