4 ms·

There's an organization which offers to allow volunteers to serve as hosts in order to preserve the species: http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/preservers.htm

There's an organization which offers to allow volunteers to serve as hosts in order to preserve the species: http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/preservers.htm http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/preservers.htm

hnriot 12y ago
are they serious? people really volunteer for that? while I'm with Douglas Adam's in that we should try to save the black rhino, I have no problem with a disgusting parasitic worm going extinct, since it has little to no effect on the earth's ecology since it only seems to enjoy humans as its host. that site really does show the diversity of the internet. what did these freaks do before the Well, AOL and now the web!
thaumasiotes 12y ago
It's worth pointing out that Save the Guinea Worm Foundation is a joke site (and note that they specifically point out they're not accepting volunteers), while your parent comment appears, worryingly, to be serious. http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/truth.htm http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/truth.htm
- ars 12y ago
  I don't want this thing in the wild!! (Or in a human volunteer for that matter. Assuming that site wasn't a joke would someone actually be crazy enough to do it?) But preserving eggs somehow in a lab seems worthwhile.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    From Reason magazine's interview with Dave Barry (http://reason.com/archives/1994/12/01/all-i-think-is-that-its-stupid/1 http://reason.com/archives/1994/12/01/all-i-think-is-that-it...): > Reason: You've written in your columns about the strategic helium reserve the government keeps in case we have a sudden need for a fleet of dirigibles. > Barry: What bugs me when I write that is that I suspect 90 percent of my readers think I made it up. > Reason: What's something about the government that really pisses you off? > Barry: Well, that helium thing does. That's real money. All the tax money that I've ever, ever paid--and I've paid a lot of taxes--will not even begin to pay for one year of the strategic helium reserve.
    - ars 12y ago
      Just because Dave Barry can't think of any use for helium doesn't mean everyone has that problem. And in fact 20 years later people got very worried about the ability to keep MRI machines running due to a (potential) lack of Helium. It's a good thing not everyone is as shortsighted as him. No one can think of a use for guina worms right now, but that doesn't mean no one ever will.
      - tritium 12y ago
        The thing that bothers me is that, once you have the helium, it's not like it's a chore to maintain the stockpile. How much does it cost to hermetically seal a noble gas inside a durable container, and stow it in a warehouse?

hnriot 12y ago

are they serious? people really volunteer for that? while I'm with Douglas Adam's in that we should try to save the black rhino, I have no problem with a disgusting parasitic worm going extinct, since it has little to no effect on the earth's ecology since it only seems to enjoy humans as its host. that site really does show the diversity of the internet. what did these freaks do before the Well, AOL and now the web!

thaumasiotes 12y ago

It's worth pointing out that Save the Guinea Worm Foundation is a joke site (and note that they specifically point out they're not accepting volunteers), while your parent comment appears, worryingly, to be serious. http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/truth.htm http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/truth.htm

ars 12y ago
I don't want this thing in the wild!! (Or in a human volunteer for that matter. Assuming that site wasn't a joke would someone actually be crazy enough to do it?) But preserving eggs somehow in a lab seems worthwhile.
- thaumasiotes 12y ago
  From Reason magazine's interview with Dave Barry (http://reason.com/archives/1994/12/01/all-i-think-is-that-its-stupid/1 http://reason.com/archives/1994/12/01/all-i-think-is-that-it...): > Reason: You've written in your columns about the strategic helium reserve the government keeps in case we have a sudden need for a fleet of dirigibles. > Barry: What bugs me when I write that is that I suspect 90 percent of my readers think I made it up. > Reason: What's something about the government that really pisses you off? > Barry: Well, that helium thing does. That's real money. All the tax money that I've ever, ever paid--and I've paid a lot of taxes--will not even begin to pay for one year of the strategic helium reserve.
  - ars 12y ago
    Just because Dave Barry can't think of any use for helium doesn't mean everyone has that problem. And in fact 20 years later people got very worried about the ability to keep MRI machines running due to a (potential) lack of Helium. It's a good thing not everyone is as shortsighted as him. No one can think of a use for guina worms right now, but that doesn't mean no one ever will.
    - tritium 12y ago
      The thing that bothers me is that, once you have the helium, it's not like it's a chore to maintain the stockpile. How much does it cost to hermetically seal a noble gas inside a durable container, and stow it in a warehouse?