Re: CP 1215

From: john e. cavanaugh (jcavanau@iupui.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 29 1997 - 15:38:11 PDT


Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 17:38:11 -0500 (EST)
From: jcavanau@iupui.edu (john e. cavanaugh)
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg3771$foo@default>
Subject: Re: CP 1215


>As a suggestion to Dr. John Cavanaugh, whose Nepenthes "just shrivel up
>whenever I take them out of their 'space-bubble' environment", how about
>acclimating them VERY gradually to life in the open? If by "space-bubble"
>you mean those plastic cup enclosures over little tc Nepenthes, try drilling
>ONE SMALL air hole in the cup in order to start dropping the humidity
>JUST A BIT. Be careful. The plastic can be very brittle! When you can't
>stand it any more, drill another small hole, etc. Let plenty of time elapse
>between hole drillings. GRADUALLY drop the humidity. It's going to take
>time to harden off those delicate plants that are used to 100% humidity 24
>hours per day. Probably several weeks should elapse before the process is
>complete. At this point you'll have lots of holes and some measure of air
>circulation-- with much lower humidity-- and if you were patient (and
>lucky) enough, you might have hardened off your Nepenthes to the point
>where they can leave the nest....
>
>Just a suggestion-- hope it helps!
>
>Lance in Wisconsin
>
>--
>----------------------------------------------------
>----------------------
>Lance Jerale
>414-775-9520
>voice
>ljerale@valders.k12.wi.us
>414-775-9509 fax
>Valders Middle School
>Valders WI 54245
>

Thanks, Lance, that sounds so simple.
I currently have them in a discarded chromatography tank about 24" tall,
which has holes at the upper corners where air can exchange beneath the
glass lid. The N. mirabilis is starting to lift the lid. The episode which
prompted me to write happened last week, when I took the little buggers out
to clean the tanks. I had already cleaned my "temperates" tank, which is a
55-gal aquarium with a crack in it, and had put the small cuttings in
there. The N. mirabilis would not fit, however, so I hung it on the railing
on the porch with my orchids. The afternoon sun was coming in at an angle
beneath the eaves of the roofed porch, so were striking the plant
obliquely. The ambient temperature was about 70F and the outside humidity
was 40%. Twenty munutes later I retrieved the poor dear, only to find the
leaves had all shrivelled. Since then the leaves show signs of relative
recovery, but are wrinkled and brown. The traps are healthy. I think I'll
just cut the vine back to the level of two abortive branch buds, and make
cuttings of the half-dozen or so affected leaf segments. That will solve
the problem with the "lid lifting" until next spring and give me more
plants (I was tempted to cut this sucker back anyway, just to get it to
grow branches, but was to timid because it looked so nice and BIG).

on an unrelated note...

>Hmm, strange that according to some people Encephilitides is nearly
>impossible to get, YET 2 people on the CP-List know people who have
>gotten it before. Apparently it isn't quite as rare as many would
>think.

Yes, it is. Why don't you do some homework instead of "sharing" your
ignorance and lack of reasoning experience with the rest of us. There are
some people out there (regretably, far too many) who can't tell the
difference between education and malarky.

>Supposedly this year is a bad season for the disease. Furthermore,
>mosquitos THRIVE in the swamps, etc. that people looking for CP would
>go tramping through. The reason that not ALOT of people are infected
>is because few people go walking through swamps where mosquitos are
>abundant. Entering a swamp and looking for CP most likely HIGHLY
>increases your chances of contracting Encephilitides.
>My posting was to warn somebody who said that they were interested in
>going to Florida about Encephilitides. The amount of insult and being
>the target of jokes that I have gotten in return on the list seems a
>little uncalled for, when my original intentions were to inform
>somebody of the risks, not to sabotage the Flordia tourist industry as
>some on the list seem to think.

Seems like Epidemiology is your best subject - NOT. Here we go again -
DON'T GO EXPOUNDING ON ABOUT A FLAT EARTH WHEN EDUCATED PEOPLE ABOUND WHO
KNOW IT IS ROUND. Go to the library. Search the Internet. Do something,
anything besides blathering on about somthing you know little about - but
other people do.

Informing people is good, MISinforming them is evil. Where do you think
such "wonders" of the supposedly rational human mind as racism, genocide,
etc. came from? As the saying goes "The Road To Perdition Is Paved With
Good Intentions".
Ther are lots of examples of such well-intentioned but harmfull
"information" in current events. Check out the video of "Junk Science -
What You Know That May Not Be So" by John Stossel. Also check out Peter
Huber's "Galileo's Revenge - Junk Science in the Coartroom", and of course
Carl Sagin's final gift to humanity "A Candle in the Dark". Irrational
though processes have killed over a billion people this century alone. We
must fight it whenever it raises its ugly head.

Pointing out malarky is only "insulting" if it isn't true.

"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and
remove all doubt." - W. Churchill.

Sorry about the flame, but people who live in gas houses...

Dr. John E. Cavanaugh, MD, MS, etc.
blah blah balah

John E. Cavanaugh, MD, MS, DABP
Fellow of Forensic Pathology
Indiana University Medical Center
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Division of Forensic Pathology
Room 157 Van Nuys Medical Science Building,
635 Barnhill Drive, Indianapolis IN 46202-5120
Phone (317) 274-2973 Fax (317) 278-0221
Direct line (317) 278-0462



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