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Missing Villain

Bad News, Health

Here’s a panic-button issue:

What’s behind the worrying rise of cancer in young people? After cases in people aged 25-49 rises 22%, experts are blaming processed foods, smoking, drinking and even pollution

They missed “climate change” in that list, but no doubt it will be added later.

Cases of thyroid cancer are also soaring among 15 to 39-year-olds, according to figures from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine in the U.S. Between 1990 and 2019 there was an 81 per cent increase in cases in this age group in G20 nations, compared to a 24 per cent increase in all cancers.

Despite my flippant tone, this does seem to be a problem, although it’s affecting mostly young people right now — Daughter’s fiance has just had part of his thyroid removed, not for cancer but for something else.

That climate change thing still needs watching…

Glueball Wormening Alert

Eco-Crap

Yes, yes, I know… but now it’s getting serious:

Weird creatures flocking to Brit beaches as UK looks ‘more like the Med’

Or maybe it’s an influx of Russian sunbathers, such as the Midi is experiencing:

It’s an easy mistake to make.

You’ll have to follow the link to find out what the creatures actually look like — but by comparison, they’re not too bad.

Travel Advisory

Africa

…not that any sentient human being should want to visit the continent, of course, but just in case you have to (business etc.), please note this little snippet put out by someone or other:

I don’t know what criteria were used — most likely, violent crimes per capita — but what strikes me most is the absence of Mogadishu from the list.  And as for 6 of the top 10 being in South Africa… ask me again why I left.

*Rustenburg is a town of over half a million people, northwest of Johannesburg on the way to the gambling mecca of Sun City.  In the early 1980s our band played a residency at another resort hotel nearby, and even back then we avoided the place.  It’s also the center of the platinum supply (over two-thirds of the world’s platinum is refined there).

Pietermaritzburg has the ironic nickname of “Sleepy Hollow” — clearly, that’s no longer the case — and it’s where New Wife used to live as a young schoolteacher.

Cape Town is generally regarded as the “safest” large city in Seffrica LOL.

Beautiful to look at;  but the closer you get, the worse it becomes.

Don’t get me started on Johannesburg.