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July 09, 2008
Get Up (Get On Up)
What a late start to the day, huh? Between the actual American holiday, CJo's holiday (permanent vacation?) from Shrubville, and the Monday Shrubville of
"Toga! USA! Toga! USA!
Toga! USA! Toga! USA!
Toga! USA! Toga! USA!
Toga! USA! Toga! USA!
Toga! USA! Toga! USA!
Toga! USA! Toga! USA!
Toga! USA! Toga! USA!"
I had no idea what day today was. Unfortunately, it dawned upon me that it was Wednesday and there was Prickly City to read. Even more horribly, I was greeted by the sight of a tapeworm cameo. Given the track record of character appearances and their subsequent quick exiles in the Prickly City history (Dio? Shelley the Turtle? Humor?), we thankfully can hope that Larry the Tapeworm is short-lived, although of course in this instance he'll probably become a mainstay. In preparation for that event, let's consult the liberal New York Times for some background on our new friend:
In the intestine, the worm is a fierce competitor for vitamin B12. Absorbing the vitamin for its own needs, the worm deprives the bone marrow of a vital ingredient for making red blood cells.Tapeworms sometimes reach a length of 30 feet and can live up to 20 years. They have a complex life cycle; in adult form they attach themselves by suction cup to the small intestine of vertebrates.
The fishworm is a compact sex machine containing both male and female sex organs sufficient to produce and release up to a million eggs a day.
To survive, the eggs must reach fresh water, where they become embryos with hooks that are ingested by crustaceans. The crustaceans in turn are swallowed by fish. Freshwater fish like the pike and perch, major ingredients of gefilte fish, are especially fond of these delicacies.
Ingested, the larvae of the worms embed themselves comfortably in the muscle fibers of the fish. When humans or other vertebrates swallow the raw fish, the cycle is completed.
Though symptoms are sometimes described as the Jewish housewives’ disease, the worm is nonsectarian, and the anemia can be found in other cultures that eat raw freshwater fish.
There you have it. Our new character is a "compact sex machine" and/or an anti-Semite. That's it. Time for a letter-writing campaign to purge this parasitic strip from our family friendly newspapers.
Comments
At first I thought it was the worst drawing of a rattlesnake ever, but if it's a tapeworm then it's only kinda crappy.
Posted by: The Furnace at July 9, 2008 08:26 PM
I thought (and still think) it's a snake...
=U Know Who
Posted by: U Know Who at July 9, 2008 11:29 PM
