COVID-19 Cartoons, Memes, and Shenanigans Part 4

[GreyhoundFan]

 

"Virtual Fans"

Quote

Because of the coronavirus, fans haven’t been allowed into professional sports. But, the leagues are attempting to recreate a live atmosphere for their games.

In Major League Baseball, there are cutouts of human beings in the stands. With lifeless fans, it truly does make the game more boring. But, baseball isn’t going go be able to finish their season anyway (that’s a not-so-bold prediction).

The NBA is actually piping fans in. That is, they’re on screens watching the game in real-time so there are actual genuine reactions to what’s happening.

World Wrestling Entertainment company was the first “sport” to return because after giving Republicans a shit ton of money, Florida’s governor declared wrestling an “essential” service. Apparently in Florida, it’s essential to see people get clobbered in their heads with chairs and thrown through tables. But, they have actual fans in attendance. Granted, they’re trainees so technically, these “fans” are being paid to be there. So, I guess that kinda makes them virtual fans.

Also, soccer, hockey, and NASCAR are playing again (does NASCAR “play?”) but I haven’t watched any of those yet and when I do, it’ll just be hockey.

It seems Donald Trump might want to take a cue from professional sports.

The Trump Campaign boasted about the million people ordering tickets to his Tulsa rally. The venue could seat about 19,000 people but only 6,000 showed up and it killed Trump’s black friend Herman Cain. It was a sad day. Also, it got his Campaign Manager and grifter Brad Parscale fired. On top of all that, Trump is now planning to ban TikTok because K-pop fans used the app to organize fake ticket requests (also, there’s a brilliant comedian, Sarah Cooper, doing lip-sync impersonations of Trump that’s really pissing him off).

Over the weekend, when Donald Trump wasn’t golfing, he went to Florida for a fundraiser and ended up holding a mini Trump rally on the tarmac after getting off the plane. Donald Trump ranted his usual set, playing all the hits, to a…did I say “mini Trump rally? Yeah, he played all the hits to a very sparse crowd doing their best not to wear face masks in order to catch the coronavirus for Donald Trump. I’m using the word “sparse” generously here.

How “sparse” was it? It was so sparse, the White House released a photo of it where…wait for it…they photo-shopped in more people. Actually, it wasn’t more people. It was the same people. They took the crowd and multiplied it. So, if you look at the photo carefully, you see the same racist assholes several times. It’s kinda like when Fox News shows a photo of Jeffrey Epstein, they crop out Donald Trump. Seriously.

Altering pictures of Donald Trump isn’t new to this White House, In the past, they’ve doctored photos to make Donald Trump appear thinner and stand up straight. They’ve even added crowds to his crowds, usually by taking crowds from much more popular events, like Antique Road Show (I made that up, sort of). It’s kinda like whenever Melania delivers a speech, she has to steal it from Michelle Obama, who by the way, is probably going to be missing some roses from her rose garden very soon.

I expect the Republicans to pipe people into their convention later this month. Holy crap! That’s this month? But anyway, maybe they’ll do it like the NBA and display screens of fans in real-time. I mean, sure it won’t be as diverse as an NBA audience but it could be Trump’s best opportunity to actually feature black people in his crowd…you know…that they’re not going to kill later. And maybe they can actually feature someone wearing a “Blacks for Trump” shirt who is actually a black person.

Donald Trump always boasted that large attendance at his rallies proves how popular he is. So using his logic, or what little of it there actually is, what do small crowds say about his support? I mean, if you can’t even get the racist assholes to come out in Florida, you’re might be kinda doomed. Maybe they were all watching wrestling.

I miss fans at actual sports (not wrestling or NASCAR). They’re a part of the game. But I’m not going to miss seeing thousands of racist Republicans on my TV. Or at least, they won’t be in the same room as the event. I’m looking forward to the dead air hurting Donald Trump’s tiny feeble feelings. The true irony is that Donald Trump’s fans are fake anyway. They’re fake patriots. They’re fake Christians. Hell, they’re fake Americans.

And maybe after November, we won’t have to deal with a fake president anymore.

 

[CTRLZero]

16 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

It took me the longest time to "get" this one.  ?

[K'Z'K]

6 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

We're running out of space on the bingo cards...

 

Spoiler

 

I'll see your cannibal ants, and raise you zombie cicadas.

'Zombie cicadas' under the influence of a mind controlling fungus have returned to West Virginia

Spoiler

As if the world today isn't strange enough, researchers have discovered a new population of cicadas that are being brutally infected by a parasitic fungus that controls their mind and forces them to infect other insects.

These insects, dubbed "zombie cicadas," are under the influence of Massospora, a psychedelic fungus which contains chemicals such as those found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to a new study published by PLOS Pathogens.

After infecting its host, the fungus results in "a disturbing display of B-horror movie proportions," West Virginia University said in a press release.

First Massospora spores eat away at the cicada's genitals, butt, and abdomen. They are then replaced with fungal spores used to transmit the fungus to other cicadas. From there, this new, fungal abdomen will slowly "wear away like an eraser on a pencil," said study co-author Brian Lovett in the release.

[picture: A cicada infected with Massospora.]

The infected cicadas, which were found in West Virginia by university researchers in June, are the third cicada population discovered to have been infected by Massospora, according to study co-author, Matthew Kasson.

Since cicadas have either a 13 or 17-year lifecycle and live underground until they emerge more than a decade later, studying how Massospora infects these species can be very difficult.

How the fungus manipulates the cicada

While almost a third, if not more, of their bodies are replaced with fungal tissue, infected cicadas continue to move around oblivious of their sickness. This is because the fungus manipulates the insects' behavior to keep the host alive rather than killing them to maximize spore dispersal.

"If one of our limbs were taken out or if our stomach was slashed open, we would probably be incapacitated," Kasson told CNN. "But infected cicadas, despite the fact that a third of their body has fallen off, continue to go about their activities like mating and flying as if nothing happened. This is really, really unique for insect killing fungi."

[Picture: Known and possible modes of infection for cicadas infected with Massospora.]

The study highlights recent findings including how infection leads to hypersexual behavior. Even though infected cicadas lose their ability to mate when their backsides become fungal plugs, they will still attempt to mate to sexually transmit the fungus to healthy cicadas.

The parasitic fungus even manipulates male cicadas into flicking their wings to imitate the females' mating invitation so they can also infect unsuspecting male cicadas to rapidly transmit the disease.

While researchers believe sexual transmission of the fungus is the easiest way for Massospora to spread, cicadas can also come into contact with the pathogen in other ways.

"When they fly around or walk on branches, they spread spores that way too," Kasson said. "We call them flying saltshakers of death, because they basically spread the fungus the way salt would come out of a shaker that's tipped upside down."

While a zombie army of cicadas sounds terrifying, Kasson reassures that infected cicadas are not a danger to humans. At this time, researchers believe the fungus does not pose a serious risk to the overall cicada population.

 

[47of74]

Hey question. Do you think they’d let me order a Fuck Trump one?

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

57 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

Hey question. Do you think they’d let me order a Fuck Trump one?

 

 

 

 

[ADoyle90815]

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[Ozlsn]

[Ozlsn]

I don't know why this made me laugh so much... but it did.

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