Natalie
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natfee.bsky.social
Natalie
@natfee.bsky.social
86 followers 200 following 23 posts
writer. hermit in the woods. local cryptid. yes i’m still masking, no covid isn’t over. she/her
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natfee.bsky.social
The penicillin strain for mass production was found on a moldy cantaloupe in a Peoria, Illinois grocery store. During WWII, we produced billions of doses using corn byproduct fermentation.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicil...
Wikipedia excerpt: Mass production As the medical application was established, the Oxford team found that it was impossible to produce usable amounts in their laboratory.[89] Failing to persuade the British government, Florey and Heatley travelled to the US in June 1941 with their mould samples in order to interest the US government for large-scale production.[95][96] They approached the USDA Northern Regional Research Laboratory (NRRL, now the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research) at Peoria, Illinois, where facilities for large-scale fermentations were established.[97][96] Mass culture of the mould and search for better moulds immediately followed.[95] Wikipedia excerpt: After a worldwide search in 1943, a mouldy cantaloupe in a Peoria, Illinois market was found to contain the best strain of mould for production using the corn steep liquor process.[102] Six times as much penicillin could be produced compared to using Fleming's mold.[96] Pfizer scientist Jasper H. Kane suggested using a deep-tank fermentation method for producing large quantities of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin.[103][26]: 109  Large-scale production resulted from the development of a deep-tank fermentation plant by chemical engineer Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau.[104] As a direct result of the war and the War Production Board, by June 1945, over 646 billion units per year were being produced.[101]
December 17, 2024 at 9:41 PM
natfee.bsky.social
Wikipedia says it’s a rotten potato in the shoe, do you know if this is a regional or old timey thing, or maybe at the parents’ discretion? Rotten potato just feels extra mean lol

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland...
The Yule Lads are the sons of Grýla and Leppalúði. They are a group of 13 mischievous pranksters who steal from or harass the population, and all have descriptive names that convey their favorite way of harassing.[1] They come to town one by one during the last 13 nights before Yule. They leave small gifts in shoes that children have placed on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient, they instead leave a rotten potato in the shoe.
December 12, 2024 at 7:13 PM
natfee.bsky.social
This response about wishing it hit the landlady made me laugh… the rest of the story is kinda sad though

www.cbs42.com/digital-excl...
Excerpt from article: Soon, though, another legal hurdle made any sale of the meteorite impractical. The Hodges’ landlady, Birdie Guy, claimed that because the meteor hand landed on and damaged her property, she was entitled to the meteorite, not the Hodges. Gene Hodges called Guy “money hungry.” And Ann said she’d felt like the meteor was sent to her, not Guy. “She felt like it was hers,” Gene said. “I remember her saying ‘If she wants it, I wish it would have hit her.’”
December 1, 2024 at 12:24 AM
natfee.bsky.social
This whole article is well worth the read, but I felt compelled to share this passage because it sums up so much.
Many of you could be where we are—on the street—but for some simple and not uncommon twist of fate. This is part of your rejection, this fear that it could be you. You deny that reality because it is too horrific to contemplate, therefore you must deny us. And the moneyed reject us because they know they create us, that we are a consequence of their impulse to accumulate more than they need, rooted in a fear of life and the death that comes with it. Nothing good comes of fear, only destruction, and America has become a society of fear, much of that fear cultivated to divide and control.
November 27, 2024 at 12:45 AM