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“Guided by Voices throwing 'Sweating the Plague' listening parties (stream - Brooklyn Vegan” plus 2 more

“Guided by Voices throwing 'Sweating the Plague' listening parties (stream - Brooklyn Vegan” plus 2 more


Guided by Voices throwing 'Sweating the Plague' listening parties (stream - Brooklyn Vegan

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 06:52 AM PDT

Guided By Voices at First Avenue in Minneapolis
photo: Tony Nelson

Guided by Voices' are gearing up to release Sweating the Plague in a few weeks — it's the band's 29th album and third this year. Robert Pollard's well of anthemic, ultra-catchy rock songs has not run dry, as evidenced by "Unfun Glitz" which premieres in this post. Listen below.

Sweating The Plague will be released on streaming services on November 1, but will be available in stores a week early, with listening parties happening in 17 independent record stores across four countries on Thursday, October 24 at 6 PM local time. Purchasers on that day will get a commemorative poster, and each store will be giving away a Sweating The Plague test pressing autographed by Robert Pollard. In North America, there are listening parties in Minneapolis, Nashville, Portland, Boston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Dayton, Brooklyn (Rough Trade), Toronto, Seattle and Austin. All listening party locations are listed below.

Guided by Voices have a few fall tour dates, too, playing Detroit, Philly and DC, and will ring in 2020 with a special, 100-song New Year's Eve set at Los Angeles Teragram Ballroom. All dates are listed below.

gbv_listeningparty_poster3

Sweating the Plague – Listening Party stores:
Concerto (Amsterdam)
Rough Trade (London / Talbot Road)
Rough Trade East (London, UK) * 1pm special time
Rough Trade (Nottingham, UK)
Rough Trade (Bristol, UK)
Electric Fetus (Minneapolis)
Grimey's (Nashville) * 7pm special time
Lost Weekend (Columbus)
Music Millenium (Portland)
Newbury Comics (Boston, Newbury Street location)
Plaid Room (Cincinnati)
Planet Score (St Louis)
Omega Music (Dayton)
Rough Trade (Brooklyn)
Sonic Boom (Seattle, Ballard location)
Sonic Boom (Toronto)
Waterloo Records (Austin)

Guided by Voices – 2019 Tour Dates
NOV 29 FRI – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
NOV 30 SAT – Saint Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
DEC 6 FRI – Underground Arts – Philadelphia, PA
DEC 7 SAT – Black Cat – Washington, DC
DEC 31 TUE – Guided By Voices New Years – 100 songs!

Victims' teeth reveal how the Black Death that killed 200million people spread from Russia to Europe - Daily Mail

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:42 AM PDT

The Black Death which killed around 200 million people across Europe — an estimated 60 per cent of the population — arrived via Russia, a study suggests.

Researchers reconstructed the genomes of the bacteria that caused the Black Death by analysing the teeth of its victims from across Europe.

Their findings suggest that the disease had a single point of origin into Europe, via the east Russian town of Laishevo.

Also known as the great plague, the outbreak ravaged Europe from 1346–1353.

The pandemic was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which can cause several forms of plague and can be transmitted to humans by fleas.

Black rats, which were abundant along trade routes, acted as carriers of the plague when fleas hitched a ride on their backs.

The particular strain of Y. pestis that brought about the pandemic is now extinct.

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The Black Death which killed around 200 million people across Europe — an estimated 60 per cent of the population — arrived via Russia, a study suggests

The Black Death which killed around 200 million people across Europe — an estimated 60 per cent of the population — arrived via Russia, a study suggests

WHAT WERE THE BLACK DEATH'S SYMPTOMS?

Accounts of the Black Death are vague and varied in their symptoms.

Nevertheless, the most commonly reported indicator was the appearance of painful swellings called buboes.

The oozed pus and blood if cut open.

Their appearance was followed by a fever, and the vomiting of blood.

Rashes and spots — possibly a result of flea bites — were also recorded in association with the infection.

Most victims died within 2–7 days of contracting the disease. 

A bubo on the upper thigh, a sign of the Black Death

A bubo on the upper thigh, a sign of the Black Death

Palaeogeneticist Maria Spyrou of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, and colleagues sampled DNA from the teeth of 34 likely plague victims from centuries-old cemeteries across the continent.

'The Black Death was part of a larger pandemic that occurred in Europe and in the nearby regions between the 14th and 18th centuries,' Dr Spyrou told Scientific American.

'It is, by many, considered to have been the most deadly of the three pandemics of plague that have occurred throughout our history.'

'By analysing ancient DNA from past pandemics and coupling that together with archaeological and also historical evidence, we can really begin to build the history of those pandemics in great detail.'

'During a person's lifetime, the teeth have many blood vessels that are going through them and they are sort of encapsulating any bacteria or viruses that may have affected the blood of this individual during their lifetime,' said Dr Spyrou.

'By sampling those teeth, we have increased chances of really capturing the DNA of blood-borne pathogens like Yersinia pestis.' 

The researchers were able to reconstruct the genomes of Yersinia pestis from the different sites across Europe — and determine which of the locations had the oldest strain of the plague bacteria.

Researchers reconstructed the genomes of the bacteria that caused the Black Death by analysing the teeth of its victims from across Europe. Pictured, a depiction of the citizens of Tournai, in Belgium, burying plague victims

Researchers reconstructed the genomes of the bacteria that caused the Black Death by analysing the teeth of its victims from across Europe. Pictured, a depiction of the citizens of Tournai, in Belgium, burying plague victims

The findings suggest that the disease had a single point of origin into Europe, via the east Russian town of Laishevo. Pictured, taking inspiration from the Black Death, the Danse Macabre (or 'the Dance of the Dead) became a common motif in Medieval art

The findings suggest that the disease had a single point of origin into Europe, via the east Russian town of Laishevo. Pictured, taking inspiration from the Black Death, the Danse Macabre (or 'the Dance of the Dead) became a common motif in Medieval art

From this, the team have concluded that the plague had one entry point, likely first arriving in eastern Europe via the Russian town of Laishevo.

'Our phylogenetic reconstruction shows that the LAI009 isolate from Laishevo is ancestral to the BD isolates from southern, central, western and northern Europe,' the researchers wrote in their paper.

'We interpret LAI009 as the most ancestral form of the strain that entered Europe during the initial wave of the second pandemic that has been identified to date.'

Having arrived in Europe, the plague spread, picking up only one genetic mutation on the way. 

'So in other words, what we think we're finding here is that the Black Death in Europe was caused by a single clone. So a single strain,' said Dr Spyrou.

This would suggest that the plague was only introduced to Europe once — with the bacterium only diversifying later in the pandemic to create local pools of infectious agents across the continent. 

Also known as the great plague, the outbreak ravaged Europe from 1346–1353. Pictured, the skulls and bones of more than 50,000 plaque victims stacked in catacombs under St Jacob church in Brno, in the Czech Republic

Also known as the great plague, the outbreak ravaged Europe from 1346–1353. Pictured, the skulls and bones of more than 50,000 plaque victims stacked in catacombs under St Jacob church in Brno, in the Czech Republic

It is traditionally thought that the Black Death originated from Central Asia, passing down the Silk Road to Crimea where it was spread by rats that travelled on merchant vessels across the Mediterranean. 

The researchers say that further testing will be needed — in particular the sampling of Y. pestis DNA from Asia — to more definitely nail down the Death's origin and route of dissemination.

'Additional interpretations may arise through the discovery of unsampled diversity in western Eurasia,' the researchers wrote.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications.  

The team have concluded that the plague had one entry point into Europe, likely first arriving via the eastern Russian town of Laishevo

The team have concluded that the plague had one entry point into Europe, likely first arriving via the eastern Russian town of Laishevo

WHAT CAUSED EUROPE'S BUBONIC PLAGUES?

The plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was the cause of some of the world's deadliest pandemics, including the Justinian Plague, the Black Death, and the major epidemics that swept through China in the late 1800s. 

The disease continues to affect populations around the world today. 

The Black Death of 1348 famously killed half of the people in London within 18 months, with bodies piled five-deep in mass graves.

When the Great Plague of 1665 hit, a fifth of people in London died, with victims shut in their homes and a red cross painted on the door with the words 'Lord have mercy upon us'.

The pandemic spread from Europe through the 14th and 19th centuries - thought to come from fleas which fed on infected rats before biting humans and passing the bacteria to them.

But modern experts challenge the dominant view that rats caused the incurable disease.

Experts point out that rats were not that common in northern Europe, which was hit equally hard by plague as the rest of Europe, and that the plague spread faster than humans might have been exposed to their fleas. 

Most people would have had their own fleas and lice, when the plague arrived in Europe in 1346, because they bathed much less often. 

Thousands of Long Beach trees threatened by plague of beetles - KABC-TV

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 06:06 PM PDT

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Thousands of magnolia trees in Long Beach are in danger because of beetles that have invaded the area.

Walking or driving down Magnolia Avenue in Long Beach, you're sure to notice that something is a little off.

"Sometimes when you're just walking, it kind of sticks to your shoe, and it's really like gooey," said homeowner Melissa Roxas.


The magnolia trees are dying. They're drying up and turning black.

More than 1,000 magnolias across the city of Long Beach are infested with a pest, known as the Tuliptree Scale. The pests suck up the trees sap, and in some cases, kill the trees.

Long Beach City Council members are now working to find a fix. In a meeting Tuesday, they are expected to discuss the cost to remove and replant all infected trees, what further treatment options exist, and a cost estimate for water blasting all affected sidewalks.


Neighbors say the problem has been going on for a few years.

"My husband has looked into it. He's called the city," said Roxas.

The insects also leave a sticky black film on the leaves, which gets on cars and sidewalks and is very hard to remove.

Copyright © 2019 KABC-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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