• remotelove@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    Some places are worse than others, from what I understand. Also, I haven’t had an issue with my brain being eaten after years of swimming in freshwater sources.

    The above paper was about a place in Pakistan, so who knows what their water is like…

    • jadero@mander.xyz
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      6 months ago

      I’m more concerned about e coli levels than amoeba. But Lord only knows what gets into the South Saskatchewan River system and what grows vigorously once the water slows down in Lake Diefenbaker.

      At least I’ve stopped swimming in the runoff sloughs in cattle pastures. (Kids are all kinds of stupid!)

      • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        I miss being a kid in the country, sometimes. The stupidity was never ending and the risk->reward function always paid massive dividends.

        TBH, we had super clean water where I grew up and there were bigger risks than getting covered in cow shit, which did happen on occasion. (My best friend at the time got his hands on some blasting caps one weekend. We probably weren’t much older than 12 or 13 at the time…)

        Sorry for the tangent. This conversation kicked up more nostalgia than I expected.

        • jadero@mander.xyz
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          6 months ago

          Sorry for the tangent. This conversation kicked up more nostalgia than I expected.

          No problem.

          Heh! You had blasting caps, we had carbide (my grandfather was still running an acetylene generator in his welding/machine/mechanic shop).

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Some streams in some U.S. national parks advise against submerging your head in the water for the risk of getting brain eating amoebas.