Day 1010ish
Swine Erysipelas
Uncle Joe says he stands with us, whatever that means, while Vova threatens to turn decision-making centers in Kyiv into dust.
Meanwhile, last night Team Russia pulverized another children’s hospital in Dnipro.
Samya and Volodymyr team up at The Associated Press to discuss our AWOL problem1. They sneak into a стабпункт (stabilization point) to bring us photos of shell-shocked soldiers evacuated from the zero line and talk with deserters.
Looking on the bright side, a very large enemy KIA count.
Infectious disease caused by E rhusiopathiae in pigs is known as erysipelas and is one of the oldest recognized diseases that affect growing and adult swine. The reason I know this is because of E. White, who wrote “Death of a Pig,” a short story appearing in The Atlantic2.
I remembered the tale yesterday when translating a passage from a handwritten diary of a Russian occupier stationed near Kerch in early 2022. Unlike White, whose work is celebrated for its warmth and simplicity, our Russian diarist — who is now dead — wrote a long passage about his fascination with a botched, protracted slaughter of a pig by local villagers that was served to him as dinner later the same day.
Death of a Pig (The Atlantic, January 1948)
Another message from an alternate future.
Oh yeah, we got stomped. Trump sold us out and Putin fired up again less than a year after the ceasefire. No rush to volunteer this time. We are all burned out. We gave our all. Z got hunted down and shot in the street. Russians sent most of Ukraine to Siberia. Ukraine has been wiped off the map. We're not even called Ukraine anymore. Game over.