The Bacon Apocalypse

Gentle readers of ATS...

We have all occasionally engaged in doom porn, be it an EMP event, nuclear holocaust, pandemic or a meteor hitting the earth.

Some have planned ahead for certain eventualities, others have discussed ways to survive if the worst happens.



But what if we are fearing the wrong thing that will eventually end mankind?

What if we all survive, but our standard of living becomes so wretched that we will just want to end it all?

Enter the African Swine Fever.

It's a virus that is currently sweeping China.

African swine fever is decimating the world’s largest hog herd in China, and that holds risk and opportunity for U.S. pork producers.

Affected animals have now been reported in every province in China, and the disease has spread to neighboring Mongolia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

At least 129 outbreaks have been reported since African swine fever was first identified in August, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. It estimates that 1 million exposed animals have been exterminated and that the interruption in production has reduced the country’s overall hog population by 40 million.

But experts say infection numbers and the number of culled pigs have been immensely underreported.

“It’s so much more than 1 million pigs, but no one knows for sure,” said Dermot Hayes, an economist at Iowa State University who runs a small center that studies Chinese agriculture. China penalizes the “provinces that report the disease, so reporting is not a good measurement.”

WaPo Article

Well so what, you say? China is a long way from here and we'll get to sell more pork!

Not so fast... what if China instead of burning millions of pig carcasses tries to foist the meat off to other countries?

LookingAtMars already has a thread about one attempt we know of on ATS...

Feds seize 1 million lbs. of pork smuggled from China to N.J. amid African swine fever outbreak

SoOo... who cares, we vaccinate, make sure our piggies are clean and that will be all. How bad can this virus be?

Pretty bad. No vaccination and with some strains 100% mortality. Easily spread.

ASFV can spread on fomites, including vehicles, feed and equipment. In feces kept at room temperature, this virus was estimated to survive for several days in some reports, and for at least 11 days in one study where the sample was stored in the dark. One study reported that ASFV remained infectious longer in urine than feces, with estimated survival times of 3 days at 37ºC and 15 days at 4ºC. ASFV can also persist for a year and a half in blood stored at 4ºC, 150 days in boned meat stored at 39ºF, 140 days in salted dried hams, and several years in frozen carcasses.

African Swine Fever PDF

What if this virus spreads and our pork becomes extinct?

So instead of waiting for the comet to hit the earth, you may just want to consider the ghastly alternative.

A life without this...



Would life be worth it in a world without bacon?

I leave that for you to decide.

It's bad. Believe me. All the biochem companies are working overtime to crack this one. The first good vaccine will be a goldmine.

Some of this but not all goes back to factory farming and factory hog farms are the worst IMHO. The conditions are ripe for this kind of thing.

originally posted by: ketsuko
It's bad. Believe me. All the biochem companies are working overtime to crack this one. The first good vaccine will be a goldmine.

The virus can live for a day in VINEGAR.

Holy crap!

Talk about a resilient little bugger!

Hope they find a vaccine before the worst happens.

Invest heavily in turkey bacon!

originally posted by: ausername
Invest heavily in turkey bacon!

It's just not the same...

The closest thing to pork as far as taste goes is people....

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: ausername
Invest heavily in turkey bacon!

It's just not the same...

The closest thing to pork as far as taste goes is people....

A part of me really wants to know how you know that.

The other part wants to run.

originally posted by: ausername

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: ausername
Invest heavily in turkey bacon!

It's just not the same...

The closest thing to pork as far as taste goes is people....

A part of me really wants to know how you know that.

The other part wants to run.

I asked Augustus.

Politely, of course.

~Innocent look~

a reply to: Lumenari

As above so below, right? Bacon isn't JUST a metaphor...it is ALSO a metaphor. The bacon you are eating is culled from the energy of pigs...perverted beings who are considered animals because they reside in the lower chakras (the 2nd chakra, to be specific, when talking about sexuality/pigs).

Everything in existence is simply energy taking form as physical...which we then eat.

(I know I said "just a metaphor" in my original reply, but I meant it as in terms of this specific article/outbreak. I should have stated it as "Pork/Bacon is a metaphor for")

originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
a reply to: Lumenari

As above so below, right? Bacon isn't JUST a metaphor...it is ALSO a metaphor. The bacon you are eating is culled from the energy of pigs...perverted beings who are considered animals because they reside in the lower chakras (the 2nd chakra, to be specific, when talking about sexuality/pigs).

Everything in existence is simply energy taking form as physical...which we then eat.

(I know I said "just a metaphor" in my original reply, but I meant it as in terms of this specific article/outbreak. I should have stated it as "Pork/Bacon is a metaphor for")

Cool story bro!

How about the disease though... the actual topic?

a reply to: Lumenari

Eat a large portion of bacon and/or pork tonight and pay attention to the kind of dreams you have later the same night. You are what you eat and you will end up sharing a dream body/bodies with the energy of what you ate, which will cause sexual/dirty dreams.

The disease thing...well, I feel disease probably emanates from imbalance, so someone/someones over there needs to cut down the amount of perversion that is occurring. I know when I lived like a f**king pig in the Hollywood Hills in 2009, Swine Flu made a comeback.

We just bought seven pounds of bacon this week...for our blind cat, we will be lucky if we eat a pound out of the seven. That will keep the cat happy for maybe five weeks. I think maybe getting thirty pounds of canned bacon for the cat...just in case... might be a good idea.

That four year old cudly white blind cat turns into a demon who drags everything off of tables and counters if he doesn't have his bacon. Teddybears and stuffed animals are everywhere, stuff we didn't even know we still had winds up on the floor or steps. How can a blind teenaged cat cause so much mischief?

He was a lot better before he got addicted to bacon, the withdrawals are terrible.

originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
a reply to: Lumenari

Eat a large portion of bacon and/or pork tonight and pay attention to the kind of dreams you have later the same night. You are what you eat and you will end up sharing a dream body/bodies with the energy of what you ate, which will cause sexual/dirty dreams.

So you're saying it won't effect me at all.

Just another normal night.

Oh right, you're all flashing the number 7 because it's Friday. Got caught up in acting like a human again.

This is one apocalypse I would be happier remaining ignorant of...