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Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,
Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?
A date with me turns into a serious bout.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

What am I?

Hint:

The title is quite literal. Those who were here yesterday will understand what it means.

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14 Answers 14

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The answer is

rot13

First part:

Rot causes all these things

Second part:

13 is considered to be unlucky; also the date is coming up in a couple of days.

The hint:

I went to your profile and saw your comment on the last puzzle you posted, and there it was.

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  • $\begingroup$ Haha, I was hoping someone would get the hint! :D +1. You are absolutely right. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:35
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Are you

Radioactivity?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

Highly radioactive stuff (see: nuclear bombs) can be really terrible.

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

It can cause vomiting (and eventually death).

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

Radioactive items can be dangerous to touch without the proper equipment.

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

As the Curies found out, playing with radioactivity can be harmful to one’s health.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Radioactivity in small amounts (ie in bananas) is natural. So is Uranium.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

This doesn’t refer to nuclear war, does it? Or to my first answer ever on this website?

Secret hint:

The acrostic is DECAY A - maybe alpha decay, which occurs in radioactive objects.

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    $\begingroup$ Yeahhh, your answer is much better than mine... :D +1 $\endgroup$
    – Hazel へいぜる
    Sep 11, 2018 at 14:54
  • $\begingroup$ A good answer, but not what I'm looking for. The last line is referring to a second part of the riddle. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 11, 2018 at 15:04
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    $\begingroup$ this substance occurs in small amounts in other objects too, so it's 'e.g.', not 'i.e.' $\endgroup$
    – Strawberry
    Sep 11, 2018 at 16:48
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Are you:

Death

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me, Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Famine and Death are two of the horsemen of the apocalypse, people seeing dead bodies often throw up.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out? A date with me turns into a serious bout.

Touching Death means he'll take your soul, There is a saying about playing a game with Death to keep on living.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life. A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

Everyone dies, it's natural. Some die of old age, the unlucky ones die too soon. Some say life is only the beginning, and that the afterlife is the second part.

EDIT

The Acrostic is DECAY A as noticed by others, this also fits Death

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  • $\begingroup$ It looks like some of my spoiler tags aren't working? help? $\endgroup$
    – AHKieran
    Sep 11, 2018 at 14:56
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    $\begingroup$ No problem!! :D If you wish to separate lines, use the <br> tag at the end of a line to force the next line down when using spoiler tags. $\endgroup$
    – Hazel へいぜる
    Sep 11, 2018 at 14:58
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    $\begingroup$ This is a great answer, (the one that I figured most people would say). However, it is not the answer I'm looking for. The last line especially is referring to something else. hence, a second part. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 11, 2018 at 15:03
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    $\begingroup$ Ah okay, thought that may be the afterlife. (will edit that in) $\endgroup$
    – AHKieran
    Sep 11, 2018 at 15:04
  • $\begingroup$ @PerpetualJ by the way, if you don't like HTML tags in your answers, you can also put each line in its own spoiler tag, with two spaces at the end of each line break. It's a bit more work, but your tags get to look the way you see them. This answer has a pretty simple example. $\endgroup$
    – Lord Farquaad
    Sep 11, 2018 at 19:59
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Are you

Rot?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

Rot arguably causes a lot more issues than the lack of food, plus as more death occurs more rot occurs

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

a rotted corpse is pretty vile and would make the hardiest stomach vomit

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

you have to clean an infection/remove the source of rot, which would be disgusting

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

Getting an infection that starts rotting, or something like gangrene, is a very serious issue

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Everything rots away, such as food and fruit and it is always happening

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

possibly the diseases and illnesses that rot generally leads to? Or the people who have to deal with the rot?

Secret hint:

Decay is an synonym for rot

Also:

The item talked about in a comment on your post yesterday was hidden using ROT13

And:

According to BareMetalCoder's answer and Joe-You-Know's subsequent comment, bacteria can lead to the answer, bacteria certainly causes rot.

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    $\begingroup$ an interesting take on this. $\endgroup$
    – Shahriar Mahmud Sajid
    Sep 12, 2018 at 10:42
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    $\begingroup$ This is half of the answer. I've mentioned several times that the last line is referring to a different part of the answer. Crispy Church has the full answer. I encourage everyone to upvote this one as well though since it's mostly right. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:39
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    $\begingroup$ @Joe-You-Know Ya once I saw Crispy's answer I knew his was right, and I was so close too, I even saw the ROT13 comment, just didn't put the last 2 and 2 together $\endgroup$
    – Awsum4sum
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:42
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Are you

Erosion

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me, Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

It can ruin farming.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out? A date with me turns into a serious bout.

It clears all the dirt out.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

The Grand Canyon.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

Farmers?

Hidden Hint

Decay if the first letter of each sentence.

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  • $\begingroup$ Everyone's thinking in the right direction, but the last line especially refers to something entirely different than the rest of the riddle. It makes sense once you have the answer. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 11, 2018 at 15:12
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Are you a

Storm? (tornado or hurricane)

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me, Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Tornado can rip houses a part.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out? A date with me turns into a serious bout.

Don't stay outside in a storm.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Natural disaster.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

There are storms everywhere?

Hidden hint

Decay, but ???

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    $\begingroup$ Interesting, but again, the last line is referring to something else than the rest. Also, this doesn't really fit the secret clue. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 11, 2018 at 22:08
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Are you:

Bacteria?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

Disease has caused many deaths due to plagues

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Reference to gastroenteritis?

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

Wash your hands, folks!

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

A bout of stomach flu...

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Bacteria are an essential part of the intestinal flora

Secret hint:

Decay is due to bacteria.

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  • $\begingroup$ The last line is a second part of the puzzle. It's answer is different than the rest. This answer can cause the answer. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 11, 2018 at 22:07
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Kinda surprised nobody guessed this one, so I'll give it a try.

Are you:

A Hurricane

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

Hurricanes wreck havoc on an extremely large scale, that can take many years to fix. Whereas drought can be fixed with a single, good rainfall, and famine can be fixed with a single, good crop yield.

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Large ships are made of iron, and ships are considered to have bellies.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out? A date with me turns into a serious bout.

Being around during a hurricane can be disastrous, if not deadly. But those who do are "touching" the hurricane.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Hurricanes happen naturally, every year, multiple times a year.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

Hurricane Florence is going to hit land very soon. When a hurricane hits land, that would be its second part (the first being when it's on the ocean). And those in the Carolina area are going to have a very "unlucky day" when it does hit.

Secret hint

DECAY -- Hurricanes cause a lot of decay as they break up and wash away large things, land, trees, houses, etc.

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Are you

Alcohol?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

Alcohol causes many problems in the current society.

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

There is always a limit of how much you can drink.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

Not everyone can drink a lot. So it is a question whether a person can drink a lot.

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

If you start drinking, things can get out of hand and a lot can happen.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Alcohol is pretty common.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

Hangover after drinking can hit pretty hard, especially some people.

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    $\begingroup$ nice answer, this one really fits perfectly.. $\endgroup$
    – Shahriar Mahmud Sajid
    Sep 12, 2018 at 8:54
  • $\begingroup$ Like I've mentioned. The last line is a second part to the riddle, not related to the first part. But interesting guess. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:19
  • $\begingroup$ @Joe-You-Know: I've taken that into account and I thought that all parts talk about alcohol, but the last one was about hangover, therefore my guess. I will keep trying :-) $\endgroup$
    – Michal B.
    Sep 13, 2018 at 5:30
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Are you

Pain?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

Since noone likes to feel pain.

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

If you see someone in huge pain you can only ignore for so long.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

when you have a wound and have to clear so dont infects.

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

To a date with pain in something serious.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

You feel some type of pain every day.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

Its unlucky to feel pain, but it can save your live if you have a disease and the you can say where it hurts to a doctor.

Secret hint:

The acrostic is DECAY A - 'a' present in pain.

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  • $\begingroup$ Not a bad guess, but again, not what I'm looking for. The secret hint is taken very literally. Also, as I've mentioned, the last line refers to something completely different than the rest of the riddle. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 11, 2018 at 17:07
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Decay Apocalypse? Decay Armageddon?

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Are you:

The Sun?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me,

The sun is really the cause of the famine and drought - through climates. Not to mention the possibility of solar flares.

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Looking at the sun really isn't fun

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

Touching the sun - would also not be pleasant. Furthermore trying to clear out the sun would be an impossible task (but who knows? - prove me wrong :) )

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

You would be incinerated in a short period of time

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Every morning the sun (hopefully) rises - hence always present and a natural part of life.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

The sun (as a yellow dwarf) will eventually expand engulfing the earth. This is still estimated not to happen for billions of years, but whoever is living on earth at the time - it is certain it will be an unlucky day for them. Furthermore, solar flares are a concern as they can destroy electronics - especially those on satellites, which would be unlucky for most.

Using the hint

The sun is the fusion of gases. This can be thought as a decay of nuclear energy.

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  • $\begingroup$ My other guess is ROT13(jvyq sver) but I have doubts about it being that. $\endgroup$
    – Ben10
    Sep 12, 2018 at 9:01
  • $\begingroup$ Hmm, I don't think this really fits with the line. Also the last line is separate than the rest. $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:20
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Are you:

Disease? Perhaps specifically epidemics?

Drought and famine have nothing compared to me

Like drought and famine, diseases wipe out large numbers of people.

Even those with iron stomachs will hurl once they see.

Diseases, particularly gastrointestinal diseases can make you vomit even if you are not prone to vomiting.

Can you suffer to touch me, to clear me out?

Diseases can be caught by touch.

A date with me turns into a serious bout.

A "bout" is a common term for a period of sickness.

Yet I am present always, a natural part of life.

Sickness is a normal part of life.

A second part, now to come. An unlucky day, especially for some.

Sickness and disease can eventually lead to death.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is a good answer. Everyone was going in the right direction. How does this answer tie into the hint? $\endgroup$
    – Joe-You-Know
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:49
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    $\begingroup$ @Joe-You-Know I didn't look at the hint. The idea of hiding a hint is to make it optional. I appreciate I didn't get the correct answer. $\endgroup$
    – Astralbee
    Sep 12, 2018 at 13:55
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Are you:

Chicken Pox

Not pleasant to look at, and is a part of most peoples life. As well as the second time being a lot more dangerous.

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