Amusing/Entertaining/Interesting things you stumbled upon on the Internet

Multon

Tibitha said:

Eld said:

Tibitha said:

@SynbiosLet's see, of those, I guess I subscribe to uh... the Aspartame one (also they taste like ass) and the Big Pharma making up diseases to sell drugs one, but more from a "brand new 'deadly' strain of flu" point of view.

Influenza is deadly, and evolves quickly enough that immunity to the predominant strains of one season tends not to carry over to the predominant strains of the next. How is that making up new diseases to sell drugs?

Swine flu killed hardly any more people than normal flu does. They need a reason to lure everyone to getting their newest greatest flu vaccine every year, so they drum up all this hype and drama.

Uhh.... Hey @Tibitha and @Eld quick look at the video of kittens and infant children!



There... doesn't that just make you want to imagine the look on the little babies' faces when you crush the kittens beneath your iron heal!

Tahquil

I never get flu in flu season but because I was travelling last year I got my first flu shot ever. Was the first time I've had pneumonia as well!

(note: I don't think they are related but the coincidence is delightful.)

Eld

Tibitha said:

Eld said:

Tibitha said:

@SynbiosLet's see, of those, I guess I subscribe to uh... the Aspartame one (also they taste like ass) and the Big Pharma making up diseases to sell drugs one, but more from a "brand new 'deadly' strain of flu" point of view.

Influenza is deadly, and evolves quickly enough that immunity to the predominant strains of one season tends not to carry over to the predominant strains of the next. How is that making up new diseases to sell drugs?

Swine flu killed hardly any more people than normal flu does. They need a reason to lure everyone to getting their newest greatest flu vaccine every year, so they drum up all this hype and drama.

Seasonal flu kills a quarter to half a million people a year. "Hardly more" than that is nothing to sneeze at. The recent pandemic swine flu was indeed less virulent than predicted, and certainly less dramatic than the last one, but that doesn't automatically mean the WHO was making spurious recommendations to make pharmaceutical companies more money.

Siduri

The biggest issue with flu, in general, comes from people who are at risk of health complications. Elders, children, asthmatics or malnourished individuals are far more likely to be the ones 1) catching the flu, and 2) dying from it. Seasonal or swine flu makes little difference at that point.

It is still advisable to get shots if you are one of those people.

Aurom

Multon said:

@Synbios how could the chart leave out big agriculture and GMOs? I mean, they are breeding ultra-resilient weeds, destroying once sustainable farmland, outright causing thousands of deaths from famine, and are among the leading contributors to climate change, and all this in an industry dominated by Monstanto, annual-most-evil-corporation in the world contest winner! I mean, literally, a controlling share of global food production is now owned by the company that made Agent Orange for the Vietnam war. I mean, come on... this would be rejected as 'too far fetched' as a plot device for the Resident Evil series!

I sincerely encourage you to seek out better sources about Monsanto and GMOs, because so much of that information has been really twisted by people with agendas just as interested in making money. And please understand, I am not attacking you or questioning your intelligence, as I used to think similar things about them. And I would like to point out a line of your own saying, "come on... this would be rejected as 'too far fetched' as a plot device for the Resident Evil series!" That's pretty on the money, more than you might think.

One good starting point, if you're curious, would be http://geneticliteracyproject.org/

Arador

I think he was being sarcastic.....

Synbios

@Tibitha, @Eld: Humans, humans, please...let us pause these silly shenanigans. If it's any consolation, the remnants of human civilization will expire of exposure to extradimensional exomorphic existential entities in an elsewhen era, so each of these exhaustive exchanges on extinction by evolved epidemics would be a moot point when the last remaining human on the universe will meet the end of existence babbling incoherently as the fragile mind begins to fail in contemplating the musings of They Who Ponder Meaninglessly In The Void Between Atoms.

Eld

Siduri said:

The biggest issue with flu, in general, comes from people who are at risk of health complications. Elders, children, asthmatics or malnourished individuals are far more likely to be the ones 1) catching the flu, and 2) dying from it. Seasonal or swine flu makes little difference at that point.

It is still advisable to get shots if you are one of those people.

Actually, it's thought that one of the things that made the 1918 flu so deadly is that it killed (in some cases, at least) by cytokine storm, which is more deadly the stronger your immune system is, since it's basically a runaway immune response; a disproportionately large number of the deaths  that pandemic were young, healthy people, who would not be considered high risk for seasonal flu. The recent swine flu outbreak also seems to have disproportionately affected healthy people, but I think it's unknown whether that was the reason.

(Not trying to drag out the argument or anything, that's just legitimately something interesting I learned on the internet.)

Siduri

@Eld : I'm genuinely glad you contributed this tidbit, I had no idea!

Synbios

Eld said:

Siduri said:

The biggest issue with flu, in general, comes from people who are at risk of health complications. Elders, children, asthmatics or malnourished individuals are far more likely to be the ones 1) catching the flu, and 2) dying from it. Seasonal or swine flu makes little difference at that point.

It is still advisable to get shots if you are one of those people.

Actually, it's thought that one of the things that made the 1918 flu so deadly is that it killed (in some cases, at least) by cytokine storm, which is more deadly the stronger your immune system is, since it's basically a runaway immune response; a disproportionately large number of the deaths  that pandemic were young, healthy people, who would not be considered high risk for seasonal flu. The recent swine flu outbreak also seems to have disproportionately affected healthy people, but I think it's unknown whether that was the reason.

(Not trying to drag out the argument or anything, that's just legitimately something interesting I learned on the internet.)

Ah, Cytokine Storm, how I loved evolving you to eliminate swaths of humans in Plague, Inc.

Multon

Aurom said:

Multon said:

@Synbios how could the chart leave out big agriculture and GMOs? I mean, they are breeding ultra-resilient weeds, destroying once sustainable farmland, outright causing thousands of deaths from famine, and are among the leading contributors to climate change, and all this in an industry dominated by Monstanto, annual-most-evil-corporation in the world contest winner! I mean, literally, a controlling share of global food production is now owned by the company that made Agent Orange for the Vietnam war. I mean, come on... this would be rejected as 'too far fetched' as a plot device for the Resident Evil series!

I sincerely encourage you to seek out better sources about Monsanto and GMOs, because so much of that information has been really twisted by people with agendas just as interested in making money. And please understand, I am not attacking you or questioning your intelligence, as I used to think similar things about them. And I would like to point out a line of your own saying, "come on... this would be rejected as 'too far fetched' as a plot device for the Resident Evil series!" That's pretty on the money, more than you might think.

One good starting point, if you're curious, would be http://geneticliteracyproject.org/

To reply to your point @Aurom I was mostly being facetious, hence the zombie reference. I certainly wouldn't advance the argument that GMOs are evil because 'Ermegerrd! Mutant Vegetables!' That would be ridiculous, and ignore the massive benefits of GMOs like short-stalk wheat which has massively contributed to reducing famine worldwide and has been around for decades. 

You're absolutely right that a lot of panic mongering  around genetic engineering is sheer nonsense. 

My beef with companies like Monsanto is that while they do produce good scientific research, they are all run by a lot of greedy-sociopathic ass holes. 

The amount of food produced globally is enough to provide over 2800 calories a day for every human being on the planet according to the UN! And 18,000 children starve to death every day. 

All the while, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is running around telling people that Africa is starving because they don't have enough food. 

Untill about 25 years ago Kenya was totallt self-sufficient in terms of food production. Today they import 80℅ of all their food. At the same time, 80% of their exports are agricultural products!

All the while companies like Monsanto, Cargil, Mosaic and the like are raking in massive profits by replacing sustainable local farming with inefficient, export driven, drought-inducing, environmentally destructive, industrial agriculture based on monoculture crops of GMOs. 

Basically, I don't like Monsanto not because I don't know what GMOs are and think they're scary. I think the executives at corporations, like Monsanto, who've decided that the global food industry does not exist to feed the hungry, but rather to generate profits for corporate agribusiness, SHOULD BE LINED UP AGAINST A WALL AND SHOT. 

Love and kisses,

Multon

Trey

         


Parents play Truth Or Drink with their kids.

Aurom

@Multon Then we're closer to being on the same page than initially thought. It did seem facetious, but I've trolled around on different places, and it gets really hard to distinguish Poes from the real thing sometimes.

Berenene

One of the things that most people don't understand about gm foods is that humanity has been genetically modifying crops since the birth of agriculture. How do you think we got all those wonderful varieties of apples etc. We now just have the ability to do it on the microscopic level. 

Jeslyn

My life right now.....

Trey

       

Tahquil

Oh god so true.

Cynlael

The very definition of rekt.

Kayeil

      

Exelethril

           

Tahquil

While researching fullplate:

Kyrra

My dragon name is: Syaxia Chaos-Destroyer The Chaos Bringer

She is a storm god who causes the very earth to quake with fear!
She is a chameleon dragon with scales that change colour depending on mood.
She is a destroyer of worlds. This one is an egalitarian, showing disdain for all!
Get your own dragon name from the dragon name generator!

Should be studying, and instead I got distracted with this.
I clearly can't decide if I want to bring the chaos or just destroy it. Such a fence-sitting dragon!

Alaric

My dragon name is:
Ruxom Bitter-Destroyer The Ashes 

He burns all, and nests in the blackened ruins! He is a dark green dragon with scales that glitter like stars. He is a destroyer of worlds. This one is an egalitarian, showing disdain for all!

Eld

Haxaqux Broken-Ravager The Doombringer

He is a relentless hunter of men! He is a white dragon with scarred pearlescent scales that glow like the moon under water. He ravages all who dare stand in the way. This one is thorough and precise.

Yup, that's me. Thoroughly and precisely ravishing ravaging all over the place. The pearlescent glow like the moon under water is just me without a shirt, though.

Multon

My dragon name is:Habozz Gold-Bringer The Ice BreatherHe is a repugnant, cold-hearted killer! He has scales as gold as the burning sun. He brings a fiery justice in an unjust world. When this one casts judgement, retribution and vengeance will follow!

Saeva

My dragon name is: Sqezz Broken-Serpent The Doombringer
She is a voracious devourer of sheep! She is a white dragon with scarred pearlescent scales that glow like the moon under water. She slithers and curls, as lithe as a serpent. This one is slippery and sultry.

Of course she's known for eating  

Trilliana

My dragon name is: Huxam Bitter-Eyes The Abhorrent She is the bane of all life! She is a dark green dragon with scales that glitter like stars. Shesees the things that others do not. This one is knowing, wise, and well-read.

Synbios

[MASSIVE BIG HERO 6 SPOILER]

Trey

Kyrra said:

My dragon name is: Syaxia Chaos-Destroyer The Chaos Bringer

She is a storm god who causes the very earth to quake with fear!
She is a chameleon dragon with scales that change colour depending on mood.
She is a destroyer of worlds. This one is an egalitarian, showing disdain for all!
Get your own dragon name from the dragon name generator!

Should be studying, and instead I got distracted with this.
I clearly can't decide if I want to bring the chaos or just destroy it. Such a fence-sitting dragon!

My dragon name is:Kzock Chaos-Scales The Calm
He is a repugnant, cold-hearted killer! He is a chameleon dragon with scales that change colour depending on mood. He has great plates of bone that form a strong, protective armour. Nothing can defeat this dragon.

Lorielan

My dragon name is: Xyadran Angry-Snout The Fury
She is a terrifying monstrosity cast down from the skies! She has scales that ripple with the colour of anger. She has refined senses and a taste for fine food. Fi fo fi fum! This one can smell the blood of an Englishman from seven leagues away!