Friday, May 29, 2009

Time for the plastic sheeting and duct tape

Or at least the face mask and bubble wrap suit...
International scientists say they have found the first evidence of resistance to the world's most effective drug for treating malaria.
The hard hat and bunny slippers?
Atlanta, GA (AHN) - Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa similar to the dreaded Ebola virus. The so-called "Lujo" virus, which causes excessive bleeding like Ebola, infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last fall.

Although scientists are not yet sure how the first person became infected, they do know the bug usually comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, according to Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery.
Well... we won't have to worry about these because we're all going to drown, dehydrate, starve, or burn up anyway:
Climate change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is affecting 300m people, according to the first comprehensive study of the human impact of global warming.

It projects that increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, storms and forest fires will be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year by 2030, making it the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces.

Economic losses due to climate change today amount to more than $125bn a year — more than all the present world aid. The report comes from former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's thinktank, the Global Humanitarian Forum. By 2030, the report says, climate change could cost $600bn a year.

Civil unrest may also increase because of weather-related events, the report says: "Four billion people are vulnerable now and 500m are now at extreme risk. Weather-related disasters ... bring hunger, disease, poverty and lost livelihoods. They pose a threat to social and political stability".
All this fades into the background with this horrible horrible news:
FAIRFAX, Va. - Officials in northern Virginia are blaming Krispy Kreme doughnuts for clogging the sewers.

Fairfax County says the company has damaged its sewer system by dumping yeast and grease from a plant in Lorton.

County officials filed a lawsuit this month after the company refused to pay a US$1.9 million bill for repairs to the system.

Krispy Kreme says the charges are unfounded.

18 comments:

Distributorcap said...

i am glad i dont eat donuts - they do clog the arteries

ellroon said...

Dammit! There must be some way of eating those wonderfully dreadful things without clogging pipes!

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

We'll have to go back to using Jesuit's bark, but how will we patent it?

ellroon said...

Good lord, Mahakal. You know the most amazing stuff!

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

Oh it gets better, because Jesuit's bark works homeopathically.

Steve Bates said...

Dollars to donuts, Krispy Kreme did it!

Maybe it's time to write a parody of Tom Lehrer's "We will all go together when we go," with only minor changes:
...
For if the bug infecting you..
Gets your friends and neighbors too...
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve.
And... we... will...
All go together when we go, ...
...

ellroon said...

Mahakal, homeopathically? Wikipedia seems to equate it with quackery, but it looks like it's natural and non-big-pharmaceutical chemicals. Sounds like it needs to be brought back to the world's attention.

Steve, Tom Lehrer is wonderful.

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

Also called Cinchona was the first proving that Hahnemann did. He discovered that taking the medicine (as a healthy person) gave the symptoms of malaria.

Similia similibus curentur.

ellroon said...

Similia similibus curentur.

You know you're making me google this...

Ah... Similia similibus curentur (Like cures like)

Hahnemann recognized that many natural products produce pharmacological or toxicological effects, which he refers to as symptoms. He believed that substances that produce symptoms similar to a given disease should be used to treat that disease.
This is news to me.. The stuff you know, Mahakal!

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

There is nothing more important in the world than knowing how to cure suffering.

ellroon said...

Of all kinds, amen.

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

I asked the Wikipedia folks a simple question. Does cavity QED information store as bound photons? Of course it does. Let's move on.

ellroon said...

Bound photons? What is this, an S&M fetish?!1!?

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

Not ezackly. :)

In quantum computation experiments they are already building these devices, tiny cavities from which light cannot escape force photons to bind with atoms.

Cavitation in preparation of potentized homeopathic remedies would follow the same physical laws.

ellroon said...

Holy crap! That is amazing. What totally geeky things of today will be mundane in the future? I hope I can hang around long enough to see some of them!

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

Well you actually can see a quantum computer in action anytime you look at your own consciousness. :)

How do quantum computers work?

Mahakal / महाकाल said...

How do quantum computers work? [fixed url]

ellroon said...

Can feel my brain expanding...