The practical implication of this piece is that every old person who has been prescribed oxygen by their doctor is also being poisoned.
Since I'm a doctor I just had to chime in. Physicians are well aware of the toxicity of oxygen. Usually a young person can handle 100% pure oxygen with no problems for up to 24 hours, but after 24 hours the damage from free radicals starts, and it doesn't take much more than 24 hours before even a healthy person dies - ironically from asphyxiation - while breathing 100% oxygen.
In the elderly it's a different story. Most elderly have a certain amount of lung damage - especially ex-smokers with COPD. While they have learned to live with this damage and their bodies have compensated (CO2 dissolves in blood to form bicarbonate, and not only the lung can dissipate CO2 but also the kidney can get rid of excess bicarbonate, making another CO2 "sink") for their poor lung function. As part of this compensation, the breathing regulatory mechanism is altered. There are two basic stimuli that tell the brain it's time to draw another breath - one receptor measures blood CO2 and another measures blood O2. The CO2 receptor is the most sensitive one and normal people are using this receptor all the time to work out when it's time to take the next breath. However in the elderly or other people with chronic lung problems, these people have gotten accustomed to high CO2 levels. The CO2 receptor no longer works - it's suppressed by the brain to prevent hyperventilation. So these people are dependent on the O2 receptor to tell them when O2 levels are getting low - then it's time to take another breath.
What happens when you put one of these people on 100% oxygen is that the O2 receptor never fires because there is plenty of oxygen dissolved in the blood all the time, so they never get the signal to take another breath and they simply stop breathing. At this point CO2 levels build up to toxic levels faster than the O2 levels deplete because CO2 was almost at toxic levels anyway, and they go into a coma and die - suddenly and quietly. This is why a doctor always has to be careful when there are inexperienced nurses near elderly patients. A well intentioned nurse who sees an old man struggling for breath is likely to turn up the oxygen flow to "help him out", and in fact she ends up killing him. True story - and it has happened even in my hospital.
And yet the world has failed to end, the south pole has failed to melt and flood coastal areas, etc etc etc.
But look on the bright side - we're at peak oil now. At some point our pollution will reduce as the oil runs out - we simply won't have a choice. Some point soon, because there is less than 40 years' worth of oil left in the entire world at today's consumption rates. 40 years is not long. Gaia will forgive us in a couple hundred years or so.
Re:Only "troubled" if you're not Lockheed Martin
on
The F-35 Story
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· Score: 1
No, I'm sitting in my shorts here in the tropics. But I can't help but have a pessimistic outlook for the US.The leaders of the so called "free world" are lost, lost lost. There was a time that the circus was part of it. Now it's all about the circus.
When it happens to a Windows device it's called a "security vulnerability" and when it happens to an iOS device it's a "feature"?
Re:Only "troubled" if you're not Lockheed Martin
on
The F-35 Story
·
· Score: 0
We live in the world of pure economics now, where the only real motivation that institutions believe matters is money. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
No. You have forgotten what is important, that's all. Wait until the barbarians show up at the gates - you know, the ones that don't give a damn about your sestertii, your circuses and your plumbing. Then when your woman is raped and your house is burning and your children are dead and the knife is headed for your throat you will realize that economics is actually not that important at all.
Re:Only "troubled" if you're not Lockheed Martin
on
The F-35 Story
·
· Score: 2
another few billion to get you out isn't that much.
Yeah, that's real easy to say when it's not your money. A few billion here, and a few billion there, and before you know it the whole country is bankrupt. Oh, wait.
Re:Only "troubled" if you're not Lockheed Martin
on
The F-35 Story
·
· Score: 1
The F-22 is a better aircraft at blowing other planes out of the sky.
I would be very impressed if it could do this from its hangar, because AFAIK the damned things are STILL grounded.
This has nothing to do with terrorists and everything to do with a submarine launched ICBM, sorry, airplane, that was launched off the coast of California^H^H^H^H that had a very peculiar ICBM-like contrail by an unspecified Chinese superpower^H^H^H^Hairline a year or so ago, reminding people in the government that nuclear attack can happen at any time just like in the 80's when this kind of test used to be common.
Make sure you sacrifice 3 chickens at midnight on a moonless night first, if you ever want your paper to be published. Don't forget to wear your underpants inside out on your head while you do this.
But with computers and storage being relatively cheap, and with internet access being ubiquitous, why exactly should I trust a 3rd party with my data anyway?
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The practical implication of this piece is that every old person who has been prescribed oxygen by their doctor is also being poisoned.
Since I'm a doctor I just had to chime in. Physicians are well aware of the toxicity of oxygen. Usually a young person can handle 100% pure oxygen with no problems for up to 24 hours, but after 24 hours the damage from free radicals starts, and it doesn't take much more than 24 hours before even a healthy person dies - ironically from asphyxiation - while breathing 100% oxygen.
In the elderly it's a different story. Most elderly have a certain amount of lung damage - especially ex-smokers with COPD. While they have learned to live with this damage and their bodies have compensated (CO2 dissolves in blood to form bicarbonate, and not only the lung can dissipate CO2 but also the kidney can get rid of excess bicarbonate, making another CO2 "sink") for their poor lung function. As part of this compensation, the breathing regulatory mechanism is altered. There are two basic stimuli that tell the brain it's time to draw another breath - one receptor measures blood CO2 and another measures blood O2. The CO2 receptor is the most sensitive one and normal people are using this receptor all the time to work out when it's time to take the next breath. However in the elderly or other people with chronic lung problems, these people have gotten accustomed to high CO2 levels. The CO2 receptor no longer works - it's suppressed by the brain to prevent hyperventilation. So these people are dependent on the O2 receptor to tell them when O2 levels are getting low - then it's time to take another breath.
What happens when you put one of these people on 100% oxygen is that the O2 receptor never fires because there is plenty of oxygen dissolved in the blood all the time, so they never get the signal to take another breath and they simply stop breathing. At this point CO2 levels build up to toxic levels faster than the O2 levels deplete because CO2 was almost at toxic levels anyway, and they go into a coma and die - suddenly and quietly. This is why a doctor always has to be careful when there are inexperienced nurses near elderly patients. A well intentioned nurse who sees an old man struggling for breath is likely to turn up the oxygen flow to "help him out", and in fact she ends up killing him. True story - and it has happened even in my hospital.
It takes a while for climates to change
Takes a while for Jesus to come back, too. At what point do you just give up and say it was all a sham?
And yet the world has failed to end, the south pole has failed to melt and flood coastal areas, etc etc etc.
But look on the bright side - we're at peak oil now. At some point our pollution will reduce as the oil runs out - we simply won't have a choice. Some point soon, because there is less than 40 years' worth of oil left in the entire world at today's consumption rates. 40 years is not long. Gaia will forgive us in a couple hundred years or so.
No, I'm sitting in my shorts here in the tropics. But I can't help but have a pessimistic outlook for the US.The leaders of the so called "free world" are lost, lost lost. There was a time that the circus was part of it. Now it's all about the circus.
It's a hippie version of a bulldozer. PS: I have a D6, a D7 a loader and a grader at my farm - my little "Tonka" toys :P
Not only that, but tyres seem to appear from nowhere as if from magic. Note to self: be sure to invest in rubber trees post-apocalypse.
When it happens to a Windows device it's called a "security vulnerability" and when it happens to an iOS device it's a "feature"?
We live in the world of pure economics now, where the only real motivation that institutions believe matters is money. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
No. You have forgotten what is important, that's all. Wait until the barbarians show up at the gates - you know, the ones that don't give a damn about your sestertii, your circuses and your plumbing. Then when your woman is raped and your house is burning and your children are dead and the knife is headed for your throat you will realize that economics is actually not that important at all.
another few billion to get you out isn't that much.
Yeah, that's real easy to say when it's not your money. A few billion here, and a few billion there, and before you know it the whole country is bankrupt. Oh, wait.
The F-22 is a better aircraft at blowing other planes out of the sky.
I would be very impressed if it could do this from its hangar, because AFAIK the damned things are STILL grounded.
This has nothing to do with terrorists and everything to do with a submarine launched ICBM, sorry, airplane, that was launched off the coast of California^H^H^H^H that had a very peculiar ICBM-like contrail by an unspecified Chinese superpower^H^H^H^Hairline a year or so ago, reminding people in the government that nuclear attack can happen at any time just like in the 80's when this kind of test used to be common.
Also, obligatory: "You're in my spot"
The TSA have offered him a job.
Or surgically. Why bother with messy glue. Anyway, you clicked "I Agree".
President Obama and industry groups have called on colleges to graduate 10,000 more engineers a year and 100,000 new teachers
That just sounds so good, until you realize that all they are doing is lowering the bar once again. Idiocracy here we come.
Are YOU suggesting that a recording artist is more seriously harmed by casual downloading than a single person maimed for life by a drunk driver?
It is highly relevant because all the fracking conspiracy theorists hang out here. In fact I'm surprised no one has blamed this quake on it yet.
Meh, I bet even a 7.8 I've been in was laughable compared to that one.
Fast forward a little more, and the Death Star is destroyed, and a few sequels later, the Empire loses the war. Your point was?
forces the user to build skill, dexterity,
Not everyone plays RPG's you insensitive clod!
The interesting this is that coprolalia quite literally means "talking shit".
Make sure you sacrifice 3 chickens at midnight on a moonless night first, if you ever want your paper to be published. Don't forget to wear your underpants inside out on your head while you do this.
I think you meant to say "screen in", not "screen out".
But with computers and storage being relatively cheap, and with internet access being ubiquitous, why exactly should I trust a 3rd party with my data anyway?
Is it commerce if you're not paying anything for the goods?