...NOW how am I supposed to create a ultra-virulent virus capable of making humanity extinct!?!?!!?!
Probably avoid using ferrets as your test organism. This is really a media provoked slow-news-day frenzy. The review committee decided it wasn't all that scary (the transmission rate was pretty bad). Trivial analysis of the papers indicated that the method was pretty obvious (serial transmission of the virus to select for better air droplet transmission).
Further research could be left to any one of millions of people with the ability to do this kind of research.
Best of luck in your attempts to rule the world through virology. It would be hard to screw things up more than we already are...
The NSA has been doing this for years now. They invented implantable chips as a means of monitoring and controlling anyone they can get their hands on.
You're suggesting that the government security apparatus supervise the design and testing of medical implants? Those people? The folks that have generated more torn tinfoil and broken keyboards than Microsoft, Google and Apple combined?
Here on Slashdot?
You sir, get this week's Internet Bravery Award. I hope you live long enough to savor it.
I can see this happening mandatory medical devices with mandatory health care. When you don't pay your taxes or pirate a movie or something the secret code to break the hidden cyanide capsule is transmitted.
Or the government can get rid of crazies like you simply by tightening up the straps on your tinfoil hat until your eyes bug out.
Carefully read this blog. While his main point is to say that there isn't any evidence that cosmic radiation is causing global climate changes, it does discuss a possible mechanism.
What the paper is hinging on seems to be the statement that
the changing rates of supernova explosions relatively close to the Earth have strongly influenced the biodiversity of marine invertebrate animals, from trilobites of ancient times to lobsters of today.
With the assumption that other clades follow suite (the several mass extinctions have involved virtually all life forms, some more than others but a significant change in all genera).
Further, the hypothesized effect from supernovae is also coincident with changes in uptake of Carbon 13 (as a proxy for photosynthesis).
Fairly strong correlates if the underlying assumptions are true.
Thanks for the link. Makes a whole bunch more sense than TFS. Whether or not it's real is quite another thing - it's going to take a while to digest it and work through the issues he presents. I'm presuming that his previous research concerning the variation in biodiversity is real or at least plausible. Any comments?
No, look at my post above. The icecaps are expanding in the summer, when they usually don't - but the ice is thin and is likely to melt faster. Further, the expansion may be due to local weather changes and it's certainly not evidence that we're running towards a snowball earth anytime soon.
It's just a quote of a very complex system taken out of context by very simple people.
Don't get too terribly excited. It's always fun to quote things out of context. Even Glen Beck can do it.
FWIW, that particular phrase has been bounced back and forth via the conservative blogosphere as a mantra of All That Is Wrong with Global Warming. Too bad it's just one little tiny data point that has a variety of alternate hypothesis:
It is not clear why the maximum ice extent would happen later, given that in general, ice extent is decreasing. One possibility is that the lower winter ice extents might make it easier for ice to continue growing later in the season. With lower winter extents, a late cold snap or northerly wind could spread ice southward over ocean that would normally be ice-covered at that point. Researchers do not expect the late maximum ice extent to strongly influence summer melt. The ice that grew late this winter is quite thin, and will melt rapidly as the sun rises higher in the sky and the air and water get warmer.
The resultant climate pattern changes are unlikely to be one simple direction either forwards or backwards (warming or cooling). There will be winners and losers and the big issue is whether or not major, extinction level changes will be forced on the planet by current conditions. My reading of the field is that there is some concern about that, but it's far from certain. What is certain is that the relatively benign and stable climate patterns we've had over the past 500 years will continue. That, coupled with the ecologic pressure of up to 9 billion humans, half of which are who are trying desperately to join the 'use lots of resources' club and half of which are barely surviving, pretty much ensures that the Chinese curse of 'may you live in interesting times' comes true.
Whether or not we can change anything, however, is really open to speculation. I suspect not, but would be happy to entertain more optimistic views.
In biological disease, there's a phenomenon called a carrier. For reasons unknown, the person is infected, but doesn't show any of the symptoms and never will. They are however able to infect others. As such, they are still considered infected. I think that's how the mac is considered infected.
No, they picked this up all by themselves. Jericho, one of the oldest tells in the Middle East has been a fortress for some 8000 years:
Jericho's reputation in the bible has a strong association with towers and walls--and with good reason. The first walls at Jericho were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, indicating that violence and conflict were important parts of Jericho's history for a very long time.
Nothing new. Same 'ol hairless apes chomping on each other.
There are always magnitude 2 - 6 earthquakes around the Pacific Rim - that's why it's called the 'ring of fire'. So yes, it's related, but pretty much business as usual.
The point is that when scientists come into a courtroom as expert witnesses (or really any expert witness), the only agenda on their mind should be to relate to the court what they have discovered in their research. Not how much more funding they'll get when this hits the papers. Not how much the defense is paying them to say that in their professional opinion the client is insane.
While a nice idea, it doesn't seem to happen that way in practice. There are lists of professional experts whose slant on the subjects known prior to their being hired (and remember, they're hired). In many jurisdictions and in many fields, it doesn't take a whole lot of research, experience or much else to be an 'expert'. Since it works for both sides, you tend to get dueling experts and the jury is expected to make an informed decision based on the intricacies of their testimony and not on their showmanship, friendliness or appearance. Righto.
The scientific method and the legal method don't really mesh well most times. 'Science' very rarely produces black and white results. Shades of grey are tough to get across to lay people.
Re:Uncertainty leads to more...Uncertainty
on
In Nothing We Trust
·
· Score: 1
No. No. No. No. (I left one out because you already said 'no' once.
Re:Uncertainty leads to more...Uncertainty
on
In Nothing We Trust
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· Score: 1
Nothing but undeveloped, unevolved, barely conscious pond scum, totally convinced of their own superiority, as they scurry about their short pointless lives.
... you forgot how none of FDR's words actually did that much. WWII was basically what pulled the US out of the depression. Luckily, it looks like our leaders have figured that out too!
We're going to start a war with Japan and Germany?
And there are way too many Windows users who think they're immune because 'Mcfee' comes with their PC (too bad you didn't pay for the updates). Or that you can keep your antivirus program up to date and still happily surf 'midgetsandgoatsxxx.com' all day and click on anything that blinks.
Drives me mad when I have little conversations with people who think it's cool to update a policy document on said compromised machine and then want to send it to me via a USB drive. Last time that happened, I put the little drive in a sterilizer bag and ran it through and autoclave and gave it back to the guy. It was pretty clean, just a bit twisted. Doubt it could be used as a malware vector anymore.
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Exactly. Siemens might well be next up for the Nobel Peace Prize. They stopped (or at least deferred) Nuclear Armageddon.
Just remember that when you're developing your new super secure application or device....
Just who's side are you really on, anyway?
Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own.
Never trust an OS with the 'Rugged' in it's name.
...NOW how am I supposed to create a ultra-virulent virus capable of making humanity extinct!?!?!!?!
Probably avoid using ferrets as your test organism. This is really a media provoked slow-news-day frenzy. The review committee decided it wasn't all that scary (the transmission rate was pretty bad). Trivial analysis of the papers indicated that the method was pretty obvious (serial transmission of the virus to select for better air droplet transmission).
Further research could be left to any one of millions of people with the ability to do this kind of research.
Best of luck in your attempts to rule the world through virology. It would be hard to screw things up more than we already are...
Or cashews.
Could be a growth market - flavored cows. Spinach cows, cashew cows, trout cows, kale cows.....
Dunno.
The NSA has been doing this for years now. They invented implantable chips as a means of monitoring and controlling anyone they can get their hands on.
How's that working for you?
Why not install a 1/8 serial plug? It would become a focus for all sorts of horrible fungal and bacterial infections.
Not to mention that somebody would try to plug their iPhone into it.
You're suggesting that the government security apparatus supervise the design and testing of medical implants? Those people? The folks that have generated more torn tinfoil and broken keyboards than Microsoft, Google and Apple combined?
Here on Slashdot?
You sir, get this week's Internet Bravery Award. I hope you live long enough to savor it.
I can see this happening mandatory medical devices with mandatory health care. When you don't pay your taxes or pirate a movie or something the secret code to break the hidden cyanide capsule is transmitted.
Or the government can get rid of crazies like you simply by tightening up the straps on your tinfoil hat until your eyes bug out.
Carefully read this blog. While his main point is to say that there isn't any evidence that cosmic radiation is causing global climate changes, it does discuss a possible mechanism.
What the paper is hinging on seems to be the statement that
the changing rates of supernova explosions relatively close to the Earth have strongly influenced the biodiversity of marine invertebrate animals, from trilobites of ancient times to lobsters of today.
With the assumption that other clades follow suite (the several mass extinctions have involved virtually all life forms, some more than others but a significant change in all genera).
Further, the hypothesized effect from supernovae is also coincident with changes in uptake of Carbon 13 (as a proxy for photosynthesis).
Fairly strong correlates if the underlying assumptions are true.
Thanks for the link. Makes a whole bunch more sense than TFS. Whether or not it's real is quite another thing - it's going to take a while to digest it and work through the issues he presents. I'm presuming that his previous research concerning the variation in biodiversity is real or at least plausible. Any comments?
Soulskill: Bad boy! No Doritos for a week.
No, look at my post above. The icecaps are expanding in the summer, when they usually don't - but the ice is thin and is likely to melt faster. Further, the expansion may be due to local weather changes and it's certainly not evidence that we're running towards a snowball earth anytime soon.
It's just a quote of a very complex system taken out of context by very simple people.
Don't get too terribly excited. It's always fun to quote things out of context. Even Glen Beck can do it.
FWIW, that particular phrase has been bounced back and forth via the conservative blogosphere as a mantra of All That Is Wrong with Global Warming. Too bad it's just one little tiny data point that has a variety of alternate hypothesis:
It is not clear why the maximum ice extent would happen later, given that in general, ice extent is decreasing. One possibility is that the lower winter ice extents might make it easier for ice to continue growing later in the season. With lower winter extents, a late cold snap or northerly wind could spread ice southward over ocean that would normally be ice-covered at that point. Researchers do not expect the late maximum ice extent to strongly influence summer melt. The ice that grew late this winter is quite thin, and will melt rapidly as the sun rises higher in the sky and the air and water get warmer.
The resultant climate pattern changes are unlikely to be one simple direction either forwards or backwards (warming or cooling). There will be winners and losers and the big issue is whether or not major, extinction level changes will be forced on the planet by current conditions. My reading of the field is that there is some concern about that, but it's far from certain. What is certain is that the relatively benign and stable climate patterns we've had over the past 500 years will continue. That, coupled with the ecologic pressure of up to 9 billion humans, half of which are who are trying desperately to join the 'use lots of resources' club and half of which are barely surviving, pretty much ensures that the Chinese curse of 'may you live in interesting times' comes true.
Whether or not we can change anything, however, is really open to speculation. I suspect not, but would be happy to entertain more optimistic views.
In biological disease, there's a phenomenon called a carrier. For reasons unknown, the person is infected, but doesn't show any of the symptoms and never will. They are however able to infect others. As such, they are still considered infected. I think that's how the mac is considered infected.
Macs are the computer equivalent of Typhoid Mary?
This should go over well.
I'll just make some more popcorn.
Occams Razor: Someone accidentally downloaded a virus while surfing at work.
Occams sharper Razor - a bunch of nice people have been downloading virus laden porn and warz at work, just like the rest of the world.
They got caught.
They cooked up a really great excuse: 'It's not my fault!'
No, they picked this up all by themselves. Jericho, one of the oldest tells in the Middle East has been a fortress for some 8000 years:
Jericho's reputation in the bible has a strong association with towers and walls--and with good reason. The first walls at Jericho were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, indicating that violence and conflict were important parts of Jericho's history for a very long time.
Nothing new. Same 'ol hairless apes chomping on each other.
Inquiring minds want to know... where was Bruce Willis when this happened?
Last time I saw him, he was in some sort of tube with Milla Jovovich. And if he has any brains, that's exactly where he will stay.
There are always magnitude 2 - 6 earthquakes around the Pacific Rim - that's why it's called the 'ring of fire'. So yes, it's related, but pretty much business as usual.
The point is that when scientists come into a courtroom as expert witnesses (or really any expert witness), the only agenda on their mind should be to relate to the court what they have discovered in their research. Not how much more funding they'll get when this hits the papers. Not how much the defense is paying them to say that in their professional opinion the client is insane.
While a nice idea, it doesn't seem to happen that way in practice. There are lists of professional experts whose slant on the subjects known prior to their being hired (and remember, they're hired). In many jurisdictions and in many fields, it doesn't take a whole lot of research, experience or much else to be an 'expert'. Since it works for both sides, you tend to get dueling experts and the jury is expected to make an informed decision based on the intricacies of their testimony and not on their showmanship, friendliness or appearance. Righto.
The scientific method and the legal method don't really mesh well most times. 'Science' very rarely produces black and white results. Shades of grey are tough to get across to lay people.
No.
No.
No.
No.
(I left one out because you already said 'no' once.
No.
Nothing but undeveloped, unevolved, barely conscious pond scum, totally convinced of their own superiority, as they scurry about their short pointless lives.
... you forgot how none of FDR's words actually did that much. WWII was basically what pulled the US out of the depression. Luckily, it looks like our leaders have figured that out too!
We're going to start a war with Japan and Germany?
Pray do tell good sir, whom doth inherit this sinister title?
The Spanish Inquisition!
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
And there are way too many Windows users who think they're immune because 'Mcfee' comes with their PC (too bad you didn't pay for the updates). Or that you can keep your antivirus program up to date and still happily surf 'midgetsandgoatsxxx.com' all day and click on anything that blinks.
Drives me mad when I have little conversations with people who think it's cool to update a policy document on said compromised machine and then want to send it to me via a USB drive. Last time that happened, I put the little drive in a sterilizer bag and ran it through and autoclave and gave it back to the guy. It was pretty clean, just a bit twisted. Doubt it could be used as a malware vector anymore.