In todays news...

[Mr. Dazzle]

We can't cure Smallpox or Malaria either, the death rate from the former far outstrips Covid. It was only by screwing around with the former that we actually eradicated it for all intents. AFAIK there is no cure for measals, only a vaccine, and as a disease it's way more deadly than people perhaps realise.

Like I said, gain of function research was going on (and was being controversial) long before (and since) the 'rona.

[Yambo]

Personally I would rather watch the lights gradually dim and die peacefully huddled around a fireplace in some Mad Max post apocalypse (from whatever cause). I'd rather that than die struggling to breath while choking on my own lung tissue because some fucking idiot decided it was somehow a good idea to manufacture a super deadly virus for "research".

M's father died last year from mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos 50 years previously. Ironically the exposure was at a hospital where he was doing building work. Prior to that and pretty much at that time asbestos was the wonder stuff. He died, struggling for breath . . .

There are going to be good reasons for some research or the use of dangerous substances just as some will give you good reasons for eating red meat and cheese or smoking cigarettes. They can all be hazardous to health. Iirc, 70,000+ people die every year from smoking related illnesses. Covid didn't come close to those numbers.

You'll probably die from cancer or heart disease like most people nowadays. Or old age although getting there can be a struggle in itself.

[Screwdriver]

We can't cure Smallpox or Malaria either, the death rate from the former far outstrips Covid. It was only by screwing around with the former that we actually eradicated it for all intents. AFAIK there is no cure for measals, only a vaccine, and as a disease it's way more deadly than people perhaps realise.

Like I said, gain of function research was going on (and was being controversial) long before (and since) the 'rona.

I was being imprecise. Measles, chickenpox, smallpox and even ebola are less contagious, more obvious and therefore less potentially catastrophic in their pandemic abilities. SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated it is extremely contagious, has a sneaky incubation period and the mechanism(s) by which they (coronaviruses) can be spread is "perfect" for the current human environment.

FWIW I recently suffered from a similar viral infection due to a faulty immune response. It was (and still is) fucking horrible but it was never going to kill me even though I may have welcomed death during the height of the infection. It's probably detailed in some other thread if you're really curious.

[Screwdriver]

Personally I would rather watch the lights gradually dim and die peacefully huddled around a fireplace in some Mad Max post apocalypse (from whatever cause). I'd rather that than die struggling to breath while choking on my own lung tissue because some fucking idiot decided it was somehow a good idea to manufacture a super deadly virus for "research".

M's father died last year from mesothelioma, caused by exposure to asbestos 50 years previously. Ironically the exposure was at a hospital where he was doing building work. Prior to that and pretty much at that time asbestos was the wonder stuff. He died, struggling for breath . . .

There are going to be good reasons for some research or the use of dangerous substances just as some will give you good reasons for eating red meat and cheese or smoking cigarettes. They can all be hazardous to health. Iirc, 70,000+ people die every year from smoking related illnesses. Covid didn't come close to those numbers.

You'll probably die from cancer or heart disease like most people nowadays. Or old age although getting there can be a struggle in itself.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I hesitate to even discuss the matter further but the issue is not about whether or not things exist which can kill you. It's more about the ridiculous idea of inventing and creating new viruses whose only job is to kill humans. I think it is absurd to go out of our way to create deadly viruses. Those things are beyond microscopically tiny and I sincerely doubt if ANY safeguard is ever going to be 100% effective.

The number you quote is mystifying. A quick Google suggest seven million COVID deaths. Don't know if that even begins to include those who died due to the overreaction and other pandemic mitigations including the reduction in care for those already requiring medical attention.

[Mr. Dazzle]

AFAIK Measels is hugely more contagious than rona. I remember being surprised by just how much more during the pandemic.

[Yambo]

I'm sorry to hear that.

Thanks. I'm happy I was able to be there (after the event) to support the family. I lost one of my sons to a heart attack in December (procrastination is a symptom of my current mental state), a friend's partner died peacefully in her sleep 10 days ago and another friend is in hospital, in a coma following a stroke. He's not expected to wake up and if he does he'll not be in good shape. The joys of getting old mate, people you know die.

I hesitate to even discuss the matter further but the issue is not about whether or not things exist which can kill you. It's more about the ridiculous idea of inventing and creating new viruses whose only job is to kill humans. I think it is absurd to go out of our way to create deadly viruses. Those things are beyond microscopically tiny and I sincerely doubt if ANY safeguard is ever going to be 100% effective.

I don't disagree. At all.

The number you quote is mystifying. A quick Google suggest seven million COVID deaths. Don't know if that even begins to include those who died due to the overreaction and other pandemic mitigations including the reduction in care for those already requiring medical attention.

UK figures. It was some time ago but I googled smoking related deaths in the UK and it was around 70,000 a year, every year. I also went to the Office for National Statistics and found a table of Covid death numbers. They were broken down into various groups (died with covid, died from something else but exacerbated by covid, died from covid etc) and again, iirc, deaths solely from covid in the UK were around 20,000. https://www.ons.gov.uk/search?q=covid+deaths There are a whole lot of tables and I'm too busy procrastinating to find the one I found previously.

Covid certainly wasn't good if you had some underlying issues but it wasn't, in itself anywhere near as an effective killer as some other things. There was also as you suggest a fair bit of collateral damage. My views are biased - I never even got a cold during the whole period of the pandemic.

[Count Steer]

Covid certainly wasn't good if you had some underlying issues but it wasn't, in itself anywhere near as an effective killer as some other things. There was also as you suggest a fair bit of collateral damage. My views are biased - I never even got a cold during the whole period of the pandemic.

On the up side, there was a fair bit of collateral gain. A lot of people that would have been expected to die of flu in a particular year (and other transmittable diseases I suppose), didn't.

[irie]

Democracy can only work if free speech is protected. Over the last few years that right of free speech has already been eroded by " protected characteristics".

I think everyone should have the right to offend anyone else.

Everyone does indeed have the right to offend anyone else!

(I believe this ruling was made in 2020).

https://londondaily.com/freedom-of-spee ... -uk-judges

Freedom of speech includes the right to offend, say UK judges

Victory in the war on woke: Judges' landmark ruling in case of mother who called trans woman 'he' on Twitter means freedom of speech DOES includes the 'right to offend'

Judges have insisted that freedom of speech includes the 'right to offend' in a landmark ruling which could help to turn the tide on 'woke' intolerance after a feminist who called a transgender woman a 'pig in a wig' and a 'man' was cleared.

Presiding over a case in the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby said: 'Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.'

They added that 'free speech encompasses the right to offend, and indeed to abuse another'. The judgment from two senior members of the judiciary will set a precedent for future cases involving freedom of speech.

[wheelnut]

When antibiotic resistance gets widespread, many more people, of all ages, will die younger than would be expected now.

My understanding is that the main problem is that there’s very little money being spent on developing new ABs. It’s not a sexy drug with only a couple of new types of ABs introduced since the 1950s. Each generation is more resistant than the last due to the resistant microbes being passed on.

We need drug cos to develop new ABs and fairly quickly.

[Horse]

When antibiotic resistance gets widespread, many more people, of all ages, will die younger than would be expected now.

My understanding is that the main problem is that there’s very little money being spent on developing new ABs. It’s not a sexy drug with only a couple of new types of ABs introduced since the 1950s. Each generation is more resistant than the last due to the resistant microbes being passed on.

We need drug cos to develop new ABs and fairly quickly.

I thought it was that current drug types / variations are being over-run as resistance develops, and a new 'technology' is needed.

[ZRX61]

Adan Juarez Ramirez had it all figured out—he could be a cop without having to take the boring test. But he was arrested in Grapevine, Texas, after pulling over a driver in his pickup truck, outfitted with flashing lights. He even had an ID badge, which he’d made by blacking out a restaurant gift card and etching in the word “POLICE.” However, he’d kept the restaurant’s logo, a jalapeño pepper surrounded by the words “Chipotle Mexican Grill.”

[Ant]

Blunder Woman, Dianne Abbott is suspended for yet more racism, hate and anti-semitic comments....

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/diane-abbott ... community/

[JackyJoll]

Blunder Woman, Dianne Abbott is suspended for yet more racism, hate and anti-semitic comments....

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/diane-abbott ... community/

Is she actually as stupid as she appears?

[Bigjawa]

Blunder Woman, Dianne Abbott is suspended for yet more racism, hate and anti-semitic comments....

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/diane-abbott ... community/

Is she actually as stupid as she appears?

Yes, she hates anything white, apart from Corbyn's Right Honourable Member. She's a a black Jayda Franssen.

[KungFooBob]

But was she wearing matching shoes when she said it?

[Pirahna]

Blunder Woman, Dianne Abbott is suspended for yet more racism, hate and anti-semitic comments....

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/diane-abbott ... community/

She's perfectly correct, Judaism isn't a race it's a religion.

[JackyJoll]

She's perfectly correct

In her place, would you send that letter to the paper?

[Pirahna]

She's perfectly correct

In her place, would you send that letter to the paper?

No. There are some topics that are proven to be career ending for anyone in the public eye and best avoided, this is one of them.

[Saga Lout]

I just received the government emergency alert test. The phone made a nasty noise and displayed a message. I tapped OK to stop the nasty noise and the message disappeared. I had to go to settings - Safety and Emergency - Wireless Emergency Alerts - Emergency alert history to retrieve the message.

Somebody hasn't thought this through, have they?

While I was in there, I disabled emergency alerts.

[dern]

That was briefly exciting, the alerts worked for us.

For anyone considering turning them off may I suggest taking the batteries out of your smoke alarms too?