You Learn Something New Every Day

[the innominate one]

Saudi Arabia has had a problem with inbreeding from repeated marriages of first cousins within families.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/01/world ... eding.html

From 2003.

In 2013, the BBC reported higher rates of birth defects in a Pakistani immigrant population in Britain, which married first cousins 37% of the time.

[thoreau]

The world's oil is controlled by inbred medieval zealots, America is controlled by a TV host, and a morbidly obese heir controls a cultish kingdom with an H bomb.

Should we just give up already?

[Aresen]

The world's oil is controlled by inbred medieval zealots, America is controlled by a TV host, and a morbidly obese heir controls a cultish kingdom with an H bomb.

Should we just give up already?

It's not that bad. It's not as if Russia is looking at putting a new Tsar on the throne of the Romanovs and China is trying to build a new cult of personality around the head of the Communist Party...

[Dangerman]

Single upwards points are Bright/Optimistic/Right hand.

More devoid of hope is easy.

Magnitogorsk.png

[Eric the .5b]

It looks like a party. For real.

Yeah, but the kind of party that's only saved from being all vodka-and-partially-loaded-revolvers by sunflower seeds, mayonnaise, and hardbass.

[Fin Fang Foom]

It looks like Gary IN in the 70's

The main plant is actually (or was) based on one in Gary.

[Warren]

It looks like Gary IN in the 70's

The main plant is actually (or was) based on one in Gary.

[the innominate one]

There's evidence for a link between Alzheimer's and various infections, including some STDs.

http://mobile.the-scientist.com/article ... YI.twitter

[Sandy]

There's evidence for a link between Alzheimer's and various infections, including some STDs.

http://mobile.the-scientist.com/article ... YI.twitter

Huh. Well, my mom would be a candidate for an undiagnosed Lyme disease infection. Lots of time spent in the woods getting all manner of biting arthropods.

[the innominate one]

Plus, doesn't she bite the heads off mice?

[Sandy]

Plus, doesn't she bite the heads off mice?

Not last I checked. Though more than a few dead owls, hawks, snakes, etc., ended up in our freezer on their way to the state museum when I were a wee lad.

[JD]

In the early 20th century, people learned that some syphilitics who got high fevers were subsequently cured of syphilis. This led to research into ways to reliably induce high fevers that were curable and not too deadly. Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the 1927 Nobel Prize in medicine for using Plasmodium vivax to infect syphilitics with malaria, because malaria causes high fevers (but can be cured with quinine); about 15% of treated people died from the malaria, but this was considered preferable to the 100% death rate of neurosyphilis...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_o ... riotherapy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Wagner-Jauregg

[the innominate one]

Interesting, JD.

I learned the effort to save the California condor caused the extinction of a louse species that specialized on the bird.

[Warren]

Interesting, JD.

I learned the effort to save the California condor caused the extinction of a louse species that specialized on the bird.

There's another one that should have been extincted.

[the innominate one]

Another one what?

[Warren]

Species. Like the Panda. Just let it go.

[the innominate one]

Why?

[Warren]

It requires hundred of miles of wilderness and lays a clutch of two eggs every other year. It's not even cute. In fact it's uglier than a new born baby.

[the innominate one]

Animal species shouldn't be saved based on attractiveness, effort to save them should be apportioned based on need and the species' utility in ecosystem function and services provided.

The condors could probably be relegated to zoo populations. There are other scavengers, including avian ones. Dung beetles and burying beetles should definitely not be allowed to go extinct.

[Warren]

Animal species shouldn't be saved based on attractiveness, effort to save them should be apportioned based on need and the species' utility in ecosystem function and services provided.

You say that.

[the innominate one]

I and a bunch of people who have carefully considered the issues.

[Sandy]

Snail Darter 4 Evah

[the innominate one]

Bad information leads to poor decisions.

[Sandy]

Bad information leads to poor decisions.

What was the bad information with the Snail Darter? I was mostly just quipping with the most well known "not attractive" animal environmentalists were mocked for trying to preserve (IIRC it was used as an anti-development cudgel, but so's everything so...).

[the innominate one]

Its range wasn't as restricted as initially thought.