Coronavirus - Overall
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@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Most definitions for life include other characteristics like movement, growth and creation of energy.
I suppose that is the crux - definition of life.
I found this definition and thought that a virus would fall into the "life" category:
"the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death."A successful virus doesn't kill all of its hosts for obvious reasons.
All QI really.
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@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
So what is this cheap and incredibly effective pill of which you speak because in my dotage I've obviously missed it which is a bit embarrassing as I'm our Pandemic Manager.
Holy shit. You haven't taken it? And distributed to your staff? What kind of pandemic manager are you!
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@Winger said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Winger wow - so why didn't the greedy prick share the pill? If it was that straightforward why is he letting tens of thousands die and the US / global economy tank?
You know he did. But there is no money in Trumps method as the pill is cheap. But many took it
just to be clear...you're saying the pharmaceutical companies are only focused on money...for NOT selling HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE as a COVID treatment?
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@Kiwiwomble said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Winger said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Winger wow - so why didn't the greedy prick share the pill? If it was that straightforward why is he letting tens of thousands die and the US / global economy tank?
You know he did. But there is no money in Trumps method as the pill is cheap. But many took it
just to be clear...you're saying the pharmaceutical companies are only focused on money...for NOT selling HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE as a COVID treatment?
Big pharma are after much bigger fish (eg patented compulsory products with no risk as they can't be sued = huge money). Not cheap products that anyone can make.
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
The benefits of Vitamin D are pretty mainstream now though eh
Yes.
Are countries that have lower sunshine hours having worse rates of infection? Colder climes where people don't get out as much / aren't as exposed to the sun? I haven't seen too much about it WRT covid.Doesn't appear to be the case
Plenty of sunshine in US, Italy, Spain and Brazil
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@Winger said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@mariner4life yeah aint much a picture anyone can paint right now, all we can hope is one or 2 of these vaccine trials work and doses are able to be rolled out pretty quickly.
My mother-in-law had returned to Scotland weeks before we went into lockdown, she usually comes over every other year, so Christmas 2021 is looking sketchy at present.
You have a lot of faith in vaccines. Yet we've had lots of vaccines (including a flu vaccine) for over 40 years and what happened.
Maybe boosting our in-built immune system may produce much better results. Like using vitamin C etc. Or doing what Trump did. It won't be recommended though because money
Less people got flu?
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@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Winger Man I'm gonna regret this
What did Trump do? Other than show up (not all his own fault by any stretch) the total unpreparedness of the US and how entrenched partisan politics will fuck you over more than any virus.
By the by hardly anyone gets the flu nowadays. Mainly because it doesn't get a foothold in the community. Mainly because so many immunise.
I haven't had a bad cold since I came back to NZ 30 years ago. My unhealthy lifestyle and poor food and drink options scares the bejeezuz out of bugs. S.C.I.E.N.C.E.
@Snowy
The benefits of Vitamin D are pretty mainstream now though ehAs an aside listened to Infinite Monkey Cage on Life last night. Viruses don't meet the definition of a living organism - although the consensus is they are both living and dead all at once which is pretty damn clever
You're not an isolated case...
Edit: viruses are strawberries?
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@Snowy said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
The benefits of Vitamin D are pretty mainstream now though eh
Yes.
Are countries that have lower sunshine hours having worse rates of infection? Colder climes where people don't get out as much / aren't as exposed to the sun? I haven't seen too much about it WRT covid.@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
Viruses don't meet the definition of a living organism - although the consensus is they are both living and dead all at once which is pretty damn clever
Wow. Learn something everyday. I thought that they were like a bacteria, in that they were alive.
@Tim might be able to elaborate.IIRC 6th form biology. Viruses can't reproduce on their own (they hijack another organism' s DNA), thus don't meet the definition of "living".
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@dogmeat said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Snowy They can't live outside their host cell They are inert chemical sequences of RNA or DNA. when it enters a host cell it sheds its coat, bares its genes and induces the cell’s own replication machinery to reproduce its DNA or RNA until it literally bursts the cell and goes looking for others.
So it reproduces but that's all it does. Most definitions for life include other characteristics like movement, growth and creation of energy.
So viruses are on the boundary of life. Strangely the most alive organisms are apparently simple amoeba - we are somewhere in the middle of the continuum.
At least that's what I took them to be saying. @Tim will probably debunk all the above
Yeah well 6th form was 34 years ago ...
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South Africa has recorded 60% more excess deaths than expected. The country saw about 17,000 extra deaths from natural causes – or 50% more than would normally be expected between early May and mid-July, scientists have said, suggesting many more people are dying of Covid-19 than shown in official figures.
Interesting, as back on 18 June, when this article ( https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53073046 ) came out, SA had 7k 'excess lives' up until to 02 June. A negative 9% excess mortality.
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@Kirwan said in Coronavirus - Overall:
@Winger What are your thoughts on Bill Gates?
I always liked Gates because Excel. Much better than Lotus 123. Also MS Dos was cheaper to own due to lower computer prices (half the price of IMB computers). So credit to Gates. Even though he got his start thanks to his mother and IBM. So without being born into an elite family he would be another unknown in the world.
But he was always came across as a strange nerdy type that was obsessed with money and control. And still is. He’s been very successful. But one big failure is giving money away (worth when he started $52 billion now $104 billion). Or is this just marketing hype. Where he claims to want to give his money away but doesn’t and is just using his foundation to reduce his tax bill. And to market himself as he sets up his next money making schemes (digital certificates and vaccines etc).
But credit to Gates. He has everything lined up to make a fortune. He invested in imperial college where they just happened to produce via Neil Ferguson the scary inflated estimated Coved 19 deaths that seemed to kick this all off. He is a big investor in WHO. Is mates and has invested in Dr Fauci etc. etc. etc. And his marketing team has done a brilliant job. His image has changed from a nerdy control freak who violated antitrust laws to a kind of world saviour.
One last point. He needs to choose his friends and foundation investors more carefully.