My brother refuses to buy any food with palm oil in it, citing environmental issues with it and to a certain extend, health issues. Anyone versed in the topic could enlightened me as to why it's so bad?

If you like the topic of EMP and how it would affect the society, check this fiction from William R. Forstchen. It's called One Second After and it's written from the perspective of the US being brought to its knees after a terrorist EMP strike and its effects on all societal levels.

the withdrawal of consent is an interesting approach. Maybe the father can claim rape since there was pregnancy against his will and without his consent.

For the sake of completeness, I would like to let you know that the fine article is by Lewis Dartnell, the author of the book "The Knowledge". What you have read in a short sample from the book, which is an excellent read. If you are into knowledge to restart a civilization (think food, chemistry, electricity, clothes), then you probably will appreciate the book.

here's a 4 minute sample.

that should be his epitaph

and just to make sure it got said, it's neither "could of", nor "should of", nor "would of", but "could have", "should have", and "would have".

<tongue-in-cheek>So what do you call angels then?</tongue-in-cheek>

The summary highlights that humans are very special: no other species can communicate as sophisticated concepts as humans can.
What you say makes sense and in a way I agree with you, in the same way that an abacus and a microchip are alike since they can both do calculations.

Try Ultima 6 or 7.

I know this is about the *vaccine*, not the disease itself, but nonetheless, they made airborne the signature of Ebola, which hopefully will stay at that, just a signature and not a payload.

funny that, when I think the biggest concern about Ebola was that it would become airborne, turns out we are *making* it so!

This video explains why we *should* catch small fish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9YOVuEQugE

Years ago, I used to think like you, but now I disagree with this statement. For me, perfect means meeting the requirements. Zero error is a requirement but not a reasonable one. My life got much more pleasant when I realized I should aim for meeting reasonable requirements instead of an elusive zero error target.