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Comment Interesting use of the word demagogue (Score 1) 117

The word demagogue can also be applied to this author. He is characterizing a sitting president in a way that appeals to his opponents. It has nothing to do with the current situation. So far, I have only seen two effective mechanisms for fighting this virus in the short term. Massive testing and isolation. The first one depends on how prepared the health system is and has very little to do with how the health system is financed. Very few countries are set up to do random testing on a significant slice of their population. Also, most jurisdictions didn't have enough test kits to do this sampling. Manufacturing them takes time. The second is very hard to implement in a democracy. Dictatorships can actually do better here. Imagine the reaction if the president tried to enforce a country wide lockdown in the early stages, before it was declared a pandemic. And keep in mind that the WHO was initially against massive quarantines.

Comment Re:Where are the controls? (Score 1) 276

BTW, since we're throwing out random theories: Mensa, as an organisation, is more attractive to people with a predisposition to mental illness. Highly intelligent people who are well-adjusted are less likely to join.

Almost true. Although there is undoubtedly many members who joined for the status symbol, there are probably a large percentage of members who actually enjoy the interaction of like minded people. The statistics would be more meaningful if they were broken down for the two groups separately.

Earth

Concrete That Purifies the Air 88

fergus07 writes "Although much of the focus of pollution from automobiles centers on carbon emissions, there are other airborne nasties spewing from the tailpipes of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. These include nitrogen oxides (NOx). In the form of nitrogen dioxide it reacts with chemicals produced by sunlight to form nitric acid – a major constituent of acid rain – and also reacts with sunlight, leading to the formation of ozone and smog. Everyone is exposed to small amounts of nitrogen oxides in ambient air, but exposure to higher amounts, in areas of heavy traffic for example, can damage respiratory airways. Testing has shown that surfacing roads with air purifying concrete could make a big contribution to local air purity by reducing the concentration of nitrogen oxides by 25 to 45 percent."
Software

PLplot Notes Its 10,000th Commit 66

iliketrash writes "From the PLplot development team is the announcement of their 10,000th commit: 'PLplot is a cross-platform software package for creating scientific plots that has been in continuous development since its inception 17 years ago. On May 23, 2009 the PLplot developers quietly celebrated our ten thousandth commit since our initial software repository was populated back in May 1992. This longevity puts PLplot in some select company amongst open-source software projects. We may even be unique within this group because all PLplot development has been done by volunteers in their spare time. The enthusiasm for PLplot development continues; we have averaged more than 100 commits per month over the last year which is double our 17-year average, and we are looking forward to the celebration of our next ten thousand commits!'"

Comment Re:Hardly self-destruct (Score 1) 418

Your "rambling" is all correct but not appropriate to the parent comment. He is lamenting that the phrase "explain that to the average person" means "he'll never understand that" Where it is true that you don't need to know the details of how comodities work, you should be receptive to people who try to explain things to you because they think that you need to know the details.

Comment Re:The Children? (Score 1) 590

Teens have been having sex since time immemorial, it's built into us as a species and it's why we are all here. Parents have only been trying to stop it since the onslaught of religion.

As far as I know, various religions restrict the terms of a sexual relationship (they require some sort of institution of marriage) but not the age. In fact, religions recognize the drive for sexual relations and would advise younger marriages. In reality, the concept of underage sex is a tool to stop (or limit) premarital sex. In other words, it is a compromise between the religious stance that all sex outside of marriage is wrong and the current social expectation that adults should be free to enjoy themselves when it doesn't injure others. I'd be more likely to classify the tendency of parents to stop teenage sex as a sense of insecurity than as a dictate of religion (current mass marketers of religion not-withstanding).

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