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Comment I'll take "things that no one wants for $800". (Score 1) 73

More crap being forced on the world that no one is asking for. This is just another futile attempt to find a use for all this AI BS. Funny thing is though, there just isn't enough workforce optimization (ie layoffs) or increased sales to be had that could possibly offset the insane and unsustainable levels of spending we're seeing on this front. Trying to milk a rock.

Comment Re:I see both sides of this (Score 1) 224

It sickens me that some of the most fertile land in the country, if not the world, is being covered by solar panels.

If a shortage of corn becomes a problem in the future, the panels can be removed. In the meantime, if the extra electricity speeds the adoption of EVs, then we can *burn* less of our food in ICE cars. We're currently dedicating more than a third of all those cornfields just for that. There's no plausible scenario where a third of all the cornfields would be converted to solar arrays anyway.

Yeah, we don't actually need more feed corn.

Plus why not let the landowners decide what they want to do. Shocking idea, I know.

You know this POS would support an imminent domain takeover of the same farmer's land... to build a datacenter or an oil field.

Comment "small government" (Score 3, Insightful) 224

Because of course the party of "small government" doesn't want land owners to have an autonomy to do what they want with their land.

This is so fu#king stupid. Wind in particular has very little footprint impacting a field's productivity and is generally liked by farmers for the extra, reliable income stream. The wind industry boom in the midwest (building and installing) has really helped out those states (especially Iowa and Nebraska).

But of course, they will bow to anything dear leader (and the petro-conglomerates) demand.

Comment Milorganite (Score 1) 34

Milorganite has been around for decades and is a human wastewater solids fertilizer product that is very popular for turf fertilization. "Smells like success", after you apply and it gets a little wet, as the lawn community would say.

This seems like an obvious progression to not let this material go to "waste".

Comment The ThinkPad commercials were SO on point (Score 1) 40

I remember loving the IBM Think Pad commercials back then. Mainstream TV ads for laptops. Love it.

My fav was the one where they were at a lunch counter and talking about the laptop tracking for impact if dropped. Guy throws one on the floor: "That's not my laptop..." Other guy... "check please". Gold.

Comment Re:I don't think so (Score 1) 47

hearing aids aren't oral medication. And Apple is chasing after Medicare money. That's worth a little bit of work.

Medicare doesn't pay anything for hearing exams, hearing aid fittings, or hearing aids. Just FYI. So you're wrong in that sense.

But, it is a huge market.

OTC hearing aids have really brought the price down and forced prescription models to become more price competitive.

Still, a proper hearing test and fitting of a few different models to see what you like best is worth the cash if you have it. Plus follow up appointments to get everything dialed in.

But, this could prove a stepping stone for people curious if a proper hearing aid would benefit them.

Comment Re:I'm curious, so I looked it up. (Score 2) 328

In the life/biological sciences at a major US research university, our graduate students are making between $27-$32k (this depends on their particular program). That also receive full tuition coverage and health insurance. $18.7k is crazy low. We could not retail or recruit any students with stipends that low.

Comment Re:But why that particular cancer? (Score 1) 63

From the perspective of a PhD trained cancer researcher, working on drug discovery/development in academia:

The cost might seem high. Some people think the cost is really going to make these types of cellular based therapy difficult to push into wide spread use. I'm more hopeful that new technology will drive down the cost in coming years. The techniques used to make these cells are years old at this point. That's just how long it takes to get things approved and trials conducted.

But remember the following:

1. This isn't (nor would you want it to be) front line therapy. It's for relapsed or non-responsive b-cell ALL. The side effect profile is risky, this therapy can kill a person, and there are life long implications to receiving it.

2. This is the first approved cellular therapy for wide spread use. It cost a massive amount of money to do the research and push this through the approval process. Billion of dollars for a product not very many people will get.

3. It isn't something that can be made and stored on a shelf. They take your cells out, process them, use a retrovirus to insert a new chimeric antigen receptor into them to target B-cells, and then reinfuse that into the patient. It's personalized medicine to the extreme.

3. The facilities to do what's listed in 2 are insanely costly to build and run, as their are extreme biosafety concerns when altering cells and putting them back into a person. The use of retroviruses makes the biosafety converses higher. Newer technologies will improve this aspect, but haven't been vetted and approved yet.

4. There would be many people involved in making these modified T cells, all of whom likely have masters degrees or PhDs. I'm not talking about the research side to develop them... but production. It's that involved.

5. This is in line with or in most cases cheaper than bone marrow transplants, which are fairly common for other cancers.

6. Novartis will only bill for the product if a patient shows a response within 30 days.

7. These patients have essentially few other options and would likely die without this therapy.

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