The "Did you know" thread.....

[Greenman]

old alal nothing funny about that, someone once put a spent one(without telling me of course) in my coat hood and scared the shit out of me - this is what I think triggered my hatred of fireworks in general.

Did you know that baths kill more people that terrorists?
Albert Einstein's eyeballs are in a safety deposit box in New York?
Mumps is five times as contagious as Ebola.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by Greenman

old alal
Did you know that baths kill more people that terrorists?
Mumps is five times as contagious as Ebola.

Oh please prove that I find it hard to believe unless you are talking about over all of history.
Mumps might be but there is a vaccination for mumps but so far nothing for Ebola that I am aware of.

[garthok newo]

according to NPR (National Public Radio) shots web page the definition of how contagious a bug,virus etc is can be defined by the number of people one patient will infect. This number is R0 a mathematical number that tells you how contagious something is. For example: Measles has an R0 of 18(meaning
that one infected person will infect another 18.
Now to the matter at hand. Ebola has an R0 of 2.(possibly because it is not airborne but requires contact with bodily fluids)
Mumps has an R0 of 10. So it seems that yes, mumps is 5 times as contagious as ebola. Of course, very few people die from mumps.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-s...gious-is-ebola

Here's hoping that the above link is allowed.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by garthok newo

according to NPR (National Public Radio) shots web page the definition of how contagious a bug,virus etc is can be defined by the number of people one patient will infect. This number is R0 a mathematical number that tells you how contagious something is. For example: Measles has an R0 of 18(meaning
that one infected person will infect another 18.
Now to the matter at hand. Ebola has an R0 of 2.(possibly because it is not airborne but requires contact with bodily fluids)
Mumps has an R0 of 10. So it seems that yes, mumps is 5 times as contagious as ebola. Of course, very few people die from mumps.

That may be true GN but what I was trying to point out is that mumps has a vaccine and ebola doesn't. That implies to me that mumps are not as bad since they can be inoculated against, assuming a decent medical system. Ebola has no such serum yet and most of the people infected with it are ignorant about taking precautions so it is spread among the populace more easily.

[Greenman]

Well as I have stated many times I am quoting from the QI facts book printed in the Daily Mail so if there are any facts that you don't think are right-TAKE IT UP WITH THEM! not ME!!

[Dr Pepper]

Originally Posted by old alal

A bit like Estreeter then





A diet pill on sale on the internet (made in China, where else?) contains DNP which is an industrial chemical in pesticides. (Dinitrophenol) It kills. Why are we putting pressure on people, often young people to be slim.

Did you know that going to a Turkish Restaurant and spending £50 on dinner will stop the war.

Dinitrophenol uncouples mitochondria, releasing cellular energy as heat rather than producing ATP-so people would literally be 'burning fat'-to no useful metabolic effect. This was a standard experiment we used to get undergrads to do with mitochondria preparations during my PhD teaching days.
A similar effect was often observed in munitions factory workers during WW1 and WW2 (especially WW1) with TNT and picric acid-both of which contain significant amounts of DNP as impurities. In severe cases people could die from hyperthermia, with body temps rocketing as high as 44C

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

That may be true GN but what I was trying to point out is that mumps has a vaccine and ebola doesn't. That implies to me that mumps are not as bad since they can be inoculated against, assuming a decent medical system. Ebola has no such serum yet and most of the people infected with it are ignorant about taking precautions so it is spread among the populace more easily.

The fact that it requires an exchange of bodily fluids to contract Ebola means that many fewer people do so in places with decent public systems. Ebola outbreaks happen mostly in third world locations that don't have what North American and Europe would consider even a second rate public health system.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by DTravel

The fact that it requires an exchange of bodily fluids to contract Ebola means that many fewer people do so in places with decent public systems. Ebola outbreaks happen mostly in third world locations that don't have what North American and Europe would consider even a second rate public health system.

How many "third world" men, in particular, will abstain from contact with, hopefully, a female. They are not exactly the best educated or responsible people in the world.

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

How many "third world" men, in particular, will abstain from contact with, hopefully, a female. They are not exactly the best educated or responsible people in the world.

To put it mildly. There are parts of Africa where the general population believes that the cure for AIDS is for a man to have sex with a virgin female. One African head of state used to publicly state that there is no HIV/AIDS and refused to allow international aid against it in his country.

And then the population blames "The West" for their poor health.

[MaxJoker]

Emperor Constantine



Was so feared that when he died it wasn't discovered for a week.
It took that long to find out.
As nobody had the courage to disturb him.