For those of you who haven't seen this already. It is pretty awesome. I can't draw an elephant or myself that well. Here's to Dumbo!!!!
In tribute as sung by Three Crows (Disney was aweful with racial slurs in the early 20th Cen.- don't get me started):
I saw a peanut stand, heard a rubber band,
I saw a needle that winked its eye.
But I think I will have seen everything....
When I see an elephant fly.
Don't blink. You'll miss it.
Posted by
Alana
on Thursday, April 3, 2008
Posted by
Alana
on Tuesday, April 1, 2008
As a note to yesterday's post, apparently it takes much more energy to create radio waves than the energy produced by the output of breaking apart the molecules. Tim did some research on this the other day and it seems that ever five to ten years or so, this idea comes up, as a means to get people excited about the prospect of clean energy but in actuality it is very very far from anything useful. Too bad- I was excited.
Okay So I am actually watching it right now on the Sundance channel but this is also an interesting hypothesis. Apparently this is relatively known about in the scientific community, but I had absolutely no idea- and because I didn't know, maybe you don't either- so let enlightenment ensue.
There are several theories as to the emergence of HIV/AIDS in Africa- this is one I have never heard, but the evidence put forward is fairly substantial if not conclusive. I don't think it is fair to blame the people about which I am going to write about for the emergence of HIV/AIDS, but it seems a much more plausible conclusion as to HIV emergence than the cut Hunter theory (which i believe is that a hunter had an open wound and killed an infected chimp this contracting the virus).
This documentary called The Origin of AIDS, and a book by the title of RIVER- by Edward Hooper (a journalist) and Bill Hamilton (one of the leading evolutionary scientists since Darwin) claims that HIV/AIDS basically was introduced to human populations through the creation of live-virus oral Polio Vaccines administered in the Belgian Congo circa 1956-1960.
The virus was created by creating tissue cultures from chimpanzee organs (don't get me started on the animal rights abuses shown in the lab videos- i understand medical research requires these types of experiments, but hey- at least kill them before you dissect the poor bastards), mainly kidneys. Now normally and it is claimed that Chimps do nothing in terms of telling scientists about polio vaccine effectiveness (no idea why), normally they use Macacs and Rhesus monkeys- but these Belgian scientists used Chimp tissue because it regenerates faster than that of the lower monkey orders.
Okay basically what happened is in the creation of the Live oral polio vaccine there were 'several', repeat several unknown things (don't remember the word they used- but basically there were other present viruses in the vaccination- like a Macac encephalitis or something)-- My mom by the way was watching this with me and remembers have to take this oral vaccine-- creepy. One of those unknown strains seems to have been HIV-1 (the monkey type) and the first documented outbreaks of HIV/AIDS in the Congo correspond to where this specific (there were several varieties) vaccine was administered. really really creepy.
No samples of the live virus are currently around because they were all used at the time so there is no recourse to back track and test said oral live virus- and even if there was one sample stashed away at the Swedish Virus Lab place that keeps a medical library of these things- perhaps not all samples would have been contaminated. Nonetheless, it is an interesting notion- and to me seems much more probably that HIV/AIDS was introduced to human population by human error and bad medical research practices than other avenues--- many other things have also come into existence this way.
This theory was openly challenged by the Royal Society in 2000, but what struck me most about that discourse was the royal society's unwillingness to be fair about open ideas. It shouldn't be guilty until proven innocent, it should be a hypothesis until ABSOLUTELY proven otherwise- until it can be full-proof this is a theory that must remain in the public sphere.
Depressing, I know, but interesting. I had no idea this was even something that was debated about in the Scientific community. now you know.
Read more
Okay So I am actually watching it right now on the Sundance channel but this is also an interesting hypothesis. Apparently this is relatively known about in the scientific community, but I had absolutely no idea- and because I didn't know, maybe you don't either- so let enlightenment ensue.
There are several theories as to the emergence of HIV/AIDS in Africa- this is one I have never heard, but the evidence put forward is fairly substantial if not conclusive. I don't think it is fair to blame the people about which I am going to write about for the emergence of HIV/AIDS, but it seems a much more plausible conclusion as to HIV emergence than the cut Hunter theory (which i believe is that a hunter had an open wound and killed an infected chimp this contracting the virus).
This documentary called The Origin of AIDS, and a book by the title of RIVER- by Edward Hooper (a journalist) and Bill Hamilton (one of the leading evolutionary scientists since Darwin) claims that HIV/AIDS basically was introduced to human populations through the creation of live-virus oral Polio Vaccines administered in the Belgian Congo circa 1956-1960.
The virus was created by creating tissue cultures from chimpanzee organs (don't get me started on the animal rights abuses shown in the lab videos- i understand medical research requires these types of experiments, but hey- at least kill them before you dissect the poor bastards), mainly kidneys. Now normally and it is claimed that Chimps do nothing in terms of telling scientists about polio vaccine effectiveness (no idea why), normally they use Macacs and Rhesus monkeys- but these Belgian scientists used Chimp tissue because it regenerates faster than that of the lower monkey orders.
Okay basically what happened is in the creation of the Live oral polio vaccine there were 'several', repeat several unknown things (don't remember the word they used- but basically there were other present viruses in the vaccination- like a Macac encephalitis or something)-- My mom by the way was watching this with me and remembers have to take this oral vaccine-- creepy. One of those unknown strains seems to have been HIV-1 (the monkey type) and the first documented outbreaks of HIV/AIDS in the Congo correspond to where this specific (there were several varieties) vaccine was administered. really really creepy.
No samples of the live virus are currently around because they were all used at the time so there is no recourse to back track and test said oral live virus- and even if there was one sample stashed away at the Swedish Virus Lab place that keeps a medical library of these things- perhaps not all samples would have been contaminated. Nonetheless, it is an interesting notion- and to me seems much more probably that HIV/AIDS was introduced to human population by human error and bad medical research practices than other avenues--- many other things have also come into existence this way.
This theory was openly challenged by the Royal Society in 2000, but what struck me most about that discourse was the royal society's unwillingness to be fair about open ideas. It shouldn't be guilty until proven innocent, it should be a hypothesis until ABSOLUTELY proven otherwise- until it can be full-proof this is a theory that must remain in the public sphere.
Depressing, I know, but interesting. I had no idea this was even something that was debated about in the Scientific community. now you know.
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