Pagecount.increase(15);
//The number of bumps needed is stretching my limited creativity
You know, it's kind of odd that this page started with post #663. That's not one more than a multiple of 45.
<bump></bump>
When this gets fixed, someone is going to read back through the forum and wonder what was happening.
I'm thinking of copy-pasting favorite quotes from various media into these bumps to make them less boring.
Lets try this!
FALCON PUNCH
"Thank you for coming, mr.?"
"FIRE! WANG FIRE! AND THIS IS MY WIFE, SAPH FIRE!"
That's quite possibly the most hilarious five seconds of the Avatar series.
I'm thinking we may want to adopt the practice of closing threads that get too long. Already, the bumps take up half a page.
EDIT: Okay, that's 10-11 bumps, totaling a ninth of a page.
To Krillis, the last in print copy was sold at Ubercon. As far as I know, there are no copies for sale locally, unless you live in Newark DE, they might still have copies at the game/comic shop there. Other than that, it's next to impossible to order for retail price online, if you were so inclined.
Ebay does have a used copy for $42.95, +3.99 shipping.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=multiverser&_sacat=See-All-Categories
Amazon, which looks to be the same as one of the above, has two for that price:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0970036809/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1291261083&sr=8-1&condition=used
It's not necessarily necessary to bump, unless you're using a system that doesn't let you enter the next page number in the address bar (like Kyler).
--M. J. Young
Well, in the case of talking to Kyler in a thread it's nice to do it so he doesn't sit there for 10 minute trying to on his phone. Also I check with my phone a lot where it's difficult to do so.
thanks for the concern, but i'm a big boy =P i have a 2@4 sal at bumping threads now =)
Apparently, NASA has discovered a bacterium that can swap in Arsenic for Phosphorous in its DNA when it runs out of Phosphorous.
I have Harry's thread with 22 bumps and it still won't show me as the last poster. I have created a Multiverser forum using other software, if things continue to get worse.
JTM,
Having a contingency plan, a back-up system. Nice design.
Now we just need to sprinkle this bacterium over some Arsenic contaminated site, and use it as a 'broom' or 'filter' to clean the mess up.
I've heard of a bacterium discovered growing in drums of radioactive waste, and another that lives in sulfuric acid.
(Doing Therapy)
That's not uncommon, John. Actually, quite a few live in sulfuric acid, and probably more than one in radioactive waste. What's unusual is that it's actually using arsenic to replace phosphorous in DNA, RNA, proteins, and cell membranes. No one was entirely sure that was possible, and it means life than only uses arsenic is possible. That, in turn, means that a planet with no phosphorous could theoretically support life. It also opens up the possibility of other materials being replaced.
Eric,
Apparently, it actually evolved in a heavily contaminated lake in California. It'd need serious modification to be useful for cleanup, though, since every other known species needs phosphorous and it doesn't use arsenic when phosphorous is around.
http://m.gizmodo.com/5704158/nasa-finds-new-life
Apparently, it was previously speculated as being possible, but to quote someone on another forum,
It's the difference between someone announcing that they think there might be a sasquatch and someone coming back with one in a cage.
And that scares me. Bacteria and viruses are by far the greatest threat to the survival of the human race. The second greatest threat is other humans. Especially those that want to modify bacteria and viruses.
(Doing Therapy)
Eh, it's either an in-built capacity, or a degenerative mutation. Either way, not something to get overly freaked about. Since viruses and bacteria don't have sexual genetic shuffling, I wonder if they have another technique that we currently think is mutation, but isn't really.
And when I say overly freaked, take that to mean, that oh yeah, its a serious problem. But threat to survival....not likely. It could end a civilization, perhaps, but humanity itself??
OK,
I read the Gizmodo link and a fair bit of the comments. Someone says its some sort of lab created effort.
I'm not totally getting what's going on here.
And when I say overly freaked, take that to mean, that oh yeah, its a serious problem. But threat to survival....not likely. It could end a civilization, perhaps, but humanity itself??
I saw a movie called Quarantine. A lethal and extremely contagious virus infects a man who soon boards an international airline flight. Everyone on the plane gets infected. Then the plane lands. Guess what? Now that virus is released into an international airport and can spread all over the entire world in a matter of days. Tell me that's not a realistic doomsday scenario.
As far as I understand it, it's a natural bacteria but the proof was found by placing it in extremely high concentrations of arsenic in a lab. I don't see how being selectively able to use a heavy metal toxin for vital functions qualifies as a degenerative mutation, though.
John, that's not actually a doomsday scenario. It would kill a lot of people, but not everyone. Even the most deadly generally don't exceed a 90% kill rate, and if one of those managed a major outbreak, the CDC and WHO would get around to doing something a lot faster than they normally.
Yeah, but JTM, I don't think you're following me. You were talking about scientists who were modifying viruses for whatever reasons. YOU JUST KNOW there's some idiot scientist out there who is trying to turn the common cold into a superbug that's 100% lethal and spreads just like the cold. You just know it, ya know? It's just one of those things you don't need to read or to be told. Some scientist out there is doing that, "Just to see what would happen." That scares me.
(Doing Therapy)
WILL SOMEONE PLEASE FIX THIS FLIPPING SITE???????????
(Doing Therapy)
*tips his metaphorical cap* see y'all on the flip side.
JTM,
The way I know of a deg. mut. has multiple answers is similar to a lock in a door. A properly fitted lock will only admit one key, but if you damage the innards of the lock, such that it is not so precise anymore, it may accept multiple keys.
I will admit I lean toward a contingency plan for something so radical.
And John, JTM gets my point with his comment that that's not a doomsday scenario.
You're talking like a 90% kill ratio is a good thing. It would *only* wipe out 90% of the human race...... Like that's a good thing. I sure hope I'm not one of the 10% that survives. Genetically modifying viruses? What? It wasn't deadly enough before? We have to go tinkering with it? Even if no one is trying to do that, someone might do it on accident. The CDC and WHO and everybody would respond, that's true, but there are places a virus can be released where it would be uncontainable. (The before mentioned international airport, for instance.) Maybe I've just seen Outbreak too many times.
(Doing Therapy)
I have created a Multiverser forum using other software, if things continue to get worse.
I'm going to ask that you hold off on that, for several reasons I can't at this point discuss.
--M. J. Young
Then I assume you are going to take care of the problem here then. You have a lot of people experiencing problems, and it's not doing much to encourage people to play if we have to constantly check if posts registered, if pages got bumped, or if your post went through at all. I know it is not your board or software, but since you are Multiverser, I am going to rely on you are taking steps to rectify the problems.
Then I assume you are going to take care of the problem here then.
Drop me an e-mail, or post on the Valdron Development forum--you still have privileges there.
John--the point of the 90% kill rate is that nothing is so dangerous it kills everyone. That's because everyone's immune system, everyone's genetic code, is a bit different, and so viruses in particular (which infect by using the genetic code of the host) are limited inherently in how many people they can effectively infect. Most viruses have considerably lower fatality rates, and even given your worldwide spread through international airports, it would not reach everyone quickly enough that a lot of people would not develop immunity.
For example, a lot of people who have never been vaccinated against polio have immunity, because the attenuated polio virus is in the environment. We created vaccines because someone noticed that people who got cowpox didn't get smallpox, and cowpox was a generally benign disease. No one would object to spending a week under the weather with cowpox in exchange for the certainty that their body could then resist smallpox completely. Slight exposures lead to strong immunities.
Further, as mentioned, the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control would be on the problem faster than superglue, with quarantines, tracking, travel restrictions, organism identification, and efforts to cure. When we say it has a 90% mortality rate, that means that nine out of ten people who catch it in Wycoff, New Jersey are going to die, but that doesn't mean it will even reach Waldwick a few miles down the road. The fact that 90% of the people who catch it die doesn't mean 90% of the world population dies--there will be all the people who never catch it, either because they don't come in contact with it or because they've developed an immunity to it. All a 90% fatality rate really means is that if you get it you have a 10% chance of pulling through unaided. Medical help could increase that chance to 90%.
--M. J. Young
Medical help could increase that chance to 90%.
the survival chance, not the fatality chance that was already 90%. For clarification, in case some didn't get that.
MJ, I'm curious. Who do you think was your most dedicated non-involvement player? The person who wouldn't warn Pearl Harbor, even under the fear of versing out with 40 broken bones? That's how far I had to be pushed. Did you have anyone who was so dedicated to it that they wouldn't do that? Did you eventually break that person? You said that I wasn't willing to die there, even knowing I would be alive. If I thought I would stay dead, I don't think I would have warned them. It was the fear of being alive in that condition and having no medical help. Depending on how you look at it, that was either the single worst world or the single best world you could have picked.
(Doing Therapy)
More or less yeah. It's kind of like a "Why should I care?" philosophy, rather than a non-involvement philosophy. Dancing Princess. Princesses who can't sleep. You want me to risk my life to save a bunch of spoiled rich girls? Uh, no. "Why should I care?" Pearl Harbor. I wanted to stay out of that and not warn them. I also felt no obligation to protect that belief. "Why should I care?" Because I'm about to be in a world of hurt if I don't. Titanic, now that I think about it, I might not go down with the ship. I'd probably be the last person to jump on the last lifeboat I launched, and be the only man who survives. (I'd really like to see somebody stop me.) Hey, who says the hero has to go down with the ship? I just saved hundreds of lives. Don't I deserve a reward or something?? Women and children are a pretty good reason to care. And since now they're all widows, I've pretty much got my pick of them.....
Give me a reason to care.
(Doing Therapy)
You're not non-involvement at all.
Non-involvement doesn't want to get involved regardless of whether the changed outcome looks better or worse. There isn't any type of "sorta non-involvement character".
And at what point in that post did I say I was? I was asking MJ who his most dedicated non-involvement player was. It had nothing to do with me.
(Doing Therapy)
Mark,
According to 'The Last Centurion' and John Ringo, you need to have 93% of people in an area to get vaccinated to serve as a blocking force to keep the virus from moving on. And he adds that the only way to get that much is to force people to be vaccinated.
In his scenario, America did not stop the virus, and it had vastly better medical facilities than the more socialized European and British ones. You don't even want to go there for Africa or China.
So, I agree with you to a degree, but it would be Really Bad, worse than you think.
Actually, the 93% vaccination rate is the rate at which unvaccinated people in the area aren't at serious risk of getting sick. You could keep the virus from spreading with a 0% vaccination rate simply by sealing off the area and only allowing people wearing full biohazard gear to go in and come back out. In the event of a 90% case-fatility rate outbreak, there would probably be a total suspension of air travel before even every hub had been visited by an infected person, much less local airports. Imposing a ground quarantine is much harder, but people would tend to seal themselves in their houses after the fatality rate became clear.
Bear in mind, the Black Death had a case-fatality rate around 90%, but total mortality rates didn't tend to exceed more than 50% of the population of an infected area. It would probably kill fewer these days simply due to sanitation practices even before counting in modern medicine. A pandemic would be bad, but not devestating.
Remember the swine flu scare? Remember how the first cases emerged in the US only after the first deaths in mexico? Any hypothetical super-virus would likely have more warning because people would start dying right away, and triggered a much greater response.
John,
What with the post difficulty, I'm not sure if you're not meaning to reply or what. Its fine if you're not, I'd just like to know.
I just haven't been keeping it up. That's all.
Re: non-involvement players. My players are generally eager to be involved. Sean Daniels is reported to be the greatest non-involvement player, but he would get involved if the indigs asked him to.
According to 'The Last Centurion' and John Ringo, you need to have 93% of people in an area to get vaccinated to serve as a blocking force to keep the virus from moving on. And he adds that the only way to get that much is to force people to be vaccinated.
Eric, there are two kinds of vaccines developed. Polio is a good example because both exist. The original Salk vaccine is a dead virus vaccine; the Sabin vaccine which has risen in popularity and is taken orally is an attenuated virus vaccine. Testing has demonstrated that large numbers of Amish living in rural areas of Pennsylvania who have never been vaccinated have been exposed to the attenuated virus: it builds the immunity of the vaccinated individual without making him sick, but some of it passes out into the environment and "infects" others. The debate rages, because some people do get sick from exposure to the attenuated virus, and of course viruses are prone to mutate so we don't know what we might be releasing into the environment, but the attenuated vaccine is probably more effective and has the additional effect on others whose contact is second hand.
So you can immunize people without directly doing so.
--M. J. Young
I finally got around to watching The Last Airbender from redbox. I am severely disappointed. It is far less coherent than the show, and also was really badly directed. Oh, and someone screwed up with casting Azula rather badly.