CharonY

Also, why would he wage war against folks he admires in the first place? He will hand Putin whatever he wants and Xi just needs to say one or two nice things (plus perhaps some underhanded deals) and I would not be surprised if the US policy with Taiwan suddenly changes. As Trump said, he sees the enemy within. Well and perhaps he is going to randomly bomb Mexico.

I think what worries me most about the political situation is not only that Trump could become president, but that the situation is rife for another, more intelligent fascist to take control of the US at some point in the future. Folks like Orban and moreso Meloni are normalizing authoritarianism and for once I do think we are looking at a real slippery slope here.

Yep, and I have come a cross a few other examples where folks are confusing no established safe levels to toxic/harmful at any levels. I think in part it is because the common assumption is that we understand toxicity (or harm, which is even more complicated) in a more complete way than we really do.

I think there is another meta-review out focusing on cancer, where a steady increase of risk was found with alcohol consumption. The issue is that the lack of low concentrations as OP is asking for. Incidentally, this is a situation where fine details matter in communication and why it might trip up folks.

There is a bit of an understanding in how toxicity and safe limits (or no-effect concentrations) are determined (specifically this is a lack of data issue, not so much of a clear esatblished low-level toxicity profile), but I the short version is that no it does not mean that tiny amounts will lead to long-lasting effects (typically is related to cancer effects, which makes things even more problematic evidence-wise). In short, we do not have data on trace amount, and it is unlikely to do any harm over your regular diet. I will note, for example, that you likely have (very) low levels of alcohol in your gut right now. We carry a number of bacteria and yeasts in our gut that can produce some levels of ethanol as part of their regular metabolism (there is also a rare so-called auto-brewery syndrome, but that is probably not part of this discussion). But to put it really short, other factors in your diet (e.g. sugar) are likely going to have more impact on your overall cancer risk than a the residual ethanol levels you find in bread or vinegar.

True on both accounts. What is worrying (to me) is that it seems that the US is an indicator for the the rest of the world, the way things are going. This is a long-standing problem especially in communicating science. The conventional wisdom was that you have to simplify as much as possible, but also make it punchy so to not bore folks. I am not so sure that this works in the age of clickbaits anymore. The challenge is that if things are simplified, some folks will invariably find some issues in the reporting. It could be a minor inaccuracy but can also be real concerns that weren't covered. These gaps are then frequently exploited to question all the other (valid) claims. It has become fairly serious and it is something that I find myself increasingly (and reluctantly) working on, as it severely impacts public health and there is a kind of amnesia setting in on every level, that might endanger our ability to respond to future threats.

The incentive is certainly there. It seems to be a winning strategy that is seemingly also easier to implement. I.e. you do not need any fact-based analysis of anything, you just need repeat your claim to make it so. Having a firm moral basis does not seem to provide much of a benefit nowadays.

See, that is why I always found it funny if folks proclaim things like that racism, anti-semitism and sexism is functionally over and that the pendulum has swung too far. Really what happened is that the only swing we had is more towards a more careful approach to proclaiming your ignorance and intolerance. But that movement was enough to make it swing all the way back. The main difference is that on top, ignorance is also on full display (and ignorance is the PC word here for the stuff people openly proclaim). And it does seem that one political side is benefiting more from ignorance than the other. So much so, that fascism is getting acceptable again, and not only in the USA, for that matter.

Yep. Plenty of diseases with a genetic basis manifest later in life and might have little or no effect during development. There are many potential reasons, some include being inactive until later in life, requirement of some interactions (either internally or with the environment) to manifest the disorder, functions that can inhibit the disorder during development but not later in life, etc. One might think that organisms are extremely purpose-built and small changes can cause disorder or malfunction. In reality what is considered "normal" is more of a weird mess where a lot of variation exists that under certain conditions works perfectly fine but may break down under others. It is much less deterministic what works and what doesn't as one might imagine.

Yes that's it. Forgot how it was called for a second. There is of course also the tendency of traditional media to "sanewash" what is going on, just so that it fits traditional sensibilities. But as I said, I think we are somewhere else entirely already.

There is also an interesting trend regarding minorities and how grievances can be used to balance each other out. Historically, minorities were sensitive to threats against them and such rhetoric is generally considered toxic for that voting block. However, the GOP has made inroads with e.g. Hispanic men. I don't think there is a clear consensus as to why, but some argue that there is an educational gender divide. Hispanic women are more likely to pursue higher education and Hispanic men are less likely to absorb traditional media, instead relying on their social network. Trump is popular in the working class, and some studies suggest that it is the projection of a (weird) form of masculinity, which is laced with more than a bit of misogyny. On the other hand, IIRC, the gender gap is narrower than in other voting blocs.

One can only hope. Though after Charlottesville and Jan 6. I am not sure whether I would get my hopes up. That feels like the most tangible element. Maybe there is some lingering recency effect. It is just hard for me to imagine that after all these years this is will suddenly penetrate folks' skulls. The shock effect is long gone. That being said, silly as it may seem, it appears that policy plays at best a minor role and we are headed into ideology-driven politics. Here, issues such as racism, misogyny, and views masculinity (pro and contra) may be key elements determining voting blocks more than ever before.

Considering that they were able to explain away a coup attempt (which was universally condemned when everyone was afraid for their lives), I don't think that this bar is any higher, to be honest. Maybe I am too cynical, but I don't think we can rely on certain standards anymore.

I would say he was a symptom of prevalent racism, and folks being afraid that the Overton window has shifted so far that being PC now applied to subtle and systemic racism as well (which we can see in the rejection of CRT), which is a bridge too far. Those were already present in 2016 with his rapists comments. It wasn't subtle then, either. It just has become more blunt, but why should it make a difference once we are so far down the hole?

Yeah, it did definitely amplify that. But I caution against a narrative that only Reps are vulnerable against misinformation. They are just at a higher rate. The baseline is still pretty sad and the shock of a the pandemic did little to change that.

Unfortunately that is nothing new as such. IIRC the estimated annual deaths from influenza were in the order from 20-50k. Yet vaccination rates have remained abysmal throughout. At the time I though that the sudden and massive impact of COVID-19 would shake the status quo. Unfortunately, the result was a further decline in vaccination uptake. And it is not only an US issue. Canada had lower vaccination rates to begin with and is trending the same. Working in public health seems to be as much fun as working on global warming, I guess.

That is what I am getting at. OP makes the claim that "printing money" is the main cause of current inflation and that "increasing taxes" are the only mechanism to reduce them. While both are have pro an counter inflationary effects (though only personal income taxes, from what I remember ), they are far from being the only mechanisms. And they specifically do not seem to play a role now, (alluding to news outlets suggests current events).

I hope not, because that would be a silly claim.

! Moderator Note Considering that the discussions has run its course, the topic is locked.

Not universally so. As already mentioned, some animals seek out carrion. Some insects breed there, but there are also carrion eaters (crows, vultures, many predators). Perhaps somewhat interestingly, the characteristic smell of cadavers is caused by bacteria (obviously), and much of the foul odour is caused by diamines, such as cadaverine and putrescine.

The smell is a mixture of small volatile molecules and are not very (or at all) toxic. The bacteria are sitting in and on corpses (and its liquids) and some of them might be pathogenic, but they do not swirl i the air with the volatile compounds. At least not without agitation. However, corpses do release liquids which can contain bloodborne and especially GI bacteria/viruses and if the corpse is bloated they can release gases where some may be around (probably not a lot in most cases, though). Fungi can also grow on corpses, potentially releasing spores (which again needs to be agitated to get into the air and lungs) but generally speaking if you do not get corpse juice on you, (and lick it) one should be fine.

Also it is funny to assume that a conservative group is supposedly going to do anything to change the status quo. Commitment to traditionalism is kind of a defining element.

I think it is fair to say that this forum is somewhat biased against convicted felons, has a dislike of rapists and is not particular fond of folks who have proclaimed plans to undermine democracy to establish an autocratic rule. Some folks are just biased that way.

I think you are on the wrong forum, then.

You are not arguing from a valid scientific perspective, then. There are many unique brains in the animal world, including larger and more complex in certain areas. You start from the assumption that humans must be unique and then build your classification around that.