Chinathread: Look at this pig'zhuge balls!

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Nicodemus Dumps: Jan 9, 2006; Just chillin' in the sink

I'm learning how to use GIMP instead of working.

I realized too late I capitalized the i in Xi.
Also I would have replaced the handwriting that said Teddy with Pooh if I knew how to create text that convincingly looked like handwriting, but instead I just erased it.

# ? Apr 2, 2020 17:41

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# ? May 30, 2024 23:54

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/politics/cia-coronavirus-china.html

The New York Times posted:

WASHINGTON � The C.I.A. has been warning the White House since at least early February that China has vastly understated its coronavirus infections and that its count could not be relied upon as the United States compiles predictive models to fight the virus, according to current and former intelligence officials.

The intelligence briefings in recent weeks, based at least in part on information from C.I.A. assets in China, played an important role in President Trump�s negotiation on Thursday of an apparent d�tente with President Xi Jinping of China. Since then, both countries have ratcheted back criticism of each other.

Obtaining a more accurate count of the Chinese rate of infection and deaths from the virus has worldwide public health implications at a time of grave uncertainty over the virus, its speed of transmission and other fundamental questions. For American officials, the totals are critical to getting a better understanding of how Covid-19 will affect the United States in the months to come and of the effectiveness of countermeasures like social distancing, according to American intelligence agencies and White House officials.

So far, to the frustration of both the White House and the intelligence community, the agencies have been unable to glean more accurate numbers through their collection efforts.

But American intelligence agencies have concluded that the Chinese government itself does not know the extent of the virus and is as blind as the rest of the world. Midlevel bureaucrats in the city of Wuhan, where the virus originated, and elsewhere in China have been lying about infection rates, testing and death counts, fearful that if they report numbers that are too high they will be punished, lose their position or worse, current and former intelligence officials said.

Bureaucratic misreporting is a chronic problem for any government, but it has grown worse in China as the Communist leadership has taken a more authoritarian turn in recent years under Mr. Xi.

No complete picture of the virus exists anywhere because of factors beyond government suppression, including testing shortages, varying measurement standards and asymptomatic infections that could account for up to one in four coronavirus cases. Iran has obfuscated its struggles with the pandemic. Italy�s death count of more than 13,000, the most worldwide, leaves out people who died outside hospitals. Testing in the United States lags behind other countries.

But since January, White House officials have come to view with skepticism the Chinese tallies in particular and asked the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies to prioritize collection of information on China.

Bloomberg News first reported the C.I.A.�s assessment that China was underreporting its virus diagnoses and deaths. Officials played down a revelation about an intelligence report sent last week to the White House, saying that the C.I.A. has for several weeks told White House officials not to trust the numbers that Beijing was handing to the World Health Organization.

The American intelligence about understated numbers predates recent reporting in the Chinese news media that the death count in Wuhan could be 5,000 or more, double the official number. Intelligence officers have not verified the press reports and have left them out of their reports, according to people briefed on their work.

American officials cautioned that even with their own sourcing, many of the intelligence agencies� warnings to the White House since the beginning of the outbreak have hewed relatively closely to reports from journalists, who have been aggressively reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in China and the Chinese government�s efforts to suppress reporting about its spread.

China has credited its drastic containment measures � including a lockdown of nearly 60 million people � for a drop in newly reported cases in recent weeks, but many people outside its government have raised concerns that the figures are incomplete.

For example, China has not been reporting the number of asymptomatic cases it is aware of. As many as 25 percent of people who contract the virus may not show signs of it, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said.

Asked about China�s numbers at a news conference on Wednesday, Robert C. O�Brien, the national security adviser, said the United States was �not in a position� to confirm them. Without acknowledging any classified intelligence reports, he noted that public reporting had called the numbers into question.

�There�s no way to confirm any of those numbers,� Mr. O�Brien said. �There�s lots of public reporting on whether the numbers are too low.�

Officials also said that China�s underreporting of its pandemic totals was unsurprising, saying that official statistics from the country are often lies.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing had been high after the virus spread beyond Wuhan and reached the United States, forcing shutdowns of wide swaths of the economy to control the spread.

Chinese diplomats have spread disinformation, including false reports that the virus originated from a United States Army lab and other conspiracy theories. Mr. Trump has retaliated by referring to Covid-19 as �the Chinese virus,� and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo derailed an international communiqu� in an effort to label the disease as coming from China.

But after the call between Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump last week, an uneasy peace took hold. While the Chinese media has continued to spread conspiracy theories, the most prominent Chinese diplomats have tempered their comments.

Mr. Trump, too, has toned down his harsh language. Asked about intelligence reports that China had misreported the virus�s damage, Mr. Trump suggested he may have discussed the matter with Mr. Xi.

�The numbers seem to be a little bit on the light side, and I�m being nice when I say that, relative to what we witnessed and what was reported, but we discussed that with him,� Mr. Trump said. �Not so much the numbers as what they did and how they�re doing.�

But then Mr. Trump mentioned his trade deal and Chinese spending on American agriculture and tempered his criticism.

�As to whether or not their numbers are accurate,� he said, �I�m not an accountant from China.�

# ? Apr 2, 2020 23:08

Shumagorath: Jun 6, 2001

Official USSR death count from Chernobyl disaster: 42

Edit: HOLY poo poo �I�m not an accountant from China [so I cannot comment]."

Shumagorath fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Apr 2, 2020

# ? Apr 2, 2020 23:30

peanut: Sep 9, 2007

LimburgLimbo posted:

Note he also made mention in the next sentence of how Taiwan has done fantastically at controlling outbreaks but you can’t talk about it because China will throw a fit.

lmao that kicks rear end

# ? Apr 2, 2020 23:49

Ugly In The Morning: Jul 1, 2010; Pillbug

Fojar38 posted:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/politics/cia-coronavirus-china.html

So what they�re saying is saving face has caused this to spread as much as touching face?

# ? Apr 3, 2020 00:25

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

I like the implication that one of the reasons Trump didn't take this seriously for months is because he was uncritically accepting information from the Chinese government and his best friend, Xi Jinping

# ? Apr 3, 2020 00:27

oohhboy: Jun 8, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

popewiles posted:

I'm learning how to use GIMP instead of working.

I realized too late I capitalized the i in Xi.
Also I would have replaced the handwriting that said Teddy with Pooh if I knew how to create text that convincingly looked like handwriting, but instead I just erased it.

Write it down on paper with similar pen and paper using your hand. Take picture with phone, rotoscope/edge/chroma key/box select the name, same with the original. Copy/paste element, adjust for perspective.

Also cut corner up top.

HKG throws a poo poo fit about the RTHK/WHO interview.

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/04/02/hong-kong-govt-slams-rthk-breaching-one-china-principle-broadcaster-asks-doctor-taiwan/

quote:

Hong Kong�s commerce minister Edward Yau has accused public service broadcaster RTHK of breaching the �One China� policy after one of its journalists pressed the World Health Organization�s Bruce Aylward on Taiwan�s status.

The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau released a statement on behalf of Yau on Thursday calling on RTHK�s director Leung Ka-wing to be held responsible for deviating from its Charter.

�The Secretary holds the view that the presentation in that episode of the aforesaid programme has breached the One-China Principle and the purposes and mission of RTHK as a public service broadcaster as specified in the Charter,� it read.

Look I know you have to lick that rear end in a top hat but I would put down good money that Hong Kong people doesn't give a poo poo about "One China" when it comes to dealing about the virus. It would have been much better if you just shut the gently caress up instead of virtue signal CCP.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 00:30

Nicodemus Dumps: Jan 9, 2006; Just chillin' in the sink

oohhboy posted:

Write it down on paper with similar pen and paper using your hand. Take picture with phone, rotoscope/edge/chroma key/box select the name, same with the original. Copy/paste element, adjust for perspective.

Also cut corner up top.

Muchas gracias.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 00:35

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Fojar38 posted:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/politics/cia-coronavirus-china.html

So it's not a Chinese virus or it's not relevant in any way that it is? It came from China and China could have prevented or at least strongly mitigated the whole situation the world is in now, but didn't.

I realize that criticizing China for it has been poisoned by this idiot, but if the shoe fits...

Also, seriously, I would always 100% insist that dictatorships not only tone down their external rhetoric, but especially their internal one.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 01:06

Pick: Jul 19, 2009; Nap Ghost

Does anyone know what China thinks of there being a spock hand sign emoji? like do they see this 🖖 and go, what the gently caress? and then if you explained it would they be like, what???

# ? Apr 3, 2020 01:34

Kharnifex: Sep 11, 2001; The Banter is better in AusGBS

Ugly In The Morning posted:

Don’t forget WHO Endorses Traditional Chinese Medicine, expect deaths to rise.

TCM isn’t even vaguely medicine, it’s basically pure insanity.

If you go on a tour in mainland China, you will see that it is pure hocus pocus, once you are forced to watch a show

# ? Apr 3, 2020 01:46

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

I mean, I enjoy a good bit of stage prestidigitation, but I wouldn't believe it would cure my cancer.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 02:05

Blistex: Oct 30, 2003; Macho Business
Donkey Wrestler

As much as I love to CCP bash, I could totally see Western Nations (especially the US) doing absolutely nothing different than they already did even if a visibly Covid-stricken Xi himself pleaded with the world to prepare and showed all the actual data as soon as it was known.

"Gentleman, I heard the very same message that you did, but may I remind you that the fiscal quarter . . . "

# ? Apr 3, 2020 02:19

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

screamin and creamin posted:

So it's not a Chinese virus or it's not relevant in any way that it is? It came from China and China could have prevented or at least strongly mitigated the whole situation the world is in now, but didn't.

I realize that criticizing China for it has been poisoned by this idiot, but if the shoe fits...

Also, seriously, I would always 100% insist that dictatorships not only tone down their external rhetoric, but especially their internal one.

You have no idea what you are talking about. How do you know China has downplayed the spread? Right, you read it from the super fair, not-biased-at-all Western media.

Take a beat and think if you've been fed fake news all along.

P.S. I don't see one sick person on the street in Shanghai.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 03:36

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Blistex posted:

As much as I love to CCP bash, I could totally see Western Nations (especially the US) doing absolutely nothing different than they already did even if a visibly Covid-stricken Xi himself pleaded with the world to prepare and showed all the actual data as soon as it was known.

"Gentleman, I heard the very same message that you did, but may I remind you that the fiscal quarter . . . "

This is just "but America" and it's being deployed in record quantities by idiots and tankies to distract from the fact that the only reason they can say "but America" at all is because the CCP unleashed a literal plague on the world

# ? Apr 3, 2020 03:38

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

I hear that the spike in cancer cases in Europe following Chernobyl is the fault of Europeans for inadequately preparing for the effects of the USSR farting a giant cloud of radioactive gas over the continent

# ? Apr 3, 2020 03:45

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Fojar38 posted:

I hear that the spike in cancer cases in Europe following Chernobyl is the fault of Europeans for inadequately preparing for the effects of the USSR farting a giant cloud of radioactive gas over the continent

Woah when did this happen??

# ? Apr 3, 2020 03:54

Ornamental Dingbat: Feb 26, 2007

Baronjutter posted:

Woah when did this happen??

Cabbage borscht night.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 03:56

BrigadierSensible: Feb 16, 2012; I've got a pocket full of cheese🧀, and a garden full of trees🌴.

I am not a big fan of TCM, and fully acknowledge the quackery and bullshit that comes with the "traditional" practices of extracting bile from tortured bears, or boiling some poor endangered animal in it's own piss to alleviate the erectile dysfunction of middle aged Chinese businessmen.

But here is my TCM adjacent story of how it kinda sorta worked.

Because I am a privileged middle aged white man, I have gout. So about 7 or so years ago when I was living in Chengdu, I got a particularly bad attack of gout. It hurt like a thousand knives of fire with every step. And the reason it was particularly bad that time was because the gout had joined forces with a blood infection. ANyway, at the hospital, (apart from the obligatory saline drip that they put me on), I got some real medicine, (probably random antibiotics), and they also sent me to the TCM window where an old man in a labcoat ground up some leaves and bark and poo poo and gave it to me with the instructions to make tea from it and drink it twice a day.

To my mind, the tea helped a fucktonne with the pain and swelling more than the pills or the drip. So that is at least one anecdote in favour of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:07

Blistex: Oct 30, 2003; Macho Business
Donkey Wrestler

/\ Yeah, the placebo effect is weird, and on occasion really effective. (see Chiropractors) . . . wait! don't go see them.

Fojar38 posted:

This is just "but America" and it's being deployed in record quantities by idiots and tankies to distract from the fact that the only reason they can say "but America" at all is because the CCP unleashed a literal plague on the world

I'm in no way dismissing what the CCP did, or trying to tankie-splain stuff, just that we're loving slow to react if it might mean the stock market will suffer, and we only react in any meaningful way after it's too late. With the exception of a very few number of countries, everyone has been following this model and shutting the gate after the horse has long since escaped.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:10

Mistle: Oct 11, 2005; Eckot's comic relief cousin from out of town; Grimey Drawer

BrigadierSensible posted:

I am not a big fan of TCM, and fully acknowledge the quackery and bullshit that comes with the "traditional" practices of extracting bile from tortured bears, or boiling some poor endangered animal in it's own piss to alleviate the erectile dysfunction of middle aged Chinese businessmen.

But here is my TCM adjacent story of how it kinda sorta worked.

Because I am a privileged middle aged white man, I have gout. So about 7 or so years ago when I was living in Chengdu, I got a particularly bad attack of gout. It hurt like a thousand knives of fire with every step. And the reason it was particularly bad that time was because the gout had joined forces with a blood infection. ANyway, at the hospital, (apart from the obligatory saline drip that they put me on), I got some real medicine, (probably random antibiotics), and they also sent me to the TCM window where an old man in a labcoat ground up some leaves and bark and poo poo and gave it to me with the instructions to make tea from it and drink it twice a day.

To my mind, the tea helped a fucktonne with the pain and swelling more than the pills or the drip. So that is at least one anecdote in favour of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

I'm inclined to believe that TCM originates in folk remedies, but they never tried to figure out why the folk remedies worked, and instead relied of hearsay, appeal of authority, and bolstering the claims through placebo effect and confirmation bias.

Entirely possible the tree bark was willow tree, which is known to have pain relieving effects. The problem for TCM is the true/false absolutes: part of it is bunk, part of it is real, but China will never separate the two from each other. Equally, dismissing all of it whole denies insights which science has proven accurate, but then that evidence is generalized into all of it being right.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:24

Atopian: Sep 23, 2014; I need a security perimeter with Venetian blinds.

Blistex posted:

/\ Yeah, the placebo effect is weird, and on occasion really effective. (see Chiropractors) . . . wait! don't go see them.

I'm in no way dismissing what the CCP did, or trying to tankie-splain stuff, just that we're loving slow to react if it might mean the stock market will suffer, and we only react in any meaningful way after it's too late. With the exception of a very few number of countries, everyone has been following this model and shutting the gate after the horse has long since escaped.

Well, quite. China and the US just seem to be near different ends of a particularly grim scale.

China is obsessed with saving face and will sacrifice lives to do it.
The US is obsessed with saving markets and will sacrifice lives to do it.

Most other countries fall somewhere in between.

So sure this virus came out of China. But if it had come out of anywhere else, the results would probably be similar in both countries.
The reason this is relevant is, due to a bunch of factors, epidemics are unlikely to become less frequent. Quite the opposite.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:31

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

There are two components to TCM. One is all the herbal stuff, which if it were properly scientifically studied may very well contain useful medicines that haven't been identified yet. That part isn't unreasonable. There are also known toxic things in there that you absolutely should not under any circumstances consume. The other component is that TCM is a whole system about balancing humors and the five organs and qi and stuff that is all 1000% bullshit.

There's a huge difference between studying the herbs for anything useful, which is where that Nobel prize came from (you know, actual science) and "TCM" as an entire medical system, which is crap.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:31

Sten Freak: Sep 10, 2008; Despite all of these shortcomings, the Sten still has a long track record of shooting people right in the face.; College Slice

In non pandemic news

quote:

China's Luckin Coffee slumps on 'fake' data news.

Luckin, which competes with Starbucks, had been one of China's few successful US stock market listings last year.

The Nasdaq-listed company said its investigation had found that fabricated sales from the second quarter of last year to the fourth quarter amounted to about 2.2bn yuan ($310m; �250m). That equates to about 40% of its estimated annual sales.

Whoops

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52146498

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:44

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Blistex posted:

I'm in no way dismissing what the CCP did, or trying to tankie-splain stuff, just that we're loving slow to react if it might mean the stock market will suffer, and we only react in any meaningful way after it's too late. With the exception of a very few number of countries, everyone has been following this model and shutting the gate after the horse has long since escaped.

I mean, yeah, but reacting poorly to a catastrophe caused by someone elses negligence is a whole different ballgame from being responsible for the existence of said catastrophe in the first place. Even if you are going to completely ignore China's 3 months of coverups, the fact that they were so negligent towards public health re: wet markets puts responsibility on them as well.

The idea that everyone else bears responsibility for not adequately mitigating the CCP's negligence sounds like straight up victim blaming. Unless the angle is that they should have known better than allowing themselves to become so interconnected with the PRC that this could happen in the first place, especially since not only is this not the first time it's happened but epidemiologists have been warning about how ripe China was/is for another SARS-like pandemic for years now.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:47

Ailumao: Nov 4, 2004

luckin sucks and was also basically giving coffee out for free so that isn't a surprise to anyone i think lol. I remember seeing both Chinese and English language finance stuff saying to sell the gently caress out of Luckin cuz they're investment poison most of the latter half of last year.

Grand Fromage posted:

There are two components to TCM. One is all the herbal stuff, which if it were properly scientifically studied may very well contain useful medicines that haven't been identified yet. That part isn't unreasonable. There are also known toxic things in there that you absolutely should not under any circumstances consume. The other component is that TCM is a whole system about balancing humors and the five organs and qi and stuff that is all 1000% bullshit.

There's a huge difference between studying the herbs for anything useful, which is where that Nobel prize came from (you know, actual science) and "TCM" as an entire medical system, which is crap.

Isn't there some malaria treatment from TCM that absolutely works but scientists still don't really know why?

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:48

Pistol_Pete: Sep 15, 2007; Oven Wrangler

Sten Freak posted:

In non pandemic news

Whoops

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52146498

Yep!

Financial Times posted:

Luckin Coffee has revealed that an internal investigation found hundreds of millions of dollars of sales last year were �fabricated�, wiping almost 75 per cent from the value of the company touted as China�s rival to Starbucks. The coffee chain, which listed on Wall Street less than a year ago, put investors on notice that they should no longer rely on previous financial statements that have appeared to show exceptionally rapid growth.

The company�s chief operating officer has been suspended after a special committee was formed to investigate its accounts and the initial findings were delivered to the board.Early stages of the investigation indicated that the �aggregate sales amount associated with the fabricated transactions from the second quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2019 amount to around Rmb2.2bn� ($310m).

The disclosure marks a spectacular fall from grace for the delivery and takeaway coffee company, whose brand has been promoted by movie stars. Earlier this year Luckin strongly denied allegations in an anonymous report that cited possible fraudulent behaviour.

Soooo many "Yes but what about Enron??!?" comments below the FT article.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 04:57

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Magna Kaser posted:

Isn't there some malaria treatment from TCM that absolutely works but scientists still don't really know why?

There is a malaria treatment in the TCM pharmacopia, artemisinin, but it's been studied with actual science so it's just regular old medicine now. That's what got the Nobel. It is true that the exact mechanism of action isn't understood. There are a lot of drugs that we know work but can't identify how though, like anesthetics.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 05:03

Blistex: Oct 30, 2003; Macho Business
Donkey Wrestler

Fojar38 posted:

I mean, yeah, but reacting poorly to a catastrophe caused by someone elses negligence is a whole different ballgame from being responsible for the existence of said catastrophe in the first place. Even if you are going to completely ignore China's 3 months of coverups, the fact that they were so negligent towards public health re: wet markets puts responsibility on them as well.

The idea that everyone else bears responsibility for not adequately mitigating the CCP's negligence sounds like straight up victim blaming. Unless the angle is that they should have known better than allowing themselves to become so interconnected with the PRC that this could happen in the first place, especially since not only is this not the first time it's happened but epidemiologists have been warning about how ripe China was/is for another SARS-like pandemic for years now.

Not victim blaming. I'm saying that a lot of leaders were waiting until the band played their final song before saying, "hey maybe this ship is sinking after all". Hell, look at the places that are still fighting tooth and nail to keep churches, salons, beaches, and other places that will certainly spread this further open. The CCP deserves a whole gently caress-ton of blame, but that doesn't let some of our elected officials off the hook for waiting until a few hours after the last minute to do something that we've known about for a while now. This goes both ways, and both sides deserve blame, and we shouldn't let either side explain away their own incompetence through the use of scapegoats. A really good example is Brian Kemp. His incompetence has nothing to do with China, or their cover-up, the blame for the late actions rest solely on him.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 05:30

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

Sten Freak posted:

In non pandemic news

Whoops

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52146498

Western media! FAKE NEWS!

# ? Apr 3, 2020 05:46

LordArgh: Mar 17, 2009; Nap Ghost

screamin and creamin posted:

You have no idea what you are talking about. How do you know China has downplayed the spread? Right, you read it from the super fair, not-biased-at-all Western media.

Take a beat and think if you've been fed fake news all along.

P.S. I don't see one sick person on the street in Shanghai.

Why are you arguing with yourself?

# ? Apr 3, 2020 06:37

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

Second post is from a bot trained on D&D algorithms

# ? Apr 3, 2020 06:38

Dandywalken: Feb 11, 2014

Take a beat

# ? Apr 3, 2020 06:40

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

We're goons, all we ever do is beat.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 06:50

Mr. Smile Face Hat: Sep 15, 2003; Praise be to China's Covid-Zero Policy

Fojar38 posted:

Second post is from a bot trained on D&D algorithms

Actually a reader comment on a NYT article about the lack of media freedoms under Modi in India.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 07:01

GotLag: Jul 17, 2005; 食べちゃダメだよ

Grand Fromage posted:

There is a malaria treatment in the TCM pharmacopia, artemisinin, but it's been studied with actual science so it's just regular old medicine now. That's what got the Nobel. It is true that the exact mechanism of action isn't understood. There are a lot of drugs that we know work but can't identify how though, like anesthetics.

Is that the one which is destroyed by boiling and in TCM is prepared by boiling?

# ? Apr 3, 2020 07:06

Nucken Futz: Oct 30, 2010; by Reene

GotLag posted:

Is that the one which is destroyed by boiling and in TCM is prepared by boiling?

You made that up for a cheap laugh, didn't you.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 07:17

Tupperwarez: Apr 4, 2004; "phphphphphphpht"? this is what you're going with?

you sure?

Mistle posted:

I'm inclined to believe that TCM originates in folk remedies, but they never tried to figure out why the folk remedies worked, and instead relied of hearsay, appeal of authority, and bolstering the claims through placebo effect and confirmation bias.

Entirely possible the tree bark was willow tree, which is known to have pain relieving effects. The problem for TCM is the true/false absolutes: part of it is bunk, part of it is real, but China will never separate the two from each other. Equally, dismissing all of it whole denies insights which science has proven accurate, but then that evidence is generalized into all of it being right.

I think the larger part of it is that if they were to systematically analyze TCM ingredients, the catalog of effective ingredients would drastically shrink. That would mean losing a lot of useless but incredibly profitable products, and we can't have that.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 07:35

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

Nucken Futz posted:

You made that up for a cheap laugh, didn't you.

No, I think I remember that article and ye - pretty much.

# ? Apr 3, 2020 08:03

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 30, 2024 23:54

GotLag: Jul 17, 2005; 食べちゃダメだよ

Yes, it was artemisinin:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4966551/

quote:

One day, Professor Tu was reading some recipes written by Ge Hong ~1700 years ago. In one of his recipes, Ge Hong described how to obtain �juice� from Qinghao (A. annua) plant to treat fever using cold water, instead of the traditional methods of boiling herbs for preparing Chinese medicines. Professor Tu suddenly realized that high temperature could be the cause of instability in antimalarial activity they experienced. The second hint Professor Tu had from Ge Hong�s description was that the plant leaf was likely the part having the most activity because the �juice� could be obtained from the leaves much easier than other parts of the plant. She decided to use ether, replacing ethanol, to extract the active ingredients from the plant leaves and obtained sample #191 that could inhibit rodent and monkey malaria with 100% activity on October 4, 1971.

So it used to be effective, then someone hosed it up by adding boiling to the instructions, presumably because that makes it better for healthy

# ? Apr 3, 2020 08:14

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Chinathread: Look at this pig'zhuge balls!

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