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Tiny Timbs posted:The "tech" you experienced was just a sound at a pitch old people can't hear so that doesn't really sound analogous Yeah it's probably digital now
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Apr 1, 2024 15:47
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RealityWarCriminal posted:yall talking about something that doesnt exist
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Apr 1, 2024 15:52
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cat botherer posted:Calling patients in a hospital “human shields” is quite extraordinary. There’s nowhere else for them to go. I don't think the argument is that the patients are willing human shields.
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Apr 1, 2024 15:56
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mawarannahr posted:Semicircular canal dehiscence occurs in 1-3% of the general population. There are other explanations for temporal bone deterioration that are difficult to diagnose. Neither of these happening to a single person is evidence of a superweapon. Sure, there's the other quoted guy though who appears to have credibly been zapped with something and even identified a specific attacker. That said it could easily be that one guy actually getting zapped, combined with a gru unit doing weird poo poo, leading to mass hysteria, and that would be consistent with all known facts. Fwiw i doubt that, if any such device was being experiment with, it was ever intended as a weapon. Weird audio fuckery seems more likely to be an attempt at a listening device. "GRU tries out a weird experimental listeningndevice and accidentally zapped a guard, leading to mass hysteria" is perfectly believable and consistent with everyone involved being idiotic. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Apr 1, 2024 |
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Apr 1, 2024 15:58
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selec posted:I suspect in the long-term the view on Havana Syndrome is going to fall into the same bucket as our now-mostly-forgotten panic about brainwashed Korean War vets. Something that reflects our own insecurities about our own society and inability paper over the contradictions of being the center of the empire yet feeling the creepy sensation that we don’t have the market cornered on being decent people, and might not be decent at all. At least we'll get a pretty good movie out of it then.
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Apr 1, 2024 16:07
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cat botherer posted:Calling patients in a hospital “human shields” is quite extraordinary. There’s nowhere else for them to go. small butter posted:I don't think the argument is that the patients are willing human shields.
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Apr 1, 2024 16:08
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Jethro posted:That's the whole point of "human shields" discourse. "Look at these bad guys hanging out (just out of frame) with all those defenseless patients or women or children under the age of 13. It's totally their fault we had to bomb the hospital/school/refugee food distribution point!" this topic is prohibited in D&D. Please keep the discussion limited to the paranoid delusions of the state department thank you.
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Apr 1, 2024 16:09
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From the JAMA study… https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2816533 quote:Findings In this exploratory study that included 86 participants reporting AHIs and 30 vocationally matched control participants, there were no significant differences in most tests of auditory, vestibular, cognitive, visual function, or blood biomarkers between the groups. Participants with AHIs performed significantly worse on self-reported and objective measures of balance, and had significantly increased symptoms of fatigue, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression compared with the control participants; 24 participants (28%) with AHIs presented with functional neurological disorders. quote:Main Outcomes and Measures Participants were assessed with extensive clinical, auditory, vestibular, balance, visual, neuropsychological, and blood biomarkers (glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light) testing. The patients were analyzed based on the risk characteristics of the AHI identifying concerning cases as well as geographic location. GFAP is a marker that shows how good the glial cells and brood brain barrier are doing. I’ve never even ordered it. NFL is associated with a bunch of neuro conditions but is not specific or really useful at all. What this means is that their full neuropsych battery, vestibular cochlear testing, neuro ophthalmology testing, and clinical neuro test was normal. Self reported symptoms were higher. 24% were diagnosed with a functional neurological condition which means on exam, it could be disproven. Neuro has a lot of nifty little tests to evaluate certain symptoms. Not related but for example if you suspect someone is faking a seizure, you can hold a mirror in front of their eye. If they’re faking they will look at themselves. They also had a full imaging workup that was unremarkable. There is nothing concrete there. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Sorry, they were quoted in this post in the Ukraine thread: ENT would treat her inner ear problems, generally not neurosurgery, though their duties overlap in some places. There are also neuro specific ENTs but there aren’t a lot of them. Only one I know of off the top of my head is at Emory FizFashizzle fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Apr 1, 2024 |
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Apr 1, 2024 16:10
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Re: I/P chat:Koos Group posted:In the mean time, it goes without saying, I must ask everyone to refrain from discussing this particular issue in other threads.
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Apr 1, 2024 16:13
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Sorry, they were quoted in this post in the Ukraine thread: It's worth noting that "Russians used sonic/energy weapons which caused her to feel headaches and nausea and also caused the bones in her head to break down" is not the only explanation for Joy's experience. Another potential explanation is "the bones in her head started to break down, which caused headaches and nausea, which she blamed on the Havana Syndrome rumors that had already been circulating for years by that point". Semicircular canal dehiscence isn't exactly a common condition, but that doesn't mean secret Russian superweapons are the only possible explanation. Same goes for temporal bone osteomyelitis. And while they're both rare conditions, having two separate rare conditions doesn't necessarily mean it was induced by foreign attack - both conditions are tied to deterioration or abnormalities of bones in the head, so various underlying bone disorders could make one vulnerable to both. As for the other one, I don't even know what to say there. An anonymous US government employee in an unknown position "fell unconscious" under circumstances not described to us at all, and was later diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, two years before the first Havana Syndrome diagnosis. We don't know what this person did, we don't know where they were when they passed out, we don't know what had happened to them the day before. All we can say is that the article's description of them being hit "by something akin to a strong energy beam" is pure editorializing. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Sure, there's the other quoted guy though who appears to have credibly been zapped with something and even identified a specific attacker. The article's editorializing is misleading you a bit, I think. The article does not purport to explain how anyone could tell that the person was hit by a "strong energy beam", and without that it's hard to see how that claim is anything more than the writers adding embellishment that isn't directly backed by the evidence. If anyone had seen a brain-wrecking beam actually being used, the article sure as hell would say so. And if the device was powerful enough for the beam itself to be visible, then that person would absolutely be loving dead right now, rather than passing out once. Similarly, the article does not say that the person "identified a specific attacker". It says that they recognized the face of a Russian spy, but the article does not actually suggest that the person saw that spy on the same day they passed out. It just says that they passed out, and also that they later recognized a photo of a Russian spy; while the article places those two things together in a way that would lead people to assume they're related, the article does not actually connect those two separate things in any way. While the article does not elaborate on the employee's role, another article suggests they were a CIA employee, and it wouldn't be especially unusual for a CIA employee working at a US diplomatic outpost overseas to run across foreign spies every now and then. Also opens up lots of fun opportunities for speculating on other ways the employee could have gotten an off-the-books TBI, but I'll keep that to myself and just stick to the evidence here.
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Apr 1, 2024 16:14
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Baronash posted:Please knock it off with this gimmick Baronash posted:Re: I/P chat: tyvm for keeping us safe
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Apr 1, 2024 16:27
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Baronash posted:Re: I/P chat: Hadn't realized mods had managed to suspend the flow of time in Palestine, or convinced Biden to end US involvement. loving pathetic.
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Apr 1, 2024 16:41
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Baronash posted:Re: I/P chat: Banning discussion of an active genocide that the US is supporting isn't moderation, it's silencing. Is there at least a feedback thread coming or any update on what is happening here?
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Apr 1, 2024 17:44
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discussion 'banned' by being in its own topic thread. ok. did that get locked or something? e: guess it did, ???
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Apr 1, 2024 17:46
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hooman posted:Banning discussion of an active genocide that the US is supporting isn't moderation, it's silencing. Its neither. Koos was pretty clear in his post, we simply do not have the capacity to moderate that topic right now. Please do not bring it up in USCE
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Apr 1, 2024 17:48
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The Russians don't have access to mind control devices after Yuri split off to form his own faction.
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Apr 1, 2024 17:52
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Rigel posted:Its neither. Koos was pretty clear in his post, we simply do not have the capacity to moderate that topic right now. Please do not bring it up in USCE D&D simply doesnt have the capacity to debate or discuss the most pressing foreign policy issue of Biden's presidency lmao what is even the point of this forum? (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 1, 2024 17:53
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punishedkissinger posted:D&D simply doesnt have the capacity to debate or discuss the most pressing foreign policy issue of Biden's presidency lmao Discussing and debating the relative efficacy of tugging versus blowing. It's even there in the thread title.
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Apr 1, 2024 17:55
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Rigel posted:Its neither. Koos was pretty clear in his post, we simply do not have the capacity to moderate that topic right now. Please do not bring it up in USCE If this is a new rule why hasn't the rules thread been updated to include this? If this is temporary and not warranting a rules update, when and where can we expect any updates on this being resolved?
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Apr 1, 2024 18:10
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you know that bit in Zone of Interest where the kids are playing in the water, and they find bits of a human skeleton, and the dad freaks out and drags them away no doubt the people in charge of body disposal were seriously reprimanded, for their failure to keep the human remains out of what was supposed to be a pleasant spot to relax we can't have things like that disrupting a nice space to blow off steam with like-minded people, now can we (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 1, 2024 18:11
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It is a pretty terrible look to ban discussion of this when evidence of mass executions, including of surgeons and children, in al shifa are coming to light, just so you know
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Apr 1, 2024 18:16
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Gotta leave the floor open for panicking about the very real and very serious Russian bone-scrambling lasers.
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Apr 1, 2024 18:22
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Will future discussions about the US arming Israel to genocide neighbouring countries other than Gaza also be verboten?
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Apr 1, 2024 18:36
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If discussions on I/P are leading to slap fights / flaming etc then IMO it's best to come down hard on the people engaging in that behavior (especially repeat offenders) rather than just saying it can't even be mentioned. Just my 2c
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Apr 1, 2024 18:41
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If a US congressman remarks that we should treat Gaza like "Nagasaki and Hiroshima," is that permissible US current events or verboten I/P discussion? https://twitter.com/swilkinsonbc/status/1774141298636685639
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Apr 1, 2024 18:47
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gentleman please, no discussing in the debate room!
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Apr 1, 2024 18:54
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Byzantine posted:The Russians don't have access to mind control devices after Yuri split off to form his own faction. Have we checked the moon to make sure Stalin isn't attacking us with Havana lasers from the one place uncorrupted by capitalism? Did the Space Force even try?
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Apr 1, 2024 19:10
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e:nm
Vorenus fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Apr 1, 2024 |
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Apr 1, 2024 19:11
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we did not anticipate our calm hitler moderation policies would produce this many hitlers this quickly and we can't handle the volume of reports. alas, our hands are tied and we cannot simply ban the hitlers because it's important to allow all sincere viewpoints, including apologia for an active genocide. there's no way to have prevented this, so discussion of the the most important US foreign policy topic is banned in the discussion and current events forum. it's unfortunate that biden is enthusiastically supporting mass murder and starvation and we understand you want to talk about it. sadly there was just too much hitlerposting for us to handle. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 1, 2024 19:33
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I support it. Ban talking about the elections next. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 1, 2024 19:35
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NBC News has another report about Florida's 180 on affordability. In 2000, Florida was one of the most affordable states in the U.S. In 2024, it is now in the top three for most expensive. Additionally, the state has become a hotbed for culture war stuff that is disrupting the lives of non-political people in increasingly large and intrusive ways. The culture war stuff is mostly recent and due to DeSantis, but the skyrocketing affordability issues have been going on for 20+ years and are generally the result of catering to local property owners, hotels, and resorts that employ many people in Florida. Boosting Florida tax revenue and incomes by taking out-of-state residents' money and increasing the value of vacation rental and resort housing has been a bipartisan effort in Florida politics. Additionally, Florida Republicans have pursued aggressive policies to depress wages for service industry workers that make up a large chunk of Florida employment, which makes it much more difficult for those people to afford the increased costs. The labor shortage/pandemic brought those problems to a head and increased wages/labor costs in the service sector, which is impacting the snowbirds who retired there for cheap services, low taxes, and cheap housing. Add in insurance premiums rocketing up unexpectedly fast and several major hurricanes since 2000 and Florida has rocketed to the top of the "least affordable" states in the U.S. Much like California, the one thing really keeping them afloat is the weather and immigration from other states. Unlike California, they don't have as much of a diversified state economy. Agricultural and tourism businesses are subject to outside forces of demand, so they can't rapidly expand employment. All of these factors combined into a sort of perfect storm that is making Florida's decades of bad housing policy even more damaging than bad policy in other states. Insurance costs are up 42% in Florida in a single year and now average $6,000 per year. Additionally, the consumer price index for retail goods and food in South Florida (Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach) has risen nearly twice as high as the national average. Despite inflation falling to 3.2% nationally, inflation in Florida was still up 5% in February. On top of all that, Florida is seeing a significant doctor shortage and aging population that is making the lifestyle of retirees who previously made up large chunks of the population much more uncomfortable. The silver lining is that this has prompted Florida to actually pass some fairly good housing reforms recently, but it will take a decade for them to make a real dent. The whole article is very long, but interesting. One wild anecdote is a company moving its workers out of Florida and back to Connecticut to save money. https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1774831135597457903 quote:They came for Florida's sun and sand. They got soaring costs and a culture war.
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Apr 1, 2024 19:39
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If you have opinions on the matter, feel free to message Koos. Or you can PM me and I'll relay it to the other mods. I assume emailing an admin or making a SAD thread are also venues for your opinions on D&D moderation, but this thread isn't.
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Apr 1, 2024 19:42
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Mods, in the Italian politics thread on Something Awful, 1944: please keep discussion away from the ongoing conflict between the German and Jewish people as you’re making us look ba- I mean can’t ensure our incredible and awesome moderation that everyone likes is too difficult (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 1, 2024 19:46
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Boris Galerkin posted:How does this square with the fact that just earlier this month NYT reported that the NIH found: I actually read the new article in question, and it basically obfuscates the lack of "literally any concrete evidence" with this really long and involved narrative focusing on various individuals. I think many people read something like that and just get pulled into the narrative and forget how many giant assumptions are made along the way (like how huge swathes of it depend on this spook's wife being accurate/truthful about having identified this specific Russian guy near her house - which itself is already pretty weak circumstantial evidence!). In the end it seems to basically amount to "the GRU was doing some research into directed energy weapons*" + "some GRU guys were maybe/possibly spotted near some of the people who got Havana Syndrome." It relies on you filling in the blanks with this spy thriller story where all the GRU guys are out to make this random spook's wife get bad headaches, for some reason (this is really the silliest part of the whole premise - that Russia is going through all this trouble just to cause various vague symptoms to random American diplomats and/or their families). * something the US - and probably every other modern military - also does edit: vvv this post does a good job of explaining. The article basically just strongly implies a lot of things that don't actually have any concrete evidence supporting them, and mixes them up with a barrage of various facts/details in a way that causes you to overlook the various gaps/uncertainties Main Paineframe posted:The article's editorializing is misleading you a bit, I think. Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Apr 1, 2024 |
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Apr 1, 2024 20:06
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RealityWarCriminal posted:yall talking about something that doesnt exist
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Apr 1, 2024 20:32
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The Scientific American article talks to someone who has a very good explanation. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-with-havana-syndrome-show-no-brain-damage-or-medical-illness/ quote:“I suspect what we are seeing in leaving the door ajar to the possibility to more exotic explanations has less to do with the inability to understand psychologically induced symptoms and more with not wanting to embarrass colleagues,” says medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew, co-author of Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria. Bartholomew suggests the cases sprouted in classic mass psychology fashion, where high-status individuals (intelligence personnel) in a stressful environment (the U.S. embassy in Cuba) reported symptoms, leading to alarm spreading to their wider community (embassies worldwide). In this scenario, an outbreak of people suffering real psychological injuries resulted. “Clearly, the NIH study points to the role of conventional health issues in a population experiencing extraordinary stress,” Bartholomew says. “It’s time to put this episode behind us, heed the lessons and move on.” It's impossible to find this now that Google has gone to poo poo, but I remember the initial timeline being like 2 people in Havana had weird symptoms and the higher-ups there made a completely insane jump to "maybe we're under attack" and then told the whole staff to report any mysterious symptoms. This of course leads to a wave of reports of a huge constellation of symptoms that they then broadcast to every Embassy in the world with the same vague message of "Hey let us know if you get weird symptoms. They may be caused by enemy weapons." I dunno, sounds like a wonderful way to cause a "mass hysteria" type of illness outbreak.
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Apr 1, 2024 20:40
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Sucks to be Florida, couldn't happen to a nicer state
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Apr 1, 2024 21:04
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PostNouveau posted:I dunno, sounds like a wonderful way to cause a "mass hysteria" type of illness outbreak.
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Apr 1, 2024 21:05
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FlamingLiberal posted:It fits all of the patterns of this to me. We don't really understand mass hysteria events that well, but this is a classic case of that, but we don't want to admit that professional spies/government agents are as susceptible to this as anyone else Remember "sudden unintended acceleration" or whatever?
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Apr 1, 2024 21:16
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how the gently caress is an insurer demanding someone replace a roof because it's more than four years old. is that going to be a regular thing?
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Apr 1, 2024 21:24
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