Today I Learned #2: Gone for a Wiki Walk

[aimeeandbeatles]

The map of Parkinson deaths/population doesn't convince me its pesticide related.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parki...ld_map-Deaths_per_million_persons-WHO2012.svg
https://ourworldindata.org/pesticides
If pesticide use was a major factor I'd expect to see a better higher fit between the two maps. (Not that that would prove causation!)

From the same page:

There is also an increased risk in people exposed to certain pesticides and among those who have had prior head injuries, while there is a reduced risk in tobacco smokers and those who drink coffee or tea.

Here's a study on it too: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5683846/

 

[Hrothbern]

Apart from a host of other issues this theory inflicted on me, it also meant I had to wait till late highschool to actually bother to go on a diet so as to look slim

Some scientist found a correlation between body weight and corruption... perhaps politicians should diet more.

The thicker an administrator, the more likely he is to be corrupt. At least, that is the conclusion reached by Pavlo Blavatskiy, professor of economics at the University of Montpellier.

Professor Blavatskiy investigated the link between obesity and corruption among political leaders in former Soviet republics. Since the professor had no access to medical records, he had computers study photos of 299 cabinet members from fifteen former Soviet republics.

The algorithms were used to determine the body mass index of the politicians. Blavatskiy then compared the results to five generally accepted indicators of corruption at the country level.

What turned out? The fatter the ministers, the more corrupt the government. For example, cabinet members of the Baltic States and Georgia, countries that score relatively well when it comes to corruption, are considerably thinner than their peers in, for example, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, countries that have a dubious reputation for corruption.

The investigation does not provide a definite answer as to the cause of the striking connection. Blavatskiy does state that the findings can serve as "substitute variables" for political corruption if local or regional data are lacking.

 

[Synobun]

TIL I'm morbidly corrupt.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

TIL I'm morbidly corrupt.

I didn't know you were a politician.

 

[Hrothbern]

TIL I'm morbidly corrupt.

You are a politician in the former Soviet-Union ?

 

[Synobun]

You are a politician in the former Soviet-Union ?

You aren't?

 

[Hrothbern]

You aren't?

Unfortunately no... my Russian adventure, so well prepared with colleagues, was last minute cancelled by HQ of my company.
No St Petersburg, no Moscow, no real caviar and wodka.

 

[Kyriakos]

Unfortunately no... my Russian adventure, so well prepared with colleagues, was last minute cancelled by HQ of my company.
No St Petersburg, no Moscow, no real caviar and wodka.

As a former dog, turned member of the glorious Worker's party once noted:
"All the 'gentlemen' have fled to Paris".

 

[Hrothbern]

As a former dog, turned member of the glorious Worker's party once noted:
"All the 'gentlemen' have fled to Paris".

?
Help... what do you refer to ?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Today I learned that there's a especially high prevalence of multiple sclerosis in British Columbia. I remember one area in Quebec having a high rate of Parkinson's Disease (rural area, so pesticides were likely a factor) so I wonder if something similar is going on here.

It would have been interesting to see a breakdown of which regions had more cases. BC has a dismal record of water treatment (ie. if you go to Vancouver, don't swim in the ocean; it's filthy - even 43 years ago I knew that and refused to even take my shoes and socks off on the beach; if I'd known in the '70s what I know now, I'd never have stepped foot in Shuswap Lake, as I used to swim in it daily), the area around Trail is contaminated from the smelter, there would be pesticides used in the farming and fruit-growing regions, and I don't imagine the environment is all that pristine around the mines.

I suspect they just punch each other in the head more often and more of them watch the execrable Star Trek series religiously because Shatner is Canadian.

That's like saying all Canadians love Celine Dion because she's Canadian. I can't stand her.

How about dropping the stereotypes?

 

[The_J]

Today I learned that there's a especially high prevalence of multiple sclerosis in British Columbia. I remember one area in Quebec having a high rate of Parkinson's Disease (rural area, so pesticides were likely a factor) so I wonder if something similar is going on here.

Rural area... most likely cause is probably incest .

 

[Kyriakos]

?
Help... what do you refer to ?

A very funny story

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

It would have been interesting to see a breakdown of which regions had more cases. BC has a dismal record of water treatment (ie. if you go to Vancouver, don't swim in the ocean; it's filthy - even 43 years ago I knew that and refused to even take my shoes and socks off on the beach; if I'd known in the '70s what I know now, I'd never have stepped foot in Shuswap Lake, as I used to swim in it daily), the area around Trail is contaminated from the smelter, there would be pesticides used in the farming and fruit-growing regions, and I don't imagine the environment is all that pristine around the mines.

Geotoxicology of Multiple Sclerosis: correlation of groundwater chemistry with childhood homes and prevalence of MS patients, Saskatchewan, Canada

I could only access the abstract. It mentions there were elevated levels of nitrate in an area with a high rate of MS, but:

The extremely low frequency of MS in tropical areas, and the frequent occurrence of MS among those who have grown up in large, temperate-zone cities with good water quality, indicate that nitrate certainly cannot have a universal or pre-eminent role in the causation of MS. The factors governing nitrate distribution in the present study area could also control the distribution of some other chemical that may be relevant to MS; the controlling factors themselves may have a direct or indirect role; or there may be geographic coincidence with some totally unrelated, but relevant, factor; for example, soil types.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Rural area... most likely cause is probably incest .

 

[W|M]

Geotoxicology of Multiple Sclerosis: correlation of groundwater chemistry with childhood homes and prevalence of MS patients, Saskatchewan, Canada

I could only access the abstract.

found the rest of the article

 

[BenitoChavez]

Today I learned that James Van Allen, the guy who discovered the Van Allen Belts around Earth suggesting detonating a nuclear bomb in order clear out the radiation in the belts to make it safe for space travel. Yup that's right. He wanted to nuke radiation.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Today I learned that James Van Allen, the guy who discovered the Van Allen Belts around Earth suggesting detonating a nuclear bomb in order clear out the radiation in the belts to make it safe for space travel. Yup that's right. He wanted to nuke radiation.

Wasn't there a sci fi movie in the 60s about a super-submarine voyage that had to launch missiles to nuke the Van Allen belts to save the world? Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea maybe?

 

[W|M]

Today I learned that James Van Allen, the guy who discovered the Van Allen Belts around Earth suggesting detonating a nuclear bomb in order clear out the radiation in the belts to make it safe for space travel. Yup that's right. He wanted to nuke radiation.

there were also proposals to use nuclear bombs to propel rockets into space

these proposals didn't take off

 

[Takhisis]

^*glasses pull* Yeeeaahhh!

 

[r16]

you can always find "engineers" and "military" types online writing pieces on how the mankind would have now colonized Mars in return for a couple of thousands of bombs , if not tens of thousands . Profitable business , making nukes .