The <off topic> thread

[Sozo 22]

We passed 15k topics in the GD&Q.

[Ego Eram Reputo 2,531]

I love the Internet. This is why...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/30020796/eleven-per-cent-of-us-thinks-html-an-std

[Daniels 129]

Stories like this make me so proud to be a Yank....

[david.atwell 290]

Head → Desk

[Kemaru 44]

I'll respond to the link by quoting a commenter on the article:

 

"So, a survey (not a study) of a fairly small and very possibly unrepresentative section of the population (most likely visitors to the voucher website that got a pop-up perhaps offering some kind of deal for completing). Add to that the structure of ticking three definition options, and that makes it also likely more than one just wanted to get through it and ticked random boxes to skip through. That aside, also acronyms can be genuinely confusing with one acronym meaning more than one thing, some, like SEO are industry insider terms and that "STD" has not been used in many years in medical terminology (it's now STI). So the question is it journalism by press release, which handily promotes the site involved or was it that going "silly people" and hang the details was better?So, a survey (not a study) of a fairly small and very possibly unrepresentative section of the population (most likely visitors to the voucher website that got a pop-up perhaps offering some kind of deal for completing). Add to that the structure of ticking three definition options, and that makes it also likely more than one just wanted to get through it and ticked random boxes to skip through. That aside, also acronyms can be genuinely confusing with one acronym meaning more than one thing, some, like SEO are industry insider terms and that "STD" has not been used in many years in medical terminology (it's now STI). So the question is it journalism by press release, which handily promotes the site involved or was it that going "silly people" and hang the details was better?So, a survey (not a study) of a fairly small and very possibly unrepresentative section of the population (most likely visitors to the voucher website that got a pop-up perhaps offering some kind of deal for completing). Add to that the structure of ticking three definition options, and that makes it also likely more than one just wanted to get through it and ticked random boxes to skip through. That aside, also acronyms can be genuinely confusing with one acronym meaning more than one thing, some, like SEO are industry insider terms and that "STD" has not been used in many years in medical terminology (it's now STI). So the question is it journalism by press release, which handily promotes the site involved or was it that going "silly people" and hang the details was better?So, a survey (not a study) of a fairly small and very possibly unrepresentative section of the population (most likely visitors to the voucher website that got a pop-up perhaps offering some kind of deal for completing). Add to that the structure of ticking three definition options, and that makes it also likely more than one just wanted to get through it and ticked random boxes to skip through. That aside, also acronyms can be genuinely confusing with one acronym meaning more than one thing, some, like SEO are industry insider terms and that "STD" has not been used in many years in medical terminology (it's now STI). So the question is it journalism by press release, which handily promotes the site involved or was it that going "silly people" and hang the details was better?"

 

 

I didn't know the meaning of SEO either, and I'm quite savvy.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Kemaru

[Oceana 152]

I always thought LOL meant 'log on later' I am not very good with acronyms either. And I  have to learn the phonetic alphabet for my work 

Edited March 6, 2014 by Oceana

[welshblue 3,479]

After reading that I must admit to not knowing SEO and still thought a bad night = STD.  

[Ego Eram Reputo 2,531]

... still thought a bad night = STD.

That depends on your frame of reference.

[welshblue 3,479]

Thankfully only by a bloke I know.  He got inflicted one night and when he was cured went back and got inflicted again.  

And he actually believed that standing in a bucket of sea water would be an alternative cure ... true.  Gullible in more ways than one

[pipp92 3]

Hi 

[DrewDale 790]

 Gullible 

A word you won't find in a dictionary.

Edited March 7, 2014 by DrewDale

[Pixey 4,363]

I was about to jump on @WB too - then I saw this:  gullible

 

But I digress - look who just posted ............. Pipp - Yay!  His Avvie always reminds me of an art teacher I once had and ....... I had a b i g crush on him   .

[david.atwell 290]

Speaking of gullible - I saw an article the other day claiming that an onion, left uncut but in your bedroom, can soak up all "flu bacteria," turn black, and keep you from getting sick.

 

I don't even know where to start...

[DrewDale 790]

Apparently an onion cut in half and placed in a room will remove any paint odours (the kind you brush on a wall, not the paint you use with a mouse)

 

@Pixey - Calm down there young lady

[david.atwell 290]

Now that I believe.  The scent of an onion is pretty strong.  But not magical enough to turn a flu virus into a bacteria....

[DrewDale 790]

It could turn into a bacteria, but only if you are a 'Fun Guy'......................

Edited March 7, 2014 by DrewDale

[Kemaru 44]

Slightly related, but probably worth a shot —at least more so than the onion trick: I read once that a clove of garlic underneath the pillow relieves symptoms of flu. Never actually tried it because I was afraid of the smell sticking to my sheets ...

[Oceana 152]

It could turn into a bacteria, but only if you are a 'Fun Guy'......................

[welshblue 3,479]

I think garlic can help prevent some things, not sure about alleviating symptoms of the flu.  It can also lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of some cancers (rectal/ stomach)

 

The flu jab is one sure fire way of avoiding the flu ... 

Edited March 7, 2014 by welshblue

[Oceana 152]

The flu jab is one sure fire way of avoiding the flu ... 

Does the flu jab actually give you flu, then it is up to your immune system to fight it off and build an....erm.....Immunity against it ? (I may be wrong)

[welshblue 3,479]

I think it gives you a mild form.  Then like you say, the body does the rest.  TBH it doesn't guarantee you won't have flu but if you do it's not so severe or long lived.  I've had it done the past 4 years and been flu free.  The nurse who gave me it in October mentioned something about 3 different flu strains in this years vaccination ... so you've got to trust the chemists.

 

Speaking of which and garlic as an alternative medicine, my doctor/ consultants has recommended pumpkin seeds/ oil, hemp seeds, apricot seeds and chia seeds because I'm so sensitive to chemicals in medication and after a month there's proof they're working.  Makes me wonder how many thousands of pills I've popped when nature could have helped too

[david.atwell 290]

Does the flu jab actually give you flu, then it is up to your immune system to fight it off and build an....erm.....Immunity against it ? (I may be wrong)

 

It gives you what's known as an "attenuated" (i.e. "dead")^* virus.  Your immune system learns how to fight the real stuff from the attenuated forms.  You cannot get the flu from a flu vaccine.

 

As Welshy says, the vaccine will protect you against the 3-4 strains of the virus that are expected to be the most virulent in that flu season.  When the H1N1 strain of the virus was a big deal a few years back, it was because the vaccines they released didn't include that strain because it wasn't expected to be a big problem.  That's why they had to give a separate H1N1 vaccine.

 

Regarding naturopathy/homeopathy: natural foods and seeds have a lot of properties that can help immensely.  Garlic in particular is great, as several people have noticed.  But realize that you need to take claims of "miracle cures" et al with a huge grain of salt; things that don't make sense (like diluting things a billion times or just having them in the room with you without consuming them) probably don't make sense because they're wrong.  People want "Big Pharma" to be EVIL, and they do things that are evil for sure, but the reason they exist is that the drugs they make work, and tend to work better than anything you can get in the "natural medicines" or "nature's farmacy" stores.

 

Yeah, so I used to be a pharmacy technician.  The pharmacist and I had tons of discussions about that sort of thing.

 

 

 

*The reason I put "dead" in quotes is because viruses are not technically ever alive, and thus cannot really be said to be dead.  That's why they use the word "attenuated," or sometimes "inactivated."

[Kemaru 44]

They inject you with weakened virus strains, your body beats them, and you gain resistance. I guess that's how it works, might be wrong though.

 

I don't know what to think about alternative treatments. On one hand, I'm a skeptic, but on the other, I like keeping an open mind. I've tried echinacea for flu, and I think it relieved my sore throat momentarily.

[welshblue 3,479]

I haven't become a raving hippy ... I haven't got the hair for it for a start ... and believe that medication has kept me alive, but I'm willing to try anything that may decrease the need for say, the 4 blood pressure tablets I'm on.

 

Tamulosin was really knocking me around but pumpkin seeds/oil have decreased the prostrate, not as much as the medicine would have but to some degree.

 

I don't see pharma companies as evil, maybe a bit unethical at times (allegedly) but it's big business.  

But we've still got to trust and luckily my pharmacist noticed a few weeks ago that a tablet a specialist prescibed, and my GP wrote up would have interacted with one of the 9 I'm on daily to cause Serotonin Syndrome ... or the bi-weekly blood tests to check for high potassium levels due to possible interactions because the benefit outweighs the risk at the moment

 

All good fun.  

[Daniels 129]

My cell bio professor is really into disease prevention using natural stuff. B-vitamins, beta carotene, antioxidants, pretty much all the nutrients from healthy foods. Today he was talking about how in Asian cultures, the women have a decreased risk of breast cancer because of the phytoestrogens in tofu... It's all about taking care of yourself on the cellular level, because (and I think this is his tagline...) we're nothing but ~6 trillion cells