Rants and WTF are you talking about and Coronavirus!

[QUOTE=Pessimist;2562196]Motives of CCP are not necessarily in alignment with the humanistic values we assume in the West. Here is one possibility: If they had felt they could control it and keep it limited to one province and deaths to a manageable #, and then unleash it on the rest of the world which crippled all their rivals while their own GDP was stable to growing, it was a calculated risk with large upside. The thousands of lives lost in Wuhan were acceptable collateral.[/QUOTE]They would be morons in that case which is not impossible but it would make more sense that the viruses escaped from the lab.

Each time I read you, I wonder if you're trolling since the beginning or if you're just totally nuts.

Believe me, no one of us will see the day when you can easily replace some body parts with cybernetic prosthetics or use nanorobots to fix I don't know what. It will remain science fiction stuff for a really long time.

[QUOTE=Pessimist;2562211]Inflation is creeping up quite fast. We will see how long the Fed will stay on this route.[/QUOTE]"Everything Screams Inflation: Investors are woefully unprepared for what may be a once-in-a-generation shift in the market": [URL]https://www.wsj.com/articles/everything-screams-inflation-11620163599?mod=article_inline[/URL].

"If Inflation Is Coming, Here Is What to Do About It: Investing to protect a portfolio against the likelihood of rising prices is harder than it looks": [URL]https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-inflation-is-coming-here-is-what-to-do-about-it-11620694235[/URL].

Both from the same author. Is he just trying to get more hits? Or some truth?

[QUOTE=Ararat;2562398]They would be morons in that case which is not impossible but it would make more sense that the viruses escaped from the lab.[/QUOTE]I feel the same. While conspiracy and deliberate intent is often the more sexy story, I have found that incompetence and laziness more often than not explains society's problems.

[QUOTE=Ararat;2562398]They would be morons in that case which is not impossible but it would make more sense that the viruses escaped from the lab.[/QUOTE]What we call them. Morons, heroes, etc - (depending on who is doing the calling) is less relevant.

What does matter is that there is evidence and an investigation that should have been pursued but which was not. Through 2020, there was even a rush to ignore it, give CCP a clean chit and accept their version of the origin. It was only some dogged pursuit of this by people who were ridiculed throughout 2020 that there is some new info coming to the surface.

If the leak was even an accidental one, it is a monumental scandal and heads would roll and many things would change in the future. But whether it even originated and leaked from a lab itself was almost not investigated because people (mostly the same ones who are now pooh poohing the deliberate leak or even the accidental leak possibility) were desperate to whitewash such a chance.

But if, as I said, there is even a 1% chance it was a deliberate leak, the CCP would most certainly be not morons. They would be perpetrators of a massive genocide. It may be more insidious and less public than the pogroms of WW2, but it would be a genocide in no unclear terms.

The question is, why would anyone (here or elsewhere) be so eager to ignore such a possibility? Are they always eager to turn a blind eye to genocides?

[QUOTE=McAdonis;2562518]"Everything Screams Inflation: Investors are woefully unprepared for what may be a once-in-a-generation shift in the market": [URL]https://www.wsj.com/articles/everything-screams-inflation-11620163599?mod=article_inline[/URL].

"If Inflation Is Coming, Here Is What to Do About It: Investing to protect a portfolio against the likelihood of rising prices is harder than it looks": [URL]https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-inflation-is-coming-here-is-what-to-do-about-it-11620694235[/URL].

Both from the same author. Is he just trying to get more hits? Or some truth?[/QUOTE]Do you think the two articles you cited are contradictory? I see them quite aligned.

James Mackintosh is one of the better journalists at WSJ IMO.

In the first link, he rightfully observes that if inflation is real, it is being ignored (by central banks, pols) at a time when things which kept inflation down for 50 years such as globalization and demographics are coming to the end of their cycles.

In the second, he is telling WSJ readers "hey, if inflation does come, at least protect your nest egg by doing x / why / z".

The key question is whether Mackintosh is actually right in that inflation does spike up and how sustainably. Even the Fed has not denied it but called it transitory. CPI came at 4. % you last week, so it would be futile for Fed to deny CPI is high. They are just saying it will not stay high for too long. As of now, markets (bonds, equities, other) are less certain than the Fed on this matter.

[QUOTE=BigBuddy69;2562448]Each time I read you, I wonder if you're trolling since the beginning or if you're just totally nuts.

Believe me, no one of us will see the day when you can easily replace some body parts with cybernetic prosthetics or use nanorobots to fix I don't know what. It will remain science fiction stuff for a really long time.[/QUOTE]I agree with your assessment of the poster but not the science. We can already create simple organs and have the scaffolding and cell lineage to create more complex organs. Many synthetic organs implant have already been successfully performed. We're just in the lull of hammering out the nuts and bolts of more complex organs.

But yes, the poster's diatribes about quantum whatever remains far far away. Cybernetic limbs and synthetic prothetics however not only will be achieved in our lifetimes, some already have. Easiest example of complex prosthetics; cochlear implants that have been around for decades. Simple synthetic organ implants such as urinary bladders and tracheas have already been performed and common use is right around the corner as they just have to be made financially affordable to the public. Complex organs such as hearts, lungs, and cybernetic limbs will take a few more decades to iron out kinks but the science is already there.

[QUOTE=Pessimist;2562533]Do you think the two articles you cited are contradictory? I see them quite aligned.[/QUOTE]They did not seem contradictory. I only read the titles and bylines (behind paywall). With so many things competing for our attention, scarier headlines sell. If Mackintosh is persuasive enough in the first article (threat is real), then that should drive traffic to the second article (how to protect against the threat).

[QUOTE=Pessimist;2562533]In the second, he is telling WSJ readers "hey, if inflation does come, at least protect your nest egg by doing x / why / z".[/QUOTE]Any useful advice offered?

[QUOTE=Mursenary;2562534]Cybernetic limbs and synthetic prothetics however not only will be achieved in our lifetimes, some already have. Easiest example of complex prosthetics; cochlear implants that have been around for decades. Simple synthetic organ implants such as urinary bladders and tracheas have already been performed and common use is right around the corner as they just have to be made financially affordable to the public.[/QUOTE]Well I was thinking more of cybernetic arms, eyes and so on. I don't think that we'll see in our lifetime something as effective as our natural limbs and organs, or even half as effective. They've been working on synthetic hearts for decades, for the moment it's just still a way to delay your death a little bit no? And plugging chips in human brains? Well I don't want to think at the risk of infections, or neurodegerenative diseases. I just had a look at your cochlear implants, how do they rate compared to ears in good condition? There was a scandal lately about some kind of 'prostethic nets for pussies' made to prevent the prolapse of I don't know which internal organs, it turned out to be a fucking disaster with women totally crippled for life. The only prosthetics I have are three teeth and I don't want to get any more.

[URL]https://www.wsj.com/articles/inquiry-into-covid-19s-origins-splits-u-s-and-china-11621969480?mod=hp_lead_pos3[/URL]

"A deeper inquiry into the pandemic's origins is "a critical priority for us," Andy Slavitt, the White House senior adviser for the Covid-19 response, said at a briefing Tuesday. "We need to get to the bottom of this and we need a completely transparent process from China. We need the WHO to assist in that matter. We don't feel like we have that now."

But those efforts are up against a push by China to have the WHO shift that probe into other countries, contending that the pandemic may have originated elsewhere.

Complicating matters, leading public health officials—including WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus —have called for a thorough investigation into whether the pandemic could have begun with a lab accident.

Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical officer, was asked in a May 11 Senate hearing whether the Covid-19 virus could have escaped from a lab in Wuhan—home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducted extensive research on bat-borne coronaviruses. He responded, "that possibility certainly exists and I am totally in favor of a full investigation of whether that could have happened. "

China strongly contests that such a lab accident is a plausible explanation for the pandemic. "

So, China even denies that it leaked out of their lab is not even plausible. Seems like we have a fair number of CCP acolytes doing their bidding here.

The China stance that this virus instead originated in the US is reminiscent of the US politics. GOP contending that January 6 is not the issue but that summer 2020 protests needed to be investigated; or that Russia probe should never have happened but instead Hunter needs to be investigated.

I admire Fauci but he lost some credibility. He jumped the gun last year a little too soon. I remember having a dispute w / some dude here about this matter. At least, to his credit, Fauci now sensibly is supportive of a proper investigation.

[QUOTE=ExpatLover;2562097]do you really believe that being vaccinated protect you to get sick, I will not meet any prostitute before the pandemy is completely under control.[/QUOTE]Yes, I do really "believe" that being vaccinated protects me from getting sick. You know, there is this thing called "medical science", which operates on facts and not just a matter of what you "believe".

You are certainly free to wrap yourself in a full body condom and lock yourself in the basement for the rest of times.

[QUOTE=McAdonis;2562553]They did not seem contradictory. I only read the titles and bylines (behind paywall). With so many things competing for our attention, scarier headlines sell. If Mackintosh is persuasive enough in the first article (threat is real), then that should drive traffic to the second article (how to protect against the threat).

Any useful advice offered?[/QUOTE]Since most of the readers already paid the subscription, there is no specific advantage to driving traffic to one article v the other. In general, he has a good reputation. WSJ is normally center right, their news articles are informative but the opeds are very right leaning. The ideologue readers come to WSJ mostly for the opeds and then argue endlessly about political points in the comments section. Kinda like ISG. Articles by people like Mackintosh, Greg IP and others are technical and don't drive up reader passions much. Anyway, inflation onset is being debated for 5 to 6 months now, and his headline is not scary nor new. It is just that he wrote up this theme again after the 4% number came out. As for tips, the usual suspects about buying commodities and TIPS as hedges; but commodity index funds have already run up huge. DBC is one example (GSG, CCRV are some others). There are many others. TIP is the ishares TIPS ETF and that has already run up big amount as well.

Generally speaking, by the time some advice appears in WSJ, that particular idea has been priced in the market more often than not. Not always, but often enough. The ones writing for WSJ get paid a small fraction of what the traders do; the ones who have the information keep it to themselves and make money off it, not writing and sharing it w / others.

[QUOTE=BigBuddy69;2562556]Well I was thinking more of cybernetic arms, eyes and so on. I don't think that we'll see in our lifetime something as effective as our natural limbs and organs, or even half as effective. They've been working on synthetic hearts for decades, for the moment it's just still a way to delay your death a little bit no? And plugging chips in human brains? Well I don't want to think at the risk of infections, or neurodegerenative diseases. I just had a look at your cochlear implants, how do they rate compared to ears in good condition? There was a scandal lately about some kind of 'prostethic nets for pussies' made to prevent the prolapse of I don't know which internal organs, it turned out to be a fucking disaster with women totally crippled for life. The only prosthetics I have are three teeth and I don't want to get any more.[/QUOTE]Any neuro-prosthetic is for sure a much much longer time away. We don't even understand the mapping of the brain and it is the most individualized organ. Add that we barely know anything about consciousness and sentiency and yeah, preserving life in regards to the human brain may not be accomplished in our lifetimes.

But the rest are just nuts and bolts, although complex ones. In most cases, you are right to assume that artificial implants do not compare to optimal natural varieties. For the ear, the common deficit is quality of sound but sensitivity can be superior. Overall, that's probably a win for natural ears. The same can be said for all other organs mentioned, They are inferior, currently.

But remember that these things are in their infancy. The fact that we can even successfully accomplish the basic implant in itself is huge and I think takes it out of the realm of science fiction. I dare say that we are deep into the research phase and are having to deal with the long-haul engineering and troubleshooting phase.

Currently, the tech is not evolving like science fiction where an entire diseased heart is replaced by a totally artificial one (although stem cell-derived hearts have already been made on top of a cartilage scaffolding. It was even stimulated to beat indefinitely). The current technology can replace the lower chambers of the heart (France actually leads in this sector), valves, and of course the pacemaker. Piece by piece it is coming together. One of the major problems with artificial hearts is one you where the average person not think, it is the problems of blood clotting when it comes in contact with inorganic substances such as the plastics and other materials in these prothesis.

As for cybernetic limbs, obviously they are still behind and not like the arm seen in the Winter Soldier. But prosthetics that are neurologically linked are already out there. The newest developments in Sweden even allow for sensation. As all of the neuro-sensory issues are hammered out to more closely emulate fine motor control, obviously these limb prosthesis will be far superior in terms of strength and durability.

Point is, these things are not exactly science fiction. But we are talking about the real world, tangible applications, not the dreamland tech that the original poster writes about. They are topics in which he does not understand but uses to profess his "enlightened superiority". That's why in his posts you only see superficial mentioning of hotwords and key terms. Anytime there is any indepth discussion, his ignorance is revealed. Just like when a kid who didn't do his assigned reading for school can be easily outed because it was obvious that he just wrote a book report using the summary in the back of the book.

[QUOTE=ExpatLover;2562097]For sure ASAP most of the FKK will reopen, but what will be the LU and more importantly do you really believe that being vaccinated protect you to get sick, I will not meet any prostitute before the pandemy is completely under control.[/QUOTE]I am not pessimistic sir. But I think It will haunt us for some more time (couple of years). So one have to get acclimatize with the situation. I feel it will be better to move parallel with the situation. I will definitly take some calculated risk. But the main worry is when everything will open at least half way before this pandemic.

[QUOTE=Pessimist;2562530]What does matter is that there is evidence and an investigation that should have been pursued but which was not. [/QUOTE]The problem is that China will never ever allow a proper investigation. The only goal of the CCP is to stay in power and bully anybody who questions any of their decisions.