Recent Comments

Here are the last few comments on the blog. Please remember to read the comments and privacy policy for the blog before jumping into a discussion.

• Comment on The Trauma of Your Ancestors by René F. Najera, DrPH March 29, 2021 12:36
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2021/03/26/the-trauma-of-your-ancestors/comment-page-1/#comment-6649">wzrd1</a&gt;. That’s the 64,000 dollar question.
• Comment on The Trauma of Your Ancestors by wzrd1 March 28, 2021 14:49
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2021/03/26/the-trauma-of-your-ancestors/comment-page-1/#comment-6648">René F. Najera, DrPH</a>. Ah, but isn't that the confounder of things epigenetic? Is it heritable genetically, or is it taught to the young and the observed changes simply mirrored by what was learned?
• Comment on The Trauma of Your Ancestors by René F. Najera, DrPH March 28, 2021 14:10
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2021/03/26/the-trauma-of-your-ancestors/comment-page-1/#comment-6647">Wzrd1</a&gt;. Ah, except that when you were around said virus with the 35% mortality rate had a safe and effective vaccine that had been around for 150 years... And it wasn't really pandemic as much as it was endemic worldwide. I'm not a big believer in the epigenetic stuff, but definitely the psychological stuff being passed from one hurt person to another.
• Comment on The Trauma of Your Ancestors by Wzrd1 March 28, 2021 13:57
  I disagree with your description of a 30% mortality rate pandemic, as I lived as a child when we were eliminating a longstanding pandemic that had a 35% mortality rate. Said virus is thankfully, extinct in the wild and only a handful of samples remain within a small number of lab dewars around the planet. Smallpox was quite nasty! As for multigenerational trauma, that's actually still being studied, with apparent epigenetic changes that appear to be heritable. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24029109/ No idea how the germ cell line altered, but I imagine that severe, protracted stress hormones would trigger widespread gene demethyation of previously silenced genes. When hard pressed, the body will try all manner of things to throw against the wall to see what sticks. We're again seeing that with the body's response to nCoV-2 infection. OT, in response to Dr Redfield's lunacy about a lab spillover, what is ebola virus, zika virus, hanta virus, dengue virus again? To leave only a very short list, we both know how long a list of viral diseases jump merrily between species. And that was leaving bacterial zoonotic infections, to avoid comparing apples to cucumbers... Otherwise, the list becomes unmanagable with treats like lyme and q fever.
• Comment on The Technology You’ll Love by wzrd1 December 14, 2020 01:28
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2020/12/12/the-technology-youll-love/comment-page-1/#comment-6627">René F. Najera, DrPH</a>. Pretty close, the dinosaurs were gone and it was really, really cold out..
• Comment on The Technology You’ll Love by René F. Najera, DrPH December 13, 2020 14:24
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2020/12/12/the-technology-youll-love/comment-page-1/#comment-6626">wzrd1</a&gt;. Vacuum tubes? The dinosaurs used those, right?
• Comment on The Technology You’ll Love by wzrd1 December 13, 2020 04:28
  I just built up a Pi 4 media server, running libreelec and for good measure, got the new model that's C=64 style inside of its keyboard. I did splurge on an absurd capacity memory card, as a hedge for future projects. Might also play with clustering a bunch of zeros. I'm quite favorably impressed with the performance! I did get one hiccup with my USB 3 HD, which drew enough current that I had to remove the power switch dongle, that modest resistance was enough to put the HD intermittently into a logically indeterminate state, resulting in IO hangs. I also bumped the 7 inch touch monitor power cable to a higher quality model, lowering its resistance as well. Used to be an electronic tech, equally experienced in analog and digital, not to mention from vacuum tube through VLSI. 🙂
• Comment on Quarantine Shmarantine! Pandemic Edition by René F. Najera, DrPH December 1, 2020 21:29
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2020/11/24/quarantine-shmarantine-pandemic-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-6621">Bravo Fox</a>. You seem very fixated on the word “millions.” Is this word of particular importance to you, or is this the only flaw in my thesis and, as a result, the only target for your vitriol? Should I un-publish this blog and then re-publish once the reported death count reaches 2 million? Yeah, I'm not going to do that, and I'm not changing my stance. Have a great day, “Bravo.”
• Comment on Quarantine Shmarantine! Pandemic Edition by Bravo Fox December 1, 2020 21:11
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2020/11/24/quarantine-shmarantine-pandemic-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-6620">René F. Najera, DrPH</a>. Uh, millions means millions. I’m sure with all your degrees, despite English not being your first language, you understand the importance in the language differences. Millions, as in two or more millions. The same holds true for any numerical grouping. Tens would mean any grouping of 10 more than 20 but not 15 or even 19. Dozens would mean 2 or more dozens; i.e. 24, 36, 48, but not 16.
• Comment on Quarantine Shmarantine! Pandemic Edition by René F. Najera, DrPH December 1, 2020 19:43
  In reply to <a href="https://epidemiologist.blog/2020/11/24/quarantine-shmarantine-pandemic-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-6619">Bravo Fox</a>. Yes, millions. More than one million = millions. English is not my first language, so forgive me for thinking that more than one requires a plural noun.