Off Topic Conspiracy Thread

There are all sorts of individual examples. It doesn't change anything about what I posted about the bias in the teams actioning things.

 

There is a bias on Twitter. A blue tick gives you far more leeway.

My last 12 hour suspension, in response to someone thinking a high profile mouthpiece missing out on a New Year honour was far less controversial than the hate they preach themselves.

I thought it funny(the tweet & suspension).

 

If we accept 'A theory is a group of linked ideas intended to explain something.', some of us may accept science, others, religion, some politics or other 'conspiracy' theory to explain our understanding of the world we live in.
I remember in RE at school learning about one of those newer American religions where their founder found some magic stone tablets that only he could read with his special blue coloured spectacles, at which point I realised for me all religion was hocum

For many as long as there's an explanation for life it does not have to make absolute sense, as long as it explains what we don't understand or like. Many years ago a religious friend acknowledged this whilst explaining why they followed their particular faith, that the whole point was 'faith' in their belief regardless, that having 'faith' in their beliefs was the whole point

 

I never understood that mentality of "believe hard enough and it will happen". There's some scientific thinking behind linked consciousness and quantum entanglement that's actually fascinating, but the actual basis of belief is intangible and that's why I can't accept it as a reason for something happening. But if faith comforts some, I wouldn't take it from them.

At our most basic human level we strive for understanding, it's why we ask such big questions about the universe, but the answers to those questions aren't going to be found by Fortniteboy20102 on Youtube during a 45 minute video. It's so frustrating that scientists spend whole careers trying to work on the origins of the universe and why things are the way they are, but some knob with a BTEC in video production can claim to "know" the Earth is flat, produce some absolutely bullshit pseudo-maths/trigonometry/physics that sounds believable and gets taken seriously.

Flat Earth actually knobs me off. I must have spent years looking through a telescope at the night sky, marvelling at existence and learning how the universe works, only to be told that I'm a liar or a shill paid by Bill Gates/George Soros (still haven't had a cheque)/NASA/The CIA/Professor Brian Cox (twice now) to spread disinformation. And then you ask them what the basis of their claim is and they just scream at you like you've shat on their floor and laughed. Then they play the "well it's my belief, how do you know your scientific belief is wrong?". I couldn't give a ****, I don't believe in science, I know it works. What they say just doesn't stand up to scrutiny, at all.

 

I believe Timothy Leary is not dead...

 

I think part of the problem is how people use the word "believe" and "faith". In religious terms they are about trusting/knowing something without proof.

In scientific use, they take on different meanings - "I believe" meaning "It's my opinion" and "I have faith in these results" meaning "I have complete confidence in these results". Science itself is the study of things using observation and experiment, so by its very definition is about proof.

So when a weirdo cult member starts banging on about their beliefs being as valid as people who believe in science, they are not comparing the same thing at all. Maybe we need to stop using those words outside of the context of religions and/or unprovable things.

 

I'm not an anti-vaxxer. However, I am a bit suspicious at how fast several companies have developed a vaccine for a virus that's only just over a year old considering the regulations pharmaceutical companies have to abide by when developing vaccines. Usually, vaccines can take anywhere from 10-15 years to be developed, tested, approved and released into the market. Also, in the UK, it's been advised if you can't get a second dose of the same vaccine, you should get your second dose from another vaccine. I'm not sure if they've even done testing on any potential side-effects for mixing two different vaccines.

If anyone with a better understanding of virology and pharmaceutical regulations could explain it, I'll take off my tinfoil hat.

 

The US & Canadian advice is don't mix, but not enough evidence through testing is available. Wise to not (if possible) mix yet is their recommendation.
I AM NOT QUALIFIED TO AGREE or DISAGREE with the published advice in the following articles.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coron...-19-vaccines-experts-aren-t-so-sure-1.5252873

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/health/coronavirus-vaccines-britain.html

 

Usually companies working on pharmaceuticals have a range of potential medicines in different stages of development, all competing internally for resource. The company basically does spread betting on which candidates have the best chance of success, and they all inch forward, with great scrutiny and justification for investment in each stage. It's phenomenally expensive - Phase III clinical studies alone cost millions, well into 8 figures.

For the COVID vaccines basically everything was thrown at them. Staff were pulled from other projects, studies were run in parallel, which is risky because if one fails you've thrown money down the drain on the other studies rather than doing them sequentially one at a time. They invested in manufacturing processes and scale-up before knowing if it even worked, again huge financial risk if it didn't because these manufacturing facilities were not making other drugs while all this was happening

The mechanisms behind how each different vaccine works have been around a while, so once the virus was genetically sequenced the race was on to fit the virus to the mechanisms, prove they work and prove they can be manufactured. For the review of data, usually MHRA, FDA, EMA and others take about a year to review and approve a new medicine. Again, because of the urgent and unmet medical need, they too pulled staff from other activities and threw everything at it. They accepted data as and when each company generated it ("rolling review"), rather than having it all delivered all at once in one go.

An important thing to note is that no vaccine has got a license in this country yet - when MHRA says the are "approved for use", their technical language notes that they have "authorisation for temporary supply" which basically means they get a lot of scrutiny for each batch of vaccine and if at any stage MHRA is not happy, it gets yanked from supply immediately.

 

Pfizer were also asking for immunity before selling and supplying their vaccine to some countries.

Covid vaccine: You can't sue Pfizer or Moderna over side effects (cnbc.com)

 

Yes, they asked for exemption from civil liability and got it. Basically, if someone has a one-in-ten-million reaction to the vaccine and is seriously ill, they can't be sued but they'll get compensation from the government instead.

UK government was desperate for a vaccine and on a risk-benefit decision, decided that the benefits of having a working vaccine outweighed the risks of side effects for a few people.

The fact that millions of people have been vaccinated already across the globe and the only side effects we've heard of so far are a handful of anaphylaxis cases, all of which recovered, says to me that the vaccines are as safe as any other vaccine out there, if not safer.

 

I think the companies did benefit from the Chinese releasing their map of the viral genome in January. It would have taken significantly longer if they'd had to do this preliminary work as individual companies working in isolation.

 

If you’re suspicious don’t have it.

 

... and stay at home!

 

Agreed. Like I said, belief is intangible and is not required for evidence.

 

I'm not having the ****ing vaccine. **** knows what's ****ing in it!

Bat semen I wouldn't ****ing imagine!

Dirty, dirty bastards.


Instead I'm just gonna do a little dance whilst I count my blessings.


I've been lucky in my life and fortuitously I've somehow managed to avoid contacting loads of nasty diseases.



Like Smallpox...


And Tuberculosis...


And Cholera...


And Diphtheria...


And Hepatitis...


And Polio...


And Rabies...


And Tetanus...



I've managed to avoid all of these just by being careful.


We don't need vaccines.

Don't bother.





Anyway I'm away to take my daily allowable form of exercise in a local beauty spot like every other ****er.

 

Be careful of mumps, measles and ribena

 

I looked all of them motherfuckers straight in the eye and said 'Do your worst'.

Swollen glands (fnarr fnarr), a few itchy spots and an, umm, worrying pregnancy, and I came through the other side like an over-weight Republican inadvertently shooting himself in the nads with his own taser.



Nothing to see here, Marra.

 

I'd say your odds of contracting dementia have been reduced approx. 85%.
Watch out for those zebra crossings.

 

Germany, 1933. It's a good job Hitler didn't have hold of your mouse back then. Imagine how quickly he could have neutralised his enemies.