Doug28450

He's the guy who got 8 votes.

BillyD

Back in the day Razor could rip off 7 all by himself.

FLvector

Did you see this in the news? Depends on the context of what that might mean, but with other viruses such as WNV, yes. Zika, no.

Zika was first detected in 1947 in Uganda in monkeys and was subsequently identified in humans in 1952. For decades it caused only mild diseases across Africa and equatorial Asia. It is a human - mosquito - human transmission with no secondary host needed unlike West Nile Virus. WVN needs a bird reservoir to amplify the virus. So bird - mosquito - human. With WNV humans are the "dead end host", meaning a mosquito can't bite a human and pass it to another human. With Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya, humans are infective for a period of about 2 weeks, so a mosquito could bite an infected human, then later pass to another human.

Yes, this is a game changer. Brazil has gone from 200 to 4,000 cases of microcephaly since last year. They are struggling to figure out the cause, but so far it is pointing towards Zika.

It's another tool in the toolbox. This could be used as an integrated approach along with increased inspections, surveillance, public education, traditional control measures. By releasing millions of genetically modified mosquitoes, they will compete against the normal males to fertilize the females with the lethal gene. It has been done in other countries with success, but this research is being done by the company that supplies the GMO mosquitoes. It's a bit controversial, especially in the communities that are targeted for this research. The attitude is "not in my backyard".

indyfabz

Anyone else lose interest in the final season of "Downton Abby?" I think for me the fact that it's gong to end has killed my interest.

LAJ

That makes me laugh.

surgeonstone

Yes and yes and to boot, it had become mind numbingly repetitive.

Heathpack 

@FLvector, oh. I assumed the human cases were incidental infections, ie that humans were dead-end hosts, like in WNV or the Equine Encephalitis viruses. Humans being part of the life cycle is just a huge yikes. That means we're not sitting around waiting for infected Mosquitos to arrive, which would give us time. It's already here and will be established soon enough. We have the mosquito, we have the host, we have the virus. That's just swell.

I'm all for the GMO mosquitos, if that turns out to be the best method of control or eradication. If there were 4000 cases of microcephaly in Brazil in one year, it will be tens of thousands of cases here soon enough. Tens of thousands of kids needing a lifetime of institutional care. How much human misery is that? Not to mention the expense. Of course the GMO mosquitos may have some unintended consequence and taking that risk may just be the best of two bad choices.

And what an incredible piece of public health bad luck that the Olympics are in Rio in the midst of this. Really a catastrophe in the making.

But good luck getting GMO Mosquitos accepted. People will see the word 'GMO' and freak out. They will never see the microcephalic kids requiring feeding tubes and diapers and getting bed sores because they will be locked away in some nursing home for 50 years. Who knows? I could be wrong. Maybe we'll have intelligent debate on the subject.

Interesting times to be a mosquito scientist, I'll bet.

rjones28 

We've haven't had one yet this year.

UnfilteredDregs

That @Mumonkan is nuts; riding 140 miles on a fatbike.

WalksOn2Wheels

So... talk about your 6 degrees of separation. A friend of mine (ok, well she's really closer to another friend of mine, but I do know her first hand) is a writer and just recently talked about getting a publishing deal and dealing with editors, etc. And just last night, we find out that her manuscript was picked up by Leonardo DiCaprio to produce a movie. Kind of wild.

indyfabz

I was comparing it to the final season of "Breaking Bad." With regard to that show, you really wanted to know what happens to Walter White et alia. With regard to Downton, I don't care as much if Anna can carry the baby to term, who wins out in the hospital dispute and whether that new guy learns to read so he can take up pig farming. BTW...The actor who plays that illiterate servant is dating the actress who plays Edith.

WalksOn2Wheels

I don't know why that guy didn't just drop out after the first debate. He's always registered at basically zero percent from day one. I kind of wonder if he was trying to win a bet or something. Think of all the money that doomed campaign wasted.

Doug28450

Hie campaign never even got started. Oddly, Sanders was in the same boat not too long ago. Somehow, he managed to get some traction and nearly won last night.

rpenmanparker 

Building credibility for the VP slot.

WalksOn2Wheels

So I'm going to post this here because this is the only thread with intelligent discussion left:

Regarding the mechanical doping case, I'm fairly confident Cancellara did not use it, but I was mystified by the video of Ryder Hesjedal's 2014 crash where his bike basically did donuts. It looked really weird, but to me it didn't make sense along the lines of a motor mounted in the seat tube because the pedals were not turning. But the recent news has also brought to light the existence of electromagnetic wheels. And this quote freaked me out the most:

That's trippy. So basically there is a system that could be fitted to a bike and a rider could jump on it and just think "Holy crap, I'm strong today!" I've ridden pedal assist electric bikes that only give a boost as you pedal, I'm sure the system probably works like that. If it only gave a boost of maybe 40 watts, that might be enough to think you've just caught a really good draft or tailwind. So theoretically, it's on the rider to know what he's riding in the same way that it's on the rider to know what goes into their body, but we're looking at the proverbial tainted steak where a rider could be found using it and genuinely have no clue. That's beyond nutty.

Mumonkan

thats pretty ****ed up if that kindof thing is happening. because then if they get caught its the riders name thats really tarnished and theres no way anyone would believe them

another reason why i love adam hansen, he wrenches his own bikes and makes his own shoes ffs. total mancrush.

Doug28450

Possible. But, I just don't see him as a VP selection for either Clinton or Sanders.

WalksOn2Wheels

Exactly. "Hey, remember that guy who ran, but no one gave a rat's ass about? No? Well, ok, but he's my running mate now."

Heathpack 

Haha, if I found myself suddenly up 40 watts, I would assume my Garmin was acting up again.

In fact this happened to me in my last race, I wrote a race report about it in the Masters Racing forum. I went out too hard, I was actually around 40 watts over target in the first 2-3 min of my TT. Then I realized it just felt easy because of adrenaline with a bunch of stuff that happened pre-race. So I reined it in. And came in last.

Coach's comments post-race included the observation that my heart rate data did not support the conclusion that I'd "gone out too hard". Doh. It still does not occur to me that I might have a good day. I think I "know" what I can do.

That's the danger of a power meter, it can be limiting. I still argue that for women (who mostly lack access to the traditional progression through the ranks on a cycling club or team), a power meter can be a huge development tool. You just have to recognize that it can be a limiter too.

Either that or my spouse doped my bike while I was in the shower.

rpenmanparker 

I didn't say it was a bright idea, just that was what he was doing. At least at the end.

rpenmanparker 

I still like the idea of pedal assist motors for enabling enthusiasts to ride distances, speeds and hills they would otherwise be unable to manage. If you are going to get your normal level of exercise, why not be able to get it climbing Alpe d'Huez? I'm not talking about a free ride. Just what it takes to convert your ability to what is actually required for a selected course...or selected company.

Mumonkan

#coffeedoping . "hey honey want some coffee?"



a while ago i watched a thing on the youtube where a bunch of pros at the tour/giro/something were asked what they have on their computers during race time, and a surprising number of them had little more than time of day and mileage. im sure froome just has power in extra bold at all times with all the shoegazing he does lol

jtaylor996

Because he's running for VP, and you can't do that if you don't show you can add states to your ticket's total in the general. He needs to show that he can perform well somewhere his running mate has issues.

WalksOn2Wheels

I remember looking at Cancellara's 2014 or 15 Paris Roubaix bike on Cycling News or some such and it mentioned that he had a power meter on his training bike, but not on his race day bike as he prefers to go by feel.

Speaking of Cancellara, I dug up that video again where they try to show him "pushing a button underneath his brake hood" or whatever, and of course the thing is pixelated beyond recognition. I finally found a good quality version of the footage without all the commentary and slo-mo. It's 100% obvious he was shifting to a bigger gear. He was running SRAM that year and the shift lever moves such a tiny distance for a down shift, it barely even registers visually when looking head on as the camera was. While some people might have been hiding motors and such as far back as then, I'm fairly confident he's innocent.

WalksOn2Wheels

Well, getting zero percent in the first primary really doesn't help make his case anywhere. I will say that he probably influenced the primary in Hillary's favor. I was reading that a candidate had to have 15% or more to count in a district, so if 10% show up in favor of O'Malley, his supporters then had to chose between Clinton or Sanders. I would think O'Malley would bring out more of the establishment democrats to counter Bernie's younger or more left wing supporters.