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Ebola And The Five Stages Of Collapse

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Dmitry Orlov via ClubOrlov blog,

At the moment, the Ebola virus is ravaging three countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - where it is doubling every few weeks, but singular cases and clusters of them are cropping up in dense population centers across the world. An entirely separate Ebola outbreak in the Congo appears to be contained, but illustrates an important point: even if the current outbreak (to which some are already referring as a pandemic) is brought under control, continuing deforestation and natural habitat destruction in the areas where the fruit bats that carry the virus live make future outbreaks quite likely.

Ebola's mortality rate can be as high as 70%, but seems closer to 50% for the current major outbreak. This is significantly worse than the Bubonic plague, which killed off a third of Europe's population. Previous Ebola outbreaks occurred in rural, isolated locales, where they quickly burned themselves out by infecting everyone within a certain radius, then running out of new victims. But the current outbreak has spread to large population centers with highly mobile populations, and the chances of such a spontaneous end to this outbreak seem to be pretty much nil.

Ebola has an incubation period of some three weeks during which patients remain asymptomatic and, specialists assure us, noninfectious. However, it is known that some patients remain asymptomatic throughout, in spite of having a strong inflammatory response, and can infect others. Nevertheless, we are told that those who do not present symptoms of Ebola—such as high fever, nausea, fatigue, bloody stool, bloody vomit, nose bleeds and other signs of hemorrhage—cannot infect others. We are also told that Ebola can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected individual, but it is known that among pigs and monkeys Ebola can be spread through the air, and the possibility of catching it via a cough, a sneeze, a handrail or a toilet seat is impossible to discount entirely. It is notable that many of the medical staff who became infected did so in spite of wearing protective gear—face masks, gloves, goggles and body suits. In short, nothing will guarantee your survival short of donning a space suit or relocating to a space station.

There is a test that shows whether someone is infected with Ebola, but it is known to produce false negatives. Other methods do even worse. Current effort at “enhanced screening,” recently introduced at a handful of international airports, where passengers arriving from the affected countries are now being checked for fever, fatigue and nausea, are unlikely to stop infected, and infectious, individuals. They are akin to other “security theater” methods that are currently in vogue, such as making passengers take off their shoes and testing breast milk for its potential as an explosive. The fact that the thermometers, which agents point at people's heads, are made to look like guns is a nice little touch; whoever came up with that idea deserves Homeland Security's highest decoration—to be shaped like a bomb and worn rectally.

It is unclear what technique or combination of techniques could guarantee that Ebola would not spread. Even a month-long group quarantine for all travelers from all of the affected countries may provide the virus with a transmission path via asymptomatic, undiagnosed individuals. And even a quarantine that would amount to solitary confinement (which would be both impractical and illegal) would simply put evolutionary pressure on this fast-mutating virus to adapt and incubate longer than the period of the quarantine.

Treatment of Ebola victims amounts to hydration and palliative care. Transfusions of blood donated by a survivor seem to be the only effective therapy available. An experimental drug called ZMapp has been demonstrated to stop Ebola in non-human primates, but its effectiveness in humans is now known to be less than 100%. It is an experimental drug, made in small batches by infecting young tobacco plants with an eyedropper. Even if its production is scaled up, it will be too little and too late to have any measurable effect on the current epidemic. Likewise, experimental Ebola vaccines have been demonstrated to be effective in animal trials, and one has been shown to be safe in humans, but the process of demonstrating it effectiveness in humans and then producing it in sufficient quantities may take longer than it would for the virus to spread around the world.

The scenario in which Ebola engulfs the globe is not yet guaranteed, but neither can it be dismissed as some sort of apocalyptic fantasy: the chances of it happening are by no means zero. And if Ebola is not stopped, it has the potential to reduce the human population of the earth from over 7 billion to around 3.5 billion in a relatively short period of time. Note that even a population collapse of this magnitude is still well short of causing human extinction: after all, about half the victims fully recover and become immune to the virus. But supposing that Ebola does run its course, what sort of world will it leave in its wake? More importantly, now is a really good time to start thinking of ways in which people can adapt to the reality of a global Ebola pandemic, to avoid a wide variety of worst-case outcomes. After all, compared to some other doomsday scenarios, such as runaway climate change or global nuclear annihilation, a population collapse can look positively benign, and, given the completely unsustainable impact humans are currently having on the environment, may perhaps even come to be regarded as beneficial.

I understand that such thinking is anathema to those who feel that every problem must have a solution—or it's not worth discussing. I certainly don't want to discourage those who are trying to stop Ebola, or to delay its spread until a vaccine becomes available, and would even help them if I could. I am not suicidal, and I don't look forward to the death of roughly half the people I know. But I happen to disagree that thinking about what such an outcome, and perhaps even preparing for it in some ways, is necessarily a bad idea. Unless, of course, it produces a panic. So, if you are prone to panic, perhaps you shouldn't be reading this.

And so, for the benefit of those who are not particularly panic-prone, I am going to trot out my old technique of examining collapse as consisting of five distinct stages: financial, commercial, political, social and cultural, and briefly discuss the various ramifications of a swift 50% global population collapse when viewed through that prism. If you want to know all about the five stages, my book is widely available.

Financial collapse

Our current set of financial arrangements, involving very large levels of debt leading to artificially high valuations placed on stocks, commodities, real estate, and Ph.D's in economics, is underpinned by a key assumption: that the global economy is going to continue to grow. Yes, global growth started stumbling around the turn of the century, stopped for a while during the financial collapse of 2008, and has since then remained anemic, with even the most tentative signs of recovery having much to do with unlimited money-printing by the world's central banks, but the economics Ph.D's remain ever so hopeful that growth will resume. Nevertheless, this much is clear: halving the number of workers and consumers would not be conducive to boosting economic growth.

Quite the opposite: it would mean that most debt will have to be written off. Likewise, the valuations of companies that would supply half the demand with half the workers would be unlikely to go up. Nor would the houses, half of which would stand vacant and dilapidated, increase in value. If the supply of oil suddenly outstrips demand by 50%, then this would cause the price of oil to drop to a point where it no longer covers the cost of producing it, and oil producers will be forced to shut down. This would not be a happy event for those countries that are heavily dependent on energy exports in order to afford imports of food to feed their populations. Nor would such developments spell a happy end for those countries that need to continuously roll over trillions of dollars of short-term debt in order to continue feeding their populations via government hand-outs (the United States comes to mind).

“But what about wealth preservation?!” I hear some of my readers screaming in anguish? “How do I hedge my portfolio against a sudden 50% global population drop?” Well, that's easy: you need to be short all paper. Short it all: currency, stocks, bonds, debt instruments, deeds on urban real estate. Get out of most commodities: energy, obviously, but also precious metals, because you can't eat gold. Go long people (who will be in ever-shorter supply) and arable land (because people have to eat) and stockpile everything else that they will need to learn to feed themselves. If they are sufficiently grateful for all you help, they will feed you too. Alternatively, you can just sit on your paper wealth as it dwindles to nothing, and wait for the torches and the pitchforks to come out. Since wealthy people squander a disproportionate amount of wealth on themselves and their families, killing them off is a good wealth preservation strategy—for the rest of us, so feel free to do your part.

Commercial collapse

It would be a challenge to keep global supply chains in operation while commodity prices plummet in value, credit becomes unavailable, and other knock-on effects of financial collapse make themselves felt. Since a lot of production depends on overseas suppliers, it would shut down shortly after international credit becomes unavailable. Countries that have food security, strong central control, many state-owned companies and long-term barter agreements with other countries (Russia and China come to mind) may find it possible to switch their economies into the old command and control mode, so that the few products that are key for keeping the survivors alive remain available.

It should be expected that certain forms of production—those particularly capital intensive—would disappear entirely. Examples might include integrated circuit manufacturing, pharmaceutical industry, offshore oil drilling, satellite technology and so on. Certain long-lasting forms of technology, such as manual printing presses, manual typewriters and solar panel-powered shortwave radios, would remain in use, treasured and passed along as technological heirlooms.

For many operations, different staffing arrangements would need to be put in place. For instance, ships would need to double their crews, in expectation that at least half the crew might drop dead during any given trip. This would not be as problematic as it sounds: during the age of discovery it was not unusual for half the crew to be lost during a voyage from causes ranging from blunt trauma to scurvy. The shift to double-staffing would be particularly important for operations that affect public safety in a major way, nuclear power plants in particular.

Political collapse

A 50% reduction in global population would no doubt accelerate the already speedy process by which nation-states fail and turn into ungovernable regions. Not a year goes by without one or two more countries joining their ranks: Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine... Several African countries may join this list before the year is out.

Especially at risk are those countries that would be unable to continue feeding their populations once oil prices plummet. Saudi Arabia, for instance, would be quickly wiped out as a country once the vast welfare state supported by the House of Saud ceases to function. As soon as that happens, Saudi Arabia would become a particularly soft target for the Islamic Caliphate, with very interesting consequences for the entire region.

There is one effect that would be common to all countries, or at least to those who have not yet undergone political collapse: since the population would become much younger, gerontocracy would become a thing of the past. The swift die-off would cause life expectancies to plummet, but we should expect the effect to be much more pronounced at the higher end of the spectrum. In many of the prosperous, developed countries in particular, there is currently a very large bulge near the geriatric end of the age spectrum. In these countries, people have been living longer and longer thanks to aggressive medical interventions: cancer surgeries, drug regimens and a variety of therapies. Many of these people are living longer but in increasingly poor health, and we should expect Ebola to carry them off in disproportionately large numbers. Organizations such as the US senate, with an average age over 60, would be expected to lose much more than half of their members—to most Americans' inordinate glee, if public survey numbers are to be believed.

For those countries that manage to remain stable, the disproportionately heavy die-off among the aged may pave the way to large-scale economic and political reforms. Older people tend to vote more than the young, and they tend to vote for the preservation of the status quo rather than for change. This pattern is particularly clear in some countries, such as the US, where older people vote to maintain the privileges that had accrued to them during prosperous times, thereby depriving their children and grandchildren of a viable future. The demographic projection where soon there will be just two working-age people supporting each retiree would be invalidated. Other types of rapid positive change may occur; for instance, many academic disciplines, in which nothing can change until the old guard dies, may begin to see rapid progress.

Social collapse

There would likely to be a wide spectrum of outcomes. Those communities that are ethnically homogenous, well-defended, strongly bound together by conservative and uniform social and religious traditions, with a history of favoring self-sufficiency and perseverance, would be likely to survive and recover. On the other hand, those communities that are ethnically diverse with a history of bigotry, racism and ethnic strife, with weak, optional, or nonexistent standards of public morality, which are integrated into the global economy in non-optional ways, and which are unaccustomed to hardship, are likely to perish.

Cultural collapse

The cultures most favored to survive would be those that can be preserved autonomously at a small scale. Particularly favored to survive would be those that have a strong oral tradition, teach their own children within families rather than submitting them to government-run schools, and insist on internal systems of jurisprudence and governance in defiance of any external interference. It is hard to imagine that the Roma of the Balkans or the Pashtuns of Waziristan would fail to pass on their culture just because half of them suddenly die. Such circumstances may sound dire to most of us, but to these long-suffering tribes it's a sunny day in the park and a boat-ride on the pond, and they would be sure to add a few epic poems about it to their repertoire once it's over.

At the other extreme are those cultures that depend entirely on book-learning, and have a writing system sufficiently abstruse to require many years of schooling just to achieve a basic level of literacy (English, Chinese). Education relies on transmitting information from those who are older to those who are younger, and as the die-off compresses the age spectrum toward its younger end, the number of teachers will dwindle. Coupled with other inevitable disruptions, formal schooling may become impossible in many areas, resulting, a generation or so later, in very low levels of literacy. Severed from its main mechanism for acquiring knowledge, the culture of the people in such areas would disintegrate. At the very far end of the spectrum are found roving bands of feral children, speaking a language that no adult is able to understand. It is at this point that we are able to conclude that cultural collapse has run its course.

Mitigation strategies

I have already mentioned that it may be a good idea to make arrangements through which survivors would be able to feed themselves, and provide them with the few other necessities for survival.

Beyond that, there are the basic mechanics of handling the pandemic. The current strategy treats it as a medical problem, best handled by doctors and nurses working in hospitals and clinics. This strategy only works for as long as the epidemic can be said to be under control; once it can be said to be out of control, the surviving doctors and nurses (medics are usually the first to be exposed—and to die) would be well advised to specifically refuse to handle Ebola patients.

In absence of any curative or preventive therapies, Ebola patients need shelter, hydration, hygiene, palliative care and, if and when they die, sanitary disposal of the remains. The goal is to do what is possible to give patients a chance to recover more or less on their own. To this end, it is very important to do all the things necessary to make sure that people are dying just from Ebola, and not from exposure, dehydration, or from any of the opportunistic diseases that thrive in disrupted circumstances, such as cholera and typhus. Sanitation is the most important aspect of the entire operation.

These services need not be provided by trained medics. The main two requirements for such service are: 1. psychological immunity to scenes of horrific suffering and death; and 2. immunity to Ebola. The first of these requirements comes down to natural talent; some have it, some don't. The second requirement is being provided free of charge by the Ebola virus itself, in cooperation with the survivors' immune systems.

English lacks a good word to describe this type of specialist, but we don't have to reach far to find one: the Russian word for it is “sanitar.” A popular Russian saying goes “wolves are sanitars of the forest” because they take care of disposing of the sick, the weak and the lame, thus giving those that survive a better chance. A sanitar need not be medically trained, but some training is needed: in diagnosis, palliative care, sanitation procedures and corpse disposal.

A third requirement is one that applies to the sanitation service as a whole: the number of sanitars has to scale with the rate of infection. Since the number of those infected is increasing exponentially, the number of sanitars assigned to serve them has to be able to increase exponentially as well. It seems outlandish to think that sufficient numbers of people will spontaneously volunteer for the job, and this means that they have to be press-ganged into service. And a super-obvious way to do just that is to simply never discharge Ebola survivors: once you are in, you are in until the pandemic is over, or until you die, whichever comes first. If you recover, you are given a bit of training, and then you go to work.

If you don't like the mitigation strategy I am proposing, please feel free to propose your own. Keep in mind, however, that what you propose has to automatically scale with the increase in the rate of infection, which is exponential. Sure, you can propose setting a public health budget, but then it has to double every couple of weeks—and keep doubling until the number of patients is in the billions.

 

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Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:48 | 5318661 90's Child
90's Child's picture

Why is it we have a million plus illegals entering the United States yearly. 240,000 (caught, not counting the ones not accounted for)
In a short 3 month span since April till July.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/04/us/influx-of-central-american-migra...

We house them, provide them with food, clothing, medical attention, legal representation, transportation and a lot more.

Yet the roughly 150 travelers from West Africa daily we can't detain them for 21ish days to watch for symptoms of the Ebola virus.

If you are traveling from West Africa to America (most likely trying to leave cause of ebola) while you run the risk of being infected then I don't think it's too unreasonable for them to be expected to be detained until it's proven without a doubt they aren't contiguous.

With all the money wasted on illegal immigrants for the benefit of them and only them how is it our government can't take simple, logical steps to ensure our safety.

We are all citizens, we pay taxes. So why not ensure our safety, easily, and logically to prevent a outbreak.

This questions is more for the people on the other side of the fence that don't believe this way planned, that government is good... Ect.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:49 | 5318666 90's Child
90's Child's picture

Better yet how much longer until people start sending letters to government officials with "EBOLA" written in blood.

Maybe that'll get a better response.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:04 | 5318681 X.inf.capt
X.inf.capt's picture

SHE. "who is it, dear...

HE. "honey, this is a mr. death...he's here about the reaping???"

DEATH. "THE GRIM REAPER!!!"

SHE. "OH, PLEASE, DO COME IN"

(death enters)

sounds like our current public policy...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:05 | 5318700 Newsboy
Newsboy's picture

Financial WW-3 begins Monday at "War Games" in Washington at FDIC, with UK and US top brass all there.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/11/lehman-crash-play-financ...

Financial-WW-3 and Ebola Pandemic are married.

Here comes history...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:33 | 5318762 PhysicalRealm
PhysicalRealm's picture

Apologies if these were posted and I missed it, but worth looking into:

Ultraviolet light robot kills Ebola in two minutes

http://www.naturalnews.com/047216_Ebola_contamination_Xenex_ultraviolet_...

http://www.xenex.com/

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:39 | 5318769 BellyBrain
BellyBrain's picture

More steaming piles of ebolie bullshit from ZH.  The "Globalists" can't produce a real global virus outbreak, so they are going with a FAKE outbreak instead.

 

And yet I see the comments here of people eating up the lie like it's dessert.  Doesn't anyone remember the "swine flue pandemic" that was going to kill us ALLLLLL (so you better get your swine flue vaccine PRONTO)?  I suspect that anyone dumb enough to get the "swine flue vaccine" probably lost another 5-10 IQ points due to vaccine damage (as intended) and probably can't remember 5 months ago, much less 5 years ago, but surely the cognitive giants who frequent this site weren't so naive, right?

 

Anyhow, it's such a good thing that trustworthy sites like ZeroHedge and InfoWhores, along with the MSM, are pimping this bullshit ebola narrative as hard as they possibly can.  Their masters/owners expect nothing less than total compliance, otherwise those monthly "donations" will stop flowing.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:45 | 5318790 PhysicalRealm
PhysicalRealm's picture

BellyBrain:  agree on swine flu, however, if UV light is the tech that'll be the big deal, you might want to invest in it, ya know? 

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:41 | 5318909 Pinto Currency
Pinto Currency's picture

 

 

If CDC is responding to only 50% of potential cases, this will become a pandemic:

http://www.infowars.com/cdc-ignoring-half-of-potential-ebola-cases/

 

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:22 | 5319006 Bangalore Equit...
Bangalore Equity Trader's picture

Listen. Let me ask you something important.

Here in India, often times the human fecal waste is deposited on a nice sunny spot for it to dry. Streets or sidewalks are a good spot. Once dry that waste is then used as fuel, burnt in stoves or cooking ovens.

Now since the eBola virus works it's way into fecal waste as the zombie bleeds internally. Do you Zero's think that the waste will be fine to handle "AFTER" it is dried by the suns heat? Or do I need to get a propane stove?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:43 | 5319045 NoPension
NoPension's picture

Should be fine.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:14 | 5319413 InjectTheVenom
InjectTheVenom's picture

speaking of fecal waste , has anyone heard anything from Obama recently about the ebola issue ?

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 05:19 | 5319980 Rememberweimar
Rememberweimar's picture

I heard he went into his underground concrete bunker with his Jewish friends

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 05:47 | 5319990 sessinpo
sessinpo's picture

Hell,

I even heard you were Jewish. Watch your back.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 07:51 | 5320050 Ying-Yang
Ying-Yang's picture

2nd case of ebola confirmed in Dallas

A Texas health care worker who provided hospital care for an Ebola patient who later died has tested positive for the virus, health officials said Sunday in a statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/state-health-officials-2nd-ebola-case-texas-102955...

So precautions for healhcare worker did not work. Now, think if you are one of these care givers how will this change your thoughts?

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 08:00 | 5320056 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill's picture

Panic is now on.

Sell stawks, buy preps if you haven't already.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 16:25 | 5321573 sylviasays
sylviasays's picture

speaking of fecal waste , has anyone heard anything from Obama recently about the ebola issue ?

I heard he went into his underground concrete bunker with Reggie Love and his Muslim Brotherhood friends

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:16 | 5319577 vie
vie's picture

Better handle that shit with gloves. 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:47 | 5319054 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Listen.
What you need to do is stick to fixing my laptop issue, Bob.
If you don't, then it's back to chasing cobra's under the call center drop floor. You don't want to go back to that, do you? Just ship the fucking wi-if card or you'll violate your HP ELA...
And you need another opener other than "Listen." That's a really weak trolling calling card. Even AnAnonomous or whatever used to mix it up a little bit. You're troll is stale.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 01:47 | 5319834 X.inf.capt
X.inf.capt's picture

HARRY WANGER had a great stick.. now that was a good troll..

but ROBOTRADER was classic...netflix's,,,

and 10 posts under his saying STFU!

it was the ZH "GOLDEN AGE OF TROLLING"

 

good times!

now were stuck with...

'LISTEN'

WTF???

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:51 | 5319206 acetinker
acetinker's picture

Bangy, in politics and in real life, sunshine is the best disinfectant.  If the poop is dry enough to burn, it's safe.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:51 | 5319207 SokPOTUS
SokPOTUS's picture

That sh*ts good for cooking on, too.  Don't worry, it's *fine*.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:26 | 5319592 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

You love the abuse you ask for you puppy raping monkey you.

And you're funny. I'm gonna need to give you that. 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:39 | 5319626 Silveramada
Silveramada's picture

You could grill with it...

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 05:48 | 5319992 BidnessMan
BidnessMan's picture

Wonder how that would do for a briskett in a Big Green Egg

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 07:49 | 5320046 1Inthebeginning
1Inthebeginning's picture

The EVIDENCE is that it will remain infectous for about 50 days at 4 degrees celcius. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/res/psds-ftss/ebola-eng.php

  This shows what disinfectants ebola is susceptible to.http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/id-mi/vhf-fvh/ebola-biosafety-biosecurite-eng.php 

The fiber in dung does make it an excellent fuel source.  And I certainly understand using every resource possible.  Please tell people to waite longer to use as fuel and try to store out of harms way.  How about the roof?

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:10 | 5319401 neidermeyer
neidermeyer's picture

Stating the obvious ... there is enough natural UV light in west Africa to make my skin blister and peel off in short order... hasn't helped there...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:39 | 5319473 trulz4lulz
trulz4lulz's picture

It keeps it from spreading outside. Ebola mostly spreads indoors since the UV present is a "Blue" or "white" fluorescent type of bulb.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:59 | 5318818 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Except....
....as I was sitting on the thunder bucket...with a trash can on my lap shitting and puking at that same time...and at light speed, that (confirmed case, wife is a doc and took the swab) swine flu sure as shit didn't feel fucking fake. At all.
Yeah, so I lived...but it was the king daddy of all the shit I've ever came down with to this day. Dropped 12 lbs. bedridden for 7 days. Didn't feel or look right for a month at least.

So please, tell me more about your false flag virus theory.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:45 | 5318917 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Must agree with that assessment as I had been there personally. What's worse when I gave it to Mr, was listening to all the expletives emanating from him for days as he writhed in sweat soaked sheets with 103 degree fever. Afterwards I had expected divorce papers to possibly being burned at the stake for being a witch. Thankfully the fevers must have affected his memory and neither happened.

The only good thing about this is we will be immune to this MFKer for quite a long time and probably will have partial immunity to similar strains. At least that's the shit I keep telling myself to make that hell seem worth it.

Miffed

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:59 | 5318964 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

The Mrs. MD brought it home to me...yet was impervious to it...as she is most things. She would swing in the room, pop a Phenergan and Advil in me every 4 hours and drop off a few jugs of gator aid. That's about the extent of it for the week. Couldn't hold down any food. I was very awful. I'm a healthy dude. It dropped me like nothing. Couldn't care for myself at all. Weak as hell. If it weren't for her, I'd have been in the hospital...catching something else...and sharing as well.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:43 | 5319157 g'kar
g'kar's picture

Miffed, would it do any good to adjust your body's pH level towards an alkaline state to ward off or discourage a virus? From what I've read that viruses and bacteria prefer an acid pH environment.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:36 | 5319166 SF beatnik
SF beatnik's picture

Here in S.F., I've been very sick for the past 14 days with flu symptoms (fever, chills, muscle aches).  

Symptoms diminished, now, but I am still weak and lacking energy. Still some lung congestion, lowered voice. 

I've thought that it can't be flu because it has lasted past four days. ???

 

So many new disesease going around now, in the USA.  

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:36 | 5319168 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

Hopefully your "future" exposure will have just had some antigenic drift, in which case your theory is pretty watertight.

If your future exposure has had antigenic shift (usually as a result of co-infection of an intermediate host (which you are fully conversant with)), you luck will probably run out.

Antigenic shift (significant or not) generally = pandemic. And there are a lot of haemagglutinin and neuraminidase combinations "out there" which our species has yet to experience . . . . .

Just another one of the very long list of "microbes out to get us".

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:05 | 5319238 DaddyO
DaddyO's picture

“The 2014 Ebola outbreak gives new meaning to the term ‘Red Eye Flight.’” – James Wesley, Rawles

DaddyO

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 05:22 | 5319983 Rememberweimar
Rememberweimar's picture

James is Jewish

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:14 | 5319267 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

We are still seeing 2009H1N1 make the rounds here. Far more than H3 seasonal. Still get patients in ICU with it. Last year one hospital in our network had to just throw them all in a disaster area they were so overwhelmed. Every day I came to work and asked if the tent was still going. Did this for over a month.

I wonder if our primers will be unable to detect some of these new strains if antigenic drift becomes too dramatic but we are thinking to only screen for Flu A, B and RSV and let PH do the sub typing and deal with the epidemiology this year. We are concerned the novel MRSA strains coming out (SCCmec) will not be detected by our primers and we are calling out false negatives now. Everything just changes so rapidly now. Another happy fact of globalization.

Most deaths I saw are chronically ill diabetics, elderly. Far more younger people in ICU than ever before. I don't know the reason for this. Are these strains more virulent or are people less healthy than before and succumb more readily? Perhaps both.

Biggest scare for us is ill patients that are not showing symptoms visit people in the hospital. We have had close calls with that scenario in sensitive areas like the NICU and oncology.

Miffed

Fri, 10/24/2014 - 19:54 | 5374700 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

'Far more younger people in ICU than ever before'

 

I think that the younger ones have never been exposed to this (or broadly similar) strain, older folks will have got an ancestor of this flu 60 years ago, people are living longer and so you can see a skewing of the relative demographic.

120 years ago there were only (relatively) young people about when that prticular strain did the rounds, 60 years later and almost all of the people with immunity were already dead.

As human longevity stretching is fairly new, I can see the (successful) progeny of this strain also stretching the repeat time so it only comes round when there are plentiful none immune hosts available (80/100 year cycle)

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:27 | 5319141 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

That sounds like REAL Influenza A. Now you know why it kills - and kill it DOES.

In my Hospital we routinely take in 2-300 Influenza A cases annually. The ones who die (2-3%) usually have an underlying problem (COPD / Fibrotic changes / Asbestosis), but one to two deaths will be in healthy younger individuals.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:22 | 5319694 COSMOS
COSMOS's picture

Regarding the younger healthier ones, guess their MHC I repertoire is not optimal for showing those influenza peptides and thus they cant mount an effective cell mediate immune response.  And who knows maybe their MHC II genes in the antigen presenting cells may also not be optimal for displaying the influenza peptides robbing them of an effective humoral immune response.  Its always a matter of are you fortunate to have a good mix of MHC genes inherited.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:03 | 5319535 palmereldritch
palmereldritch's picture

The shit-pukes are the worst.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:32 | 5318882 Gold Eyed Cat
Gold Eyed Cat's picture

BB, I don't get what you are so upset about.

Fake or real, orchestrated or natural, catastrophic or minor... we will know in a matter of weeks.  Trying to get out in front of a plague, or financial disaster, or fake NWO bullshit is SMART.  Even a little planning can make a world of difference! 

It's not "pimping this bullshit Ebola narrative".  It's pushing out any new information as quickly as possible so that we can decide for ourselves how we want to place our bets.

But if you think it's all bullshit, that's cool too.  Stop reading Ebola updates.  Do nothing different at all.  Or make your decisions based on the stars or whatever suits you.  

The rest of us will keep our eyes open. We'll have conversations about the obvious lies and spin.  We'll fact check as much as we can.  And we'll take note of what is NOT being said.  And perhaps we'll see it (whatever it is) coming, with enough time left to get the fuck out of the way.

And if you do decide to keep reading the Ebola posts, keep posting your doubts!  That IS part of the discussion.  But try and resist the urge to condemn the discussion itself.  Even if it's fake, it IS going to effect your finances and lifestyle in the near future, my friend.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:57 | 5318957 NoPension
NoPension's picture

It's a lib response.
Dropped Ebola on my uber lib buddy ( everybody needs at least one, for study) and he went the fuck berserk.
" stupid fucking bullshit, concocted to make the gov look bad, I don't care, blah, blah, blah"

Whoa dude!

What fun! His solution, I kid you not; shotgun, first his wife, then himself. And I know, he's not got the balls or the skill set. Gunsbaddd.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:13 | 5319258 Freddie
Freddie's picture

LOL!

Libtards deciding to shotgun themselves if Obama's Ebola really takes off?  Maybe this ebola is not so bad.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:48 | 5319344 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Actually I was a bit shocked the liberal had a gun. None of my liberal acquaintances do. Or, at least, don't admit they do.

This is interesting when pondered. What is the percentage of true flag waving liberal who fully embraces liberal ideals and lifestyle vs the costume wearing liberal who dons a facade to run with the "in" crowd and partake of smart cocktail conversation with other academics? Have I been duped and have misjudged their cleverness? I certainly would be most embarrassed to be overrun by well armed gang of liberals in a M551 Sheridan.

Miffed

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:53 | 5319359 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

My liberal neighbor has a bunch of guns. He is an enigma.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:21 | 5319427 NoPension
NoPension's picture

We're in the stix, shotgun is mandatory minimum. Even libtards get that.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 00:21 | 5319797 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Joe Biden told em.  If you hear a noise or think you have a burglar - open the window and fire your shotgun.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 00:11 | 5319785 palmereldritch
palmereldritch's picture

It's not so much about the 2nd Amendment as it is to give them the "Hitler Bunker" option when they realize all their statist illusions are collapsing upon themselves...

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 05:26 | 5319985 Rememberweimar
Rememberweimar's picture

Where the hell is Hitler when you need him?

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 05:15 | 5319978 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

how about... double standards?

here in europe in theory we have what your US liberals are trying (or pretending) to achieve: if a 19-old asks "wow, guns are soooo coool, where can I buy one?" he is told: forget it, they are forbidden

if someone else, lacking those warning signs like young age, excitement and untrustiness asks the same question, he gets a completely different set of answers, which eventually lead to official hunting clubs, official weapon shops, less official weapon clubs and then even access to the illegal "wink, wink" black markets

of course nobody on our continent can "embrace the lifestyle" of carring them around as if he needed a colt at his hip against rattlesnakes and an assault rifle cradled in his arms against coyotes while strolling in the pedestrian area of Nottingham, Florence or Trier, all of course while wearing a gallon hat or full hunting or military camo

but seriously, was the American Great Outdoors with weapons lifestyle ever in danger? it isn't here in europe, where I regularly go hunting for wild boar, or duck

imo it's a sore spot of culture wars that puts US liberals so wehemently against guns. and culture wars are about identity. if they were a teeny-weenly bit more concerned about real solutions, they would make proposals according to population density. but then, they would miss the "bitching against weapon culture", wouldn't they? And some "liberal zip-codes" aren't that urban, aren't they?

instead thinking of an "embarassing encounter with well armed gang of liberals in a M551 Sheridan", note how many nice-looking districts of Alexandria, Egypt were - during the last revolution - in the hands of a well armed militia of well respected people you'd never expect to have weapon caches, and actually support weapon bans, even after they demonstrated to be very well stocked. weapons? us? never

double standards and discrimination against youth. wink, wink

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 22:19 | 5322647 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Your thought provoking response hits at the crux of the issue.

Perceptions

The problem is not themselves but the pathetic attempt to rationalize them, plug them in a "scientific" algorithm to describe possible outcomes. Modeling in this fashion is pure sophistry in the end with no connection to reality. However it appears dabbling in such drivel is a requirement for acceptance into academic circles. A person ensconced in the world of reality seems to have the opposite effect to the point of ridicule.

Because I am well known to all for being well armed, if I were to shout at work " I hope all of you just fucking die" and storm out, this would lead to possible actions and assumptions that have no basis in truth. Why is the person that rarely speaks or makes eye contact, does his job and leaves everyday not scrutinized nor judged as I am?

I ran into this again when I sought to buy a silencer for my AR-15 so not to bother my neighbors while I target practice. I cannot because they are illegal. Why? They are perceived as dangerous. If the perception is all that matters why not slap a Hello Kitty sticker on it and make it all ok?

I don't think the American Outdoorsman is under too much of a threat vs those who have an affinity for " assault" weaponry. By definition, those people are assumed to have an inherent desire for mass murder and are portrayed as such. Peeling away the layers, one will find this type of military weapon makes one's position far more defendable against government intrusion. The massive militarization of our police is evidence to this fact. Their actions speak for them.

Perhaps liberals are more gifted in portraying themselves as benevolent idealists and dupe the impressionable. If, by your example, this is the case, they have a greater chance of survival by their subterfuge than I have with my honesty.

Miffed

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:41 | 5319181 SF beatnik
SF beatnik's picture

Gold Eyed Cat

 

Wow. I'm marveling at your diplomacy.

You should be the US ambassador to North Korea.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 01:05 | 5319856 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Agree, I'm lovin' me some Gold Eyed Cat as well, would have posted something like you said, but you got the job done.

You WILL get better. Think of what you would do for a kid as sick as yourself. Do that for you. Fluids, eat, vitamin C if you have it. Chicken soup. You know the drill. Be gentle with yourself. It's okay.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:41 | 5318908 cynicalskeptic
cynicalskeptic's picture

Didn't we see this in 'V for Vendetta'?

 

Massive die offs from a pandemic - a pharmaceutical company having a miracle treatment for those with enough money - or the right connections..... just saying....

Seems awful 'convenient'.  Huge die offs in the developing world - wait until it hits India, Pakistan, Indonesia and China..... places gorwing the fastest with the largest growth in consumption....

Keep in mind that the Black Death worked out VERY well for the survivors.   The wealth and possessions of the recently deceased were 'redistributed' among the survivors.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:23 | 5319135 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

It might turn out to be very convenient and yes, I intend to make out like a bandit either way (my preference is for >60%)

 

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:48 | 5319197 SF beatnik
SF beatnik's picture

(my preference is for >60%)

 

Sure, you can probably move right into the Getty mansion. 

But you won't have any running water or electricity. No heat. Toilet won't flush. 

Grocery stores will be closed. No gasoline, no police or fire department.

You can catch up on your reading during the daylight hours.

Can you prosper as a cannibal?

 

 

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:58 | 5319220 NemoDeNovo
NemoDeNovo's picture

Hogwash, nothing will break down that fast, and throwing in a red herring of Cannibalism, ridiculous at best.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:12 | 5319411 SF beatnik
SF beatnik's picture

It's not mass die back from disease that will shut things down. It's the panic arising from just a few deaths that would cause workers to stay home. 

Things could shut down fast, and they probably won't come back up again.

On cannibalism, I refer you to General Butt Naked,  Liberian warlord.  "You get hungry...." 

 

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:58 | 5319667 whirling tword ...
whirling tword freedom's picture

LOL, if services do stop, it will be because everyone is staying home with their family.

Once the trucks stop.... everything stops.... everything.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:17 | 5319420 pupdog1
pupdog1's picture

They will become cannibals about three days after running out of red herring.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:27 | 5319446 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

Hmm, I got lots of cookbooks...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:06 | 5319543 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Is it "How to Serve Man"?

I may be dating may self with that....but it was old when I saw it.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 01:13 | 5319863 SF beatnik
SF beatnik's picture

 

Is it "How to Serve Man"?

I may be dating may self with that...

 

Yeah, you are dating yourself.... 65. Unless you were rather precocious.

 

Now, the good general informs us (on youtube) that for ordinary hunger, the most delectable parts are the pecs and the thighs -  moist and tender.  

For valor in combat, you must eat your enemy's heart.

 

 

 

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 02:47 | 5319916 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

71 vintage....

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 01:10 | 5319864 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I shouldn't admit I know about this, but I do.

Long Pig, and I don't mean pork bellys.

http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/e-sermons/butcher.html

They even have a sauce recipie.

Fri, 10/24/2014 - 19:32 | 5374627 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

You can keep the mansion, My water is spring fed, runs all year at the same rate and temperature.

I can rig up wind and water power, it ain't rocket science.

I already grow a lot of my veg and usually have more than enough fruit and eggs (we give lots away to neighbors)

No gas is a bitch because it is so handy but we can learn to live with it (I guess we will have to go back a generation and use steam)

I have never in all my life called the police or fire dept, why would I need them now ?

No new reading would be the worst, I read anything and everything (including manuals, labels, EULAs)

 

Yes, start with the vegetarians.

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:42 | 5319041 TVP
TVP's picture

It matters not how many die of the disease, except in an economic sense as described above.

What matters is the fear being drummed up about it...that fear always serves the end of curtailing civil liberties.  See Connecticut (not a single case there, yet martial law now declared).

This will be used to create a holocaust, one way or another.  If the virus doesn't do it, FEMA camps will.  

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:13 | 5319700 whirling tword ...
whirling tword freedom's picture

I still have to think that unless you're suspected in a real way of having it, nobody will come to get you.

At some point, there would be too many to come and get.... also, if I'm not sick, I'm not going anywhere with anyone unless I choose to.

America has been arming herself over the last several years.  Even with an MRAP... they're not taking you unless someone comes to get you.... that's be hard when they're being shot at.

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:44 | 5319044 buyingsterling
buyingsterling's picture

I hope you're right, but I'm pretty sure this is gong to get ugly without any prompting from the powers that be.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:29 | 5319147 markpower49
markpower49's picture

I hope so. I want to watch it all burn to the ground. The statists need to be culled.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:32 | 5319458 Barley Burnside
Barley Burnside's picture

I thought it said "ultra-violent robots" like Megatron in Transformers. Far out man....

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:19 | 5319708 12ToothAssassin
12ToothAssassin's picture

Nice to hear a contrarian point of view. Dont let them shout you down.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:41 | 5318776 PhysicalRealm
Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:15 | 5318846 HedgeHammer
HedgeHammer's picture

So all I gots ta do is pull out me trusty black light from the 70's and all is good. F'n A!

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:43 | 5318916 seek
seek's picture

Wrong wavelength of UV light, unfortunately.

The right wavelength isn't something you're going to want to ever see.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:43 | 5319042 Overfed
Overfed's picture

Sunlight has the correct UV wavelength to kill any microbe. However, it won't do a tiny bit of good anywhere that the UV light cant reach, like inside you or under a mm of material.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:54 | 5319215 Advoc8tr
Advoc8tr's picture

So all we need is a simple "bypass" catheter setup that directs your blood flow via a transparent radiator so the sun rays can do their work ? 

Anyone know if Silver is effective at killing it ? 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:07 | 5319097 JB
JB's picture

UV light is invisible to humans.

 

Go out in the sun, dumbasses

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:42 | 5319185 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

Conveniently most "germicidal" lights radiate at 254nm, which is close enough to the RNA absorption peak (260nm) to have an effect.

HOWEVER you may wish to consider that we routinely used to use 254nm UV because of it's good performance as a mutagenic wavelength. Maybe "giving Ebola a helping hand" in better adapting to us wouldn't be such a great idea?? (Just saying . . . . .)

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:29 | 5319452 zhandax
zhandax's picture

In that case I will leave the EPROM eraser in the closet.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:28 | 5319722 COSMOS
COSMOS's picture

If I remember correctly the RNA polymerase in RNA viruses has no proofreading ability, so the thing mutates just by replicating in your body.  Comforting thought eh?

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 01:38 | 5319875 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

For a SS RNA genome, the error rate's rougly 3%, so for Ebola (17 kb) each replication cycle can produce  about 0.51 kb genetic change. That's EACH and EVERY replication cycle. So the daughter virions WILL be different from the parent, and "differently different" within that "family". Look on the bright side - Tobacco Mosaic Virus was even more error-prone (5-6% per kb per cycle!)

Compare that with the error rate per kbp for DS DNA as a genetic information store - ONE error per every 100,000 cycles. (or 10 e-5).

So yes. And that's why ss RNA viruses are such a problem. They adapt, and very rapidly too, which means they can modify their surface antigenic profile, and so avoid (or at least partially evade) any pre-existing primed immune response. Which in turn is why vaccination may not necessarily provide the "Knight in Shining Armour" everyone's talking about.

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:06 | 5319551 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Rebirth of the tanning bed?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:31 | 5319603 vie
vie's picture

Tanning beds for all Ebola patients.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:05 | 5318703 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

The Five Stages of Any Government Project:

 

 

1.)  High hopes and great expectations.

2.)  Behind schedule and over budget.

3.)  Blind Panic.

4.)  Restatement of the original goals to match the results.

5.)  Punishment of the innocent and the reward and reelection of the incompetents. 

What difference does it make?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:31 | 5318756 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Hillary, is that you?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:16 | 5318994 Mike in GA
Mike in GA's picture

No, Hillary can't count that high.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:11 | 5319104 buyingsterling
buyingsterling's picture

Meatwad?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:41 | 5319484 StychoKiller
Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:40 | 5318772 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Or food tainted with ebola. The infected food server handles food, fresh vegtables.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:10 | 5318834 Bilderberg Member
Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:55 | 5318954 Mentaliusanything
Mentaliusanything's picture

or notes and coins on payment for food or cutlery not sterilised enough.

Time to go Galt

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:55 | 5318678 Jacksons Ghost
Jacksons Ghost's picture

On a long enough timeline......EBOLA will get us all.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:30 | 5318753 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

Here are the 10 companies that control the death industry:

http://247wallst.com/investing/2011/01/13/the-ten-companies-that-control...

Watch them for any upticks. If this goes bad and you get lucky...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:58 | 5319665 90's Child
90's Child's picture

Good find.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:47 | 5318922 NoPension
NoPension's picture

Because.... And this is the ONLY answer that makes sense, " they DO NOT CARE about the average native born US citizen.

If your Black, they OWN your vote. It's automatic, put in the D win column.

If your on Social Security, welfare, EBT, or .gov pension, they own your vote. It's automatic, ck the D column.

But it's not enough. There are still too many tea bag types, bitter clingers.

They need insurance, to keep the scales tipped they're way. And what to do when you own every black, every lib mental case, every dumb college kid, every sexual deviant,every pensioner that thinks you're the only one to keep the spigot on( your not) , and that's not ENOUGH, what to do ?

New loser constituents. Best they can't even read your shit or understand your drivel.

It's the only thing that makes ANY sense.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:15 | 5318993 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

I see where you are going with it....but there are some issues.

I don't think Ebola is really picky. Unless this is specifically tuned for tea party DNA, then I'm not sure how exactly the scales get tipped as you suggest.
Seems to me, the folks you listed are most susceptible due to age, poverty, health and in the case of your run of the mill lib, pure arrogance and denial. Most tea party or libertarians have baked bio threat into their overall mindset and plans.

I've been set for this for at least 10 yrs. I'm surprised it took them this long. Must be harder to do than I thought.
So I think an outbreak works for them...at least they think it will....as cover for the free fall economic collapse. It's useful for gov in so many ways.

Whoever is pulling this shit thinks they can ride this tiger. I've got bad news for them.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:55 | 5319070 NoPension
NoPension's picture

I went off in my own direction, after reading the opening comment about how many illegals the gov rounds up, etc.
And I guess I jacked the thread , in my head.

I'm trying to come up with a reason why the borders are wide open, kids shipped to every corner of the country, every big city mayor laying down the welcome mat, and not shutting down flights from Africa.

All this, while we are supposed to be protecting our citizens. That line was so stupid, I can't read it!

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:03 | 5319087 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Oh.
That's easy. They are trying to kill a whole bunch of us. Self cleaning oven style. You were pretty close, it's just they don't care who it kills...and neither does the virus.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:44 | 5319190 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Yes, I cannot imagine any of these illegals will ever touch an elite. They have private chefs, private jets. They never go to community hospitals. They do not shop at the mall. Their homes are like compounds with multiple layers of security. Their societal insulation is similar to those during the Black Death who retreat into their vast estates to avoid the plague of their day. Walking the catacombs in Paris gave me an idea how the average person lived.

If this is truly a herd culling, it is ill conceived. They could succumb as well or the destruction of infrastructure would leave them vulnerable. This agent is simply way to hot to handle. I'm leaning towards Stupid Hubris that was voted into power by an overwhelming number of Stupid.

Miffed

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:07 | 5319244 NemoDeNovo
NemoDeNovo's picture

I think it is both malevolence and hubris rolled into one.  At certain levels of the power structure, they are probably shitting bricks, but are being reassured that 'they' will be taken care of and will not succumb to this plague.  But at a certain level above the stage puppets I truly feel they desire the extermination of the human race as they see themselves as a breakaway civilization who are looking to become 'gods' and travel the cosmos.  Way too much info and detail to support the later part of my hypothesis, but lets leave it like this in 1990 as a a newjack in Spec-ops I had the privilege to fire a man portable Rail Gun at a DUMB in Nevada.  Morale of the story is 'they' have tech WAY beyond what we think is out there, and I would put NOTHING past these psychos at this point.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:46 | 5319637 vie
vie's picture

My best bet is that, along various gnostic / theosophical beliefs, they're looking to eliminate the world of the people who have no will of their own. Specifically anyone who believes what they're told in the media and by the government without question.  Along these lines, I suspect the vacine / cures are what's really going to be worse than the disease.   

 

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 00:31 | 5319816 Freddie
Freddie's picture

They do have those underground cities big enough for tractor trailer trucks and supposedly tunnels throughout the USA. Jesse Ventura did a show on it and one opening was a huge huge "house" built near Ark/MO border and it is connected to these tunnels.    Others have posted videos on youtube.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:32 | 5319304 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

No-one, not even the "elite of the elite" are immune from the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Even the Elite are completely dependent on the "little people", and the chain of essential supply that Modern Society depends on is very long indeed.

For instance, say our Elite individual needs just a new Ballrace for his ride-on lawnmower, and say his underlings are happy to pick it up and fit it.

 - Someone has to stock the completed race;

 - Someone has to manufacture the race (and all the sub-assemblies);

 - Someone has to manufacture the steel / polymer / lubricant;

 - Someone has to mine the raw materials necessary to produce the steel, etc.

And consider that each of these individual steps are also dependent on their own supply / maintenance chain. This is just for ONE simple ballrace.

The Elite are characterised by a degree of psychopathy (as had been discussed elsewhere, in considerable depth). They may like to give the impression that they are "smarter" than the rest of us, but the reality is that manipulative / exploitative "skills" do not substitute for real, "value-able" skills, especially in what may be a very different society to the one we experience today.

THIS is their "Achilles Heel", and this WILL be their undoing. On that you may safely bet the house, on the simple basis that "There are None so blind as those who will NOT see".

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:37 | 5319317 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

The Elite on their riding mowers? Do they drive Winebago's and have above-ground pools too?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:09 | 5319402 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

I think this permeates society as a whole. There is some construction going on near my lab so when I walk over to Starsucks , people are griping due to the noise and lack of parking. I was overhearing 2 women students from the local university sitting together bitching about how they were so pissed by the inconvenience, interspersed with how men are idiots, and midterms were the only thing that mattered in their future.

All of a sudden I was struck by the thought these 2 had not the foggiest idea of the logistics that went into bringing that coffee, harvested in a far away land unimagined, to be drunk in their cups. In fact, this held true of the paper cup they each held. This was a concept these two had never entertained because it always had been there, is there now, therefore, will be there in the future. When it is not there, I wonder if they will remember that day and realize the tenuous life they were leading and how self absorbed and ignorant they were.

Miffed

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:20 | 5319579 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

The Internet meme "First World Problems" has had a Zen-like effect on me. Makes me take a real long look in the mirror.

You missed an opportunity for a teachable moment....

Should have walked over, introduced yourself. Told them what you do. Then told them that instead of Pumpkin Spiced Latte, the barista will be filling their cups with black vomit by mid November.
Then wish them a nice day.

Tyler's words coming out of my mouth.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 00:51 | 5319843 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Your response reminded me of the scene in My Dinner with Andre where he wants to wake up the sleeping masses

"I mean, I do think the theater can help bring people in contact with reality.
Now, now, you may not feel that at all. You may just find that totally absurd."

"Yeah, but, Wally, don't you see the dilemma?
You're not taking into account the period we're living in
I mean, of course that's what the theater should do
I mean, I've always felt that. You know, when I was a young director, and I directed the Bacchae at Yale...my impulse, when Pentheus has been killed by his mother and the Furies...and they pull the tree back, and they tie him to the tree...and fling him into the air, and he flies through space and he's killed.and they rip him to shreds and I guess cut off his head -my impulse was that the thing to do was to get a head from the New Haven morgue...and pass it around the audience.Now, I wanted Agawe to bring on a real head and that this head should be passed around the audience...
so that somehow people realized that this stuff was real, see? That it was real stuff.- Now, the actress playing Agawe absolutely refused to do it!"

Some times reality just is too much for the average person. Instead of an awakening they run to safety in horror.

Miffed

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 22:54 | 5319657 vie
vie's picture

People talk about the "elite" as if they're the rich.  I think the elite you need to be looking at are people like the Jesuits and the heads of intelligence agencies.  None of this shit would be happening without their knowing or letting it happen.  These people do not care about lawn mowers or starbucks, or material wealth for that mater.  From what I can tell, they follow a Gnostic / Theosophical philosophies.  These are the same groups / philosiphies that backed Hitler. Ordo Ab Chao, Momento Mori, etc.  

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:36 | 5319318 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

"Alternatively, you can just sit on your paper wealth as it dwindles to nothing, and wait for the torches and the pitchforks to come out. Since wealthy people squander a disproportionate amount of wealth on themselves and their families, killing them off is a good wealth preservation strategy—for the rest of us, so feel free to do your part."

 

Lock n load...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:37 | 5319319 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Agreed.
I've watched how these things happen. Always the same.
They always give ample warning...in some way. A leaked policy paper, some crazy doctor saying we need a virus to whipe the slate...whatever. They warn. 9/11 was warned about. It's almost like a vampire; you have to invite them in. Thats how they see this. In the eyes of the powers that be, if enough people don't raise hell...it's viewed as consent. Permission.
The whole "free will" thing. If you won't fight, they think you want to be a slave. You are choosing. If you weren't paying attention, the more you deserved what you got.
Just like this current outbreak. IF it goes wildfire...and you make it and come out alive on the other side, they will respect that. If you survived, that could only mean...in their eyes anyway, that you resorted to the same vicious things they do to make it out alive. And that may be true in some cases.

They will respect you. You won't be invited to dinner. Let's don't go overboard. But you will be deem worthy to serve them. They have a code. There are rules to this, I believe.

Look at Soros. Look at his real history and what he says he needed to do to survive. THAT...is why he is who his is to them. He's not top tier. He serves them. Sold out his people...sold his soul....however you want look at it. They see that as strength.
Darwin. Lucifarian.
It's purverse. Evil.

What do you gain to save your life only to loose your soul? If you think that sounds corny, someone has a place for you. At some level, each will choose.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:03 | 5319677 vie
vie's picture

That's pretty dark, but I think we're more or less on the same page.  Though I think they view it differently from what I understand.  It's not that they respect you because you're a vampire.  They respect you because you've overcome adversity...  They believe the stuggle makes you stronger spiritually.  They believe heavily in "Natural Law".  If you're able to survive you probably share their same philosophies.  You could view this as a test.  Their cold hard logic says some people need to go, better to be the people that are more like beasts than those that share the divine spark of the creator with a will of their own.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:10 | 5319690 vie
vie's picture

When I talk to people about this stuff, I'm actually surprised to find out that most people these days simply don't have the will to live... literally.  More than a few people have told me they want to be the first to check out if there is anything major, like an ebola pandemic and/or economic collapse.

They would literally much rather roll over and die then to have to face the struggle... even more so if they think it's not an accident and someone is actually behind it.  I don't know if it's conditioning, or what, but it's very, very eerie.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:35 | 5319738 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

That is one hell of an observation, and one I need to think a bit more about. I've heard people say that, too. I guess I always thought at some level, they didn't mean it.
Maybe they do. Maybe the next time I hear it, I had them my Glock.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 04:14 | 5319949 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

Well, we're pretty determined to "hang on in there" since we're both very interested to see what happens, and what sort of structure remains / evolves after "the event". So, at this stage, our determination to survive (and we WILL survive), is driven by a sense of inquiry.

Many seem so detached from reality that their sense of "adventure" is now solely related to the latest video game. So much for our "Enlightened Society"!!!

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:58 | 5319373 Ocean22
Ocean22's picture

Part of the NWO's plan is to erase borders and nations. You are a citizen of the earth, not a country. You will be loyal to central planners and control. You will eat GMO's and die early. What we having happening at the USA Mexico border is called a third work invasion. They want it. Slowly. But surely we are being degraded into a third work hotel for the world with a home for no one.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 21:05 | 5319388 Ocean22
Ocean22's picture

Part of the NWO's plan is to erase borders and nations. You are a citizen of the earth, not a country. You will be loyal to central planners and control. You will eat GMO's and die early. What we having happening at the USA Mexico border is called a third work invasion. They want it. Slowly. But surely we are being degraded into a third work hotel for the world with a home for no one.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:27 | 5319143 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

Hey, when you have a tiger by its tail, don't let go

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:35 | 5319161 Lets Buy The Dip
Lets Buy The Dip's picture

But one can profit from this panic. 

 market this week. Could be more down on ebola, to get more people short......but do not believe that, as have a look at the TICK reading so far here ==> http://bit.ly/1fMcakI normally when the tick reading gets down this low you will see a solidy 1-2 day bounce, that can make you alot of money short term, / swing trading.

As said there is always a way to profit from the panic. 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:54 | 5319210 Not My Real Name
Not My Real Name's picture

Why is it we have a million plus illegals entering the United States yearly. 240,000 (caught, not counting the ones not accounted for)
In a short 3 month span since April till July.

Two words: Cloward Piven

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:34 | 5319311 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

"Alternatively, you can just sit on your paper wealth as it dwindles to nothing, and wait for the torches and the pitchforks to come out. Since wealthy people squander a disproportionate amount of wealth on themselves and their families, killing them off is a good wealth preservation strategy—for the rest of us, so feel free to do your part."

WTF, Lock n load?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:34 | 5319735 Mad Muppet
Mad Muppet's picture

Why is it we have a million plus illegals entering the United States yearly. 240,000 (caught, not counting the ones not accounted for)
In a short 3 month span since April till July.

We house them, provide them with food, clothing, medical attention, legal representation, transportation and a lot more.

Yet the roughly 150 travelers from West Africa daily we can't detain them for 21ish days to watch for symptoms of the Ebola virus.

If you are traveling from West Africa to America (most likely trying to leave cause of ebola) while you run the risk of being infected then I don't think it's too unreasonable for them to be expected to be detained until it's proven without a doubt they aren't contiguous.

With all the money wasted on illegal immigrants for the benefit of them and only them how is it our government can't take simple, logical steps to ensure our safety.

We are all citizens, we pay taxes. So why not ensure our safety, easily, and logically to prevent a outbreak.

This questions is more for the people on the other side of the fence that don't believe this way planned, that government is good... Ect.

 

 

 

 

 

WHY? Because the end-game is the destruction of the US as we know it. Few of these things happening to us now are accidents.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 08:46 | 5320104 lasupiazza
lasupiazza's picture

I am disillusioned enough to suggest that any social contract that has existed between citizenry and state has been dismissed and neglected for years. Trade agreements have undermined sovereignty to maximise profits, and global pandemics represent opportunities for a cynical plutocracy.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:49 | 5318667 chunga
chunga's picture

"Organizations such as the US senate, with an average age over 60, would be expected to lose much more than half of their members—to most Americans' inordinate glee, if public survey numbers are to be believed."

This ebola might have an upside. I seen one eat a rocking chair once.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:19 | 5319002 chubbar
chubbar's picture

I got a buck that says these fuckers scram for their bunkers about the time this virus picks up steam in the U.S. We will not be lucky enough to clean out half the senate.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:30 | 5319151 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

They are old men, too afraid of dyin' to come out of their bunkers, they may as well be dead for all the good they will do.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 23:10 | 5319693 chubbar
chubbar's picture

Well, I hope they do stay in their bunkers but don't you think they've come up with a way to rule from a bunker (tele commuting)? The public sure as shit won't have a say in it nor will they care as they are hunting around for food. 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:50 | 5318668 LostPolarBear
LostPolarBear's picture

The picture on the homepage is creepy as shit!

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:01 | 5318684 Mr Poopra
Mr Poopra's picture

The masks are called Maschera Dello Speziale.  Used by doctors during The Renaissance, usually filled with herbs and petals to offset the crippling stench of the infirmed.

Long masks?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:22 | 5318737 X.inf.capt
X.inf.capt's picture

also worn by plague doctors in 1350...

the plague was thought to be from evil vapors...

hence, the nose...

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:08 | 5318830 Big Brother
Big Brother's picture

I am so buying that mask for my halloween costume.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:23 | 5318864 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

That's probably all you can get. Real ones are long gone for us little peeps....

Costco visit last evening. Mountain House freeze dried food....gone.

Been sneaking a few into my preps as I go. No biggie. Gots some beans and rice instead.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:16 | 5318727 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Web search plague masks.

Soon to be all the rage with the cool kids. The live ones, anyway.

On a side note, this Dmity Orlov dude is a fucking wild man.
This was a nice touch, too:

"Homeland Security's highest decoration—to be shaped like a bomb and worn rectally."

I can't tell if he is just pure realist...or if he's rootin' for this outcome....or both. The whole hat tip to the climate change thing made me almost stop reading....almost.

Can't get a bead on this guy. There's an angle, here. I just can't pinpoint it.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:41 | 5318774 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Collapse is a cottage industry. Does not mean that makes what he says invalid, but he is selling books and lectures. He has been a player in peak oil circles since probably 2004 or so.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:53 | 5318806 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Thanks for the info.
Was going to dig into him a little later to see what he's about.
Worth the trouble in your opinion?

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:26 | 5318924 seek
seek's picture

He has some very good observations, IMO. He's one of the few providing real-world examples (via the collapse of the USSR.) I don't agree with everything he says and he's a little too apocalyptic for my tastes, but nevertheless provides food for thought rather than bonbons for thought.

The other one that's grounded in the real world is Selco (survivied the Bosnian war in a small town).

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 18:28 | 5319013 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

He went through the Soviet collapse so he has experience with collapse as a social phenomenon, he speaks out of a been there done that kind of place. I think it is a worthwhile point of view, though most of it will not be new, just a new flavor. Russian flavor. Some of it is practical though.  He used to be really down on Russia and his gig was to warn the US that we were next and that our fall would be harder for a number of reasons (he uses the template above). I would say lately, his patientiece with the US has run out. I wonder if he wants to go back to Russia!! From 2007-2009 or so, I checked his blog weekly. I am no longer a "regular." Oil is where it started for me, then housing urban planing, then finance, finally I got it, "It's the economy stupid."

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:47 | 5319337 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

The freak jobs started this back in 97.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:56 | 5318813 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Orlov sounds a lot like Igor Panarin, the Russian economics guy, who predicted prior to 2008 that the USA would collapse and then become the first de-developed nation. Said we would then devolve into a 2nd world country and break up into six pieces. 

 

http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2008/11/break-up-of-usa-into-six-parts.html

The Russian PhDs are obviously a lot smarter than our PhDs.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 17:52 | 5318942 seek
seek's picture

Except he drew boundaries in really strange ways that no one in the US would ever accept. It does seem like he's adjusted his maps with feedback over time, but they still seem a little delusion.

A breakup, though, is a lot more credible even if the details haven't been.

Orlov is more along the lines of the US implodes akin to the USSR and everyone has to sort out the mess on the local level, rather than some strategic outcome.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 19:36 | 5319171 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

Not smarter, just different.

 

It is hard to adjust to the fact that everything you have been taught, everything you believe, everything that all the people you know believe, is false.

 

Fall of the Soviet Empire is a walk in the park compared to that.

 

 

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 20:08 | 5319246 IndyPat
IndyPat's picture

Not false. Perverted.
I do not consent.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 12:26 | 5320851 Me.Grimlock
Me.Grimlock's picture

Hey, at least SEC football would survive (pre this last expansion) with these borders.

Sun, 10/12/2014 - 09:29 | 5320206 Stares straight...
Stares straight ahead's picture

Select the best choice or choices:

a) he's an I-jut
b) he's an RT journalist
c) he lives in his mom as basement in Rutledge, NJ, surviving on Doritos and Coca Cola
d) he may be correct

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:35 | 5318765 Lumberjack
Lumberjack's picture

Hey, sorry I lost touch awhile back. Damn ice burg broke and floated off with me on it after we got drunk.

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 15:50 | 5318669 wossname
wossname's picture

Ebola = hoax! FFS!

Sat, 10/11/2014 - 16:10 | 5318716 1Inthebeginning
1Inthebeginning's picture

Help me to understand why ebola is a hoax. Please.

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