Earned my star today with this post:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Germs-and-You

In reply to this comment by MarineGunrock:
Whoa, how long you been a goldie for?

Can I get germs from videos? Do I need to go bathe again?

<rant> Fuck the gym. They are filthy, germ filled, full of negative attitude, expensive and above all boring. Take a walk in the sunlight (or moonlight). Ride a bike. Have vigorous sex. I wasn't able to get myself in shape until I figured this out. </rant>

that's why I drink crown royal, neat. Kills germs and it's good wholesome fun at the same time.

I also resubmit the question: "Why would you be so naive to expect that the maids that clean so many rooms a day for minimum wage give two shits about your dirty-ass mouth?"

That's an interesting question regarding "Guns, Germs, and Steel," whether civilizations with less geographic advantages like the Australian Aborigines might have never developed modern civilization. Strange, but not impossible. (There's evidence Tasmanian populations experienced reduction, rather than progress, in technology since the time when they migrated to the island.)

At any rate though, any of the factors discussed in Guns Germs and Steel are accounted for in Fc, the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.

The fatal flaw of Drake's equation is that if any of the numbers is zero, the whole thing is zero+1. "Guns, Germs and Steel" shows how any number of factors not accounted for by Drake's Equation could very easily be zero.

hehehe, the probies ignorance pointed out the irony of video about disease and germ resistance dieing immediately upon being front paged.

I'm sorry I know this is not good and I dont use those glasses but come on grow a back bone. You know that 60% of people dont wash there hands after going to the bathroom, i dont see break outs of the plague because of that. Most people when they wash their hands think a quick spray of just water counts. Seems to be doing alright (i of course wash my hands with soap everytime) but my point is why are we so afriad of everyone around us. Germs are everywhere, get use to it. Its not like they are shooting the sequel to 2 girls, 1 cup with these glasses. They say its not hot water though there is no way of knowing but a splash of hot water does eliminate most of the stuff you gotta worry about. Everyones acting like we're all going to get AIDS by drinking after someone else. Remember the 80s when they thought the same thing, are we still that scared of everyone around us?

germz need yer help!

http://www.videosift.com/video/George-Carlin-Germs

I think people should receive medical treatment based on what they believe. If someone believes that viruses and bacteria can evolve resistance to treatments, they should be treated accordingly. If someone doesn't believe that microorganisms can evolve resistance to drugs, they should be given some posey, a jar of leeches, and sent on their way.

Survival of the fittest - save the vancomycin for people who aren't going to pass rampant stupidity on to the next generation. Natural selection will let MRSA and other germs that have evolved resistance take care of the rest.

Let me say this one more time - viruses and bacteria EVOLVED into forms that are resistant to antibiotics and antivirals. Tuberculosis, staphylococcus, HIV, influenza... they have all EVOLVED resistance. By going through the process of EVOLUTION they have gained adaptations that make them more virulent and more dangerous.

Not sure how many more times I'll have to say EVOLUTION and the varying forms of the word to drive the point home.

People can believe whatever the hell they want to believe, but if they intend to be passionate about it and make a shitstorm about it that pisses everyone else off, they should at least practice what they believe. By rejecting evolution, one is essentially saying that they reject the PROVEN FACT that drug resistant strains of TB, staphylococcus, influenza, HIV, and other suberbugs exist. Why waste the effective drugs on people who don't even believe the disease they have exists?

What do you think ladies and germs, a mockery of this interview?

Well, as of right now I'm too busy with books for classes, predominantly about the conflict in the Middle East and Human Evolutionary Anatomy (soooo fucking boring btw, primate osteology is not my bag, but after this class, am all good with my science requirements)... but anyway, this summer, when I had time to myself, I was digging on the following:

Collapse, by Jared Diamond, the follow up to his more famous Guns, Germs, & Steel but arguably the more important of the two.

Desert Queen by Janet Wallach, which is a biography of Gertrude Bell, a surprisingly important historical figure, she was the first woman intelligence officer in British history, serving them during WW1 and afterwards she had a hand in determining the borders of modern day Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, and Syria... prior to that she had been an archaeologist of some note and an intrepid explorer, very much a female Lawrence of Arabia (and actually was a pretty good friend of his, one of the few women in his life he would deign to refer to on a first name basis), as she was also fluent in several languages of the Levant and Arabic and befriended many of the desert tribes on her far-ranging journeys prior to the war. During the war these friendships enabled the British to overturn the Ottomans and maintain relative peace in the region in the aftermath.

But until I picked up this book, I HAD NEVER HEARD PEEP ABOUT HER! But then again, how surprising is that? She was, after all, a chick, and we get no cred. She also founded the Museum of Antiquities in Baghdad that got looted when we Yanks rolled in four years ago... somewhere on her family estate in Britain she's probably chain-smoking and spinning in her grave as we speak.

So that's my book report... gotta say though, y'all seem to be reading otherwise similar books, Bruce Campbell's If Chins Could Kill is excellent, as is anything by Doug Adams and Robert Heinlein... still two of my very favorite authors.

Also, National Geographic Channel has just revealed from their programming: the first gunshot in Americas, that Spanish vs Native American battles weren't always what Spanish chronicles claimed.

They were ALWAYS accompanied by Inca's former enemy states. And the siege of Lima (Puruchuco) in particular reveals that most of the fighting was done between Native Americans and the battle won by Native Americans, not by some sheer overwhelming power of horses and muskets.

So politics plays a very critical role in human history than just purely on physical geographic location, critical though it may be.

I'm also bit miffed at what Diamond said when he gave ancient Greeks as evidence of 'cultivation civilization'.

From what I know, Greek cities (Peloponnese) did have large population with heavy population density, but they weren't too big on farming, mainly because the Greek land is not the most ideal place for farming because it's full of jagged rocks and salty coastlines. They had a big animal herding tradition with goats and sheeps, and probably had a big fishing tradition going on, but not to the extent to feed big cities. Plus, that's not really a diverse diet.

There survived mainly as active traders, who got lot of their material needs from other parts of the world by setting up colonies and establishing trade relations (Mycenae, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Dorians later on). They especially had a very close relation with Egyptians, perhaps because they were the largest providers of wheat at the time. They give them fish and sheep skin, Egyptians give them surplus of wheat.

Anyways overall, Diamond comes up with definitely interesting fresh theories, but also comments on some things that are directly against historic evidence. Like how conquistador's guns and swords were such a large factor, enough to compensate their lack of numbers (which he later corrects as germs), how Greeks flourished because of cultivation or that Sumerian writings had influenced Chinese characters... etc etc.

Like, Huh?

And I also couldn't find anything about smallpox and black plague originating from farm animals. As far as evidence goes, some say bubonic plague started from Ethiopia, where Diamond claim domestication of animals didn't take place... that 13 of 14 farm animals all originated from Middle East, which is another point of doubt (he also contradicts himself from 1st part to 3rd part.. what's going on here).

Oh! and why Europeans happened to be the ones to keep colonizing the world, when Ming and Qing China had plenty of capability to do the same, but never did so?

Oh! and how was conquistadors survive in the tropics? or early American pioneers who were dying by hundreds?

This is why this guy is a biologist, and not a Historian. Stay in your own profession old man!

Stick with the original theory of geographic effect in human history. Discard the rest.

I think scottishmartialarts does have a point. Politics and just sheer chance of luck in history plays a big part of outcomes of civilization.

USA could've bombed China with atomic blast during Korean war, but Truman thought Macarthur was bit nuts for thinking that. Now they're on the biggest economic rebound modern history has ever seen, armed with the latest western technology.

Same thing with Rome vs Egypt back in the days of Octavian vs Marcus Antonius. Rome produced less food than Egypt at that time, heavily relying on Sicily to feed the gigantic city of Rome. Rome and Alexandria were at the same level both technologically and population wise. But Octavian wins, and Latins dominate the Mediterranean sea.

Perhaps ultimately because they had a better and more effective military tradition (culture factor) than Alexandrians of Egypt or even the Carthaginians long ago, who also produced more food than Romans, enough so that they were able to make rich and buy mercenaries from other areas to fight their battles for them.

But what Diamond speaks of is about the beginning of civilization and why we have ended up with such drastically different lifestyles. I do think he has a point there.

And I especially agree with this three points:

1. A community requires easy means to produce high energy yielding food to sustain large population.

2. High population & density is always a must to achieve technological innovation and germ immunity.

3. Society with high germ immunity and technological advancement gets to dominate other cultures.

BUT

All 1st, 2nd and 3rd points can be overcome with: constant Trading and Politics between communities.

Excellent Sift! Guns, Germs and Steel is by far one of the best books I have read recently, as is his recent novel- Collapse. Really, I highly recommend the both of them!