The Random Thread Of Randomosity
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To be honest the last few times I’ve looked at BleedingCool there’s been virtually no comics stuff (the tv/movie/gaming side seems to be more dominant nowadays) and what little comics stuff there is seems to be dominated by sponsored items like links to auctions.
I can’t say I miss it from my life.
But in general, I do feel that it’s a shame there are so few decent comics sites these days. We were spoiled with them in the early 2000s but now they’re a relative rarity. SKTCHD is the last one that really got my attention.
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I’m on hold with some company on the phone and they’re playing hold music – which is fine, I’ve never really understood complaints about it and it serves a purpose over just having a silent line. But there’s a noticeable gap in the music every time it loops round, long enough to make me think someone’s just picked up, only for the music to start up again. I’m falling for it every time.
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Yeah having worked supporting call centres a lot of people moan about the music on hold and while waiting. In response we tried without for a pilot and found twice as many people complained they thought they had been cut off when faced with silence, so it is the lesser of two evils.
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Well, you could also feed newsreports or stuff like that into the line. Gets rid of the problem of personal musical taste. Or just hire one person to randomly talk nonsense all day, and feed that into company phone lines.
I’m available for hire in that scenario, just in case anyone’s interested.
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Instead of Muzak, when I’m on hold I’d rather listen to a random song I haven’t heard for a long time; just imagine hearing Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz” or Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth…” while waiting for the next available representative.
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My favourite hold-music anecdote is a mate of mine who had to call up their insurance company when their kitchen ceiling caved in unexpectedly, and they got put on hold to Happy by Pharrell Williams, which has the chorus “clap along if you feel like a room without a roof.”
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With the US going back to regular time this past Sunday, it gets so dark outside when you leave work at 5 pm.
Give me back Daylight Savings! 🤣
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If you go to Time and Date.com
Vancouver (Sunrise & Sunset)
7:15 am to 4:36 pm today – 9:22 hrs.New York (Sunrise & Sunset)
6:36 am to 4:42 pm today – 10:05 hrs.London (Sunrise & Sunset)
7:11 am to 5:06 pm today – 9:52 hrs.Berlin (Sunrise & Sunset)
7:20 am to 4:19 pm today – 8:59 hrs.Or anywhere, you can pick your spot on a map (click on the search box and you have a ‘pick map’ option)
You can see how different things are, and what is to come.
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I’d rather keep the summer time during the winter, as well. Rather a bit more light later in the day than in the mornings.
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I’d rather it was as light as possible on an icy morning when people are driving cars half asleep and children are on their way to school.
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But it’s not! Well, at least not over here where I am driving my car half asleep and children are walking to my school, because that school starts at half past seven and it gets light at half past eight or something even now.
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Getting dark early is an absolute waste of time. It severely limits the time you have to accomplish personal tasks, such as work on the house and yard. It also makes things a whole lot unsafer when it comes to shopping around the holidays.
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A coffin
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My creator doesn’t want me.
The person who buys me doesn’t need me.
The person who uses me will never see me.
What am I?Twitter?
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Well, in the UK there’s Christmas, obviously. But we get Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) as a public holiday as well. So on the years where they fall on Saturday and Sunday, you get the Monday and Tuesday as Bank Holidays in lieu, making for a nice four day weekend.
Well, in theory. If you work in retail, you’re likely working those days and if you work in an office, chances are you’ve taken the full week from Christmas to New Year off anyway.
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In Malaysia we get 16 public holidays a year due to the religious mix you don’t get in places like the US. We have Christmas, Eid (twice – Mubarak and Haji), Wesak Day (Buddha’s birthday), Diwali and many more. It’s a similar number in Singapore and also in Hong Kong where they mix all the British holidays (2 days off for Easter) with Chinese ones.
Which will bring on my rant about public holidays. In the UK they always say they cost like £2bn to the economy by counting up the business done in a day but that’s a bullshit calculation. In my first big job I worked in a banking call centre, the business just gets deferred a day and the phones were double busy. Nobody is intending to buy a house and then sees the bank is shut and gives up applying for a mortgage, they just do it on Tuesday instead of Monday. Businesses in the hospitality and tourism sectors make more because people book a weekend trip or go to the pub.
The countries I mentioned above have GDP growth and productivity much higher than the UK and US who are the stingiest with public holidays. Northern Ireland in the UK gets an extra day to the other 3 countries and they have a better economy right now (because Brexit).
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After Thursday comes Black Friday and everyone heads to the stores for Xmas shopping.
Not everyone. I did Black Friday shopping one year, stood on a checkout line at Best Buy for almost one hour, and swore I would never do it again.
This year, on Friday morning Liz and I are driving down to spend the weekend in Philadelphia, enjoying their Christmas Market, a Matisse exhibit, dinner at a beloved restaurant, and wandering along Passyunk Avenue sampling the foods and drinks at various bakeries, restaurants, and bars along the way. No Black Friday stress for me!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO MY FELLOW MURRICANS!!
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Depending on the year, the date Thanksgiving Thursday falls on varies and therefore the shopping days until 12/25 varies. Some stores are now just saying “F it” and are starting their sales before Thursday.
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I hear so many good things about smart Tv, namely if you configure it right, you won’t need the cable box. You can return it and that would save you $20/month rental fee on your bill.
I use the triple play package(tv/broadband/phone) and because of all the tall buildings, it’s the only way to get good reception 🤣
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Wishing all my fellow Murricans a safe and Happy Thanksgiving weekend starting tomorrow. Remember, take small portions, but do it multiple times until the buckle on your belt cracks in half. Also remember: shopping on Black Friday is NOT mandatory.
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Don’t listen to Jerry.
Day drinking at the computer on Black Friday never hurt anyone!
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Saw this on the avenue this afternoon:
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Black Friday deals started a week before the actual Black Friday: Got a smart TV and now I have
WAY more channels than I know what to do with. I put in all my streaming already and
I found I got Britbox as one of the default channels and now I am watching old Dr. Who.
Blessing in disguise.
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Reading up on some psych. Efficiency, getting things done and in order is nice. But
being a perfectionist and arguing with family and your gf or bf complaining about
things not being done “the right way”…
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You know the rule that states, “There’s an exception to every rule”?
What’s the exception that *that* rule?
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You know the rule that states, “There’s an exception to every rule”?
What’s the exception that *that* rule?
Itself.
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I’ve never been that sophisticated.
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What would bionic limbs cost a Steve Austin in 2022?
Fwiw… Lee Majors is 83.
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Channel surfing and found myself watching reruns of Bob Ross. He was so soothing!
He paints and then he puts up this streak and just when you think he f**ked up the painting, he develops the streak into something you didn’t see coming🤣
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What would bionic limbs cost a Steve Austin in 2022?
From using an inflation calculator:
$36,677,889.10 in 2022 has the same purchasing power as $6000000 in 1974.
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$36,677,889.10 in 2022 has the same purchasing power as $6000000 in 1974.
Not as catchy though.
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Now I request that inflation calculator link.
Ask and ye shall receive:
https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html
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I used to watch these old movies and shows and it’s so relative to the time.
That movie with Sidney Poitier, the sheriff made a big deal about Poitier’s pay stub being $165 dollars.In my favorite Christmas movie, “Its A Wonderful Life”, the amount of money that Uncle Billy accidentally leaves in the hands of evil Mr. Potter, the amount that threatens to bankrupt the Bedford Falls Building & Loan, the amount that could send Billy and George to prison for embezzlement, is…. $8,000.
Granted, that would be worth $100,000 today, which makes you wonder why George Bailey would have trusted dotty old Uncle Billy with carrying such a large sum of money to the bank.
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I think Al shared some Evan Erdinger videos here bef0re, a US guy who has moved to the UK and gained dual citizenship.
This video really surprised me. It’s about how much more expensive groceries are in the US. I remember Jim saying how much cheaper stuff in the US was and that has been my experience with dining out (although that is rather obfuscated by the mandatory tips it is still cheaper overall) and buying stuff like clothes I never really shopped for groceries as always in a hotel.
There are always vagaries in pricing, here in Malaysia some things are much much cheaper, I pay about two pounds for a haircut or $4 for an Imax movie ticket but things like cars, cheese, red meat and alcohol are actually more expensive because of having to be imported and taxed. Toiletries too for some reason I have yet to fathom, I found a shop that imported ‘Sure’ anti perspirant spray from the UK and still undercut ‘Rexona’ made up the road in Thailand (it’s the same brand with a different name, like Axe and Lynx).
Still the grocery gaps are quite notable and after some criticism of this video not being necessarily ‘like for like’ he did a follow up comparing Aldi UK and US and the same differences appeared. Most things were at least half the price after conversion.
It’s intriguing the structures that bring this about. Sometimes they are obvious, red meat is expensive here as the climate is not conducive to raising cows or sheep but why 10 years back in discussion with Todd I would pay 10% of what he did to send a text message to Texas doesn’t really add up.
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I am now officially addicted to ChatGPT. I don’t know for how much longer I’ll be talking to you guys, or any other human being. Here’s my most recent attempts at talking politics, physics and Fight Club with it:
Christian U.
Yo, can you explain the general theory of relativity in simple terms to me?Sure! The theory of relativity is a theory developed by Albert Einstein that explains how objects behave in space and time. It is based on the idea that the laws of physics should be the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion.
There are two main parts to the theory of relativity: special relativity and general relativity.
Special relativity is a theory that describes the behavior of objects moving at a constant speed in a straight line. It is based on the idea that the laws of physics are the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion.
General relativity is a theory that describes the behavior of objects moving at any speed and in any direction. It is based on the idea that the force of gravity is caused by the curvature of space and time. This means that the path of an object, such as a planet or a spaceship, is not a straight line, but is instead determined by the shape of the space and time around it.
One of the most famous predictions of the theory of relativity is that time appears to pass more slowly for objects moving at high speeds or in strong gravitational fields. This phenomenon, called time dilation, has been confirmed by experiments and is now widely accepted as a fundamental part of our understanding of the universe.
I hope that helps to give you a general understanding of the theory of relativity! Let me know if you have any more questions.
Christian U.
Hey, like, what about capitalism?Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production, such as factories and businesses, are privately owned and operated for profit. In a capitalist economy, the prices of goods and services are determined by the supply and demand in a free market, rather than being set by a central government.
Capitalism is based on the idea that competition among businesses leads to innovation and efficiency, which in turn drives economic growth and prosperity. Under capitalism, individuals and companies are free to buy, sell, and produce whatever they choose, as long as they follow the law and pay taxes.
There are many different debates about the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism. Some people argue that capitalism is the most effective way to allocate resources and create wealth, while others argue that it leads to inequality and exploitation.
There are also many different variations of capitalism, with different levels of government regulation and intervention. Some countries, such as the United States, have a relatively laissez-faire approach to capitalism, while others, such as Sweden, have a more mixed economy with a stronger welfare state and greater government intervention in the economy.
Christian U.
But do you think capitalism is a good thing?As an artificial intelligence, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs. I am here to provide information and answer questions to the best of my ability based on the information I have been trained on.
Capitalism is a complex economic system that has been adopted by many countries around the world. There are arguments both for and against capitalism as a way of organizing an economy.
Some of the benefits of capitalism include:
Economic freedom: Under capitalism, individuals and businesses are free to produce and sell whatever they choose, as long as they follow the law and pay taxes. This can lead to innovation and entrepreneurship, as people are free to pursue new ideas and opportunities.
Efficiency: In a capitalist system, prices are determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. This means that resources are allocated to where they are most needed and can be used most effectively.
Economic growth: Capitalism is often associated with economic growth, as businesses are able to expand and invest in new technologies and markets. This can lead to increases in productivity and living standards.
However, capitalism also has its critics. Some of the criticisms of capitalism include:
Inequality: Some people argue that capitalism leads to income and wealth inequality, as those who own capital and assets are able to generate more wealth than those who do not.
Exploitation: Critics of capitalism argue that it can lead to exploitation of workers, as businesses may prioritize profits over the well-being and fair treatment of their employees.
Environmental degradation: Some argue that capitalism’s focus on profit can lead to environmental degradation, as businesses may not be incentivized to prioritize environmental concerns.
Overall, the debate about the pros and cons of capitalism is ongoing and there is no one-size-fits-all answer to whether it is a good or bad thing. It is important to consider the different arguments and perspectives on this complex economic system.
Christian U.
But what system of government makes most people happy?It is difficult to say which system of government makes most people happy, as happiness is a subjective and personal experience that can be influenced by many different factors. Different people may have different priorities and values, and what makes one person happy may not necessarily make another person happy.
That being said, research has shown that there are certain factors that are generally associated with higher levels of happiness and well-being. These include:
A sense of purpose and meaning in life
Strong social connections and support systems
Access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare
Opportunities for personal growth and development
A sense of control over one’s life and environment
It is likely that different systems of government may be better or worse at promoting these factors, depending on the specific policies and institutions in place. For example, a government that provides a strong safety net and access to social services may be more effective at promoting happiness and well-being among its citizens, compared to a government that does not.Ultimately, it is important to consider the specific values and priorities of a society when designing and evaluating a system of government. It is also important to recognize that no system of government is perfect and that there may always be trade-offs and challenges to address.
Christian U.
So you’re saying a free market system is fine, but you need strong public institutions and not laissez-faire capitalism?As an artificial intelligence, I do not have personal opinions or beliefs about specific economic or political systems. My role is to provide information and answer questions to the best of my ability based on the information I have been trained on.
It is generally accepted that a mixed economy, which combines elements of both a market economy and a planned economy, can offer some advantages over a purely free market or purely planned economy. A mixed economy may include a mix of private enterprise and public ownership, as well as a mix of market forces and government regulation.
In a mixed economy, the government may play a role in regulating certain industries or activities to promote the public good, such as protecting the environment or ensuring fair labor practices. At the same time, the private sector is allowed to operate freely and generate profits, subject to certain rules and regulations.
It is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to economic policy, and different countries and societies may have different priorities and values when it comes to the balance between private enterprise and government intervention. Some countries may have more of a free market approach, while others may have a stronger welfare state and more government intervention in the economy.
Ultimately, the most effective economic system is likely to be one that strikes a balance between the efficiency and innovation of a market economy, and the social and environmental protections of a planned economy.
Christian U.
Can you give me a review of the movie Fight Club?Fight Club is a 1999 film directed by David Fincher and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as the main characters, who are unnamed in the film but referred to as “the narrator” and “Tyler Durden,” respectively.
The plot of Fight Club centers around the narrator, who is a young man suffering from insomnia and disillusionment with his life. He meets Tyler Durden, a charismatic and unpredictable man who becomes his friend and mentor. Together, they start a secret fight club where men can come to vent their frustrations and engage in bare-knuckle fights. As the fight club grows in popularity, it evolves into a larger organization called Project Mayhem, which seeks to challenge and overthrow the established order.
Fight Club was a controversial and polarizing film upon its release, with some praising its unconventional and thought-provoking themes, and others finding it disturbing and nihilistic. The film has since gained a cult following and has been widely analyzed and debated by film critics and scholars.
Overall, Fight Club is a dark and provocative film that explores themes of masculinity, violence, and anarchism. It is not for everyone, but those who appreciate challenging and unconventional cinema may find it an interesting and thought-provoking watch.
Christian U.
Can you give a review of the movie fight club in the style of Tyler durden?Sure! Here is a review of the movie Fight Club in the style of Tyler Durden:
“You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.
But have you ever stopped to think about the ultimate act of rebellion? The ultimate fuck you to the system? It’s not burning down buildings or blowing up corporate headquarters. It’s something much more radical. It’s creating something new. Something pure and untainted. Something real.
And that’s exactly what Fight Club is. A movie that refuses to play by the rules. A movie that dares to explore the dark corners of the human psyche. A movie that will make you question everything you thought you knew about society and yourself.
So if you’re tired of the same old Hollywood crap, if you’re ready to challenge the status quo, if you’re ready to embrace your inner anarchy, then Fight Club is the movie for you. It may not be for everyone, but for those who are brave enough to take the ride, it will be an experience you’ll never forget.”
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Say…What are long postings lately? Go easy.
They’ve been giving me these flashbacks of MW,
The difference is, this time I’ve been getting an AI to write those posts for me!
Man, I wish I’d had that back then.Christian U.
Write an angry message board post to ARCHONIS in which you explain why he is wrong in supporting the Iraq war.I’m sorry, but I am not programmed to generate angry or inflammatory content. It is important to approach discussions and debates with respect and civility, even when we strongly disagree with someone’s viewpoints. It’s also important to base our arguments on evidence and factual information, rather than resorting to personal attacks or insults.
Christian U.
Write a message board post to ARCHONIS in which you explain why the US shouldn’t have invaded Iraq.
Dear ARCHONIS,I wanted to engage in a respectful and thoughtful discussion with you about the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. While I understand that there were valid arguments on both sides of the issue, I wanted to share my perspective on why I believe the United States should not have invaded Iraq.
One of the main reasons I believe the invasion was not justified is that the intelligence used to justify the war was later found to be flawed. The Bush administration claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was actively seeking to acquire more, but these claims were not supported by the evidence. The failure to find any such weapons after the invasion led to a loss of credibility for the United States and damaged its relationships with other countries.
Another reason I believe the invasion was not justified is the human and financial cost. The war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, including civilians and American soldiers. It also cost trillions of dollars, which could have been used for other priorities such as domestic programs or foreign aid.
I also have concerns about the long-term consequences of the invasion. The war destabilized the region and contributed to the rise of extremist groups, such as ISIS. It also led to a protracted and costly occupation that strained the military and strained relations with Iraq and other countries in the region.
I understand that there were different viewpoints on the decision to invade Iraq, and I respect your right to hold a different opinion. However, I wanted to share my perspective and the reasons why I believe the invasion was not justified. I hope we can have a productive and respectful discussion on this complex issue.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
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Wow @christian
Your mention of ARCHONIS is bringing back to mind old names like Ogul, Will, Chris Striker… but nostalgia is overrated.
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This the season to watch out for the porch pirates, the ones who follow Amazon deliveries and steal your
packages.Then there is all this “advice” on how to conduct yourself at office Xmas parties, handling stress, year end family get togethers with those you can’t stand etc.
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I hear that iPhone 15 will go by a different charger because of Europe
Wait for 15 then…
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I hear that iPhone 15 will go by a different charger because of Europe
They will eventually change them, the EU deadline is in 2024. Apple are cagey about announcing when but they have moved their new iPads over to USB C so it seems a very safe bet the next iPhone models will be shifted too. .
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Your mention of ARCHONIS is bringing back to mind old names like Ogul, Will, Chris Striker… but nostalgia is overrated.
It was a toss-up between this and “Explain the theory of evolution to Aris”, but after all we managed to get that done without the help of an AI.
(Actually, that was more to Aris’ credit, ´seeing as how he was the one doing the impossible – someone changing his mind during an internet discussion.)
Aristides!
You have a good memory.I can now remember this Alejandro guy who was always talking doom about comics…
We had a cast of characters those days.MM’s birthday is about now, isn’t it?
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Bruno?
Unless he’s off work that day this feed is written by Bruno:
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Carlos is on Twitter
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Carlos is on Twitter
He is, he’s also in a Telegram group I am in with a lot of old Millarworlders.
Unfortunately a few regulars dumped The Carrier, including Mike and Steve UK and somewhat Sanjay because of Covid conspiracy stuff dominating for a while in 2020. Mike was always enraged at the medical thread anyway. People that say they want to update their expired card details don’t. Nobody in fact ever has.
Some wastage was my fault as I always engaged the site via PC and I realised too late the mobile experience was very bad until I added extra plugins.
This site is here for a while as I paid the renewal until late 2023 but we may need to rethink it as it is essentially in decline if we’re honest. The engagement and Patreon subs decline month on month.
The interesting thing is server space has not really been an issue and WordPress is essentially designed as a blogging platform. We have options here for the members not about asking for money but we have scope, with minimal tweaks, to host articles you may want to promote and sub-forums unrelated to our usual business entirely. If anyone wants a forum on basically any subject I can just add it, want a blogging platform with a proper URL, that can be done too.
If a knitting, dogging, tapestry, heavy metal or Warhammer group wants to use this space for $2 a month to do what they want it is probably the most sustainable model.
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My memory’s awful but I genuinely don’t remember much covid conspiracy stuff
That’s what they want you to think
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My memory’s awful but I genuinely don’t remember much covid conspiracy stuff
That’s what they want you to think
Did Melinda send a 5G signal to the chips in my vaccinated bloodstream to mindwipe me again?
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My memory’s awful but I genuinely don’t remember much covid conspiracy stuff
There were two people going at it for a few days, that kind of sent Mike over the edge as he’d been drafted from his normal duties as a paediatrician to man an adult Covid ward where people were dying while others were calling it fiction (funnily enough the same ward Boris Johnson was treated in but at a different time so no gossip on that).
That aside though the offer remains open to use the forum for other purposes if anyone wants to set up a sub-forum I’ll happily do so. If they want to use here rather than a generic blogging site I can modify the landing page for that too.
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The last day of the year the temperature could reach 16 degrees which wouldbe the warmest that day has ever been. It would break a record which is only one year old…
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Give my regards to Dr. Mike. He has his hands full I know, but I hope he continues to stay strong and hang in there. We all should for that matter
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On MW, this time of year we used to talk about MM’s birthday, the Xmas presents we got like some comic ominibus, store gift cards, sweaters, etc.
I believe @njerry has a day coming soon 🤣
I used to ask was it a good year, but this is the Covid era now…
New Year’s Resolution… for starters to stay away from peas and grapefruit.🤣
Per Facebook, today is Jerry’s birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
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Given more people die generally in winter months, I think you can say the cold is a bigger killer than heat.
In Northern Europe for sure. In places like India heatwaves (classed as temps above 40 degrees) often lead to a rise in excess mortality.
Interestingly too, which Christian and I touched on a little while back, in tropical and subtropical areas where temperatures are fairly constant year round they don’t get less ‘flu, it is spread equally around the year. The biggest signifier of flu deaths actually seems to be wealth, they are proportionately low in many African countries, with very young populations, but high in somewhere like Singapore with very low birth rate so an older one.
So in the case specifically of flu or other viral deaths it’s arguable whether the cold causes them or rather concentrates them. The problem there of course being you can have knock on effects if health services are pushed for resources because they get peaks at a certain period.
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We’ve got a flu epidemic right now, and an enormous number of people with sniffles from the common cold. It is a bit unnerving with the covid thing to notice so many people coughing in the supermarket.
It’s weird to imagine it isn’t influenced by the cold, but science has said so for some time. although i also read about a study that said a drop in temperature can harm the immune system.
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A few more names for this brief memory lane run…
Tim Masters. IIRC there was a relationship there on MW 🤣
Russell H I saw on Twitter before the mass exodusStephanie is private on Facebook
Sabrina
Kiel
WonK
Craggy
Lucian von Doom – The first to figure out how to embed video on MW forum. Started the first picture thread too.Mark Peyton
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A chill is in the air, and you all know what that means — it’s time for cold and flu season, when it seems everyone you know is suddenly sneezing, sniffling or worse. It’s almost as if those pesky cold and flu germs whirl in with the first blast of winter weather.
Yet germs are present year-round — just think back to your last summer cold. So why do people get more colds, flu and now Covid-19 when it’s chilly outside?
In what researchers are calling a scientific breakthrough, scientists behind a new study may have found the biological reason we get more respiratory illnesses in winter. It turns out the cold air itself damages the immune response occurring in the nose.
“This is the first time that we have a biologic, molecular explanation regarding one factor of our innate immune response that appears to be limited by colder temperatures,” said rhinologist Dr. Zara Patel, a professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. She was not involved in the new study.
In fact, reducing the temperature inside the nose by as little as 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) kills nearly 50% of the billions of virus and bacteria-fighting cells in the nostrils, according to the study published Tuesday in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“Cold air is associated with increased viral infection because you’ve essentially lost half of your immunity just by that small drop in temperature,” said rhinologist Dr. Benjamin Bleier, director of otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“it’s important to remember that these are in vitro studies, meaning that although it is using human tissue in the lab to study this immune response, it is not a study being carried out inside someone’s actual nose,” Patel said in an email. “Often the findings of in vitro studies are confirmed in vivo, but not always.”
A hornet’s nest
To understand why this occurs, Bleier and his team and coauthor Mansoor Amiji, who chairs the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, went on a scientific detective hunt.
A respiratory virus or bacteria invades the nose, the main point of entry into the body. Immediately, the front of the nose detects the germ, well before the back of the nose is aware of the intruder, the team discovered.
At that point, cells lining the nose immediately begin creating billions of simple copies of themselves called extracellular vesicles, or EV’s.
“EV’s can’t divide like cells can, but they are like little mini versions of cells specifically designed to go and kill these viruses,” Bleier said. “EV’s act as decoys, so now when you inhale a virus, the virus sticks to these decoys instead of sticking to the cells.”
Scientists behind a new study may have found the biological reason we get more respiratory illnesses in winter and it turns out the cold air itself damages the immune response occurring in the nose. (sebra/Adobe Stock)
Those “Mini Me’s” are then expelled by the cells into nasal mucus (yes, snot), where they stop invading germs before they can get to their destinations and multiply.
“This is one of, if not the only part of the immune system that leaves your body to go fight the bacteria and viruses before they actually get into your body,” Bleier said.
Once created and dispersed out into nasal secretions, the billions of EV’s then start to swarm the marauding germs, Bleier said.
“It’s like if you kick a hornet’s nest, what happens? You might see a few hornets flying around, but when you kick it, all of them all fly out of the nest to attack before that animal can get into the nest itself,” he said. “That’s the way the body mops up these inhaled viruses so they can never get into the cell in the first place.”
A big increase in immune power
When under attack, the nose increases production of extracellular vesicles by 160%, the study found. There were additional differences: EV’s had many more receptors on their surface than original cells, thus boosting the virus-stopping ability of the billions of extracellular vesicles in the nose.
“Just imagine receptors as little arms that are sticking out, trying to grab on to the viral particles as you breathe them in,” Bleier said. “And we found each vesicle has up to 20 times more receptors on the surface, making them super sticky.”
Cells in the body also contain a viral killer called micro RNA, which attack invading germs. Yet EVs in the nose contained 13 times micro RNA sequences than normal cells, the study found.
So the nose comes to battle armed with some extra superpowers. But what happens to those advantages when cold weather hits?
To find out, Bleier and his team exposed four study participants to 15 minutes of 40-degree-Fahrenheit (4.4-degree-Celsius) temperatures, and then measured conditions inside their nasal cavities.
“What we found is that when you’re exposed to cold air, the temperature in your nose can drop by as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit. And that’s enough to essentially knock out all three of those immune advantages that the nose has,” Bleier said.
In fact, that little bit of coldness in the tip of the nose was enough to take nearly 42% of the extracellular vesicles out of the fight, Bleier said.
“Similarly, you have almost half the amount of those killer micro RNA’s inside each vesicle, and you can have up to a 70% drop in the number of receptors on each vesicle, making them much less sticky,” he said.
What does that do to your ability to fight off colds, flu and Covid-19? It cuts your immune system’s ability to fight off respiratory infections by half, Bleier said.
You don’t have to wear a nose sock
As it turns out, the pandemic gave us exactly what we need to help fight off chilly air and keep our immunity high, Bleier said.
“Not only do masks protect you from the direct inhalation of viruses, but it’s also like wearing a sweater on your nose,” he said.
Patel agreed: “The warmer you can keep the intranasal environment, the better this innate immune defense mechanism will be able to work. Maybe yet another reason to wear masks!”
In the future, Bleier expects to see the development of topical nasal medications that build upon this scientific revelation. These new pharmaceuticals will “essentially fool the nose into thinking it has just seen a virus,” he said.
“By having that exposure, you’ll have all these extra hornets flying around in your mucous protecting you,” he added.
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A chill is in the air, and you all know what that means — it’s time for cold and flu season, when it seems everyone you know is suddenly sneezing, sniffling or worse. It’s almost as if those pesky cold and flu germs whirl in with the first blast of winter weather.
Yet germs are present year-round — just think back to your last summer cold. So why do people get more colds, flu and now Covid-19 when it’s chilly outside?
In what researchers are calling a scientific breakthrough, scientists behind a new study may have found the biological reason we get more respiratory illnesses in winter. It turns out the cold air itself damages the immune response occurring in the nose.
“This is the first time that we have a biologic, molecular explanation regarding one factor of our innate immune response that appears to be limited by colder temperatures,” said rhinologist Dr. Zara Patel, a professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. She was not involved in the new study.
In fact, reducing the temperature inside the nose by as little as 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) kills nearly 50% of the billions of virus and bacteria-fighting cells in the nostrils, according to the study published Tuesday in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“Cold air is associated with increased viral infection because you’ve essentially lost half of your immunity just by that small drop in temperature,” said rhinologist Dr. Benjamin Bleier, director of otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
“it’s important to remember that these are in vitro studies, meaning that although it is using human tissue in the lab to study this immune response, it is not a study being carried out inside someone’s actual nose,” Patel said in an email. “Often the findings of in vitro studies are confirmed in vivo, but not always.”
A hornet’s nest
To understand why this occurs, Bleier and his team and coauthor Mansoor Amiji, who chairs the department of pharmaceutical sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, went on a scientific detective hunt.
A respiratory virus or bacteria invades the nose, the main point of entry into the body. Immediately, the front of the nose detects the germ, well before the back of the nose is aware of the intruder, the team discovered.
At that point, cells lining the nose immediately begin creating billions of simple copies of themselves called extracellular vesicles, or EV’s.
“EV’s can’t divide like cells can, but they are like little mini versions of cells specifically designed to go and kill these viruses,” Bleier said. “EV’s act as decoys, so now when you inhale a virus, the virus sticks to these decoys instead of sticking to the cells.”
Scientists behind a new study may have found the biological reason we get more respiratory illnesses in winter and it turns out the cold air itself damages the immune response occurring in the nose. (sebra/Adobe Stock)
Those “Mini Me’s” are then expelled by the cells into nasal mucus (yes, snot), where they stop invading germs before they can get to their destinations and multiply.
“This is one of, if not the only part of the immune system that leaves your body to go fight the bacteria and viruses before they actually get into your body,” Bleier said.
Once created and dispersed out into nasal secretions, the billions of EV’s then start to swarm the marauding germs, Bleier said.
“It’s like if you kick a hornet’s nest, what happens? You might see a few hornets flying around, but when you kick it, all of them all fly out of the nest to attack before that animal can get into the nest itself,” he said. “That’s the way the body mops up these inhaled viruses so they can never get into the cell in the first place.”
A big increase in immune power
When under attack, the nose increases production of extracellular vesicles by 160%, the study found. There were additional differences: EV’s had many more receptors on their surface than original cells, thus boosting the virus-stopping ability of the billions of extracellular vesicles in the nose.
“Just imagine receptors as little arms that are sticking out, trying to grab on to the viral particles as you breathe them in,” Bleier said. “And we found each vesicle has up to 20 times more receptors on the surface, making them super sticky.”
Cells in the body also contain a viral killer called micro RNA, which attack invading germs. Yet EVs in the nose contained 13 times micro RNA sequences than normal cells, the study found.
So the nose comes to battle armed with some extra superpowers. But what happens to those advantages when cold weather hits?
To find out, Bleier and his team exposed four study participants to 15 minutes of 40-degree-Fahrenheit (4.4-degree-Celsius) temperatures, and then measured conditions inside their nasal cavities.
“What we found is that when you’re exposed to cold air, the temperature in your nose can drop by as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit. And that’s enough to essentially knock out all three of those immune advantages that the nose has,” Bleier said.
In fact, that little bit of coldness in the tip of the nose was enough to take nearly 42% of the extracellular vesicles out of the fight, Bleier said.
“Similarly, you have almost half the amount of those killer micro RNA’s inside each vesicle, and you can have up to a 70% drop in the number of receptors on each vesicle, making them much less sticky,” he said.
What does that do to your ability to fight off colds, flu and Covid-19? It cuts your immune system’s ability to fight off respiratory infections by half, Bleier said.
You don’t have to wear a nose sock
As it turns out, the pandemic gave us exactly what we need to help fight off chilly air and keep our immunity high, Bleier said.
“Not only do masks protect you from the direct inhalation of viruses, but it’s also like wearing a sweater on your nose,” he said.
Patel agreed: “The warmer you can keep the intranasal environment, the better this innate immune defense mechanism will be able to work. Maybe yet another reason to wear masks!”
In the future, Bleier expects to see the development of topical nasal medications that build upon this scientific revelation. These new pharmaceuticals will “essentially fool the nose into thinking it has just seen a virus,” he said.
“By having that exposure, you’ll have all these extra hornets flying around in your mucous protecting you,” he added.
Yes that’s the one Iread about. I think it’s fascinating the common cold is such a “common” illness and yet there is a lot we don’tknow about it.
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It is hard to disassociate these things in our heads. It’s easier for me because I moved to a tropical climate where the temperature almost never drops below 25 degrees C yet I get just as many coughs and colds as I did in the UK.
The funny thing here as getting them is attributed to other factors, taking a shower at night in slightly cooler air or eating ‘cooling’ foods (‘heaty’ and ‘cooling’ foods is its own branch of nonsense in Asia).
Especially when it’s about whether kids should put on warmer clothes even if they don’t want to.
In Scandinavian countries they put their babies to sleep outside in sub zero temperatures, wrapped up so only the head is exposed. It would be viewed as madness elsewhere but they are all fine and sleep well.
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yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2022
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That other guy wins too, though. I didn’t know who he was, now I do. I hate him and everything he stands for, but this gave him publicity through which some people will find him who will buy into what he’s selling.
As Elon Musk’s recent fortunes prove, the idea that there’s no such thing as bad publicity doesn’t always hold true.
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Couldn’t make it up – Tate’s response to Thunberg tipped off the Romanian Police that he was in the country – so they arrested him for trafficking!
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