Interesting Links for 15-04-2024

[andrewducker]

1. How to avoid misgendering ships

(tags:ships gender language )

2. Is Bohemian Rhapsody the most magical song of all time?

(tags:music queen video )

3. Good News Against Dengue (two vaccines in the pipeline)

(tags:vaccine GoodNews )

4. US drug shortages reach record high with 323 meds now in short supply

(tags:USA medication doom )

5. Why do some people always get lost? (Mostly nurture, with regular practice in confusing environments making a big difference)

(tags:behaviour psychology )

Comments

1)

[calimac]

"It's funny, but all bits of machinery that people love are made into females. All ships are 'she.' Racing drivers call their cars 'she.' Same thing with airplanes. ... Odd isn't it? I used to serve in a battleship. Gigantic great ship stuffed with guns and radar and so on. Called the George V. But we called her 'she.'"

- Ian Fleming, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964)

And reading that in childhood is how I learned about gendering ships.

Re: 1)

[andrewducker]

That is an excellent quote.

[hairyears]

3: You could almost find yourself questioning whether an apparent failure of economic 'laws' of supply and demand should make us question our assumptions.

Me, I believe that the law of supply and demand is working perfectly, but not for us: and it seems that whoever is profiting, here, has no interest in supplying inexpensive medication. Even, or especially, if people like you and I suffer and die.

And that, in turn, makes us question all kinds of assumptions, economic and otherwise.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes, at some point it makes sense for governments to run drug factories.

Or to subside specific drugs to make sure they get produced.

Whichever is cheaper.

[fub]

I'm a big fan of compulsory licensing. The government decides a reasonable licensing fee for a medicine, and then anyone can produce the medicine if they pay the licensing fee to the rights holder. That ensures that it stays profitable to create new medicines, but prevents monopolistic price gouging.

[andrewducker]

In many of these cases the patent has long run out, so there is no licensing fee. But someone still needs to decide that it's worth their while making the drug, and that they'll be able to make at least a small profit doing so.