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posted by martyb on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the disarm-the-terrorists dept.

Leprosy is bacterial. In addition to curing leprosy with antibiotics, we also have anti-biotic resistant leprosy. What prevents a terrorist from deliberately infecting themself with leprosy and then engaging in promiscuous activity? How would a city like San Francisco, Washington DC, Paris or Berlin react to leprosy? When leprosy has a long incubation period, are we certain that leprosy isn't spreading already?

martyb: I was debating whether or not to run this story; from the Wikipedia page, "Contrary to popular belief, it is not highly contagious." But, there is more to this than just antibiotic-resistant leprosy. It invites discussion as to other agents with delayed response that could be employed. In addition, given a terrorist's intention to affect some other group, what options do they have which would affect that group without also adversely affecting their own group? How many of their own group are people willing to "harm" in the pursuit of harm to another group?

takyon: Bill Gates: Bioterrorism could kill more than nuclear war — but no one is ready to deal with it
Dept. of Defense aims countermeasures at WMD, synthetic biological threats
Bill Gates: Bioterrorism Weapons Could Kill 30 Million
Vaccine Development Agreements Target Encephalitis Bioterror Agent
Public Meeting on Biodefense Budget Reform
How the House health care bill undercuts bioterror and pandemic defenses
Bengaluru: Wipro gets email threat 'pay 500 cr in bitcoins or suffer bio-terror'; warned of attack by May 25


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:38AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:38AM (#505657)

    Be afraid! Be very afraid! Terrorists spreading viruses! But only on Windows, so no worries.

    Do we need this here on Soylent? If I want terror fearmongering, I can always checkout Fear Fox News.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:11AM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:11AM (#505692) Journal

      I didn't like it but I augmented the story with some actual links.

      Lets get that hot bioterror.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:17AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:17AM (#505694)

        Hasn't Bill Gates terrified the world enough with his Blue Screens and Windows10? Now he is an expert on ABC's? (Atomic, biological, chemical warfare, a somewhat dated acronym, but suitable, in this case.)

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:21AM (1 child)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:21AM (#505695) Journal

          Read up on the Gates foundation. He's been all into malaria, other diseases, toilets, etc. Maybe the.mutterings of Musky and Hawking will get him complaining about artificial intelligence. He is no longer the man who cares about Windows. He is in billionaire TED talk philanthropy mode.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:27AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:27AM (#505699)

            There is no "Gates Foundation"! There is the "Bill and MELINDA Gates Foundation". Ol' Bill never even thought about being a philanthropist until his wife used the clue stick on him. Explains why he's not very good at it, not enough time to practice! Certainly not 10,000 hours.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:02AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:02AM (#505708)

      Yes. We should outlaw leprosy... Maybe build a wall to keep it out.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:11AM (#505713)

      Indeed. And unlike the terrists, we have modern medicine to deal with leprosy. I fail to see why I should be scared out of my wits of brown people.

      Interesting to see WaPo fuel the fear of brown people. But that's the plan by the powers that be who want global war. Incite racism.

      And don't $x is not a race! me.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:37PM (#505923)

      " If I want terror fearmongering, I can always checkout Fear Fox News."

      Leprosy is nothing. Tune in to CNN to hear about how the United States is a train that has jumped its tracks and how Trump is about to start WWIII with Russia because he's controlled by them, etc.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:40AM (4 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:40AM (#505659)

    This has been a threat for a good 30 years now. Recall after the trade towers the Anthrax threats. Also recall the Japanese Subway threats.

    Biological warfare sounds eezy peezy, but in real life it just don't work.

    Unless of course you have bookoo bux, like, I dunno, a government.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by EvilSS on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:15AM (1 child)

      by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:15AM (#505675)
      Not to nit-pick but I see this quite often for some reason: The Japanese subway attack was sarin gas, a chemical nerve agent, not a biological weapon. Which, going back to your title, was why it worked and why it was used. The group had tried to create biological agents in the past but without much success. Sarin on the other hand was easier to produce and deploy.
      • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:18AM

        by Snotnose (1623) on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:18AM (#505677)

        My bad. I knew they were different, but the delivery agents are so close I confuse them.

        --
        Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:14AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:14AM (#505693) Journal

      The tech is advancing BIG LEAGUE. Consider CRISPR and the falling cost of synthesis.

      https://www.genome.gov/sequencingcosts/ [genome.gov]

      It is definitely still hyped, but amateurs can actually do some stuff now.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:32AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:32AM (#505701)

      the Japanese Subway threats.

      That, and the pedo Jared guy, are why I will never get a sandwich from that chain ever again. Talk about your bio-terror!!

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:46AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:46AM (#505660)

    > It invites discussion as to other agents with delayed response that could be employed.

    The reason they don't do it is because terrorism only works if its big, splashy and obviously malacious.
    The anti-vaxxers think vaccines are a government plot to make their kids autistic and enrich big pharma.
    But all the anti-vaxxers end up doing is killing their own children. Which is generally shitty but doesn't achieve any political result.

    So leprosy, oh no! Stop shaking stranger's hands. Big whoop!

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:09AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:09AM (#505671)

      But all the anti-vaxxers end up doing is killing their own children. Which is generally shitty but doesn't achieve any political result.

      Occasionally someone else's children, too. Some people are allergic to particular vaccines and have to rely on the herd immunity for survival. Anti-vaxxers are directly endangering a large number of children. That's not only shitty, it's immoral, selfish, and criminal.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:28AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:28AM (#505717)

        most importantly, vaccines are given at a certain age (some at 1 year of age for instance).
        all kids younger than that are at risk, not just those alergic etc.
        I will not be visiting Romania this year because we have an infant son and we don't want him to get the measles http://www.bbc.com/news/health-39419976. [bbc.com] His grandparents are simply going to have to wait until next year to see him.

        • (Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday May 07 2017, @07:48AM (1 child)

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday May 07 2017, @07:48AM (#505759) Homepage

          This article is talking about faggot anal sex in San Francisco. Dipping your wick there will get your dikk rotted off anyway.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:36PM

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:36PM (#505922) Journal

            Tell us, do you speak from experience? You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing...

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:57AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:57AM (#505662)

    There is no glory in spreading communicable disease. Try to convince impressionable young men to do this, for the glory of whatever

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:10AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:10AM (#505745)

      There is no glory in spreading communicable disease. Try to convince impressionable young men to do this...

      Tell 'em they'll have to have a penectomy.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @08:53AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @08:53AM (#505767)

        Wouldn't it simply fall off?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @12:50AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @12:50AM (#506091)

          How would he explain that to the virgins he's suppose to get?

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:03AM (12 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:03AM (#505666) Journal

    It's been years since I read up on leprosy. But, it's not immediately fatal, if it is fatal at all. Many people live nearly normal lives, if more miserably than life would have been without leprosy. To be spread effectively, someone has to have it, and having it makes you "unclean". Those people most likely to want to spread the disease happen to be Muslim. Muslims are obsessed with their own idea of clean and unclean. Since no Muslim wants to be unclean, let alone die unclean, it's highly unlikely that Muslims will be contracting the disease to spread it amont the infidels.

    Other nasty communicable diseases might be less unappealing to Muslims, so you can't discount the possibility of carriers being dispatched throughout western nations.

    As far as more scientific methods of spreading diseases - well, Iran, Iraq, and Syria demonstrate that their technology isn't really up to it. Mustard gas seems to be their strong suit, with some attempts at anthrax and sarin. So far, they haven't demonstrated the ability to make stable components, with decent shelf lives. The US, Russia, and probably most of Europe has better tech, with which they can prepare bio weapons with long storage lives.

    Granted, terrorists aren't really worried about long storage lives, but they do need to store the stuff long enough to distribute it.

    The possibility is there, of course, but they can get much more dramatic effects with more common weapons.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:43AM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:43AM (#505685) Journal
      My take is that anyone smart enough to figure out how to spread leprosy, will realize that it doesn't suit their needs. Sure, it's kind of scary. But in the long run, it's just news. And they've made a lot of people pissed off. They need some attacks so that they can get recruits, funding, and street cred. But they don't need attacks big enough that it could justify a developed world, salt-the-earth campaign. They want to be appeased, not destroyed.

      Here, the Nazis are an object lesson to anyone who goes too far. For the first years of the Second World War, they defeated everyone they fought in a series of brilliant operations. But they pissed off a lot more people than they could beat. And those people were willing to kill millions of people to make sure the Nazis were wiped out from history.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:22AM (#505696)

        And it's got to have Milla Jonovich .

    • (Score: 1) by Demena on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:35AM (3 children)

      by Demena (5637) on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:35AM (#505702)

      I though leprosy was only communicable to children but it took decades to become symptomatic. In which case it would be useless as a terror threat. However as I cannot recall a source for that information I ask if anyone knows something about this.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:44AM (2 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:44AM (#505707) Journal

        Anything can be scary even if it does no harm. A little dirty bomb radiation? Maybe you get cancer in 30 years. But it's scary immediately to the people who live there.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:17AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:17AM (#505714)

          But a dirty bomb is dramatic. There will be a bomb squad and twelve hours of nonstop live coverage beaming down from the networks. Be afraid! Cower in terror!

          On the other hand, maybe that's the point. On noes! Brown people could be terrists! I might develop a big, scary condition that causes limbs to fall off (*snort* as if!) in 30 years! Better hate brown people! Destroy the invaders! Kill! Kill! Kill!

          World war must be very profitable.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:27AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:27AM (#505716)

            Actually a lot of mid-eastern "brown people" are up to no good and the same goes for Arabs. Usually they have very little to contribute anyway and are easy to identify so contact can be avoided. A majority of these are into Islam and they are over represented in crimes and terrorism. A good part of those that don't do terrorism will instead support it.

            Radioactive particles causes cancer that forces health services to amputate various parts. So yes, limbs may be lost.

            War is business and very profitable.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:42AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:42AM (#505706) Journal

      It's possible to disperse such infections as particles instead of a human carrier. I have no doubt a person will do this despite the "uncleanliness", it's about brainwash in the end and not belief. But the particle approach requires skilled bio technicians which currently only highly industrialized nations have. One possibility is some rich oil pumping nation getting the idea to spread more than the gospel because they can afford and persist to accomplish the goal..

      So keeping an eye on those that can do these things goes a long way.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:38AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @05:38AM (#505736)

      it ultimately is fatal or compromises one's health. But the lead time for it to become noticed is long term, years. It's not like Ebola.

      As a 'terror' weapon it'd have to be quite the long term play.

      Not sure I'd really be worried about it unless I lived in Texas. armadillos get infected by leprosy bacteria., one of the few animals that go get infected by it. So if wildlife biologists start noticing curious number of armadillos with leprosy...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:49AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:49AM (#505781)

      It's been years since I read up on leprosy. But, it's not immediately fatal, if it is fatal at all.

      Searing insight and top-notch medical expertise like this are what keep me coming back to SN! I mean, at once Runaway insinuates that he ever did "read up" on leprosy (more correctly, Hansen's Disease, by the way), and then goes on to point out that it is not deadly because it is not immediately deadly, sort of like the Republican repeal and erase of the Affordable Care Act. Wow, just wow! How can any one mind contain both so little actual information, and contradictory information, at the same time? I stand in awe, Runaway19567! Please tell us more about your knowledge of infectious diseases! Hoof-and-mouth? Brucellosis? Beaver-fever (Tularemia)? Shirley you know that all these have been weaponized by both the Americans and the Soviets. (And a lot seem to come from pig-fucking.) Help us protect ourselfs, Runaway! We all rely on you!!!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:54AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:54AM (#505785)

        Get a life, bitch. Doesn't that Great Dane over on the next block want some company?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @12:53PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @12:53PM (#505814)

      It's been years since I read up on leprosy. But, it's not immediately fatal, if it is fatal at all. Many people live nearly normal lives, if more miserably than life would have been without leprosy. To be spread effectively, someone has to have it, and having it makes you "unclean". Those people most likely to want to spread the disease happen to be Muslim. Muslims are obsessed with their own idea of clean and unclean. Since no Muslim wants to be unclean, let alone die unclean, it's highly unlikely that Muslims will be contracting the disease to spread it amont the infidels.

      You need to refresh your Islamic lore then. Dying in the name of Allah is akin to a super-confession in Christianity, all your sins regardless of how grave they were will instantly be wiped and you are guaranteed a golden ticket to heaven. This is why you see things like oh-so-righteous mujahadin engaging in all kinds of debauchery shortly before they blow themselves up.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:14AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:14AM (#505674) Journal

    We seem to be pretty good at it without the help of terrorists:

    The above is letting aside what the nature throw at us, like Zikka, various haemorragic fevers [wikipedia.org], Ebola and other niceties.

    In 2017 alone, Congo virus killed 11 in Pakistan [dailypakistan.com.pk], last to die was less than 1 day ago.

    You were and are not safe from infectious disease no matter what you think about the civilization degree. So why live scared?

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:08AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:08AM (#505710)

      O157:H7 and O104:H4 will not spread between people asfaik. Sucks to get it but it won't "burn" through a region.

      There IS however some suspicious activity going on. In 2009 WHO changed the definition for pandemic. So that the protocol can be activated without heightened mortality. This makes it possible to force countries to vaccinate their population. In February 2009 Baxter Pharmaceutical, Austrian subsidiary shipped a batch of unattenuated bird flu 2005 together with ordinary seasonal flu to sixteen laboratories in Czech Republic, Slovenia, Germany. That is the optimal way to make the viruses mix and create a cocktail that will be deadly and contagious at the same time. But a Czech lab technician at the Company Bio Test, tried the batch on ferrets by pure hunch to be sure it was safe before being delivered as vaccine. The next day the lab animals were all dead and a alert was sent out to stop the batch.

      If it had went through, a gigantic epidemic might have been set of. So some people say they will just refuse to get the vaccine then. Sure, but states like Massachusetts, US can charge you 1000$ per day for that. Regardless the government can in most cases impose itself on any citizen by various means. And in emergencies law makers are eager to get things done with speed and thus skip checks and sign away liabilities.

    • (Score: 2) by lx on Sunday May 07 2017, @08:28AM

      by lx (1915) on Sunday May 07 2017, @08:28AM (#505764)

      Bonus points for working in a soy related story.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @02:15AM (#505676)

    If someone manages to figure out some really effective bioterrorism, there is no stopping it anyway. Luckily, most of the people trying to come up with these weapons are using NHST too...

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Thexalon on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:08AM (3 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:08AM (#505691)

    This sounds like an excellent entry to Bruce Schneier's semi-regular contests [schneier.com] to think up scary terrorism plots. The point, of course, is that potential ways for Bad Guys to do bad things are basically infinite, and trying to think up all the possible things they could do is essentially a waste of time.

    And I know movie-plot threats when I see them, as the proud author of this semi-finalist entry [schneier.com].

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:16AM (2 children)

      by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:16AM (#505747) Journal

      What I'm frankly shocked hasn't happened is a terrorist starting a good old fashioned stampede without any real weapon at all. After all all they would have to do is say fly a drone spreading a white powder in the air while broadcasting from a speaker on the drone that its a biological agent. Do it at something like a football game? You'd have dozens stomped to death in the stampede and wouldn't require any actual toxins at all.

      --
      ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:52AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:52AM (#505783)

        You'd have dozens stomped to death in the stampede

        Just what I would suspect someone with a username like "Hairyfeet" would secretly be wishing for. #FBInotify

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:00PM (#505873)

        What I'm surprised about is the lack of economic terrorism in the form of suicide bombers at shopping malls on Black Friday. Imagine making people too afraid to spend money they don't have on things their family and friends don't need when our economy most needs them to do so.

  • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Sunday May 07 2017, @03:24AM (3 children)

    Given that no article source was given for this, did someone just happen to watch Papillon [wikipedia.org] or a documentary about Kalaupapa [wikipedia.org] or similar and start wondering about this?

    I would think it would be more efficacious to spread hepatitis [wikipedia.org] and HIV [wikipedia.org], rather than leprosy.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
  • (Score: 1) by a-zA-Z0-9$_.+!*'(),- on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:04AM (4 children)

    by a-zA-Z0-9$_.+!*'(),- (3868) on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:04AM (#505709)

    And I don't really see how a story about speculative terrorism is a news story. Am I missing something? I thought 'News' meant stuff that actually happened.

    And Bill Gates is a nobody. Being a rich criminal monopolist hardly makes you an expert on warfare, bioterrorism, or anything except how to be a criminal monopolist.

    Now that *actually happened* - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft [wikipedia.org]

    --
    https://newrepublic.com/article/114112/anonymouth-linguistic-tool-might-have-helped-jk-rowling
    • (Score: 2) by n1 on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:38AM

      by n1 (993) on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:38AM (#505718) Journal

      There should have been an 'Ask Soylent:' in the headline in my opinion, not just 'answers' in topic...

      Even then, it's a bit of a random one I admit.

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:54AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @04:54AM (#505722)

      Bill Gates is not a nobody. He has funded the eradication of major diseases. You are a nobody with a broke ass screen name fighting a war that ended decades ago.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:56AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:56AM (#505787)

        Bill Gates is not a nobody. He has funded the eradication of major diseases.

        Shut up, Bill, you are a nobody! And for Christ's sake, get a username and log in so we know it is you. You nobody.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by a-zA-Z0-9$_.+!*'(),- on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:41PM

        by a-zA-Z0-9$_.+!*'(),- (3868) on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:41PM (#506001)

        That's just his attempts to whitewash his criminal legacy just as every other criminal (m|b)illionaire does, so they're not remembered for their misdeeds but their "philanthropy". This of course, is financed with all the money you and I spent on forced Windows/IE bundling with all that hardware we couldn't get otherwise. Crimesthat the Justice department convicted his company of. Fact.

        And last time I checked Bill Gates dropped out of his PhD program in biology and, oh wait, he wasn't in a PhD program, he dropped out of his undergraduate program in college, and it wasn't biology it was pre-law, and I guess that makes him a high school graduate. Am I wrong? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates. [wikipedia.org] If so, not by much. Bill Gates is just another rich buffoon.

        --
        https://newrepublic.com/article/114112/anonymouth-linguistic-tool-might-have-helped-jk-rowling
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by stormwyrm on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:52AM (6 children)

    by stormwyrm (717) on Sunday May 07 2017, @06:52AM (#505751) Journal
    …is to spread “terror”. It’s not so much about killing people, but killing them in as flashy and spectacular a manner as possible in order to inspire such terror. Biological weapons are only so-so for doing this. If, say, a terrorist group managed to get hold of a really deadly biological warfare agent, as effective as perhaps the 1918 Spanish Flu, and it manages to kill millions of people. If they released such a thing and claimed credit for it, just how credible would such a claim be? It would be hard to prove that the flu was man-made and that they were the ones who did it. It could just as easily be a natural disaster, and it would behave as such as time went on, and dealing with all the sick people would be foremost in the minds of the authorities. They could kill ten thousand times more people this way than the 9/11 terror attacks but it would be nowhere near as effective as 9/11 in spreading terror. Terrorists do what they do in order to accomplish some sort of political goal, and since biological weapons are in general indiscriminate killers, such weapons are of limited utility in achieving such goals. A conventional bomb is much more spectacular and would be far better at inspiring terror and achieving the political goals of the terrorists than releasing a biological agent and waiting for it to spread.
    --
    Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:31AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:31AM (#505776)

      If they released such a thing and claimed credit for it, just how credible would such a claim be? It would be hard to prove that the flu was man-made and that they were the ones who did it.

      Encode a message in the nucleic acid. Upload message and decoding instructions to social media, like the Arecibo message.

    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:47AM

      by Bot (3902) on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:47AM (#505779) Journal

      Terror is effective when you already have power, and counterproductive when you want to acquire it, so I am a bit skeptical of the official narrative around terrorist acts. I think "The Network", 1976 is nearer to the truth.

      --
      Account abandoned.
    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:50AM

      by Bot (3902) on Sunday May 07 2017, @09:50AM (#505782) Journal

      BTW, when your opponent has nukes, all it needs to do is to show a bit of leprosy victims on TV, proceed to glassing arab countries, and send bots to do the oil extraction. Please think of the bots. Sand hurts us badly.

      --
      Account abandoned.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Sunday May 07 2017, @12:02PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 07 2017, @12:02PM (#505808)

      releasing a biological agent and waiting for it to spread

      A good analogy to the leprosy problem is second hand tobacco smoke. We've barely managed to make that illegal.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:03PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @01:03PM (#505816)

      Your classification is erroneous, the Jihadists are not terrorists. Oh sure, we may call them as terrorists, but they themselves see themselves as holy warriors fighting in the name of god. Make no mistake, flashy "terrorist" attacks are not there to scare you, their purpose is to be inspiration and motivation to other would-be mujahideen.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @02:03AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 08 2017, @02:03AM (#506124)
        And the argument stands. Inspiring other mujahideen is a political goal. Biological warfare is still a crummy way of accomplishing that.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @10:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 07 2017, @10:56AM (#505800)

    ...is a social construct.

  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday May 08 2017, @12:45AM (1 child)

    You can make the suicide bomber's favorite detonator out of Ortho Snail And Slug Death, hydrogen peroxide antiseptic or hair bleach, any flavor of Kool-Ade Mix other than lemon, a spaghetti strainer, two coffee filters, a large bowl, a cup a spoon, a box of table salt and a bag of party ice.

    A while back I called up the Portland FBI to tell them about it. "But what can just one person do?" replied the obviously frightened agent.

    (I got busted for making HMTD in my dorm room at UCSC.)

    If you use lemon kool-ade, the result won't be explosive but it is quite fucking funny.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 2, Funny) by justinb_76 on Monday May 08 2017, @12:06PM

      by justinb_76 (4362) on Monday May 08 2017, @12:06PM (#506303)

      nice try, FBI - now what did you do with MDC's body?

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