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between this and the article about brain parasites in california, HN is scaring the crap out of me
by zafirk 14y ago
between this and the article about brain parasites in california, HN is scaring the crap out of me
- publicfig 14y agoI don't know which article you're referencing, but we also had brain parasites found in a man who died about 50 miles from me in Indiana. We've basically been told to avoid freshwater lakes and rivers for now.
- 001sky 14y agoThose freshwater incidents sound like protozoa (amoeba) infections with an high mortality rate ("Brain-eating amoeba suspected in Indiana death"). GP is referring to another hazard, also seems to be from nasty water. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4492244 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4492244. Don't say you weren't warned though !
- noahc 14y agoMinnesota also had a confirmed case about a month and half ago as well.
- SoftwareMaven 14y agoThis is a fundamental problem with our always-on, 24 hour news, headline-based world. Unfortunately, it tends to breed fear, hopelessness and apathy as people feel overwhelmed about too many problems they can't control. Not sure what to do about it, though. Get outside and disconnected more, I suppose. :)
- rcthompson 14y agoBonus: getting outside gets you away from your carcinogenic couch.
- tsotha 14y agoNot me. For one thing, keep in mind these people are selling page views. If the headline was "Odds of being diagnosed with brain parasite at .00061%", would you even bother reading the story? Dividing things out is a big anxiety stopper. And think about it when you see something like "...100% increase in your risk of brain cancer," since it represents the doubling of a very small number. Taking percentages of percentages is a sneaky way to make things look more important than they really are.