Issue 166

News: The Thiomersal Controversy.
A few weeks ago, I signed up for a human Development Class, but I eventually transferred to another section after the second class. Three things crystallized my desire to transfer: 1) Her claim that if one couldn't relate to people (and I honestly cannot), the class would be very difficult indeed, 2) She showed "The Business of Being Born" in class. As I mentioned earlier, it was poorly researched (attempting to coorelate infant mortality with hospital births), biased (no, bias implies that the other side is represented, in however poor a light. It's not a documentary, it's not even a propaganda piece; it's an infomercial), and very poorly done. The third thing was that she seemed to show that there was a link between vaccines and autism. I openly facepalmed when she brought it up. And in light of the fact that the Lancet recently retracted their paper which claimed that there was a coorelation between the MMR vaccine and Autism, I think it's necessary for me to do a little piece on the controversy. Here's the summary of the controversy; some parents of autistic children believe that autism is caused by vaccines. To make this seem somewhat less of a leap, they claim that the Thiomersal in some vaccines causes autism. No word on why this didn't do anything to most of the children who received the vaccines. Folks, I'm going to set the record straight; Thiomersal isn't in all vaccines. And even in those vaccines it is in, it is used in very small quantities [.1 mg, which is sufficient for a preservative], and considering that the lowest lethal dose of Thimerosal is 60 mg/kg, it would seem that there is very little danger. To put it into perspective, keeping in mind that the average weight of a newborn baby is 3.2 kg, it would take over 2000 vaccines to kill it. And please bear in mind that almost nobody is recommending that anybody take anywhere near that many vaccines in their entire lifetime. However, when I looked into the controversy I found something interesting; while some of these parents claim that mercury is poisoning their children, guess how they try to cure it: by putting more hazardous chemicals into the bodies of their children. Yes; it's called Chelation therapy, and it works by using chelating agents that combat lead poisoning to turn the thimerosal into a safer chemical; of course, by the time people get into it, it's already been metabolized, so, in essence, you're trying to use a potentially hazardous chemical to neutralize a chemical that's already been neutralized. And, in addition to not working, it has been known to cause a few deaths.

Band Name of the Day: We Will Not Use Styptic Pens in the Future. Of course, we hardly ever use them now.

Film Idea of the Day: Death Park. A short story idea I'm currently working on. It has a man going to his brother's theme park, apparently to become a partner, but it turns out that the rides are almost all dangerous (for instance, a wave pool so dangerous that it boasts 30 saves per day), and some (like a looping water slide) are even lethal. Based on a true story, or more accurately, a real water park. Imagine if Kafka's "Penal Colony" was actually a waterpark.

Film Review of the Day: The Third Man. I recently bought this movie online, and just today I received it, getting it before it becomes nigh on impossible to find (an issue I hope to get into later). I haven't watched the disc yet, but I know I have seen the movie before, so I'll go from memory. Simply put, it is probably the greatest British movie of all time. From what I remember, my favorite parts were the score (the happy zither score manages to throw the bleakness of the events happening around it into sharp relief,) and, simply put, Harry Lime (The most amazing thing is that with all the acclaim about his character, it's easy to forget that even mentioning the fact that Orson Welles is in the movie is a major spoiler. And, for that matter, even though he may not have had as major a role in making the movie as previously thought, the parts he did contribute managed to do something I previously thought was impossible; a point which is inaccurate, but even in being made wrong, only furthers his point.)

Quote of the Day: "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
_______________Harry Lime. No, the Cuckoo Clock is a Barvarian creation. Damn, Harry, even when you're wrong, you're right.

Link of the Day: Just so you're clear, Death Park will be based on an actual park. Even the looping water slide, unfortunately.

Correction: Two issues ago, when I posted a link to the Bad Webcomics Wiki, I made a remark about a wolf that molests children due to a brain tumor. I was, in fact, mistaken. The wolf is actually a mouse. Yes, it is a mouse that is the size of a wolf.