Chicago MMXII

Radiolab is supposed to be science-oriented, and their topics aren't necessarily in keeping with news and current events. Also sometimes TAL does fiction segments and Radiolab doesn't do that.

"DON'T TELL HIM HE'S FUNNY, THAT ONLY ENCOURAGES HIM AND THATS HOW WE GET DANE COOK".

Audible LOL at this, btw.

Haha

Man, Radiolab's editing makes me want to throw the radio against the wall.

I listened to the Patient Zero ep. and I was very surprised that their account of how he got to be called that was not just wrong (per the common knowledge debunking of the notion that he was called that b/c he was the equivalent of "Ground Zero") but also one I'd never heard before. They said that patients were randomly assigned numbers and he just happened to be assigned 0. It totally called into question everything else they said.

they didn't say they were randomly assigned numbers, my impression was that they called him patient zero because when they tracked everything back he appeared to be the starting place. but they didn't really say that either.

Are you sure they didn't say they were randomly assigned numbers? It's pretty fresh in my mind grapes....

but i also don't really know what the "right reason" is you're implying. i don't know much about it at all.

I've never listened to Radiolab before, but that one sounds like a decent place to start.

they were unclear about the number assignments - they might have suggested the numbers were random (at least for the non-patient zeros) but i don't think they said it straight-out - anyway it would be a pretty big coincidence for the first guy to just happen to be patient zero so i think that choice in particular was non-random

The last radiolab I listened to was something on why people do endurance events.

i haven't heard the radiolab episode, but afaik the whole "patient zero" thing, at least as regards gaetan dugas, has been widely critiqued/debunked as inaccurate and somewhat homophobic. maybe the radiolab episode deals with this

wikipedia says 'He was called "Patient Zero" because at least 40 of the 248 people known to be infected by AIDS in 1983 had had sexual intercourse with him, or with someone who had sexual intercourse with him.'

There has often been an allusion to a "patient zero" who introduced AIDS to the gay community of California. In fact, the patient was not called zero at all but was designated by the letter O (for Out of California) but the name patient zero persisted.

In 1984 Dr. William Darrow and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published the results of a study they had conducted in The American Journal of Medicine. This epidemiological study from San Francisco showed how 'Patient O' ("oh," the letter, for "Out of California") had given HIV to multiple partners.... The press mistakenly interpreted the designation as Patient 0 (i.e. zero) rather than O.

Randy Shilts wrote about this in And The Band Played On and it's pretty widely known.

yeah they go into the debunking

Those were just two of a ton of references to this error.

Argh. I'm going to have to re-listen b/c I recall hearing it and I started paying close attention for any correction but didn't hear one!

Ah I think I found the problem. I listened to a different Radiolab about AIDS!

http://www.radiolab.org/2011/nov/14/aids/ = Patient Zero

http://www.radiolab.org/2011/nov/14/ = The Cell That Started a Pandemic, which is the one I heard.

they don't go into any of the stuff you just mentioned, which was interesting

those are both from the same day though?

(xpost)

nevermind, i might be confused

Yeh, they appear to be from the same day.

I am playing it and they just said that the CDC created a diagram of who had sex w/ whom and numbered everyone "NY 7, LA 12" and Gaetan's number just *happened* to be numbered 0 "and as far as we know, that's the first time you get the term 'Patient Zero.'"

I'm really not trying to prove that I'm right, I was just very confused about how we could have such totally opposite memories.

You're probably right, I have a shit memory even for stuff I heard this morning.

I have no problem with you being right.

We're BOTH right, is what I'm saying.

B/c we were talking about two different episodes.

Those last three posts would make a good Paul Smon song.

Paul Smon would be a hilarious pseudonym.

"No, not Simon...it's Smon."

lol

lol

Alan Salami
Paul Smon
D1ck Cr01ss@nt

new CPS proposes getting rid of Pulaski Day! (that is, no longer getting a day off for Pulaski Day)

new CPS calendar, that is

I heard about that on the radio. What do you think about that?

This is like conversation 101.

Well, I think it's an interesting proposition. I listened to what both sides had to say, and each made a strong point. (Cultural heritage officially recognized for Poles/more instructional time for kids in school) Ultimately, I am not attached to the day whatsoever, so I always fall on the side of make the kids go to school. Their parents need to work and/or go to school too.

What do you think about that?

When I was in school, that was always a four-day weekend. The other day was a teacher institute day or parent/teacher conferences or something.

If they're going to have Pulaski Day off, they should get the Vernal Equinox, May Day, and The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (which was yesterday) off, too.

I am not attached to the day, but I like the idea of it so I would be sad to see it go.

dan m otm
therefore i say get rid of it -- kids need to be in school and their parents probably need to work that day.

Says "Paul Smon"

I like Pulaski Day because it is something unique to Chicago, kind of like how in Boston we got Patriots' Day off. Their needs to be more regional/local holidays.

^^^ that. It's nostalgia for something I've never experienced, admittedly. Also I like that Sufjan Stevens song.

Romantically, I am thrilled with the idea of Pulaski Day, but in reality (real everyday reality) it makes more sense to get rid of it. (I may frequently behave like a total fruitcake, but I am a practical person at heart.)

Hey so one of my students works in loss prevention for a well-known general retailer and he was telling me that there's this epidemic of people stealing Tide detergent and exchanging it for drugs? And then I looked it up and I guess it's true?

http://moneyland.time.com/2012/03/14/people-are-stealing-tide-detergent-and-using-it-to-buy-drugs/
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/03/12/031212-news-tide-theft-1-4/

I won't lie. If I find a black market source for Tide, I would probably take advantage of it. It's very good detergent but way too expensive.

Wait, what? How is Tide currency for drugs?

Ok I read the first link -- whoa. That is insane.

The stood's take was that since it has such recognizable branding (the logo and the orange bottle), it's really easy for strung out people to duck into a store and steal a bottle of Tide without having to put a lot of thought into it. And then since it's expensive and beloved by consumers, there's a demand for it.

I asked him what the most shoplifted thing was and he said bar soap! People steal it and then go sell it to people with tables at outdoor markets/swap meets.

(How to shoplift soap: wear two pairs of very baggy pants. Use your shoe laces to securely close the cuffs of the under pants. Drop soap down your pants until you look like Megaman (his comparison).)

I was having a conversation with some people recently about efforts to move toward a cashless society in Sweden. There was a lot of questions on how black market transactions would be made and the consensus was "gift cards", but this is even better!

Is it the prestige detergent?

Tide? I think it is. It's so vastly more expensive than pretty much any other brand name. I also think it got rated as best detergent by Consumer Reports at some point? Also my mom will not wash clothes in anything else.

Carl Agatha's Mom Seal of Approval carries a lot of weight in the drug dealing community.

I've been listening to Led Zeppelin all day and I don't know, I'm just throwing this picture of bearded, shirtless Robert Plant out here for you to enjoy as needed:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fhL7HxZlz58/TdlLCm9DBNI/AAAAAAAApAo/DwYWJh72bXk/s1600/led_zeppelin-creeps.jpg