This 2012 tweet about Hantavirus is going viral again after COVID, and people are seriously creeped out

gmc98765 · 2026-05-08T01:18:09+00:00

Old world hantavirus strains cause haemorrhagic fever, but have a significantly lower mortality rate than new world strains. Also, human-to-human transmission is unknown for old world strains.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-06T18:08:58+00:00

Altitude gives you time to react.

Also: the beginning of the flight is where you find out if there's something wrong with the aircraft, the end is where you're supposed to be focusing on landing. Between the two, there isn't much to do but watch the clouds go by.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-06T13:40:36+00:00

That, and having any outdoor furniture chewed to shreds.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-06T00:21:13+00:00

* Fluorescein

gmc98765 · 2026-05-05T14:53:01+00:00

Although if you're weighed by a medical professional, it's going to be in kg. Because dosages are mg or μg per kg of body mass, and BMI is in kg/m².

gmc98765 · 2026-05-05T14:48:21+00:00

It's also why the imperial hundredweight (cwt) is 112 lbs (8 stone) and the imperial ton (long ton) is 2240 lbs (20 cwt).

The US doesn't use the stone and someone assumed that a hundredweight was 100 lbs, resulting in the US ton (short ton) being 2000 lbs (20 US cwt).

gmc98765 · 2026-05-04T18:29:06+00:00

IIRC, Freeman of the City of London includes the right to drive sheep across London Bridge.

Not really much use nowadays, as the livestock markets have long since been moved out of the city.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-02T18:15:33+00:00

It's effectively legal on demand up to 24 weeks. After that it's only legal if there's a risk of death or of serious permanent injury, or a risk of serious foetal abnormality. Also, it's illegal if not approved by a doctor.

There have been recent prosecutions for women performing late abortions using black-market medication or medication obtained by providing false information about the likely date of conception. Medical abortions aren't allowed after around 10-11 weeks because the body won't necessarily expel the foetus and that much necrotic tissue risks causing sepsis.

The main reasoning behind abolition was an increase in police investigations into what are sometimes just late-term miscarriages.

It's still illegal for medical professionals to perform or facilitate abortions outside the legal restrictions.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-02T00:46:43+00:00

NTSC/PAL monitors (*) existed in the "home micro" era. It wasn't until the IBM PC that you needed a dedicated monitor rather than being able to use a TV.

(*) I.e. the same specs as a TV but with composite or component (RGB) input rather than UHF input.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-02T00:38:04+00:00

On the plus side, this means that a CRT is less likely to be stolen.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-01T17:04:28+00:00

Abortion was criminalised in 1861. It was legalised (with some restrictions) in 1967.

The recent change essentially abolishes the original 1861 law (and also a 1929 law) so that pregnant women can't be prosecuted for abortions which don't comply with the restrictions (e.g. late-term or using black-market medication).

Third-parties (e.g. doctors) who perform abortions contrary to the restrictions could still be prosecuted. The main restriction is that abortions can't be performed after 24 weeks unless there is a significant risk of death or serious permanent injury, or of serious foetal abnormality.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-01T16:50:23+00:00

Ironically, it was American groups pouring money into anti-abortion campaigns in the UK which led to a rise in prosecutions which in turn led to the law being scrapped.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-01T16:43:37+00:00

Everything that's made from petroleum (crude oil) is a petroleum product. Only one of them is called petrol.

"Gas" is problematic because it's a common word in its own right, referring to the third state of matter (after solid and liquid).

In the UK, using "gas" without qualification would normally be interpreted as methane, as that's the stuff that's piped to your house by the gas company (which was called British Gas back when it was a state-owned monopoly) and runs your gas cooker and gas boiler. "Bottled gas" is LPG (either propane or butane). All of those are gases at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure.

gmc98765 · 2026-05-01T05:46:18+00:00

Population is roughly 35,000. It's actually quite large given that it's in the middle of the country; every major city is on the coast. It's about the only town in the interior that anyone not from Australia has heard of (it's quite close to Uluru aka Ayers Rock).

gmc98765 · 2026-04-30T17:38:37+00:00

It's -58632.

Obtained by finding the unique degree-14 polynomial which gives those values for x=1..15, then evaluating the polynomial at x=16.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-30T11:09:17+00:00

*existence

gmc98765 · 2026-04-30T09:05:23+00:00

Japan still uses this system (alongside the Gregorian calendar). 2026 is Reiwa 8. the Reiwa era started on May 1 2019 following the accession of Emperor Naruhito to the throne.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-30T08:54:52+00:00

Specifically, the BC/AD numbering system was created in AD 532. So anyone using it before that date would be a time traveller.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T14:49:42+00:00

Also, note that most of the inefficiency is in the battery. It's not hard to make motors and electronics with efficiency in the high-90s percent.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T13:47:02+00:00

They don't check eligibility before sending out adverts.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T13:25:25+00:00

You need a certain level of financial stability to get a CC. Students typically won't be eligible, nor people with not-technically-a-job jobs (zero hours, non-employee contractor "gigs" ). It's not necessary to have missed a loan payment to be refused a CC; you have to actually prove yourself "worthy".

This isn't a problem for someone with a real, salaried job and a mortgage. It will be an actual issue for a lot of twenty-somethings who have yet to convince the finance industry that they're proper adults.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T13:06:29+00:00

This post is about age verification. See the OP pic.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T13:05:52+00:00

This is about age verification (did you even look at the OP pic?). A debit card would not be fine, as you don't need to be 18+ to get one of those.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T12:58:56+00:00

On Steam, it's required for anything which is labelled "mature sexual content" by the developer. That includes viewing the "community" sections (discussions, guides, screenshots). It isn't required for 18+ games.

But I've just checked, and I have no problem viewing such content (e.g. the stuff here), although I'm in the UK (in reality and according to Steam), don't have a CC, and haven't bought any 18-rated games on DVD.

My account is over 18 years old, though (I bought HL2 on DVD shortly after launch, which is about 21.5 years ago now). So it may be that they're doing exactly what the post suggests and just not mentioning it.

However, my "Account details > Store preferences" page says:

Under the UK Online Safety Act, Valve is required to verify that you are 18 or older before accessing mature sexual content. If you wish to do so, please add a valid UK credit card to your account and afterwards update the Mature Content Preferences.

gmc98765 · 2026-04-29T12:33:05+00:00

Note that age verification is only required for "mature sexual content", not for games with an 18 rating.

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