COVIDiots

[GoCubsGo]

I'm about 25% through with a book that begins with almost this exact scenario. A genetically altered pneumonic plague leaks from a lab in Russia and causes a global pandemic. Biological War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Highly recommend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologica ... A_Scenario

I also recommend her other book: Nuclear War: A Scenario. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War:_A_Scenario

I may be better off being oblivious.

[Vrede too]

I'm about 25% through with a book that begins with almost this exact scenario. A genetically altered pneumonic plague leaks from a lab in Russia and causes a global pandemic. Biological War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Highly recommend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologica ... A_Scenario

... A review in Christianity Today described Jacobsen's scenario as vividly depicting global biological catastrophe but criticised the book for providing relatively little practical guidance about how individuals might prepare for such an event.

Pray and kiss your ass goodbye.

I also recommend her other book: Nuclear War: A Scenario. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_War:_A_Scenario

... a 2024 book ...

In The Guardian, Julian Borger described the book as “a terrifying story told in a devastatingly straightforward way,” noting that Jacobsen’s account “offers a relentless, almost clinical, progression of decisions and consequences.” He praised the book for avoiding melodrama while still conveying the horror of nuclear conflict, and observed that Jacobsen “lets the scenario unfold almost in real time, forcing the reader to absorb its inevitability.” Referring to the year's presidential election, she added "You would want to have a commander-in-chief who is of sound mind, who is fully in control of his mental capacity, who is not volatile, who is not subject to anger. These are significant character qualities that should be thought about when people vote for president, for the simple reason that the president has sole authority to launch nuclear weapons."

We punted on that one.

... Tom Z. Collina, writing for the Arms Control Association, described the book as “an excellent read for anyone who wants to understand just how quickly nuclear conflict can start and how badly it can end.” While commending Jacobsen’s storytelling and research, he noted that the scenario lacks a prescriptive conclusion, observing that “there is no solution offered here, no plan for how to avoid such a disaster.”

Mike Riggs, writing for Reason magazine, wrote that the book is a "disaster porn thriller".

Again, kiss your ass goodbye.

Then, what about the possibility of malevolent AI causing one or both of these extinction scenarios? Crap.

[O Really]

It's good to be old. Go to the beach, enjoy the day.
Except not really go to the beach today. Still record-beating hot. Yesterday every coast town from San Diego to Oceanside hit over 100f, most being records. Oceanside Harbour was 101, 7 degrees above the previous record.

[Vrede too]

It's good to be old. Go to the beach, enjoy the day.
Except not really go to the beach today. Still record-beating hot. Yesterday every coast town from San Diego to Oceanside hit over 100f, most being records. Oceanside Harbour was 101, 7 degrees above the previous record.

Global warming, another extinction scenario.

[O Really]

It's good to be old. Go to the beach, enjoy the day.
Except not really go to the beach today. Still record-beating hot. Yesterday every coast town from San Diego to Oceanside hit over 100f, most being records. Oceanside Harbour was 101, 7 degrees above the previous record.

Global warming, another extinction scenario.

[Vrede too]

It's good to be old. Go to the beach, enjoy the day.
Except not really go to the beach today. Still record-beating hot. Yesterday every coast town from San Diego to Oceanside hit over 100f, most being records. Oceanside Harbour was 101, 7 degrees above the previous record.

Global warming, another extinction scenario.

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=6AC82DD0

It's also "a gorgeous day in London."

The prospects for our species are dismal.

[O Really]

It's also "a gorgeous day in London."

The prospects for our species are dismal.

London, UK is currently cloudy and 71°F with a 10% chance of rain and winds at 5MPH.

Yeah, I guess that counts as a "gorgeous day" in the place referred to as the "big smoke", and from which the clothing line "London Fog" was derived.
But that was generally long ago and it's a lot cleaner now. London gets around 200 to 240 mostly cloudy days and 120 to 160 fully overcast days per year.

[GoCubsGo]

So when do we start to get a little nervous?

BREAKING: Plague outbreak expands, Russia BSL-3 lab accident - FIVE hospitals now quarantined

The plague outbreak in Siberia, Russia has expanded w/5 hospitals now under QUARANTINE: Irkutsk Hospitals No. 1, No.3, No.10, Ivano-Matreninskaya Children's Hospital, and an unnamed maternity hospital (Lyudi Baikala news, Moscow Times).

Quarantine is NOT voluntary. Even in the U.S., quarantine is among the most extraordinary measures gov't can impose on American citizens who haven't been convicted, or even accused, of committing a crime. Quarantine means being forcibly confined and medically examined by law. U.S. quarantine can be imposed on anyone infected by a legally quarantinable disease listed below (this can change). One should assume Russia's quarantine protocols are even more severe. As of 2026, under Executive Order 14047, legally quarantinable diseases in the U.S. are:
■ Plague
■ Smallpox
■ Viral hemorrhagic fevers
■ Cholera
■ Diphtheria
■ Yellow fever
■ Infectious tuberculosis
■ Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
■ Flu that can cause a pandemic
■ Measles

[Vrede too]

It's also "a gorgeous day in London."

The prospects for our species are dismal.

London, UK is currently cloudy and 71°F with a 10% chance of rain and winds at 5MPH.

Yeah, I guess that counts as a "gorgeous day" in the place referred to as the "big smoke", and from which the clothing line "London Fog" was derived.
But that was generally long ago and it's a lot cleaner now. London gets around 200 to 240 mostly cloudy days and 120 to 160 fully overcast days per year.

That's what I was thinking of - clouds, rain and fog - not pollution.

[Vrede too]

So when do we start to get a little nervous?

BREAKING: Plague outbreak expands, Russia BSL-3 lab accident - FIVE hospitals now quarantined

Sat Oct 03, 2026 9:56 pm

Thanks

Rifles?

[GoCubsGo]

Thanks

Rifles?

CNN finally noticed.

[O Really]

So some call it "plague" and cnn says "unknown infection". Shall we take "coverup" for $1000, Alex?

[supesalemgr2]

So when do we start to get a little nervous?

BREAKING: Plague outbreak expands, Russia BSL-3 lab accident - FIVE hospitals now quarantined

Sat Oct 03, 2026 9:56 pm

Thanks

Rifles?

Reading this takes me back when I visited Russia. I understand why the Russian citizens have not taken Putin out. At the time Russia had not been free and open but about 10 years. I noticed how all the young folks were energetic and embracing capitalism. OTOH, folks 40 and older seemed lost with their new freedoms. I suppose there are still a lot of Russians who just accept the incompetence of the Putin regime as the way it is.

[GoCubsGo]

So some call it "plague" and cnn says "unknown infection". Shall we take "coverup" for $1000, Alex?

Lol
The coverup is just beginning.

[Vrede too]

So some call it "plague" and cnn says "unknown infection". Shall we take "coverup" for $1000, Alex?

CNN is saying that it's a plague lab. I accept that the specific pathogen may not yet have been ID'd to medical or CNN standards. It will be. I'll bet WHO is already on site.

[neoplacebo]

The trump cult thinks WHO is corrupt. He took the US ot of it. He also ignored when China quarantined nearly an entire city and rushed to build two hospitals in about ten days. And he hated covid testing....."if you stop the testing the cases go down." But at least we have Kennedy and Oz.