OT: Gene Editing and Smart Monkeys - Planet of the Apes?
Personally I use ALZ-112, but that's expensive even with full Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage. This is hope for our other simian brothers and sisters.
Scientists put human gene into monkeys to make them smarter, human-like
In reality I'm thinking this isn't such a great idea.
Yep, I'm taking advantage of this OT time of year.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
Your profile picture certainly checks out.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
That picture could have been put in the OP, but alright.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:58 PM ^
There's no pleasing some humans. :-)
April 11th, 2019 at 11:21 AM ^
Of no purpose, but suddenly there are Zoo adds all over Mgoblog's periphery (this article mentions monkey so we are blessed with zoo adds). I think inviting algorithm companies to invade every aspect of our digital lives carriers a more clear risk to humanity than a faster banana peeling primate.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
Huh. I'm seeing ads for Russian mail order brides.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^
Me too. Also buttplugs and travel to Colombia and Thailand. Wonder what that's about?
April 11th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Zach Smith, is that you?
April 11th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
Hook 'em
And what is a CB-6000 anyway?
April 11th, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
There is no such thing as full BCBS coverage. Depending on the size of your comoany, you get whatever your employer buys. You will have an assortment of copays and certain services not covered in purpose.
Self funded insurance is a whole different animal. If you ever decide you want to become a woman, you want to work for U of M. It's free as in full coverage. U of M also covers $20K for In vitro fertilization. This is what happens to all of that tuition money.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^
I'm thinking you missed the point, but an OT response to an OT board post certainly makes sense.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
I read one thing and ended up with diarrhea of the keyboard. Sorry about that.
No worries.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
This sort of thing makes me miss living in Michigan. My wife was a teacher in the public schools. She was allowed to get a massage 1x/month. Not a chiropractor, a massage. With hot rocks and shit. UNIONS!
April 11th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
Self funded insurance should be illegal. I used to have GREAT company provided coverage. Reasonable payments, no coinsurance or deductibles, and reasonable co-pays. When the ACA passed my employer took the opportunity to change our 6 plans to 2, and jack up costs through the damn roof.
If only my company would pay me the $ they kick in towards my insurance, I could get a WAY better plan with much better coverage on the insurance exchange. For less money. Without the subsidy.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
saying things should be illegal should be illegal
April 11th, 2019 at 12:18 PM ^
This thread is about to look like an M. C. Escher piece if we don't show some restraint.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
The changes in healthcare coverage were horrific at my employer as well...family premiums copays and deductibles were nearly the cost of a car in 2018
April 11th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
I now spend more on healthcare than I do on my house (mortgage, taxes, and insurance). The costs are absolutely killing me.
My plan doesn't cover anything for mental health until we hit a 3k deductible. That's simply not affordable for many middle and working class people. So people self-medicate with booze and opiates, because it's cheaper.
The wife and I have to be on our own plans and they're both 5k high deductible. Between an unexpected broken bone and auto immune diagnosis I met mine. An hour long surgery to put two screws in a shoulder will cost $45k in itself.
Between the wife and kids various things they met there's as well. $450 for a throat swab. A 45 minute visit to the ER for a two year old's dislocated elbow that takes literally 5 seconds to fix will cost you $2k. The bill was coded for use of a surgeon and surgical room. Despite it being the same as any other ER visit we've had. Multiple phone calls and written letters were issued on our behalf just to receive the old nothing to see here, F off.
Bam, 10k in medical debt for 2018 and now we start all over again. Meanwhile the two nonprofit healthcare providers have bought up every piece of prime real estate in our area to build new hospitals and urgent cares.
I don't know the answer, but right now a lot of us are just praying we don't have to ever visit a doctor again. Not that I have anything against them though as they were all wonderful people that helped us in our time of need and did great work. Thank God we at least have insurance or we'd be $70-80k in debt.
It's disgusting. And it's a drain on every other sector of the economy. If I had the same insurance I had a decade ago I wouldn't be driving cars that are 17 and 8 years old, both of which have almost 200k miles. Maybe I'd be able to take a proper vacation again or buy a slightly larger house.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
The funny thing is if ACA was repealed, you would still have the same shitty insurance you have now. I bet it never goes back. Like when the price of gas went up, all food packaging for smaller. The price of gas went down and my ice cream is still half the size it was compared to the way it was before the economy tanked.
Self funded insurance gives these companies the ability to offer some of the most bizarre stuff you can imagine. One of the power companies had a benefit that limited hospice days. Of you don't die in the allowed time, oh well you're out of luck. I'm the case of U of M, they can offer some extremely liberal benefits. They don't care. The students pay for it.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
I was fine with the ACA being passed. It provided insurance to people that needed it and couldn't get it any other way. I just wish they had made the ACA regulations apply to all plans, including self-funded insurance. And some cost controls would have been nice.
I did the math recently. You could double my federal taxes to pay for single payer healthcare and I'd still come out ahead.
As a banker I'm sure you realize that the ACA is a wealth transfer program
If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan you can keep your plan.
Oh wait.....
I did keep my doctor. And my employer changed my plan, not the government.
Meanwhile, the current guy has told over 8,000 lies in just the past two years.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:36 AM ^
If this leads to me being able to have a conversation with a gorilla, then I'm all for it.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:36 AM ^
looks at OP. looks at OP's avatar.
thinks OP is a double agent.....
April 11th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
Fake news!!!
April 11th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
you are so busted. lifted off of your simian-book page....
April 11th, 2019 at 12:25 PM ^
Have to admit users that take on the personality of their avatars is one of the things I love about this site
UMProud, that was my original avatar soon after I joined here. I went with a pic of Chancellor Palpatine for short while, but somebody remembered my previous chimp pic so I reverted to that one being impressed that somebody noticed.
it is funny re: looking like your avatar. i mean, if/when i ever meet EYB, EM, boliver, madhatter, et al, if they don't look like their avatars i won't believe its them. and rgard, well, he better have a primate-picture ID ready.
xtramelanin, the pic is close, but my ears don't stick out that far.
Oh yeah? ;)
Bear-riding is not for amateurs.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Shhh, don't disturb him - he's writing Shakespeare.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:38 AM ^
If we’re gonna have any apocalypse, I’m hoping for a zombie apocalypse
April 11th, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
No zombies. For a long time, I was convinced the end times would arrive in the form of pandemic during an economic collapse. Now, I'm convinced the rednecks are going to start shooting hipsters sometime in the next few years. We had a good run.
Would you settle for zombies in trucks listening to Toby Keith?
Because that particular apocalypse befell my small hometown in Texas a loooooooong time ago.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:27 PM ^
Well technically, Zombiism is the voodooistic control of the undead, who can easily be defined as those whose bodies move but who aren't really alive.
I will conveniently use the example of millions of people staring at smart phones being the controlled undead, now we're just waiting on a Carrington Level Event and once the power goes down.....
..careful what you hope for.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
In Voudu here are no "undead" zombies. There are methods of controlling a person using various naturally occurring substances, but the dead are not brought back to life. I'm pretty sure you're thinking of Christianity.
Cool, but I never said the dead where brought back, actually the opposite:
that many of those "alive" act as if they where never here in the first place.
Plus, what I did was redefine the "undead" concept to also mean those who have never been biologically without life but, at the same time, have never really lived. than I changed the method of control as an unnaturally occurring substance called "smart phones".
Zombies are coming!
April 11th, 2019 at 11:40 AM ^
I can't wait for the mosquitos with glowing eyes.
April 11th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
Is there a need for smarter monkeys/apes?
New cheap labor pool?
April 11th, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Cheaper labor? Since we in the good old USA have no native species of monkey or ape, immigration issues with arise when we start making them as smart as your typical OSU fan.
April 11th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
Human DNA splice may help OSU fans not sling feces and bottles of urine maybe!
Squirrel brain DNA would certainly raise the average intelligence over in East Landfill.
Nah, the scientists in Columbus would engineer them to be able fling urine and fences more accurately instead.