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News Briefs 07-06-2011

Chinese teenager sold his kidney for an Ipad 2. He is clearly deranged. He’d have gotten far more value for money from a PC.

  • Prehistoric building boom: frenzy of construction revealed with new precision dating technique.
  • Farmers were genetic breeders 10,000 years ago.
  • Archaeologists claim to have found a forerunner to the pyramids not in Egypt but in southern Romania.
  • The Alice Illusion: scientists convince people that they’re dolls or giants.
  • The ancient Earth should have frozen to death billions of years ago.
  • Catalytic earwax, the cost of inflation.
  • Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
  • Armchair astronaut discovers Mars space station using Google Earth.
  • Moving mirrors make light from nothing.
  • Tiny artificial brain exhibits 12 seconds of short term memory.
  • Deceptive puzzle may be solved after 74 years.
  • Drugmakers compromise doctors, medical journals and skew medical research.
  • A plethora of fossil possums.
  • Mind control and the internet.
  • Scientists find werewolf gene.
  • Apple causes religious reaction in brains of fans. You can bet a kidney on that.
  • Elements 114 and 116 added to Periodic Table.
  • Strong magnetic disturbances are usually observed when there are bright aurorae.
  • 30 years in, we are still learning from AIDS, or not.

Quote of the Day:

The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others

Friedrich Nietszche

  1. lost kidney
    this seems to happen a lot in china. there are so many people there who need organs but so little organ donations, it is illegal to get an organ there if you live outside the country. there is a lot of illegal organ trade going on though.

    that being said, he is really gonna be sad when the new iPad comes out in a few nanoseconds and makes the he got obsolete.

    1. Selling your health
      Of course, this is a more direct way of doing it, but doesn’t this happen ALL THE TIME?

      How many people all over the world make the choice between their health, and the craving of the next new toy? Hell, I’m guilty as charged as well! Between going to the dentist or buying me a new videogame, most of the times I’ll go for the latter.

      1. The value of life
        [quote=red pill junkie]Of course, this is a more direct way of doing it, but doesn’t this happen ALL THE TIME?[/quote]

        I have often wondered how often a person might privately sell a kidney or sign a contract that gave them wealth and comfort for a few years… in exchange for a shortened lifespan and certain of their internal organs.

        I mean… would you sell your heart or lungs or liver for say, 2, 3 or 5 years of living really, really well?

        For the poor, the hungry and the destitute, this might seem a worthy trade.

        Let’s say you have spent your life, up to now, in a ghetto or some other wretched corner of this thing we call human civilization. But here comes this guy who represents a company that secures vital organs for the wealthy. They type you, pay you to live well and then, die young. Your organs are harvested on a specified date and sent to a paying customer.

        It never makes the front page or any oversight by any government. It just happens…

        … or does it?

        1. That’s not what I meant
          What I meant is that, we might not be offering our organs to the highest bidder on the street, but every day as a consumer one is choosing to spend your hard-earned money (your life’s blood one could say) in cheap thrills or frugalities, instead of using it for things that could actually improve your life.

          I bet you there are far more people out there who own an iPad, than people who have a life insurance.

          It’s part of a psychological phenomenon called ‘overcompensation’. It’s the reason who live in a dingy small apartment own a big-ass flatscreen TV, or people who don’t get a medical check up every year have a 3G smartphone instead.

          1. Welfare Caddy

            “What I meant is that, we might not be offering our organs to the highest bidder on the street, but every day as a consumer one is choosing to spend your hard-earned money (your life’s blood one could say) in cheap thrills or frugalities, instead of using it for things that could actually improve your life.”

            Yup, I git the gist of your message. I was just offering something that I have wondered about for years. Kind of a ‘welfare Cadillac’ in the form of a handheld device.

            You know, the old ‘sell your soul’ kind of thing. For someone desperate, there is the moment of weakness when you sign your name in your own blood… basically selling your immortal soul or, in this case, your internal organs and much of your future, for the right price.

            When I read about this story on the news a few days ago… I was immediately struck by the possibilities… those we won’t ever read about.

        2. i know it’s a hypothetical, but….
          [quote=Redoubt]I mean… would you sell your heart or lungs or liver for say, 2, 3 or 5 years of living really, really well?[/quote]

          if you did that, it wouldn’t really matter, cuz you’d be dead 😛

          1. A few years of everything for the rest of your life
            [quote=LastLoup]

            if you did that, it wouldn’t really matter, cuz you’d be dead :P[/quote]

            No, no.

            Let’s say I approach you and offer you a credit card from which you can buy most anything you wanted for maybe 5 years or so. You were born poor and have been fighting ever since… but here’s the chance.

            Do you sell yourself for a few good years? You can have the car of your dreams, travel anywhere in the world, eat the finest foods, dance with any man or woman that catches your eye and wallet.

            Five wonderful years of material heaven for your internal organs… and of course, your life. They’ll come for you at the end of the contract. It will be painless, so long as you don’t try to run. There’s already a wealthy guy waiting for your goods…

          2. if you have been living in the gutter
            and have never felt any bit of the good life, then yes, i can see why you would undertake such a risk as to selling your organs without weighing the positive and negatives. the idea of being harvested would never sound so good *shivers*

        3. from the Desire-Imagination-Wholesale-Dept.
          Just think of what it is going to be like when 3-D printers become much cheaper — people can print their own body parts TO ORDER :3

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