I've seen that before... if I remember correctly it was an old joke clip from a few years ago, making fun of the "reporters" who do stupid shit to cover the weather in the most dramatic way they can.
Ha... turns out it wasn't intentionally funny or a joke clip... but it was from 2015... and she lived, because the sign smack was an after-effect by the editor. http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/wei...n-responds-to-her-hilarious-viral-news-report
So, 23 And Me is making a bit of a news splash because they are securing a few hundred million in financing. Lots of discussion around what they do, etc, and this just popped up in my YouTube feed. Very interesting.
I actually think it's more than this. The older I get, the more things I realize I don't know. I've also come to realize that things are much more nuanced than any typical news segment or "quick fact" or WikiPedia paragraph can relay. So when I hear something, I don't just make up facts or a scenario that seems like it would fit... I go and investigate it, or say, "I don't know". I can be perceived as being overly cynical, but that's just experience, I think. Every time I dig into something that seems "fucking obvious", it turns out to be anything but. In this case, I think he just equated "hurricane bad" with "jet flying in hurricane", and made a very high-level correlation of what was, for him, the easiest-to-understand, worst-case scenario, without having any understanding of the subject matter, and then got all butt-hurt over it when he was told to STFU. If you stop and investigate each side of his equation, and delve into that lower level, complex nuance, and understand what is actually going on at that more granular level, you see that there really wasn't anything to worry about. Hurricane Bad! Yes, if you're on the ground, and the relative wind is hundreds of miles an hour and ripping the shit out of everything. No, if you're in the air where the wind is actually nice and uniform, and the relative air speed between the aircraft and the surrounding wind is no different than any other flight you've been on, regardless of the relative ground speed causing devastation beneath you. Jet Flying In Hurricate: Bad! Yes, if you breach the eye wall, where there are severe disturbances. No, if you're flying in just about any other part of it, like between a couple of the arms of it. This failure to dig into things, to not realize or understand complexity, or search for information, or recognize that you don't know what's going on enough to have a valid opinion on it, is a big fucking problem. It's EVERYWHERE. "I'm going on a cleanse so I can flush the toxins from my system." "Cool... what toxins, exactly?" *crickets* "toxins..." "I don't vaccinate my kids because they'll get autism." "Cool... how do vaccinations work, exactly?" *crickets* "Autism..." "You can't hack my password" "Cool... here it is" *agghh!* "Take it down! Take it down!" "A plane flying into the arm of a hurricane is negligence!" "Cool... what's the safety issue, exactly?" *crickets* "Hurricane Bad!" Couple this with the "you can't tell me I'm wrong, I'm a unique snowflake, and you're not allowed to hurt my feelings" attitude, and we're fucked. For the betterment of society as a whole, I'm happy to take on the responsibility to tell fuckwads like that that they are idiots and they need to shut the fuck up, until such time as they have edumacated themselves on the topic, or are genuinely seeking information while on the path to better understanding. I invite you to join me in that most noble of causes. We'll call it the "Get Off My Cyber Lawn" club.
I've always been a bit leary about genetic testing, especially when it's done by a business rather than a research facility. What could they use that data for? Who can they sell it to and for what purpose? That video went a long way towards showing how the samples are collected and processed in a secure facility, but didn't touch on the other aspect of the privacy issues I have. What is 23andme ultimately going to do with the information collected from the sample? Their privacy statements are pretty standard. i.e. we reserve the right to share your information with third parties for various reasons, and this information will have any identifying information about you removed unless you consent to allowing us to share any identifying information. The only one that sticks out to me is that they can share all your information within the organization or to any organization or company within the corporate structure of 23andme. What's to stop them or their parent company from purchasing a pharmaceutical company who sells Parkinson drugs, they now have a database that shows a number of people who have a high risk factor for Parkinsons. Guess we'd better get in touch with them and start pushing our drug on them. I guess I'll go and sit in the dark with my tin hat now.
Legit questions, but I also think that there are a number of statutes already in place that forbid people like insurance companies, etc, from purchasing this information. To me, that is the biggest concern... imagine if your insurance company got a hold of this information and realized you were predisposed for Parkinsons, so refused to offer you coverage unless you paid stupid money for it. That would be the worst case scenario, to me. I think privacy is a big issue that they have not adequately covered. I have no desire to do this, but I still found it to be a pretty interesting look behind the scenes.
There are bills (at least in Canada) that prevents insurance companies from collecting this data and using it against you; unless this data has been collected in a hospital treatment scenario in which case it would be a part of your medical record.
Oh, and I totally agree with you, by the way. The Silicon Valley VC's that are investing heavily into this will absolutely want to leverage all of that data to the fullest amount they can, because huge data is worth huge money. Even if they anonymize that data, it would be worth a ton. And you can't trust big business to look out after your personal best interests.
So my family has spent the last 3 days debating whether or not to evacuate from Irma. They are in West Palm but farther inland. They have no immediate threat from storm surge but the whole thing is scary. The house will probably get hit with 140 mph sustained winds. They finally decided on staying put and riding it out but they don't sound very confident. The main reason they are staying is because leaving south Florida is a complete shitshow. There's only 2 main highways out and they are gridlocked and there's basically no gas.
Do you have to work for the victim in question though? I thought the proper procedure was to screech and holler like a raving a lunatic on some shitty blog and hope something bad happens to the very bad person who was mean to you.