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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: January 10th, 2026

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  • There are effective vaccines against smallpox.

    I think that if a belligerent were to use the disease as a biological weapon, it would first secretly stockpile large quantities of vaccine. Once the disease breaks out, there would be a window of opportunity lasting a few weeks to a few months during which one could gain an advantage, because the enemy would first have to ramp up vaccine production and vaccination rates. When I think about it, however, I have serious doubts as to whether such preparations in the 21st century could be kept secret enough to actually surprise the enemy (in this case, the West).







  • Probably an economic stillbirth.

    Even if Niger weren’t as unstable as it unfortunately is right now, nuclear power is still by far the most expensive conventional way to generate electricity… Here in Germany, the conservatives are once again floating plans to revive nuclear power “just for the heck of it.” But hardly any investors want to get involved because it simply isn’t profitable without massive government subsidies (for which there’s no money), and renewables will have pushed nuclear power out of the grid in 30 years anyway (if the first plants are even built by then).

    I can hardly imagine that things would be any different on a continent as sunny as Australia.