Posted on 10/11/2016 10:25:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The Microsoft billionaire would rather cuddle with Jaws than wander outside into a cloud of skeeters.
Sharks seem so frightening, with their giant mouths full of gleaming teeth. We're convinced they're going to leap out of nowhere and make us lunch, even if we never get within 100 miles of an ocean.
But Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote in a recent blog post that it's not sharks that scare him, but a creature that's a whole lot tinier and which at first glance may seem a whole lot less threatening -- the mosquito.
In a post that went up on his GatesNotes blog on Monday, the billionaire explains his reasoning. "Pound for pound, a shark isn't that scary compared with many smaller creatures," he writes, including a graphic displaying the number of people killed by different animals in 2015. The shark only gets credit for 6 worldwide deaths, while the mosquito notches a scarily impressive 830,000.
"The mosquito has the equivalent of a hypodermic needle, and by going directly into your blood, they bypass the normal disease defense mechanisms," Gates says in an accompanying video. "So any viruses that evolve to attack humans get in there very, very quickly."
Gates goes on to list the many diseases spread by mosquitoes, including dengue, yellow fever, zika, and last but not least, malaria, which he says "may be the most important disease in human history." Malaria has long been a top priority of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has a multi-year strategy aimed at eradicating the deadly disease.
"I think it's one of the most stunning things to say that this little mosquito, it's a small insect that you can, you know, kill with a slap of your hand, it actually kills more humans than any other thing," Gates says.
Buy mosquito repellent instead of shark repellent.
I invite Bill Gates to swim in chum-filled, shark-infested water.
No reason to fear sharks if touch aren’t swimming with them.
Just the other day a teenage boy in central Texas died of West Nile.
No one in central Texas has ever died of a shark attack.
If you never put yourself in a position where sharks can get you, there is no reason to fear them. In Gates world, the mosquito is probably the only thing on this earth that can actually get to him.
Depends who you are. Surfers in Australia have different concerns than guys like Gates whose only physical contact with a body of water is in their jacuzzis.
Are you sure he died of West Nile, or he had West Nile when he died? The government loves to blur the two.
Sure you are. I dare him to take a boat a mile offshore, at night, blow a puff or two into his buoyancy vest and jump in the water. Stay there for 30 minutes.
He would much rather face a skeeter.
“I invite Bill Gates to swim in chum-filled, shark-infested water.”
Shoot, id even just dare him to do it at night, in regular water. pick his own spot, one mile off the west coast.
“I dare him to take a boat a mile offshore, at night, blow a puff or two into his buoyancy vest and jump in the water.”
Typically, humans do not go a mile offshore and jump overboard, but we do usually stay on land where there are no sharks and plenty of mosquitos.
But the one thing that is historically proven to be cost effective in killing mosquitos and preventing the spread of malaria will never be advocated by their foundation.
DDT
Why? Because DDT is the crown jewel of the Environmental movement. It is their first victory against the tools of man in his quest to be master of his environment.
That works for me, too.
“The mosquito’s a clever little bastard. You can track him for days and days until you really get to know him like a friend. He knows you’re there, and you know he’s there. It’s a game of wits. You hate him, then you respect him, then you kill him.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZvT3MHpffk
Is DDT so complicated that it couldn’t be bootlegged?
You owe me a new keyboard.
Marines do....
I’m still afraid of windows bugs of all kinds.
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