Let's All Chillax Open Thread

New study suggests, sort of, what most people would expect -- that anger travels more rapidly online than any other emotional state.

new study supports what plenty of us who hang out on the Internet pretty much figured to be true: Anger is the most viral emotion on the Internet. The examination of how we humans are influenced by friends on social media, conducted by researchers at Beihang University in China, found that friends and followers are far more likely to share or echo angry sentiments than messages containing sadness, disgust or even joy.

And speaking of, some Gen Yer angrily denounces that article I had yesterday explaining/baiting the Gen Yers.

And speaking of, Piers Morgan wants to give you an aneurysm, like in Scanners, except not through psionic power, but simply by being an enormous choad.

Piers Morgan likes to be the centre of attention. “I’ve always been at the heart of stuff, wanting to take risks and challenge myself and not be afraid of failing. God knows I’ve had some catastrophic failures, but I’ve always learnt from them and always moved on quite quickly.” Ten years ago, as editor of the Daily Mirror, he campaigned noisily against the Iraq war. Now, as host of Piers Morgan Live, a prime-time CNN show broadcast around the world from New York, he is taking on America’s gun lobby in rumbustious style. ...

His hour-long slot on CNN – a mix of breaking news and celebrity chat – doesn’t enjoy anything like those numbers when it airs in the United States, but Morgan stresses its international reach (“Ahmadinejad [Iran’s former president] told me he watches CNN regularly”). The programme has given him a platform to launch a crusade against guns.

Does he think he’s making a difference to public opinion in the States? “To the level of debate and to the fact the debate has carried on,” he says. “But I’ve made absolutely zero difference so far in terms of changes to the law because they are, in Congress, utterly gutless about guns.”

Not long after we met, Aaron Alexis, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas, shot dead 13 people at a naval installation in Washington DC. On that evening’s show, Morgan was involved in a heated exchange: “I just boil over when I hear these gun lobbyists calmly insisting the only answer is more guns, when that just clearly makes the situation even worse. I despair for America right now. The gun debate is so entrenched on either side, I fear nothing will ever get done.”

Whatever. I just think this reveals so much about his personality and sense of himself:

Morgan’s closeness to Labour’s most recent prime minister – “he came round to my house in LA to watch Arsenal” – makes his dismissal of Ed Miliband all the more striking. “When you see what he did to his brother, you wouldn’t trust him with the family silver. He’s the most ruthless political animal I’ve ever seen. I’d be very surprised if Ed Miliband’s ever prime minister.” Ouch. Then, as with most others he criticises, he adds: “I’ve nothing against him.”

Obviously.

Weird/creepy story you'll be seeing fictionalized on CSI soon enough.

And speaking of that -- chimerism is back in the news, for some reason. Pretty wild stuff if you're not acquainted with the idea -- some people have different DNA in some parts of their body than others. (Hence, "chimerism," like a chimera made of different animals.)

One woman once had her kids taken away from her when a routine test demonstrated she was not a genetic match for any of her kids. They accused her of having kidnapped them or swapped them.

After a lot of heart-ache and suspicion, they finally realized her blood's DNA differed from the DNA in the rest of her body (including in her eggs).

and from steve_in_hb, Big Bang Theory A Capella:

posted by Ace at 08:17 PM

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