Around 90% of South Africa’s electricity comes from coal power stations which are directly related to large amounts of deaths and illnesses and pollution. And we’re building more, baby.
Yet, ironically, the loudest protests are heard emanating from the anti-nuclear lobby who, evidently, don’t seem to mind the world’s deadliest fossil fuel. Which is not nuclear.
Have a look at the following infographic which compares levels of pollution and illnesses from various energy sources.
According to a Lancet Study in 2007, compared with nuclear power, coal is responsible for five times as many worker deaths from accidents, 470 times as many deaths due to air pollution among members of the public, and more than 1,000 times as many cases of serious illness, according to a study of the health effects of electricity generation in Europe. [via]
But let’s not allow the facts get in the way of alarmism.
Reading news articles and their comment threads, on websites like News24 and IOL, is a special experience. So special, in fact, that I’ve decided to summarise all of them into one simple blog post.
After this, you will never need to read another South African news article, and its comment thread, again.
First, the story.
CAPE TOWN – Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Duis at risus sit amet nisl mattis rutrum. Pellentesque ut elit nisi. Donec accumsan, quam vitae tristique porttitor, erat magna vulputate mauris, non placerat purus ante eu augue. Cras ac gravida elit. Praesent tincidunt ipsum sit amet justo mollis placerat. Aliquam dignissim sapien in libero convallis vel porta est venenatis. Sed in tortor velit, vitae luctus orci.
Donec adipiscing, ante ut aliquet vulputate, sem purus porttitor enim, et tempor nulla arcu ac purus.
Maecenas in luctus mauris.
- SAPA
Then, the comments.
MattK: Well said, professor. Something should be done about that.
Anon2: I’d like to see that prof’s research. Is it publicly available?
WhiteGuy25: Anon2, no. Because the ANC government wants to hide it lol
Zuluboy: WhiteGuy25, go jump. We’re coming for you when Madiba dies.
SKD: hahahahaha!!! see how the blacks f**k up everything!!!
ANC_mylife: wena! it’s that tea lady’s fault! her DA wants to bring back apartheid… we will neva let it happen
Anon345: Zuluboy, you’re fag who can’t read. Ask your baas to teach you.
StupidName: Anon345, you’re a fag too… and a soutpiel
sportsfanatic: f**k this country.. it’s going to the dogs…JUST LIKE ZIMBABWE… i’m moving to Australia as soon as I can
Anon46664: f**k malema! i hope afriforum f**k him up, that baboon!!!!!
Nige: i hate this country… criminals have more rights than us! BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY!
SiphoS: nige……my brudda….go back 2 europe where u belong… KILL DA BOER!
In today’s Daily Sun, you will find cutting edge stories like this:
Although, that is a pretty big bum. In fact, there is probably a satellite orbiting it. I can only imagine that, when she sits around the house, she sits around the house.
An American school principal might lose his job after, apparently, hypnotising pupils.
High school principal George Kenney acknowledged using hypnosis to help people: students who needed to relax before tests, a basketball player having trouble making free throws and even school secretaries who wanted to quit smoking. But now the popular 51-year-old principal’s future at North Port High School is in question since it came to light that he had hypnotized two students before their separate suicides this spring. [MSNBC]
Hypnosis is one of those “mysteries” that is plagued with urban myths, misinformation, and funny cartoons. I’m no expert, but I do know that no human can alter another human’s natural behaviour by dangling a pocket watch in front of their eyes, let alone influence suicide. Most of the “hypnosis shows”, for example, are staged and filled with marketing theatrics.
In short, hypnosis can’t make you do something against your will; it’s not some sort of powerful mental force that takes hold of your subconscious. [Cue epic music.]
That said, hypnosis does indeed exist, but nothing like we see in American schools popular culture, as explained by the American Psychological Association.
Hypnosis typically involves an introduction to the procedure during which the subject is told that suggestions for imaginative experiences will be presented. The hypnotic induction is an extended initial suggestion for using one’s imagination, and may contain further elaborations of the introduction. A hypnotic procedure is used to encourage and evaluate responses to suggestions. When using hypnosis, one person (the subject) is guided by another (the hypnotist) to respond to suggestions for changes in subjective experience, alterations in perception, sensation, emotion, thought or behavior.
In other words, it’s a creative state not unlike a dope trip.
Even Mythbusters swallowed the pill.
Confirmed, yes, but nothing extraordinarily exciting.
My point is that there, almost definitely, isn’t a link between the principal’s “hypnosis” and the unfortunate suicides. If anything, then problematic family and social structures might be connected.
