Bill Gates releases mosquitoes into audience

well i assume you mean the one that no only killed wild life, but also posed problems for just about everyone else too. Whats bad for the goose is also bad for the gander.

Right, environmentalist = evil. Science = magic. <sarcastic grin>

Just remind me not to attend Bill's cancer ralley when he opens up a can of plutonium!

you're talking about DDT, right? Well I got news for ya... just because your Demigod Rush Limbaugh told you that it's harmless, doesn't mean it's true. Detrimental effects of DDT are well documented. Of course, Rush lies about it because that little fact cuts into some company's profit margin. So Sad (for the company).

DDT is more harmful than malaria? Where is the documentation for that? It might have some dangerous chemical qualities. You certainly wouldn't want to drink it, although I believe a scientist did just that to prove that it was safe. Is there documentation that it is directly responsible for ten of thousands of people? The balancing of risks versus benefits for DDT went extremely awry. The inflexible environmentalist nuts are responsible for these deaths. Sorry, but they have blood on their hands.

2,000 years ago the Romans were smart enough to know to drain swamps. Today, the enviromental nazis have turned swamps into protected wetlands. Devolution brought to you by idiots with degrees.

DDT is still used on some hut walls as a yearly spray that keeps mosquitoes from landing on the walls. The reason that we don't want it in our food is that it is very poisonous and accumulates in the fat, esp in growing brains. To what do YOU attribute the increasing amount of cancer and brain cancer worldwide?

The last malaria drug on the market has started to become ineffective. There is at least one new drug in the pipelines. Bill Gates has not picked up one yet but some little company is sure to fight its way through to him soon so he can put his money where his heart is.

What I want to know is why he thinks that Americans are unfamiliar with mosquitoes; ours carry not only malaria but bird flu, equine and human meningitis,etc. They can grow in flower pots and swimming pools and sewers. They seem to everywhere at summer camps.

Today, the enviromental nazis have turned swamps into protected wetlands.

I am certainly not an environmentalist, however wetlands must exist in order to prevent flooding. The Army Corp of Engineers blames the lack of swamp like wetlands for a major portion of the problem in Louisiana during Katrina...

I think the chemical that "killed the lil bastards off" was DDT, a very toxic chemical that wreaked havoc on the environment before it was banned, but apparently not before it killed off the malaria/mosquitos.

BG releasing mosquitoes to the public !! I'm glad I wasn't there. I think its mean...

pfro,

Man, I take it you don't enjoy Mr. Limbaugh. Sense the ban of DDT in 1972 and you gore-bots and tree huggers just can't let it go. It's easy to sit on your nice screened-in porch (I'm only guessing that you even have a porch) and swat a few flies(again, I'm only quessing there's a few) and say to your wife/life partner or what ever ya'll call it today (again only guessing) "Honey how many people do ya thank died this here year from mylarrya". Because that's what gore-bots do. Think of themselves and no one else. I don't advocate the use or the ban of DDT, but you don't advocate human survival. That's something that all you gore-bots should be proud of. Speaking of gore-bots, how's that global warming thing working for o mr? gore. He's just about got a handle on it does he?

Hey DDT fans,

you hide behind our national bird, the bald eagle, but here is something you and scummy rushbaugh, don't realize it kills our mascot's young by thining their egg shells. the evidence is proven beyond a doubt by science, not by theology (sorry mormons and evangelicans)

News Flash!!!

Bill gates, creator of microsoft,released mosquitoes into an audience gathered to hear him speak about malaria and just like his operating system they all immediately crashed.

I recall that Michelle Malkin also tried to denigrate the environmental movement by accusing it of being responsible for "millions" of malarial deaths due to the banning of DDT. Disregarding for a moment the fact that Malkin wrote this diatribe not too long after writing a book in which she tried to make the case for Japanese internment during WWII, it's useful to recognize that DDT and its biomagnifying effect in ecosystems has wrought a great deal of destruction on several species. Owing to the fact that DDT adversely affects the reproductive systems of most organisms it comes into contact with, we certainly haven't seen the full and quite irreversible effect of the genetic damage it has done.

Furthermore, you can't blame the banning of DDT for malarial deaths anymore than you can blame the banning of leeching for obesity, nor can we settle for an easy solution in which one harm is simply exchanged for another. Unfortunately, we live in a country where a significant portion of the population tries to solve its identity crisis by manufacturing for itself an enemy. In this case, social conservatives who have little else to stand on intellectually or morally, who relegate themselves to making everyone else the enemy (e.g., scientists, college graduates, homosexuals, immigrants, the entire country of France, etc.) Considering the fact that fear and paranoia are the only emotions they understand, it's a little more than ironic to see them trying to parade around a false sense of concern for dark-complected humans living in a country that they're unlikely to even be able to identify on a map.

Alas, we can always take heart in knowing that social evolution is still an operative force, and that, if given the choice, attractive women don't generally want to mate with men who listen to Rush Limbaugh.

Why doesn't he use his American made money to help cure something in America??

Just like a Repub, send it overseas!!

I would be willing to bet that the mosquitoes in question are labratory bred and disease free as well as they were males. You see the male mosquitoes don't bite and feed on blood. Only the females are the blood suckers like in the human race. Now since I said that I hope my wife doesn't read this or I will be sleeping on the couch.

Man, you guys are great.

A little further down the page is a discussion of natural ways to control mosquitos. Like bats. And carnivorous insects. And education.

But of course, that's for sissies.

Since this conversation seems to revolve around chemical treatment, let me put my two cents in by suggesting that DDT isn't the only unnatural way to deal with mosquitos. You could also irradiate an area, or poison it with industrial chemicals. By rendering our environments alkali and radioactive enough, we could ensure that the mosquitos are eradicated AND that they won't ever come back. If there are no animals to provide a food source for female mosquitos, they will be forced to move elsewhere. And if there is no food source for those animals, they won't return. And so on, and so on, down to the base of the food chain.

This solves the additional problem of working around environmentally minded zoning laws that protect certain areas from development. If an area cannot sustain wildlife, there is no environmentalist argument to protect it as a nature sanctuary. The same science that gave us DDT, industrial chemicals, and the enrichment of radioactive materials can provide a modicum of treatment for whatever health issues arise from living in a contaminated environment. Therefore, developers are free to use the land for whatever they choose.

I don't see what the problem is in the first place.

Besides, if people don't want to get malaria, they shouldn't be poor. It's their own fault.

Besides, if people don't want to get malaria, they shouldn't be poor. It's their own fault.

I never heard anything more ignorant in my life!!

Proof that the art of sarcasm is lost on many a soul...

Actually, if you watch the talk (available in its entirety at ted.com), you would know that the reason malaria still exsits has nothing to do with environmentalists. The problem is that we cured it in the wealthy countries first. Once we got rid of it, we stopped working on eradicating malaria in the rest of the world, because who really cares about poor people in Africa? That was his point in releasing the mosquitos.

The mosquitos were a Microsoft release, so you know they had to have some viruses.

Bats are the best way to kill Mosquitoes. A single bat can eat nearly 600 mosquitoes in one night. Building small bat homes can eradicate entire neighborhoods completely of mosquitoes...

Right you are Mr. Rogers. I have several bat houses down the back side of my house here and they took to them readily. I must have about 12-15 bats living in them

I understand that dragon flies also go after mosquitos.

DDT Ban Takes Effect | EPA History | US EPA

The general use of the pesticide DDT will no longer be legal in the United States after today, ending nearly three decades of application during which time ...
www.epa.gov/history/topics/ddt/01.htm - 11k - Cached - Similar pages The decline was attributed to a number of factors including increased insect resistance, development of more effective alternative pesticides, growing public and user concern over adverse environmental side effects--and governmental restriction on DDT use since 1969.

Now shatup up about DDT. ; )

In September, Gates announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would provide $168.7 million to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative to help develop a vaccine for the deadly disease.

PATH: A catalyst for global health

An international, nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions, enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding ...
www.path.org/ - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Where does one buy a bat house?

You `had` to ask.

Bat House | Free Bat House Plans

A single brown bat can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. They are a great natural pest controller. You can help by providing bats with a nice bat house ...
www.eparks.org/wildlife_protection/wildlife_facts/bats/bat

They are really easy to make. A few planks of 1x10 #3 knotty pine from home depot or lowes and a few nails. Just never try and handle a bat because if you get bit then you go for a painful series of rabies shots.

I put mine up when the area I live in became all developed with homes and I noticed I didn't see many bats anymore. Use to see them hunting around street lights collecting bugs attracted to the light. Now they are back. I even made several for neighbors who liked the idea.

Baloney, DDT has never bee banned as a means to combat malaria. Notice the "general use" jdbadd linked above. Further down the link states it may be used for issues of public health. The problem was it was being overused as an agricultural pesticide.

Another note: Many countries don't use DDT anymore because it doesn't work. It's overuse has cause mosquito's to evolve a resistance to it.

Daves second cousin invented bat houses. Dave helped him with some invaluable advice right after he fiished up his job on the space shuttle with the astronauts. They needed him to work out some kinks.

It is not just irresponsible, it is criminal. If he didn't have so much money he would be charged under the anti-terrorist laws.

I don't think Bill thought this out very carefully....should every person have to suffer to demonstrate the suffering of someone else? If Bill broke his leg, would he send his minions into the audience with sledgehammers so that "not only poor Bill should have to experience this"....come on. Everyone knows what it is like to be bitten by a mosquito. I think his dramatics were a bit over the top.

I kind of agree with you candidgirl. I like Bill Gates and all. He can do the world a lot of good with the wealth he has. But malaria is not the only parasite mosquitos can carry. Mosquitos are the world's most dangerous creatures. Google: 'most dangerous animals'

I did that also Grandma. Thus far I've survived but I would not recommend running through the fog.

Grandma Too Many- Will you change your mind about DDT when you or some of your relatives get the Big C?

There is also evidence that these toxins cause parkinsons

Grandma and elvis,

We did too. We called the driver and the truck "the fog man". We ran like the dickens from that bastard.

newdoc17,

Your scare tactics become you. Gore-bot right?

Ever had cancer caused by DDT or asbestos? It's hell not only by the person suffering, but by their spouse, kids, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin, or in my case grandson who when everyone had turned their back because the pain was too much to watch, was there to wipe the saliva from their face during chemotherapy, to tell them they looked healthy when they were dying and had no hope of living? Have you had to pay their bills because their insurance refused to pay their bills because they determined their treatment was unnecessary because they died anyway? Do you ever see the effects of these chemicals? Does any republican or democrat think of the effects on the people of not listening? Does my congressional person, Michelle Bachmann, think that voting for lax rules on water quality could result in a increase of agent orange in our drinking water? I feel all she hears is cha-ching toward her "career". Does congressman Ellison hear the cry of his unemployed constituents when he approves a bill granting $350 billion to a bank that spends $370 million on executive privileges and stadium advertising? These are more important than whether a man and another man are married. We can deal with that when our children are not starving on the street or women don't have to pawn their wedding rings to make rent. There are men and women committing suicide, like my father, to provide a better future for their kids, because they have nothing left to give in life to help their family except their life insurancebenefits after death. War in Iraq to benefit our grandchildren indeed! I am 26 years old i have sacrificed my best friends, my father and my children's future to a bunch madmens vendettas, what do I have to show for it? A $11 trillion debt and two war criminals and their insane compatriots still on the loose! I'm not democrat, I'm not republican, I'm not a fan of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, I'm not a fan of Keith Obermann or Rachael Maddow! I AM PISSED OFF!!! I AM A WORKING CLASS INTELLIGENT HUMAN BEING AND I AM A NATURAL BORN AMERICAN!! I was taught all my 26 years of life that America was great because no matter how singular you are in your opinions you are not alone. That the American goal was to have a family, maybe a dog or cat (maybe a iguana?) Now, maybe, because I graduated from high school before 9/11, I am not seeing because I am naive(by the way I graduated in June of '01.) The only way I see us comming out of this nightmare is by banding together toward a better goal. Forget our elders on talk radio, they don't understand our world anymore! We need to band together all sides of the issues talk and most of all compromise, our goals are the same! Now Lets work together to make our country better and forget our party lines, after all the similarity between a left idea and a right idea is it is a idea.

Your "evidence" sounds like a talking point thesaurus from the international bank of anecdotes. I was not aware that insurance companies paid out on suicide. Everything has a toxic dose, even H2O. I will forward my recommendations for you to advance to squadron commander in the lemming defense forces.

Paige...Your comments about DDT should shut up some of the idiots who think that it is perfectly safe. Drink DDT go ahead you idiot....it is better to decrease the surplus population of idiots on the planet. Run through the spray? Almost as bad as drinking it. They banned it for a reason and it was not because of environmental wackos you moron.

Paige...Thanks for your comments!

Were you there? will you ever be there? assult with a mosquito? where do you live there are no mosquitos?

Right on Jill. What an asinine little stunt. I'm sure that that made everyone in the audience think long and hard about the plight of poor people in the developing world. If I'd have been there, I would have stopped listening to the what Gates was saying and just concentrated on making sure the little bastards didn't bite me. Way to go Bill (NOT)!

Well, the talk was given at the annual TED (Technology, Engineering, Design) conference. The members of the audience are some of the smartest people in the world. To be invited, there are two main criteria. First, you have to be one of the leaders in your field. Second, you have to be a person who cares about advancing human society. I'm sure that you wouldn't have paid attention or taken the talk seriously. That is exactly the reason you weren't there.

Gates was speaking about how the educated community can help eradicate malaria in poor countries. If you actually watched the talk, the audience applauds when he releases the mosquitoes, signifying they understand the point that Gates is trying to make. It was a decent talk (certainly not the best on TED, but still good) that you can watch for free at ted.com.

South Park, eh? You actually watch that drivel? Careful-your intellect (or lack thereof) is showing...

Jill, I fear your panties may be in a twist if you get the Big C yourself.

newdoc,

Enough with the "Big C" scare tactics. We all know about the "Big C" and we all know that alot of gore-bots will get by sucking there thumbs.

Hadn't thought of that way but you might be on to something.

Michael,

Millions are dying from starvation already. I guess you think this is another good population control? Gore-bots that are always on top of things huh?

I can't believe people are so self centered..I hope population control starts with these heartless idiots! By the way MMS(miracle mineral supplement) has saved millions of lives from malaria and other things.I use it myself for overall health and I love it.

nibornoswal is right. It's documented. Over 75,000 documented cases cured from malaria in Africa by MMS. Bill Gates should've supported it when he was given the opportunity. Just because he throws money at something doesn't make him right. Read Jim Humble's book part 1 about MMS. He's a decent guy trying to help people without taking all their money. I doubt anyone could say the same for Bill Gates.

goodhealthmms .com /book1 .html (remove the spaces)

Did you get you free one after standing in line for 2 hours?

I don't understand standing in line for 2 hours to save five bucks.

My time is worth at a minimum 25 bucks an hour.

I could use some money. Where do I sign up?

joesmythe , put on your big boy pants and quit acting like a girlie man

joe..... another sue happy ... blankity blank.... get a grip, it was a stunt... and MOST mature people get it...... ooohhh but not you... your special........short bus for you

Brad and Laddie:

Its called common sense and decency. Of course in today's world, there are no boundaries. Everything is a good laugh right? Maybe I should yell fire in a movie theater? Its just a stunt.

Bill was an idiot and out of bounds.

You get emotionally distressed from mosquitos? Whoa.

Bill Gates is awesome and he does so much to help people he made his money honestly and is using it to try and make life better for everyone. You think he needs to be sued and charged what about the people that live with that fear everyday and watch their family members die horrible deaths, while we sit idly by that is the real crime.

so... who would pay for the DDT?.......... the nets are cheap, easy to use, don't harm anyone....... ya why use them....people... you gotta love them

Does anyone even manufacture DDT anymore? If not, there would be a delay while factories were equipped to manufacture it, people were hired to work in the factories (and that might be difficult since so many people are aware of the dangers of DDT), and means of transport were fitted out to bring the stuff to Africa. Then there would be the issue of getting governments in Africa to approve the use of it. There's already enough suspicion toward the U.S. over there - the whole "America is responsible for the AIDS epidemic in Africa" attitude. And as Brad inquired, who would pay for it? And who would be responsible for making sure it is used safely and correctly, so as to minimize any serious side effects? For the time being, the use of mosquito nets is the least expensive, easiest and most acceptable weapon we have against malaria.

H-IB. Some kind of vitamin?

H-1B is a foreign virus, and Microsoft is one of the primary carriers.

Skeeters are Louisianas state bird

dave is Louisiana's State dork!