no.stupid.answers

Remember Jim? Of course you do!

He’s managed to make contact with me from the depths of Africa, where he is currently hiding from assassins researching banana leaves. He sent this WikiAnswers Wednesday question via Morse code and after decoding it, I realized there is something very important to be said for vaccination research.

Do mosquitoes have tails?

I don’t know if mosquitoes have tails, but I can tell what they do have: malaria.

Malaria’s a bitch, and I know first hand after having gone through some pretty miserable days with it a few weeks back. I was all set to get on a boat on Lake Tanganyika, when I felt like dying. The first day is pretty awful, in part because the medicine you take in helping you get rid of the disease also goes ballistic on your body. The next day was bad, but I didn’t feel like dying. After that I felt a lot better.

Still, I hate mosquitoes, and I don’t think your question is the right one in this case. The correct question should be how do we get rid of all mosquitoes forever, regardless of any negative consequences this might have on the natural balance of the world or whatever. Does this help?

Why do you even care if they have tails? Does it matter? Yes, they do have tails… Do you feel better now? Or… No, they don’t; has your life significantly changed?

Anyways, have a nice day and I hope you don’t get malaria.

Jim

Feeling scientific and economic and biologic today. Which is why I summoned Jim to answer this question today:

How has malaria affected Mexico’s economy?

This question can be answered on the micro level and the macro level. Since I didn’t take Micro or Macro in college I can’t answer it with either of these approaches. Fortunately, I know a lot about growing rooftop gardens, so that will allow me to answer this question without losing a step.

Rainwater collection technologies allow for plants to be grown, and for plants to be grown in new places. For example, the sides of buildings are now open to plant growth, creating a natural insulation and simultaneously cutting down on energy costs.

Recent studies have shown that lower energy costs gives the general populous more money to invest in malaria prevention. Mexico, being one of the world’s leaders in green rooftop growing has seen a huge surplus of funds being invested into malaria research.

To summarize, increased green roof production has led to lower energy costs, a low rate of malaria due to high malaria prevention investments, which in turn has led to more and more healthy people to work on their rooftop gardens.

Therefore the main effect of malaria on the Mexican economy has been the increased number of locally grown organic tomatoes.

This has in turn led to large scale tomato growers to lose their businesses, reducing the taxes they pay to the government. With less tax revenue, Mexico has grown much poorer, resulting in less money to invest in rooftop garden technologies.

This in turn means the general populous has less money to invest in malaria prevention technologies, increasing the malaria infection rate ten fold.

With such a sick population and nobody working, the country has suffered enormously. You see, it’s really a double edged sword.

I also suggest taking micro and macro in college.

-Jim