ExtravagantEnzyme

You're not wrong there, hopefully the pathogen is sequenced soon and researchers start working on an approach to prevent further spread and treat those already infected.

The fact the numbers are like this in a remote area of Africa demonstrates when it gets to a more dense population, it will only get worse. More viral infections means more mutations. A virus will always mutate, it's how they survive. These mutations almost always result in a novel version of the virus better adept to spread in the host's population. There's also a good portion of these new versions which are no longer infectious as well. It's basically a numbers game for the virus.

But Disease X by definition will always start in one specific area, then spread throughout the population.

Disease X is actually a concept. In academia, Disease X is covered in infectious disease focused courses, it is a placeholder concept referring to a pandemic pathogen which has not yet been characterized. Its purpose is to encourage proactive thinking and research about pathogens that could cause a pandemic. To see the term thrown around is pretty wild, but hopefully it's a bit of an overzealous or incorrect use of it. Not even sure if there's enough data available yet to classify it as Disease X, but it's R~o~ value is steadily on the rise, which is always concerning for a novel pathogen.

Ya, and the reason I've never been in a car accident is cause I'm a fantastic driver, not because I've never owned a car...

The research paper is available through OP's link

Here's a snapshot of the data from the research paper:

Sounds more like a parasite than a heterotropic organism. If you were in the GI tract, it'd be a heterotroph, which means you'd be a one time use. But since it's consistently exposing you to situations where it's the main beneficiary, seems like it's parasitic and just taking you for all it can without much care for the repercussions.

You're a reactant in the internets catabolic reactions used to power it's anabolic reactions?! I mean, I hope you're okay, but at least the internet is moving to renewables!

New Zealand would be a fun place to relocate. While it does suck they're part of the 5 eyes as their government loves snuggling up to the US, the life outlook of the citizens is admirable. The money someone has or doesn't have isn't a consideration regarding how someone is viewed. A millionaire and a home-free individual are seen similarly when first met thanks to this mindset. Both mountain towns and island towns have a laid back approach to each day, which would be a nice change of pace. New Zealand is also both, as it's an island with a couple huge mountains. Snowboarding and surfing are a ton of fun, especially when the travel time is minimal. So ya, New Zealand would be a solid choice in my book!!

As someone who works in academia and has researched STEM education, wanting to do this is despicable! You have a quarter million dollars saved, yet you want money intended for low-income students. Like, what the actual hell?! I hope you attempt this and get caught, ideally they'll then fine you $250K and ensure you're unable to ever receive any financial aid. Screw you and you're comfortably committing fraud which will impact those who actually need the funding!

Marburg virus is no joke!! Fatality rate upwards of 88% due to it causing hemorrhagic fever. While monkey pox is no joke, I'd be exponentially more terrified if I had a Marburg virus infection.

It depends on your moral stance about working with the cops in this fashion. In many circles, becoming a CI will get you immediately ostracized and could lead to being physically assaulted. Alternatively you could tell the judge about your financial situation and hopefully work it off via community service. Also, fines can often be reduced by providing documentation demonstrating your income meets specific conditions. But to each their own, I mean based on your citation, what CI work would they have you do? I've only ever heard about CI's in the drug world.

You didn't read the webpage, ah? While the site can pair folks up as an absolute last resort, this was designed for people to make the pact with a family member or friend. But if a person has no one whose word they can trust, the site is an option, yet the pact wasn't exactly intended for them. But for everyone else, it's a valid and amazing idea providing a breath of fresh air.

Third parties struggle to get on most ballots, as we've seen time and time again this year. Without being on enough ballots, they aren't given time on the debate stage. Meaning they struggle to reach enough voters through alternative outlets to have any chance of making changes in this dire bipartisan landscape.