What is Digg?24 Comments
- BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Slayer rules. Spam doesn't. Is this the kind of stuff we're supposed to report to abuse@digg?
- SlackerCSB, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8The Center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of bird flu. If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment immediately:
High fever
Congestion
Nausea
Fatigue
Aching in the joints
An irresistible urge to crap on someone's windshield. - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5jim, the funeral business has been slow lately, we need you to take one for the team *pulls gun*
- ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Oh Noes!!11! A bunch of our employees are sick and dying!!!1! What will happen to our stock price!/1!?!??!
Nice priorities there. - mr.hostility, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4My family is all dead, I have nobody left. *insert crying*
Oh *****, it's 10 after 8, I was supposed to be at work 10 minutes ago!!! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Don't forget feeling peckish all day.
- Xanin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Bah, bird flu has been hyped up beyond belief
- bluehouse, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4yeah I could do that too. If all or most of your workers get sick you're screwed.
- chosenone-, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5 Do you know that 'bird flu' was discovered in Vietnam 9 years ago?
Do you know that barely 100 people have died in the whole world in all that time?
Do you know that it was the Americans who alerted us to the efficacy of the human antiviral Tamiflu as a preventative?
Do you know that Tamiflu barely alleviates some symptoms of the common flu?
Do you know that its efficacy against the common flu is questioned by a great part of the scientific community?
Do you know that against a supposed mutant virus such as H5N1, Tamiflu barely alleviates the illness?
Do you know that to date Avian Flu affects birds only?
Do you know who markets Tamiflu? ROCHE LABORATORIES.
Do you know who bought the patent for Tamiflu from ROCHE LABORATORIES in 1996? GILEAD SCIENCES INC.
Do you know who was the then president of GILEAD SCIENCES INC. and remains a major shareholder? DONALD RUMSFELD, the present secretary of Defence of the USA.
Do you know that the base of Tamiflu is crushed aniseed?
Do you know who controls 90% of the world's production of this tree? ROCHE.
Do you know that sales of Tamiflu were over $254 million in 2004 and more than $1000 million in 2005?
Do you know how many more millions ROCHE can earn in the coming months if the business of fear continues? - mcdevcom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If a hundred thousand employee company loses a quarter of it's staff to a pandemic, it's not like there will be much of a business to run anyway.
Unless it's a funeral/burial/disposal company of some sort, in which case the employees are being the ultimate team players. - andyd273, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3isn't tonydanzaphobia also a symptom of bird flue?
(extra points if you know the reference) - Veritas77, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3What a blatant opportunism by IBM Glob-on Services.
Since I got to work three hours ago, more people died just in the US from smoking-related illnesses than have died worldwide from bird flu in the last three years.
Sheesh.
Whatever happened to SARS? I thought that was the pandemic that was going to F everybody in the A? - FlamingWombat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Bad IBM! No hyping the bird flu! Bad!
Seriously, noting as there are still no confirmed cases of the bird flu actually passing between humans, I don't see how we can possibly end up with a pandemic. However, certain secretaries of defense with certain connections to certain makers of bird flu vaccines might stand to make a pretty decent profit, and I guess IBM's coming along for the ride - Osiriscky3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1technological determinism at its greatest
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Excellent comment chosenone. Eveyone should read it.
- sbougerolle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Whatever happened to SARS? I can tell you that - I was living right at ground zero in Hong Kong when it happened.
First it hit a few odd people scattered around, and fools like you kept telling everyone who would listen "Oh it's just hype again, doesn't mean anything". Most people ignored it.
Then it started to spread and health officials recommended the government close schools and such. A few people kept saying "ah it's all hype." Unfortunately some of them apparently caught the ear of the chief executive, who did nothing for a couple critical days.
Shortly after that it got into an apartment complex and the number of cases started to soar. Then people panicked. You could walk downtown in the middle of the day and have the sidewalk to yourself - which is unheard of in Hong Kong. Workers who did bother to show up kept on masks and went around sanitizing themselves after they touched anything, while officials scrambled to catch up and get things under control.
In Hong Kong, the panic probably was just as effective at stopping it as the official measures, and it's true that the final death toll was not hugely higher than annual yearly deaths from flu. That misses the point, though. During the panic tourism and other business slowed to a trickle, businesses went broke, and the entire economy took a year or two to recover.
In Canada, on the other hand, when it hit the government took immediate steps to control it, and when panic threatened they moved government cabinet meetings to Toronto (one of the affected cities) to demonstrate confidence in their measures. Canada didn't come out of it too badly.
All this happened and that was just a little tiny outbreak that, viewed from afar, only affected a few cities. This was peanuts compared to what bird flu can do, and the big damage wasn't from actual deaths but from the panic that resulted from it.
Some places (like Toronto) did better than others (like Hong Kong) because they were better prepared and reacted appropriately. What's needed to avoid Real Big Trouble when bird flu hits is not a lot more boneheads saying "bah the news is just hype". What's needed is education and awareness so people CAN react appropriately when the time comes, instead of waiting till it's too late and then panicking (as they did in Hong Kong).
Oh, and SARS is still out there, too, as well as bird flu and lots of other diseases we haven't heard of yet. All these things are a bigger threat than ever because there is more traffic, faster, between cities around the globe than ever before. That's the other reason to take this seriously, and sensible officials and business owners are quite right to have plans in place - for everybody's good. - krakelohm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1be on the lookout for Angela.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1'bird flu' = y2k v 2.0
A huge international government money making scheme.
I'm not saying the flu doesn't exist, but it sure isn't the "threat" it's being made out to be. - BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2You should work for IBM.
- drdewm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11918 flu killed somewhere between 50 and 200 million people and is genetically similar to the strain now. Sars had potential but never realized. This H5N1 may go the same way but just talk to someone who lived throught the 1928 flu and realize that it would change your life even if it did not kill you.
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Would have been great for everyone to simultaneously blast Hell Awaits today. All the Christians and Muslims would have ***** themselves when the reverberating HELL AWAITS voice came in, playing from every window, shaking the streets and foundations.
Crucify the so called lord
He soon shall fall to me
Your souls are damned your God has fell
To slave for me eternally
Hell awaits...
Chemical Warfare > Bird Flu - mattUSA, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Global Services is teh suck, as in they suck the life out of everything they attach to.
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