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So how bad is the swine flu??

gttommy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:13:34 -0800

How blown-up out-of-proportion is the swine flu scare relative to other life-threatening infections/diseases? Is it alarming enough that I need a swine flu shot if I'm going to SE Asia in DEC09/JAN10? Time is running out, and I am confused as to whether I should get a shot before leaving for a 3 week trek in SE Asia through a handful of countries.

From what I have been reading, vaccinations are the ultra-safe path for short-term protection and definitely should be taken during a crisis (e.g. epidemic). On the other hand, if it is not a crisis it would overall not be beneficial for someone my age (26), as I am likely to recover from a swine flu infection... and something to do with antibodies, mutating-dormant-virus and the overall corruption of my immune system. My microbiology-graduate friend confirms the negative effects of inoculations are part of the process, but also says if its a 'crisis' it should be taken.

So how bad is the swine flu??

Thanks!

Can an old Mac actually ignore network security?

caution live frogs — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 10:41:31 -0800

MacCruftFilter: a guy i know told me yesterday that he discovered he had the ability to wander around the network using an old macintosh SE (linked through a newer one, as it's too old to connect directly). the funny thing was that in browsing appletalk he realized he could look at and open files - not just specifically shared files, but any files - on any networked mac on campus (he didn't say if he meant OS X too, or only OS 9 or older). he figures the new macs don't recognize the old one as even existing, and the old one is too old to recognize the security setup on the new ones - so they ignore each other and he's free to open someone else's files. he didn't try creating or deleting anything, though. so here's the question: can any mac people tell me if is he right about why this works, and, if not, is this just a fluke? am i potentially opening a can of mac-security worms by even asking this?