Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Infected by Virus
Vicissidude writes "It appears that a Microsoft worker returning from overseas brought back a case of Measles with them. In fact, they had been back, working, and spreading the disease at Microsoft and other places in Redmond for at least four days prior to being discovered. Somehow I do not think that Microsoft included in their cost-benefit analysis of offshoring the potential wide-spread infection of their company. Perhaps they should include that risk in the future."
I hate microsoft with a passion. They suck. I irrationally loathe the company, their products, and everything they stand for.
and even *I* can see that this is a bullshit article, a beatup of ridiculous proportions. Stupidest. Slashdot. Article. Ever.
. . . but are we to believe that, if it weren't for offshoring, none of the tens of thousands of microsoft employees working in this country would ever go outside of the country - even overseas - and possibly bring back a flue or a cold or the mumps or something?
Also, how do you bring back the measles? Aren't we inocculated against measles when you're maybe six years old?
CowboyNeal: fuck you for posting this shit.
I'm sure you've got dozens of more newsworthy articles to post - hell, even dupes have more journalistic integrity than this POS.
What on earth has off-shoring got to do with this? People travel. People go on holiday. People work overseas. People exchange exotic diseases. It's hardly a feature of modern business practices.
My blog
And Bill Gates thought OS was viral.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
I'll bet that before they send anybody overseas again they'll install some good anti-virus software in them.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Can you imagine the relief at M$ that it doesn't affect Windows. Bet they still announce a patch will be released though.
Guess keeping current on mmr shots didn't go though his mind
GeekLeak.com - Silly name, serious geeks
I got a flu from some guy at work yesterday and Slashdot ignored my story submission about it. Not much difference really, is it?
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/20024 51977_webmeasles25.html
s &btnG=Search+News
and more broadly
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=measle
IANAEOMMCACALC (I am not an expert on mass media coerscions and conspiracies against large corporations), but it seems there may be some truth to this. Anybody?
We now have confirmed reports from an informed Orange County minister that Ethel is still an active communist.
Way to go poster, this is a new low. You're actually gloating because an employee at Microsoft is ill and maybe spread it around. I think you've lost your sense of proportion. When you're laughing at a company because the day-in day-out engineers and accountants and other working folks are ill because you have a grudge against the company, that's fucked up.
Vicissidude, You're a nut. And so is CowboyNeal for posting this crap.
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
Apple and Linux developers announce that there systems are immune. Firefox and Mozilla users are safe. Microsoft deny rumours that IE 7 is the cause of the outbreak. Security firm announces that vulnerability has been around for a long time and Microsoft should have released a patch.
that ./ has been putting up too much of stuffs that don't matter at all?
Come on editors, there are too many cool technologies, articles, hacks, etc, submitted but rejected, and then what we see is this kind of junk.
Gee, jesus died for us and all we got is this lousy FA.
Aren't people supposed to have had measels as kids and be done with it?
Or was that virus spreading among the developers of their next OS: Bob II, which is to follow Vista?
If he was working for Apple he would not have had to worry about catching any virii...
Measles.A
The latest Slashdot meme.
Somehow I have a feeling that the entire reason for posting this to Slashdot is to facilitate jokes like this.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I know he swears, but this is just going to far. The constant dupes, the stupid editorialising.
There is a large part of the community who really dislikes this stuff and it is normally voiced politely. The message hasn't got through yet, so maybe let's mod a swear-word post up.
Seriously I am pissed at this stuff too. Esp. when you see some of the thoughtful submissions that get rejected each day.
Fuck you coyboyneal.
I'm disappointed the /. editors didn't change the usual borg picture for one with nice red spots on it ...
Perhaps the employee traveled to Indonesia.
There's a measles outbreak there.
So far, five people have died.
Explain how is this relevant to off-shoring specifically. Its definitly not anything unexpected...
Viruses were jumping continents since mass transit systems were in place. People were travelling for business purposes for good many years, often got sick and infected entire offices with a flu strain, but somehow i dont see that as worthy of a frontpage.
Although that brings another matter to the focus: Vaccinate before you travel! (yeah i know, none for measles yet... our lab is working on it right now)
MEASLES BELIEVED TO BE FIRST VIRUS UNABLE TO SPREAD THROUGH MICROSOFT OUTLOOK
Researchers Shocked to Finally Find Virus That Email App Doesn't Like
Atlanta, Ga. - Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Symantec's AntiVirus Research Center today confirmed that Measles cannot be spread by Microsoft's Outlook email application, believed to be the first time the program has ever failed to propagate a major virus.
"Frankly, we've never heard of a virus that couldn't spread through Microsoft Outlook, so our findings were, to say the least, unexpected," said Clive Sarnow, director of the CDC's infectious disease unit.
The study was immediately hailed by US officials, who said it will save millions of dollars and thousands of man hours. "Up until now we have, quite naturally, assumed that measles, like every other virus, was spread by Microsoft Outlook," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "By eliminating it, we can focus our resources elsewhere."
However, researchers in the Hong Kong said they are not yet prepared to disqualify Outlook, which has been the progenitor of viruses such as "I Love You," "Bubbleboy," "Anna Kournikova," and "Naked Wife," to name but a few.
Said Xi Ti Choo, director of the Molecular Virology Lab at Hong Kong University: "It's not that we don't trust the research, it's just that as scientists, we are trained to be skeptical of any finding that flies in the face of established truth. And this one flies in the face like a blind drunk sparrow."
Executives at Microsoft, meanwhile, were equally skeptical, insisting that Outlook's patented Virus Transfer Protocol (VTP) has proven virtually pervious to any virus. The company, however, will issue a free VTP patch if it turns out the application is not vulnerable to measles.
Such an admission would be embarrassing for the software giant, but Symantec virologist Ariel Kologne insisted that no one is more humiliated by the study than she is. "Only last week, I had a reporter ask if the measles virus spreads through Microsoft Outlook, and I told him, 'Doesn't everything?'" she recalled. "Who would've thought?"
...and HAHAHAHAH remember when that Enron janitor died of AIDS? oh my god and back in the 80s two engineers at IBM had the whooping cough! they DIED!! HAHAHAH god it's so great and just!! Can't wait to find out another chinese guy died of bird flu! And if we wait a few more seconds we can laugh about some more children starving to death in North Korea! MY GOD THE HILARITY NEVER ENDS!!!??!1111 lol dudez. Okay back to being serious: can we do a mini-poll on whether the poster and editor are high, drunk, or just natural assholes?
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
"I hope SP3 fixes this..."
or
" I don't know what I'll do if I have to wait for SP3 to fix this."
Which is it?
Funny thing is I was just reading here: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/diseases/measles/faqs.htm
If the chance of the diseases is so low, why do I need the vaccine?
It is true that vaccination has enabled us to reduce measles and most other vaccine-preventable diseases to very low levels in the United States. However, measles is still very common -- even epidemic -- in other parts of the world. Visitors to our country and U.S. travelers returning from other countries can unknowingly bring this disease into the United States, and if we were not protected by vaccinations, it will quickly spread causing an epidemics here. The disease is very contagious. We should be vaccinated protect ourselves and our children. Even if we think our chances of getting measles is small, the disease still exists and can still infect anyone who is not protected.
And circumcision? Man, that's sick. God/Evolution (delete as applicable) put it there for a reason. But I think it's common in the US. Everywhere else in the world it's only done for medical or religious reasons.
The measles were possibly spread to 2 local restaurants - tried them both before and they're both overpriced and not very good - Thai Ginger in Redmond Town Center and Malay Satay Hut on 24th.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
Yes, I'm so glad a potentially lethal disease is unleashed upon thousands of possible infection vectors, because they happen to work for a company which you have an ideological difference of opinion with.
Nice priorities.
I'm no fan of Microsoft or outshoring myself, but this is quite possibly the worst and most insulting article I've ever seen posted to Slashdot.
Editor and the OP need to have their heads examined, and possibly find something new to do with their time.
that is the worst, least funny, most blatantly obvious post i have ever read.
As I noted offshoring is a case where you increase the number of people travelling overseas, specifically in the technical ranks where someone getting sick might actually impact productivity instead of an executive missing a few days of golf.
It's an intersting consideration that like you say is not a new risk, but I do not think is thought of often. I'm not totally against offshoring (as you seem to suspect) I just think the point is valid that it's an additional risk that was not there before, even if the risk is slight.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Forgot about MMR vaccine.
We are working on the edible measles vaccine.
Can someone mod down the idiots who thought this was funny and posted "funny" stuff about Windows service packs and Outlook so that they can get some karma. Kids, please grow up. Mod me troll or whatever but this article is very much in bad taste. As for the morons, who thought this funny or saw this as a chance for karma-whoring, i feel sorry for your pathetic lives.
I'm not some paranoid anti-offshoring lunatic. I'm just saying that slight increase in risks of disease is an interesting aspect to offshoring that I had not thought of before and can impact a business - especially since it's people who do real work potentially getting sick instead of the executives who were historically the ones to make overseas trips.
Whoever modded me down, I place a hex upon ye!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Slashdot had articles when Patrick Volkerding of Slackware was suffering from an illness.
What's wrong with sharing the same compassion when fellow IT guys at Microsoft have illnesses.
Well everyone seems to either think the post sucks because it's attacking Microsoft or offshoring.
So when did all the geeks leave? The ones who actually might have thought the aspect of sending more technical workers overseas leading to increased risks of more interesting diseases was sort of an interesting exercise in risk analysis? I guess they are all dead or off playing Halo.
I didn't think the article was particularly against either Microsoft or offshoring. Just making an observation about a slightly unexpected repercussion for us technical folk (and by us of course I mean me since there are no others left).
If you're all dead, can I have your gadgets?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Also worth noting, Bill Gates is one of the world's biggest funders of measles research programs.
Especially since they didn't even which country was visited. :-) In all likelyhood it was probably somewhere in Europe.
Anyway, how is this a significant risk? Surely the staff have already been immunised against measles. In the UK, the NHS has been providing a measles vaccine since 1960. The uptake rate for the current vaccine (MMR) is between 75% and 95% (it varies across the UK). The remainder includes children who have the vaccination separately as well as those who go unvaccinated. So unless the US employees of Microsoft just didn't get vaccinated against measles as kids, what is the problem?
i have to admit that the biggest reason i visit /. is to read the MS bashing. i personally don't have anything against MS, but it's fun to read MS bashing comments.
that said, i'm really disappointed that this article was posted.
If I had to travel overseas for an offshoring visit, I really wouldn't have thought of vaccinations before I left - but that is a great suggestion.
So see, the article can be of use to to give a heads-up about a probem that many may not consider in teh course of doing work. How many of us have to deal with travel of vaccinatons that are suddenly thrust into a situation where it was a good idea?
Many years ago I was on a business trip to London to help support a technical demo, and shortly after I got there I became really ill, the sickest I've ever been. I was sick the whole time there (though enjoyed myself noetheless) and took about two weeks to get well when I was back.
Now before I travel I take a lot of vitamins to boost my immune system, but it's nice to get the word out to people it's a good idea to think of these things when you have to go travel as going to another country exposes you to all kinds of stuff your body might not be ready for.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Well God/Evolution also put an appendix and tonsils in there - "for a reason", which, while useful to animals don't do squat for us. Plus, lately there's been talk that circumsized people MAY be less likely to get infected by HIV/AIDS. There's a plus point that beats the heck out of a lot arguments against, if proven.
My Favourite Meme
In the PBS TV Series "Guns, Germs and Steel", Pulitzer prize winner Jared Diamond claims that wherever early European explorers went, they took with them germs & deseases against which native populations had no immunity (of course, because of evolution.. don't tell me 'God' designed the world that way and unfairly tipped the balance in favor of a certain population!..). An excerpt from his PBS interview:
"ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: And the germs--this surprised me very much--you mentioned the germs. They actually developed from the domesticated animals, and that's why Pizarro could bring the germs that killed, what, 95 percent of the people that he met in the new world.
JARED DIAMOND: That's right. And that's one of the surprising discoveries that we've gained from molecular biology in the last decade or two. That's why people couldn't figure out a hundred years ago the ways in which geography tipped the balance of fate among the world's people. We now know that smallpox, measles, and other epidemic diseases of humans like that evolve from epidemic diseases of our domestic animals with which we came into intimate contact when we started to domesticate them 11,000 years ago. Smallpox may have evolved from a disease of our domestic camels. Measles certainly evolved from a disease of our domestic cattle. And so Eurasian people were exposed to these nasty diseases, gradually evolved immune and genetic resistance to them, but Native Americans, without big domestic animals, except the llamas and El Pacas, did not evolve nasty germs of their own, and so had no immunity when Europeans arrived, bringing smallpox and measles and these other nasty germs. So most native Americans died before they could even reach the battlefield. They were killed by Eurasian germs. "
Payback time ?
as soon that Microsoft learned of the virus and the threat it posed, they quickly notified all the necessary people that they would have a patch in place to hand out (for a small fee to anyone caught with Win2K on their computers, the XP users would have to pass the Microsoft Genuine Advantage test, and prove that they did infact work there) to the employees. They said to expect it in about 6-14 months.
Oh I see, warning people that travelling overseas they might want to vaccinate or take other precautions against sickness is just utter idocy. Well that certainly sets me straight Mr. Smarty Pants.
I'm sure you just know so much about technical offshoring that I am but a worm in comparison to the shining light of your fricking monsterous intellect, but it does seem to me I recall a number of technical people from companies I have worked for travelling overseas to meat with development leads from time to time. In fact it seems to me that the probability of someone travelling offshore when engaged in offshoring is somewhat higher than the probabily when you have no overseas clients and all development is in-house. I am of course rather dim but I do not recall my cubicle or office ever suddenly materializing in the heart of India, though there's always that quantum probabilty.
I was just trying to help people but I guess I got in the path of your need to put people down and keep travellers sick.
Next time think before you post, or at least take off the Gloves of Asshole Posting +100.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Come on, this story is simply begging for some funny comments. I don't see any other reason for the story.
Yet all the comments so far are modded as Informative and Interesting.
Slashdot, lift your game.
I wonder how World Vision deals with their version of that situation.
Ouch...
I don't know about you but when I've taken business trips I spend as much time as I can looking around, not just visiting the (unfortuantley) air conditioned office. Who can resist the call of a local pub?
In fact on my fist ever business trip to London, I got sicker than hell the first day there - after that when I travel I take care to load up my immune system a bit beforehand, and if I were going somewhere really exotic I would take this story as a good warning to try a few vaccinations before going as well. Then you can enjoy yourself more fully while there, which is what you should be doing anyway on a trip that someone else is paying for.
The story is just really short, not stupid - the summary is a little silly but I think it's a very good note to people that might not think about these things otherwise until it happens to them. It's easy to just simply not think about your health when you're young and travelling abroad for the first time.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Also worth noting, Bill Gates is one of the world's biggest funders of measles research programs.
"Honey, I do wish you wouldn't bring your work home with you!"
Maybe there's another article, but the one linked in the summary doesn't mention anything about this person being an MS employee. It only says the person was at the MS cafeteria.
This is anti-Microsoft FUD at its best.
Counter-headline: "PENGUIN GETS RABIES, INFECTS FIREFOX."
-David
Well since no-one cares at all about risk management or considering for a second that it might be a good idea to think about small steps to help prevent illness when traveling abroad, I might as well just make up something funny.
Arguing with a stoner is like:
Lighting a toke with a wet match. There's no spark and the match just gets mad.
Banging your head against a pillow and hoping it will take a new shape.
Trying to fill a marshmallow with smaller marshmallows - Your opponent is just as empty of content as when you started.
Eating as many live crickets as you can without a stomach.
Peace Dude.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Public health officials said the infected person visited the following areas: Malay Satay Hut, 15230 NE 24th St., Redmond, WA 98052 on August 16th 2005, from 12-3 p.m.
Okay if you ever go to that place STAY AWAY from the durian shake. It smells like ass. Last time a friend of mine had one I made him hold it outside of the car while we were driving away. Seriously, run for your life!
The story is not really about Microsoft. If anything it's about Offshoring - but not really even against that. Just mentioning an interesting aspect of it.
That's what I don't get, I don't read the hatred of Microsoft into this story like so many others here. But the pro-Microsfot brigade seems to be out in full force!
See you all in Meta-Mod.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
> Way to go poster, this is a new low.
l es/en/
Actually I find it a very important article.
Not as it seems to "bash Microsoft" (and then I could not care less) but because it might wake my North American friends up to the fact that there are these things called "diseases" out there in the real world and that "yes, unbelievable or not" Americans can contract them and die from them.
You think I am joking?
I remember talking to my family doctor in his 60s, a few years back before he died. We were talking about infectious diseases. He mentioned that he had met young doctors in their 20s who would probably never see a case of measles in their lives.
"Why?" I asked. "Because immunisation is so effective." he answered.
That was in Ireland.
An outbreak of measles is incredibly rare in the "west". Can someone please explain to me how one of the U.S.A.s most important companies just suffered an outbreak?
Do you Americans not immunise your children?
http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/meas
cheers
front
Building 40 is (or used to be?) the home of networking and other core groups. No better place to start a Virus infection than in networking, no?
No, with that logic it means when you go overseas beware of illnesses and take precautions.
Would you go on a Safari in Africa and refuse to take precautions against Yellow Fever? You'd call such a person an idiot. So why should someone travleling to France not be careful to some degree about what they might get there? If measels may be an issue, vaccinate before you go and save everyone some bother.
It's all about risk management. if you drive without a seatbelt every day you'd probably be fine. But why not put one on?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
With a title like "Microsoft Infected by Virus", how can you say this story is not "about microsoft"?
No. Historically it is boatloads of trench level traders who make the overseas trips.
That's odd because in absolutley NO software company that I have worked for are there "boatloads of trench level traders". In fact I do believe there are none!
Yes there are companies that have been doing overseas stuff a long tong and used to taking some precautions against illness. As the tech industry starts to become more global they too will face additional exposure and here and there it migh be a good idea to shore up vaccinations an otherwise cube-fixed tech worker might ignore.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Shouldn't this post have been submitted with the
"Humor" [sic] tag?!
I have to sympathize a bit though... I've just wasted most of this morning sorting out an errant
WinXP laptop. Grrrr.
return 0; }
So why are the medics trying to get tonsilectomy and appendectomy rates _down_ ?
Answer: they've figured out that _not_ messing around with something that isn't broken is less risky for the patient than trying to "fix" it - even if we can't figure out what it is there for.
... isn't it allready infected with the virus Bill Gates?
This virus produces a very nasty havroc on you computer called Windows.
And its spreading...
-:) Oh no - not again.
www.rednebula.com
I had the same thoughts. But Slashdot tonight is full of the most mindless sorts that have chosen to read an otherwise innocuous article as an attack on whatever they seem to be supporting.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The title also, if you may care to read further, does also have the word "Virus" in it.
It's tangentially baout Microsoft and Offshoring, but primarily about viruses and noting that in this case a business trip led to a nasty one. It could just as easily have been about Sun or Oracle.
The point is to realize that travelling overseas (increased among the technical population by the advent of offshoring) can lead to unexpected illnesses, so to be aware and be careful.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
That's why it's more about the issue of overseas travel generally and does pertain to offshoring (even if the article does not say that was the reason for the trip).
I guess the skill of "getting a point" or "following a train of thought" has been lost in the general audience.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Well maby trojan's in their wallet.
(out of date though, never got to use them)
The only really useful and interesting post of the whole discussion.
An edible vaccine would be really nice and make it more likely people would avail themselves of it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I hate not to provide a source, but I read somewhere that appendix serves as a habitat for certain bacteria that help in digestion.
None for measles yet? What rock have you been living under?
x .asp
There's been one since 1963, and if you haven't had it you're (or your parents) a moron.
http://www.vaccineinformation.org/measles/qandava
This story is primarily about a MS lol virus bashfest where the object of ridicule is someone who went overseas and came home with an illniss so shitty that it made the evening news. The people (slashdot editors etc...) who are (or tried) using this as an excuse to another lol MS virus circlejerk are pathetic.
The "geeks" who came up with this story are a pimple on the taint of technology. That is what a closer inspection of the story reveals.
I guess this poor fellow did not have a very active social life, although he does seem to enjoy eating.
From the article:
Public health officials said the infected person visited the following areas:
Malay Satay Hut, 15230 NE 24th St., Redmond, WA 98052 on August 16th 2005, from 12-3 p.m.
Thai Ginger at Redmond Town Center, 16480 NE 74th Street on August 20th from 8-11 p.m.
Microsoft -- Redmond Campus, One Microsoft Way, Building #40, Redmond, WA on August 16, 17, 18 and 19, all day.
Microsoft -- Cafeteria, One Microsoft Way, between Building #40 and #41, Redmond, WA on August 17, 18 and 19, 11:30 am to 4:00 pm.
*Splort*
Using Microsoft's exciting new BorgLite technology, employees will begin automatically downloading the new anti-virus Service Pack 3 to their wetware immediately (note: patchsize may break older models)! Who needs vaccines when you have Automatic Updates? ;)
Slashdot is dying! ...happy now?
Isn't this ironic? With the Win 98 fiasco, that only was dulled with NT and the other releases since then? Maybe m$ should just switch to linux for security reasons? Bad publicity, having your own product, complete with additional viruses?
LMAO, they almost deserve it. Even they don't, but they come damn close to it!
...and this was the first time I actively looked for a way to mod submitter and posting editor down.
Worst. Story. Ever.
Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
Yeah thats the point. Especially good for developing countries since you do not need to keep the doses cold (which is always a problem when delivering vaccines to remote regions)
:)
its still a work in progress
When was the last time parents had the doctor take out the kids' tonsils and appendix just after birth based on "we don't need it"?
I don't really care either way. I just think it's amusing that if we did something like this to females, we'd be considered a female genital mutilation nation. But since it's boys - it's all good.
How it is anti-MS at all, i do not get. It seems to scoff a little at offshoring by noting it has hidden risks, but even that is hardly a "bashfest".
Basically the summary is saying "Be Careful Out There". But instead of posters putting up links with advice about where they might want to check out vaccinations it's a good idea to get before traveling, they put thirty shades of hurt of the poor bastard that had the gall to actually post an article about illness with the word Microsoft in it anywhere.
I am not particularly fond of Microsoft. I don't really care one way or the other about offshoring as it is inevitable. What I do care about is that people are taking a perfectly fine chance to warn people traveling overseas that might not think about what that means healthwise that it's good to be a little careful as going someplace really different ca get some people rather sick. Since it's a lot more fun to travel when you are not sick, and also nicer coming home not being sick, I'd prefer to spread the message for people to just use common sense and try to protect against whatever things their body might not be used to when they go traveling instead of just launching "Yet Another Slashdot Bitch Session".
The funny thing is if this were my first time here I would honestly think Slashdot had been taking over by pro-Microsoft hardcore posters who were making much ado about nothing, as far as Microsoft is concerned.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I wish I had mod points - spot on.
The appendix is used to aid in the digestion of cellulose - i.e. grass - *in animals*. As we don't eat grass anymore, the appendix is effectively useless.
My Favourite Meme
So, to get something good out of this article: Go check if you defenses -- your body's defenses, not your computers -- are up to date. How about tetanus? Polio? At least consider Hepatitis B, even if you are a nerd and don't have sex and faint if you even hear the word blood. These things don't have to happen.
The site's slogan is "News for nerds. Stuff that matters." Slashdot is often criticized for intentionally posting story summaries that many find inaccurate, highly biased, and/or inflammatory and that incite heated posting, while ignoring news or commentary on issues which outsiders may consider more serious or important (see Slashdot subculture) - this is mostly acknowledged, and frequently even celebrated by the community itself.
Now people, don't edit it there.
But what you say about staying healthy when you travel is right on.
I'm glad that you want to spread this messege about travel health, but your original post was a pretty standard "Yet Another Slashdot Bitch Session".
THIS IS NOT FLAMEBAIT; IT'S OPINION - Mods, Just because you don't agree, doesn't mean you should mod it down.
I currently have some dry cough.
I stodge myself continuous with the Original Extra Strong Fishermans Friend. Really hard stuff...
I can't answer that. But "we don't need it" coupled with "it might reduce infection and catching terminal diseases" makes a slightly stronger case, or am I just full of shyte?
My Favourite Meme
It probably wouldn't make them much better but after they've installed it they'll probably find they can't speak or walk properly anymore and keep falling asleep at random so they'll have forgotten all about the measles.
tsk.. tsk.. They shoulda been running linux
Normally, i wouldnt even grace this with an answer, but u should learn to read the whole thread before you post stupid comments like that.
I made a mistake and i have corrected it.
Grow up.
Slashdot = Sarcasm
Slacked it for some days and now they get a feel of what all those that fare unprotected have to bear.....
Circumcision can also protect against HIV.
Any significant surgury is dangerous. General anaesthesia has about a 1 in 700000 chance of killing you. Abdominal surgury can cause adhesions and other problems. Appendicitis can be effectively treated now with antibiotics.
Pick any of the above reasons for avoiding appendectomies.
Tonsils are an important part of your immune system, it's a good idea to leave them in place.
This is one of the shortest articles in /. history and no one seems to be able to read it.
You are right that the article is important, but what you've posted has nothing to do with the article. The article is important because it lets people - who may or may not be immunized - know that they may have been exposed to the virus. That's it.
An outbreak of measles is incredibly rare in the "west". Can someone please explain to me how one of the U.S.A.s most important companies just suffered an outbreak?
What "outbreak"? According to the article, there is one confirmed case of measles in "an adult", who may or may not work for the company.
Do you Americans not immunise your children?
Even if 100% of American children are immunized, not all Americans are born and grow up in America, and not everyone in America is an American.
Besides, the vaccine is not 100% effective.
According to the Seattle Times, the adult picked up the measles in France, another western country.
I read the other comments in this thread before posting my own (who'd have thought that post would have so many replies).
Anyway, consider my earlier post as reworded as follows: The evidence that circumcision can protect against HIV is actually quite good. The study referenced controlled for social, religious, etc factors.
Oh, well... I know quite a few people that only eat meat and bread; they probably do not need the appendix as even if something lived there (I really wouldn't know about that), it has probably died out years ago.
Ignore this signature. By order.
What is this tight-assed crap, Cowboy Neal? Wake up! I agree with the poster who wrote that this must be the worst story ever.
Bashing:
...all in one totally irrational article!
Wow. I stand in awe of the article's author, story submitter and the editor that was so quick to accept it. Amazing work, guys!
I googled for that stuff you say about the dangers of circumcision, found several web sites with the exact same statement. What else did they all have in common? No references. They all say 209 baby boys die every year because of circumcision, but none add an "according to \insert name of reputable journal here\". In fact these sound very much like the class of information I describe as "internet truths" - that is things that are stated to be true across many web sites, but which actually are not.
I'll grant that it could be a dangerous operation in, say, sub-saharan africa where there is a danger of non-sterile medical instruments or poor sanitary conditions, but in first world nations such as the US? No.
Please provide a reference from a reputable medical journal backing up what you say.
Anyone care to tell which one is true then?
It is rather frightening that so many people on this forum seem to know very little about measles. Measles 1) can be vaccinated against and many health care systems in the developed world vaccinate all children and 2) is a serious disease. People (particularly children) can die from it. It's not a joke like Chicken Pox (which some readers here seem to think is same disease). The fact that somebody would go somewhere where measles is endemic and not be vaccinated displays a breathtaking lack of responsibility -- and not merely for their own health.
Those darned forgien language anti-virus signature updates never seem to work right.
It's already been said, but WTF!!!
In other News Slashdot Editors get group altzhiemers and don't realise they have already posted the same article a few days previously.
Jesus, how is this news?
The appendix has, as far as anyone can tell, no function anymore. It doesn't help digest grass, nor other plants - it hasn't done that for millions of years. It's a remanant of a second stomach from an ancestor that had two stage digestion, similar to what ruminants have.
Not ONE fucking article I've read has said the guy was an MS employee. Not one, and I've read 4. He could have been at Redmond stocking the bloody vending machines for god's sake, or attending a seminar, or ANYTHING.
This is sensationalised, biased, "news" at it's worst. I can't believe this got past the editors.
I agree with the other posters (the ones I see currently that agree with you).
The summary is simply a cheap jab at MS. Reading the article.. It's not about MS. He just happened to go there. It didn't say he spread it to anyone, just "may have exposed other persons to the disease". The article is pretty much about a case of measles in one guy in King County, Redmond, WA.
From the summary, "In fact, they had been back, working, and spreading the disease at Microsoft and other places in Redmond for at least four days prior to being discovered."
It doesn't say he spread it, it says "have confirmed a case of measles in an adult exposed to the virus while traveling abroad."
From the "other" article (linked from the first):
"The infected person visited public areas in King County while contagious and may have exposed other persons to the disease."
That is "may have exposed", not "did expose". The summary is jumping to conclusions.
Oh, a single person that is either a MS employee or a frequent visitor to MS had measles, we'd better post this to SlashDot.
"'Microsoft Infected by Virus' ha ha I'm clever, also I am in no way jumping to conclusions by assuming that when the article doesn't say so at all!"
All published articles should be categorized as Insightful, Interesting, Funny, Troll, etc. As general rule, I skip all submissions unless they have been rated Interesting or Insightful. ./humor IMHO is stupid and rarely funny.
The person travelled to France.
Check here.
You can almost bet not. This is getting close to the last straw for me. I've been here since Chips & Dips and if this kind of stuff continues to get posted, I'm never coming back.
The more you know, the less you understand.
I leave it as an exercise to the reader as to whether the less-spun article would have been accepted.
www.eFax.com are spammers
In other news Linus Torvalds catches the common cold showing Linux is much more susceptible to basic vulnerabilities than Windows is. Proving once and for all Windows is more secure than Linux.
So I agree with just about everyone--BS article.
Condoms are better to protect against hiv.
So imo circumsising because it'll help a bit more against hiv isn't an arguement. If it's not 100% effective, it's almost criminal to give people a false sense of safety (don't need a condom for protection, I'm circumsised).
And yes, some people probably are that stupid.
Learn about pinball machines on www.flippers.be
Hmm. If you want fun, try this: http://bbspot.com/toys/slashtitle/index.html. It oftens generates far better stuff than Slashdot does. :)
Especially since the guy was in France.
Vaccinate before you travel! (yeah i know, none for measles
According to the CDC, a measles vaccine has been available and used since 1963.
This is just sad. It's one thing to pick on MS for the many, many, many holes in their OS's however this is just sad and lame on so many levels, now wonder slashdot is falling of my radar.
I call shyte. Justifications for male circumcision are ad hoc for the real reason of culture. It's the done thing so it is done.
You know what would help fix the problem of horrible stories like this? Give the moderators the power to *REMOVE* a story.
You're completely right, condoms are far, far better protection.
Having said that, the study I referred to (which stated that circumcision provided some protection) is from South Africa where HIV rates are very high, use of condoms is very low and circumcision is quite common.
Where you or I wouldn't rely on circumcision for protection, a person in South Africa who for whatever reason doesn't use condoms would do well to be circumcised.
Aside from that, the link I provided provides the context to make what I wrote less foolish than you suggest.
As to people stupid enough to read something like what I wrote, on the 'net, not read the attached link and act on it in the way you suggest... I like to think of it as evolution in action.
and a sponsor of creationism/ID "science":
v e.html?ei=5094&en=0bd235262066da5c&hp=&ex=11246832 00&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1125057631-Mu lliK7Dc7f8iEQeR8ma3A
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/national/21evol
I dislike Microsoft as much as the next guy, but no publicity is bad publicity.
When you return from the far east, I guess there's nothing like fine home cooking... # Malay Satay Hut, 15230 NE 24th St., Redmond, WA 98052 on August 16th 2005, from 12-3 p.m. # Thai Ginger at Redmond Town Center, 16480 NE 74th Street on August 20th from 8-11 p.m. # Microsoft -- Cafeteria, One Microsoft Way, between Building #40 and #41, Redmond, WA on August 17, 18 and 19, 11:30 am to 4:00 pm. Wha? He spent 5 and half hours in the cafeteria for 3 days straight?
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Has he always been? Its not that he just became a founder of measels research rather recently?
This is how HIV was created, actually. Two virii from something with an S in it (I can't remember) did something and became HIV. The only other thing I remember was that it had to do with monkeys. (Also bananas, but I think that part's just me.)
BURN them to the ground. They are pestilential piles of foul flattus. (Paranoid overreaction. :-)
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Maybe there should be a mod system for news posts too?
"Microsoft -- Cafeteria, One Microsoft Way, between Building #40 and #41, Redmond, WA on August 17, 18 and 19, 11:30 am to 4:00 pm.
For More Information"
Wow, I wish my company let me hang out in the cafeteria for 4 and a half hours.
The software might be a little better, too.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
It makes sure you don't come back with something that you can spread to your community. Measles kills and blinds and damages brains.
In other news:
MS employee chockes on spam in cafetaria at the Redmond campus.
Two fellow co-workers acted swiftly and used the Heimlich maneuver, which worked well. Said one of the co-workers "It was easy, we just had to apply way less pressure than on companies we want to buy/do our bidding".
Bert
Ugh. I read the RSS headline "Microsoft Gets Virus", assumed it meant *computer* virus, and thought "Yeah! Microsoft gets their just desserts for crappy security!", only to read this piece of tripe about how funny it is that a potentially serious *human* disease may be spreading about Redmond.
Wonderful. Maybe the Microsofties will give it to their KIDS and they'll all DIE! Wouldn't that be GREAT?! Slashdot article at 11.
Look, I know I'm not the first person to sound in on how ludicrous this article is, so mod me redundant if you want. I just ask that we *PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD* keep our technical preferences and our *basic human compassion* from interfering with each other.
I've never been so disappointed in a Slashdot post. Ever.
An outbreak of measles is incredibly rare in the "west". Can someone please explain to me how one of the U.S.A.s most important companies just suffered an outbreak?
He didn't go to junior high school?
I had to get the "MMR shot" or Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine before I could enter the seventh grade as it's required by everyone in my school district. No shot, no school. See the bottom of this page (my former school).
Get your Unix fortune now!
Sure in some parts of the world it's better than nothing, that's true. And for that I agree with you and I didn't want to make that study look foolish. I knew before about such studies.
However the parent post was about the US and not 'underdeveloped' countries..
If a country/tribe has the tradition to circumsize, then the hiv-protection is an added benefit.
But saying a civilised country like the usa has to do it so it's people are protected, sounds in my opinion like a very bad idea (because some people will think it's 100% safe).
So your study it doesn't really answer the parent/grandparents question why the usa does it.
Learn about pinball machines on www.flippers.be
It is flamebait:
I can deal with the smug, hippy liberal
'Bait
I don't blame the asshole who submitted this, no. It's the asshole that posted it. And little by little this place is becoming the running joke of the tech world.
With ID the size of his I question exactly what he knows about how things have been and where they are going.
Personally I'm tired of people bitching about Slashdot "becoming" something it always has been while they waste their time returning and posting.
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Want a place where you can moderate the submissions? Go to Kuro5hin. If you want pure tech news, then start going to the places where these articles come from. Either way, just go...
Get your Unix fortune now!
Worst Slashdot Article Ever.
A little overkill never hurt anybody.
It was a funny headline, and it was the first thing I've seen in a LONG time on slashdot that wasn't just the first paragraph of an article quoted onto slashdot, and then a bunch of people bickering about their favorite open source project underneath it.
You have all been moderated -5 Humor Impaired.
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
And suggest they update their virus protection?
"Any significant surgury is dangerous. General anaesthesia has about a 1 in 700000 chance of killing you. Genital surgury can cause infections and other problems. AIDS can be effectively treated now with antivirals."
Pick any of the above for avoiding circumcisions.
You seem like a bright enough guy. It makes me wonder what the motivation is for supporting (it seems you support it at least) a surgery that is unnecessary, potentially dangerous, and damaging to normal function.
So, I ask you, apart from the (thin) possibility that you may garner some mild protection from AIDS, what other reason can you give to justify mutilating an infant's genitalia.
And if you still come out in favor of male genital mutilation, then explain the inconsistency as it regards to females.
The truth is we do it for cultural/religious reasons, when it is could be avoided entirely.
this is /. journalism at its best!
You can't handle the truth.
"There's a plus point that beats the heck out of a lot arguments against, if proven"
I would have to question how your tally sheet looks in this regard.
Potentially destroying an infant's genitals, and definitely mutilating them, is a huge price to pay for some small protection against AIDS.
The fact that AIDS is approaching the state where it can be treated as though it were chronic (see Magic Johnson) means your argument has even less merit.
But what you need to think of is this, MOST of the circumcisions done in the US were done without any concern for AIDS at all. Using it as justification after the fact is a ridiculous idea.
If you are genuinely concerned about AIDS, consider how many resources that are used for circumcision (and the lawsuits from failed circumcisions and infections) could be diverted to AIDS research, contraceptive education, and assistance to infected individuals.
Your priorities are in the wrong place, it seems.
Holy shit, this is modded insightful? Mods, take a breath and read what you are modding on, please.
"As the intrepid kobold companion continues his journey, he begins to wonder... if priests raises dead, why anybody die?
That may be the last headline we read for years if the worst case of public health scares actually occurs. How long will the internet stay running if there is only 1-2 techs per city standing.
y Id=4209615
2 /michael-t-osterholm/preparing-for-the-next-pandem ic.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?stor
From:
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faessay8440
"A number of recent events and factors have significantly heightened concern that a specific near-term pandemic may be imminent. It could be caused by H5N1, the avian influenza strain currently circulating in Asia. At this juncture scientists cannot be certain. Nor can they know exactly when a pandemic will hit, or whether it will rival the experience of 1918-19 or be more muted like 1957-58 and 1968-69. The reality of a coming pandemic, however, cannot be avoided."
Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
The core point is that in 1918 without air travel
the disease covered the entire world, with
modern movement, millions could be dead before
it even registers on the global awareness.
Very scary stuff. No one will care about 9/11 or Iraq when the big one hits...
This is what I can say about measles after I contracted it at Siggraph 2001 (Los Angeles).
(1) It sucks! The body ache that comes with it really hurts. It also comes with symptoms of a very bad cold.
(2) Your vaccine can expire. Mine was 15 years old. You're supposed to get a booster vaccine every 10 years. Get your boosters.
(3) U.S. doctors are not very good at diagnosing measles correctly because they've seen so few real cases. Mine told me I had a "virus from hell", and did not think it was measles even after I suggested it as a possibility.
(4) Measles hurts more than chicken-pox as an adult (yes, I got that three years later, for the second time in my life), but chicken-pox also sucks a great deal.
(5) Your resistance to chicken-pox (probably measles too) can fail if you contracted them as a small infant (as in my case with chicken-pox) so get your boosters.
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
If I were a manager, one of my only policies would be to summarily fire anyone who came to work sick instead of working from home. There's nothing worse than some idiot who thinks their stupid little projects and deadlines are worth risking a massive, devastating outbreak amongst his coworkers. In fact, it doesn't really get much more thoughtless than that.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Video of the event
I8-D
I'm surprised it was the measles and not Glandular Fever. Conventional wisdom suggests that Microsoft is subsceptible to virii because of their "Mono" culture. Thank you, I'm here all week, try the veal!
So does keeping it in your pants. Because god forbid if we exercised any self-control.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
I dare Slashdot to establish a review process for those at the top.
I don't know. It's pretty bad, and it shows a sinking to new lows.
But then, they used to post Jon Katz articles here, where he reveled in school violence and other crap.
Shocked and outraged, I say, that no one, NO ONE, has made the obligatory quip about the Microsoft gateway having a hole big enough to drive a truck through.
What sort of geeks and dorks are you people?!
Not even "In Soviet Redmond, the virus infect YOU!"?
Man, this place has really gone down hill. Not only in stories but in witty comments. narf!
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
Here is the website http://www.music-versus-guns.org and Video of Jeffrey Coombs.
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
This reprehensible post is a juicy nodal point. /. editorializing has jumped the shark. Microsoft is the victim! Google is getting more and more evil every day! What's a kiddie to do? Thank goodness the MPAA and RIAA are still around.
Look, if you guys are going to make fun of anything make fun of this:
Public health officials said the infected person visited the following areas:
Microsoft -- Cafeteria, One Microsoft Way, between Building #40 and #41, Redmond, WA on August 17, 18 and 19, 11:30 am to 4:00 pm.
This guy takes a four and a half hour lunch break!
Now I want to work at Microsoft!
Education is the silver bullet.
The evidence that circumcision can protect against HIV is actually quite good.
And there's quite good evidence that subjecting women to a double mastectomy (removal of both breasts) would significantly reduce the levels of female breast cancer. However, not many would argue that we should go down that road. The only reason circumcisions are still performed is for societal reasons, be they traditional, religious, etc.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
In their wallet??? And here I thought they would be in the pocket protector (that would explain the ink stains :+0
FragHARD or don't frag at all
There's this country called Israel that has a pact with YHWH...
I'm sure most of us had a virus on our machines for more than 4 days with out noticing it (even with protection).
Fact is, despite the attitude here at /. MS does know how to run their shit. The same level of geekness and experience that is here at /. exists at Microsoft as well (maybe more so, for the most part).
We are the only country (or maybe one of two) that does mass circumcision. However, we do not have the highest longevity rate. So I don't know that it necessary justifies anything.
And this isn't 800AD. I'm pretty sure even if I were not circumcised, I could keep that fucker clean. You know - soap. Running water. Talc.
I was completely horried and shocked to find this article on my local news website. I live about 20 miles from the Microsoft campus and I recently worked there until a few months ago.
My first thought upon reading this was to wonder whether I'd been anywhere near Redmond from August 16-20. My second thought was wondering if any of my previous co-workers and friends still there had been infected.
Finally, I became angry and upset. If you read the KOMO article, they never mention that this is a Microsoft worker coming from overseas. They just say this person was in Microsoft building #40, all day, from August 16-20. I feel pretty safe saying they worked for Microsoft. Further, they don't say where this person visited overseas or whether that was business or pleasure. In fact, it appears to attempt to shelter Microsoft from any wrongdoing in this event.
I want to know if this person was working overseas or just visiting. If they were working, then why were they not vaccinated. And where did they go so we can warn other people and companies traveling to that area to get vaccinated beforehand.
As far as I'm concerned, it's Microsoft's and other companies' responsibility to check those vaccinations prior to sending their employees over. If not, then those companies are liable for the spread of the disease through their company and through their local communities upon their return.
However, the news station in this report is attempting to cover this up. We don't know if this employee was on business or pleasure. That is not at all surprising considering that Microsoft is loved by the Seattle community for being a home-town company. It looks like the news station and Microsoft wanted this to be hush-hush, so they only gave information important for potential infected people. Frankly, this is an important story that should be known outside the Seattle area. Companies should take potential risks like this into account and try to reduce those risks. Otherwise, we could see more companies and local communities get infected.
That would certainly be the first real plus point.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
>Aren't we inocculated against measles when you're maybe six years old?
Others have danced around this, but your comment is naive. Not everyone was born and raised in a country where measles vaccination is routine. And Microsoft employees, contractors, and visitors are quite a diverse group of individuals from around the world.
> What when they give you a blood transfusion do they stick the tube in you dick or something ... I guess I don't see how that would lessen the possibility of contracting it???
FragHARD or don't frag at all
Imagine a scenario where some company with a lot of people flying internationally, gets early cases of a nasty avian flu and spreads them throughout the company. Further suppose this company fails to react appropriately to the problem (maybe they insist that certain sick people show up to work, maybe their work environment is particularly conducive to people getting sick (eg, bunch of exhausted workers, they hired people who aren't properly vaccinated, poor ventilation in the workplace, or maybe they just fail to quarantine sick people who show up voluntarily) They might become legally liable for hundreds or thousands of illnesses and deaths. Finally, they may have lost valuable experience and man-hours.
My point here is that a company can be a big disease vector, and that can cause big trouble.
When I found this article on my local news website, I was completely horrified and shocked. My house is about 20 miles from Redmond. So, my first thought was had I or my family been anywhere near Redmond over that time frame. We luckily had not, so that wasn't an issue.
I previously worked at Microsoft, so my second thought was whether any of my friends and previous coworkers had been exposed. I still don't know that and I certainly hope they're fine.
Then, I became angry and upset. Here you have an article that states someone who obviously works at Microsoft caught a life-threatening disease from some overseas location and brought it home. Then, the article states they worked at Microsoft for 5 days, spreading that disease throughout the company and the local city.
Granted, the article does not say whether the trip was business or pleasure. However, I know that Microsoft sends people overseas constantly. And in fact, they hire foreigners quite often. It turns out from reading other articles that this guy was on a pleasure trip to France. He was a foreigner returning home. And he obviously didn't have his immunizations up to date.
So, this was not a case of offshoring gone awry. However, this does raise several issues. For one, we now know that people returning from overseas can and do bring back deadly diseases that could infect their entire company and the their local community. This case had the potential for a major breakout right here in Redmond and the Seattle area. Second, we now know that companies are lax in the immunization screening of employees they hire from overseas.
And then you get into the "what if" scenarios. What if this guy was on business? Does Microsoft check the immunization records of people they send overseas? Do they check the immunization records of people they hire from overseas? How do we know those foreign records are accurate? Who's liable for the medical expenses when an employee comes from overseas or returns on business and infects the company and surrounding community? Is this risk even being considered in the whole offshoring scenario? Or are we ignoring this possible hazard in the face of saving a few dollars, thereby endangering our communities and people who have nothing to do with the company in order to increase profit?
And yes, people going over on vacation, like this man actually was, also return with diseases. However, a company doing business with a foreign country has a much stronger connection with that country than a group of random tourists. Microsoft sends people overseas all the time, far more than they would go by themselves on vacation. Microsoft also hires people from overseas all the time. Microsoft should take the potential risk of overseas infection into account with their business practises and attempt to mitigate those risks. Otherwise, we could see more companies and local communities risk getting infected.
".. a Microsoft worker .. with them."
A or Them. One Microsoft worker or more than one Microsoft worker (them). Which is it?
(kindly preview your stories before posting them.)
Heard any good sigs lately?
And in other new Microsoft Corp. located in Redmond Washington has developed a method to transfer a virus into a group of people without their knowledge.
FragHARD or don't frag at all
Thank you. My comment may have been modded down but this was worth a good laugh before heading to work.
They're one of the very few companies heavily hiring in the US. I'm not aware of a single case where they fired a group in the states to replace it with an offshore operation.
The Raven
"Internet truths", or the more general form "Media echo chamber". Ie, where the media just echo each other as if it's some kind of truth, rather than doing 'real journalism'.
Microsoft gets infected with a virus.
Linux cant. And guess why.
Because Linux the community (and BSD too) are a large group of developers in their basements (and various other rooms) submitting code online cleanly, fast and with no risks. No risk of a crashed aircraft, no risk of getting your passport lost, no risk of getting SARS from China or measles from India.
I wonder if such travel expenditures by MSFT execs add to the final cost of the product. I wonder also if their insurance costs (which cover healthcare to deal with things like these) also add to the products cost. Thinking of that, I wonder who pays for Alan Cox's insurance, and what happens when the many kids in their garages get sick.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
This has to be the first case of a virus not actually STARTING at M$.
Karma: a simple way of silencing those with unpopular views regardless how correct or just that view might be.
I wanted it to be Microsoft infected with a computer virus, and have the campus shut doewn with no one for M$ to blame but their own coders.
Oh well. It would have been more newsworthy that way, I think. :-)
You leave my mom out of this.
Well, I'm rather fond of my mutilated willy. We've been through alot together, much of it not quite normal. The thought of someone cutting away at your dick is quite nauseating to me as well however ;)
It's a feature.
I last longer in bed apparently, according to all these antiwilly-chopper posts I've been reading. That's a plus in my book, and a big plus for me and my zipper wookie.
Overall, I personally have never had a problem with the hacksaw to the joystick I underwent way back when. Some people are shoving sticks and rings through their beaver busters, so what should anyone care what my pork and beans looks like except the people I let play with the ole one-eyed custard chucker. I've never had a woman complain about squirmin' Herman the one-eyed German even though he's long since taken off his cape. So lay off my Twat tickler and worry about your own intrusion protrusion.
- signed a man and his gleaming love sword.
8=====D
I concur! MOD PARENT UP!!!
Sensationalist
Lame
AS
Hell
Diary
Of
Tripe
...nano visa workers.
Table-ized A.I.
Measles? Is this the same planet I grew up on? I had the measles when I was a kid. So did my sister. So did just about every kid we knew. Maybe this is a more dangerous strain, I don't know, but raising an alarm for something that has killed 5 people in Indonesia seems kind of idiotic when you stop and consider everyday life. In the USA about 50 people a day get killed by drunk drivers, 10 drown, 5 are accidentally shot, and 1 gets killed by farm machinery, to name but a few deadly events that happen so often they aren't news.
Too bad the guy with measles didn't disappear in Aruba, or pretend to be kidnapped to get out of his wedding. Then we'd be talking hot story!
Even MS employees catch viruses easily :-P
Cheers!
^_RaMoN_^
Who are you quoting? Circumcision isn't significant surgury (in that it doesn't affect deep tissue, only skin), it doesn't involve general anaesthesia, it is highly unlikely to cause infection. And AIDS? It still can't be cured.
Difference between male circumcision (or mutilation if you wish) and female genital mutilation is the effect.
From a point of view ignoring sexually transmitted diseases, (male) circumcision makes a penis easier to clean, more visually attractive and I know of no good reason against circumcision.
So called "female circumcision" is rightly described as genital mutilation. It removes useful, important tissue, usually the labia, often the clitoris. It often prevents the woman from achieving orgasm and it significantly reduces fertility.
To compare the two is wrong. An operation that is a reasonale male comparison to female genital mutilation would include signifant damage to the glans (that's the sensitive "head" of your penis), and probably scarring to the urethra.
Deciding what is or is not significant surgery is completely subjective. You claiming it isn't has absolutely nothing to do with it.
"Circumcision isn't significant surgury (in that it doesn't affect deep tissue, only skin)"
It DOES affect deep tissue,by removing a natural barrier that is intended to protect it.
"circumcision makes a penis easier to clean, MORE VISUALLY ATTRACTIVE"
I get it now. You're circumcised, and you believe that you're better than those who aren't.
How disgustingly sad that you try to use aesthetics as an argument FOR a surgery that is completely unnecessary.
"An operation that is a reasonale male comparison to female genital mutilation would include signifant damage to the glans (that's the sensitive "head" of your penis)"
Circumcision does damage the head of the penis, again by destroying a natural protective barrier, and desenstizing the tissue underneath. You KNOW this, yet dismiss it because youhave an agenda.
It's become pretty clear that you're not really interested in discussing the pros and cons, and that you've made up your mind.
No one will think less of you because your penis has been mutilated. Stop trying to squeeze everyone into the same sad little box you live in.
Honestly, MORE ATTRACTIVE? Goddamit man, little boys grow up WITH NO PENIS AT ALL because of this surgery (did you bother to look up THOSE facts?) and your argument boils down to
1) slightly easier to clean
2) MAY protect against AIDS (not proven in any way, so I dismiss this one)
3) MORE ATTRACTIVE? To whom? Who are YOU quoting on that one? You have to know this is a moronic argument.
I really think you need to spend some time with a group of young men who have lost their penises due to this (elective) surgery. Then consider why you think it's ok to risk destroying a penis because you think it looks better.
How dare you criticize 'Intelligent Design' and why things were put where they were put? Your feeble mind cannot even hope to guess the intents and ways of the "Intelligent Designer."
Tonsils can be quite useful when your girlfriend has them. Can you think of a reason? ;)
Circumcision is important from a cultural point of view. Culture comes in many shapes - some people pierce their earlobes and insert jewels to look prettier, others circumsize themselves to show devotion. In this cultural sense circumcision is a respectable thing. But then when circumcision becomes a trouble, because it's a marker, then going around forcing it on everyone, so it's no longer a marker shouldn't be a solution, because it's cultural aggression.
If you don't want to be marked then don't get marked. Or get marked and live with it, even if people's first reaction to radical cultural traits is ridicule, such as when faced with some jungle tribes stretching their lips to a foot long by inserting ceramic disks or punching bones through their noses. Some hindu females wear a dot on their forehead, as a marker, but what kind of solution would be demaning that everyone mark their forehead, to force everyone to accept an arbitray 'do something instead of do nothing' cultural standard?
How about we mandate that everyone get a navel and tongue piercing and a tattoo, or stretch their lips? If you wanna be marked in any way, that's your business. You should be able to be either circumsized or uncircumsized freely in a society, however you wish it, without opression in either way, or artificial scientific reasoning behind it. You should be able to wear tatoos or not, get piercings or not, even if you get to listen to people saying, with some degree or ridicule - I need to wear at least 5 piercings to be comfortable, that's what gives a person some jazz, pizzas, or kick, or others saying I disagree with any kind of unnecessary piercing or invasion into my body. You should be able to live side by side by either cultural choice, because some cultural choices are that, just random aspects and flares without true bearing or significant effect on how you live your life. Getting a dot on the forehead is not what makes a hindu a hindu, at least it shouldn't, there is so much more to a culture or to a person than that.
Next story - tongue piercings enhance your body's immune system, because they provide a constant inflow of bacteria, just like an immunization would provide, so your immune system can constantly train itself.