Classes supended in All Mexico until May 6

BREAKING NEWS!

First detainee accused of spreading willingly the swine flu.

Axxana Phoenix Is a Ruggedized SSD Array for Hardcore Data Backup



Because I'm paranoid about backing up files in multiple places, Axxana's Phoenix System, which features a multiple SSD array, looks pretty great. Especially considering it can withstand earthquakes, fire, water and "terror."

The storage capacity of the Phoenix System ranges between 72 and 300-gigabyte capacities. It can withstand 2000 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour, or 482 degrees for 6 hours. It would also survive under 40 G of shock, 30 feet of water pressure or 5000 pounds of force. On top of that, it has 3G and wi-fi antennas which allow you to access it's data if you cant connect directly, and batteries which support 6 hours of 3G transfer if power should be cut.

But Axxana Phoenix System isn't necessarily for the home—it stands 3 feet tall, is 2 feet wide and is 4 feet deep. Plus it weighs 436 pounds. Mentions of price are nowhere to be seen, but I'll leave that up to your imagination to figure out.

It's still far, closest cases are in Veracruz, those are 3 hours away

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday declared a "state of emergency" for the state over an outbreak of the swine flu that has killed 149 people in Mexico.

So far state and local officials have confirmed 13 cases of the swine flu in California. None has been fatal, although Los Angeles County Coroner's officials were investigating two deaths as possibly related to the disease.

Apparently the cases in Mexico has risen to 2400 now. Darn cover uppers.
Argentina has banned flights coming from Mexico for the next 5 days yet our borders are wide open as usual.
They want to vaccinate people with a vaccine that isn't even made for this new mutation and a vaccine isn't even going to be ready for at least 6 months. Umm kay.

I think I may need to start wearing latex gloves before I open and or touch anything when out and about. Oh, and totally avoid people who are coughing up a storm. Stay home you coughing sick people.

infected teenager 5 blocks south of me, infected grad student 7 blocks north of me, hudson river 2 blocks to my west, harlem 4 blocks to the east.
I am fucked.

Spanish Flu of 1918: how bad was it?


With all the scare talk about Coughing Pig Death, plenty of people are calling up the horrors of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. And to be sure, the 1918 flu was a tragic, awful calamity. But just how bad was it, statistically speaking?

"It's estimated that about 28 per cent of Canadians and Americans contracted the Spanish flu. Worldwide, an estimated 2.5 per cent of the sick died of complications, which made the pandemic one of the most lethal flu outbreaks in recorded history. Certainly it was one that imprinted itself upon human consciousness for several generations.
But there's another way to look at those statistics. You might observe, for example, that they mean that even during the worst ravages of the 1918 flu, 97.5 per cent of those infected survived and recovered. Or that 72 per cent of the population -- even in the absence of the sophisticated public health planning and infrastructure that Canada and the U.S. have since built -- was not infected during the pandemic.

So, even if we had a repeat of the 1918 flu, the chances were seven out of 10 that you wouldn't catch it and if you did, the odds were better than nine out of 10 that you'd survive.

That was during the worst pandemic of the modern era and one which occurred in the days before the instantaneous communications of radio, television and the Web enabled quick public health responses."

- via BoingBoing.

This guy, named darknessthecurse, makes a very good point about how it is not a big deal....