There's usually only one pandemic of flu per year, though I don't believe that there's a rule about it. However just because it killed thousands doesn't mean much when the population is as large as it is. I would guess that most people who caught it (assuming it was a pandemic) were mildly sick for a few days, some people had a bit worse case, and one in a million died of it and was counted.

FWIW, I don't really remember the 2009 swine flu, and that's only 5 years ago, so it can't have been very noticable...in the US. My wife's mother was already frail and around 90, and she's still around, so it can't have been all that devastating.
OTOH, this doesn't mean that when crossed with another strain it wouldn't be highly contagious bad news. If it was a pandemic, then it is good at spreading among humans, even if it's usually so mild that they don't notice it.

Good things definitely can, and have, come out of this kind of research. But it's walking along close to the edge of a high cliff. Sometims it feels as if they are seeing how close to the edge they can walk without falling over.

That's a tricky one. I'm told that my usage, to signify phrases and pauses, is incorrect. Nobody has been able to explain what correct usage is, however. So I still use them, commas, to signify phrases or pauses (or changes in emphasis).

I'm not sure that it's exactly a weapon. It's hard to control, it's hard to aim, and it's hard to keep it from attacking *you* if you use it on someone else. O, and your population doesn't have a greater immunity than does anyone else's. (Smallpox and measles were used as weapons by US settlers against the Indians...but they were *relatively* immune.)

So I don't think it's a biological weapon. Just an insanely dangerous piece of biological research. And a good argument for a base on the moon where such experiments can be safely contained.

Not attempted murder, because he didn't attempt to release the virus, and had no intention of doing so. Even if it were released, and he was responsible for the deaths, it wouldn't be murder. Manslaughter, perhaps. As it is it's closer to "reckless endangerment" (a more general class that includes reckless driving as a subclass).

The problem would be proving that he acted recklessly. I accept that this is probable, given the history of biology lab accidents. (Wasn't it earlier this month that someone found some weaponized anthrax abandoned in a closet?)

Personally, however, I would question the sanity of the researcher and each and every one of his superiors who authorized the research.

No, I don't feel OK now. I feel as if I were living in Rome about 5 years before Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon. (And if you think that wasn't a despotism, read your history. It was an oligarchical despotism, with more legal structure behind it than the US one. The republic essentially died after the war between Marius and Sulla, even if I never can keep them straight.)

It's an API for a future tyranny that we will be helpless against. Tomorrow is not today. Those in charge will not be the pussycats we have now; such power will attrack tyrants and secret governments. No, guarantees them.
Do not give the monkeys the key to the banana plantation.

After 2015 or so, Federal law will require integrated tracking devices and radio network integration into all cars. They tried passing that law last year, and backed down - but they will slip it back in when no one is looking. I imagine motorcycles, Elios, and anything that moves will be included, excepting bicycles... and don't bet they won't get around to bikes.
As I said a decade ago here: open-air prison. The point to power is power. No reason is necessary; people who want power over other people will grab it when they can, and universal tracking is the ultimate in power. No rebellion is possible in a goldfish bowl.

If you enable perfect surveillance, then the result - "police without blindfolds", as well as employers, potential employers, competitors, secret national police, secret and not-secret corporate police (ever wonder about how Apple's security forces seem to have worldwide power and mobility?), marketers, your neighbors, your family, friends, enemies, and Scientology's and Moonies' covert operations getting their "blindfolds" removed - will be a world where everyone is a criminal, and the only recourse you have is that no one cares enough about you to look to see what you've been up to. A world of sheep, a pack of fat domesticated farm animals watching videos. (Better not be unlicensed video, criminal!) If you've not committed a crime, you've been in a coma. And they'll just add new laws if they really want to get someone. But bet your ass the Bushes and Cheneys of the world will be utterly off the police and media radar. Rich people don't commit crimes, statistics show. Only troublemakers and poor people. And oh, yes, Ferguson. Imagine how future Fergusons will play out with perfect surveillance. Notice how the cops in Ferguson don't have video cameras on their vehicles, and how they trash cameras pointed at them? That's the future, kid. Blindfolds on US; never, ever on the cops.

If you think it's in the hands of the US citizens...then you haven't been paying attention. It's in the hands of a very small group of extremely powerful people. They usually get their way be fraud, but partially it's because the design of the voting system means that there are only two viable candidates for any national office. (This is a result of the plurality wins voting system.) That means that only two candidates need to be bought off before the election. And the costs of running for office are such than anyone who refuses to be bought off won't get elected. Even Ross Perot couldn't win, despite his incredible wealth. It's also a facto that media celebreties aren't allowed to campaign. During the VietNam incursion Pat Paulson ran a humorous campaign for president. He might well have won if they had counted the votes for him. People were that dissatisfied with the government. So they just didn't count the votes. The consolidation of the media means that only those stories that the owners of the media consider "appropriate" get much coverage. So they barely cover public demonstrations, and when they do the coverage is slanted.

The US isn't yet a true dictatorship, but it's drifting in that direction quite rapidly, and VERY few of the citizens desire this. Most of the areas where those who do are in the majoritye are remote areas where they have little contact with the actions of the government. Also the government is, in conjunction with various technological trends, destroying the middle class. Relatively few leave it by climbing up.

What does that have to do with history?

Yes. The Constitution enumerates what the governement is allowed to do. It doesn't say it's allowed to track citizens. That means the Feds aren't allowed to do it. (It says nothing, however, about what the states are allowed to do.)

Ive noticed this. Bad. It shows up with the flocks of NJ, NY license plates. But true computer science genius is a rare commodity now days. Part of the reason it doesnt pay. The secretary at Microsoft made a buttload of money. Nowdays, with scamming, outsourcing, part timing and contracting along with strategic dilution and Steve Jobs Pixar stunts, most regular nerds are not setup to make it big. Its a few elite non-engineers that get together and fleece the talent for every cent its worth. I am lucky to work at a startup where everyone in engineering is way above average, and there are some serious heavy hitters with no attitudes there.

But this in the last 8 years in SillyCON valley has become an exception. The wolves are here to fleece until this bubble pops. They also collude with oligarchical collectivists and governments to analyze every piece of information about you.

Yep. Exactly what I've seen here. I've made a lot of money here but never enough to even carve out a simple middle class life. We are planning to move out of the area soon. For all the talk about being the masters of the universe here in SillyCON valley, the Native Americans had better and more accessible housing in the form of leather hide teepees than we get here in SillyCON valley. Its all open and flowers and wonders and apple logos and googlers - yeah, until you suggest they build more places for regular middle class folks to live. Not going to happen. Sad really as all these NJ, NY and other stock market grifters showed up and made SillyCON valley no longer about innovation but more about get rich quick schemes and oligarchical collectivism which colludes with the police states worldwide.