Overreaction, much?

My parents would have got the joke. Of course I don't live in the US of insane drug war A.

Deter privacy is easy: make a really good product that people want to pay for.

No DRM, no online activation, no nonsense.

If it's worth having, people will pay for it.

Yes, some people will pirate it: only the MAFIAA is stupid enough to think that those people are lost sales. They're marketing opportunities. They wouldn't have bought your product anyway, but if you have a great product that they pirate, they might tell their friends.

Huh? a section of the US government that hasn't been privatised yet?
Get on it!
Trickle down weather!

Wish I could upvote this.

What a moron. Emasculating. I actually don't have to go to great lengths to prove my masculinity to the other pack members any more. We settled that a few thousand years ago, truth be told.

Your parents probably told you this too, albeit in a different form: if someone really thinks that your choice of mobile phone makes you less of a man, their opinion isn't worth the shit it's spewed out on.

Don't perpetuate that name. Yuck.

ph***ets

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=influenza+vaccination+safety+and+efficacy

Seriously.

Of course I'm sure you will poo-poo this. "Those scientists, they're all on the take!" or maybe "Sure, but did they actually do research?".

The majority of the articles there are from respectable, peer-reviewed scientific journals. If you don't believe the preponderance of evidence, that is you in the wrong. I'm sure you'll have something to say about that too.

Let me just quote a few things that I found in a few minutes of looking at the link:

"Vaccinated HCWs were less likely than unvaccinated HCWs to report an influenzalike illness. Vaccination with LAIV resulted in fewer episodes of influenzalike illness than did receiving no vaccine."

"No significant side-effects occurred in either group. Compared to the placebo group, individuals receiving the vaccine showed 39.5% fewer episodes of flu-like illness (p 0.001) and 26% fewer days of work lost (p = 0.03). The vaccinated group developed 33% fewer episodes of any severe flu-like illness (p 0.01)."

" With the initiation of the vaccination program for schoolchildren in Japan, excess mortality rates dropped from values three to four times those in the United States to values similar to those in the United States. The vaccination of Japanese children prevented about 37,000 to 49,000 deaths per year, or about 1 death for every 420 children vaccinated. As the vaccination of schoolchildren was discontinued, the excess mortality rates in Japan increased."

"Respiratory illness with fever occurred in 110 infants in the influenza-vaccine group and 153 infants in the control group, with a vaccine effectiveness of 29% (95% CI, 7 to 46). Among the mothers, there was a reduction in the rate of respiratory illness with fever of 36% (95% CI, 4 to 57)."

General source of my knowledge on the subject: a post-graduate degree in microbiology (virology).
I will not be arguing with you about it. This is evidence that supports the safety and efficacy of the influenza vaccine. If you choose not to accept it, that is your problem (and your children's).

"I've had flu shots for 8 years as a teacher, and I've gotten plenty of flu." If you don't want to be called ignorant, don't make ridiculous ignorant statements. You're a teacher and you don't understand that a cold (man-flu?) is not influenza. Remind me: what's wrong with America's education system again? There is an enormous overwhelming body of evidence that influenza vaccination is effective and safe. Source: virologist colleagues and a post-graduate degree in microbiology (specifically, virology, more specifically RNA viruses).

Bickering over pointless crap without being able to get a simple job done...

... the RIAA are coming for you ...