Went to Angel Island on Saturday. It's near Alcatraz, on the bay. It's like the Ellis Island of SF-- all the immigrants go through there. It was also a quarantine facility.... (I wonder how long germs last out in the environment.... *rampant imaginings of TB, leprosy etc thriving in water droplets in the air, being breathed into my lungs*) Walked up to Mt Livermore on the island. It's taller than Bukit Timah! my philosophy here in the US is to only climb hills that are taller than Bt Timah. Gd view of the bay.
ok ok, got side tracked again. wanted to say that Angel Island reminded me of this documentary I saw about Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary). Mary was a cook in NYC, and a healthy carrier of typhoid. The Health Dept traced several outbreaks to her and forcibly captured and quarantined her.
so the issue here is whether it's ok to lock up infectious people. Sick people mebbe. they shd be resting anyways. but healthy carriers? or just mildly sick people? i guess for typhoid it's not a super-big problem, becos transmission is usu only by ppl who prepare food (so if u're a cook u're screwed). but what about SARS or sth that can be spread thru' the air? wear mask? what if it's a virus? i think even masks are not effective then. who's the guy that talked about the greater good? Mill? something about it's good if produces greatest utility. I mean, to put it bluntly, she murdered 3 people and injured like, 50.
*sigh* I hate morality questions. I guess one thing is definately true: It sucked to be her. 'though I think i usually take the heartless kill-them-all side of the fence. pro-choice, pro-euthanasia, pro-death penalty etc. why? I dunno... mebbe cos when I was young my mum told me everyday about how she's gonna kill herself at 45 'cos she doesn't wanna get old n useless. But won't that make me cherish life instead? Or mebbe becos of that I've been psycho-ed to think that ppl that are old/useless/sick/dangerous shd all die. mebbe it's the biologist in me, the 'survival of the fittest' ideology. mebbe i'm just an evil b!#ch.
on a completely irrelevant note: when u're in a developing country, even the bottled water is not safe to drink. someone did a study and there's just as much bacteria in the bottles as there is in tap water. drink the carbonated water instead. The acid in there kills the bacteria. Moral of the story: in India, brush ur teeth with beer.
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