Yahoo! News - Computer Users Warned of Clot Risk

Computer Users Warned of Clot Risk

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Sitting in front of the computer for hours on end could increase the risk for the type of blood clots that cause "economy class syndrome" in long-haul airplane passengers, researchers said on Tuesday.

Support Bush, Win a Mouse Pad

PCWorld.com - Support Bush, Win a Mouse Pad

John Pinckney of Muncie, Indiana, thinks President Bush is "demonstrating genuine leadership" in steering the nation's economy. So do Kyle Klink of Rochester, New York; Stephanie Johnson of Milton, Massachusetts; and Michael Snyder of Merced, California. In the past two weeks, they and three dozen others have published identical letters to media sites, including the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune--with the help of some online political maneuvering.



The source of all these letters is GOP Team Leader, a site operated by the Republican National Committee. With a few mouse clicks, members of GOP Team Leader can log on to the site, forward messages to media outlets, and collect points they can later exchange for prizes. The strategy was unveiled in The Inquirer, a British technology site.

Advice to newspaper editors: for every letter to the editor you wish to publish, take one phrase from it and search for it on Google. I know of college professors who routinely do this to to detect plagarism. Update (1/27/03): Good discussion of this on slashdot here.

New Scientist - Ink-jet printing creates tubes of living tissue

New Scientist

Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been printed using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions of cells instead of ink. The work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire organs.



Creating blood vessels is a huge challenge"This could have the same kind of impact that Gutenberg's press did," claims tissue engineer Vladimir Mironov of the Medical University of South Carolina.

I wonder when this will be available in the printer supplies section at Fry's?

GigaLaw.com: Legal Information for Internet Professionals

GigaLaw.com

GigaLaw.com provides legal information for Internet and technology professionals, Internet entrepreneurs and the lawyers who serve them. GigaLaw.com is produced exclusively by lawyers and law professors.

I may add a "Legal" section to my sidebar - this will definitely be in it if I do.

Yahoo! News - Yes, Your Baby Really Is Watching That TV

Yes, Your Baby Really Is Watching That TV

Babies are not just passing idle time when they stare goggle-eyed at the television -- they are actually learning about the world, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
...
"Children as young as 12 months are making decisions based on the emotional reactions of adults around them," Mumme, whose research is published in the journal Child Development, said in a statement.

Fry's gambles on Las Vegas

Mercury News | 01/19/2003 | Fry's gambles on Las Vegas

Located on Las Vegas Boulevard, more commonly known as "The Strip,'' the new store's entryway is a giant two-story neon slot machine. Inside, the store is decorated with big black-and-white photographs from the gambling mecca's recent history, including construction of gangster Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel in 1947 and performer Ann-Margret dancing at the Tropicana Hotel in 1974.

Zoo penguins intent on futile 'migration' - S.F. flock swims round and round in pool

S.F. flock swims round and round in pool

Brainwashed by six newcomers from Ohio, 46 penguins at the San Francisco Zoo have abandoned their burrows and embarked on a great migration --
except their pool is not exactly the coast of South America and there's really nowhere for them to go.

Allstate workers snooped illegally

Mercury News | 01/17/2003 | Allstate workers snooped illegally

California's Department of Motor Vehicles has banned Allstate Insurance from checking driver records online after Allstate employees were caught illegally snooping through records of friends, family and others.
In one case, an Allstate employee released a confidential home address that enabled an unidentified road-rage driver to send a written threat to another driver.

Fifth Caltrain Death in January

On Friday evening, as I was riding the southbound 84 Caltrain home from work, Jason Freitas, 32, of South San Francisco, dove in front of the train 300 yards north of the San Bruno station, killing himself. This was the fifth suicide in this month. The "The train engineer involved had only recently returned to
work after having being involuntarily involved in another suicide earlier this month" according to Bay Area Transportation News. Additional details of the incident are available at TrainOrders.com here (warning: graphic description) and here.



My heart goes out to the Caltrain employees on the train that night, especially the engineer. I could hear the horror in his voice as he announced that we had hit a person who had "dove in front of the train." All of the employees behaved very professionally and were constantly in communication with the passengers during the incident.



Note: the victim' name and description are from the an article in the Monday, January 20th edition of the Burlingame Daily News. The Burlingame Daily News does not publish its content on the web.

The Detroit Project - by Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars

The Detroit Project

Welcome to Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars. The idea for this project came to me while watching -- for the umpteenth time -- one of those outrageous drug war ads the Bush administration has flooded the airwaves with. You know, the ones that try and link using drugs to financing terrorism. Instead of shaking my head in disgust and reaching for the Mute button like I usually do when I see these ads, I decided to channel my indignation. Why not turn the tables and adopt the same tactics the administration was using in the drug war to point out the much more credible link between driving SUVs and our national security? Thus began our campaign to create a series of TV ads designed to win the hearts and minds -- and change the driving habits -- of American consumers by asking them to connect the dots and think about the effect energy wastefulness is having not just on the environment, but on our foreign policy.

MoveOn.org

MoveOn.org: Frequently Asked Questions

MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics. With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, most citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our "representatives" don't represent the public, the foundations of democracy are in peril. MoveOn is a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. Our nationwide network of more than 600,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today.

At a Texas Foundry, an Indifference to Life

At a Texas Foundry, an Indifference to Life - A scary article about worker exploitation.

ComputerBob - Making Geek-Speak Chic

ComputerBob - Making Geek-Speak Chic


Interesting Tech Web Site, I found by accident while searching for information about those mysterious calls from Tom Delay's office.

Pedometers can get you moving, anywhere

Pedometers can get you moving, anywhere

Killing the messenger: Layoff-poll funds cut

Killing the messenger: Layoff-poll funds cut

The Bush administration, under fire for its handling of the economy, has quietly killed off a Labor Department program that tracked mass layoffs by U.S. companies.

Gangrule.com

Gangrule is a historical look at the emergence of organized crime since 1890. The site has a database of known gang members, historic events and family histories, along with photographs, newspaper cuttings and official documents.

The website covers crime in all cultures and does not focus on any particular country or religion. The site offers no personal opinion or social comment about crime, and is purely for the purpose of historical research.