Right to privacy

Swill O'Really rails about the 'right to privacy is tantamount'.
That is ... if you agree with him ... if not, then screw your right to privacy.

Most Americans want investigations

Close to two-thirds of those surveyed said there should be investigations into allegations that the shrub and cabal used torture to interrogate terrorism suspects and its program of wiretapping U.S. citizens without getting warrants.

Political Commentary

"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician.
I, for one, believe the piano player to be much more honorable than most current politicians.'

~ Harry Truman

And I Quote

"Behind every economic catastrophe you will find a Republican president."

~ Bartcop, and if you want to challenge me on that, bring your wallet

Not me, I don't bet against the truth.

Blogger's Legal Guide

The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.

But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.

Legal Guide for Bloggers

Having been the victim of a gaggle of internet bullies I know a bit about this. At a forum I was assaulted by several of these 'internet bullies' and stood up and backed them down from a direct attack ... however they colluded to go underhandedly and cry foul that I would stand up to them and accused me of their very tactics behind the scenes.

Health News

Genetic map of cold virus a step toward cure

Researchers have solved the first step in treating the common cold, by mapping its entire genome, or genetic map, teams from the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin-Madison reported today.

"We have the pieces all in place. They can't go in any other way. Now we have to understand what the pictures are telling us," said Dr. Stephen B. Liggett, professor of medicine and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of its Cardiopulmonary Genomics Program.

The research was published in the online edition of the journal Science on Thursday afternoon.

Technically known as the human rhinovirus infection, the common cold is responsible for half of all asthma attacks and is a factor in bronchitis, sinusitis, middle-ear infections and pneumonia. The coughs, sneezes and sniffles of colds impose a major health care burden in the United States -- including visits to health care providers, cost of over-the-counter drugs for symptom relief, often-inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions and missed work days -- with direct and indirect costs of about $60 billion annually.

"We generally think of colds as a nuisance, but they can be debilitating in the very young and in older individuals and can trigger asthma attacks at any age," Liggett said. "Also, recent studies indicate that early...infection in children can program their immune system to develop asthma by adolescence."

Finding a cure for the common cold has been elusive. That's because the rhinovirus is so complex. Made up of at least 99 different strains, it can infect different people with different symptoms.

By mapping the genome of the common cold and assembling the results into a "family tree," scientists can see how the virus strains are related, as well as their differences. Liggett, who is also the study's senior author, says this is a breakthrough in solving the common cold puzzle because. "At least now we have an understanding of which virus one might have."

Now that the pieces are together, drug companies can work on developing new treatments that would either halt or prevent the cold virus before it begins to spread.

Researchers found that human rhinoviruses are organized into about 15 small groups. So the idea of one drug fits all probably won't work, Liggett says. "Our mindset right now is to consider more along the antiviral treatment, rather than vaccines, but always keep an open mind to the new technology of vaccine development."

Investigators are so optimistic with their findings that they predict the development of new drugs within the next two to five years, depending on Food and Drug Administration approval, which could mean one day soon, runny noses caused by colds may be a thing of the past.

Tylenol poisonings: 25 and still going

The items seized at a Boston-area home last week are being examined in Chicago as part of the investigation into the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that caused seven deaths, an FBI spokesman said Wednesday.

A week ago, authorities seized a computer and boxes of files from James W. Lewis' home in Cambridge, Mass.
The recent activity has raised hopes of a long-awaited break in the case.
Investigators returned to Chicago last weekend and began sorting through the items Monday, according to FBI spokesman Ross Rice.

"They brought with them the items that were recovered during the search, and they're now involved in the process of going through, very meticulously, all of those items to try to determine if there's any link to our investigation," Rice said.

Lewis served more than 12 years in prison for trying to extort money from Tylenol's makers after the cyanide poisonings.
But he has denied having anything to do with the deaths.

As for the recent activity in the investigation, the FBI gave little details about its basis but cited forensic advances and tips spurred by the 25th anniversary of the poisonings.

Over three days beginning on Sept. 29, 1982, seven people died after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol in the Chicago area.
The poisonings triggered a huge recall and eventually led to the widespread adoption of tamperproof packaging in food and medical products.

Judicial Shakeup Is Coming

The pseudo-science of criminal forensics

A soon to be released study from the National Academy of Sciences on the poor quality of forensic science in America’s courtrooms is expected to send shockwaves through the criminal justice system.

According to The New York Times:

“People who have seen it say it is a sweeping critique of many forensic methods that the police and prosecutors rely on, including fingerprinting, firearms identification and analysis of bite marks, blood spatter, hair and handwriting. The report says such analyses are often handled by poorly trained technicians who then exaggerate the accuracy of their methods in court.”

Law enforcement organizations have tried to derail the report nearly every step of the way, and with good reason. Police and prosecutors have been relying on bad science to get convictions for decades. It’s only recently, as the onset of DNA testing has begun uncovering a disturbing spate of wrongful convictions, that some of the criminal justice system’s cottage industry pseudo-sciences like “bite mark analysis” have been exposed for the quackery they are.

Just think of the headaches this is going to cause the judicial system - having to review an awful lot of cases is going to be the easy part.

Brain's Night Off

Pinky and The Brain

New Device Reads Minds Pretty Well

Makes you go ... Hmmmm…

Canadian researchers say they can glean simple preferences from a person’s brain by shining near-infrared light into the noggin.

The study, reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering, demonstrated the ability to decode a person’s preference for one of two drinks with 80 percent accuracy by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue, the scientists said in a statement today.

“This is the first system that decodes preference naturally from spontaneous thoughts,” says Sheena Luu, a University of Toronto doctoral student in biomedical engineering who led the work under the supervision of Tom Chau, a specialist in pediatric rehab engineering at the university’s Bloorview Kids Rehab center.

Live Science

Massive solar thermal installation system being built

This is one big battery!

The largest series of solar installations in history, more than 1,300 megawatts, is planned for the desert outside Los Angeles, according to a new deal between the utility Southern California Edison and solar power plant maker, BrightSource.

The momentous deal will deliver more electricity than even the largest nuclear plant, spread out among seven facilities, the first of which will start up in 2013. When fully operational, the companies say the facility will provide enough electricity to power 845,000 homes — more than exist in San Francisco — though estimates like that are notoriously screwy.

The technology isn’t the familiar photovoltaics — the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity — but solar thermal power, which concentrates the sun’s rays to create steam in a boiler and spin a turbine.

Full Story at Wired

Hindu extremists promote 'cow water' soft-drink

From the "Ah, thanks, but no thanks" Department:

Radical Hindus in India are attempting to cleanse the nation of foreign soft-drinks by promoting an "ayurvedic" beverage made from cow urine:

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal", or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year".

"Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins."

The drink is the latest attempt by the RSS – which was founded in 1925 and now claims eight million members – to cleanse India of foreign influence and promote its ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness.

India to launch cow urine as soft drink

Time-travelling destroyer of economies

In yet more evidence of the deluded state of mind repugicans dwell under ...

Representative Steve Austria (r-OH) has the skinny on FDR: the man was a time-travelling socialist.

"When (President Franklin) Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression," Austria said. "He tried to borrow and spend, he tried to use the Keynesian approach, and our country ended up in a Great Depression. That's just history."

History and historians date the beginning of the Great Depression at or shortly after the stock-market crash of 1929; Roosevelt took office in 1933.

"That's just history." Someone has been spoon-fed a load of tripe and swallowed it whole.

U.S. Rep. Austria blames Depression on Roosevelt.

Can we now be rid of all these fools?!

Two men arrested over Australian fires

Two men were arrested today in connection with the wildfires that have swept through southeastern Australia, killing as many as 300 people.

Victoria state police said the two suspects -- who had been taken into custody and were "assisting" police earlier -- had been behaving suspiciously in or near Marysville, a small village where roughly 100 people have died in the fires.

It was not immediately clear what the behavior was or what charges the men may face.

Meanwhile, authorities said they fear the death toll from the fires, which sat at 181 on Wednesday, could reach as high as 300.

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Doha, Ad Dawah, Qatar
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Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

The closer you get to the top, the more the hearing changes.

Curious?!