Author: Nate

Another step towards an effective artificial heart

Man with no pulse considered a medical breakthrough

PETER RAKOBOWCHUK
Canadian Press

MONTREAL — A 65-year-old Quebec man who received a new long-term mechanical heart last month is being described as the only living Canadian without a pulse.

Dr. Renzo Cecere implanted the “Heartmate II” mechanical heart into Gerard Langevin in an three-hour operation Nov. 23.

Officials at the McGill University Health Centre say the device, which is about the size of a flashlight battery, could last up to 10 years.

via RASSF

Recent roundup, Monday edition

1) One from Friday: The Hippie Era Just Won’t Die via Mydd

2) An interesting question to applies to “progressive” 2008 candidates: “Who’s with us in a bar fight?” (the article is also posted on Mydd)

Today’s roundup.

1) Fun with google suggest.

2) Good commentary on drug legalization.
Prohibition: a crippling habit

There is only one way to end the misery of addiction revealed by the investigation into the Ipswich murders: legalise the drugs.

…the comments are as much worth reading as the article.

3) Via RASSF: http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

4) Also via RASSF, alternate possibilities for the upcoming Hobbit film:
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20061126
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/images/comics/dorktower537.gif
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/images/comics/dorktower538.gif

Today’s big news.

Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died today. Good riddance.

“Spelling! That’s where I’m a viking!”

The “webmaster console” feature on Google is interesting.

In my earlier post “I’m simultaneously appalled and amused…“, I misspelled appalled as “apalled” and at least at one point I was averaging the 8th highest ranking use of the mispelling. I’ve just now fixed the title.

This is not my only misspelling that they seem to have caught; in “A keyboard, how quaint“, I seem to be a high-ranking (or should that be “hi-“?) bad speller for “transparant aluminum.” It’s got an “e” and is spelled properly in the article I quoted. (I’ve just fixed that one too.)

This one is going into Word for automatic spell-checking before I post it; I guess I’d better get into the habit of using Firefox rather than IE7 in the future, since that one HAS spell-check-on-the-fly.

Meanwhile, I am much abashed.

Update: errors continue, having included a link but no title for “A keyboard, how quaint”

Privacy? What’s that?

MPAA Kills Anti-Pretexting Bill

A tough California bill that would have prohibited companies and individuals from using deceptive “pretexting” ruses to steal private information about consumers was killed after determined lobbying by the motion picture industry, Wired News has learned.

The bill, SB1666, was written by state Sen. Debra Bowen, and would have barred investigators from making “false, fictitious or fraudulent” statements or representations to obtain private information about an individual, including telephone calling records, Social Security numbers and financial information. Victims would have had the right to sue for damages.

It’s not just about the MPAA, eiher:

Sean Walsh, past president of the California Association of Licensed Investigators and an investigator for 27 years, said his group opposed SB1666 because it was too vague and would have tied the hands of investigators looking into insurance fraud, child support cases and missing children.

It’s for the child-runnnn. Got it.

(via Doom9.org)

We’re not the only one with wingnuts!

See also Kenya (via DailyKos)

Scientist Fights Church Effort to Hide Museum’s Pre-Human Fossils

Leaders of Kenya’s Pentecostal congregation, with six million adherents, want the human fossils de-emphasized.

“The Christian community here is very uncomfortable that Leakey and his group want their theories presented as fact,” said Bishop Bonifes Adoyo, head of the largest Pentecostal church in Kenya, the Christ is the Answer Ministries.

This all makes me wonder… now that the Iron Curtain is a memory, are there still any active Lysenkoists in Russia?

Modern or post-modern?

Headline: “Finland’s ‘sexiest man’ ends romance with txt msg”

Yawn. Just like Britney, some celebrity scandal. Well, let’s take a look anyway:

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, dubbed Finland’s sexiest man, broke up by text message with the girlfriend he had met on the Internet, she said in a magazine interview.

(emphasis mine) Prime minister??? You mean like their head of state… oops head of their government? (Can’t remember what sort of head of state Finland has.)

Yes, I know the Finns are way cooler than us Yankees, but this one still boggled me. Single PM, dating? Dating from the internet? Dumping the gal via text message? And the US still stuck with the religious reich making noises that it’s inappropriate to have a divorced president… gah, sucks to be us.

“And we wonder why they hate us”

AMERICAblog today: “And we wonder why they hate us“, a great discussion of the right-wing attempt to manufacture a controversy over new Representative Keith Ellison. Very much worth a read.

A practical if strange idea from those wacky Germans.

German sex educators plan spray-on condom

Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:25am ET
BERLIN (Reuters) – German sex educators plan to launch a spray-on condom tailor-made for all sizes.

Jan Vinzenz Krause from the Institute for Condom Consultancy, a Singen-based practice that offers advice on condom use, told Reuters on Thursday the product aimed to help people enjoy better and safer sex lives.

“We’re trying to develop the perfect condom for men that’s suited to every size of penis,” he said. “We’re very serious.”

Krause’s team (spraykondom.de) is developing a type of spray can into which the man inserts his penis first. At the push of a button it is then coated in a rubber condom.

I have nothing to add.

Wondering what to get me for Christmas?

Check out my Amazon wish list:
My Amazon.com Wish List
(there’s also a not-terribly-visible link on the far right side at the bottom of the sidebar)

PS, for family in NYC – if you get me the Mr. Beer, please have it shipped directly 🙂

Stupid blogmeme, courtesy of Gareth.

(Started last night, posted today.)

LONG meme/survey
Body: taken from whoever Nadine via Gareth’s Livejournal
Continue reading “Stupid blogmeme, courtesy of Gareth.”