] Eight-year-old Alexandra Scott, in a battle against
] malignant tumors, wants to raise $1 million for cancer
] research. And she just might do it, one lemonade stand at
] a time.
]
] Alex started selling lemonade four years ago with one
] stand and raised $2,000 in a single day. Each year
] brought more stands, manned by friends and volunteers.

[ This is an article from about a month ago... pretty remakable young girl. She died over the weekend, after 7 years of intensive treatment. -k]

CBS News | Taking A Stand Against Cancer | August 2, 2004 07:40:50

] Terra Networks (TN5.ETR) has agreed to sell its US
] Internet portal business, Lycos Inc, to Daum
] Communications Corporation for $95 million. The
] acquisition price is less than 1% of what Terra Networks
] had paid for this business during the period of Internet
] boom.

[ Nothing like losing 99% of your value. Ouch. -k]

Terra to sell Lycos for $95 mn to Daum | newratings_

] Beginning a two-day swing through four presidential battlegrounds,
] Bush planned to take a subtle slap at Democratic rival John Kerry.
] "When it comes to choosing a president, results matter," Bush said
] in excerpts of his new stump speech obtained by The Associated
] Press.

[ Lifted from DailyKos, but originally at SFgate... I think he's just right... results *do* matter. -k]

Truth!

] It's time for a solution to the P2P conflict that pays
] artists, not lawyers. S. 2560 isn't only a profound
] threat to innovation, it's yet another step in the wrong
] direction.

[ For the record, S.2560 (IICA) nee INDUCE Act, would make companies providing p2p software liable as inducers of copyright violation. In theory, it could also target manufacturers of VCR's, CD recorders, etc., though it's claimed that that isn't the intent.

This letter is EFF's appeal to congress to let the music industry find a market solution to this problem, rather than complicating the issue with more silly laws. Along the way, they push their favorite potential solution, the compulsory licencing scheme, which they pushed previously. For now, i'll refrain from commentary on that. -k]

EFF: EFF's Letter to United States Senators

] Now two Columbia University scientists have come up with
] a computer-based way to extract detailed information from
] the fleeting images of the world mirrored on the curved
] surface of the eye.
]
] Shree K. Nayar, a professor of computer science and
] co-director of the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center,
] took high-resolution photographs of people that include
] their eyes and, in particular, the transparent part of
] the eye called the cornea. Then, with a postdoctoral
] researcher, Ko Nishino, he devised computer algorithms
] that analyze the images reflected in these natural
] mirrors, revealing a wealth of information.

[ One step closer to looking right into your brain... awesome. There are some, uh, disturbing, privacy implications here. -k]

What's Next: Fleeting Experience, Mirrored in Your Eyes

] A new type of pump to help failing hearts will undergo
] clinical trials in autumn 2004 in the UK. Its design is
] intended to solve the problems of mechanical failure
] and blood clotting that have bedevilled artificial hearts
] and pumps since they were invented.
]
] The pump also has a curious side effect: people implanted
] with the device have no pulse.

[ Neat! -k]

Article: Simpler pump boosts failing hearts| New Scientist

] British Gas was cited as the Most Invasive Company, after
] it declared that U.K. privacy rules prevented it from
] helping an elderly couple who were found dead of
] hypothermia in their home last winter, weeks after their
] gas service was cut off due to nonpayment of a 140-pound
] ($255) bill.
]
]
] British Gas said the Data Protection Act, intended to
] ensure that personal information is protected, prohibited
] it from reporting the situation to social services
] agencies that could have helped the couple restore
] heating service.

[ oi. -k]

Wired News: Stepping on Big Brother's Toes

] "The finding represents a renaissance in prion biology,"
] says Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner, also from the
] University of California, San Francisco, who contributed
] to the research. Prusiner coined the term 'prion' and was
] the first to postulate the 'protein-only' hypothesis
] about infection. "For the first time, we can create
] prions in a test tube. We now have a tool for exploring
] the mechanism by which a protein can spontaneously fold
] into a shape that causes disease."

[ At no point does this article mention that this could lead to simple mechanisms for prion synthesis... wouldn't that make it easier to make weapons out of this? Not useful for warfare, but great for terror, no? Do you have to injest or could the proteins be aerosolized? I'm not going chicken little here, but it seems like a danger worth considering. -k]

news@nature.com - Lab-made prions trigger mad cow symptoms

[ Might possibly not suck. Here's hoping. -k]

BATMAN BEGINS

] A fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning. This
] differs from a factual error, which is simply being wrong
] about the facts. To be more specific, a fallacy is an
] "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion
] do not provide the needed degree of support.

A collection of clue sticks for your next political "discussion." Read number 41 (Straw Man) for a good example.

[ Cool site. Nice to have a quick reference to these. I was particularly drawn to 2. Ad Hominem Tu Quoque. -k]

Fallacies