|
 Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Northwestern is testing experimental therapies for Crohn's disease. Researchers at the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Northwestern University are conducting clinical trials of several innovative approaches to the treatment of Crohn's disease, including experimental drugs and a new swallowable video camera that produces high-quality images of the small intestine. Research related to these Crohn's disease studies appears in the Aug. 8 issue of The New England Journal of Medine. [EurekAlert - Medicine & Health]
One of these drugs binds TNF but it does not say whether it is an antibody to TNF or a receptor. But remicade, an antibody to TNF, is already approved for Crohn's so I am not really sure if they are just using it as a control for the IL-11 mimic or doing something else. 11:58:44 PM 
|
|
"Unfixable" flaw breaks Microsoft's Windows [New Scientist]
If this is true, it would seem to negate the use of Windows in any sort of secure environment. I wonder if security by obscurity is what MS hoped to achieve while it busily rewrote the OS. If it can remove this hack, then it will have an excellent reason to propel people to upgrade. Get the upgrade or risk your security. Ain't it great to be a monopoly? 11:25:49 PM
|
|
Medicated ecosystems: Human drugs alter key aquatic organism [EurekAlert!]
So, examining the effect of one drug on Daphnia, a small organism found in freshwater, actually prolonged its life, while having a combination of two drugs had deleterious effects. But what controls were done? How do the concentrations used compare to what is actually seen in fresh water? What are the effects of natural products in the experimental system? How about actual contaminated fresh water? Are the Dapnia that are used in the lab different than those found in the wild? Lots of questions. 11:21:43 PM
|
|
In disasters, panic is rare; Altruism dominates [EurekAlert!]
Wonderful report about altruism in the face of fear. On Sept. 11, people were afraid but most were orderly in their withdrawal from the site and were helpful towards those that needed it. It was not a 'Godzilla fest' of fearful people trampling others to survive. 11:14:58 PM
|
|
|
This man was held for a month unbder PERJURY charges for something he did not do. We all know now that a security guard made it all up. What is incredible is that somehow the FBI got a confession out of an innocent man and almost railroaded him for something he did not do. This time they got caught. What about other times where they are not so demonstrably wrong? We all think that we would never confess to something we did not do. But authorities know all sorts of ways to get confessions, without having to resort to physical pressure. We saw it with the confessions in the Wenatchee sex ring cases up here. What is going on in Gitmo or elsewhere when there is REAL pressure on the government and its agents to find someone to use as an example? 10:48:37 PM
|
|
|
Another creative movie is Spy Kids, although it obviously has literary roots to other works, such as Verne's Mysterious Island. However, the creativity shown in bringing all the elements together makes it much more than a derivative or copycat work. I loved it, especially since it had so many choice moments. It is so much a fantasy world where adults act the way kids would expect them to, with motives that are childlike in their intent. Plus, I just loved Bill Paxton's amusement park. Of course, it is in Texas. 10:41:53 PM
|
|
Healthscape: Taking care of age spots. One of the little annoyances associated with growing older is the appearance of pigmented changes to the skin commonly called age spots. The medical term for age spots is solar or senile lentigines. They are flat, brown discolorations that start showing up after the age of 40, more so on areas of the body that get lots of sun exposure. This includes the back of the hands, forearms, neck and face. While age spots generally do not turn into anything harmful, they are unsightly and therefore become a cause of concern to women and men who want to look their best regardless of age. [Health]
Hey, I have both these things. Too bad I do not have access to liquid nitrogen anymore. 10:35:03 PM
|
|
|
Now, one movie that displayed some real creativity isM. Night Shyamalan's movie, Signs. I saw this the other night and was really impressed. It is a great movie examining the meaning of faith while mascarading as a horror/suspense thrillfest. Casting Mel Gibson was wonderful. We expect Mel to be a highly capable man. He always is. But, due to circumstances, he spends most of the movie being quite ineffectual. Mel produces a wonderful nuanced character, demostratiung just what a good actor he can be. I saw it in Gallipoli and you see it here. Phoenix is grand and the kids are just perfect. M. Night has a wonderful touch with kids. In each of last his 3 movies, the kids have abetter idea of what is going on than the adults, but they require the conversion of the ineffectual male. I loved Signs and can hardly wait to see it again. 10:34:09 PM
|
|
|
I saw a promo for a new Disney movie called Treasure Planet, a ripoff of Treasure Island. This book was written in 1883 and Stevenson died in 1894. So, Disney continues to live off of works that are no longer covered by copyright instead of creating their own works. No wonder they are so worried about their own copyright. They are afraid of someone doing to them what they are doing: creating derivative works of previously copyrighted material. Awfully original. 10:23:41 PM
|
|
TiVo Might Rue Arrival of DTV. Hollywood's latest attempts to prevent consumers from copying shows takes place in the arena of digital TV. Owners of TiVo and ReplayTV might want to pay attention. By Brad King. [Wired News]
Isn't that nice? We will not be able to watch programs when we want to. We will not be able to watch them at anytime that the media companies do not want us to. The government is requiring DTV by 2006 but is not mandating that the media companies provide any material. The only way we will be able to see anything is if the electronics manufacturers hobble the technology.Nuts. 10:14:05 PM
|
|
The Age: "American movie, recording and software executives could be prohibited from entering Australia or extradited to face criminal charges if a copyright protection bill before the US Congress passes into law." [Scripting News]
The law of unintended consequences. Some people feel our ascendency makes us invulnerable. This breeds arrogance and contempt, whch are not adaptive because they are contricting in their viewpoint. They all limit variability. This is the homeostatic principle. The system will eventually select for adaptive leaqders. Arrogant leaders will eventually fail in this changing world, but they can do a lot of damage in the meantime. 9:15:32 AM
|
|
Marketing 101 : The Myth of Intended Use. Marketing 101 : The Myth of Intended Use
NOTE: This essay is intended for arrogant product managers, arrogant product marketing managers and arrogant engineers who think they know how their customers will use the products they create.
It's been apparent to me for some time that what we, as product managers, marketers and engineers, intend for our products to be used is nothing but a myth. Period. We honestly don't know what people do with our products until they get out into the world and customers do what they do. Or as I like to refer to it:
"No Product Survives Contact with the Customer"
==> Read Story <== [The FuzzyBlog!]
Customers, being human, adapt the tool to their needs. Software, or anything, that fails to recognize this fails their customer and should fail in the marketplace (monopolies and government willing). 8:43:15 AM
|
|
West Nile virus will sweep across whole US [New Scientist]
Nile is a nasty virus, since it is carried by a huge number of mosquitoes and birds. I do not think it will be stopped. It might end up being like St. Louis encephalitis, becoming an disease indigenous to the region. We need to find a really effective way to control mosquitoes. 8:32:39 AM
|
|
Buy The Wall Street Journal Today!!!. Buy The Wall Street Journal Today!!!
Bloggers don't tend to pay much attention to the Wall Street Journal since it's a pay site, no rss, etc. Still the reporting is _outstanding_. It tends to have less spelling errors than they NY Times (which I find disgraceful, but that's just me). Anyway... Today's WSJ has detailed coverage of how the CEO of Tyco, currently under arrest for tax evasion, looted company coffers to fund his lifestyle to the tune of more than $135 million. This included the company paying for a Jimmy Buffet concert for his wife's birthday.
Unfreaking Believable. Unfreaking Believable. [The FuzzyBlog!]
I always liked to check out the WSJ. Nothing like a business journal to give you the dirt on business leaders. The problem is that the WSJ was not finding out about these stories first. It is great to get on the bandwagon and do a good job, but I would value it more if it had told us about the Enron and Worldcom scams first. 8:19:20 AM
|
|
|
Boy, I get political when I get tired! I'll have to watch it when I post late. I get kind of mushy and let my starry-eyed liberal tendencies take over. It is not that I don't think something creative can happen (well, some days I don't have much hope), but after a good night's sleep, my ranting level decreases substantially. Now I quietly believe something will happen that is the third alternative. Because I truly believe that the adaptive culture of America is the best model for dealing with a changing world.
I am a biologist, so I will use a biological metaphor. The best species will maintain a high degree of variability, so they will have the best chance of survival changing environment. Our culture maintains a higher degree of variability than any other culture in history. It seems to me that our ascendency will be seen not so much because of our military might but because are culture is the best fit for this environment.
8:14:05 AM
|
|
|
|
|
