Jinn of Quality and Risk

Apple apparently dislikes iCommune, a plug-in which extends Apple's iTunes software to share music over the network. Your friends' music libraries appear in the iTunes source list. You can browse their collections, and choose to download or stream their music. Just what friends need: sharing music, lending books, copying pictures, having good meals and a bottle of wine together, etc. Surely it's not illegal to be good friends... 

Brilliant remix of an old Mickey cartoon-strip. [fair use via Boing Boing Blog] 

Lawrence Lessig is looking for a principle behind the silent five: Is it the [Supreme] Court's role to review and constrain Congress in the exercise of its enumerated power. Four justices have been generally strongly in favor of deference. Five justices have insisted on limits. 

BBC News reports yet another genetic technique to fight cancer: Scientists have used a version of the anthrax toxin to kill tumours in mice. The toxin was so effective that after just one treatment, tumours were reduced in size by up to 92%. ... The researchers genetically altered the structure of the anthrax toxin so it only invaded cells that produced high levels of [cancer marker] urokinase. Prediction: by 2010 we will have multiple forms of medical treatment available to fight and defeat cancer in most of its manifestations, without negative side effects. Cancer is, along with heart disease, the leading cause of death in Western countries (about one in four deaths). Above the age of 65, 1-2% of the population dies each year of cancer. A radical reduction in cancer mortality would immediately lead to greater life expectation; it would add 20-30 years to our average lifetime, if not more. Heart disease is the other major cause of death that must be defeated; it will be. By 2050, human life expectation may well reach 150-200 years. 

André Michelin, born 1853-Jan-17, specialized in architecture and had his own metal framework firm in Paris. [His] younger brother Edouard had just completed his fine arts studies in Paris and was ready to launch a career as a painter. But after long deliberation, he gave in to André's pleas and went to work for the family company. Edouard is reported to have told his mentor, William Bouguereau: My duty now is to go to Clermont-Ferrand to save the family firm from ruin. The Michelin brothers went on to develop and market the inflatable tire for bicycles and cars. [source: European Automotive Hall of Fame] 

PBS: Allied attack begins with Apache strike at 2:38 A.M. on January 17, 1991. Less than two months of fighting later, a cease-fire was in place.