h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's a pdf of the one that says there is no statistically significant flow (the one that agrees with swl's independent conclusion): http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0910/0910.4233v1.pdf

Thanks for the paper link, ~anhaga~ but 'fraid it's a bit, er, beyond me.

That one, too

It just goes to show, like so many of the earth-shattering discoveries trumpeted in the popular press, the study is not as conclusive as reported.

and, on that very subject: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174

Brilliant. And so true about the way all sorts of stories, not just science. Complexity is not a quality much beloved by the media. Ain't much money in it.

Note the anti-Chinese propaganda in this otherwise 'optimistic'
but scarey set of statistics and projected probabilities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

Statistics, bah! Probabilities, hmmph!
But I can hardly wait for 2049 to buy a $1000 computer with more
brain capacity than the brains of all humankind combined.


~jwf~

At the rate human brain capacity has been shrinking over the past few decades I'd expect such a machine in a year or two.

PC chav

any colour you like as long as it's burberry

chav Mac

all laptop covers include a hood

Potentially good news:

'Researchers in Alberta have successfully tested a new viral approach to treating prostate cancer in a small number of men.

The study was published in Tuesday's online issue Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Dr. Don Morris, an oncologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary and his colleagues used a reovirus — a respiratory virus commonly found in the environment — to kill prostate cancer cells.This illustration shows reovirus particles in a cancer cell. This illustration shows reovirus particles in a cancer cell.

When people are exposed to the virus, it causes a mild respiratory infection or mild diarrhea at most, Morris said.

The experiment involved injecting the reovirus into six prostate cancer patients, as well as mice models and test-tube studies to check how well the approach worked.

The reovirus naturally responds to mutations in the cancer cells. In normal cells, the virus is neutralized before it can replicate.

When the reovirus enters tumour cells, however, it reproduces itself. This causes the cancer cell to burst and release thousands of viral particles, which go on to kill other cancer cells. The bloodstream also carries particles to adjacent tumours, which may also regress, the researchers found.'

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/03/09/prostate-cancer-reovirus.html#ixzz0hkEGP3xJ


and an abstract of the publication: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/0008-5472.CAN-09-2408v1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8558802.stm

Of all those in jail, prisoners serving less than a year have the highest reoffending rates and the most convictions,

easy solution.....give them longer sentances

When I read the headline "Accident follows close shave" I thought she'd injured herself, or something untoward occurred in the bathroom. But shaving the bikini line while driving

http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=152468377

She must have been dry-shaving (or imagine the mess on the driver's seat) I want to know why her ex-husband was in the car though, and why didn't he protest at her lack of attention to the road. Which begs the question, no, on second thoughts, I'll keep that to myself.

anhaga:
>>Dr. Don Morris, an oncologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary...

One would hope that their staff incldes a Dr Who.

Thank you, Ed, you win the prize! I wondered who would be the first the see the Dr. Who link.


But there isn't really a prize.

I'm just amazed at GB's story!

Brings a new meaning to "caught by The Fuzz"!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8556656.stm

"Minuscule tubes coated with a chemical fuel can act as a power source with 100 times more electrical power by weight than conventional batteries.

As these nano-scale "fuses" burn, they drive an electrical current along their length at staggering speeds.

The never-before-seen phenomenon could lead to a raft of energy applications. "

"Their nanotube bundles carry, gram for gram, up to 100 times as much energy as a standard lithium-ion battery."

Hmm. With the main problems with renewable energy technologies being power storage, this might just be the start of something beautiful..

Or the beginning of nanobombs.

Is that something to do with Mork?

Checking the weather (seems that autumn has arrived today)

Christchurch: Heavy Rain ... ... Visibility, Good.

UK Headline : Cold again tonight with some frost for many
and
World Headline : Canada has an unusually warm winter
...is it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/romania/7405695/Romanian-street-sign-warns-drivers-of-drunk-pedestrians.html

Everyone knows I wouldn't let this one pass.


'Forget the Winter Olympics — nothing unites Canada's parliamentarians like some bacon-wrapped seal loin.

MPs and senators from across the political spectrum turned out for a special lunch Wednesday, drawn together by a menu featuring Canada's best-known furry sea mammal.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff bellied into the throng to try some seal paté and pronounced it "delicious, actually …a little gamy, like caribou or something."

"Did you ever think we'd have such a crowd?" Liberal Senator Celine Hervieux-Payette, who organized Wednesday's lunch, asked Conservative Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in a packed side room off the Parliamentary restaurant.'

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/03/10/ott-seal-lunch.html#ixzz0hpKq6md0