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Medicine

Doctors Transplant Same Kidney Twice In Two Weeks 130

kkleiner writes "Twenty-seven-year-old Ray Fearing suffered from focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a common type of kidney disease, and needed a new kidney. His 24-year-old sister, Cera Fearing, wanted to give him hers. The transplanted kidney immediately began to grow diseased, so doctors removed it. But then something happened that, according to the doctor who performed the procedure, had never been done before. The unhealthy kidney was removed from Ray, and replanted into another patient, and the kidney became healthy and has remained in this second patient ever since."

Comment Re:Much needed catalogging (Score 1) 113

I must confess, I never proof read my own writing and often I will think faster than I can type. The result is that I occasionally drop a word or two. What I meant to say there was "On a slightly different note." But I don't think the loss of that one word changes the meaning of the sentence a whole lot as that phrase was a bit superfluous anyway.

Comment Much needed catalogging (Score 4, Insightful) 113

Technology, as it is today, is all too fleeting. New technology is being pushed out at an ever increasing rate with the new products quickly supplanting the old. The old is then quickly forgotten. I applaud the effort of this group in its work to keep a living record of the heart of the machines that have been the core of most of lives for almost half a century.

On a slightly note, I believe we need better cataloging of technology in general as many old file are effectively being lost due the technology require to read them no long exist. Of course this raises further questions of how to maintain such cataloging as the cataloging infrastructure ages so that the data doesn't get lost. Oh what a vicious cycle it is.

Comment Re:Or you never visualized them in the first place (Score 4, Insightful) 845

Believe it or not it is something I and many others do every. Sure we crank everything though spreadsheets and all sorts of other tools, but its always easy to place an extra zero, drop a zero or transpose number. At least if you have a ballpark figure you know if something is an order of magnitude off it can't possibly be right.

Comment False positive and false negatives (Score 0) 231

While it is good to see a detected false positive rectified it is a situation that should not have happened in the first place. When governments tread down the dangerous road of censorship it is better to err on the side of false negatives than false positives. False negatives do not hurt anyone if the rate is low enough but a false positive can generate much notoriety for the government. It makes the government seem unusually cruel and overbearing and gives the impression they are trying to exert tight and almost claustrophobic control over the population. Erring the other way can make a government appear more benevolent and will appear to be looking out for the best interest of the people and so what if they miss a few, the government is trying its best.

Comment Re:who still uses telnet? (Score 1) 238

I wouldn't have imagined that in this day and age there would many servers out there still with an active telnet service but I do know that a few ADSL modems out there and the odd network attached device. If you run a server and you leave your servers wide open you are asking for trouble. I've learned my lessons the hard way as I blundered my way into setting up my own LAMP based webserver and leaving openings wider than the Grand Canyon. When you're 15, a little knowledge can me dangerous. To cut a long story short, a lot of data was lost and a lot of time was wasted getting thing back up and running. Dumb things I did included opening up telnet to the world, trivial passwords, same passwords used everywhere and allowing root to login from telnet.
Image

Inmates Escape As Guard Plays Plants Vs. Zombies Screenshot-sm 87

dotarray writes "Everybody knows that there's a certain risk one takes when playing addictive, engrossing games can be trouble when you're meant to be doing something else. The prevalence of awesome games on the iPhone hasn't helped that risk. A Plants Vs. Zombies loving police officer has learned this the hard way after an escape."
Image

Son Sues Mother Over Facebook Posts Screenshot-sm 428

Most kids hate having their parents join in on a discussion on Facebook, but one 16-year-old in Arkansas hates it so much he has filed suit against his mother, charging her with harassment. From the article: "An Arkadelphia mother is charged with harassment for making entries on her son's Facebook page. Denise New's 16-year-old son filed charges against her last month and requested a no-contact order after he claims she posted slanderous entries about him on the social networking site. New says she was just trying to monitor what he was posting." Seems like he could just unfriend her.
Privacy

Net Users In Belarus May Soon Have To Register 89

Cwix writes "A new law proposed in Belarus would require all net users and online publications to register with the state: 'Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state. He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts, and special services.'"
Cellphones

Chinese Employee Loses iPhone Prototype, Kills Self 514

tlhIngan writes "Physical intimidation of a Foxconn employee, 25 year-old Sun Danyong, and a possibly-illegal search of his house may have led to suicide after an iPhone prototype in his possession was lost. Foxconn is Apple's long-time manufacturing partner for the iPhone. Entrusted with 16 iPhone prototypes, Danyong discovered that one was missing and searched the factory for it. When it didn't turn up, he reported the incident to his boss, who ordered his apartment searched. There are reports of physical intimidation by Foxconn security personnel. This ended tragically on Thursday at 3 AM, when Danyong jumped from his apartment building to his death." VentureBeat notes that "Apple exerts immense pressure on its business partners [to] help it maintain secrecy." An Apple spokesperson said this to CNet: "We are saddened by the tragic loss of this young employee, and we are awaiting results of the investigations into his death. We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect."
The Almighty Buck

Fighting For Downloaders' Hearts and Minds 325

iateyourcookies writes "As opposed to enforcement which usually makes the headlines, The BBC is running an article called Inside A Downloader's Head which looks at the film and music industries' attempts to prevent copyright infringement. It details some of the campaigns, their rationale, controversy surrounding them and notes that 'there are plenty, even among the young, who can be eloquent about why they believe illegal downloading is not wrong. These can include everything from what they see as the unacceptable "control freakery" of DRM and regional coding, to overcharging and exploitation of the very artists the music industry claims to protect.' However, PR company for the industry Blue Rubicon attests that 'campaigns can change hearts and minds... If you do them right you can make a material impact on people's behaviour.'"

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