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Comment I'm keeping my access logs. (Score 1) 363

by bobv-pillars-net (#36058258) Attached to: Google/Facebook: Do-Not-Track Threatens CA Economy

They can have my access logs when they pry them out of my cold, dead fingers.

Seriously -- I run a small website and I'm just not gonna bother installing special software to purge certain IP addresses from my logs upon request, then forget that I purged those IP addresses (because that would be tracking), then somehow un-forget them on a regular basis so I can purge them again, then forget them again, ....

I agree with Google, Facebook, et al. The bill is quite simply unenforceable, and thus has no force of law, whether passed or not.

Comment Playing it "safe" (Score 1) 566

by bobv-pillars-net (#36057814) Attached to: Doctors Are Creating Too Many Patients

I haven't paid into the medical system for over ten years, and am looking forward to defending myself against criminal charges for my "negligence". During the same period, my neighbor has received three elective surgeries, courtesy of the health care system, and is under no such danger of prosecution. It's not just the doctors who are playing it safe.

Comment I've been saying this for a long time. (Score 1) 2

by bobv-pillars-net (#36055430) Attached to: Doctors Are Creating Too Many Patients

I haven't paid into the medical system for over ten years, and am looking forward to defending myself against criminal charges for my "negligence". During the same period, my neighbor has received three elective surgeries, courtesy of the health care system, and is under no such danger of prosecution. It's not just the doctors who are playing it safe.
Medicine

Submission + - Doctors Are Creating Too Many Patients 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "H. Gilbert Welch writes in the LA Times that the threshold for diagnosis has fallen too low with physicians making diagnoses in individuals who wouldn't have been considered sick in the past, raising healthcare costs for everyone. Welch, a a practicing physician and professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, says that part of the explanation is technological: diagnostic tests able to detect biochemical and anatomic abnormalities that were undetectable in the past. "But part of the explanation is behavioral: We look harder for things to be wrong. We test more often, we are more likely to test people who have no symptoms, and we have changed the rules about what degree of abnormality constitutes disease (a fasting blood sugar of 130 was not considered to be diabetes before 1997; now it is)." Welch says that the problem is that low thresholds have a way of leading to treatments that are worse than the disease and while clinicians are sued for failure to diagnose or failure to treat, there are few corresponding penalties for overdiagnosis or overtreatment so doctors view low thresholds as the safest strategy to avoid a courtroom appearance. "We are trained to focus on the few we might be able to help, even if it's only 1 out of 100 (the benefit of lowering cholesterol in those with normal cholesterol but elevated C-reactive protein) or 1 out of 1,000 (the benefit of breast and prostate cancer screening)," writes Welch. "But it's time for everyone to start caring about what happens to the other 999.""
Google

Submission + - Google Voice to support Number Porting

Submitted by
dbrossard
dbrossard writes: "Google has announced that they will allow you to Port your existing mobile number to Google Voice. Today, we’re excited to announce that Number Porting is available for all existing Google Voice users. This means you can make the mobile number you’ve always used your Google Voice number, so it can ring any phone you want—or even your computer."

Submission + - WordPress 3.1 released, lots of fun (wordpress.org)

Submitted by
clinko
clinko writes: "The long-awaited fourteenth release of WordPress is now available. WordPress 3.1 Reinhardt is named in honor of the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Version 3.1 is available for download, or you can update from within your dashboard.

This release features a lightning fast redesigned linking workflow which makes it easy to link to your existing posts and pages, an admin bar so youre never more than a click away from your most-used dashboard pages, a streamlined writing interface that hides many of the seldom-used panels by default to create a simpler and less intimidating writing experience for new bloggers (visit Screen Options in the top right to get old panels back), and a refreshed blue admin scheme available for selection under your personal options."

Comment Re: H.L. Mencken quote (Score 2) 281

by bobv-pillars-net (#34426122) Attached to: Jailtime For Jailbreaking

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
The Military

Scientists Turn T-Shirts Into Body Armor 213

Posted by timothy from the will-stick-with-the-regular-kind-for-now dept.
separsons writes "Scientists at the University of South Carolina recently transformed ordinary T-shirts into bulletproof armor. By splicing cotton with boron, the third hardest material on the planet, scientists created a shirt that was super elastic but also strong enough to deflect bullets. Xiaodong Li, lead researcher on the project, says the same tech may eventually be used to create lightweight, fuel-efficient cars and aircrafts."

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