By popular demand... :-)

Let the flames begin! (Pun intended!)

For the first time EVER I received an HTML email that actually was better presented as HTML.

I'm currently looking for some commercial real-estate to open a computer store in. We've spoken with a local realtor, and he did a thorough MLS search for us. The real estate sent me a nice, no BS, HTML formatted email with all the interesting matches he could find for us.

When I looked at the plain text version (included with the HTML mail) it looked horrible and almost unreadable, and without pictures, it was hard to do justice to the properties.

For the first time in my life, ever, I have just received an HTML email that didn't suck (tm).

I just thought I'd let you know, as normally (like a lot of other slashdotters) I'd be pissed off at having to check it in a web-browser, but finally, it was worth it.

Perhaps now I won't be so quick to tell people that HTML mail has no place.

It would seem the Sierra Club has taken to violating the DMCA!

They are recycling cell phones for the third world, yet obviously the third world isn't going to have any of the providers these phones are locked to (in the US, virtually all phones sold are locked to a provider).

They actually mentioned during a TechTV snippet that they are having trouble when they unlock Sprint phones.

This can't possibly be legal under the DMCA, however I am not sure if they have received rights from Sprint, et al. to unlock these phones (I highly doubt it, as the Sierra Club say they are reselling some phones to US customers). If they have, then freely ignore this message, and stop buying locked phones.

If ever a trial case was needed to take down the DMCA, this is it. These guys don't take no for an answer. Someone should send this to Sprint and get the ball rolling (I'm not, as I'm not a US citizen, so they'd laugh at me).

Just posting this to let you know I've fixed some errors in my Passive Smoking journal entry.

Also, if the discussion in that journal entry gets closed up, feel free to post here instead.

Have asthma? Please read this before you bullshit me. I don't even see the word smoke in the entire article. Some studies show that second hand smoke is not a leading cause of asthma attacks. But hey, don't take my word for it, take a judge's:

In addition, the prosecution introduced as part of their evidence the January '93 EPA report on lung cancer and ETS. About this report the judge had these words: "I would have thought that these reports would be those which supported the prosecution case most strongly, but they appear not to. One of these reports is the American EPA report... Chapter 7.9 of the report covers passive smoking and respiratory symptoms and lung function in adults. Table 7.11 tabulates 6 studies and their results, which really show the contrary to what the prosecution witnesses say." The decision, handed down in Perth on September 17, 1993, concluded: "Whilst ETS is annoying and of discomfort to non smokers it has not been proved at the required standard, or at all, that it is a risk to the health of the employees at the Casino."

For your enjoyment, I dug up the study and that exact page. In summary, it is a table of various reports on ETS and the results found. Let me summarize them for you, as the report itself is readily availble on the EPA site if you'd like it:

Svendsen Study (1987): No Dose Response Effect
Kalandidi Study (1987): No Dose Response Effect
Masi Study (1988): Strongest effect in Men for exposure before age 17 yr.
Kauffmann Study (1989): Increased risks for respiratory symptoms did not reach statistical significance
Hole Study (1989): No significant increase in risk of symptoms
Schwartz and Zeger (1990): Over-reporting by exposed subjects may bias results

Now you know why the judge was confused. Aren't you? This is the report that's hearalded as the proof that second hand smoke causes cancer. Why would anybody think that with data with such results quoted in that very report?

So who is left for us to protect? Oh, that's right, your comfort is at risk from second hand smoke.

I think it's more than a little self-centered to put your own comfort on a higher level than everyone's freedom. Don't you?

And if you still think you'll die from second hand smoke, how many studies will it take to convince you? I think we've spent enough money beating this dead horse. Let's move on and repeal anti-smoking laws already.

(Update: I've redone the numbers, by request, as my calculations of one NYCer dead from SHS were way off -- April 12, 2003)

Holy hell, Batman, I bet you are thinking. I must be a rabid insane smoker. I'm not.

Let me show you the statistics, and let you decide for yourself if there is a proven link between lung cancer / heart disease and smoking.

Before I do this, read Epidemiology 101. People in the Medical field do not believe a positive Relative Rate (RR) result of below 2.0 shows any medical correlation whatsoever. Zip, zero, nada. In fact, the preferred result is 3.0 or higher.

First off, the infamous EPA study. In this study the RR between smoking and lung cancer was 1.19 with a purposely fudged CI in an attempt to inflate the numbers. Also the EPA study used cherry picked data to inflate their numbers, according to judge Osteen (a known anti-Smoker), who threw the report out as nothing more than junk science.

Next, the equally infamous WHO study (note their title PASSIVE SMOKING DOES CAUSE LUNG CANCER -- DO NOT LET THEM FOOL YOU). In this study an RR of 1.16 was found (3% lower than the EPA study). This study was found to have been properly conducted, it was just the offensively misleading reporting that made it infamous.

56 of 100,000 deaths in America are due to lung cancer. That means that, by percentage, you have a 4.872% chance of dying from lung cancer if you die this year (using the statistic available below).

We also know, from the CIA world factbook, that the death rate in America is 87 persons per 10,000 living per year, or a 0.87% chance of death per year.

Using the WHOs own numbers, we find that in a city the size of New York, with 8 million people, that the amount of people dying from lung cancer is 20,000 per year in that city. Now, how many of them are due to ETS? Oh, this oughta be good. Assuming 25% of all people are regularly exposed to dangerous levels of Second Hand Smoke as non smokers, we find that this 25% comprises 5,000 deaths. Of those 5,000 deaths, 690 are due to second hand smoke.

Sounds horrible, doesn't it? Let's compare it to how many people die from sitting in a Car in America per year: 41,821. Or, in NYC, 1,116 people.

In other words, if you were to LIVE in a smoke filled environment, but not smoke (this doesn't include people who sit in a bar once a week), you still have a 61% greater chance of dying from sitting in a car. Do you expect to die each time you drive? Then why expect to die from sitting beside someone smoking!?!

It takes the wind out of the argument that SHS is a leading cause of death among non-smokers, doesn't it?

BTW: Want to watch the EPA squirm over the court case? You can!

For fun, I'll present you the numbers that Penn and Teller's experts calculated on their show on this topic (all numbers are based on the overstated EPA study), because hey, they show this to be even more outrageous than I ever could:

[Transcripted]

Penn: If you accept the EPA's own study, the anti-smoking fanatics will say your chances of dying of lung cancer increases by 25% if you are a non-smoker living and working around a smoker. But here's the bullshit way they calculate that 25%. The chances of dying from lung cancer for people exposed to second hand smoke is 1 in 80,000. For people not exposed to second hand smoke, 1 in 100,000. Okay, that may sound like a big difference. When you do the math the actual difference in these figures is 12.5 out of 1,000,000 people vs. 10 out of 1,000,000 people; which is statistically of no significance. And this data was thrown out by a Federal court.

But wait, there's more studies to back this up.

Here's the data:

Organisation / Relative risk (and 95% CI except from illegally fudged EPA results @ 90% CI)

IARC / 1.16
Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health / 1.20
California / 1.20
Environmental Protection Agency / 1.19
National Health and Medical Research Council / 1.32
National Research Council / 1.34
Surgeon General / 1.53

Not a single one breaks the 2.0 RR barrier. Not a single one.

So, there is no link between SHS and lung cancer. Let's move on to the other study I said I'd debunk.

According to Canada, 700 die per year from heart attacks caused by SHS. Let's examine where they got this bullshit from.

Well, first off I'm worried when I see this quote in an article produced after a US judge said the EPA results were illegal.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has officially labelled second -hand smoke as a "class A" cancer-causing substance. 2 Class A is considered the most dangerous of cancer agents and there is no known safe level of exposure.

But lets see the actual study.

Numbers, would you please, maestro....

Heart Disease related deaths in canada per year: 44,421
Heart Disease related deaths in canada attributable to passive smoking per year: 803

Percentage: 1.8.

What a hoot!

But let's see what the RR is, perhaps it was the magical over 2.0 RR we're looking for?

RR: 1.24.

Well, would you look at that. They support all the other studies as well.

There is no link between passive smoking and Lung Disease or Heart Disease. Do not let them fool you.

By the way, according to the WHO, SHS is a statistically relevant protector against lung cancer in children. (RR of 0.78). Who'd a thunk that by banning smoking in restaurants we'd be doing children a disservice?

That's your PSA for today. Please go back to your regularly scheduled government programming.

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Remove the spaces!

Windows is full of musical fun, with colourful, blinking icons that pop up messages and talk as the user presses the keys! Choose three different themes and user can hear notes, full tunes, or a chorus of sounds. In each setting, the cheerful buttons come to life with bright colours and even guide the user along! Requires 3 GB HDD (not included).

• colorful, pop-ups & blinking icons offer visual stimulation.
• music & sounds stimulate auditory skills.
• pressing keys fosters eye-hand coordination & fine motor skills.
• strengthens gross motor skills as user sits up to play.
• helps user understand cause and effect of actions.
• classical music enhances learning skills.
• task manager enhances users's sense of security & comfort.
• invites user to hug sysadmin & express friendship.

Ages: 9 to 99.

Also for sale: Windows XP Plus pack! Get yours today and enjoy these benefits:

• batting at the keys fosters eye-hand coordination.
• encourages physical milestones as user learns to smash keyboard, sit & stand [at the same time!] during crashes.
• music & sounds enhance users auditory skills.
• pop-ups & colorful themes stimulate lack of aesthetic sense.
• MORE classical music enhances learning skills.
• helps user understand that different actions cause different responses.
• wasting time inspires creativity.
• encourages pretend work as a user.

Get Windows (tm) with the Plus! pack for your employees today and see the benefits! Never lose another company baseball game! No more need for OSHA certified equipment! Fewer workplace injuries!

Post any cool stuff relating to C-Band/Ku-Band wildfeed/uplink/live transmissions relating to Iraq, or anything cool seen on any of the middle-eastern (or Iraq TV itself) channels. Let all the LSD owners know what they're missing!

Currently T6/6 has some interesting, possibly live, Reuters footage from Iraq (March 20, 1:43 AM EST). The city seems surprisingly active despite the war. Earlier a live Sky TV uplink transmission was seen (Press guy in full armor :-) None too happy about the lack of techs to help get him on the air).

Well, for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, I'm atheist/agnostic.

Why'd I tell you that?

Because, unlike, it seems, most atheists, I deplore abortion. I always feel disappointed to see atheist sites promoting pro-choice as the only logical decision an atheist can come to. They're wrong (not on their decision, per se, but definately wrong on the idea that atheism and abortion go hand in hand), and to suggest that there's only one answer to an issue strikes against the entire notion of agnosticism, and, to a lesser degree, atheism.

The usual stance taken by atheists is that the world needs less problems, and that a child born to a mother that would have rather had an abortion would be a problem child, hence, the child should not exist. This seems like an awfully shortsighted argument, though. If one supports the reduction of problems by removing (by any means necessary) the problem from society, does it not follow that you support the death penalty? What about children that prove to be a problem? Should they not be aborted for the health of society?

If you have an argument against what I've said, I'd like to hear it.

So, are you atheist? What side are you on? Are you on one? Why?

I'd love to see how many of you are on which side of the issue, and I'd love to start a debate on this. What better place than slashdot? :-)

If you want to know why my opinion is such, go ahead, just ask.

Just adjusted my foes list. Trimmed out the reformed users, added some new ones.

Hope everyone else gets some time to do this! Then the Friend-of-Friend and Friend-of-Foe modifiers could be raised. :-)

Update (feb 18, 2k3): IT MADE IT! My package made it. It was dirtier than a New York taxicab floormat, but it made it!

---------------------------------------------

UPS just hit a new low. They've now admitted they've lost track of my package after having admitted to shipping it to the wrong city. It's been sitting in limbo for half a day. UPS hasn't a clue where it really is right now. I'm posting a [censored] version of the tracking for your amusement. I should note I'm in "city #1" and that "city #2" and "city #3" are about an hour away. I expect with this much bouncing the package will arrive in a spherical shape.

Their answer isn't to put a trace on it automatically, though. I have to bother the sender instead (which is difficult, because it was sent via a logistics company by the store I bought it from). Isn't UPS customer service helpful?

At least they offered to refund my shipping. Which doesn't mean much when the shipping was included in the price of the item anyways, unless UPS wants to cut the cheque for me (ha! that would be a laugh! I'd post it here but slashdot doesn't allow ACII art unless it's pictures of torn [censored]).

The package was supposed to arrive 3 days ago. Ne'er to a knock at my door. Nevermore?

Status: In Transit
Rescheduled Delivery: 17 Feb 2003
Shipped to: [censored], ON, CA
Shipped or Billed on: 13 Feb 2003

Tracking Number: [censored]
Service Type: STANDARD
Weight: 1.00 Lb

PACKAGE PROGRESS
Date Time Location Activity
17 Feb 2003 8:01 City #1, ON, CA OUT FOR DELIVERY
          7:33 City #2, ON, CA DEPARTURE SCAN
          7:27 City #1, ON, CA ARRIVAL SCAN
15 Feb 2003 4:07 City #2, ON, CA DEPARTURE SCAN
14 Feb 2003 10:50 City #3, ON, CA ROUTED INCORRECTLY AT UPS FACILITY;DELIVERY RESCHEDULED
          7:59 City #1, ON, CA OUT FOR DELIVERY
          7:15 City #1, ON, CA ARRIVAL SCAN
          6:14 City #2, ON, CA DEPARTURE SCAN
          5:01 City #2, ON, CA ARRIVAL SCAN
13 Feb 2003 22:29 [censored], PQ, CA DEPARTURE SCAN
          21:34 [censored], PQ, CA ORIGIN SCAN
          18:21 CA BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Want to ship dumber, lamer, and slower? Click here to learn more!

Man those UPS guys are getting cheezier by the miunte. It's gonna take them 'till Monday to ship an overnight package from Quebec to Ontario that was sent off on Thursday. And they say I'll get a refund... sorta hard when shipping was included already!

I think I'll change my middle name to "NO-UPS" from now on when I get things shipped.

-------------------

It's always fun when people ship to my house by UPS! Fedex, usually a little late, but never a problem. Purolator always on time, but sometimes they drop refrigerators on my packages (FutureShop had a bit of a laugh at the now quarter-height CD-ROM I returned). Canada Post, bless them, always leaves packages at the mail depot and treats them so gingerly they must think I've been shipped nuclear waste.

But with UPS you never really do know what you'll be getting! Sometimes I have maps to my house drawn on my packages by drivers, or the package ends up in limbo hours away from my house 'till I call! Or my personal favourite, the "Yes, I know shipping from the US for this 2 lb. package was $75 already, but there's the $50 in brokerage fees and taxes you have to pay on top of that before we'll release the hostage package" line.

It's so much fun I think I might have just busted my spleen!

Unfortuantely, I'd have liked to comment on this journal entry made by one of my friends/fans, but they didn't enable comments.

So, I'll leave my take on the issue here, and enable comments so we can stir up some healthy discussion on the topic.

Basically, I disagree. In my opinion, the reason for the current downfall of the US economy is due to a lack of immigration. No new skills are being imported, and the types of skills that American culture can generate have run dry. The US needs fresh blood to jumpstart its economy.

When a country allows immigration, even in the form of a temporary visa which can later be turned into permanent citizenship (perhaps my idea of the H-1B is off, I'm not American, sorry) one imports the skills of an individual who understands they need to work hard to get a footing in a new country. The country from which that person emmigrated already made the investment in getting that worker the skills they need. The country they will immigrate to gets a serious gift -- the $100,000 (or so) that educating that person would have normally cost is now effectively cost free.

So, to start with, the new country gets $100,000 worth of tax investment free of charge.

Next benefit is the fact that the worker has chosen to come to their new country. I think it's easy to argue that when someone makes their own life choices rather than having them impressed, or forced upon them, they are much more apt to stick with them.

Another benefit is that they're starting from square one. Everything they want in the new country will need to be purchased, causing a much needed influx in the housing economy (not to mention other sectors that benefit from this, like the Automobile industry, for example).

Increased immigration causes increased social diversity. While some countries unfortunately frown upon such activity, a country is much stronger when it has a high social and ethnic diversity. This is difficult to explain apart from the old axiom that a monoculture won't survive very long. I suppose, in simple terms, people start to understand each other's cultures, and gain an increased respect for others in this understanding, when it's difficult to form your own racially based cliques (wether the clique be in the form of everyone being of the same culture or not doesn't matter).

Also, one cannot forget that in virtually all industrialized 1st-world countries population is on the decline. In a country with as much usable land mass as the US, this is a shame and immigration would help to boost population, which, in turn, will help boost the economy.

And, last but not least, the most important benefit is that these workers will often have skills non-immigrans don't have, and don't want. For example, finding people willing to work in the trades, especially the tool and die industry, is extremely difficult, even in the worst of economies, in my country. However, many, many, many, immigrants have filled this need in our country. They never really took any jobs from anyone else -- nobody was interested.

What all this adds up to is a healthier economy that stimulates job growth and solves its own employment problems while retaining the less tangible benefits of a more diverse society and increased education level.

Of course, I am biased, as I'm Canadian by birth. This means, like the majority of children born in this country (or so it would seem), my parents were immigrants. And despite the fact that when they moved here their life was economically hard enough that they depended on charities to keep eating, our family is now envied by many born Canadians who have never endured any such hardships, but have simply chosen a life devoid of self-improvement.

Just my 2 cents. :-) Take 'em or leave 'em.

After the last set of writers totally stank up "Homer's Adventures", or The Show Formerly Known as The Simpsons I decided to give it one last try after having not watched it for 6 or 7 months.

I can't believe it! It isn't Homer's Adventures anymore! It actually starred Marge for the first time in longer than I can remember! And, amazingly, they actually had Snowball do something useful for the first time. But, better than that, the situations were actually somewhat believeable! WOW! Even Fox must have been impressed because they moved their standard "Horrible Show that Sucks worse than a Vax but we Really Need you to watch it" 8:30 show to 9:00 for another episode.

To put it simply: Writers, if you keep this up, I might add this season to my list of DVDs to buy, when available (currently only seasons 1-5). If you want to ensure I buy it, let Lisa be a non-hippie free-thinker again. I respected her much more as a character when she was actually intelligent, rather than just an accumulation of popular alternative memes.

Well... I'm just in the process of cleaning up a client's computer infected by klez, dupator, opaserv, bugbear, and magistr. Of course, the client will be charged $100 for this service, since I've spent hours fighting these various viruses (there may be more... that's just how many I've been able to identify) which are each fighting each other.

So, I found a great deal on McAfee Antivirus 6.0 for the guy. $0.97! Can you believe that! And it isn't even hot! Wow...

I tell the guy he really needs to buy it. I mean, for $0.97, hell, it isn't exactly a stretch. It's a protest when I say he needs to buy a copy per computer (he has more than one).

Why is this? Does he think he won't be billed $100 for this service already?

The Simpson's is more and more like American life than I really want it to be in these later episodes.

The client's solution, which I'm trying to tell him isn't a good idea, is to take all his computers off the net, and buy one "internet terminal". All over $0.97 of AntiVirus!

Yikes!