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Comment Re:version 2.0 (Score 1) 92

No the next version will be to replace it with your own content. "Evil Ex just fell into a combine and used to fertilize your pumpkins in Farmville!" (Prehistoric Internet community The Well had the "bozofilter" for blocking annoyances, and "Bozo2" for overwriting them with humorous replacement content. They really were pioneering in alot of ways.)

Comment Re:Public Banking (Score 1) 409

Public is the way to go, thinks this parent-to-be (who researched this literally last weekend). There are cases where private banking is recommended: past episodes of specific genetic diseases, certain minority groups, etc. Outside of those circumstances, we concluded that private is better, because:
  • Private banking entails a BIG bet on future developments. Today, bone marrow continues to be the source of most stem cells. While medicine will advance, it's purely speculative to expect that advancement to favor one stem cell source (cord blood) over others (such as marrow, embryonic, wisdom teeth, etc.).
  • Genetic diseases risk being re-introduced if treated with the victim's own cord blood. There are many times when you *need* somebody else's cord blood. A private bank doesn't help you there.
  • Donated cord blood frequently doesn't have enough stem cells to be useful for stem-related treatments. All banks use (or sell) that blood for research. But public banks test for this condition as soon as they receive the blood. Private banks are paid to *not* test the blood, but rather to store it until you *might* need it, whereupon they'll inform you whether the blood's actually useful. Imagine storing blood for five years to then be told "psych"!
  • Infants' cord blood isn't necessarily a match to treat any of the parents' ailments. The odds are something like 30% that a child's blood matches a parent's for treatment. In contrast, a search across a public bank has something like a 70% chance of finding a match for a parent needing stem cells.
  • Donating to a public bank costs little or nothing (depending on your hospital's relationship to banks). It helps lifesaving research today -- the same research whose promise is being sold by the private banks.
  • Public banks are regulated and have standards for accepting, storing and/or disposing of cord blood. Private banks, not always.
The Courts

Misdemeanor Plea Ends Norwich Pornography Case 260

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from the Hartford Courant: "Almost 18 months after a pornography conviction that could have sent her to jail for 40 years was thrown out, former Norwich substitute teacher Julie Amero plead guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct Friday afternoon. The plea deal before Superior Court Judge Robert E. Young in Norwich ends a long-running drama that attracted attention from around the world. ... She had originally been charged with 10 counts of risk of injury to a minor and later convicted on four of them. ... In June of 2007, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein tossed out Amero's conviction on charges that she intentionally caused a stream of 'pop-up' pornography on the computer in her classroom and allowed students to view it. Confronted with evidence compiled by forensic computer experts, Strackbein ordered a new trial, saying the conviction was based on 'erroneous' and 'false information.'"

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