New Scientist.  First prion related death in North America confirmed.  Several disturbing things about this report.  First, a prion infection can't be confirmed until the death of the patient.  Second, equipment used on the infected person can't be sterilized (we should really think about the use of more disposable equipment for use in medicine, or at least equipment with a disposable coating).

>>>After the preliminary diagnosis in April, an endocscope which had been used on the man was taken out of service. Confirmation of vCJD (prion related illness), which cannot be made until after death, came on Monday, officials said. They say they have now warned 71 people in Saskatchewan that they may have been cross-infected.<<<

This is like a Hollywood script.  At the dawn of nanotechnology, a nanodisease barges onto the scene.  It's a virtually undetectable non-biological nano-particle that merely folds proteins, terminator style in a self-replication sequence that increases exponentially until it turns the brains of its victims into gray goo.  There is no immunilogical response.  There is no cure.  There is no sterilization possible.  The vectors of its transmission are changing in unknown ways. 

My suggestion:  take some sane precautions now or face hysteria later. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

 Source: John Robb's Radio Weblog; 8/10/02; 11:11:14 PM.
12 Also posted to: My Profession . At: 11:20:13 PM  . .
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Wired.  Hilarious story about the guy who took control of Al-Qaida's official website.  This isn't so funny:

>>>When Messner took control of alneda.com, he immediately contacted federal authorities. "The frustrating part was that it took me five days to actually talk to someone (in the FBI) who had a working knowledge of the Internet, and by that time the opportunity was gone. <<< [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

 Source: John Robb's Radio Weblog; 8/10/02; 11:11:15 PM.
11 Also posted to: My Interests . At: 11:15:15 PM  . .
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Evan Willams has a business model I believe in: " ...and I have determined that we definitely want to focus on tools and services developed for and paid for by end users. It's the most fun, least frustrating, most scalable way to do cool stuff when you're company as tiny like ours (that doesn't always want to be quite so tiny). " [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

 Source: Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog; 8/10/02; 10:18:06 PM.
10  At: 10:56:24 PM  . .
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Harsh but worthy: Top 10 conservative idiots, v78

David Stephenson says "glad to know that Dubya announced his "furity" last week! I can't imagine how much time it must have taken to narrow the list of idiots down to 10!"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/index.html

9 Also posted to: My Interests . At: 10:40:15 PM  . .
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Corporate cyber-vigilantes, take note

"American movie, recording and software executives could be prohibited from entering Australia or extradited to face criminal charges if a copyright protection bill before the US Congress passes into law." http://theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/03/1028157861719.html

8 Also posted to: My Interests . At: 10:38:41 PM  . .
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