Saturday, May 14, 2005

Amateur Genetic Engineering. DNA Hack is website for Amateur Genetic Engineering. The site has tons of resources, supplies, how-tos and this interesting snippet from Michael Schrage in the June 2003 Technology Review: "Maybe bathtub biotech will be the next to capture the mindshare of the techie tinkerers. Maybe bioinformatics and the diffusion of genetic engineering technologies will inspire a new generation of bio-hackers. Certainly the technologies are there for those inclinded to genetically edit their plants or pets. Maybe a mouse or E. coli genome becomes the next operating system for hobbyists to profitably twiddle. Perhaps this decade will bring a Linus Torvalds or Bill Gates of bio-hackerdom -- a hobbyist-turned-entrepreneur who can simultaneously innovate and market his or her DNA-driven ideas Via Make [Smart Mobs] 6:10:09 PM    comment []

After Its Epidemic Arrival, SARS Vanishes. Not a single case of severe acute respiratory syndrome has been reported this year or in late 2004. It is the first winter without a case since the initial outbreak in late 2002. By JIM YARDLEY. [NYT > International] 5:49:55 PM    comment []

Seeing more.. Effern at The Vision Thing has some interesting observations during Visibility Week. Curtain Call includes "7 Great Blogs That You Aren't Reading." Bonus link. [The Doc Searls Weblog] 5:49:47 PM    comment []

Take My Record, Please. Some milestones serve only as millstones. By DAVID FISCHER. It is unlikely that Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros aspired to become baseball's career leader in hit-by-pitches. That is not a milestone that children dream about during their backyard ballgames.  . . . Biggio's chance to become the hit-by-pitch standard-bearer - by standing and bearing it - gives one reason to ponder other pro sports records that no one wants to break. [NYT > Sports] Examples include minutes played in an NBA game without other marks in the box score, most strokes on a hole in a major gold tournament, fastest foul out in an NBA game, most consecutive losses by a Major League pitcher, most aces allowed in a pro tennis match, and most times sacked for an NFL quarterback. 5:45:07 PM    comment []

Several researchers at UC Berkeley have started the Usable Security weblog. [Hack the Planet] 7:59:48 AM    comment []

Iranian Court Frees Dissident Jailed for Opinion Poll About U.S.. A prominent Iranian dissident, jailed more than two years, was released after the Iranian Supreme Court turned down espionage charges against him. By NAZILA FATHI. [NYT > International] 7:59:43 AM    comment []

The Xbox Reloaded. J Allard convinced Bill Gates to take on the internet. Then he persuaded him to spend $2 billion to tackle the PlayStation, too. Now he's aiming at the future of gaming -- and the arrival of the mind-blowing broadband Metaverse. (Whoa.) By Josh McHugh from Wired magazine. [Wired News] But, um, not until late next year at the earliest. This is stunning talk, but also resembles strongly old-fashioned vaporFUD. 7:57:40 AM    comment []

Journalistic Ethics, Codes of. Turns out there are bunches of them, as Len Witt notes. I tend to go with Jeff Jarvis' notion that the basics are pretty simple -- "Don't lie. Don't sell out." -- though the devil, as always, is in the details. I tend to bring it down to this even tinier admonition: Be honorable. [Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc.] 7:54:02 AM    comment []

JAMA study finds that you can't trust JAMA studies. I always love when the Wall Street Journal runs stories critical of the pharmaceutical biz because it justifies my paranoia about taking newer prescription drugs. Last week's report on worrisome medical journal articles is no exception. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association basically concluded that doctors and other medical professionals can't trust sources like...the Journal of the American Medical Association. Why? Because the authors of JAMA articles, who are often funded by drug companies, have a strong tendency to leave out inconvenient details about drugs' safety and efficacy... but no surprise there. The real shocker is that the clinical trials detailed in medical journals were usually designed for purposes other than what the authors describe. In other words, the "scientists" conducting clinical trials will start off testing a drug for, say, its effect on chorelsterol levels; once they find out it's not working, they'll switch gears and come up with a different end-goal -- for instance, lowering the risk of stroke -- and never report the change. The journals, for their part, like to point the finger at individual scientists, but they really should be taking a serious look at their conflict-of-interest policies. Posted by Carrie [Stay Free! Daily] 7:53:55 AM    comment []