2. juni 2003

New cancer drug shows remarkable results A new cancer drug called 2C4, which will have the trade name Omnitarg, showed remarkable results on a wide range of cancers in phase I tests. This early test should only establish whether the drug was safe, not to what degree it combatted cancer, which makes the result even more notable. Dr David Agus, who led the trial at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, said: "What's interesting is that this drug effectively shrank tumours in several completely different types of cancer in early stage clinical trials. "This tells us that the drug targets a growth-signalling pathway in cancer cells that is common in many solid tumours." However, researchers, while excited by these results, warn that these were only small trials, and that more tests are necessary. 11:52:32 PM    comment []

University gives course in creating computer viruses University of Calgary Professor Dr. John Aycock has raised some ire in the computer security industry by teaching students to write viruses as part of a course on Computer Viruses and Malware ("malicious software"). Computer security experts argue that learning to write viruses makes no more sense to teach computer security than creating biological weapons would do for a student who wants to learn how to counter them. And everybody agrees there are already enough malware in the business. How would the University of Calgary feel if one of their student's virus ended up in the wild? Besides, writing viruses is rather trivial. Any decent programmer can write one. Spreading one is actually the challenge. 11:11:47 PM    comment []

Greek lawyers indict Blair for war crimes The Athens Bar Association will file a suit against Britain's prime minister Tony Blair at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Iraq. The court is not operative yet, but as soon as the court's first prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo from Argentina, is sworn in on June 16 it will look at this and other cases. US leaders could not be charged under the ICC since the US has refused to recognize the court. And now we know why that may have been a good idea after all. 7:58:46 PM    comment []

Sharia law passed in Pakistan province The North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan has passed a Sharia law, making the extremist Islamic laws supercede over secular law. In the province dominated by hardliners, federal Pakistani law has little power, and President Musharraf can just watch uneasily as a part of his country is Talibanised. No part of Pakistan has ever before been ruled by the strict Islamic code. 6:47:44 PM    comment []

Quote of the Day "I had a linguistics professor who said that it's man's ability to use language that makes him the dominant species on the planet. That may be. But I think there's one other thing that separates us from animals. We aren't afraid of vacuum cleaners." -Jeff Stilson- 8:46:18 AM    comment []

Villagers hunting toilet ghost Residents of the village Kapurawala in India has been scared by a ghost haunting the middle school toilet. Parents are keeping their children at home, and at least one teacher got a job elsehwere. It is reported that three gilrs had suffered epileptic fits after visiting the toilet. Now the villagers are planning a yagya, a Hindu fire purification ceremony, to exorcise the ghost, which is presumably hiding somewhere in the vicinity, as villagers have already demolished the wicked toilet. 8:14:49 AM    comment []

Iraqi information minister "found" Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf, the infamous Iraqi information minister who rose to fame when he against all evidence claimed that American forces were far from Baghdad, is reportedly alive, but not necessarily well. He is still wearing his trademark green beret and uniform, and stays with his wife and three children in a Baghdad suburb, but he is apparently a broken man and refuses to talk about what has happened. His friends fear for his life, as his false claims has angered many Iraqis. And apparently totally ignorant about his cult status in the west, and the royalties he could claim! 2:15:07 AM    comment []

Ukh! Whak! Owww! The Unh! project is a must-see for all comics fans. A sample of common and not-so-impressive special effects in old comics, and some hilarious comments to all of them. Like the above picture. 2:02:25 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:24:59.