Australian-Developed Vaccine Prevents Cervical Cancer

A major international trial has confirmed the effectiveness of a cervical cancer vaccine developed in Australia. The vaccine was created by Professor Ian Frazer, who is from Brisbane’s Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research. Trials on 12,000 women from 13 countries, which have been sponsored by US drug company Merck, show the treatment is 100 per cent effective in preventing the most common form of cervical cancer. It would be much more impressive if the research hadn’t been tainted by the stench of PharmaCorp involvement

The Crime of Unauthorised Reproduction

Republican lawmakers are drafting new legislation that will make marriage a requirement for motherhood in the state of Indiana, including specific criminal penalties for unmarried women who do become pregnant by means other than sexual intercourse. According to a draft of the recommended change in state law, every woman in Indiana seeking to become a mother through assisted reproduction therapy such as in vitro fertilisation, sperm donation, and egg donation, must first file for a petition for parentage in their local county probate court — via JetAmI

Gunns Rules Tasmania

Senator Christine Milne gave a interesting adjournment speech about the culture of fear, intimidation and menace that currently exists in Tasmania as a means of maintaining the power of the forest industry in Tasmania, particularly by Gunns Ltd which, in fact, has become the de facto government of Tasmania and the puppet-master of the Labor Lennon government. She specifically talks about how their conniving screwed over a young journalist, Wes Young

Technology

Wish Come True?

Making Firefox Mac Behave Like IE 6

The web developer toolbar for Firefox is a fantastic tool for all us web devy people. Imagine being able to toogle a switch and have Firefox simulate how IE6 win renders html. Yeah, that’d be pretty fantastic, especially for us coding on a Mac.

Justin Palmer is proposing we get some people right on developing such a tool and have people donate money to the developers for their efforts. I’m All for it!

See my whinging comments.

Sony Doing An End Run Around Its Own DRM

Sony has an odd response to complaints from fans who have discovered they cannot import their CD content to an iPod. Individuals who complain to Sony BMG about iPod incompatibility are being directed to a web site that provides information on how to work around the technology. In short, some labels appear to have been instructing customers how to defeat DRM — which is a violation of DMCA

$2 Billion in Possible US Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia

The Pentagon approved more than $2 billion in possible weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, including combat vehicles, aircraft parts and battlefield communications systems. The Defence Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of three potential deals. It said the sales would help the US by contributing to the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East

Moon Discovered Orbiting Tenth Planet

The tenth planet in the solar system has a moon at least a tenth of its size. The discovery will allow astronomers to pin down the mass of both objects. The planet was nicknamed Xena after the television warrior princess, and the moon has been dubbed Gabrielle, after the princess’s companion

MIT Unveils Prototype for $100 Linux Laptop

MIT is showing off a prototype of a $100 laptop. It uses a 500MHz AMD processor, stores everything on flash memory, and runs Linux. The AC adapter acts as the carrying strap, and there is a hand crank so if you can’t find a source of electricity you can charge it kinetically. The prototype laptop is also much more flexible and durable than your average notebook. In addition the unit has a screen that has a special daylight-friendly black and white mode that makes a great ebook