Author: Serkadis

(NaturalNews) It sounds good at first: When employers send sick workers home so they don’t spread swine flu around the work environment, they must still pay those workers for the full day’s work. The idea behind this bill is that many workers can’t afford being sent home without pay, and therefore the employer must pay them anyway.

But apparently no one in Washington D.C. has thought about the real-world consequences of what this bill would do. If employers are forced to pay for workers whether they’re working or not, they will refuse to send sick workers home in the first place! And why is that? Because employers can’t afford to be paying for people who aren’t working.

Thus, this bill would assure that sick, infected workers are kept on the job where they can spread swine flu to others.

If the U.S. Congress wants to accelerate the spread of swine flu, this bill is a brilliant way to accomplish it.

Unintended consequences
It all comes down to The Law of Unintended Consequences. The U.S. Congress — which is completely useless in a true Democracy and should be disbanded — arrogantly writes new laws, thinking they will intervene in the lives of workers or employers in some “positive” way by forcing somebody to do something they wouldn’t normally do.

But every such intervention has unintended consequence that the numbskulls in Congress never consider (because they can’t think beyond the next election cycle). The unintended consequences are usually quite disastrous, such as the future public debt fallout from the trillion-dollar bailout of the wealthy investment banks and Wall Street insiders who were “saved” from financial collapse at taxpayer expense.

In this case, this “pay sick workers to stay home” bill will absolutely guarantee that virtually no sick workers are ever sent home. And that, in turn, will guarantee the spread of whatever pandemic is circulating through the workforce at the time, especially since many low-wage workers have jobs in the food and service industries where they are in frequent contact with items consumed by the general public.

The bill should probably be called the “Pandemic Promotion Act of 2009.”

And besides, whatever happened to the idea that you get paid for the days you work? Sometimes you get sick and can’t work. That’s real life. The best way to avoid losing income due to sick days is to take care of your own health with nutrition and vitamin D. That’s called being an adult.

But who am I kidding? I’ve seen first-hand how grocery store deli employees sneeze all over the food they’re wrapping up for customers. In many ways, many of the adult workers in America don’t act with much responsibility. They show up for work sick, caring nothing for the coworkers or customers they might infect. And why? Because they need the paycheck.

So what’s the real solution to all this? The solution isn’t about shifting the cost of sickness to the employer or the employee; the real solution is to teach the nation about vitamin D and thereby keep the workforce healthy and well.

This simple, powerful idea has apparently never crossed the minds of the members of the U.S. Congress. Keep Americans healthy? That’s an alien concept. It has never even entered the discussions about health care reform.

Instead, Congress is focused on how to keep the drug companies profitable with more customers and more profits. And that goal stands in direct conflict with the goal of keeping Americans healthy. When the U.S. Congress is in session, the health (and job security) of the American people remains at risk, because in the quest to “do something” to pretend to help the people, our elected representatives will routinely ignore the far greater problem of why the health of our nation is crumbling.

Why do people get sick in the first place?

Much of it has to do with extreme deficiencies in key nutrients, including vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, phytonutrients and so on. The FDA, though, has made it a crime to even sell a product that claims to enhance health via nutrition, and the FTC has declared war on any natural product that actually works to prevent cancer. The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, argues over who will pay for disease.

Sometimes, you just gotta wonder: Has America gone mad? Have these people lost their minds, or are they just on so many meds that they can’t think anymore?

Increasingly, I see worrisome signs that America is headed for disaster. When the lawmakers can’t see the real root of the major problems, and the solutions to those problems have been outlawed or censored out of existence, the future of that nation begins to look sketchy. Pandemic or not, America has made itself the junk food and medication capitol of the world, and that’s not a recipe for a healthy workforce.

Whether people get paid for sick days or not is a miniscule issue compared to the much bigger question of why nobody has told the workforce to take more vitamin D so they can protect themselves from influenza in the first place.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE59J58H20091103

And who’s the lucky Moderncat that will be receiving a tasty pumpkin treat from Oh Boy Cat Toy? It’s Susie and her mom Jennifer Lobo (comment #22)! This catnip filled delicacy will have Suzie playing straight through the holiday season!

For many years, David Chaum has been pushing for a voting system that he claims will be a lot more reliable. Basically, after you vote, you get a coded number, and then after the election, you can go to an election website, punch in your code and make sure that your vote counted, and was for whom you meant to vote. On top of this, there’s a system for auditors to check to make sure that votes were counted accurately, with information released publicly so people can “audit” the election without being able to connect voters to their votes. This system tends to generate a lot of controversy (though some of it appears to be from people who just don’t like David Chaum, rather than because they really have a problem with his system). However, the system hasn’t been really tested in an actual US election… until now. The municipal elections in Takoma Park, Maryland used the system, despite the state recently signing a big deal with Diebold. It’s not clear how the overall election went yet — or how many people actually checked their votes online (approximately 30% in an exit poll said they copied down the code). However, it’s good to see that some gov’ts are not just accepting what the big e-voting firms give them, and are willing to explore more sophisticated voting systems that aren’t based on pure faith in the e-voting company to get the system right.

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And the winner of the new book from Kitty Wigs is Frank (comment #240). Thanks to Chronicle Books for sponsoring this giveaway. For your reading pleasure and, no doubt, endless entertainment, you can still pick-up a copy of Glamourpuss at Amazon.

Congratulations to Pam from Decatur, GA. Pam is the winner of the Slant pet stairs from Urban Pet Haus! Now Pam’s kitties will have no problem getting on and off the bed. Thanks Urban Pet Haus!

Yeah, that leak did a number on the official “release moment” of Olympus’ new micro four-thirds camera. All the stats are there, but I forbore from weighing in on the thing. I’m cautious but bullish about the M4/3 phenomenon; they’re legit to be sure, but this first generation isn’t going to break any sales records. They’re too expensive and too limited at the moment — but that’s how DSLRs were back in the day, and now everyone wants one.

I suspect the non-SLR interchangeable-lens camera (AKA the EVIL system) will replace the point and shoot, and the phone or PMP will fill that snapshot role. But until they get that price down it’s not going to happen.

The E-P2 looks like an interesting camera. The problem I see right off the bat is that it’s almost the exact same camera that Peter found so underwhelming six months ago. Maybe he didn’t give it a chance, and maybe it was just in need of stuff like this accessory port to make it worthwhile, but the fact is that it’s not bringing a lot for the money.

You can get a fantastic DSLR and a lens or two for the price of an E-P2, or buy an incredibly slick point and shoot and have enough money left over to take a short vacation. It doesn’t mean the M4/3 style is bad, just that it’s new and doesn’t offer the same value proposition as the established technologies. $1100 is a lot to spend on a camera — enough that even early adopters will think twice. Especially considering how quickly Olympus improved on the E-P1. Why not wait?

Olympus is very proud of its electronic viewfinder, and I think the accessory port it fits into makes the E-P2 a tasty little gadget. Maybe you want a crossover device for home videos but the EVF isn’t really necessary. Okay, here’s decent 720p video with great sound through a real mic. Maybe you want a party cam, but don’t trust a point-and-shoot’s crappy little flash. Hey, it’s got a hot shoe and you’ll probably get some other stuff for the accessory port anyhow.

We may see the new Pen cameras (among their M4/3 brethren) grow into an interesting platform, but until they cost less than, say, a Rebel T1i or some such, the only thing they have to recommend them is their size. But this isn’t the last you’ll be hearing of micro four-thirds, not by a long shot.

Yes, yes y’all. We’re back with Act 2. Following up on the much-loved BlackBerry 9700 Review: Part 1, we’re here to go over the T-Mobile version of the handset. We’ll give you another look at it, and clarify anything that might have changed between our previous not-final unit and what we have now (which is what you’ll be getting in stores). And of course give you some awesome pictures to drool over. After the jump, fine friends, is where the goodies are at!

Hardware changes

While not much has changed hardware-wise from a larger viewpoint, there are a couple things we’ve noticed. First off, if you look at the keyboard and the trackpad specifically, you’ll see a very small piece of plastic that’s connecting the back and menu keys. This actually broke in half on our pre-release BlackBerry 9700, and while it hasn’t affected its use, it got us a little concerned about the build quality. We haven’t confirmed whether the retail Bold 9700s use different parts or not, and we haven’t heard of this happening to anyone else, but it’s just something to look out for.

As far as the processor is concerned, we reported that the Bold 9700 was sporting an 800MHz capable CPU. RIM’s official specs say it’s a 624MHz processor, but we think it might be a newer model than what the original Bold had. It’s also quite possible it’s under-clocked as well. We’ll try and clarify this and report back. Regardless of the actual CPU specifications on the 9700 though, one thing is certain: it’s the fastest damn BlackBerry we’ve ever used. There unfortunately is no internal memory as there was on the previous Bold, and while we believe it’s carrier dependent, the T-Mobile unit ships with a 2GB microSD card.

One last thing about the hardware… honestly not a big deal, but since we’re comparing the retail unit to the other unit we had, Michael and I both noticed that the lock and mute keys are very easy to press on the retail unit. And that’s not for the best as we both accidentally lock / put our Bold 9700s in a mute coma from time to time. Again, not the end of the world, just a change from our other unit.

OS changes

OS 5.0 is finally ready to rock. The much-needed upgrade tries to bandage RIM’s aging yet nicely skinned operating system, and it seems to do a good job of it on the top layer. While dumb things like gradients, sounds for events, and other little UI improvements may look stupid on paper (read: they are), hey, us BlackBerry folk have to take all that we can get. And even though that’s not a lot, it’s still something to slightly freshen up this beast. Something we’ve noticed in the version on the 9700 is that marking messages as read takes a long, long time. This was an issue on a couple beta OS builds for the 9700, so it’s surprising to see it on a production OS. Not a show stopper, but something annoying if you mark message read fairly frequently like I do.

Keyboard changes

Oh those pesky QWERTY keyboards. Some are too small, some are too big, some are spaced too close, some have incorrect layouts — is there a perfect keyboard in existence? Well, if there’s one to be found, we’re pretty sure it is on the BlackBerry Bold 9700. A beautiful blend of the original Bold keyboard with the Tour’s keyboard, it really provides a great typing experience. Keys click but aren’t clackity, there’s enough spacing to allow a definition between keys yet it isn’t boat-sized like its older brother — and it just feels damn good to type on.

Phone changes

Using the phone as an actual phone is still really pleasurable. Calls are very clear, volume is great, and BlackBerry smartphones in general just rock as phones. There’s no fuss, you dial a number and make your call. We’re used to AT&T, but to be honest we couldn’t tell the difference between the two. This T-Mobile unit is solid and we experienced no dropped calls even in fringe areas, and 3G service was great.

Battery changes

This isn’t going to be fair because of T-Mobile’s global meltdown yesterday–the day when we were really pushing the 9700 to the floor– so, well, you know, it didn’t work. We were on SOS for the better part of a day, but Wi-Fi did stay connected to the outside world thankfully. Unfortunately however, Wi-Fi kind of ransacked our battery. The good news is that even with Wi-Fi on and connected for 12 hours straight with constant email usage, BlackBerry Messenger usage, and very light browsing, we still had around 25% of battery left at the end of the day. It’s great, and we’re really happy that RIM has further improved their battery life while making a device faster and smaller. We weren’t kidding when we said average usage is about double compared to the original Bold, and it looks to stay that way in the retail release.

Conclusion

You know, it’s sort of like clockwork. Once every six months we proclaim the latest BlackBerry to be the best BlackBerry ever. Well, we hate to disappoint you, but it doesn’t look like we’re stopping that tradition anytime soon. The BlackBerry Bold 9700, for whatever network it’s powered by, is the finest BlackBerry to date. From the gorgeous screen to the perfect keyboard, to the pocketable size and swift processor, the Bold 9700 seems like it can do almost anything you throw at it. With 256MB of RAM, you’ve got a little more room for applications and data, and the device doesn’t ever seem to get bogged down. We have never even gotten a spinning clock (yet). It’s that solid.

The BlackBerry platform has its advantages and disadvantages (what, we’re not vocal enough about it?), but if you’re an existing BlackBerry user or just don’t require a media-focused device, the Bold 9700 might be right up your alley.

Rogers, Bell, and TELUS in Canada have pretty much all started to release BlackBerry 9700 units into the wild, T-Mobile’s offering business customers a little head start, and AT&T’s looks to be near as well.

 

Whenever Washington considers changes in health care or Social Security, one of the main players is the senior citizens lobby AARP.

The organization’s size makes it hard to miss: “One out of every two people over age 50 is an AARP member,” says David Certner, who directs AARP’s lobbying operation. That comes to 40 million members, he says, half of them 65 or older

AARP, which offers several kinds of AARP-branded health insurance, supports the changes proposed in Congress right now.

Critics say that’s because the group would profit if the health care system gets rebuilt.

“There is an unusual advocate for these massive cuts to seniors’ health care,” says Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA), referring to the proposed legislation’s big cuts in Medicare spending. “It’s AARP.”

Democrats call those cuts cost savings. Reichert and other Republicans say that really means cuts in services.

“Are they truly looking out for the best interests of seniors?” Reichert asks. “Could it be that AARP has a hidden profit agenda?”

Well, at least on this element of the bill, AARP would lose, not gain. Medicare cuts would fall hardest on the lucrative Medicare Advantage program — one of AARP’s products.

Certner says the group doesn’t have a conflict of interest.

“We are driven by our policy. Our policy drives our advocacy. Our policy drives what we do in terms of our products,” he says. “And that’s been the way it has been from the beginning.”

Questions About AARP’s Finances

AARP revenues show how big its insurance business is.

Last year, the group collected $222 million in royalties from UnitedHealthcare, which provides most of the health insurance marketed under the AARP brand. That figure is almost as much as AARP collected in dues from its members.

But David Mathis, AARP senior vice president for health services, says the organization offers what its members need to have, not what corporate partners want to sell.

“They come into the relationship knowing where that is, even though they may not agree with us and we don’t always agree with them,” Mathis says. “Everybody’s eyes were wide open when we entered this relationship.”

Still, questions about the organization’s finances have been raising eyebrows for years. And America’s two main parties take turns being angry at AARP.

Speaking in 1995, Republican Sen. Alan Simpson said, “AARP has drifted considerably from any possible description of a nonprofit, quote, organization.”

And in 2003, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said, “Don’t forget, AARP is making a lot of money off of the insurance companies.”

An Issue Of Trust

It’s hard to tarnish AARP, in part because it’s not seen as serving an ideology or a narrow economic agenda.

And that helps the group, says Ted Marmor, a Yale professor emeritus of public policy, even if it limits what AARP can do on Capitol Hill.

“They live and die because there are 40 million people paying a small amount of money every year,” he says.

Of course, it’s possible that of that 40 million, many may be more interested in AARP’s travel discounts than in overhauling America’s health care system.

Passing a health care overhaul bill might be one of the hardest things Congress has ever attempted. But waiting until next year might jeopardize a top priority for President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress.

The political peril of waiting until 2010 – a midterm election year – could mean the death of comprehensive health care legislation, according to some analysts. “If they’re going to do it, they have to do it this year,” said University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato. “Everyone knows that. They know it.”

If there isn’t a bill on Obama’s desk by Christmas, Obama supporters fear lawmakers could face a repeat of the brutal August town hall meetings where angry constituents railed against a government-run “public plan” and other elements of proposed bills. And under that scenario, lawmakers could return to Washington in January considerably less enthusiastic about health care legislation.

In addition, Tuesday’s election results – in which Republicans won the Virginia and New Jersey governors’ races – might make some moderate Democrats facing reelection next year hesitant to back a health care measure that will cost $900 billion or more over the next decade. Exit polling showed substantial numbers of voters in both states expressing concern that government “is doing too many things better left to business and individuals,” according to ABC News.

As for delaying health care until next year, Sabato said, “If you’re talking about having everything done except for tying it in a ribbon, that’s one thing. Once everything is lined up you could have the final votes once Congress comes back…but it has to be done.” But because of the risks of waiting, he doubts that Obama and congressional Democrats would let the health care debate drag into next year.

Steve Elmendorf, a former top aide to Rep. Richard Gephardt when he was House Majority Leader, agreed. Elmendorf said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada needs to keep his troops in town and get the health bill passed.

“I think they can’t ever stop,” said Elmendorf, now a lobbyist. “If it carries over to next year, you can’t leave for two weeks at Christmas and then come back. You always have to look like you’re trying to push the ball down the field.” Waiting until January won’t make it easier with moderate Democrats who have concerns about the bill or Republicans who have promised a lengthy floor fight, he said.

Others don’t think the situation is nearly so dire. They say that Democrats could deliver a bill to Obama by the State of the Union speech early next year or even in the spring. Between Christmas and the New Year, they say, people are focused on their families — rather than politics — and would be unlikely to participate in town hall meetings aimed at health care or any other legislative issue.

House Democrats are expected to begin debate on their health care overhaul measure on Friday and may vote on the bill as soon as Saturday. In the Senate, Reid is awaiting a Congressional Budget Office analysis of proposals he sent to the agency as part of his efforts to combine bills passed by the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee into one measure that the chamber could begin considering later this month.

Obama took office vowing to make a health care overhaul his premier domestic policy goal, and for much of the year it appeared that the legislation had great momentum. Then a series of angry town hall meetings in August set back the legislation and raised questions about whether Congress could pass a bill this year. When the Finance Committee finally passed a measure last month with one Republican vote, it appeared that the health care bill was back on track, with both chambers moving full speed ahead.

But with some moderate Democrats hanging back, Reid has been unable to put together a 60-vote majority to take up and pass the bill. Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., both have struggled to win support from moderates who have expressed concern about the cost of the bill. Other House Democrats have threatened to block the measure over contentious abortion and immigration issues.

Reid shocked the Senate on Tuesday when he said that the chamber might not act on health care legislation this year. “We’re not going to be bound by any timelines,” he said. “We need to do the best job for the American people.”

Reid spokesman Jim Manley later clarified Reid’s remarks. “Our goals remain unchanged,” he said. “We want to get health insurance reform done this year, and we have unprecedented momentum to achieve that. There is no reason why we can’t have a transparent and thorough debate in the Senate and still send a bill to the President by Christmas.”

Even if House Democrats move their measure quickly, debate in the Senate could take considerably longer.

“I think this is as big and complicated an issue as has Congress has faced in a long, long time. I think it’s very difficult to truncate the time,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. “The House of Representatives can do that by packaging up the rule and bringing it to the floor. This is going to be difficult and long, and I think it’s going to take awhile in the Senate.”

Noting the size and complexity of the health care bill, as well as its historic significance, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has signaled that Republicans intend to have a long debate over the measure.

“We don’t think we ought to be passing a 2,000-page, trillion dollar bill. I think we ought to be going step by step to fix the problems the American people see in our health care system,” he told reporters.

When the election results first came in for the EU Parliament back in June, it initially looked like the Swedish Pirate Party would get two seats, though it was later downgraded to just one. However, it looks like they’re back up to two due to a recent treaty agreement. This means that Amelia Andersdotter will be joining Christian Engstrom in the EU Parliament, representing the Pirate Party and the rights of consumers. I’ve seen Amelia speak in the past, and, like Christian, I think she does an excellent job explaining the position of the Pirate Party and the civil rights issues it represents.

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Needless to say, AT&T’s none too happy about Verizon’s “Theres a Map for That” campaign. AT&T first complained about the ads back in October, saying they were misleading. Verizon responded by adding a few extra words and an itsy bitsy disclaimer – but that wasn’t enough for AT&T. Early this morning, AT&T filed a false advertising suit against Big Red, presumably in an effort to get the ads off the air as soon as possible.

This afternoon, AT&T sent out an internal memo regarding the lawsuit, and we’ve obtained a copy.

Homebrew coder FluBBa has released a new version of S8DS, a port of the SEGA 8-bit emulator SMSAdvance for the NIntendo DS. The latest update has add…

The Japanese, I am told, really love their stationery. Pens, pencils, erasers, special paper, cases for everything — one trip to Muji, my favorite store, will confirm this. Unfortunately, stationeriphilia in the US is more of a high-class “my pen is made out of solid gold” affair. So when JetPens, an etailer for Japanese pens and miscellany, offered to send a couple of their favorite things, I accepted gladly. There’s so much stuff there that I just had them select a few things at random — and this is what I got.

A stylish little fountain pen – thinner and more portable than your average fountain pen (or quill).
A chubbier fountain pen – what can I say? It’s chubbier.
Mechanical pencil with auto-rotating lead – I haven’t been able to observe it very closely, but supposedly this pencil actually rotates the pencil lead just a little bit every time you lift the tip from the page, meaning you’re always using a fresh and sharp part of the lead. True? Possibly. Awesome? Definitely.
Twist eraser that’s all corners – a great idea. It’s a little wobbly, but the fact that it’s made up almost entirely of corners means you can erase little lines without messing with the neighboring letters or other bits of drawing.
Standing pencil case – honestly, not too exciting. I have one of these already, it’s called the cup on my desk.
“Beetle tip” highlighter – you can highlight all the text, use just a little tip to circle or whatever, or you can put lines above and below. Not such a huge advance over the traditional wedge shape, but hey, why not?

I know, I know, this isn’t a stationery blog. But I think sometimes we forget that there is innovation and weird stuff going on where you least expect it — in mechanical pencils and stuff. You like gadgets, so why not have a gadgety pen, or have a crazy pencil that sharpens itself? Live the life!

Well, it looks like Nintendo has done it to us again. Purchasers of the new game, The Legend of Zelda – Spirit Tracks in Japan will receive a special transparent quill stylus when they buy the game. It’s not even a pre-order bonus, it’s going to be given out on launch day — just not in the U.S.

To be fair, we have seen these stylii before. In 2007, Nintendo offered them as a bribe reward for registering the Phantom Hourglass, and filling out a short survey. And, we don’t know for certain that we won’t see this offered in North America. It hasn’t been mentioned as a pre-order item yet, but who knows. I do know I wouldn’t mind having one. Spirit Tracks will be available in Japan on December 7th.

Homebrew coder Jeff Lait has recently released a new version of Powder, a roguelike homebrew game originally developed for the GBA that involves diffe…

Spider veins are the lesser form of varicose veins, but they can be nearly as devastating to the appearance. Women who suffer from spider veins are more likely to hide their legs behind long skirts or stockings in order to avoid the embarrassment of showing off their marked veins. This problem is preventable, though.

Spider veins tend to appear mainly on the legs, although technically, they could occur on any part of the body. They look like a fine web of dark red, purple or even blue lines under the skin and are not as pronounced as varicose veins. However, they still can cause considerable discomfort. Some women complain that they are extremely painful.

Keeping up great circulation in your legs is the first step to being able to prevent spider veins. You can do this by not using tight clothing on your legs, which might cut off the circulation and encouraging blood flow to the legs. This might be in the form of a daily leg massage or exercise. Simply walking or jogging a little each day reduces your risk of developing these unsightly veins.

Your mother may have told you that crossing your legs would cause varicose veins. She was right. Cutting off the circulation to your lower leg and foot is the perfect way to create a varicose vein problem, since both spider and varicose veins are caused by lack of blood flow. Increasing the blood flow to the areas most at risk will help prevent problems later on. This is good advice to follow even if you are very young, as it can prevent spider veins once you get older.

Maintaining your weight at a healthy level is also very important since extra weight puts extra pressure on your legs and may result in spider veins. This is particularly true during pregnancy when you would gain anyway. Keeping the weight gain to the recommended amount during pregnancy ensures that you are spider vein free after the baby is born.

Avoiding salt in your diet can keep swelling and hypertension to a minimum as well. These conditions often go hand in hand with spider veins and varicose veins. Adding more Vitamin C and E is also a great natural way to reduce swelling in the legs and may work to prevent vein disorders.

If you do end up with spider veins, despite all your attempts to keep your circulation high and eat well, there are still alternatives. Surgery is the most invasive, where the veins are actually removed. This is usually reserved for problem veins that don’t respond to other treatments.

Another treatment is to inject the offending veins with a special liquid that causes the veins to scar up and close. This forces the blood to be redirected and leaves the area clear. The procedure is painless, but may need to be repeated several times. Also, laser surgery may prove effective and is the least invasive of all treatments for spider veins.

If you wish to prevent or treat spider veins, try the tips above before heading to your doctor. While the preventions given are usually quite effective, it really depends on you and your lifestyle as well as your genetic makeup.

Related posts:

1. Understanding Varicose Veins: Basics, Symptoms, Treatment, & Prevention
2. Foam Sclerotherapy in Treatment of Varicose Veins: Results From Europe
3. Varicose Vein Treatment Options: Stripping, Ligation, Phlebectomy, Endovenous Treatment (Thermal Or Chemical)

You may recall last year that the state of Oregon tried to claim copyright in preventing others from republishing Oregon laws. Yes, that seems incredibly counterproductive, and eventually the state backed down. However, it looks like Oregon’s Attorney General is now also claiming copyright on the Attorney General’s Public Record and Public Meeting Manual. Yes. A government official claiming copyright over a document on the public record. Wonderful. Carl Malamud is trying to get the Attorney General to issue an opinion that such things will not be covered by copyright. But, again, can anyone provide any good reason why any government document should be covered by copyright?

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...Then we will benchmark in the shade.

There’s not a lot more to this story than “this is a freaking huge video card,” so just gaze in awe at this monstrosity and then move on to the next post. [via HardOCP]