Somewhere in Beijing, “The Third Man” is running on a continuous loop
China Recalls Two Leukemia Drugs
The Chinese government has recalled yet another group of products because of possible adverse medical reactions—this time drugs designed to fight leukemia.
The Associated Press reports that the drugs — methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride were causing leg pains and other problems. China's news agency said that most of the tainted drugs had been recovered but did not say whether any of the medications had been exported, the A.P.said.
The drugs were manufactured by the Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co., the wire service reported. It said China's State Food and Drug Administration and Health Ministry banned the two leukemia drugs after receiving reports that several children with leukemia who were taking them complained of leg pains and difficulty walking.
A number of products exported from China have had to be recalled during the past two years, ranging from millions of toys that had too much lead content to millions of pounds of pet food additives. (Washington Post)
Wouldn’t it be easier if we just assumed there’s lead in everything they send us?
Game over
Man dies after 3-day gaming binge
BEIJING, China (AP) -- A man in southern China appears to have died of exhaustion after a three-day Internet gaming binge, state media said Monday. The 30-year-old man fainted at a cyber cafe in the city of Guangzhou Saturday afternoon after he had been playing games online for three days, the Beijing News reported.
Paramedics tried to revive him but failed and he was declared dead at the cafe, it said. The paper said that he may have died from exhaustion brought on by too many hours on the Internet.
The report did not say what the man, whose name was not given, was playing.
The report said that about 100 other Web surfers "left the cafe in fear after witnessing the man's death."
China has 140 million Internet users, second only to the U.S. It is one of the world's biggest markets for online games, with tens of millions of players, many of whom hunker down for hours in front of PCs in public Internet cafes.
Several cities have clinics to treat what psychiatrists have dubbed "Internet addiction" in users, many of them children and teenagers, who play online games or surf the Web for days at a time. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend. The Associated Press/CNN
I would have thought they’d try an emergency thumbectomy first.
No, the grande is the small
Famed '$100 laptop' now $188
Price hike could make it harder for governments to sign up as customers
The vaunted "$100 laptop" that Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers dreamed up for international schoolchildren is becoming a slightly more distant concept.
Leaders of the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child that was spun out of MIT acknowledged Friday that the devices would cost $188 if mass production, expected to begin this fall, were to start now. The last price the nonprofit had announced was $176; it described $100 as a long-term goal. MSNBC
Sounds like a project for Mr. Gates.
“I don’t want to go where there is going to be a lot of foreigners.”
By Nicola Clark
There are already several dozen space tourism ventures in various stages of development worldwide, analysts say, offering experiences ranging from a brief trip to the outer limits of the Earth's atmosphere to an extended stay in a zero-gravity space hotel. Public and private investors in places as far flung as Dubai, New Mexico and Singapore are preparing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to develop full-blown "spaceports," complete with hotels, museums, Imax theaters and other space-themed diversions.
With the first paying passengers expected to take flight sometime in late 2009, Futon, a market research firm, predicts that as many as 14,000 space tourists will be heading into space each year by 2021, generating annual revenue of more than $700 million.
"There is quite a contest going on at the moment between a number of companies," said Walter Peeters, dean of the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. "I think people underestimate how fast this is developing. For the companies who succeed, it could be very, very lucrative." The leading entrepreneurs driving this recreational space race include several household names, including the British billionaire Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com. But major corporations, including European Aeronautic Defense & Space, the parent company of Airbus, are also investing significant sums in projects designed to deliver well-heeled adventurers into space.
For their $200,000, these individuals will receive four days of specialized training followed by a three-hour flight involving just five minutes of weightlessness at an altitude of 70 miles, or 110 kilometers, above sea level. From there, the company says, passengers will be able to see 1,000 miles in any direction, as well as the curved blue line of the Earth's atmosphere against the black sky of space. If all goes according to plan, Virgin Galactic says it expects to fly its first passengers in late 2009 or early 2010.International Herald Tribune
Yeah, but will you still be able to get a nice tan?
A Web site filled with cheesy goodness
1.5 million people log on to pay their respects to Wedginald, the big cheese
WWW.CHEDDARVISION.TV It must rank as one of the weirdest spectator sports, having attracted a global audience of more than 1.5 million in less than a year, and it involves, literally, nothing happening. People across the globe have been logging on to a website in huge numbers to watch a 44lb handmade cheddar cheese from Shepton Mallet slowly mature. Addicted surfers have, over the last nine months, been able to admire the Somerset-based cheese, named Wedginald by its creators. So far, 1,525,548 are registered as having logged on.
Along with a huge picture of the prized cheese, the website’s only other noticeable feature is a chronicle of how long it has been maturing: in days, hours, minutes and seconds. By yesterday, the number of days had reached 268.
Wedginald also appears on MySpace, Facebook and YouTube sites. Another huge influx of interest is expected this week when, for the first time since the project got under way, something actually happens. Viewers will be able to see Wedginald undergo a nine-month grading test. At the end of the year the matured cheese, valued at around £400, will be auctioned for charity. (Times OnLIne)
It's killing the paint drying channel in the ratings.
Headline of the day
Cities Cracking Down on Saggy Pants
By MATTHEW VERRINDER
(AP) - Proposals to ban saggy pants are starting to ride up in several places. At the extreme end, wearing pants low enough to show boxers or bare buttocks in one small Louisiana town means six months in jail and a $500 fine. A crackdown also is being pushed in Atlanta. And in Trenton, getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but a city worker assessing where your life is headed.
At least they’re not being distracted by silly things like literacy, test scores or graduation rates.
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