Fri, 29 Jul 2005 12:05:45 GMT

Un-golden pond.

In 2003, Trish and James Shamp fell in love with the view behind a house in a new Elk River development and bought the house. There were eagles swooping from the sky, frogs frolicking, deer drinking from the waters of what the Shamps and their neighbors thought was a pond. [startribune.com Top Stories]

This story has it all: possibly unscrupulous developers, duped home buyers, Bambi, eco-destruction. All because the city cleared a clogged drain that removed the ‘pond’ that had developed. At least it brought the neighbors together.

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:46:15 GMT

Hey doc, do I still need this catheter?. Millions of hospital patients could be spared the humiliation and infection risk that come with a urine-collecting catheter, a new study finds, if hospitals used a simple reminder system to prompt doctors to remove the devices after two days. The system could more than pay for itself by preventing infections. [EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases]

Yeah, the simple reminder system is for the nurses to WRITE a reminder on the patient’s records! Wow. What an advance that could prevent thousands of urinary infections. The old ways are sometimes best.

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:42:38 GMT

“Citizen’s Guide to Refusing New York Subway Searches” [Daypop Top 40]

Very useful to know. The site alos had a link to a report that people are walking up to the police and voluntarily offering to have their bags searched. Of course this could very well negate the current strategy. A bomber would not have to worry as much about a random search if they sent in someone first to occupy the officer;s attention by asking for a search. As the officer searches that bag, the bober walks right in.

The only thing to do then is to search everyone, something that is pretty difficult to do at the moment. So the seeming altruism of some people may actually hamper the efforts.

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:38:32 GMT

“Here’s why you can’t buy the News Journal at Wal-Mart “ [Daypop Top 40]

Interesting response of this megacorporation to a local newspaper.Ceasing to sell a newpaper because it does not like what a local columnists said is within its rights but does not seem like a very effective business decision. But then, power corrupts.