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Tom’s Tips, Links and Tidbits Newsletter


Wednesday 24th March 2010
G'day,

Hope this finds you fit and well and that you enjoy this week’s selection.
Have a great week!

Tom Grimshaw

Index




Basic Computer User



Microsoft fined $114m over patent dispute with VirnetX

Software giant will challenge verdict. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/169831,microsoft-fined-114m-over-patent-dispute-with-virnetx.aspx


No XP support for IE9, says Microsoft

New browser won't work with ageing OS. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/169945,no-xp-support-for-ie9-says-microsoft.aspx


Japanese scientists build world’s fastest scanner

Scan a 200-page book in one minute. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/169946,japanese-scientists-build-worlds-fastest-scanner.aspx


How to Print your Favourite List

If using Internet Explorer, click File > Import and Export. Then follow the wizard and save the file in the nominated location.
If using Firefox, go to Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks > File/Export.
Both of the above methods will export your Favourites as html file.
Open the saved html file using Internet Explorer (cannot use Firefox here) then select File > Print.
Click the Option tab and check Print table of links
Click Print button, you should see the printed list along with the URL addresses.

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Advanced Computer User



Will Google Buzz be Wave's demise?

If Google Wave eventually fails to live up to the promise and hype that accompanied its launch, consider its demise an inside job. http://www.zdnet.com.au/will-google-buzz-be-wave-s-demise-339301834.htm


Important Web-Site Priority

Web users spend 80% of their time looking at information above the page http://www.useit.com/alertbox/scrolling-attention.html

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Health



U.S PSYCHIATRIST CRITICISES AUSTRALIAN-USED DIAGNOSIS AS “TOO RISKY” AND “POTENTIALLY HARMFUL”

Australian psychiatrist Patrick McGorry’s “Psychosis Risk Syndrome” has been shot down as “too risky, ill-conceived and potentially harmful” by the head of psychiatry’s Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), Allen Frances. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201003/dsm5-psychosis-risk-syndrome-far-too-risky


ADHD Drugs Ineffective and Destructive

Surprise surprise, surprise. If you give a kid speed to suppress the symptoms of a chemical imbalance that does not exist, they do worse in school! Who would have thought it?

Surprise surprise, surprise. If you give a kid speed to suppress the symptoms of a chemical imbalance that does not exist, they do worse in school!

Professor Lou Landau was co-author of the WA-based research which investigated the effectiveness of drugs now widely used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. The principal medical adviser to the West Australian Department of Health said he did not expect such a strongly negative result. “Yes, we weren’t anticipating that significant effect,” Prof Landau told reporters on Wednesday “... or the significant lack of effect of the medication.”

Prof Landau and fellow researchers pulled data from the nation’s long-term Raine Study to assess the health and other outcomes of 131 children with ADHD among more than 2,800 Australian families. It showed how those using conventional ADHD drugs, such as Ritalin and dexamphetamine, had significantly poorer educational outcomes than children with ADHD not using the stimulants.

The drugs were also linked to a “trend toward slightly higher depression scores”, the study found, along with a potentially long-term risk factor for heart disease. Children using ADHD drugs were found to have elevated diastolic blood pressure - which is the minimum pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest. Prof Landau said this side-effect was known though it was previously thought to occur in children “while on the medication and it drops down when you stop”. “That was the difference that this study showed ... it was having an effect on the blood vessels that persisted,” he said.

When it came to educational performance, children on ADHD drugs were shown to be significantly worse off that those with unmedicated or no longer medicated ADHD.

This effect was present even after researchers accounted for the fact that ADHD children with the worst symptoms were most likely to be prescribed the drugs. “In children with ADHD, ever receiving stimulant medication was found to increase the odds of being identified as performing below age-level by a classroom teacher by a factor of 10.5 times,” the study found. Overall, there was “little long-term benefit of stimulant medication” for ADHD children, the study concluded.


FDA Attempting to Determine Why GlaxoSmithKline Rotavirus Vaccine Contains a Pig Virus Called Porcine Circovirus 1

Millions of children have been injected with a vaccine that contains a pig virus that wasn’t supposed to be in the vaccine. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/22/rotavirus.vaccine/?hpt=T2

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Other



Wonderful world-Beautiful people

one million trees planted in Ethiopa http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/20/gashaw-tahir-fights-defor_n_507128.html

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Video Links



One for the boys

PR Caper\Scam\Hoax\and a jolly good laugh too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEqJV1acgN4&


For the cat lovers

Cat antics compilation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wvo-g_JvURI&


Capt. Charles Moore on the seas of plastic

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he’s drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html

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Copyright© 2010 by Tom Grimshaw
PO Box 470 Glebe NSW 2037