Is RU486 more dangerous than pregnancy?

This seems to be the question noone's asking. It would clarify the matter suposedly under consideration in the Aussie parliament at the moment. Tony Abbot's claim that he will be objective [about whether the drug is safe to be prescribed] is hollow; the Theaputic Goods Administration is clearly the best route to objectivity.

It's turning into the usual pro-death vs pro-populate-my-religion-with-as-many-offspring-as-possible slanging match. I think women would like a realistic estimate of the risks of using the drug... and the test that should satisy the usual do-no-harm test of medicine is stated above.

But if you believe that the health of the foetus is of equal value to that of the pregnant woman, then we're at an impasse.

Late Night TV

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a sucker for late night TV. I like the shows that have a niche audience in the US or UK, which makes it a non-audience in Australia, and allows the commercial stations to discharge their "community obligations" without forgoing any revenue. Last year the pick was Arrested Development, the year before it was Nip/Tuck (which got moved to prime time later in the season), and before that Roswell.... you get the idea. My latest find is "Push, Nevada", which is a little X-files and a little bit Miller's Crossing with some Dukes of Hazard thrown in. It's nicely anachronistic, with charachters driving cars from the 60s, wearing clothes from the 70s and 80s, and using mobile phones. The lead characheter is from the IRS, and there are 3 MIBs (who actually wear blue suits) who have hundreds of other MIBs at their disposal, and carry ID for several state and federal cop outfits.

Gadget Woes Solved

I complained in a previous blog entry that my Powerbook's headphone jack was broken, and was only giving me sound out of one channel. Then I bought an iMic, and had stereo sound again.... but a week or two later when I wanted to play something back through the built-in speakers rather than the iMic, I went to the appropriate System menu, and found that there was a Balance slider associated with each sound device, which I'd never seen before, and definitely never set to play out of only the left speaker.... but that was how it was set, and sliding it back to the middle fixed my problem!!! The timing is right, as the expensive Sound Blaster Live! Platinum in my PC has just stopped working, so I can move the iMic there as a replacement sound card!

Yet another urinal idea

I found this "Pee Tree" on Gizmodo, but it was posted on We-Make-Money-Not-Art. There are more pictures and diagrams there...