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POPSIs There a Privacy Risk in Google Flu Trends? From the article: "But he insisted that, by highlighting the unresolved problem, Google Flu Trends made things worse. “I think this does change the game,” he said. “Google is inviting public health officials to make more of search information. In doing so, it has heightened the privacy risk to people who search for health information online.” Or perhaps it has just let people know that if they are concerned about the privacy of those searches, they should use a computer at their local library or some other place where tracking them would be harder." Maybe, it is our notion of privacy that is ought to change? after all whenever we use a new technology it bounds to use the user as well..
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POPS'Joe the Plumber' Complains About Media Attention Look buddy, you don't get to hold a press conference and then complain that the media's giving you too much attention. You especially don't get to do it on a cable news network show. In related news, McCain accuses Democrats of " smearing " Wurzelbacher -- as if all that stuff about him not actually being licensed, being behind on his taxes, and being opposed to Social Security are Democrats' fault.
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POPSWhy doing nothing may sometimes be the best action of all
By taking action — even if it’s neither rational nor likely to be successful — they can at least be seen to have done something.If they stand and wait until the ball is kicked and then fail to stop it, they feel worse because of their inaction; and others are far more likely to criticize them for not appearing even to try. It’s better to try a poor action than try a better — but seemingly passive — response if both fail; even though the “inactive” response is more rational and based on a better likelihood of success. In today’s business world, action is preferred over the alternatives and is more likely to result in forgiveness when a mistake is made. You can always say that you tried. The person who does nothing is doubly damned: once for the mistake and again for not “doing something.”This urge to action — to get things done — is more emotional than rational. “Wait and see” risks your credibility and reputation, even where it can be shown to be the optimal course.
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POPSNew Math For Analyzing Evolutionary Trees "What this tells me is that you don't know what kind of mathematics is going to be useful to biology," Billera says. "It wasn't clear before this that geometry and topology would be useful to biology. Who would think they had anything to do with each other?" Ernst Haeckel's classic hand-drawn diagram is just for fun—it's one of those wonderful diagrams that functions as both science and art.
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POPSGorillas May Have Played Role in AIDS Epidemic The origin of HIV has been a mystery since 1984, when researchers first conclusively showed that it causes AIDS. Over the past 20 years, evidence has accumulated that points to Africa and a similar virus in chimpanzees. Many scientists suspect that the chimp virus jumped into humans who hunt and butcher these great apes. Now a group led by virologist Martine Peeters of the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement in Montpellier, France, has found that gorillas may have played a supporting role in the origin of the AIDS epidemic.
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