a blab by idle

Get Firefox!

I think I've finally decided to upgrade to MT 3.x, so over the course of the next few weeks, watch for changes (and apologies in advance for any accidental downtimes).

I am hoping this will allow me to add more facile Atom/RSS support to the metablog as well.

Celebrex, one of my old mainstay drugs for acute gout attacks, is a member of a class of drugs called COX-2 inhibitors. It is considered superior to traditional NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen (Aleve), because those block both COX-1 and COX-2; COX-1 inhibition is what traditionally causes the gastric side effects of NSAIDs.

However, with Merck's recent recall and suspension of Vioxx, their COX-2 offering, the FDA is starting to call into question the risks involved with selective suppression of COX-2, especially on cardiac health. A detailed article from Medscape (free registration required) gives some great details on this, including the following passage:

According to Dr. Wolfe, the COX-2 enzyme has important functions throughout the body, including bone healing, repair of tendon rupture, circulation to the heart, and other protective and restorative roles, especially in emergency situations. "The body needs to be able to produce [the COX-2 enzyme] and use it as part of the healing process," Dr. Wolfe said. "By inhibiting it as the COX-2 inhibitors do, more so than the older NSAIDs, you're asking for trouble.... I think the safe way to go is really not to use any of the drugs in this class, even the ones left after Vioxx is coming off the market."

I think it's important for everyone to take a long, hard look at whether or not COX-2 inhibition is an appropriate treatment mechanism, especially for arthritic conditions.

Oh, man.

As if Yuki's friends weren't enough.

Now I've seen the glory that Tony's pulled off with his.

And now I'm starting to get the twitch.

The Nikon D70.

How sweet it is.

I've already converted all the office Mac users over to this, and others have been IMing me from all over asking me "So, how are you having your iTunes song pop up in your status message?"

Ah, the joy of a great little piece of donationware: iChatStatus, by Infinity to the Power of Infinity.

Are you a Mac user? An iApps user? Then you should check this out. Don't worry that it only mentions working with OS X 10.2; it works just fine with 10.3.

And if you're not? Well, the new iBooks, announced today, are very tasty — and very cheap, too….

Usually I don't solicit on my blog. In fact, I'm not sure I ever have before.

But this is different.

Open source software is, for some, a totally new paradigm; for others, an irrepressible part of life. It defines an entirely new approach to the development of the tools that make these hunks of iron, plexiglass, lead, tin, silicon, and such actually useful. Software that enables people, because people define the software — not the other way around.

On November 9th, the first ever national print ad campaign for a piece of open source software will be unleashed. Firefox 1.0 will be released, and the announcement will be a full-page (or more!) ad in the New York Times, nationwide.

Open source is a community-driven effort. The intersection of open source and commercial media requires community-driven funding.

Please consider joining this historic campaign today.

Somehow this little piece made me laugh and cringe at the same time:

They were both reading magazines

My good friend Anthony's new portfolio just got linked dead top center on Gaper's Block, probably the rockingest Chicago-centric events-blog on the net! (He's got today's entry in the photolog section, Rearview.)

GO TONY!

Okay; an extra $100 for the 60GB HD I can understand. But $200, just for 16 bit color and usage of firmware that's already in the 4G iPods?

I was lusting after it. Now I seriously have to think about it.

But, it has been officially released, and will be available in just a week or two: the iPod Photo.