Interesting Links for 25-11-2011

[andrewducker]

• IPv6 for consumers on DSL at last
  (tags: ipv6 adsl isp uk internet broadband )
• Apple is the UK's second most popular shopping site (after Amazon)
  (tags: apple shopping uk )
• Google and Samsung confirm Galaxy Nexus volume bugs - glad I'm not upgrading until January!
  (tags: google samsung android )
• Badoo - the billion pound social network you've never heard of (massive in Brazil, Spain, France...)
  (tags: business socialnetworking sex culture badoo )
• Genetic Study Confirms: First Dogs Came from East Asia
  (tags: dogs asia genetics )
• Britain has had a record-breaking freakishly warm autumn
  (tags: autumn weather uk )
• Courts cannot force ISPs into broad filtering and monitoring for copyright-infringing traffic, ECJ rules
  (tags: law privacy internet copyright EpicWin )
• Offshore unit launched to tackle international tax avoidance
  (tags: tax uk )
• UK switching cervical cancer vaccine to one which also protects against genital warts
  (tags: uk nhs vaccine women )
• Seeing nude people tunes up the brain
  (tags: nudity brain psychology )
• Some very interesting stats on home births, midwives, etc.
  (tags: birth children healthcare )
• Ethical bank Triodos opens its first UK branch (in Edinburgh)
  (tags: uk scotland edinburgh bank ethics )
• Organising movie posters by different tropes they use. Strangely hypnotic.
  (tags: posters design cinema movies art poster )
• It's nice to know that there's at least one class out there getting decent sex education
  (tags: sex education sexuality society )
• Willpower Is more than a metaphor: Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source.
  (tags: glucose sugar willpower self-control )
• Journalists tried to reach JK Rowling through her five-year-old daughter. Can we shoot them now?
  (tags: journalism uk media jkrowling )
• 50p tax rate not actually causing a massive problem.
  (tags: tax uk )

Comments

[thejeopardymaze]

Home birth 'carries higher risk' for first-time mothers

I always thought it was elementary or high school biology that the human female body put up with more potential dangers during pregnancy and childbirth than most mammals, but apparently the message is being lost due to romanticism about nature these days. I won't deny there are a lot of assholes and clueless doctors out there, indeed I think it's harmful to the cause of the anti-quackery crusade, but medical advances and technology for pregnant women aren't an evil conspiracy against women, its saved so many mothers and babies.

[dalglir.livejournal.com]

The BBC article on increased risks in home births is news?

Anyone who, through a process of informed choice, chooses to put themselves far away from hospital is electing (but not guaranteeing) themselves and their unborn child for a Darwin Award.

Anyone who has convinced themselves that birth is some kind of magical, low risk activity because it is 'natural' is deluded. It is painful, frightening, bloody and fraught with risk. Afterwards, it is magical. 

No amount of home comfort will make up for a child, carried for nine months, that dies through any number of sudden complications that might otherwise have been saved if the appropriate teams and equipment had been on hand.

Of course, a hospital birth is by no means a guarantee. But I would say that it's the equivalent of adding an extra couple of D20's to a Saving Throw and I, for one, would rather have those the increased odds of survivability.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I'm not advocating shooting journalists or bankers but I am surprised that neither group has seen members become the victims of vigilanties or terrorists.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

Could you put a note in the link title when it's a PDF?
(Or recommend a Firefox plugin that can open them rather than download :)

[erratio.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in reading more about the glucose/motivation stuff, Roy Baumeister keeps a lovely page where you can get pdfs of his papers emailed to you. He's also looked at sex drive.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Gardasil has been in use here for a few years, though it's only been approved for use in women up to age 26, if I recall correctly. Sucks to be older than that -- you can't get it on request, It Hasn't Been Approved.