Category: I Think …

Patenting Medical Facts – How Can It Be A Good Thing?

As science rushes forward, exploring the nooks and crannies of the human body, society is struggling to keep up. Science pushes boundaries often for the sake of simple exploration (with little thought to appropriateness and reasoning). Society then comes running behind trying to keep the mess created as clean as possible. A great example of putting the horse before the cart.

This race is nicely captured in the issue of Medical Facts patents – patents granted to people or corporations that concern a natural biological fact. For a good example, check out the following article from PUBPAT – a public interest group concerned with the patenting process. The article outlines the group’s position on a recently granted patent that is being appealed in the court system. The article puts it best:

The issue stems from a case that involves a patent granted by the U.S. Patent Office on diagnosing B12 or folic acid deficiency, which can cause serious human illnesses such as cancer and vascular disease, simply by knowing if a patient has an elevated homocysteine level. It is a matter of natural biology that whether someone has a B12 or folic acid insufficiency is related to whether they have a high level of homocysteine, because homocysteine is an amino acid metabolized by B12 and folic acid. Lower courts ruled that doctors who use or discuss the relationship between B12 or folic acid and homocysteine committed illegal patent infringement….

Pardon? What? Discussing a naturally occurring relationship is considered patent infringement?
Continue reading Patenting Medical Facts – How Can It Be A Good Thing?

Resistance Is Futile

Today I joined the masses – I succumbed to the alluring call of the white earbuds and the slick interface. I am now an iPod owner.

As a card-carrying member of the geek brotherhood (should that be capitalized?), I was resisting getting an iPod for a few reasons. The lack of open standards support, the proprietary software interface and the price premium for being trendy (never a good thing for a geek) were paramount on this list. But looking around at the alternatives really depressed me, as most of them are large, chunky things. In terms of usability, there really is no way of beating this wheel interface Apple has patented – try as Apple’s competitors might.

So I’ve been coveting an iPod for many a year now, though I’ve always wanted to hold back until I could afford one that was large enough to bottle up my entire music collection. Well Apple finally made my year and discontinued one of their models – meaning price cuts for all!.

So now I’m like a kid in a candy store – though it’s a Linux candy store. I’ve found out that plugging the iPod into my Linux desktop simply worked. I was able to download an OpenSource programme called gtkpod that allows me to sync up the iPod with my music collection, thereby replacing the need for iTunes. And I didn’t have to do a thing!

Bravo to the Linux Desktop people (specifically the Project Utopia team) and the developers working on gtkpod! Now leave me to my precious.

Dogs vs. Cats

I was down at the beach today, nursing my swollen toe and watching Dazy running around trying frantically to catch up with one of the seagulls or ducks. Watching her have so much fun, it occurred to me why dogs are simply better pets than cats. No, I won’t hear another argument about it – the debate is finally settled.

Dogs remind us that there are simple pleasures in life. In fact, they make it so easy to let them have the time of their life that you end up feeling like a better person for inciting such joy in another living animal. Sure it’s somewhat self-centered, but I can’t see how a cat owner can compete with that sense of accomplishment. Cats by their very nature are independent and distant – looking for affection when and if it suits them. And when (if) you finally do seem to make them happy they take on the attitude that it was their due, and that you’ve simply delivered them what they had coming naturally. Dogs on the other hand are much more obvious about their gratitude.

Being able to incite joy and happiness in others is something to be proud of, and taking a dog for a walk on the beach gets you much closer to that ideal than playing with a cat and string.