Killer T-Cells

Fascinating Slate article about treating advanced malignant melanoma (and perhaps many other types of cancer, and maybe HIV, and...) using genetic engineering.

Worth Watching

Osama Wins

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

The madness of crowds

Okay, I know that the last thing anyone wants to read on a holiday is a set of BusinessWeek articles on mortgages, but it's important. The articles lay out the full depth of the problem with various mortgage products -- specifically option ARMs but also no-docs, >100% mortgages, etc. -- that have been marketed to people who clearly can't afford them and won't, in the post-bubble real estate market, have the home equity to make good even in a foreclosure situation. Oh, and the revenue's already been booked by the lenders, even though the lenders are, in effect, lending the people the money to make those payments.

Yet money is still pouring into this impending train wreck of uncollectable insufficiently-secured debts. It's not like the US government will bail out companies that make ill-advised real estate loans...oh, right, it has before.

The bitterest pill

We all have rock-star dreams. We all want to play guitar like the guy in the video Dad posted while hitting every note of our eight-octave range and doing our trademark complex, strangely mesmerizing dance called the Funky Grandpa. Decades after our debut single hits #1 in 43 countries, fans will argue endlessly over whether our just-released album redefines the standard of brilliance set by the previous 27 great albums. Nobody would mention that one ill-advised album of Motown covers. Our hits will never be used to sell athletic shoes, retirement-planning services, or impotency drugs.

Let's face it, though...chances are, this is how it would turn out.

(Original via Bill Simmons; I've edited this to include a higher-quality version someone pointed out.)