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All posts for the month December, 2008

A very Merry Christmas To One And All

Posted by Les Scammell on December 24, 2008
Posted in: General.

To all my regular readers, and to those visiting today – a very merry Christmas to you all. I hope the festive season brings you joy, peace and most of all, a happy time with friends and family.

As this year draws to a close it will be a time for reflection – I hope as we look back we all look forward as well. The year ahead will be tough for many people given our current financial woes. The one thing we should all remember is that this is not the first recession to hit the world, nor will it be the last. More importantly, we have all survived previous economic problems and we will survive this one.

For one day – Christmas Day, we can forget these problems and just enjoy the festivities. Once again – Merry Christmas to you ALL.

Christmas Rip Offs – Too Much White Smoke

Posted by Les Scammell on December 19, 2008
Posted in: Ranting.

I am cheesed off and resent receiving emails from businesses that in the past I have held in respect but which now resort to false and misleading advertising.

Here in Australia, as backward as some people think we may be, we have strong laws against what is effectively bait advertising. In other words, advertising something everything storewide for $1, however when you arrive you find that you can only get the $1 on certain products and you must first pay $80-$100 on another product first.

If the advertisement stated that policy, no problems. Everyone is forewarned and you know there conditions attached.

This last week I have received numerous emails from a leading writing software supplier advertising everything storewide for $1. When you go to buy the product you want – that is advertised at $1, they charge you $79. Not only that, they auto click an addon for another $20 – again, not the $1 storewide.

It is no wonder that people distrust online advertising, particularly email advertising. Furthermore, whilst I don’t condone the activity, these tactics feed more ammunition to those that try to justify the illegal copying of software. One of there arguments has always been – ‘if software providers are going to rip us off, they cannot complain when we do the same’.

It’s Christmas and people are trying to buy goods online and save money. False ads like these are like a White Smoke screen to lure you in the door. If you don’t watch what you are doing, you will find $100 on your credit card instead of $1.

Has anyone else had any similar happen to them?

Do You Support Cord Blood Stem Cell Banking?

Posted by Les Scammell on December 7, 2008
Posted in: Health, Ranting. Tagged: .

Have you heard of cord blood banking, cord blood stem cell banking, or perhaps umbilical cord blood banking. The term should probably be collection rather than banking. Anyway, it is the collection of cord blood that has got me ranting this time – with a little bit of a rave as well.

There is plenty of scientific evidence now to show that the harvesting of stem cells from the umbilical cord blood of a new born baby can be used to effectively treat certain illnesses. In Australia there has been a lot of controversy over the use of embryonic stem cells for research – from what I have read the stem cells from cord blood can also be used for research.

To date they have had varying success with the treatment of leukemia and other childhood diseases. With research who knows what the future may hold. We don’t know and we wont know unless we collect this blood and allow research to progress.

My rant is directed towards our local health services although from what I can gather, there are many places around the world were the same is true. We live around an hours drive from the nearest capital city. They collect blood donations, pathology specimens and other medical information but they will not collect cord blood to be sent off and processed. Why? They are not set up for it.

It takes about 5 minutes to insert a syringe and draw of the blood from the baby’s umbilical cord and store it for collection. The collected blood can then be sent off at the same time as all the samples. I think it is a small thing to ask when the potential benefits are huge.

Have you had your baby’s cord blood collected for stem cell harvesting and storage or use? Do you know about private collection for future use by your family? Cord blood stem cell banking is big business in the US when it comes to private use. For public use, there are far too few resources available.