Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Your World In Review: Vaccine-autism link removed, toddler terrorist, Toyota advise

Here are some recent headlines you may have missed.

And Now It's Official
The one and only study finding a tenuous vaccine-autism link, the study that started it all, a study that for many years has been discredited by all it's original authors except Dr Wakefield, has now been officially and voluntarily withdrawn from the Lancet. In voluntarily removing the study, all it's authors agreed that "several elements of the 1998 paper are incorrect." So will this stop the vaccine-autism debate? Unlikely. It's a lot harder to erase irrational fears than it is to create them. Look at the number of people who still search a child's Halloween candy for razor blades.

Toddler Terrorist
The PSA made headlines recently when it confiscated a toddlers play-doh. And thus, I think it's safe to say, the terrorists have won.

Advise for Toyota Users
By now you are probably aware of Toyota's mysterious accelerator problem. If you own a Toyota, you should be aware of what to do if it happens to you: 1) Apply the breaks forcefully with both feet if necessary, 2) immediately shift the vehicle into neutral and bring it to a safe stop. If you can't get it into neutral, turn the engine off...but don't remove the key. If you remove the key you loose your breaks and steering. You might want to practice this maneuver a couple times under safe conditions, so that it becomes second nature and you don't panic should an emergency arise.

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