Scientology Preventing Resale - Trend Might be Formed

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On February 18th, 2008, Reality Based Community posted an article about Scientology. The interesting part of it is when they talk about Ex-Scientologist's troubles with reselling "e-meters." "E-meters" are used by the church to detect thought or something related. The Church of Scientology is the primary seller of "e-meters," availible for high prices. When ex-scientologists try to sell "e-meters" on ebay, the auctions dissapear within hours. This is because The Church of Scientology is part of Ebay's "Vero" program, which is intended to allow owners of a particular intellectual property remove counterfeit auctions.

The first thing to gather is that this is not about Scientology, it's about a company's ability to prevent resale. In this case, the company is making more money by forcing people to buy the product new. While this isn't criminal in and of itself, it's that they're using something (Vero) that wasn't intended to block resale; it's intended to block counterfeits. Assuming they're not stopped somehow down the road, perhaps more and more companies will use "Vero" to prevent resale. This would force more people to pay higher prices directly to the company. On the other hand, it could just pick up the economy; it's based on a flow system, so putting some money in one direction will eventually have the money come back.

Personally, I like buying things used. It's usually not a devastating loss of quality, but the price is greatly reduced. It's also nice to buy something new, knowing that if things don't work out, part of the initial investment can be recouped by resale. So I would initially be against this sort of thing. However, upon consideration of the circular flow model and how giving money to businesses can result in the money coming back to you, it could actually strengthen the economy. It's hard to decide between a small payoff now, or an uncertain large payoff in the future.

Botox Linked to Deaths

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On Saturday, it was announced that Botox has been linked to some deaths. Botox is used for cosmetic reasons or to stop spasms. It works by applying a toxin that paralyzes muscles to a specific area. The FDA says that it is possible for the toxin to spread in one's body, eventually affecting the heart or lungs; bad news for anyone who wants to live. However, the number of deaths is very small; 16. According to Dr. Russell Katz, it's not the deaths that alarms, but the potential for death. Dr. Sidney Wolfe calls for more warnings about this risk.

This is significant because there are plenty of people that use Botox, for whatever purpose. Risks of Botox aren't necessarily stated. So this could lead to outrage of the general populace. It could also lead to less Botox being purchased, and therefore less places that administer Botox. If outrage is high enough, this could even lead towards a general distrust of plastic surgery.

Personally, if there were dangers to a drug, I'd like to be informed. Especially if I didn't know the "drug" was actually a toxin. On the other hand, it's not like there's a pandemic going on with this drug. It's literally a few deaths. So while the company that makes and distributes Botox might not get in trouble for their past actions, they should certainly make the risks well known now.

Writer's Strike Could End Soon

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According to the Wired website, it has now been announced that the writer's strike could be at an end. Writers have been showing interesting in the Studios' new deal. Of course, a better deal might come at the cost of the industry, so the writers don't have that much choice.

This is significant because the American populace has been forced to do without their television shows and whatnot. Were the writer's strike to finally be over, then television shows and other media would finally return. The writers would get a better deal. The studio heads would be forced to pay their writers more.

Personally, I think this is a great thing. I've been forced to do without my favorite tv shows for far too long now. It's about time they get back on the air. While I sympathize with the writer's plight a bit, it's not like they don't already get paid large sums of cash. And they've caused large amounts of damage to their industry. So the strike coming to an end would be good.

Return of the Current Event

So my class is making me do more current events. And since I like passing my classes, I shall comply.

I guess one can only go for so long knowing nothing about what's going on.