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1.  

   Dogs raise your blood pressure

   

   dorpus, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 8:54pm

   
   

   I'm about to turn in an assignment tomorrow, analyzing NHANES data of over 20,000 Americans evaluated for blood pressure and social variables. Our analysis found that owning a dog raises heart rate by about 0.5 beats per minute, with a p-value of .01 and a variance inflation factor of 1.03.
   
   In the interests of public health, people should get rid of their dogs. ;-)
   
   Or not. It's likely an artifact correlated with personality, income, or other factors not recorded in the study.
   
   

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2.  

   Re: Dogs raise your blood pressure

   

   Rickler, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 9:22pm

   
   

   Or heart worms you can get from dogs licking you in the face; however, that's quiet rare.

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3.  

   No Subject Given

   

   Saucy Del Mar, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 10:17pm

   
   

   I wonder how a pet rock would measure up...

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4.  

   No Subject Given

   

   m0u5y, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 10:58pm

   
   

   no poop no pee... no attitude.. maybe.
   No fur, now if it can fetch the paper and kill the next door kid... whahah.

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5.  

   They may not be as comforting.

   

   Andrew Strasser, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 11:31pm

   
   

   The technology may however be completely comforting. I am very comforted in knowing that they can now teach a robots brain to work like a dogs. Let's never forget Furby though, he who changed the face of the world. Not even allowed in a govt. facility.

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6.  

   Re: No Subject Given

   

   blorpus, Jan 25th, 2006 @ 11:51pm

   
   

   I wonder how a pet rock would measure up...

   About as well as a pet dorpus.

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7.  

   Re: No Subject Given

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 2:04am

   
   

   a pet rock wouldnt be as anoying.

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8.  

   Existing Pet Replacements

   

   giafly, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 2:36am

   
   

   There are already lots of pet substitutes, such as soft toys, plushies (NSFW) and security blankets. So presumably a lot of already people benefit from these things.

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9.  

   Re: Dogs raise your blood pressure

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 8:36am

   
   

   P value too low to verify that claim, don't you think?

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10.  

    Re: Dogs raise your blood pressure

    

    Shelby, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 8:40am

    
    

    You're an idiot if you think you can get heartworms from a dog licking you. You MIGHT get an intestinal variety of parasite from a dog if they have recently licked their anus (where your head is located) and they have the larvae in their mouth area. Heartworms are transmitted by a intermediate carrier called the mosquito and only the mosquito can trasmit the heartworm larvae and then it has to go through another stage in the dog before it develops into heartworms. You get heartworms from mosquitos and yes cats carry them and people can get them FROM MOSQUITOS!

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11.  

    Re: Dogs raise your blood pressure

    

    Shelby, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 8:42am

    
    

    In other words, your study is not validated and remeber, correlation does not mean causation. You must be a first year student ;0)

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12.  

    Re: Dogs raise your blood pressure

    

    dorpus, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 8:48am

    
    

    Or you're an uneducated person who has a knee-jerk reflex of repeating the cliche that "correlation is not causation". There is a complex art of showing that correlation, odds ratios, and other associations can, given sufficient supporting evidence, imply causation -- but that is beyond the scope of techdirt.
    
    

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13.  

    Robotic dogs extinct

    

    dorpus, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 8:48am

    
    

    Incidentally, Sony is going to stop making aibo dogs in March. Yeah yeah, some people will have a hissy fit because the article isn't in English.
    
    http://www.mainichi-msn.co.jp/today/news/20060127k0000m020125000c.html
    

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14.  

    Re: Robotic dogs extinct

    

    Dazey, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 9:12am

    
    

    For those who want to avoid a hissy fit:
    http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news-11065-AIBO+%3D+Game+Over.+Sony+ceases+the+production.html
    

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15.  

    No Subject Given

    

    Anonymous Female, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 9:39am

    
    

    Electronic replacements for real flesh have their place and time but can never fully supplant the inherent benefits that come from getting the real thing.
    
    

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16.  

    Robot Dogs

    

    Hamid, Jan 26th, 2006 @ 9:18pm

    
    

    Excellent idea. But would they have the same sense of smell.

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