Joel Blain has turned 22. Go wish him happy birthday.

A few odds & ends that drew my eye in the news today:

• Mozilla have released the 0.9 version of their mail program Thunderbird, with a number of new features & bug fixes.

  Thunderbird 0.9 is now available for download! New features include Saved Search Folders (aka Virtual Folders) which allow you to display messages based on previously set search criteria across multiple folders. Message Grouping allows you to organize e-mail in a folder by grouping them based on various attributes like Date, Sender, Label, etc. Thunderbird 0.9 also includes numerous bug fixes and other improvements.

• Firefox Release Candidate 2 has also been released

• Crown Prosecutor in a murder case in Sydney claims that Counter Strike was the inspiration for an assult & murder in January.

  Crown Prosecutor James Bennett, SC, told the court Em was fascinated by the combat-simulation game.

  "The peace and tranquility of the family life they had enjoyed up to that time was shattered because of two men, one of which the Crown says was the accused, dressed in an outfit that was inspired by a computer game, Counter-Strike, in which the accused had some interest and from which he derived some enjoyment," he said.

  Not sure what actual evidence there is to show the game had anything to do with it. Sounds like a standard robbery-gone-wrong situation ending very badly. Also in the SMH.

• A financial adviser who lost over $1 million of his clients’ money in a Nigerian scam has been jailed.

  Robert Andrew Street, 58, then a licensed securities dealer, deceived clients into handing over retirement savings after being fooled by the scam.

  The County Court heard Street told victims he would invest their money in risk-free projects, but instead transferred $1,039,910 overseas to the frauds.

  Street had been hoodwinked by a person claiming to be a representative of a Nigerian government committee, who offered him $65 million on payment of certain "upfront fees".

• Tony Abbott has said he will continue to raise the issue of abortion, despite some Coalition colleagues warning him off the topic.

  Coalition MPs received a letter from party whip Kerry Bartlett on Monday urging them to be wary of talking to the media on abortion, but the letter was widely ignored by MPs who have been outspoken on the issue.

  …

  "I think women’s right to choose is a good principle, but is it an unforced choice? Are people being railroaded into this by parents, husbands, boyfriends and the culture of convenience? I think that’s a question we will consider."

  Good on him. Whether you agree or disagree with his position, the current climate of silence on the issue is not healthy. As a nation we should be willing to discuss issues of this importance, even if they are delicate. Abbott’s point about whether people are being railroaded into the decision is a valid concern, and is the same reason I have problems with euthanasia.

  Also, as far as I know Kerry Bartlett is a conservative Christian, who opposes abortion. While I know as party whip he has an obligation to ensure members ‘toe the party line’, I wonder what he thinks should be done about the issue?

• Apparently, the reason everyone though Kerry was going to win the US election was because some blogs released exit poll info

  News organizations promised Wednesday to look into why their Election Day exit polls showed an initial surge for John Kerry, but also blamed bloggers for spreading news that gave a misleading view of the presidential race.

  Sure, it’s all the bloggers’ fault. They reported exit polls as they came in. So what. If people are silly enough to think a 70% swing to Kerry with 1% of the vote counted is important, what can you do? The whole idea of exit polling is simply flawed. You only get a small section of the result, and people can lie. If you’re in the middle of Democrat heartland & you’ve just voted Republican, you’re probably not going to be too comfortable saying so.