Archive for April, 2009
Debunking The Myths Of Columbine, 10 Years Later
What do you remember about April 20, 1999?
If you recall that two unpopular teenage boys from the Trench Coat Mafia sought revenge against the jocks by shooting up Columbine High School, you’re wrong.
But you’re not alone.
Ten years after the massacre in Littleton, Colorado, there’s still a collective memory of two Goth-obsessed loners, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who went on a shooting rampage and killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher, injured 23 others and then turned their guns on themselves.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Columbine was named the top news story of 1999, according to the Pew Center
* When media coverage faded, officials learned some of the initial reports were wrong
* One myth is Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were part of the Trench Coat Mafia
* Killers wanted to be more infamous than Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh
…
Marijuana Advocates Point to Signs of Change
On Monday, somewhere in New York City, 420 people will gather for High Times magazine’s annual beauty pageant, a secretly located and sold-out event that its sponsor says will “turn the Big Apple into the Baked Apple and help us usher in a new era of marijuana freedom in America.”
They will not be the only ones partaking: April 20 has long been an unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some advocates of legal marijuana say this year’s “high holiday” carries extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.
“It is the biggest moment yet,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, who cited several national polls showing growing support for legalization. “There’s a sense that the notion of legalizing marijuana is starting to…
FBI and States Vastly Expand DNA Databases
Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.
Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.
Happy 420!
April is indeed one of the most exciting months of the year. Yesterday, April 19, we had the pleasure of celebrating bicycle day, and today we follow it up with 420.
April 20 has been designated as global cannabis appreciation day. It is a day to let the world know that this beautiful plant genus is part of our society and one of the most important bounties of nature. As our civilization evolves, it is becoming essential for us to celebrate this day and share the wealth and knowledge that comes from harvesting and consuming what we have so generously been provided.
Unfortunately, however, as the Western World develops it is becoming more bipolar. While many countries upon analyzing the evidence for ending prohibition begin to lax their laws for possession, the governments of Canada, UK, and the United States are intensifying their war against cannabis.
…
Skin-Based Display Screens Form Nanotech Tattoos!
A New York university is developing polymer nanotubes inserted under your skin to create a handheld display inside your hand!
They wirelessly receive data to display text messages, and could also create animated interactive tattoos…
Environmental Protection Agency to Actually Start Protecting Environment
Kate Sheppard, GRIST: The Environmental Protection Agency said it has determined that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health and welfare. The long-expected finding, set in motion two years ago by a Supreme Court ruling, moves the Obama administration one step closer to regulating carbon dioxide emissions from a number of sources across the country. But it leaves unanswered questions about how the agency will go forward and which industries will be most affected.
The EPA reached the decision last month, and earlier this week the agency’s determination cleared White House review. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said, will “trigger the beginnings of regulation of CO2 for this country.”
Industry groups are wringing their hands about what it will mean to have greenhouse gases regulated under the Clean Air Act, and enviros are chomping at the bit for the agency to get to work. While groups across the spectrum would…
Does This Pastor’s Beating Mean We Live in a Fascist Police State?
Patrick James, GOOD: This is Steven Anderson, a Baptist pastor who alleges that, after being stopped at an “anti-terrorism checkpoint” near the border in Arizona, and after he refused to let officers search his car (citing his fourth amendment rights), the officers shattered his car windows, forcefully removed him from the car, beat him, and repeatedly used a taser on him, only to find nothing illegal in the vehicle. Watch for yourself.
Now, some folks in the comments over at BoingBoing have pointed out that this guy endorses some pretty objectionable ideas (like how male gynecologists are sinning by treating their female patients, among many other idiocies) and might very well be crazy. But how, exactly, that relates to him getting pummeled by border patrolmen (and having his property destroyed) is beyond me. There is, of course, the chance that we’re missing part of the story (like the officers’ side of it),…
A Secret Hiking Trail With a View of Area 51
Annalee Newitz, io9.com: If you love to hike and want to catch a glimpse of the elusive Area 51 with your binoculars, then you’ll want to follow the trails people have posted on new hike-sharing site TrailBehind.
TrailBehind is a Google maps mashup that lets people share data (maps, pictures, reviews) of recent hikes they’ve taken. And of course, Area 51 is one of those regions that people are a wee bit curious about. Turns out there’s a lovely hike to the top of a local mountain, Tikaboo Peak, which gives you a perfect view of Area 51’s distant buildings on a clear day. The trailhead is about 90 miles from Vegas, and you’ll want to bring binoculars to watch the UFOs coming and going out at Area 51. Check out here.
TrailBehind also has other hikes for fans of the weird and paranormal. There are a number of hikes for people…
Publishers Should Start Using Birth Control
Anne Trubek, GOOD: Twelve is a book publisher, established in 2005, with a smart, small mission. Why is it called Twelve? Because they publish only one book a month. Any more than that and they could not give each book the attention it deserves. Any more than that and they could not ensure quality. After, all, a book may not be a car, but it ain’t easy to put one out, either.
Compare that number, twelve, with this number: 173, 680. That is the total number of books published in America in 2007, according to the 2008 Library & Book Trade Almanac (formerly Bowker’s Annual).
That’s 173,680! Convert it to people and it’s a medium-sized city (drive thirty miles and you can visit slightly smaller 2006, population 169,637!). Convert it to dollars and it’s an upper-middle class salary. Stack them one on top of the other and they would … topple over…
A ‘Copper Standard’ for the World’s Currency System?
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph: Hard money enthusiasts have long watched for signs that China is switching its foreign reserves from US Treasury bonds into gold bullion. They may have been eyeing the wrong metal.
China’s State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons. Nobu Su, head of Taiwan’s TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can.
“China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years.”
“The next industrial revolution is going to be led by…
Cult Author JG Ballard Dies At 78
The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness. Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead “picturing the psychology of the future”.
The Truth About Teabagging
I’m almost saddened I missed out on all the teabagging that took place in Federal Plaza this week. I’ve stood in the streets many times now for one cause or another. I’m angry, always angry enough for any number of reasons. I’ll stand in a plaza, speak at a rally or even shut down a major traffic artery to show my discontent with the status quo. All of the tea party hoopla kind of disappointed me – mostly because I wanted to see how the other shoe fit.
Is America Becoming America a Thrift Nation?
Nancy Gibbs, TIME: Sometimes we change because we want to: lose weight, go vegan, find God, get sober. But sometimes we change because we have no choice, and since this violates our manifest destiny to do as we please, it may take a while before we notice that those are often the changes we need to make most.
We ran a good long road test of the premise that more is better: we built houses that could hold all our stuff but were too big to heat; we bought cars that could ferry a soccer team but were too big to park; we thought we were embracing the simple life by squeezing in a yoga class between working and shopping and took an extra job to pay for it all.
Now we’re stripping down and starting over. A platoon of TIME reporters and pollsters fanned out to every corner of the country…
Tons of Released Drugs Taint U.S. Water
U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.
Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives.
Federal and industry officials say they don’t know the extent to which pharmaceuticals are released by U.S. manufacturers because no one tracks them — as drugs. But a close analysis of 20 years of federal records found that, in fact, the government unintentionally keeps data on a few, allowing a glimpse of the pharmaceuticals coming from factories.
As part of its ongoing PharmaWater investigation about trace concentrations of pharmaceuticals in drinking water,…
Rising Numbers of Children Allergic to Fruit and Vegetables
Daniel Martin, Daily Mail: Soaring numbers of children are being diagnosed with allergies to fruit and vegetables. Doctors have seen the numbers rise by as much as five times in some areas of the country, putting children at risk of asthma. Experts fear the rising tide of intolerance to fruit and veg could be the new peanut allergy, which affects one in 50 children.
Symptoms of the new phenomenon – known as ‘oral allergy syndrome’ — include swelling in the mouth and throat, which in the worst cases can lead to severe breathing difficulties. The syndrome is linked to hay fever, a seasonal condition. But because fruit and veg are consumed all year round, the effect is more debilitating.
Dr Pamela Ewan, an allergy consultant at Addenbroke’s Hospital in Cambridge, said cases or oral allergies to fruit and veg were rising, particularly among children. ‘We have seen a big rise in the…
Happy Bicycle Day! Today is the First Time in History That We Celebrate This Day Without Hofmann
Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, passed away on Tuesday 29 April 2008 at his home in Basel, Switzerland. Today, 19 April 2009, also known as bicycle day, will be the first time in history that we celebrate this day without Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD…
What follows is a documentary about Hofmann’s life and his discovery, and some information regarding LSD and its uses:
Happy Bicycle Day: Albert Hofman’s First Deliberate Use of LSD
Dr. Albert Hofman, April 19, 1943:
Here the notes in my laboratory journal cease. I was able to write the last words only with great effort. By now it was already clear to me that LSD had been the cause of the remarkable experience of the previous Friday, for the altered perceptions were of the same type as before, only much more intense. I had to struggle to speak intelligibly.
I asked my laboratory assistant, who was informed of the self-experiment, to escort me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile being available because of wartime restrictions on their use. On the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms.
Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me that we had traveled very rapidly.…
Meet Kari Ferrell: The Hipster Grifter
Doree Shafrir, New York Observer: It’s likely that when Kari Ferrell walked into the Vice magazine offices in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last month to interview for an administrative assistant job, they thought they’d hit the jackpot. Ms. Ferrell — petite, 22 years old, of Korean heritage — had a huge tattoo of a phoenix across her chest and a cute pixie haircut. She was talkative, funny, charming, adorable. She had a tattoo on her back that read “I Love Beards.”
She told them she’d been working for the New York office of the concert promotion company GoldenVoice, which puts on huge rock festivals like Coachella near Palm Springs, Calif., and that she’d moved to New York from Utah just a few months earlier. They hired her on the spot.
A few days later, one of Ms. Ferrell’s new colleagues came by her desk. “I said, ‘Excuse me, miss, is [her boss] downstairs?’” the 29-year-old…
New Orleans Man Loses Chunk of Arm in Possible Zombie Attack
Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing: The headline is a keeper: “Metairie man says stranger chewed, swallowed after taking bite out of his arm.” The story is horrible, but more frightening still, it suggests the imminent threat of a worsening zombie onslaught.
“Lancellotti said he tried to defend himself with a garden rake. As the men struggled over the rake, the stranger bent over and bit Lancellotti on his right forearm, the report said. Lancellotti’s flesh ripped away as he fell to the ground. The man then got on top of Lancellotti and began choking him, the report said.
“It was then that neighbor Chantal Lorio, a podiatrist and director of the Wound Center at East Jefferson General Hospital, came out to check on Lancellotti. Lorio said Monday that she first thought Lancellotti was having a heart attack and the other man was trying to help him.
“The stranger was still gripping Lancellotti as Lorio noticed her…
