Slate.com
In fact, a statistical trace of what I’ve taken to calling the “puff daddy” movement emerged a few years ago, when researchers at the National Institutes of Health compared national drug surveys conducted over two-year periods beginning in 1991 and 2001. Their analysis, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the percentage of people who say they smoked marijuana in the past year had remained fairly stable over the 10-year stretch. (That is to say, it ended where it started.) But they found a very different pattern among those between the ages of 45 and 64: As my parents’ generation matured, the number of smokers in that group had nearly tripled.
The baby boomer drug uptick turns up again in the recent data. According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, almost 6 percent of all adults between the ages of 50 and 59 reported smoking marijuana in the past year. That’s up from about 3 percent five years earlier. Meanwhile, the number of recent users over the age of 50 has climbed to 2.65 million people nationwide (and we can assume the real prevalence is somewhat higher, since these figures are based on self-reported drug use). Here’s something to think about: There are about as many boomers using cannabis today as there are high-school students doing the same.//
Still, it’s not easy to get an accurate picture of who these puffing oldsters are and how their drug habits have evolved over the last few decades. (It’s also not clear to what extent the legalization of medical marijuana has been a factor.)
The Tony Award winning musical Avenue Q officially closes on Broadway after countless performances. The highly original musical features Muppet-style puppets with actors on stage providing voices and the such. But the real drawing point was its “South Park” style sense of humor. Characters included Kate Monster, the leading lady, Brian, an unemployed 32-year old, Rod, a closeted conservative homosexual, his roommate Nicky (very similar to Bert and Ernie) and a colorful collection of others. Featured songs include “It Sucks To Be Me,” “The Internet Is For Porn,” and “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist.” Below is a clip of “It Sucks To Be Me” from the 2004 Tony Awards. Avenue Q, you will be sorely missed.
This is just to assign grades to individual songs on these albums, that as of September 13 are in the running for album of the year. When it comes down to it, MPP is not a perfect album. I feel like that just by slapping the “10” designation on it, justice isn’t done. It’s been my thing, at least for the majority of 2009, to grade an album based on songs only. This system doesn’t work too well and doesn’t take much into account. I’ll be changing it (most likely) in 2010. But for now:
Merriweather Post Pavillion (Animal Collective)
1. “Guy’s Eyes” – 9.5
2. “In The Flowers” – 9.8
3. “My Girls” – 10.0
4. “Also Frightened” – 9.8
5. “Summertime Clothes” – 10.0 6. “Daily Routine” – 9.6
7. “Bluish” – 9.9 8. “Taste” – 9.8 9. “Lion in a Coma” – 9.8 10. “No More Runnin'” – 9.7
11. “Brothersport” – 10.0
Grade: 9.7
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200 Million Thousand (Black Lips)
1. “Take My Heart” – 9.4 2. “Drugs” – 9.8 3. “Starting Over” – 9.9 4. “Let It Grow” – 9.2 5. “Trapped in a Basement” – 9.6 6. “Short Fuse” – 9.8 7. “I’ll Be With You” – 9.7 8. “Big Black Baby Jesus of Today” – 9.3 9. “Again and Again” – 9.7 10. “Old Man” – 9.6 11. “The Drop I Hold” – 9.4 12. “Body Combat” – 9.4 13. “Elijah” – 9.7 14. “I Saw God” – 9.6 15. “Meltdown” (Hidden) – 9.8
Grade: 9.6
Physics Central
When today’s soldiers enter combat, they’re better protected from explosions than the military personnel of any previous war. Ultra-strong helmets shield them from the flying shrapnel of homemade bombs; high-tech cushioning cradles their skulls during sudden impacts with the ground. But because modern soldiers are surviving explosions that would have taken the lives of Vietnam-era infantrymen, army hospitals are seeing a rise in a particularly painful war wound—traumatic brain injury (TBI).
TBI can range from a simple concussion to damage with long-term effects, including impaired cognitive abilities and even anxiety and depression. New research is helping to explain how those injuries come about, potentially pointing the way to helmet designs to reduce brain damage. Using code originally designed to simulate how a detonated weapon rattles a building or tank, physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and the University of Rochester in New York modeled an all-too-real situation: a 5-pound bomb exploding 15 feet from a soldier’s head. Their goal was to understand the effects of the high-speed shock wave that follows an explosion.
(BBC NEWS)
Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city’s surveillance network has claimed.
The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals.
In one month CCTV helped capture just eight out of 269 suspected robbers.
David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: “It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent.”
The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV
David Davis MP
He added: “CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness.
Probably the best song off his new album. Everything about this song is really awesome. I highly recommend watching this to everyone no matter what your musical interests may be.
A trailer for the new Oliver Stone documentary on the Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez. I plan on seeing his earlier documentary, Looking For Fidel first though. This goes hand in hand with Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story for left-wing, biased movies that I generally agree with and enjoy but criticize the tactics.
This is just to assign grades to individual songs on these albums, that as of September 13 are in the running for album of the year. When it comes down to it, MPP is not a perfect album. I feel like that just by slapping the “10” designation on it, justice isn’t done. It’s been my thing, at least for the majority of 2009, to grade an album based on songs only. This system doesn’t work too well and doesn’t take much into account. I’ll be changing it (most likely) in 2010. But for now:
The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 