In hundreds of bars and cafes nationwide — from Fresno to Ames, Iowa, to Raleigh, N.C. — Americans are inhaling fruit-flavored tobacco through water pipes as Arab and Indian men have done for centuries.

This tradition is posing a new challenge to the anti-tobacco movement in the USA, which has helped pass more than 2,000 smoke-free laws.

I caught this in my morning CDC missive and it struck me because a number of my friends have started rocking the hookah recently.

My attitude towards smoking, and anti-smoking laws, is that you should be able to do it anywhere that doesn't force the second hand smoke on anyone who hasn't chosen to inhale it.

That does mean no smoking in public bars, but in no way excludes establishments designed primarily around smoking.

Ultimately, I think there's a big difference between cigarettes and hookahs. For one, cigarettes are portable and small, so people frequently smoke them *a lot*. It's a little tougher to deal with the whole hookah apparatus and i do think that mitigates it's risk. The other issue is use... the article does mention a Saudi man who smokes a hookah every day, but most people i know do it only occasionally, maybe a couple times a month at most. Even if each time counts as 36 cigarettes, if you do it monthly you're on about a 1 cigarette a day, equivalent. That's not so bad, really.

USATODAY.com - Hookah trend is puffing along

The wasps are trained with sugar water by using the classical conditioning techniques made famous by Pavlov's dogs. Rains says the wasps are sensitive to a host of chemical odors, including 2,4-DNT, a volatile compound used in dynamite.

To do their work, five wasps — each a half-inch long — are placed in a plastic cylinder that is 15 inches tall. This "Wasp Hound," which costs roughly $100 per unit, has a vent in one end and a camera that connects to a laptop computer.

When the wasps pick up an odor they've been trained to detect they gather by the vent — a response that can be measured by the computer or actually seen by observers.

Lewis says the wasps, when exposed to some chemicals, "can detect as low as four parts per billion, which is an incredibly small amount."

I love low-tech like this!

USAToday - Scientists recruit wasps for war on terror

In an unusually candid admission, the federal chief of AIDS research says he believes drug companies don't have an incentive to create a vaccine for the
HIV and are likely to wait to profit from it after the government develops one.

And that means the government has had to spend more time focusing on the processes that drug companies ordinarily follow in developing new medicines and bringing them to market.

Stop acting so surprised... Chris Rock said the exact thing more than 5 years ago. I guess when you laugh at the truth, it's less true.

He was right. Drug companies have a lot more to gain from treatments than from cures. That's not to say that the people working for them aren't well meaning, good people, but even they can't change the nature of capitalism.

Another straightforward example of why we need government, and why free markets can't solve all the worlds problems.

Federal Chief Of AIDS Research: Drug Companies Have No Incentive To Create HIV Vaccine… | The Huffington Post

Cornerstone: Visual Thinking
Software for Mapping and Visual Thinking
Cornerstone: Visual Thinking software is designed to complement and echo the way your mind works. It will therefore help you to:
understand and remember new ideas
improve planning and communication
generate better solutions to problems

You can use Cornerstone by yourself, to help you think and learn, and in groups within your company or organisation, to generate new ideas naturally, effortlessly and enjoyably.
Click on the menu to learn more about how Cornerstone: Visual Thinking can help you, your team or your organisation.

Interesting visual teh.

[ Looks like a cheaper analogue of MindMap (http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/). I demoed MindMap recently and found it very intuitive and quite useful for a few regular tasks. Alas, lack of a mac version makes it a no go for now, even if the price tag wasn't an obstacle. Which it is. Still, if I could get my employer to foot the bill, i'd use it a lot. -k]

Cornerstone Visual Thinking Software Idea Mapping Software

Yes, dammit. Yes. For many reasons.

1. This is probably the funniest thing SNL's done since Col. Angus.

2. I've been looking for a non-streaming version so i could have it for ever and ever.

3. Because I think it's a *really* positive sign that NBC rapidly recognized all the attention this was getting on the intarweb and rather than freaking out about piracy and sending C & D's to everyone, just released it for free through it's brand new download channel (iTMS).

Say what you will about Apple, FairPlay or whatever, but i feel like we're finally getting somewhere... slowly, bit at least it's happening.

-k

p.s. one caveat : looks like you have to have an Apple ID which means either a) have ever bought something from their web store, b) have .mac, c) have purchaased thru iTMS before. Some people will probly bitch about this, but i'm just happy that i have the video now so's i can play it for all my friends who're behind the curve ;)

'Lazy Sunday' available free on iTunes...

Administration critics, political and media, charge that by ordering surveillance on communications of suspected al Qaeda agents in the United States, the president clearly violated the law... It takes a superior mix of partisanship, animus and ignorance to say that.

George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr finds "pretty decent arguments" on both sides, but his own conclusion is that Bush's actions were "probably constitutional."

!?@$#$!!??? Orin Kerr's exact words were "it seems that the program was probably constitutional but probably violated the federal law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." What mix of partisanship, animus, and ignorance does it take to deliberately misrepresent that in an oped peice?

[ No way dude. Selective quotation is a time honored and completely legitimate way of eviscerating your opponents. HONESTY has nothing to do with winning, after all. -k]

Impeachment Nonsense

Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the
way, any time you hear the United States government talking about
wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has
changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists,
we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's
important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot
Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what
is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the
Constitution.

bold mine.

That's Bush from April 20, 2004, lying. Not equivocating or waffling or vacillating. There's no word for it but outright lying.

Certainly there are times when national security requires a lie. When the topic is a citizen's right to due process I reject that defense out of hand. Sorry, sir. NOT justifiable.

President Bush: Information Sharing, Patriot Act Vital to Homeland Security

The New York Times first debated publishing a story about secret eavesdropping on Americans as early as last fall, before the 2004 presidential election.

But the newspaper held the story for more than a year and only revealed the secret wiretaps last Friday, when it became apparent a book by one of its reporters was about to break the news, according to journalists familiar with the paper's internal discussions.

"Question timing"?!!?!

I'm *this* close to being fucking catatonic with rage. Are you fucking SHITTING ME?

Traditional media is dead. Not dying. Not "not what it used to be". Fucking. Dead.

Critics Question Timing of Surveillance Story - Los Angeles Times

Oh, dear. There are so many good quotes from the decision, it was hard to choose, but, well, here's the key :

"We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom,"

Yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Not to mention

Said the judge: "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."

Oohohohohoh, I feel like it's Christmas morning already. I'm trying so hard not to act smug and vindicated, but damn.... I'm literally bubbling with joy. And if you know me, you know i don't typically "bubble". That's how important this is to me.

Thank you Judge Jones.

CNN.com - Court rejects 'intelligent design' in science class - Dec 20, 2005

The National Association of Theater Owners wants the Federal Communications Commission to allow the blocking of cell phone signals in theaters.

John Fithian, the president of the trade organization, told the Los Angeles Times theater owners "have to block rude behavior" as the industry tries to come up with ways to bring people back to the cinemas.

...

The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association -- a Washington-based cell phone lobby that is also known as CTIA-the Wireless Association -- said it would fight any move to block cell phone signals.

"We're opposed to the use of any blocking technology, because it interferes with people's ability to use a wireless device in an emergency situation," CTIA spokesman Joseph Farren told the Times.

I vote for self-policing. If your cell phone rings, everyone gets to smack you with a rock.

United Press International - NewsTrack - Theater owners want cell phones blocked