Legal drug deaths increasing

Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugs

Not surprisingly, there has been a corresponding increase in deaths.
According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of emergency
room visits related to painkillers has increased by 153 percent since
1995. And a 2007 report by the Justice Department National Intelligence
Drug Center found that deaths related to the opioid methadone jumped
from 786 in 1999 to 3,849 in 2004 - an increase of 390 percent.

Many experts attribute the trend to the increasing popularity among
doctors of prescribing painkillers, combined with a leap in
direct-to-consumer marketing by drug companies. For example,
promotional spending on Oxycontin increased threefold between 1996 and
2001, to $30 million per year.

Could flu shots be good for you in other ways?

Flu shots may cut risk of blood clots forming in veins

Flu shots may reduce the risk of blood clots forming in veins by 26
percent, according to research presented at the American Heart
Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

Cute creatures of the deep

Aliens of the deep: The weird and wobbly animals tracked in 'sea census' | Mail Online

Solar Sails on cargo ships - a step in the right direction

Solar at Sea: Chinese Cargo Ships Will Have Solar Sails

Partisan allegiances run ridiculously deep

The View from Elsewhere: Did Obama rig the election?

while Obama's victory is impressive, inspiring, and important, we should not forget that the U.S.'s electoral system is every bit as undemocratic as ours.

Who is Rahm Emmuel?

Canadian Dimension Blog / Who is Rahm Emanuel?

He supported the Iraq War. Watch the video here for more information.

More creatures from the deep

Incredible Deep-Sea Discoveries Announced | LiveScience

Roald Dahl, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter and more in Tales of the Unexpected

Your source for all things wicked and awesome: Tales of The Unexpected

Beautiful Atlas moth

There is always a bigger one on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

What a girl wants - double-standard

[ dark&pink ] Online Comics

Dumbasses

6 People Who Died In Order To Prove A (Retarded) Point | Cracked.com

Will we ever see Dollhouse?

Dollhouse: Is It Time To Say A Pre-Emptive Goodbye To Dollhouse?



Hmmmm. I was a big fan of the Buffy and Angel series. But, I thought Firefly (and I know some people will disagree with me) was slow and pointless. Maybe Joss' writing has bogged down even more with this show. That would be too bad, as I was really looking forward to this pairing of Whedon and Dushku.

If it is as bad as it might now seem, I say cancel it and bring back Angel.

Michael Moorcock needs big keys

Help A Guy Out: Help Michael Moorcock Keep Writing

Michael Moorcock is ailing a bit and he needs help. He'd be able to get
a lot more writing done right now if he had a wireless keyboard with
large keys that he could use with his PC. He's been looking around and
apparently there are no BIG KEYS keyboards that are wireless.

There are big key keyboards. And, as mentioned by a commenter, there are USB wireless adaptors and USB hubs that could be used for this. And dictation software (Dragon...) is pretty accurate now. Keep writing Mike!

J. Michael Straczynski to pen a sequel to Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet: Babylon 5 Creator's Forbidden Planet Another Slice Of Retro

Say it ain't so! This guy is the worst sci-fi writer ever! B5, further TV series and movies were embarrassingly bad.

Obama compiling a list of Bush actions to quickly undo

Obama TCB | A Creative Revolution

This is good news

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama
have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and
executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House
policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and
other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and
experts working with the transition team.


A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in
virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes
Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now
consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and
potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most
onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who
was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of
the transition.

Living with the bodies of dead siblings

The Associated Press: Police: 90-year-old living with 3 siblings' bodies

This reminds me of A Rose For Emily, a short story I read as part of my English course in high school

In search of the ultimate Jello shot

The Ultimate Jell-O Shot - Gelatin Viagra

Although the proportion of alcohol to be added to Jell-O shots is partly a matter of taste, the typical Jell-O shot recipe greatly underestimates the amount of alcohol that can be added to Jell-O while still maintaining the gelatin’s setting properties. As long as a minimum amount of boiling water is used to completely dissolve the gelatin powder (4 oz. boiling water per 3 oz. package Jell-O), an amount of 80 proof alcohol up to 19 oz. can be added and the Jell-O will still gel. With sugar-free Jell-O, the minimum amount of boiling water necessary is 3 oz., and up to 24 oz. of 80 proof alcohol can be added and the Jell-O will still gel.

If only 18-29 year olds had voted in the US election

3013067128_3014f9bc7a_o.jpg (JPEG Image, 480×480 pixels)

Outdated office gadgets?

Five Useless Gadgets You Should Throw in the Trash Right Now | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Fax Machines

Still sending faxes? Hi grandad! The fax was useful when it was the only way to move documents around faster than mailing them. Now it's pointless. Most documents never exist in paper form anyway, so you'll need a printer just to get started with the sending. And if you fax directly from your computer, that's no excuse, either -- why not just email the PDF?

An email is as trackable as a fax, and harder to fake (I may or may not have altered faxed documents for previous employers). It's also a lot harder to lose, and a lot easier to find if you do. Granted, a trip to the fax machine buys you a few minutes away from the desk, but then, why not just quit the office altogether and work, like I do, from the comfort of your bed?

I agree with their take on fax machines, but I still use all the others.

Possible useful fitness tracker tool - Gyminee

Weight Loss: Gyminee Tracks Your Fitness Goals

My fave comment on here was "How about put down the fork and move around?" - Levio91.

The Flu Shot

Is The Flu Shot Really Necessary?

5 childhood dream jobs that suck

5 Jobs You Wanted as a Kid (And Why They Suck) - Page 2 | Cracked.com

Astronaut - show your kid what it's like to be one:
Step 1: Go buy a van - preferably a 1976 Peugeot.

Step 2: Have the owner's manual translated into Russian.

Step 3: Tell your child to pretend the van is a space station, and that his or her assignment is to rotate the tires.

Step 4: Push the van to the bottom of a swimming pool. Hand your child the translated owner's manual, a toolbox and a balloon full of air.

Realistic state signs

If State Signs Were More Truthful | www.holytaco.com

Anatomy of a hug - cartoon.

Anatomy of a hug at Kartoen.be

Bush fast-tracking pollution

Lame duck decider. | A Creative Revolution

Up is down, and down is still up in Conservatard land. There are
sweeping changes being made to regulations that protect consumers and
the environment. The Scorched earth policy of George Bush, will
continue for many years to come.

Two other rules nearing completion would ease limits on pollution
from power plants, a major energy industry goal for the past eight
years that is strenuously opposed by Democratic lawmakers and
environmental groups.

One rule, being pursued over some opposition within the
Environmental Protection Agency, would allow current emissions at a
power plant to match the highest levels produced by that plant,
overturning a rule that more strictly limits such emission increases.
According to the EPA's estimate, it would allow millions of tons of
additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, worsening
global warming.

A related regulation would ease limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants near national parks.

A third rule would allow increased emissions from oil refineries,
chemical factories and other industrial plants with complex
manufacturing operations.

Maru the cat in a box

These videos are great cat fun.

Nickelcrap

Nickelcrap!
Read the interview. Visit this guy's myspace page and listen to the song.

Don't like Nickelback or mainstream music in general. This is kinda funny.

New threat via Facebook

There is a new trojan threat on Facebook.

If you get an odd message from a friend (okay, not like the usual odd messages your friend sends you, a message like in the article in the link above), they may have been infected. Send your friend a new message informing them that you got the odd message and that they may be infected.

If you use Facebook, keep an eye out for computer threats (viruses, spyware, etc) all the time in the form of the various messages and emails you can get from using it. And, if you ever go to a site that tries to get you to download and install some weird program or codec to play some music or a video, do NOT download and install it. If it says you need Java, or Flash or such, go to those actual sites and get them from the real sites for these plug-ins. If you already have these plug-ins installed and the video or whatever does not work, then it is not supposed to (they are just trying to get you to infect your computer). YouTube videos use Adobe Flash to run. If you can go to the YouTube site and watch a video, then you have Adobe Flash installed and working, and the odd site you went to that doesn't work is bad news - close the site and don't go back to it.

If you do get infected, you should be able to clean out the infection with a full scan by AVG Free 8 and/or Superantispyware.

Crazy buildings

50 strange buildings of the world

Hacked vote in Alaska

Shannyn Moore: Stolen Election from Alaska?