At long last, the FDA will no longer allow foods with HFCS to be labeled “natural.”

Hey pork-lovers: remember the pig brain mist story?  Well, mother nature’s delivered us a fresh little firmware upgrade, just like I promised!

“Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception?” [NYT]

Woman stuck on toilet for two years. Reminds me a little bit of poor old Gayle Grinds.

The lead writers for HBO’s show The Wire wrote a great piece in TIME this week railing against the War on Drugs. Their suggested approach: jury nullification. They say,

“If asked to serve on a jury deliberating a violation of state or federal drug laws, we will vote to acquit, regardless of the evidence presented. Save for a prosecution in which acts of violence or intended violence are alleged, we will — to borrow Justice Harry Blackmun’s manifesto against the death penalty — no longer tinker with the machinery of the drug war. No longer can we collaborate with a government that uses nonviolent drug offenses to fill prisons with its poorest, most damaged and most desperate citizens.

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Article in LA Daily News about David and Jean Fleming and the War on Some Drugs.  While I hate the sycophantic tone about what a “big shot” he is - clearly Brent Hopkins felt he wasn’t worthy - it’s obvious that Fleming has had a great deal of time to reflect on the issue.

The Washington Post’s Tom Shroder wrote a beautiful piece about MDMA trials that have been underway since the FDA approved my friend Rick Doblin’s research protocol in 2004. This is the first time a journalist was permitted to interview a participant in this groundbreaking study.

Forbes has the list of America’s most lustful cities. Cincinnati? San Antonio? I’m not convinced.

Now here’s a fuel source we’re not likely to run out of.

This Reuters article is interesting for many reasons. One of them is the apparent evolution regarding diet - because many arguments for low-carbohydrate diets have (as one of their bases anyway) the idea that humans have not evolved to accommodate the relatively new arrival of agriculture. I’ll have more to say about this later - I’m reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by science journalist Gary Taubes after being extremely impressed by him on NPR.

Check it.

In January, Disney will close and renovate their psychedelic “It’s A Small World” ride because Americans just can’t keep their hands off the Häagen-Dazs.

Pros say it’s deadlier than smoking; majority of Britons could be obese by 2050 (I’m sure we Americans will beat them to it - we’re already about 35% obese and 2/3 overweight.)

Officials advised to immunize before visiting NASCAR track in Alabama.

At the LA County fair last week, they were serving something called “fried coke.” Now my first thought was: gosh, what a waste of a perfectly good eight ball. But no, they actually pour Coca-Cola syrup into a deep fryer, then put it in a cup and top it with sugar and whipped cream and a cherry (because, y’know, fruit is good for ya.) Would it really be that much more unhealthy to get molested by one of the carnies?

In Hillary Clinton’s health care plan, the words “nutrition” and “exercise” appear once. The word “drugs” - fourteen times. Just as the pharmaceutical companies wanted. You know, their ad weasels love to say “when diet and exercise fail..” Well, diet and exercise don’t fail. A fact brought home last week by a new Duke University study that showed that exercise - yes, exercise - is just as effective a cure for depression as Paxil and Zoloft. So, ask your doctor if getting off your ass is right for you.

“It seemed like a headache, nothing more.” Next up: you.

This article purports to offer tips to becoming an early riser.  My personal experience in this is a tad tortured.  I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of being awake early in the morning - up and about and doing my shizznat.  But it rarely happens.   I love being up early; I hate getting up early. Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Chris Locke for digging these up.

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I’ve wondered most of my life what the deal was with the squiggly little things I see sometimes. No, it’s not the drugs. I knew they were called “floaters” based on some reading on the subject I did a number of years ago, but didn’t know how common they were or if they were of any medical concern. I was pleased to find this article from earlier in the year on that very subject.

Turns out most people have them. We can even get them all lasered out if we really, really want to. But unless it’s affecting your life, just get on with things.