Santa Barbara, Calif. More than 100 people were arrested and dozens—including six police officers—injured last week when a large spring break party near the University of California, Santa Barbara, deteriorated into a riot. An estimated 15,000 people were at the all-day annual “Deltopia” party at the beach community of Isla Vista, near the Santa Barbara campus. Fighting broke out when […]
Read more
Agent Orange Is Still Killing Veterans Slowly This is a true story told to me recently by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. It explains his experience with the legacy of Monsanto and Dow and the ongoing effects of its product, Agent Orange, the lethal spray used in Vietnam during the war. My friend’s brother died a […]
Read more
ADHD (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder) is known to affect the child’s ability to pay attention. A study found that 1/3 of the children in the study did have ADHD when they became adults. It also may find that when they are adults, they may also have other psychic problems, more likely to get arrested, or likely to commit suicide. The children […]
Read more
One violent movie does not a mass killer make, said Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal. But the pornographic violence that now fills popular films has “the cumulative power to desensitize and destabilize” impressionable minds. Disturbed young men like James Holmes, the accused Aurora, Colo., killer, may be unable to process the nihilistic, sadistically violent world of movies like […]
Read more
Of the world’s billion Internet users, one in three logs on in English. That’s no surprise. The technology got its start in the U.S., most Web pages are English, and more than 60 percent of the U.S., Canadian, U.K., and Australian populations are online. But China is catching up. The number of Chinese speakers using the Internet is five times […]
Read more
■ An Iowa State University professor has developed a virtual reality headset for chickens that will fool factory-farmed hens into thinking they’re free-range. The gadget uses a special headset that lets caged chickens pad around a virtual farmyard, pecking at virtual bugs. “I did a lot of work to get the technology right,” said inventor Austin Stewart. He admits that […]
Read more
Happiness may be a key to staying healthy in old age. A new long-term study involving nearly 3,200 people ages 60 and older found that those who enjoy life are better able to handle physical activities such as eating, getting dressed, and showering; the} even walk faster. By contrast, the unhappiest people were about 80 percent more likely to have […]
Read more
The strain of worrying constantly about making ends meet depletes poor people’s brainpower, making them more likely to make bad decisions that can perpetuate the cycle of poverty. In fact, Princeton University researchers conclude in a new study, just feeling poor can quickly knock 13 points off a person’s IQ.To determine how financial worries affect thinking, the researchers posed various […]
Read more
■ A Japanese town wants to put underpants on a replica of Michelangelo’s David. The 16-foot-tall statue has caused a stir since it was presented to the town of Okuizumo as a gift. “It’s frightening the children and worrying the adults with its nakedness,” said an official. “Several people have asked us to cover it up with underpants.” Officials are […]
Read more
When the Liberal Party of Norway asked Gylve Nagell to run for the position of Backup Town Councilor for a suburb of Oslo he was very hesitant because he is not a politician. He is a member of the black metal band Darkthrone where his lyrics and music are about murder and mayhem. As the election got closer, he sensed […]
Read more