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Butler Shaffer at LewRockwell.Com - Why I Do Not Vote: Mr. Shaffer has now gone 36 years without voting. It was not always so. His first full-time job was executive secretary of the Nebraska Republican Party. That taught him that coercion is not an effective way to change society. And government works by pure coercion. [lew]
Ananova - Scientists discover 'second brain' in the stomach: There is apparently a mass of brain nerves in the digestive tract. [xray]
The research is outlined in the latest issue of German science magazine, Geo, in which Professor Wolfgang Prinz, of the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, says the discovery could give a new twist on the old phrase "gut reaction".He said: "People often follow their gut reactions without even knowing why, its only later that they come up with the logical reason for acting the way they did. But we now believe that there is a lot more to gut feelings than was previously believed."
Steve Stephens at the Columbus Dispatch via Cannabis News - DEA Leading Americas Drug War Down The Garden Path: P. somniferum poppies are a schedule II drug. Possession is pubishable by a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. This fact is little known by growers and little enforced by the DEA. [cn]
Chris Hiers - Too Close to Call: No telling when we'll know the 2000 president, but Chris has called the 2004 race. Hehe.
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies(MAPS) - New FDA-Approved Psilocybin Research Needs Donations: Wow! The FDA has approved a study using psilocybin to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Monde has commentary on 11.13.2000 (still no permanent links on her site, nudge, nudge). A quote from Monde's remarks: [randomonium]
On that note, I dearly hope someone on the research team doesn't somehow get the very unbright idea to put a television set anywhere in the experimental zone. Some drug mixtures are just plain ungood - this would be one of them.
Kevin Poulsen at SecurityFocus.com - Bill Punishes Crypto: Hide your "criminal" activities with crypto, and the communists will punish you worse. Wouldn't you know that Chuckie Schumer is behind this one. [grabbe]
Criminals who use encryption to conceal their wrongdoing will get harsher sentences than those who stick to plaintext, under computer crime legislation pending in the Senate that's attracted opposition from at least one civil liberties group....
In addition to creating the new sentencing enhancement, the legislation would empower federal agents to use wiretaps and bugs when investigating computer crimes, allow for civil forfeiture of property in computer crime cases, and add computer hacking to the list of offenses for which juveniles could be tried federally.
BBspot - Priceline Offers Name Your Own Price Prostitutes: I think this is a joke, but you never know. [grabbe]
"The margins on prostitution are very attractive. We make less than 5% profit on each airline ticket, but almost 70% on each hummer," said senior VP Tim Melkins. "We feel this service will be profitable from the start."
Paul Zimmerman at Sierra Times - Time is up for the IBT: Federal Marshalls are planning to sieze the Indianapolis Babtist Temple today for failure to withhold $200,000 in income tax. All federal taxes have been paid by the individuals for whom the temple was supposed to withhold taxes. It may get ugly, very ugly. Paul has promised updates on this page throughout the day. [sierra]
Charles Wilson of AP via Nando Times - IRS poised to seize Indiana church: same story in the mainstream press. [market]
Rick Barrett at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Official to take gun to meeting: Pewaukee village trustee John Laimon plans to bring a gun to a Village Board meeting. Why? Because he can. [market]
Laimon said his pro-gun feelings are deep. He wants people to remember the Holocaust and what happened when Nazi Germany took away the rights of Jews to own weapons."Taking away guns from Jewish citizens was one of the first things Hitler did, and it cost thousands of innocent people their lives," Laimon said.
Every genocide has been preceded by government taking away the right to bear arms, said Aaron Zelman, founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership, a national organization based in Hartford in Washington County.
"Maybe the point this fellow (Laimon) is trying to make is pretty simple," Zelman said. "And you have to remember that a firearm is only an object like a vacuum cleaner. It is no more dangerous than a vacuum cleaner or a pine board unless it is misused by the person handling it."
SmallEiffel is a fast, slim, and free Eiffel compiler that can generate C source or Java bytecodes. It runs on just about every platform imagineable. I haven't tried it. [meat]
