Wasting Drug War Resources
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office, commissioned by Sen. Joe Biden, has come to an unsurprising conclusion: After more than $6 billion spent, the controversial drug control operation known as Plan Colombia has failed by large margins to meet its targets.
The goal had been to cut cocaine production in Colombia by 50 percent from 2000 to 2006 through eradication of coca crops and training of anti-narcotics police and military personnel. In fact, cocaine production in Colombia rose 4 percent during that period, the GAO found. With increases in Peru and Bolivia, production of cocaine in South America increased by 12 percent during that period. In 1999 it cost $142 to buy a gram of cocaine on the street in the United States, according to inflation-adjusted figures from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. By 2006 the price had fallen to $94 per gram.
How rock music calms elephants down
Wild things: How rock music calms elephants down
So what would you do if confronted by an elephant in the middle of the jungle?
It’s a rare problem, admittedly, but zookeepers have a simple answer – just blast out some heavy metal.
Rock legends such as Led Zeppelen have a surprising calming effect on the animals, they say. Staff play music to the animals during their feeding and bathing ritual to improve their behaviour and they say rock legends work the best.
Dancing Plague and Other Odd Afflictions Explained
‘Dancing Plague’ and Other Odd Afflictions Explained
In July of 1518, a woman referred to as Frau Troffea stepped into a narrow street in Strasbourg, France and began a fervent dancing vigil that lasted between four and six days. By the end of the week, 34 others had joined her and, within a month, the crowd of dancing, hopping and leaping individuals had swelled to 400.
Authorities prescribed “more dancing” to cure the tormented movers but, by summer’s end, dozens in the Alsatian city had died of heart attacks, strokes and sheer exhaustion due to nonstop dancing.
For centuries this bizarre event, known variously as the dancing plague or epidemic of 1518, has stumped scientists attempting to find a cause for the mindless, intense and ultimately deadly dance. Historian John Waller, author of the forthcoming book, “A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518,” studied the illness at length and has solved the mystery.
Don’t dread – Rastas get the go-ahead
Don’t dread – Rastas get the go-ahead
Cape Town’s Rastafarian community had to go to the Cape High Court for permission to hold their annual festival this weekend after the City of Cape Town and the Metro Police tried to stop the event.
After winning an urgent interdict on Friday, Rastas got the 10th Sunny Ocean Reggae Festivalgoing at Soetwater near Kommetjie on Friday night.
U.S. cancer rate declines for the first time
U.S. cancer rate declines for the first time
For the first time since the government began compiling records, the rate of cancer has begun to decline, marking a tipping point in the fight against the second leading cause of death among Americans.
Researchers already knew that the number of cancer deaths was declining as the result of better treatment, but the drop in incidence indicates that major progress is also being made in prevention.
“The drop in incidence . . . is something we have been waiting to see for a long time,” Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a statement. And “the continuing drop in mortality is evidence once again of real progress made against cancer, reflecting real gains in prevention, early detection and treatment.”
To some psychiatric patients, life seems like TV
To some psychiatric patients, life seems like TV
One man showed up at a federal building, asking for release from the reality show he was sure was being made of his life.
Another was convinced his every move was secretly being filmed for a TV contest. A third believed everything — the news, his psychiatrists, the drugs they prescribed — was part of a phony, stage-set world with him as the involuntary star, like the 1998 movie “The Truman Show.”
Researchers have begun documenting what they dub the “Truman syndrome,” a delusion afflicting people who are convinced that their lives are secretly playing out on a reality TV show. Scientists say the disorder underscores the influence pop culture can have on mental conditions.
Noise Violators Sentenced to Listen to Barry Manilow
Noise Violators Sentenced to Listen to Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs” may begin with the line, “I’ve been alive forever,”‘ but for noise ordinance violators, listening to Manilow may feel like forever.
Fort Lupton Municipal Judge Paul Sacco says his novel punishment of forcing noise violators to listen to music they don’t like for one hour has cut down on the number of repeat offenders in this northwestern Colorado prairie town.
About four times a year, those who plead guilty to noise ordinance violations are required to sit in a room and listen to music from the likes of Manilow, Barney the Dinosaur, and The Platters’ crooning “Only You”